Milpitas, CA
        

How to Build a Wild Wing for Combat Flying
Original plans from taken from Pete J's website. Link to BayRC forum for inspiration for this project.
More Links to subject

As soon as I started to build my new Combat airplane I had a lot of questions so
I decided to documented my Wild Wing build to help others with their build.

Goals: Flight Pictures
  • Light plane for slow combat flying.
  • Plane Weight should be 6oz. Maximum is 8oz.
  • Battery Size should be 2 Cell, 610mah to 800mah.
  • Use 9 grams cheap servos.
   

 Combat Flying Scenarios (Beta Testing)

 Flying wing CG calculator


Equipment to buy from one store...in china!

  • Motor - hexTronik 20gram Brushless Outrunner 2300kv
  • Propellers - GWS "EP-5043"
  • Servos - HXT900 9g / 1.6kg / .12sec.
  • ESC1 - Any 9A Electronic Speed Controller will work.
  • Batteries - Rhino 610mAh, 2S, 7.4v, 20c Lipoly
  • Charger1, Charger2 - HexTronik Dual Balancer/Charger (JST plug)
  • Balancer - MKS 3in1 Balance/Discharger System LCD. Optional

Contact: mike@bowns.net

  Equipment and Tools:  
  • Spektrum DX6 Radio Transmitter
  • Spektrum Small Receiver
  • Two Mini Servos
  • Phoenix 10 Speed Controller
    by Castle Creations
  • 720mah 2 cell Lipo battery
  • Motor: Custom Rewound Hextronic 16-gram motor by Dave North
  • Propeller: EP-5043
  • Wire cutters, other hand tools
  • Foam Safe Glue (Epoxy Strength)
  • Foam Safe CA Glue
  • Exacto Blade
  • Sand Paper
  • Wide Packaging Tape
  • 6mm Depron Foam Sheet
  • Double Sided Tape
  • Blenderm Tape
  • Small Motor Mount (wood)
  • Solder Gun, Shrink Tubing
  • Velcro Strap for Battery
  • Light Weight Paint             
Original Wild Wing kit with all of it's accessories.
$25 bucks + $5 for shipping.
You will use only 30% of the accessories in this build.

 
       Click on picture for larger view
Make a 4 inch wide cardboard template.

  
Two inches from center on both sides,
cut out 4 inches total from the middle of the body.

Question: Why cut a perfectly good airplane body?
Answer: The airplane will be lighter and more maneuverable.

Goal is to have a light plane for slow combat flying.		  
Plane's wing span was 35 inch and now is 31 inches.

Note: Do not use the carbon wing spars (added weight) because your plane will fly slow due to the type of motor you will be installing
and battery that will be used.

Note: Remove the Rear leading edge wood trim as well.
The wing should be all foam at this point of the install.		  
I used an old carbon fiber Trex 450 helicopter tail blade as a biscuit before joining the two halves together.

Note: I didn't have a large piece of sand paper at the moment so I used the sidewalk's grit surface in front of my house to sand down my imperfect knife cut to get a flat surface before joining to two halves together.



Aeromicro, (Sunnyvale ,CA) recommend this glue for my foam plane.
Titebond Polyurethane Liquid Glue.		  
This stuff likes to foam up.

Instead of using weights I used wide packaging tape to hold the two haves together. Strips were about 4 to 6 inch long.

Wear gloves, this stuff is sticky.




After a day of drying I cut and sanded off the excess foam.		  
Motor from Dave North.

Hex 16-gram 11T Wye ABC 24awg Spike wire
Rm = .1145
Io = 1.10
Vloss ( .1145 x 1.1 ) = .126
Vin ( 8.03 - .126 ) = 7.904
Kv ( 22727 / 7.904 ) = 2875
GWS 5043 *D Hex 620 2S (Orange Prop)
15839 rpm @ 7.26v/9.70a 326 grams 11.5 oz/thrust 69.6% Efficient

Read the blog to get a hold of him and
he'll sell you a nice rewound motor with propeller adaptor for $25.

Propeller is a is an EP-5043. They are $1.00 each at Aeromicro.		  
I found some more extra carbon fiber parts from my helicopter's parts stash so I used it as a motor mount otherwise you would use a small piece of thin plywood.   
Unit is glued and mounted.

I also added some 6mm depron foam on the top and bottom
for bracing which I also got from Aeromicro		  
Motor in place. 

POST BUILD UPDATE:
My motor mount plate is 1.5inch from the rear leading ledge of the plane.
Center Gravity (C.G.) is 7 1/8th inches from font nose leading edge.
The plane flew like it was tail heavy and I had to add weight to the front.

I added a small ball bearing in the nose for correct C.G. balance until I wreck and have to remount the motor.

BUILD CORRECTION:
Change motor mount plate placement to 2 inches from rear leading edge.
C.G. should now be 6 7/8th from font nose leading edge		  
Electronics. 


