Stealth FPV wing!

by peregrin8r | October 27, 2013 | (10) Posted in Projects

This is kinda how this build went... 


  I think I'll make an enlarged version of the Versa Wing like the Kraken.  Lets see, 50% bigger sounds good...no, let's try 75%.  Nope.  Gotta be bigger.  100% bigger will be just about right! (actually, it's 102% bigger!)  Awe, man.  All the DollarTree has is black poster-board.  Hmm,  black...stealth...flying wing.  I think I might have seen something like that before(out of the corner of my eye).  Let's see, stealth has to take pictures, right?  Add 1 GoPro camera.  All right, for camera work we need a stable platform, let's add dihedral.  This would look better(cooler) if I seperated the wing here and made the outer wing anhedral.  Sweet, done. Not sure if this is still stable, but it looks cool.  Wait.  Where do I mount the motor?  Motor?  More stable with 2 motors!  Let's add 4 more inches of level wing in between the inner and outer wing as a motor/esc/battery base.  Awsome!  Wow, those swappable pods just don't look right.  Let's cover them like...this.  Whoa!  This thing is freak'n sweet!  But it's so huge, I don't think I could ever hand launch it.  Wheels it is.  Ooooo, all my friends are getting Fat Sharks.  Now I can put the GoPro to work.  ...and so it goes. 

Here's my VersaWing ontop of the NiteHawk.

Here's a side view.

And here's a front view.

I haven't "flown" it yet but did get air while taxiing in the yard at about 1/2 throttle.  As I did not have it set up yet, it was very tail heavy.  It nosed up to about 4 ft. nosed over and put a small divit in the yard.  Didn't hurt the wing at all.  Whew!  Ok, no more taxiing until it's set up proper.

Here's a list of what I have into it so far.

6  Dollartree sheets of poster board 20"x30" (black)
1  Dollartree roll of green duct tape
2  cheap foam wheels (not sure where I got them)
2  Hobbyking Propdrive 28-26s 1100kv motors (supposed to be for my quad) (ordered more!)
2  9-4.5 props (1 standard, 1 counter-rotating) (supposed to be for  my quad)
2  Hobbyking 30A Afro ESCs(20A would have been sufficient) (again for the quad) (ordered more!)
1  OrangeRx 6 channel receiver
2  20 gram high speed servos (ailerons)
2  used Futaba S3003 servos (elevators)
1  GoPro3 Black Edition camera (already had)
1  Fatshark Attitude SD FPV RC vision system (just got it, already was going to get it...friends beat me to it)
some piano wire for the wheels
5 lbs of hot glue (not really, but those cracks on top and between wing sections took about 5 sticks)  :p
Also may install:
1 ArduPilot APM 2.5 (already have, again for the quad)

Hoping to be in the air this week.

COMMENTS

M Ouellette on November 15, 2013
I too would love to see how this turned out. I know that Josh Bixler had a problem with his early Flying Toaster variant that had no vertical stabilization, will your's have better luck? Full sized flying wings make use of computer controlled split flaps for vertical stability, but in these foamies I don't know how you would implement something like that. The plane looks amazing but I do think you may need some kind vertical surface even if it's only the wing end types used in the stock Versa Wing.
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ghostrider03z on November 2, 2013
Awesome build but like the kraken, you will need some vertical stabilizer of some sort.
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lancebbowman on November 1, 2013
The planform looks almost just like the flying wing from Indiana Jones! Awesome job!
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peregrin8r on November 1, 2013
Thx, guys.

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lonewolf7717 on November 3, 2013
AUW?
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Corsair2014 on November 1, 2013
fly itttt :D awesome dude
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flight monkey on November 4, 2013
Have to post video !! This thing is tooo coool !!
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Todd L on November 1, 2013
Just too awesome!! Can't wait to see it in the air! Need video :)
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510thousandths on November 4, 2013
Differential thrust might not be enough....josh's example...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ0evl1FLec
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Exhodus on November 1, 2013
Ridiculously Cool!!
One, thing if you take an advice, you will need some vertical surface for stability, or install the ardupilot and hope for the best :)

Anyway playing around with the canopy and blunting the leading edge on the wingtips might just add enough stability, examples on this, try searching for "flying wing without winglets"
Also if you are unsure of the correct cg, make it noseheavy, a tailheavy wing is worst than dancing with the devil :D
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peregrin8r on November 1, 2013
Thx, Exhodus. Planning on putting in differential thrust. I'm hoping the differential thrust will add enough stability to not need a vertical surface. Looks cooler without it!
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Exhodus on November 2, 2013
I don't see that happening, differential trust can be used instead of a rudder, so it will help you in the turns, but it wont replace the vertical stab, so it wont help you keep the plane flying straight.
I dont know if the ardupilot will be enough to compensate for it, anyway let me know how it turns out :)
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Exhodus on November 2, 2013
Thinking more about it, playing with diferential trush, might be enough to keep the yaw in check, but you will definietly need the on board stabilization.
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peregrin8r on November 1, 2013
Will post dims when I'm done drawing them up.
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Michael9865 on November 1, 2013
Awesome. Would love to see flight video/pictures. Oh and a drawing with dimensions and your final CG location would be totally awesome. I think the black foam adds to the look. Thank you for sharing.
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28th St. Air on November 2, 2013
Even if it doesn't fly, it will make one kick ass hood ornament!!! Looking forward to seeing your plans/dimensions
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Pat on April 18, 2014
Hi there, stumbled upon this article looking for ideas for my new wing, which is not as cool as yours is. Or was. It's been a while, how did it fly? Any crucial flying wing wisdom you have to dispense would be appreciated!
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Stealth FPV wing!