Ft Nutball (Balsa Version 1)

by dronepilot03 | October 15, 2018 | (3) Posted in Projects

So a buddy of mine and I were having a debate.  Which flies better, balsa or foam.  Being that between the two of us, we have built and crashed Nutballs ranging from 20 inch dia to 4 ft dia, we decided to build a 19.6 inch Nutball out of balsa wood.  We went to kinkos to get the plans copied to a single sheet of paper.  Then off to the local hobby store for parts.  While at the hobby store, I rolled the plans out and began discussion on how we would accomplish this.  My buddy (who I will call JumboJokers13), went to look at balsa and I started drafting the plans for wood placement.  We gathered the parts and went home.

The mid-section went up quick.  The wing tips went together well.  Both of us loved the sawtooth look but went on the path of laziness and flattened all the teeth.  We went with a elevon design based on the Snowball video.  Again, those were easy to craft.

Next was covering.  We have lots to choose from but settled on olive drab fabric solartex.  Both of us love old military vintage, so we went with a "Pancake" theme.  

The maiden flight was nerve wrecking.  He flew, I ran the trims.  Like a pilot, co-pilot we talked through our problems and solved them one by one.  The flight was awesome.  We crunched the prop on landing.  But it flew.  

Total weight was 15 ounces.  Heavier than the foam counter-part, but so much more fun to fly.  

Motor: 1400 kv turnigy

ESC: 20A plush

Battery: 1300 3s 30c eflite.

Prop: 8x6 slow fly.


This was a fun project.  Overall, we settled on the fact that in our opinion, balsa flies better.  But, I wouldn't attempt to fly this inside a gym.  It can fly at a small field though.  Hope you all enjoyed this.


COMMENTS

elijahf111 on October 16, 2018
that looks like a fun build, supersized i have never seen it to be honest. if flitetest ever moves to balsa videos they should totally do this
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Ft Nutball (Balsa Version 1)