X1/X2 Flying Wing

[Peter Garsden]

Yet another fabulously fast Flying Wing from Colin Waite.

[Peter Garsden]

I am actually building this for Keith, as he is only part way through his Phase 6, and I, sort of, had nothing on the bench (apart from repairing my smashed up BAE Hawk).

So this is a veneer foam moulded (a fully moulded version is on its way apparently), fibreglass fuselage flying wing, that, according to the You Tube Video, goes like stink. I hope it is not too much of a handful for Keith, but we will see.

So, Colin has now kindly rewritten the instructions, and the plan to explain things much more comprehensively, and to answer some questions I had about the build.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 25/12/2017 07:04:04

[Frank Skilbeck]

Very nice, is there a kit of this for sale?

[Peter Garsden]

Sorry Frank, yes indeed it is available as a kit from Colin Waite at www.slope-dudes.co.uk. i am sorry but I cannot tell you how much it costs because I didn't buy it - Keith did, but generally Colin's kits are very inexpensive. This is the actual link to the model itself - **LINK**. If you email Colin he will sort you out./ The X1 I don't think exists any more. I think it is now the X2 - Colin may well by now have produced a moulded version of this flying wing. That is where he is heading as you can read from his site.

[Peter Garsden]

I didn't do my usual picture of the entire kit - sorry. This is a picture of an advanced stage. I have glued the 6mm leading edge (not supplied) and a piece of 1/2 inch 25mm wide tip piece. Just a tip - when planing down the leading edge next to veneer put a piece of masking tape along the join to stop your plane chipping the veneer.

You can see in the background the rest of the kit including the superbly made fibreglass fuselage which is so much better quality than most of the flying wings you buy where the fuselage is either made of foam or foam reinforced with plywood, which breaks on a heavy landing.

A great addition are the plastic servo cups that seal the round holes in the foam, which are always a problem to stick to. You also get some control rod exit caps if that is the word as the rod goes through the wing from underneath to on top to make it less ugly and streamlined.

Colin recommends EA O8 MG servos from Emax. I couldn't find them and have ordered the next best thing, which I hope fits the servo wells. They are certainly cheaper than Ripmax equivalent.

 

Edited By Peter Garsden on 27/12/2017 22:07:06

[Peter Garsden]

The wings are superbly cut with some reflex cut into the traling edge in a curve upwards which is really clever to save you having to pivot the elevons upwards

You can see the two wings joined by epoxy then reinforced with 2 layers of 80 gram fibreglass cloth in a diamond shape. Over the top will go a layer of 25 gram cloth smoothed down with finishing epoxy - so there is no way this liittle thing is going to break easily. I guarantee you can smash this into the ground at high speed and it won't break - we will see.

[Peter Garsden]

This morning I finished off the 25 gram cloth top and bottom of the wing with resin and adopted Colin's excellent clothes peg weighting down method propped up on 2 paint cans. Turned out a treat. I haven't used resin before - always water based Ezecote which I think, on balance, is probably better as you can give it several coats and fill the weave of the cloth -- good experiment anyway

I have also cut out the servo wells ready for the cups which just glue in with epoxy. I used my hot wire pen set to the right depth to get rid of the foam, so much easier than digging away with a balsa knife.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 28/12/2017 08:11:15

[Peter Garsden]

I have now cut out the elevons marked off the bottom hinge offset of 4mm to allow for a lot of movement, filled out a groove with a Permagrit round file, and filled it with epoxy and mircoballoons using a handy hobby glue spreader. Worked a treat

To stop the metal ruler sliding down the wing when I made the cut, I taped some masking tape to the bottom to give it some inertia - worked a treat. You have to be careful, however, with veneer that the blade does not wander off with the grain.

Edited By Peter Garsden on 28/12/2017 08:02:07

[Peter Garsden]

Next I decided to form the underwing fairing to fill the gap between the front of the wing/fuselage and the middle of the bottom of the wing chord. I measured up that I would need 1/2 inch of balsa. What to do with it, God only knows, so I glued together 2 pieces of 1/4 inch balsa to use u waste.

So then, how to cut it to shape so it fits - tricky.

1. I lined up the foam female wing blanks with the profile of the wood to get the lower curve of the wing. I used a piece of coarse sandpaper taped to the wing in order to get the curve of the wood right.
2. I cut a small groove in the top to take the dihedral. It eventually, after some fettling, fitted, and I glued it on with 5 minute epoxy thereafter to carve with the plane, and sand down the edges.

[Peter Garsden]

Next I decided to form the underwing fairing to fill the gap between the front of the wing/fuselage and the middle of the bottom of the wing chord. I measured up that I would need 1/2 inch of balsa. What to do with it, God only knows, so I glued together 2 pieces of 1/4 inch balsa to use u waste.

So then, how to cut it to shape so it fits - tricky.

