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by Breck Baldwin
DIY RC Airplanes from Scratch
Cover
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgments
1 Get Your Stuff
Introducing the Flack
Parts and Materials
Flight Simulator Controller
Radios
Motors
Batteries
Battery Connectors
Chargers and Power Supplies
Power Supplies
Servos
Airframe Materials
Tape
Cable Ties/Zip Ties
Conclusion
2 What Do All the Parts Do?
The Flight Cycle of a Flack
The Pilot
The Builder
The Airframe
The Wing
The Elevons
The Stabilizers
The Deck
The Transmitter
How the Transmitter Works
How to Control the Sticks
Mixing
Throttle
Rudder or Yaw Control
Trim Tabs
Rechargeable Batteries
The Receiver
How Servos Get Information
What the Radio Channels Do
Channel 1
Channel 2
Channel 3
Electronic Speed Control and the Battery Eliminator Circuit
Power Limitations of ESC and BEC
The Flight Battery
The Motor
Conclusion
3 Building the Deck
Tools and Supplies
Charge Your Battery
The Deck
Fabricate the Deck
Attach Servos
Create the Motor Mount
Mount Propeller
Attach the Motor Mount to the Deck
Solder the Speed Control
Power Up the Airplane
Powering Down the Airplane
Securing Parts to the Deck
Conclusion
4 The Airframe of the Flack
The Airframe
Attaching the Control Rods to the Elevons
Attaching the Deck
Centering Controls
Establish Elevon Trim
Final Cleanup
Conclusion
5 Learning to Fly One Crash at a Time: The Splinter Method
Safety
The Cone of Crashing Potential
Trim
Adjusting Trim
Flight Simulator Setup and Training
Incrementally Learning to Fly
Get a Helper/Partner/Friend to Help Out
Control Sensitivity
Crashes
Task 0: Approach the Field Ready to Fly
Task 1: Launching without Power
Task 2: RC on Launch to Landing, No Power
Task 3: RC on Launch and Landing, Low Power, Cut Throttle
Task 4: RC on Launch and Landing, Increasing Power
Task 5: Turning
The Wind
Overall Good Strategies for Learning to Fly
Skill Building
Precision Landing
Hit the Balloon
Fly in Stressful Situations
Aerobatics
Conclusion
6 Keeping You and Your Airplane Alive: Diagnostics and Repair
Preflight Checklists of Use
The Brief Preflight in Seconds: Servos, Up, Down, Left, Right, Power, Launch
More Complete Checklist for Aircraft of Questionable Integrity
Crash Kit
Basic Crash Kit
More Complete Crash Kit
Kinds of Repairs
The Big-Crash Postflight Inspection
More Specific Fixes
Completely Dead Airplane
Completely Dead Airplane: Rebind the Receiver
Completely Dead Airplane: ESC Not Sending Power to the Receiver
Completely Dead Airplane: Receiver/Servo
Completely Dead Airplane: Transmitter
Water Immersion
Servos Operate But Motor Does Not
Evaluating Motor Damage
Symptom: Motor Has Weak Thrust
Motor Vibrates
Motor Gets Very Hot
Motor Doesn’t Work at All
Battery Damage
Highly Suspect Battery
Check Battery Pack
Battery Disposal
Servo Damage
Servo Not Moving
Servo Arms Are No Longer Vertical When Trim Tabs Are Centered
Busted Servo Arm
Broken Propeller
Kinds of Prop Damage
Flutter
Poor Radio Connection
Conclusion
7 Make Your Plane Look Good for Day Flying
General Considerations to Keep in Mind
Examples
Mouse: Avery Stick-on Labels and Sharpies
Purple Monster: Wrapping Paper
Big Pink Angst: Fresnel-Lens Plastic
Silver Shark: Plastic Film
Brooklyn Aerodrome Orange Plane (BAOP) Paint on Foam
Blue Angel and Others in Printed Tyvek
Flying Heart: Sign Vinyl
Firefly: Balloon Film
Decorating with Tape
Conclusion
8 Make Your Plane Look Good at Night
Overall Considerations
Major Ways to Illuminate Aircraft
Color at Night
Electroluminescent Wire
How El-Wire Works
Powering El-Wire
Soldering an Inverter for BEC Power
Soldering El-Wire
Stripping the El-Wire
Soldering the El-Wire to Male Header Pins
Simple Decoration
LED-Based Approaches
Single-Point LEDs
Strip LEDs
High-Power LEDs and Fiberoptics
Other Illumination Options
Weight Considerations
BEC-Powered Lighting
Robustness
Conclusion
9 Other Shapes
Inorganic Produce
Banana
Carrot
Strawberry
Flying Heart
SketchUp Is Your Friend
Travel Flack
Bat
Crystal Towel
Semi-Circle
Manta Ray
Design
Evolving the Moving Fins
The Radio
The Build
Flying
3D Banana
Conclusion
10 Aerodynamics for the Hacker
Lift
Conditions for Lift: Positive Aerodynamic Angle of Attack and Airflow
Lift, Part 1
Lift, Part 2
Pitch, Roll, and Yaw
Center of Gravity (CG)
Reflex and Flying Wings
Reasoning about Lift
Drag
Glide Ratio
Conclusion
11 Hack the Flack: Make and Fly Your Own Design
Getting the Idea
Prototyping
A Plank
Designing and Building a Novel Design
Building the Powered Version
Scaling Up from the Glider Proof of Concept
Structural Considerations
Placing Equipment
Flight Testing
New Shapes by Morphing Old Ones
Incremental Refinement
Conclusion
12 Simulators, Autopilots, Video, and Buddy Boxing
Flight Simulators
Flying Model Simulator (FMS)
CRRCsim
Autopilots
Copilot CPD4
Full Autopilot
Video from the Air
Passive Video
First-Person Video (FPV)
Buddy Boxing a.k.a. Student Driving for Pilots
Hacking the Transmitters for Buddy Boxing
Conclusion
Index
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