Foamy Tucano Version 2 build thread

[weeliano]

I think I can build this machine!

Hi Tony!

I found the foam cutting machine you described.



It looks simple enough, I think I can build one for less than the asking price of US$179! I'll probably use it for my future projects.

I've had a some friends who purchased a foam wing cutting system and found it to work very well. It can even cut foam wings down to a feather edge at the trailing edge. I cannot recall the name off hand and will go dig up my modelling magazines for it. Has a name that sounds like Featherite or Featherlite something like that? It uses weights and pulleys to pull the nichrome wire. I've seen the output from this machine and its produces very smooth, ridge free foam wings.

Since you are a foam freak (I'm a balsa basher), this machine would earn its keep for you in no time. I'll let you have the details once I find it.

Tony

[weeliano]

Sembawang Morning Funfly 18 June 2006

Check out the latest photos of my Tucano in flight in this thread
(Scroll right to the bottom of the 1st post to see it in action!)

With the larger propellor (10 inch versus 9 inch previously) now my Tucano has about 20 percent more power and I got more power to execute loops, rolls and other aerobatics. Using a heavier battery made the flying experience much smoother. I'm very happy with the way this plane is handling now and I can safely say that this is the best flying plane I've built so far! This plane however is not for beginners and you'll definitely need quick reflexes to control it properly.

[Junwei]

hey, thanks alot.. i tink i now kinda understand what to use for my glider.. haha... ur plane is so chio.. sanded down so niceli.. haha.. envy man..

Junwei

[Tony]

Hi Tony!

I found the foam cutting machine you described.



It looks simple enough, I think I can build one for less than the asking price of US$179! I'll probably use it for my future projects.

Thats the one. Yes, the idea is simple enough and I guess you could try and make a copy. I have however found from experience that such things often look deceptively simple. The trial and error to get it to work may eventually cost you more than the price and you may not get it to work as well as the original.

Its been around for many years and I've seen it work. The cutter can produce wings to a feather edge at the trailing edge with an absolutely smooth finish throughout the entire wing. Needs some getting used to set the cutting speed right etc.

Tony

[weeliano]

2nd Video of my Tucano in Flight

Many Thanks to Adrian's wife, Claira for helping me to video this flight! And sorry for giving her a sore neck! Was flying too fast for her to keep track!!!

http://www.daddyhobby.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1870&nocache=1

Update!

Latest video of the Tucano's Flight can be seen here!

http://www.daddyhobby.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1882&cat=500&ppuser=1374

[weeliano]

Plans Plans Plans!

Plans Drafted, but not labeled yet. Need to take a break after fine tuning the plans. Please remember that the images are not to scale yet, I'll find another time to scale them properly. Use the blue square grid to determine the lengths. Each Grid square is 1inch. The Depron foam used are 6mm and 3mm thick.

Here they are, the images are quite large, they should provide sufficient information for anyone who has scratch-built model aircraft before.

To download the images, simply place the mouse cursor over the images and right mouse click, select the "save image as" option to download.

Use the exploded image to see how the parts fit together



The image below shows the amount of dihedral used.


The side view


Exploded side view with bulkheads turned to the side


Topview



Tail surfaces



That’s it for now, I will try to compile everything into a PDF and scale it accordingly. Damn tired after spending hours working on this!

[Tony]

Nice. I wish I could draft using the PC like you have. What program do you use to do these drawings? Is it easy to learn how to use it?

[weeliano]

Hi Tony,

The software I use is not meant for drafting, but it's a 3D animation package called 3dstudio max. For beginners, it will be very daunting to learn, that's why I teach 3dstudio for a living . The learning curve is very steep as this is a very rich program with many core features and since it is owned by Autodesk, the ancestor program, "3dstudio for Dos" was used to render 3D objects imported from AutoCAD. I've been using 3dstudio for years so I felt comfortable using it to design my planes. I am now re-rendering it to scale and removing excessive lines that will confuse builders. The final plans should be ready tonight.

