Old Fogey goes Big-Fat-N-Fn-Lazy (BF-N-FL)

by Redazrael | December 28, 2013 | (4) Posted in Projects

 

First of all I would like to graciously thank the entire Flite Test team for all of their dedication and contributions to this hobby!!! That being said I would like to take the time to share my efforts as well.

  This is what i like to call my BF-N-FL (Big,Fat-N-Fn.Lazy). It started as a project to alleviate my concern for safety at my local park because my other planes are simply not well suited to the environment there. What it turned into however still to this day makes me beam with pride everytime i look at or fly this plane.

  What I wanted was an airplane that that could fly really slow if I wanted it to, and actually move along nicely if throttled, all while looking good, remaining stable, and perform as many aerobatics as possible. Basically a "crowd pleaser" if you will. One that paper wouldn't peel off of after a few flights.

  Having spent alot of time building, experimenting with, repairing, and thouroughly enjoying the Flite Test Old Fogey (I've had 4) I knew that was going to be the overall template for the build. Somehow along the way I lost my paper plans from the site, but alas I still had Fogey #3's (#4 still flies BTW) abused airframe sitting in the junkyard collecting dust. So i set about dismantling all the pieces and joints so i could lay them flat and trace around them when needed. I ended up widening, and lengthening the overall fuselage, and changing the way the tail end of the fuselage came together at vert. and horiz. stabs. I also needed to redesign the way the nose was assembled due to the fact I wouldn't be utilizing the swappable power pod. I deviated from the Fogey's original tail feathers, and basically just used different variances of the main wing tips for both stabs. After flying it a few times I ended up cutting them down because i didnt take into account when I finally painted it the rear of the plane would be significantly heavier. I was already flying with battery all the way forward and it took a stack of 6 pennies glued to the front just to get CoG after painting stabs. So in the pics you'll notice they appear different as the plane evolved. Below are pictures of the outcome, pictures of my other Fogey related project, and hopefully a flight video. Needless to say this plane draws a crowd at my park and has devoloped quite the fan club with kids and adults alike. My apologies in advance for the video quality, I just handed my phone to a passerby and asked them to record for me.

Below are pics of how i ended up reducing the size and changing the shape of the stabs so i could take the pennies off of the front of the nose

And a couple of my ultra micro SS-N-F-L (Small,Slow-N-Fn,Lazy)

- Find this article & others like it at www.FliteTest.com -

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COMMENTS

Aronnax on January 15, 2014
That look just great!

Instantly it came to my mind to make a candy bomber out of it. Plenty of space in it. Maybe dropping parachutes?

