Trying to build a foam board UAV?

by Red20RC | January 18, 2014 | (8) Posted in Projects

I’ve become more and more fascinated recently by the function and purpose of UAV’s and Drones. Not so much the military versions, but the smaller civilian units capable of aerial photography, surveillance, support etc.

Could I use the same Flite Test techniques I’ve been using to turn out foam board parkflyers to create a stable, efficient foam board UAV?

Searching for inspiration…

I knew from the start that this was going to be a plane rather than a multirotor. I had been watching a number of documentaries on military drones to see what the really high-end stuff looked like and the simple design concept of the Reaper and Predator drones really caught my eye. These were basically just glider wings, set back on the fuselage to counter the weight of the camera equipment and sensors in the nose. The anhedral tail surfaces on the Predator are intended to assist in the prevention of prop-strike during take-off and landing – plus they look cool.

Using Sketchup to visualise the design

I’d played around with Sketchup a long time ago when it was still Google Sketchup but never really got that into it. I couldn’t get my head around using polygons to build up complex shapes. Since then the software has evolved and, along with some excellent training videos, it really is quite user friendly.

I had already sketched out a design on paper so I knew the rough dimensions. A single evening later and I had a 3D model in the computer – this was looking good!

Putting it all together

As always with these designs, once the plan is printed and cutting starts it all happens very quickly. I got the second wing cut and glued over the New Year. Full length flaperons are included with a single servo built into each wing to drive them. As with other wings like this I built the two halves separately and brought them together at the last minute, the foam providing incredible strength a rigidity even at the join.

The fuselage came together very quickly with a minimal part count. The whole thing is built up of “A” and “B” style folds with a few formers towards the rear to aid rigidity where the tail and motor will mount.

The nose section is a second piece that is a push fit over the main fuselage tube. This double thickness adds strength to the nose area to protect the expensive camera and flight control equipment that will be house there.

The tail again was very simple with the fin tabbing into the fuselage top surface and the horizontal stabilisers sitting against shaped formers in the fuselage.

A prototype is born…

In just a few hours I had gone from a Sketchup model to a full size prototype, ready for the electronics.

Some of the specs are:

  • Wingspan: 72 inches (1828mm)
  • Wing chord at root: 8 inches (203mm)
  • Wing chord at tip: 4 inches (101mm)
  • Fuselage Length: 30 inches (762mm) – without motor or camera
  • Bare airframe weight: 15.8 ounces (450g)

Overall, I am very happy with the way this has transferred from paper to prototype. At 450 grams for the airframe I am not worried at all about the weight. Even from “heavy” Australian foam board this is still a light model.

UPDATE!

The following is a quote from earthsciteach on the forum (where this model has been "aired" for some time now):

The only thing that would concern me on this plane is breaking the downward point V's of the tail surfaces upon landing. Or, the nose may get slammed down when they catch on landing.

My response was that the thought of landing the thing hadn't even crossed my mind! As a result of the very useful insights and inspiration provided by the forum I have now redesigned the fuselage to have the v-tail on the top (basically I just turned the fuselage upside down!).

Currently fitting electronics so by the time this is published I should know if it flies or not...

...and you can see part two of the article by clicking right here!

COMMENTS

TehMaxwell on January 18, 2014
This looks so awesome!
Plans possibly? As I would really love to build this!
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Red20RC on January 18, 2014
Thanks!
Yep, plans will be available soon :) It had its maiden this week so I just need to make some alterations and then I'll publish, probably on the red20rc.org site.
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TehMaxwell on January 19, 2014
Awesome, this looks so awesome, and is probably great for FPV!
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Paulshort on January 18, 2014
that looks so cool

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Michael9865 on January 19, 2014
Nice plane, thanks for sharing. I would like to see pictures and plans of the redesign.
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Red20RC on January 19, 2014
Thanks for the positive comments!
I've been making a few modifications this evening. I didn't want to publish another article so soon here on Flite Test yet but I have just put an update over on red20RC - http://red20rc.org/foam-board-uav-project-update/
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TehMaxwell on January 19, 2014
Hey, I have another question!
Would it be possible to downsize this to possibly 1000m or 900mm? As I would love to have this as possibly a smaller FPV platform...
Thanks again!
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TehMaxwell on January 19, 2014
I meant 1000mm, 1000m is a bit different from that XD!
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Red20RC on January 19, 2014
I don't see why not. I'm not sure it would go that small and still be viable. Maybe 1200mm would work. The went is very large and transporting it is a bit of a pain so I may look at alternatives in the future.
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Red20RC on January 19, 2014
The *wing* is very large that is (that's what I get for typing replies on a tablet at 4am :)
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RCPrairieFlyyer on January 21, 2014
Brilliant and very clean looking design!
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kmasterson321 on January 22, 2014
What's the best way to cut the foam? I usually use an X-acto knife but i cant get clean cuts with it
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Red20RC on January 23, 2014
I know the feeling! For some reason foam board (and Depron for the matter) just eats blades. Your blade has to be perfectly sharp or the foam just tears.
Until recently I was using only an X-acto style scalpel, but the blades are really expensive - especially when you get through 4 or 5 a model. I now reserve the fine blade for small cuts (tabs and slots) and curves. Longer straight cuts I now use a box-cutter style knife - the ones with snap-off blades.
The key to it (especially with our denser Aussie foam board) is to not try to cut 100% through on the first pass. I usually take at least 3 passes with lighter pressure to make a cut.
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Red20RC on January 23, 2014
Thanks for all the great comments!

I'm just waiting for the rain to pass and then I will be out at the field to do some flying and filming - stay tuned...
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jarpy on February 2, 2014
This thing is great, it inspired me to do a big plane project on my account, thanks!
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Red20RC on February 2, 2014
Thanks! It's good to know people like the idea :)
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rcflyer729 on February 3, 2014
do u have plans I would like to build it nice job
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Red20RC on February 17, 2014
By popular demand I have just published my scale drawing for this UAV. You can download them from http://red20rc.org
Enjoy and over to you to make it better!
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Tristan Semmelhack on February 21, 2015
You should have just added landing gears instead of flipping it!
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Red20RC on February 22, 2015
Hi Tristan,
The problem with landing gear on a UAV is that they rarely operate from a sealed or short grass strip. They are often hand-launched and have to land where they can.
If a UAV can't (and this one couldn't really) handle the rigors of the remote lifestyle then it isn't going to succeed!
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Trying to build a foam board UAV?