My F-35 VTOL attempt!

The F-35 is an engineering marvel...but how hard can it be to replicate using hobby grade remote control plane/multicopter technology?

The video above pretty much explains all the details of the project, however, I thought I'd share some extra information and images.

So this was the very first prototype test rig which was shown in the first few clips of the aircraft flipping over.

This test rig never actually flew, in fact the test rig that flew in the video was a slightly modified version. The reason why this test rig never flew was due to the aluminium motor mounts (as seen below) which bent around the motors. I believe the motor mounts replicated something called Lenz's Law. But basically, the motors wouldn't spin smooth, or in some cases, not spin at all (just judder as if one wire was loose). Insulating the motor from the bracket with tape and cable ties allowed the motor to spin, but it wasn't ideal.

So I rebuilt the mounts from fibre glass sheet and wood.

The image shown above is of the rear motor. This mechanism would rotate the motor downwards during transition to a hover. It would also allow the motor to rotate on the roll axis for roll control when hovering. The following image is of the rear motor in hover mode.

 After this point, I seem to be lacking in images, please refer to the video to view the stages between. 

The following images are of the profile fuselage that managed to acheive a hover. 

Specification of the setup:

Motors - Turnigy D2826-6 2200kv

Escs - Hobbyking 40A

Props - 6x4.5 APC

Hover control servos - Hobbyking 939MG

Transition servo - BMS-630MG

Summary

Although this project didn't succeed like I had hoped, I am still happy with how well it hovered given the technology at the time (filmed in 2014). I reckon with a better flight controller, faster servos, faster ESCs and more powerful 'mini quad' motors, this might be able to work. However, thats a thought for next time I try it!

If you found this project interesting, I would really appreciate it if you could take the time to have a look at some of my other VTOL projects on my youtube channel www.youtube.com/user/tomstanton282

Thanks