I've once found a nice video about making parachutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXqH3daEgAo
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
Thank you for the compliment, yeah with some small mods to the bottom of fuse it could be a cargo plane. Believe it or not right now i have 2 LED strips from advance auto for vehicles affixed on it much like wing struts on other high wing models, and have them facing towards the underside of wing and side fuselage so that they illuminate the entire plane at night, i dont have a big selection of lipo sizes so i took 2 800mah packs from a Blade CX2 opened up and made my own 3 cell to meet the voltage of an automobile. placing that pack right at CoG and the normal flight battery (traxxas 3s 1400mah 25c) in its usual spot behind motor, and other than having to land "hot" you wouldn't even know it has the extra weight onboard.
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Aronnax on January 17, 2014
... and the UFO sightings increases in your area :-D
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
I would pay good money to be a fly on the operator/dispatcher's wall and eavesdrop ton those calls when they came in!! ha ha ha i'd die laughing!!
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alibopo on January 15, 2014
Verrryyy nice! :) No problems in flight, does exactly what it says on the box. Just that take-off issue due to the low wheels and high tail-skid - the initial angle of attack of the wing is just too flat to pop the plane into the air on lower revs. A little shave off the tailskid might do it? Or combine that with a slightly larger diameter wheel. Hey, bigger wheels = more character! Really nice build.
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
LMAO!!! Bigger wheels...ha ha ha if you only knew my friend. my wife even had to laugh at that closing statement!!! When i was doing all the different wheel design protoypes my initial 1in thick wheel measured 7in from left to right i temp. mounted them to the plane and showed it around for opinions and such. Everyone i showed said the wheels are too big!!! The wheels are WAY too big!!! I said same as you..my stand was,"it adds character, and serves a purpose"!!! but anyhow i compromised and went down to 4 1/2in (what you see in the photos, however, i use GWS ultra light wheels when it has extra weight onboard because landings aren't very friendly to the foam wheels). As for the takeoff in the video it's not entirely due to the angle of attack. some of it is the result of my cavalier, and less than recommended right stick "yank" method. However i did experiment with different flitetest type landing gear, but abandoned that early on due to the fact that the pink fanfold foam is notoriously brittle and I thought that it really took away from the planes robust and stout low rider appearance.
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alibopo on January 17, 2014
Can't keep everyone happy :)
- maybe just a wee trim off the tailskid?
Mind you, if it's that brittle a material, and you're going to scrape it along the tarmac like that, I'm sure the tailskid will just grind itself down to the ideal angle ;-p
Cheers :)
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
now that you mention it i forgot to add in my article and in correspondence with you above that when i cut down the tail stabs, i did take off the 1in blue foam with folded gift card for durability skid. I ended up using just an ordinary popsicle stick cut as short as i could go without grinding half the elevator down to nuthin after a few take offs.
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alibopo on January 18, 2014
That's bound to have made a difference. When I was looking at the Old Fogey wing wobble I did wonder about just doing a cut and paste on the end, turning the whole back end upside down (and then remounting the vertical stabiliser and rudder on the top, obviously!). Instead I just lifted the tail with a kind of dog-leg hitch. The big, simple wing and basic fuselage proportions make the Old Fogey a real nice slow-fly plane, but I think there's still a bit of work could be done on it to achieve perfection. Keep up the good work!
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#3 on January 15, 2014
Very cool, the micros fly inside, any chance you could post some measurements or a drawing for the micros I tryed to build a inside mini but it would not fly it would be great if you could post the weight and prop and motor size also thanks again
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
I do not know the exact specs on the ultra micro unfortunately, Not all credit is mine on that project i must admit. I basically took measurements of the authentic Old Fogey and cut them in half for the most part. other than that it was "by the seat of my pants" as i went method. I can tell you however, the motor is out of a Blade Msr, as well as the radio and integrated servos. the propeller is a tail rotor prop from the helicopter parts wall at my local hobby shop. Control horns are just cut out of discarded clamshell packaging, everything else was just utilizing various materials, techniques, and experience obtained from other scratch build projects. I have to tell ya though, the config you see in the pics BARELY stayed aloft in dead calm wind conditions. Strangely enough if it was a mild steady wind i could make it disappear above me. i have since inherited a destroyed u.micro corsair, and now fly the "mini" with the u micro 4-site prop, and all the electronics minus the aileron servos from the corsair.i hope that helps you. if not i would be more than happy to measure and post the dimensions i come up with.
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NoUsername on January 16, 2014
You gotta love this plane.
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
My sentiments exactly!!! Seems everyone else does too at this point. Thanks for the compliment!!
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joann69 on January 16, 2014
I really like for version of Old Fogey. Are you thinking about posting the plans for your version of Old Fogey? I sure hope so because I'd love to build one. I have built a couple of the original FT Old Fogey's. I like slow flyers a lot, in fact, the slower the better.
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
As for the plans there weren't any as i stated in the article. i do not know the first thing about creating pdf files and the design belongs more to flitetest than it does me. i simply just reconfigured, and altered some dimensions from the authentic old fogey trial and error style. and i totally agree on the slow flying thing!!! sometimes everyone just needs to slow down and enjoy some lazy stress free flight. I am not sure of the rules on posting measurements of a plane that is so close to the designers dimensions and appearance. if you download and print out the old fogey plans i would be more than happy to tell you what i changed and and all that
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balsa or carbon on January 16, 2014
Good job on your big Old Fogey !
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Redazrael on January 17, 2014
Thank you! I should've posted this a long time ago, but it was your article that kicked me in the rear to take the time and share it with the community
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Redazrael

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Old Fogey goes Big-Fat-N-Fn-Lazy (BF-N-FL)