Double sided tape for Servo mounting.


POST BUILD UPDATE:
Buy the cheap 9gram servos from eBay. They have a fast throw and are super cheap to replace because your servo gears will get stripped.

My current servos that came with my transmitter are notable slower and are not as powerful as the Hextronix.		  


Bottom Coroplast (Corrugated Plastic) hatch cover
for speed controller and receiver.

This was cut from the original hatch for the plane.



Test fit hatch.

  
 Blenderm tape also from Areomicro is used
as a hinge of the hatch and ailerons.

  

POST BUILD UPDATE:
I added holes for more ventilation.
I added a finger flap using tape so I can open the hatch.





Velcro from kit holds the hatch closed.		  
6mm Depron. 

Plans at Pete's website

I rounded my vertical fin edges in my build.
I made up pattern for the ailerons.		  
Fins painted Red. I used Testors spray paint. Very light stuff.


Aileron horn mounts 		  
 Blenderm tape in action again as a hinge for the ailerons.

Note: I would suggest using one small nylon hinge near the horn for stability and just use tape for the rest of the hinge.


Note: I tapered the aileron fin that meets the rear leading edge of the wing so the hinge tape could move or flex up and down more smoothly.

Tapper: Pressing the foam together with my fingers along the entire edge to create a slight "V" shape.		  

POST BUILD UPDATE:

After my first set of aileron were torn off I redid them with an angle cut. I then used a mini plastic hinge right next to the control horn and used Depron tape for the rest of the hindge.


Picture two shows how I cut the angle on the aileron.
Speed controller placement.

I used a straw with tiny "V" cuts or saw tooth cuts in the tip to tunnel a long straight hole from the speed control compartment to the top of the wing for the motor wires to pass through.




Receiver placement. 		  

Connecting the motor.

Notice how the motor has all black wire leads?
I took a guess and connected it and it spun the correct direction;
So I left it alone.		  
I used a Velcro strap used to group wires and pushed it though
the body and back up on the other side.

Battery from eBay. The 720mah battery has some issues with it solder joints which is probably why it was so cheap so I ended up taking it apart, re-solder the connections and connecting a 3 wire balance connector.
(updated battery not pictured and probably irrelevant)

Note: Only use a 600mah to 800mah Lipo battery.
Any thing bigger will work but if you run a 1200mah battery and you split my plane in half while in mid air I will point at you and call you names.		  
Tape the leading edges to protect them from collisions with other planes.

 Strapping tape is from kit.
I think I'm supposed to blunt the nose tip...but I didn't.
I'll probably get in trouble.


Tape follow curve of wing tip.		  
Double sided tape holds the servo in place.
Blenderm tape on top of servo as well as over the servo wires.


Rod on server horn is bent downward for safety
and to not gouge other plane when then connect in the air. 		  
Painted 6mm Depron foam fins.

Don't glue them in to the slot because they will most likely get rip out during combat.  Just use CA foam safe glue to glue them in place. 


POST BUILD UPDATE:
Always put tape on the leading edges of your fins to prevent a tear from starting during contact.  Use either a strip of tape as shown or a piece that is little wider and flaps over both edges.

Picture shows a different set of fins with red tape from kit after the first fins were sheered off during flight. You can also see how much glue I've already to the base of the fins. This is probably the strongest part of the plane. :-)		  
I added a shim or actually an "O" ring to the horn connector
to limit side to side play at the connection.

The shim is the black rubber "O" ring.
This was only done because I used the hardware that came with the kit.


POST BUILD UPDATE:
Add a strip of packing tape from the kit to the top and bottom of the horn linkage area for more support.
Mine were torn out to easily during an impact in flight.		  

POST BUILD UPDATE:
I had to add reinforcement after Damage #5.



Tape on the top and bottom was added.
Top

10-26-2008		  
Bottom   
Here are some shots of battle damage after two flights.

Damage #1, 10-25-2008



Damage #2, 10-26-2008		  
Damage #3, 10-26-2008



Damage #4, 10-28-2008
Damage #5, 10-29-2008



Damage #6, 11-06-2008
Damage #7, 11-06-2008
Battery with velco strap torn out.



Damage #8, 11-07-2008
Damage #9, 11-09-2008

My attacker took both my fins off. I put full blame on Kasra.

I was still able to fly without the fins but I had serious wag issues.
The plane was very unstable. I know...Well Duh. I had a lot of fun.
Damage #10, 2008-11-12
Ah I'm tired of taking pictures. Just know that you plane requires mending after every time you going flying with these guys.

So far my tail fins have been ripped of 3 times.

On the field, a hot glue gun is a necessary tool for a quick fix. Thanks
Rick for the use of your glue gun.
Damage #11, 2008-11-15
Mother ship has arrived. 2008-12-12


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