Specter V2 Fuse - Foam Board

by spencer | April 23, 2013 | (8) Posted in Projects

I know, this is a long time coming, but I wanted to get something up for those that are waiting for pics and more info on the fuselage for this plane.  If you have any quesitons, please don't hesitate to ask me.  I'm glad to help in any way that I can.

Top front few. Flap connects and folds back.

Bottom front of the fuselage.  Front kicks up a little.

Back of the fuselage with the swappable inserted.

Back of the fuselage without the swappable inserted.

I will be adding to more to this shortly, but wanted to get the pics out for those needing to finish it up.

 

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

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COMMENTS

patrol7 on May 17, 2013
I set my cg at 3/4" and it flys good. But while checking the stall characteristics I found that it drops the nose and heads straight for the ground and does not want to pull out of this dive. Any ideas?
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spencer on May 19, 2013
I'm getting similar characteristics from mine when I'm too heavy. I would suggest moving the CG a little farther forward. Mine is running a larger motor and had to offset the motor with an 1800 mah. Anytime I'm at slow speeds and try to do a hard bank, it drops and takes some speed to get it back. My dad's is set up with a smaller motor and 1300 and it does much better. It seems the tendency isn't as bad when the weight is more forward. Good luck!
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mattplaneflyer on April 23, 2013
I just finished the wings and will be moving on to the fuselage. Thanks for the helpful articles.
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spencer on April 23, 2013
My pleasure! Let me know how it goes.
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mattplaneflyer on April 29, 2013
Flew it last weekend, it was awesome! I left the nose open for a camera and got to fly it fpv.
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spencer on April 29, 2013
Great to hear! I still haven't gotten an FPV flight in with is, but it flies like a dream LOS too.
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Jaxx on April 24, 2013
Spencer,
Thanks again for taking the time to share the details of this aircraft with us. I'm new to scratch building, so I hope you don't mind the questions. I'm curious about the technique you used to mount the tail booms in the wing. You said they go all the way to the front of the wing (through the both spars) right? Did you have to cut a piece of the spar out, and if so was it difficult to do it after gluing the top of the wing down? Thanks
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spencer on April 24, 2013
I'm glad to help. I meassured our from the center the cut slots throught the top layer of the wing. Once that was removed, I test fitted the spar, then I took a pencil and pushed it through both wing spars to the leading edge of the wing. Just make sure when you glue them that the tail is square, and that you have equal lengths of spar on either side. I hope that makes sense.
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Jaxx on April 24, 2013
It does make sense. Was it tough to get the booms flat against the inside of the wing? That's the concern I have. I will be ordering two 1/4" (diameter) carbon fiber tubes. Thanks again.
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spencer on April 25, 2013
Wasn't bad at all. Just make sure to get the foam cut out from the back and push the pencil through nice and flat. Should be fine.
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Dexy on April 24, 2013
You are the man Spencer! Cheers. Crashed my EDF jet last night then nearly wrecked my quad doing IR night flight. lol hence the reason I am looking so forward to flying something new. Nearly finished. Thanks for the info and of course to IBCrazy.
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spencer on April 24, 2013
You bet! Let me know if you have any questions during the proccess.
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mattplaneflyer on April 27, 2013
Thanks for the build articles, I just finished and flew mine.
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spencer on April 29, 2013
How do you like it? Sounds like quite a few are having good luck with it.
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patrol7 on April 23, 2013
Spencer, I am enjoying your Specter series.... Are you gluing the the fuselage to the wing? Or using some other type of attachment?
Thx.
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spencer on April 23, 2013
Fuselage is glued directly to the wing, I also used some tape on either side for extra security. I rolled it over today (cg was way off) and it help up just great.
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cloud9photos on April 23, 2013
I'm thinking of building one of these, but I want to make the fuse like ED uses from Experimental Airlines so I can fit my GOPRO up front. It's should work, but if it doesn't it will only cost me a sheet of foam if it doesn't.
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spencer on April 23, 2013
Should work just fine for you. Just keep in mind that the cg needs to be about 3/4" from the leading edge at the root.
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peacefulhill on April 24, 2013
Have you successfully flown this model yet? Any comments on the flight characteristics? What are the boom lengths?
I'm considering to build thos plane, it looks cool! Great information on the build so far!
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peacefulhill on April 24, 2013
The boom lengths are listed in the main article, missed that...
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spencer on April 24, 2013
I just got a good flight in this morning. I'm trying to pin down the right CG for this one. The wing is a little longer (in scale) to the 48", so it needs more nose weight. I used a larger motor, because that's what I had. So i'm compinsating for the motor in the back. I'll get it dialed and post a video.
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RC-Flyer63 on April 28, 2013
Just got done with my maiden on my Specter. This plane design flys great no bad tendencys good slow fly and very stable, IMO, I didnt wait for the build video on the fuse, and couldnt understand how the designed plans went together so I designed my own, I actually finished mine last week but weather wouldnt allow a maiden until now. I only made my fuse 15 1/2" but had plenty of room for equiptment. I powered mine with an Ebay buy 2822 1400kv, I thinks its an EMP but it has no name, running an 8x4 APC style with a 1300 3S. I notched the nose to hold my Gopro and made a light ply mounting plate.
Thanks to IBCrazy and Spencer for this design.
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peacefulhill on April 29, 2013
Where did you place the CG? Great to see that more people are building this, I am almost done with mine too!
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RC-Flyer63 on April 29, 2013
My CG is about 7/8" back from the wing root leading edge joint.
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spencer on April 29, 2013
I suggest somewhere in between 3/4 and 1" from the leading edge at the root. DO NOT try to fly it tail heavy. It is a beast to fly without the right nose weight. I'm flying mine with an 1800 3s in the nose, but have quite a bit of motor in the back as well.
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Non Action Man on May 4, 2013
Thanks for posting up the plans! I'm currently building one our of 6mm depron. I copied your plans in sketchup to make some minor changes to accommodate the 6mm board.

when drawing out the plans I messed up the wing tip dimensions, they are about an inch shorter chord than they should be. Hopefully it wont upset things too much.

cant wait to get it finished, as i really like your design!

NAM
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spencer on May 19, 2013
Shouldn 't do much to the design. Hope it flies well for you.
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derek_s on September 29, 2014
I built one of these (non-swappable version) last week and flew it a lot this weekend. I have got to say it flew really well and was quite popular at the park with the guys I fly with. Thanks for sharing these plans! On 4s it hauls around FAST and seems to handle well at any speed.
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RMW16 on November 27, 2014
Sorry, I'm a noob. I want to build this plane but don't really understand how to cut the wing? thanks
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matjey on May 10, 2016
I've build my self a Depron Spectre too and been inspired when I came across Andrew newton blog. It flew great in a straight line path but it drop the nose fast on turning. The nose tend to pitch down when I'm on gliding altitude with 0 throttle. Need to yank hard on the elevator in order to gain control again. The COG also puzzle me sometime it come out ok enough, but suddenly during mid air, it show the sign of tail heavy. Anyway, here I'm sharing my video of my spectre: https://youtu.be/GaxDvRvruwQ
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Specter V2 Fuse - Foam Board