Most foam wings or other airplanes are built with clear packing tape all over. I read somewhere that clear tape will block the IR from working? Does that mean I need to mount the sensors away from my flying wing covered with clear packing tape ?Earl
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First you might want to try covering your plane with something like Icarex and not packing tape. You want to add the strength from within the foam. Then you need to experiment with mounting your sensors in the foam and under the Icarex.
Icarex has a bias and you can add multiple layers to match the strength required and have the extra layers only where you need them. Use contact glue under each layer and finish with Minwax Polycrylic. Icarex weight 1/2 oz per sq yard and is very tough and has great strength. The aerospace engineers will laugh at such construction but I won a fly off with these building methods. They were not told as much as I've revealed here. They also have not figured out the power package either and that is not being disclosed. The only evidence of a power unit are some inlet and exhaust openings here and there. It is not a ducted fan or a jet and performs well and does not require any special boosting where launching and uses all off the shelf bits and pieces.
There are many ways to add strength to a foam wing and keep a low or zero signal. I'm experimenting with a pour in place method and using strips of Icarex in slits in the foam that are later attached to the covering.
A more exciting area is not radar but hiding the UAV from human eye sight. Unfortunately progress is slow because of lack of funding. Early flights suggest that it's possible. Making the last covering took days not hours but to the degree it worked makes me think that this is a new direction in UAV's.
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Icarex has a bias and you can add multiple layers to match the strength required and have the extra layers only where you need them. Use contact glue under each layer and finish with Minwax Polycrylic. Icarex weight 1/2 oz per sq yard and is very tough and has great strength. The aerospace engineers will laugh at such construction but I won a fly off with these building methods. They were not told as much as I've revealed here. They also have not figured out the power package either and that is not being disclosed. The only evidence of a power unit are some inlet and exhaust openings here and there. It is not a ducted fan or a jet and performs well and does not require any special boosting where launching and uses all off the shelf bits and pieces.
There are many ways to add strength to a foam wing and keep a low or zero signal. I'm experimenting with a pour in place method and using strips of Icarex in slits in the foam that are later attached to the covering.
A more exciting area is not radar but hiding the UAV from human eye sight. Unfortunately progress is slow because of lack of funding. Early flights suggest that it's possible. Making the last covering took days not hours but to the degree it worked makes me think that this is a new direction in UAV's.
My EZ*, which certainly qualifies as a foamie, does not have an ounce of clear packing tape all over it..... yet!
Regards,
TCIII