How to Murder an F18

by CrazyFretz | January 30, 2014 | (12) Posted in Just Fun

A while ago I made an extremely underpowered F18. I used the RCPowers F18 V2 plans. It was my second build.

The video is just some fun that a friend and I had when we took it up the field to fly. Little did we know that we'd be taking it back in pieces and throwing it in the bin afterwards. But it was a hell of a lot of fun! I hope you'll also enjoy the fun we had by watching the video.

The video is in 2 halves. First half is a couple of build photos and then video of some sort of nice flying. On board cameras to boot.

Second half is carnage!

The reason it was so underpowered was down to 2 factors. 1 the power system and 2 the material I used.

The power system was a 2200kv motor with a 1500mah battery, 30amp ESC. I know now that if I put in a 2200mah battery it would have been like a rocket. I was new back then however!

The material I used was project foam board. It was horrible to cut, and had this thick plasticy paper on the outside which made it on the heavy side. I got it from Hobbycraft (I'm in UK). I'm used to using Depron which is lighter and nicer to build with. I would never build with this foamboard stuff again - only depron for me!

Lessons learned from this plane:

  • foamboard not good
  • 1500mah battery not good
  • ripping the top cover off because it doesn't need it - not good
  • learning to fly inverted and then pulling UP on the stick when low to ground - not good 
  • making a video which is mostly about crashing a plane and trying to get it to fly again - very funny!

Enjoy

- Find this article & others like it at www.FliteTest.com -

COMMENTS

rslegge on February 10, 2014
Nice video, you and your camera man both have really a good attitude and sense of humor. I like the music woven in too. It seemed OK to laugh because you did and I have done the same thing with a POS foamie of my own. Usually the hardware bits survive. Thanks for the video.
Log In to reply
CrazyFretz on February 11, 2014
Thanks! it was a lot of fun!
Log In to reply
notsane on February 10, 2014
Did you ever try turning the prop around? The numbers should always face forwards ...
Log In to reply
CrazyFretz on February 11, 2014
Might have been the problem, I was new to it back then so I can't remember if I checked haha
Log In to reply
Royall on February 11, 2014
That was fun to watch! Love the humor!
Log In to reply
pintokitkat on February 11, 2014
The mah rating of a battery has nothing to do with the speed the plane goes, just how long it goes before the battery runs out. For the same prop, and motor, it's the voltage that determines the speed the motor turns (the kv rating) which relates to revolutions per volt, so a three cell lipo, (12 volts) will turn the prop half as fast again as a 2 cell lipo (8 volts) in theory.
Log In to reply
pintokitkat on February 11, 2014
Absolutely brilliant. I built an RC Powers F35 and it just kept on flying no matter how many times it crashed. More tape and glue and back it went. i think yours looked fixable. More gaffer tape, that's all it needed.

I use the foamboard from Hobbycraft and it works fine. What did you cut yours with? It looked like you'd been using your teeth.
Log In to reply
dammuozz on February 11, 2014
FLY'EM LIKE YOU STOLE'EM!!! ....that's how you fly a foamie XD nice video!
Log In to reply
AG Pro on February 12, 2014
Fun to watch. Thanks for sharing.
Log In to reply

You need to log-in to comment on articles.

CrazyFretz

(56)

How to Murder an F18