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    Electric Cloud Kitten

    Just a little background how it got started.

    Many years ago, Fred Reese, a model airplane designer, designed the Cloud Kitten for .15Cuin glow engines and rudder/elevator controls, which was published in an issue of the now defunct RCM magazine many years ago. When the speed400 motors became very popular later, he redesigned the Cloud Kitten for geared speed400 size electric motors, just before he passed away. His article was published in the Flying Models magazine by his brother, I think.

    I have been fascinated by some of his works as his model airplane designs often features simplicity and yet eye appealing. One good example is the Buttercup, which stole many hearts amongst the modellers. During a quick houskeeping session, I stumbled on some unused brushless motor and ESC, which were left behind after expiring an earlier model. I also have a mode 2 trasmitter and a receiver to go along with it. My FP 3S 1800mAh packs have been hibernating after the pylon race some years ago. After summing up all these, I found very little excuse NOT to start building it.

    The airframe are basically built like what you'll do with a rubber powered free flight model, other than it's size. The design features oversize airframe for the powerplant and yet built ultralight. The entire airframe are mostly built-up with sticks and covered with lightweight covering films.

    Apart from using brushless setup on this ship, I also made some minor deviations. I added a steerable tailwheel assembly from Dro-Bro for better ground handling. I couldn't find the main balsa spar material with the right size and I substituted it with a narrower spruce strip instead. Else, I'll say it is mostly original.

    The end result is no surprise at all. This superlight ship floats very well and has plenty of power and endurance to make you feel carried away while flying. It is like a very good strike between a Slowstick and an E-starter. It is much more floaty than the E-starter and yet much more rigid than the Slowstick. For someone like me, who has been flying mode 1 for the past 19 years, and yet still can take-off, fly and land this plane on mode 2, I think this already speaks for itself.

    Last edited by joe yap; 09-08-2009, 02:42 AM. Reason: grammar

    #2
    Looks good. 1.2m span?
    "Always fly with a responsible attitude. You may think that flying low over other people’s heads is proof of your piloting skill; others know better. The real expert does not need to prove himself in such childish ways..." - the Multiplex Build Manual

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      #3
      50" to be exact.

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        #4
        joe it looks nice , can it be used for a beginner? im sourcing for a plane to get my dad and slowstick is definately out.

        thanks in adv!

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          #5
          High-mounted rectangular wing, very obvious dihedral, and with a thick classic low-speed aerofoil too... definitely this is a floater suitable for beginners
          ------------------------------
          Airworthy: FMS Mini Trojan, Cloudsfly, BF-109 Funfighter, HK Mini Stick, Flasher 450 Pro, Mini Titan v2, E-Flite Blade MCPx.
          NIB: Multiplex FunCub, HK T-45.

          Comment


            #6
            Beginner? To fly, very much a 'Yes', but for building, that's another story.

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              #7
              My school's club badly needs some trainer planes for student first-timers to have their hands-on experiences on R/C model aviation. I had already passed a kit-built high-wing trainer to one of the competant flyer there, but there's a need for more very lightly loaded trainer planes to be flown within the campus field.

              Naturally, being one of the smartest looking high-wing trainer plane I can think of, the Cloud kitten design is chosen nonetheless. However, this airframe needs to be tough enough to withstand relatively greater amount of abuses as anticipated, but yet still light enough to have docile flying characteristics.

              To keep the costs low, I redesigned the model to accomodate a $20 brushless outrunner which can match a 12Amps ESC and 2S 850mah lipo, which I already have.

              The model ended up at 36" wingspan with open frame wing structure, but uses spruce spars, along with some shear webs. This is one of the best compromise between structural strength, stiffness vs weight. The fuselage will have full balsa sheet skin panels and full sheet balsa empennage. The landing gear is taken from an old foam Cessna ARF, which its owner decided not to use it.

              The end product tipped at 11oz ( 300+grammes), using 2 Emax analog servos, an Orange Rx, a HW 12a ESC, 2 S 850mah Lipo and Emax BL1812/11 with a 6x5" prop. I haven't measure the current draw yet, but I think it is a little underpropped.

              Just as my previous Cloud kittens built, this model has no vises. Although underpropped, it still has plenty of power to scoot around and I flew it on a full-charged pack for about 13 minutes, and landed with some quite a fair bit of capacity left. The prop is mounted on prop saver and the wings are held in place by rubber bands, which are failsafe designs for trainers like this one. The piano wire landing gear, not just look smart, but is also strong enough to absord quite a fair bit of landing shock and will also bent to absord high landing impacts, which can save the fuselage from tearing.

              Overall, I'm very happy with this build, and I have since setup another slave transimtter for trainees with a buddy cord. In fact, I like it so much that I feel like building another one!

              Last edited by joe yap; 27-11-2011, 06:18 PM.

              Comment


                #8
                Hey, looks good.

                Maybe you can re-design and release a plan for something incorporating flaps and ailerons.

                Then it'll be a flaps trainer.
                "Always fly with a responsible attitude. You may think that flying low over other people’s heads is proof of your piloting skill; others know better. The real expert does not need to prove himself in such childish ways..." - the Multiplex Build Manual

                Comment


                  #9
                  Yep, right now I'm building an aileron version, but no flaps yet.

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                    #10
                    A very sweet and pretty design. There is a lot of character in the designs of that era, unlike the clone like ARFs these days.
                    To win........one must not lose.

                    Confucius

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                      #11
                      Got another one ready to fly. This one comes with ailerons and steerable tail wheel. It has bigger motor and 3S lipo battery and tips at 14.3oz.

                      It's quite amusing that when I took out my handphone to take some pictures, my kids instant reaction is to dash behind the model and post.

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                        #12
                        By the way, I took out the red one to fly with my students yesterday morning. On the last pack, I encountered a signal locked out and the model tumbled all the way down from 100 feet all the way down without control. The only damage I got is a creased APC prop.

                        Now who says balsa planes are fragile?

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                          #13
                          some time ago

                          newbie: "you fly balsa only? then what happens if you need to repair after a crash?"

                          me: "oh.... then don't crash la!"

                          ok, ok I have only 2 non- balsa craft left....

                          but frankly Joe, how come so little damage? is it the thing is so light it fluttered to the ground, or it was self - correcting, or?
                          "Always fly with a responsible attitude. You may think that flying low over other people’s heads is proof of your piloting skill; others know better. The real expert does not need to prove himself in such childish ways..." - the Multiplex Build Manual

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I think the lightweight is the main thing. This thing is only 11 oz. When it happened, the elevator was stuck in 'up' direction, causing it to do a series of stalls before hitting the ground on its nose.

                            The rubber band mounted wings may have absorb quite a bit of impact and the piano wire landing gear simply spring back to its shape. It didn't even bend. Of ourse, the soft muddy field makes some difference as well.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Nice work Joe...glad your kids love the plane....
                              Punggol Field Walk - Precision Landing Required!

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