Vought V173

Spent much of the day making a spinner and cooling duct for the BR2211.
 
Based on the design I used for the bigger Emax 2822.
I have checked that the motors work but until I get an Allen key for the motor mount grub screws I cant run the motor at full power as there is nothing to hold on to! 
 

Sorry about your troubles, and I wish there was a humane way of preventing the illegal immigrants.
But,, In France, and other eu countries with some variation. You are entitled to basic assistance including accommodation, food, legal, medical and psychosocial assistance (see topics below). You will have the right to work in France six months after submitting your application for international protection if the OFPRA has not yet taken a decision on your application.

It is also the law that potential immigrants fleeing from whatever in their own country should STAY in the first safe country they get to.

Finally the ultra small Allen key arrived so I was able to assemble the BR2211 motor and 11x3.8 prop on a suitable scale nacelle.
A short video of it being run up on a 2s LiPo.

On a 2s it draws 6A giving 40W.
A bit heavier than I had hoped at 46g compared to 75g for the previous motor prop combination.
Now to see if I can actually make a V173,
 

The latest version of the nacelles are even a smaller diameter 26mm rather than the previous 28.
The new slim nacelles on the plan.
 
Compared to the size of the "wing" there is an awful lot of prop!
My intention is to build the wing leading edge as a box spar to support the nacelles. Once complete the rest of the pancake will be a light weight foam/tissue build.
3 servos. One for each elevon and one linked to both rudders.
It just might end up not too far from 250g ready to go! 
 

 

Some progress but I am afraid its a case of one step forward and two steps back. 
The "leading edge" of the V173 fuselage with the nacelles attached and one motor/prop in place.
 
It all fits together beautifully except it does not work.
These are 1300kV motors which is surprisingly low for their tiny (22.3mm) diameter. This of course means the windings are very fine to get the required turns in the available space which in turn means the motor lead outs have to be treated with extreme care to avoid breaking a wire where they are soldered on to the windings and we all know it is virtually impossible to repair without completely rewinding the motor.
Of course in my efforts to feed the motor wires down inside the nacelle I have indeed broken one of the motor wire connections and to make matters worth I have done the same to BOTH motors.
What a plonker! Really pissed off!
Two new motors ordered from Banggood via Canada! The 1300kV versions are not that easy to find. The new motors will be installed carefully just once and never touched again!
I suppose whilst I am waiting I can build up the rest of the V173 fuselage, its about all there is!
 

Still plowing on with the pancake wing of the V173.
 
It will be tissue covered. After all the original was fabric covered.
Still quite a bit of design to do concerning the all moving elevons that have to be cantilevered out from a rather thin part of the rear wing wing.
The central rectangular opening is where I think the battery will need to go. The stab Rx will go in there too.
So far adding up all the motors, props, electrics and the airframe comes to 203g. Tissue, a springy undercarriage, elevons and servos mean it could end up not too far over 250g.
We shall see.  

The first attempt at the V173 all moving elevon.
 
A LW-PLA structure with a 2mm carbon rod that will act as the pivot.
The carbon rod will go far enough into the thicker part of the structure so the servo will be completely buried.
I do wonder if the tail elevator should be included although all the aerial shots of the prototype flying show it at "neutral" suggesting it was only required for the landing flare.
   

This is such a strange craft - I would not have been surprised to see such a shape in a SiFy film (with warp engines rather than props of course).

Spent all day organising the elevon servo drives.
 
A close up of the printed servo connector.
 
What you can't see because its underneath is the servo arm so each servo can also drive the split rear elevator (not yet built) as "additional" elevons. 
The chances of this actually flying must be pretty remote.  

Today spent making the split tail elevons.
 
Each are LW-PLA "lofted" structures to create the complex 3 dimensional shape and are top tape hinged. The links rods to the servos should be entirely hidden within the airframe.
The tail elevons will only finally added once the airframe is electrically complete and tissue covered.
Next are the fins and rudders. Both rudders will hopefully be driven by a single central servo - somehow!

Amazing Simon, I hope it flies as good as it looks. It should do, with all the time and effort you've put into it.

The first test of the full elevon set up.
It is using a V tail mixer and a normal radio although the intended Lemon "stab" Rx has an "elevon" option built in.
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Although it is a compact and light installation, everything ends up within the tissue covering, however in reality it only uses about 50% of the servo travel. At full servo travel the surfaces are at such an acute angle to the airflow they will simply be stalled. 
I have a potential solution but it means adding further linkages, bearings and with the servos completely repositioned or in other words ripping it all out and starting again! 

Can you not just reduce the 'weighting' (ie how far the servo moves relative to the stick - normally 100%) in the transmitter settings?

Yes that is exactly what I will have to do but you do loose servo definition and sub micro servos are not noted for high definition to start with!
Still needs must.