An EDF Concorde - in Depron.

After quite a bit of cogitating I think I have found a way to mount the ESC in the lower wing surface.
The two ESC and fans will be built on a short 3" piece of duct as a complete unit and this is then 'inserted' into a 'large cut' out in the lower wing skin.

The ESC wires can be fed through between the wing skins to the fuselage.
The flush heat sinks.

A complex bit to make but it does have the advantage that it gives good access to create the rather complex internal fairings required to go from a rectangle to two circles.

I cant actually install this yet as I have had to order some 14AWG silicone wire anyway I have got to build another one for the other side!
As the battery cable is likely to be quite long (24"?) I shall have to install some intermediate capacitors.

spent quite a bit of today making the second duct body.

Looks fairly straightforward but each has 21 pieces of Depron in it.
Cut out the lower skin to test fit the duct body.

I now feel confident the EDFs and ESCs can be installed so I can get on putting the top skin on the other wing.

You sure have some patience Q, but it is looking great , Keep it up, I am fascinated.

Garry

Slowly moving forward.
Both top skins on. Elevons added.

Now a start can be made on the main part of the fuselage.

Made a start on the main fuselage formers.

Tedious and slow. Although 1 to 17 are all the same out outline each are a different height.
To end up with a straight fuselage line I expect there will be a bit of remedial work required once the skin starts to go on.
Yes, we have no Bananas!

Eric
I did consider that but the lower fuselage and wings are now pretty stiff so a top keel would not help (but it would be easier to keep the formers upright!)
The first plank will indeed go along the top and any former 'adjusted' as necessary to give a straight top line.

As I have said I definitely would not build it like this again - it would be fuselage first - half shell over the plan. That way provided the formers were correct (they could all be sanded 'nested' together) then the fuselage would be as straight and true as the building board!

To ensure a smooth transition I really need the tail section.
The first planks.

This also shows the dangers of small 3 views. The rear fuselage lower line was not the same on on all of them!
I do not know which is right but it explains why the some of the planking does not exactly follow the plan.
I doubt it would be possible to tell which is the correct line even looking at the full size. It would need some BAC 'official' drawings to be sure.

So my rough enough is good enough is good enough is it Simon

The tail progresses.
One side done so it comes off the board. Formers added and the planking starts all over again.

The first two ESC glued into the LH short nacelle.

The connections are now polyurethane coated solid copper conductors which is much lighter than the conventional flexible silicone insulated wire with the same current capacity.

watching, with interest

Incoming daft question alert
How do you make sure, when planking with depron, that each strip doesn't push the depron former down a tad making it deform slightly? Are the depron formers pretty rigid to prevent that?

Sarah
Yes you have to be careful but 2mm Depron planks are pretty flexible and the formers are about 15mm deep so are very rigid in comparison.
My biggest fear is actually breaking a former when pushing the pin in that secures the plank!

You are now going to say "You pin through the planks!".
Depron has a almost uniform strength in all directions so it does not split like balsa. A small round hole is of little detriment and on a planked structure the surface is normally filled anyway.
In some respects you can take liberties with Depron that you would not get away with in wood.

The LH short duct unit complete and tested.

I was a little concerned that soldering new wires directly onto an ESC might 'cook' it but so far all is well.
The 2 extra fans and ESCs have arrived so I can complete the unit for the other side. I also have a brand new 'Nanotech' 25/50C 3000mAh 2S so I will be able to runs all 4 fans together.

It will be my most powerful installation to date at about 430W but only giving 1lb thrust it will certainly be the most inefficient!

With the tail cone finished I can actually put all the components end to end albeit only balanced!

I really don't know what I was thinking of when I started this!