Here is my latest scratch built UAV design, It is based off of Lockheed Martin's Desert Hawk 1 and took approx 3 evenings to build. I have recently learned that dow blu core insulating foam works absolutely great for designing and forming fuselages. You can layer it, cut it, sand it and melt it into whatever shape you desire and it weighs pretty much nothing. That is what i created the fuselage out of. once I had the fuse built I cut the horizontal stab from one of those giant foam gliders in half and used it as the V-tail. once the tail was created I searched for a suitable wing and came across a Hobby Zone Super Cub wing at the local hobby shop and decided it would fit nicely with the project, especially because it is super lightweight and provides a great amount of lift. Once I had the wing I calculated for the CG and mounted all the appropriate gear according to the CG requirements. Once I completed the airframe I moved on to the base station. After tweaking my laptop case to accept a USB A/V converter as well as a 2.4gHZ receiver I had a nice compact base station to go with my new UAV. as far as video goes, I have a BWAV 500mW 2.4ghZ TX coupled with a CMOS micro camera facing 45deg. down and to the right on the bottom of the fuselage. Total weight is 2 lbs! ready to fly. I will post a video as soon as the weather gets better.
I would love to see a youtube video of how you work with that foam. Do you use a hot-wire cutter, or just a regular knife? How much tape do you use to strengthen the foam?
Very nice airframe! I plan on something like this myself when I get some time to plan the design.
You mention "Once I had the wing I calculated for the CG".
Question: Do you have a procedure for doing that calculation that I could take a look at?
What are the dimensions : wing, tails, fuselage?
I think the plane looks quite short on the picture, but as you mention it is stable I guess that is no problem as long as the plane is properly balanced.
Blue Core is the bomb my friend, My SU was made entirely out of it and then glassed, the tall dude is my buddy ron who made it for me while I was deployed. That guy could probably build a real Airbus out of the stuff :D
Replies
You mention "Once I had the wing I calculated for the CG".
Question: Do you have a procedure for doing that calculation that I could take a look at?
What are the dimensions : wing, tails, fuselage?
I think the plane looks quite short on the picture, but as you mention it is stable I guess that is no problem as long as the plane is properly balanced.
UFO_MAN
I was just trying to come up with a cheap light body, thought I would have to use a pvc pipe.
I like your idea better!
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Is it just a R/C aerial video plane, or are you intending to make it a proper autonomous UAV, too?