1. I lined up the foam female wing blanks with the profile of the wood to get the lower curve of the wing. I used a piece of coarse sandpaper taped to the wing in order to get the curve of the wood right.
2. I cut a small groove in the top to take the dihedral. It eventually, after some fettling, fitted, and I glued it on with 5 minute epoxy thereafter to carve with the plane, and sand down the edges

[Peter Garsden]

Next came the fiddle of inserting the wing nut to the underneath of the fuselage to take the 5mm plastic wing bolt. First I made a square of plastic to reinforce the wing bolt head and stop it pulling through the fuselage.

[Peter Garsden]

I then had to line up the wing with the middle of the fuselage to drill the hole. I couldn't use the Pillar Drill as there was no where to rest the fuselage so I put it in the vice (it is so small it fits easily) and hand drilled the hole already in the wing to line up with the hole in the fuselage. I first taped the wing to the fin using cross weave tape which held better than masking tape.

Once drilled, how to insert the nut and get it to line up properly. I attached the nut with claws to a piece of 6mm ply as advised, first drilling small holes to put the claws in. I then had to line it up with the hole at the right angle to tighten it down without getting epoxy in the threads! Not easy. I first of all had a dry run without the wing and tightened it up, left in situ and offered up the wing to the underneath of the fuselage being careful not to disturb it, and tightened again with copious amounts of Vaseline. It worked but I didn't put any glue on the sides of the ply as I should, so it may come out on a heavy landing.

[Peter Garsden]

Finally, I made the covers for the servo holes by making a cover, 80 gram fibreglass circle, ply disc (supplied by Colin) sandwich and clamped it down first having rough sanded the cover using the Proxxon disc

[Andy Meade]

Another nice little beastie Pete, quite fancy that too

[Peter Garsden]

Yes indeed Andy a nice little pocket rocket.

I could not stick the diamond tape to the surface so opted for a silicone hinge. Works a treat.

1. Tape along top of wing.
2. Fold over the elevon back on itself.
3. Put some clear silicone in a syringe.
4. First layer smoothed down with a finger.
5. Second layer 2mm over the top.
6. Lay it down flat and leave to dry.

[Peter Garsden]

The Emax 08 servo fits into a ply frame which slots into the cup in the wing

Colin supplies some excellent fibreglass sheet horns for the elevons which fit in a slot in the wing.

[Peter Garsden]

This shows how the horn slips into the wing in a slot, and the hole made for the control rod which passes through to the other side of the wing and the servo horn. The hole is made with hot 2mm rod and a hole in the wing made with a drill and a file.

[Peter Garsden]

The servos fit into holes in the plywood disc bases and glue in with a thin layer of finishing resin NOT EPOXY because you will never get them out. You have to make sure, however that the horns are in the right place first.

Setting up the transmitter was a real headache for a 4 channel receiver which is what i chose not only becaue it is smaller than the 6 channel and there is limited space, but also because there are only 2 channels in a flying wing. Elevons are a fiddle.

Using stiff bicycle spokes Colin suggests that the servo end metal horn be soldered onto the shaft. I suspect that mine were stainless steel because they wouldn't solder at all. I cryano'd them instead with thick stuff. I used the first whole and didn't have to file away any of the metal horn which was good.

[Peter Garsden]

It was a fiddle getting the space round the control rods so there was no binding - not much space to play with.

The servo covers fit well and have to be drilled out.

Because I put the rods at perfect right angles to the hinge line the servo and cover was at a slightly different angle, so I had to grind out a bit more plywood at one end of the cover.

[Peter Garsden]

There is just enough room in the fuselage to fit a conventional switch which went in no problem

This shows the fitting of the receiver on velcro and battery. Colin recommended AA battery pack to save on ballast. I will still need some more.

[Peter Garsden]

I jammed in the battery with a sliver of foam plastic, which worked. It is a shame that the battery won't slide all the way to the nose

Anyway we are all done save for the finishing and painting.

I need to balance it with a bit of extra lead

I am going to paint the fibregllass fuselage and wing with rattle cans, but first of all, preparation and filler.

[Peter Garsden]

Well it has been a week of filling, undercoat, then white gloss, masking tape, and finally Volkswagen Mars Red using Halfords Rattle Cans. I finished off the painting with clear lacquer which not only protects the paint but also adds shine to the finish.

My Christmas present was a Cricut vinyl cutter, which I have used surprisingly often including a special sticker for Keith, reminding him that he is prepared to fly in hail, as well as some black K1 stickers. Colin helpfully let me have the font for the K and the 1 - AR Berkley, and Brush Script. I downloaded the Berkley font from the Internet and installed it on my computer. I had decided on a white and red colour scheme so the red stickers supplied with the kit would not show up against a red background on the fin, so I made some black versions to stick either side.

Now all we need is some decent weather to maiden fly it - quite a big ask at the moment.

[Colin Waite]

Peter, It's looking good - I like the paint scheme. Very similar to my original Midge décor, it suits the X1 model. Well done, I'm sure Keith will be over the moon with it. Good look on the test flight.

[TJ Alexander]

Looks nice. Can it be discus launched?

[Peter Garsden]

Discus launch - now there's a thought - probably it can actually. Very small and easy to throw into the boot.