First Foam-board scratch build

  This is my first time working with foam board, hot glue and manufacturing my own bits and pieces (control horns and push rods). I've built ARF foamies before but never got the chance to fly them. The following pictures will detail the start to finish of my FT storch project. I picked the Storch after watching all of the FT videos on how versitile it is and that it can take me from rookie pilot all the way to Top Gun (ok maybe a little short of that) with a little crazy stuff in between.

The first few pics are of soldering the battery leads and the speed controller leads...the heat shrink that came with the Deans connectors was kind of short...after this set I purchased an assortment of sizes of heat shrink as I know this isn't going to be my last build...

Soldering the bullet connectors was easy compared to the Deans connectors...

I added the voltages symbols so that I wouldn't get them mixed up...

Plans printed out...now to tape them all together....

This is when I realised how big a project this really was going to be...

Practicing different types of cuts...you'll see later that I should have practiced a little bit more...

...as in I cut a little too deep on the rear fusalage...

Getting ready to cut out the wings...

Starting to put the box spars together...

I didn't have paint sticks so I cut some out on the band saw...(turns out they were a little thicker than needed..more on that later)

Cut the double bevel on the wing...

Installing the wing spars...

Spars in place...ready to fold the wing

Dihedral set...

Cut out the under wing servo lead hole...

Added extensions with tape...found out that the wood reinforcements were too thick...was a PITA to get wires through...

One of the times I score cut to deep...oh well added reinforcement...

No I didn't wet my thumb and wipe the glue...strand of glue was hanging from the piece I used to wipe the excess off with... it followed my hand back and landed on my thumb...oh ya...very warm indeed...Flying Monkey gave me a tip (...that I didn't use on this build but will in the future) of using Gorilla white glue with the hot glue as the temps down here in Florida are hot enough to melt the hot glue if left in a vehicle...Thanks Flying Monkey!!!)

Well let's just say that FT got my order out in record time but USPS SUKS...it took 8 days from Ohio to Florida and had to make my own control horns...(out of my old security badges...("Badges...we don't need no stinking badges...!!!)

Wing complete...added "Y" connector before assembly...(really didn't think it was going to be this big...)

Starting on the body...(notice in most pics Josh is walking me through each step...Thanks Josh B)

A little too deep on the bottom cuts...I got better by the end....

Couldn't figure out what the flap at the bottom was for until I started building the landing gear and found out that I pulled a piece of the foam out that was supposed to be there...No worries added the foam back in and the gear looks great!!!

Gotta eat some time...

Installing the elevator control horn...A "O'Henry special" right there...!!!

...And again since USPS couldn't get me the parts I needed when I needed them...the next 3 pics are of me making my own hole reinforcements out of light ply wood...(I bought the plywood for my firewall...got lucky and the FT firewalls were delivered and found out that the plywood I bought would have been to thin...after 3 attempts trying to get the holes right I was fit to be tied...) which I inturn glued them into place on the power pod and fusalage...

Stacked them together and drilled a 1/8" hole in the center...

Installed the FT firewall with my HK ordered parts (Seems they are way faster than USPS...2 days from Hong Kong) actually switched this motor to 2200kv when I switched the ESC to 40A...

Landing gear started...Guess during the build video Josh forgot to tell everyone that the metal pieces were 15.5" long...(had to go looking in the comments for that...you should've saw my face when he started this section and I had 2 - 2' pieces of rod and a ruler and no idea how long they should be...lol)...used a table top vise and some muscle to bend the wire...

Checking to make sure they were level...and bent the top struts the same way...(bought the glue gun and sticks at walmart before I found out the FT staff liked to used that type...very cheap and easy to use...)

Getting the down strut correct was a little difficult...bent the "Z" shape using the vise and twisting each piece to make sure the were true...I get all kinds of tie wraps in my business...just had to find the right size...

I went with 3.5" inch wheels...why?...'cause I couldn't find any bigger at the time...I want to be able to fly this off of any kind of surface...was actually looking at adding a rudder controlled rear wheel...I may still do that...already have an idea for that...

If you're wondering what the bottle is...it's my Dip bottle...

Here she is..."The O'Henry Special"...real paint job to follow...(I found that during the maiden flight it was hard to tell which way the plane was flying being all white in an overcast sky) Having centered the servos before hand (I bought a servo tester from HK) made it really easy to set it up...

Using the Turnigy TGY-i6 AFHDS Transmitter and 6CH Receiver...

3.5" foam wheels...used the hot glue for the wheel collars...I might make wheel collars as during the maiden flight she took a hard turn on landing and the wheel knocked the glue off on one side...

10x4.7 prop...3s 2200 mah battery, hiTech 9g servos...bought the z bender from RC graves in Orlando for $14... This 30A ESC is set for Heli from the factory (made for a nervous maiden flight you could see near the end we couldn't get it back up to speed fast enough with the wind)...Found a manual online for it: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uploads/811103388X7478X20.pdf and set up this speed controller...yay got one for another build!!!
I Purchased the 40A ESC and bench tested it...seems like it'll work just fine...

Used velco to secure the speed controller, receiver in side the power pod and the battery under the power pod...CG was spot on...Great Job FT team...beautiful build...can't wait to learn to fly this girl!!

I really enjoyed Building this plane. Before starting the wings I was a little intimidated but as I progressed and honed my cutting and glueing skills it wasn't that hard. Glueing the various parts gave me some ideas for modifing exsisting FT plans for future builds.  As I'm finishing this up I'm helping my girlfriend's son build the FT Pun Jet as I had extra of everything and he wanted to do the folding wings mod so I guess I know what I'm building next...FT Guinea pig...

These are the new landing gear I made out of a old security panel...we'll see how they work...

Cutting holes for the tail gear I found at the local hobby shop...

Gear installed looks good...it came with the grey cowelling and a servo arm which I tied to the rudder...

This is the part that I bought...

I had to rebuild the fuselage as I took a really bad turn last time out...probably shouldn't have been flying as it was a little windy for my skills...no video but I did get a good 10 mins in the air including 3 loops (OK I was trying to correct myself coming in for a landing)...