Scratch Build C-130

I was introduced to Flite Test and their foam plane building technics about a year ago and have been addicted ever since. My latest project is a C-130, which is one of my own design using Flite Test tried and true technics. The C-130 has a 60 inch wing span and required seven sheets of dollar tree foam board. I designed the plane as close to scale as I could yet keeping it relatively simple as that is a trademark of Flite Test and I wanted to stick to that concept.

Although the plane itself has cost under $10 to build using foam board and spare parts I had around the shop, the electronics to complete it exceeded $140. It has functioning ailerons, flaps, elevator, rudder and cargo door. In addition, I have mixed the four electric motors with the rudder so it has differential thrust which will allow the motors on each side of the wing to run at different speeds to assist in taxiing and also will give it the ability to go into a controlled flat spin if desired.

As with all the foam planes I have built, the primary building supplies are foam board, a high temperature glue gun, barbeque skewers, extreme packing tape (clear duct tape), thin plywood for control horns, wire for linkages and spray paint. Additionally, due to the size of this plane and motor configuration, I have added 3/16” plywood to increase strength at high stress areas. The electronics for this plane are (4)D2822/14 Brushless Outrunner 1450kv motors, (4) Turnigy Plush 25amp Speed Controllers, (7) Turnigy TG9e 9g / 1.5kg / 0.10sec Eco Micro Servos and (2) Turnigy 3S 2200 mAH Lipo batteries all from Hobby King. The transmitter I will be using is a Spectrum DX7 and the receiver is a Spectrum AR7000.

I painted the plane with satin granite spray paint and added decals that I created on my computer and printed on clear label sheets. The clear labels turned out to be slightly white but they look pretty good none the less. 

Finally, the maiden flight at our local flying field north of Great Falls. The wind was coming out of the west at 5 mph which is right down the runway, perfect. I taxied out on to the runway and quickly realized that I need to add some wire guides to the ends of the wing tips. When using the differential thrust to steer, the wing tips dip down and the prop on the outside motor strikes the ground. As you will see by the video, the takeoff was smooth other than me forgetting to steer down the runway. The plane flew very steady but had did not glide well when I cut the throttle. I have not yet determined if that is due to the size and position of the wing or the fact that I added 5.5 oz of weight to the nose to balance the CG. I did not try any aggressive maneuvers on this first flight but will experiment more on future flights. I also need to work on flying closer when recording video.

The photo below is actually after the maiden flight which I only had to replace a prop, so as you can imagine I am very happy with the first successful flight! The next flight I will try a cargo drop and see what the plane will really do.

I am looking forward to the next calm day to drain some more batteries and showing off the C-130 to RC flyers from across the State at our warbird fun fly later this summer. Thanks to everyone at Flite Test for their inspiration on building these great planes.