Hello All.
In my first "profile presentation" I'd like to show you a small piece of my work on airframes for the last 15 years or so... I like building planes with foam and composite materials mostly. If I have to use wood, it will be for reinforcements somewhere or skins on my wings. I'd like to say right from the start that I'm a complete rookie in the UAV automated flight, using the auto pilot modules. However, I like first seat glider flying, electronics and FPV, and I greatly appreciate all the telemetry data I can now have to help me improve my work on the airframes. Help to "automate" my planes will come from my good friend and member of this community Dimitrios, who is posting here under the nickname "jamesmagos". Dimitrios (or James), thanks a lot for your help... :)
Another feature of the APM that I'm completely gratefull for, is the ability we now have to Not cause any accidents on people and properties if something goes wrong with the video or R/C link. For that, please accept my personal thanks to development team, the whole community here and 3DR who made this real for us. Safety is a huge issue, and as you can see I like building bigger planes (sometimes), so for me it is essential. I believe that EVERY model plane on the planet should one day have an APM inside, primarily for safety reason. So please... make it smaller... :)
I was born and live in Greece and my main work is as a telecommunications engineer in the Greek Air Force. I am a father of two small girls and married of course, and I actually don't know what I would do with my life if airmodelling didn't come in my way, but I believe that we make our own fate, most of the time... making model airframes is my breath, UAVs would inevitably cross my road. Thanks for all your help gentlemen.
First plane is like a Huge skywalker-type pusher 'craft, with a 2,8 meters long fuselage. It will fly with two wings, one with a 3,8 meters wingspan and another 6 meter long! The "small" version will be gas powered at first, and my plan is to have solar cells on the big wing and electric engine. Distance from the ground to the top of the fuselage (wing's saddle), is 78 cm. This foamy type "boom" is reiforced on the inside and will be composite laminated on the outside too...
Second plane is a glow-powered 3,3m motoglider which I call "Avra". Means "breeze" in Greek and it had to carry a .90 four-stroke up on a mount and use conventional propellers and Not pusher types. With one liter of fuel, it can fly as you can imagine for looong times... :) It flies with just clicks on the throttle.
Third one is a 2,2m pusher-type again, with a built-up balsa boom and T-tail as you can see. It was specially made for carrying a GIS camera on the belly and another one up front for fpv flying. That is electric of course and is able to cruise with as little as 50-60 Watts of power.
More pictures will follow, all your comments are welcomed of course...
Regards,
Apostolos (aka DeltaMan)
Replies
Me and my friend's quest for bigger but simple to built planes, took us on a journey to start building larger models back in 2009... Here are some of the first videos of the first big foamy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfUrbk8KYcs&list=UUTl1W6adiOKjAf...
0:20 to 01:00 is a bit irelevant... :)
Below you can see the 2,6 meters version of the 2010 model. I think that previous one (2009) was a bit better...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qBhGiuD2dw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KDyLzivZI
You can find me on Utube under the nickname "DeltamanGr". Now Google mixed my e-mail and my Utube channel, so you can also find me as "Deltaman Gr" (with a space in between)... I have to figure out how to fix that bug when I have time... :(
Hello All. It is 19:20 in Greece right now.
I always had special feelings for tailless aircraft, and that feelings grow bigger and stronger by seeing new planes, manned and not, in that Form-shape... Nature however, was maybe trying to mention their privileges, when it was giving such shapes to ancient birds, like the Pterodactylus and the Pterosaurus...
Good morning everyone and have a nice week...
Nikos, thank you so much for your kind words... I'll post some more photos of the large pusher-type I'm making...
> The tail section (Vertical Fin with Rudder & horizontal stab with elevator) are mockups I would say. I'm thinking of changing the tail with a new one, where the horiz. stab is also made out of a symmetrical airfoil and reinforced of course...
> Landing gear is handmade with epoxy and strips of 80 gramms/sq.meter unidirectional carbon. I thing I have close to 22 strips of the carbon in there... ! VERY stiff. So much that I'm wondering if it's needed... ;)
> The canopy shape is supposed to be made out of Glass and have the flight camera and the microphone inside.
> The hole up front in the nose is supposed to accomodate a big enough Led light to help on these "late afternoon" landings, fpv-style... Some cooling air would also run through that to the end of the fuselage. especially if it's made electric in the future...
> Wheels are handmade with a sandwich of 4 layers of plywood and centers are a bit reinforced now (not seen in the pictures)... If they don't make it after the first landings, I'm gonna have to think of something else... ;)
Apostole welcome you in the Diydrones community.
This guy is an incredible who has done a very good and professional constructions flying wings (mainly) , in Greece .
Welcome again Delta Man
Hi all.
I've made another picture of my simple but trustworhty foam cutting cnc machine and simple cuts I can do with it... :)
The first "giant" plane is still under construction.
Info for the last (3rd from the top) model can be found on jamesmagos's Thread which he posted.
You can enjoy a video below of the Avra's first flight. It was shot by a friend's mobile, so quality is bad, but you can see how anxious I was and video was the Last I did care about at the time... Thank God for our friends sometimes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCNpDJxxCQ
Two "compilation" pictures will follow of my attempts on building Flying wings (tailless planes). That type of plane is one of my favorites for it's simplicity and pure Fun... :)
Oh yes... my cnc machine has helped me A LOT over the last years to materialize my designs. You can see a hollow wing which would be pretty difficult without the machine...
Welcome dude, cool designs !
Maybe a Hellenic APM group is in order ;)
Another one of my planes was called "Orca"! A friend of mine baptized it, 'cause it looks like the known sea creature... :)
Orca first flew as a glider to test the CG. On this photo, you can see the plane with my 3-year old daughter (at the time)...
As a friend, i am glad to welcome you on DIYDrones!!
I know very well that i drived you mad, with my countless requests for a custom mapping platform. But its time to thank you in public!!! you can read the build thread and results of Skyptro.. here !!
I promise you, i will soon have your new babies equipt with APM!!
ill try to post PID's (most of your airframes flew, with stock 2.65)
with Kindest Regards
James
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