Experimental Airlines has been around for almost as long as Flite Test. Ed, the chap who started the popular YouTube channel, developed an innovative build technique using foam board and packaging tape is now used by hundreds of people across the globe! Personally, I'm quite a fan. Here's a brief introduction to Ex-Air.
The Build Technique
What Ed set out to do (years back when he first started making videos in 2011) was provide the community of RC plane builders out there with a set of standardised building techniques. These centred around using tape covered foam board as the primary build material.
The advantages of the tape covered foam board was that it would last way longer than the standard untreated product. Before Flite Test Foam Board, the normal stuff was pretty useless at repelling water. If you want to build a reliable and robust airplane that will last for years, tape may still be a good idea.
With tape covered foam board, Ed showed how to build standardised fuselage, tail and wing sections. These sections can be put together in any combination you wish to create all sorts of aircraft configurations. It's almost like the Lego system of RC planes! This FPV aircraft (below) was assembled around 3 years ago which using these very same techniques. The soaring behemoth had a wing of 2-meters and could fly for over an hour.
The Experimental Airlines Fleet
One of my favourite designs from Ed is the very simple and sleek looking Synapse Flying Wing. This aircraft is made up of two standard wing sections cut and attached together. You can even fold it up for transport if you wish. Along with this, the Synapse has a removable pod that allows an operator to mix and match wing and fuselage parts! Genious. I built one a few weeks ago and it really does deliver.
Another popular design was the Axon. This was cleverly conceived with a 'double-decker' fuselage meaning you could fit camera gear above the battery tray.
The Photon is another awesome creation from Ed. Its performance is highly impressive.
Make sure you check out the other designs by Ed on his channel. There are over ten individual aircraft you can build. Most of these have full instructional videos. Although Ed has said in his latest video that he is taking a break from RC at the moment, we can't wait to see more from him in the future along with community builds using his own methods.
Have you built any of Experimental Airline's Designs? Let everyone know in the comments!
Links
Experimental Airlines on Youtube
Experimental Airlines on Flite Test
Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
Thanks for highlighting his work.
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Nice article to raise awareness of his techniques.
I built this many years ago and it is still in good shape:
https://goo.gl/photos/d1yZQgxagHcWPB4d9
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