Swappable Axis Warbird prototype

by onebladeprop | March 9, 2013 | (13) Posted in Projects
After seeing the sneak peek image of the flitetest warbird I decided it needed a rival. You simply can't have a war with only one side. Once I decided what to build I set off designing a plane. Design cues were taken from previous builds by flitetest. As of right now the first prototype has been built and flown.

The wind was gusting to 17mph, hardly the kind of weather you maiden a new design in. But, no guts, no glory. She got off the ground ok but the plane seemed to want to dive on me. I trimmed in some up elevator and got it to level off nicely. That was the only trim I had to give it. Roll rates were nice, perhaps a little fast for a warbird but close. Since I was concerned that the plane was nose heavy I tried some inverted flight. I had to give it some elevator but not nearly as much as I expected. It actually felt about right. It was getting pretty cold so I came in for a landing. I didn't have enough power and accidentally landed in the snow. The landing gear I put on was something I had cooked up real quick because I wasn't going to maiden a prototype hand launching in 17mph wind. I really only expected the gear to hold up for takeoff and maybe a landing or two. It turned out to be far stronger than I anticipated. The gear and plane showed no damage in the impact with the snow. Since it's proven it's self strong enough this landing gear design will be in the final plans. All together the plane handled well and even cut through the wind better than expected.

I have already made several design changes and will be building the second prototype in the coming weeks. I am also working on a canopy. Considering how well the maiden flight went I hope to have it perfected and plans released before too long.

I realize the front of the fuse is a bit off. My glue wasn't hot enough and it cured before I got it set right. This will be fixed on prototype two.

 photo IMG_0343_zps884d8d43.jpg  photo IMG_0342_zps73b5f1e0.jpg  photo IMG_0340_zpsaccbbc37.jpg  photo IMG_0339-1_zpsb1990b90.jpg

COMMENTS

nickatredbox on March 11, 2013
Is it a 24 Gram motor?
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Exhodus on March 11, 2013
The plane wanted to dive, do you have a slight up angle of the motor? If not, that might fix the diving issue!

Very nice looking plane btw! Looking forward for the plans :)
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onebladeprop on March 11, 2013
dst-1200 motor

1300mah3s battery 8x6 prop. I do plan to try some other motors too. I found on a later flight the diving was because of being nose heavy. prototype 2 is almost finished hopefully I'll get some video.
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earthsciteach on March 11, 2013
Very nice looking. ME-109 Swapperschmidt!

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Jaxx on March 11, 2013
That's a beautiful aircraft!
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onebladeprop on March 12, 2013
Thanks for the compliments! Hopefully #2 will be done today and I'll fly it when the weather breaks. I made some adjustments to the tail for strength and the fuselage for looks. I'm also going to try something on #3 to make the airfoil a little nicer. And I have a few ideas to try for the cockpit.
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Noobi1951 on March 12, 2013
Beautiful ! It is simply amazing what creative minds can do.
If you have not tried heat shrinking a 2 liter bottle for the canopy you might give it a try, I found the how to video on youtube and it worked great for me. Now you have made me want to try a war bird.
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onebladeprop on March 13, 2013
I have tried the bottle canopy trick before. It makes a nice canopy. The problem is you need to make a mold to do it and I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible so anyone can build one when I release the plans.
I started a thread in the forum so people can follow my progress more closely and discuss construction ideas http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?3751-BF-109-Swapperschmidt&p=44793#post44793
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Dagger_117 on March 15, 2013
Nice!..I was going to design one of these in the near future but you beat me to it...well done
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Adib Vahedi on March 17, 2013
Wow looks great keep it up!

Keep up the great work!!!!!!!!!!!
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PyroBraniac on June 25, 2013
When are the plans coming out?

Awesome Plane!

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Yogenh on February 13, 2014
You going to post plans for it
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onebladeprop on May 6, 2014
Sorry I never completed the project. Some circumstances distracted me and shelved the project and never revisited it. Ultramicrobe has a 109 based on the spitfire that looks like it flies really well. Take a look at his design http://www.flitetest.com/articles/foamboard-messerschmitt-bf109-based-on-ft-spitfire
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Swappable Axis Warbird prototype