Sea Duck (Conwing L-16)

by AircPirateNinsei | November 7, 2015 | (18) Posted in Projects

First I have to say special thanks to rcspaceflight, SnowRocker88, nevenelestate, and all the other people in the FT Forum for all the inspiration and to Flite Test for the skills that I have learned by building their airplanes!

Here is my version of the famous TaleSpin Sea Duck!

My Sea Duck prototype has a 900mm wingspan, differential thrust, and one inside elevator to reduce weight.

Look how she flies:


It took a few months to plan, build, and test this plane.

If you want to build your own Sea Duck, download the plans!

If you want to build your own Sea Duck, load the plan!
DOWNLOAD FREE PLAN

You can build this plane in different variants:
AILERONS | 1 INSIDE ELEVATOR | NO RUDDER (SERVO x 3)
AILERONS | 2 OUTSIDE ELEVATORS | NO RUDDER (SERVO x 4)
AILERONS | 1 INSIDE ELEVATOR | 2 RUDDER (SERVO x 4 OR 5)
AILERONS | 2 OUTSIDE ELEVATORS | RUDDER (SERVO x 5 OR 6)

AIRCRAFT SPECIFICATIONS:
LENGTH: 795mm | 31.30 in
WINGSPAN: 900mm | 35.43 in
CG: 22mm | 0.87 in

RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT:
SERVO (max. 6): 4.4g (TGY-1440A)
MOTOR (x2): DYS 1806, 2300 kv
ESC (x2): 12 amp
PROP (x2): 5 X 3 (5030) 1 x CW & 1 x CCW
BATTERY: 1300mAh 3S (minimum)

WEIGHT W/O BATTERY:
max. 600g | 21.16 oz

You can use your existing Mini Power Pods (for example from the FT Mini Guinea) with the Sea Duck Adapter. Here are some pictures of the adapter:

Have fun! :-)

COMMENTS

MEarly13 on November 19, 2015
This is Awesome! I remember as a kid I really wanted to fly the duck. Now I can. Awesome Design! Thanks for sharing. :-) Definitely gotta build one.
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Raul Montoya del Enfrente on November 17, 2015
Very nice! Have you tried water takeoffs and landings?
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AircPirateNinsei on November 18, 2015
No, but I will try water takeoffs and landings as soon as the local weather is getting better again. Strong wind and rough seas are keeping the Hangar closed at the moment.
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Krivak957 on November 16, 2015
Very impressive design.
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Yogenh on November 21, 2015
Did you do anything to keep it from getting the foam board wet?

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AircPirateNinsei on November 22, 2015
Yes, I have glued several layers of packaging adhesive tape with staggered seams one above the other and sealed the last seam with a thin layer of hot glue! Also you could cover the entire area with a thin layer of hot glue or acrylic paint for caulking it.
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81zapper on November 16, 2015
A little Quacky looking ( yea I know sorry) looks awesome
nice job Gonna build me one of those
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HilldaFlyer on November 26, 2015
Looks cool. I'd like to see the water takeoff and landing when it happens. Update the article.
Best!
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Yogenh on April 24, 2016
Have you done take off and landings on water with it?

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AircPirateNinsei on August 19, 2016
Not successfull - i am thinking of building a version with a larger wingspan and more wing area.
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noisyplane on March 13, 2016
Could you tell me what's the stall speed of this plane?
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AircPirateNinsei on August 19, 2016
No, sorry!
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Flight Bits on July 23, 2016
I printed the plans but it seems like it's intended for something other than DTF (Adam's ReadyBoard). All of the channels seem ~1mm too narrow (tried taking paper off). I'd guess you targeted 3mm depron (given it's a sea plane) but the plans clearly anticipate paper covering (since it has channels). I thought maybe the plans were shrunk by the printer but the sizing legend is correct.

So I have to ask what material were the plans designed for?

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AircPirateNinsei on August 19, 2016
I am so sorry, but i designed these plans for foamboards with a thickness of 3 mm. It was my first build and i only had these materials at that time to try this plane. Later i thought about designing a version for about 5 mm foamboards, but the water test was not successfull, so i discarded this idea. You should build the FT Sea Duck!
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Sea Duck (Conwing L-16)