Mashing two airplane designs together is a great way to get started in experimenting with aircraft design. It's also a ton of fun! Recently, Alex and Stefan got stuck into adding more wings to two FT Mustangs. Here's what happened.
Inspiration from the pros
The mission was simple: add more wings. Alex went for a classic biplane look using struts cut into the lower wing to hold a larger flat surface on top.
Stefan went full crazy mode and opted for a triplane with three wings, each with dihedral. Choosing where to use dihedral/polyhedral and where to use a straight wing can radically affect your flight performance. Stefan's design, with just one set of ailerons, was made to be very stable in its lateral axis.
Alex's rather battered 'Mustang BP' was all ready for action after the addition of some wire struts to make it look the part. These also added strength. When designing or modifying new airplanes, always think about structure as well as aerodynamics. Having the plane rapidly deconstruct whilst flying is not ideal.
If you ignore the mustang paint scheme, it really does look like an entirely new airplane design!
On the other hand, there's Stefan's triplane...
This magnificent contraption certainly looks like a mashup! But that's what we were all going for, so top marks. Strength is derived from the large paintstick supports along with additional struts at the outer wingtips.
On the ground, Alex modified FT Mustang awaits clearance for takeoff.
With a giant toss into the air, Stefan's invention gets flying for the first time. It needed some counterweight stuck to one wing (a spare LiPo) to get balanced!
The possibilities are endless
Here's a blunt nose Versa Wing combined with the fuselage of a Pun Jet build by good old Dan Sponholz.
I just love this FT Arrow Mashup. It looks amazing! The custom plane was built by community member TheJuan who decided to stick a nose complete with canards onto the standard flying wing. This makes it look quite like an XB-70 Valkyrie!
Here are two cousins side by side, although you probably wouldn't know at first.
This biplane is something that I actually put together quite a few months back. I took the plans of an FT Mini Scout and changed up some of the shapes. This resulted in a cute little airplane. Unfortunately, although it looks cool, you wouldn't want to build one; the thing flew like a brick. It's all about figuring out what works and what doesn't, though, so we learn for next time!
If you have a go at mashing up two designs together, share it with us by writing an article of your own! Just remember to include lots of pictures and descriptions.
Links
Log In to reply
Log In to reply