There's no short cut in learning drafting software packages, if you are really interested, I'd suggest you start with drawing software like Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia's Freehand or even Adobe Photoshop. But if you dare, you can jump right in and use 3dstudio Max, just get a good intruction manual and be patient. The 3D tucano you see in the beginning of the thread is modeled and rendered using 3Dstudio Max with a little bit of Photoshop post processing.

[weeliano]

PDF plans

Okay folks, here's the link to download the PDF plans of my Tucano.

It is by no means completed yet, still a lot of labelling work to be done, but the current plans should have enough information to start building. Also I need to cut up the plans to enable tile-able printing. This is my first time drafting plans of such a detailed level, so if the quality leaves much to be desired, I apologize and I will try harder next time

Here's the link.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531978&page=3&pp=15

Enjoy!
Weelian

[Tony]

Hi Tony,

The software I use is not meant for drafting, but it's a 3D animation package called 3dstudio max. For beginners, it will be very daunting to learn, that's why I teach 3dstudio for a living . The learning curve is very steep as this is a very rich program with many core features and since it is owned by Autodesk, the ancestor program, "3dstudio for Dos" was used to render 3D objects imported from AutoCAD. I've been using 3dstudio for years so I felt comfortable using it to design my planes. I am now re-rendering it to scale and removing excessive lines that will confuse builders. The final plans should be ready tonight.

There's no short cut in learning drafting software packages, if you are really interested, I'd suggest you start with drawing software like Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia's Freehand or even Adobe Photoshop. But if you dare, you can jump right in and use 3dstudio Max, just get a good intruction manual and be patient. The 3D tucano you see in the beginning of the thread is modeled and rendered using 3Dstudio Max with a little bit of Photoshop post processing.

I am already using Adobe Illustrator for designing graphics which I print on water slide decal paper. These are the decals I use to decorate my planes. But these programs cannot be used for drafting. By this, I mean doing the kind of drawings I used to do with a drawing board, T-square and a pencil. I am not so much interested into being able to render 3D images. I just want to be able to do some designing work on the PC and using it to render the parts (like formers and ribs) out for me. I tried a couple of Cad/cam programs. Gave up on it becos it took me 1/2 an hour to draw a circle when I could have done it in 2 secs manually on a piece of paper with a compass

[weeliano]

Well, learning any graphic software can be daunting and time consuming. Though the software I'm using is not meant for drafting, one thing it does well is visualizing how parts fits together in 3D as shown in the animation below. (it's a Gif animation, so it will take some time to load.)

[skymaster001]

weeliano sry man

weeliano sry to say this but your tucano is off man thw wing dosent have enought diaeter and the body is a little too big and i know because i own 10 tucanos the whole smoke squadron(1/4 scale contains 7 planes) and the res are 32 or 35 inch wingspan electrics and if u want i can make a copy and send u the plans for thr .60 size tucano for about 15 follars and if anyone else is intrested i can make copies for u and the weeliano u can make the plane off the plans because the plane will fly with a few defections but it wont fly right and this plane is hell to fly if not built right or u dont have much experience trust me ive been flying for 20 years...only fly tucanos too...

[benjovi]

hey weeliano i am curious as to how you made that 3D motor and those servos? and how long did it take you to render that 3D model?

[weeliano]

hey weeliano i am curious as to how you made that 3D motor and those servos? and how long did it take you to render that 3D model?

Hi benjovi,

It didn't take that long really. I just took a steel ruler and just measured the motor to get the dimensions. The motor shape is just a simple cylinder primitive. Same case for the servos, they are just simple primitive shapes that I altered based on measurements I made on the actual servos. The whole 3D model probably took a few hours to do if I remembered correctly. The entire model was modeled and rendered on 3Dstudio Max.

[benjovi]

my computer isnt able to run the program i downloaded it and my computers graphic quality isnt good enough for the program but do you think if you have any spare time would you be able to create plans for a depron foam Cessna 152?
in PDF format?