Versa wing Mod "The Wyvern"

by Tactical Ex | January 15, 2014 | (0) Posted in Projects

I was so impressed with the FT versa wing that I wanted my first plane to be a wing very similar to it because I like a lot of the aspects of flying wing designs. I wanted to get used to a favored FPV platform for stability, I like the idea of not wasting energy by making the whole airframe generate lift and I figured less complex and modular airframes means less time rebuilding after a crash. I also wanted landing gear because the idea of throwing something you've worked on for more than a few hours into the air seems ridiculous to newbie like me; plus, I like the challenge of landing smoothly. With all of this in mind I began designing new features and fitting the FT versa wing with a number of mods ... the Wyvern is what I ended up with.

I have no other experience to juxtapose with it but I'm fairly certain it's a solid plane. I forgot to mention in the video that the center of gravity is about 1cm aft of the rear spar on the center section and that the "spars" are just doubled up foam board.. 

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COMMENTS

sailorJohn on January 24, 2014
Very durable, Welcome to the hobby!
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kpd on January 24, 2014
Great job! I like how it has landing gear!
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Noobi1951 on January 25, 2014
Nice! I like the way it takes a beating and stays together, as someone who also is fairly new to this crazy addiction that kind of durability is very appealing : ). What was the difference between the times when you had very short flights, with subsequent crashes compared to when you were able to get airborne and stay there? I laid awake during the night thinking about damage resistant (gravity always wins) flying wing designs, as I have yet to try a wing design.
Great work, keep us posted with any further designs.
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Tactical Ex on January 26, 2014
Thanks! The only difference in flight time was my skill in flying and maybe a little bit of Tx programming. The first flight was the shortest because i was using a 1000mah battery and i set the voltage meter alarm for 3,7 so that I could leave it stored for a while. I also had no expos dialed in so it was very pitchy. The 4th and 5th time I went out (not shown) I didn't crash and my flights were much longer especially with 2 2200mah batteries to use. I played back the video of me crashing majorly and figured out that it was my fault and i didn't have my orientation reversing skills quite yet mastered when banking right on my right side field of view so before i went back out i spent about an hour in RCDP flying the kraken which is the closest plane to the Wyvern in flight characteristics.
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anonymous rc pilot on January 25, 2014
great solid design but with wings be careful with your cg anyway I love your steerable nose-wheel good work looking forward to your next design
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Tactical Ex on January 26, 2014
Thanks, its taken a beating for sure. The CG has been tricky, while i thought it was just behind the spar i have been playing with the CG and found that the closer i move to the original point the less i have to fight unwanted movement so if I get that pinned down I will share that here. The steerable nose gear has been a blast. I will most likely be keeping steerable landing gear on my designs/mods in the future. The next design is going to address some issues i have with the Wyvern V1 dealing mostly with the center section and the clunky nose gear rig. The Wyvern V2 will have a larger center section with a "crumple" zone for quick repairs after a nose dive and can store more stuff as well as fix balance issues. The landing gear will be a modular section so that damage to the gear doesn't require a rebuild of the center section. After the Wyvern v2 I'm pretty sure a large format cargo plane with cargo bay doors is in order.
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TehMaxwell on January 27, 2014
This is an awesome design! I love the way it takes landing gear and it seems to barely affect the flight performance!
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Tactical Ex on January 27, 2014
Thanks for the compliment! I was concerned about the drag the landing gear might create once I had it attached (especially from the monstrosity of a nose gear mount in the front) which is one of the reasons I made the V shape skirt in front of the nose gear but if there was significant drag, I'm not skilled enough to tell. All of the nose-down effects I have seen so far have been removed or reduced by moving the CG back. The guys at the hobby shop thought I was crazy when I asked for landing gear for a flying wing so I just bought the gear for a T-28 and made it work by shear willpower and hot glue!
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Buckeyegator on January 27, 2014
Where in Florida is this?
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Tactical Ex on January 27, 2014
The flights in the original video were taken at 2 different parks in the Tampa Bay area. If anyone is looking for a place to fly in that area I would be happy to divulge the exact locations via private message.
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Buckeyegator on January 30, 2014
I've been on this site for a while and still have no clue how to PM anyone.....got a hint?
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Tactical Ex on January 30, 2014
The main site may not have a PM feature but I know it is possible on the forums. If you are trying to find someone without seeing a post of theirs you just need to click on Forum > go down to the "community" tab and mouse over it to bring up the drop down selection menu and click on "Member List" then search for the name, click on their name then click on "Private message" which is the second option on the left hand side.
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Robr0924 on January 29, 2014
And the addiction begins. Good job, great first plane
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Versa wing Mod "The Wyvern"