I will be putting black #1.3 EPP up for sale today. I’m working on editing pictures and pricing. All sheets are 36″ x 24″. The sheets vary in thickness from 3mm – 2″ and should be available by this evening.
Check out these two stacks sitting in our spare room. They both go clear to the ceiling! I have a bit of 9mm white under the one of the stacks.
BLACK EPP #1.3 will soon be available! I plan to pickup it up this Friday.
I finally finished the design on the Citabria wing.
Wing is hotwire cut on my CNC from #1.3 White EPP Foam.
This was challenging due to the wing tips having a compound taper. My CNC was at it’s limitations for the majority of the hotwire cut. It took a lot of CAD work and tinkering to finally get the wing tip to fit in the machine and properly cut out. I think I cut over 10 different wing tips before I finally got it. I also had other challenges like buggy software, loss of files on my computer, and in general several (I’ll spare you the long story!) unexpected external events that pulled me away from the project.
I’m really excited about the Citabria. It is finally coming together and I can’t wait to fly it. I’m still shooting for a target of about a 480 size motor, 3s-2200mah battery, and the wing span will be 54″ with a removable wing. If you want a clipped wing version, then don’t add the wing tips to have a 48″ wingspan. Or just cut off the ends of the main wing to make it shorter. I think this will have some silly STOL capabilities with a 54″ wingspan and flaps. I can’t wait to play with it.
I am now getting over a cold, so the fuselage may take a few extra days to complete. I’m trying to decide exactly how I will make it. One thought is to do a clam shell style design with a left and right shell that is hollowed out with my mill. The downside of this is that the entire fuselage will need to be cut out with the mill which means rougher cuts and longer CNC time. The other option, which I might actually go for, will be to have the fuselage made in three different sections. We’ll have the main center section sandwiched between a thinner left and right sheet. This will allow me to use the mill to hollow out the center section, but the outside pieces from the sheet will leave the outside of the fuselage smoother. Do you have another idea? Let me know.
9mm
9mm, #1.3, EPP is now available for purchase. I will update the picture in the next few days.
Vietnam
This past week has been quite busy! I had a friend visit us from Vietnam. She is a teacher in Vietnam and was here in the US for STEAM training. STEAM is Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. They added the A to the STEM. For part of her visit I took her to our training day at our local RC flying field. There she learned how to fly the Apprentice through our wireless buddy system. She had tons of fun with it. We also talked about how we can help her after she goes back. She will talk to her school about the possibility of having me go to Vietnam for 1 or 2 weeks to help teach RC planes in a STEAM setting to kids K-12. I know Flite Test has a great curriculum, so I will start there and see what we can do to help out my friend in Vietnam.
This has been a busy week with launching the website and talking to various people from around the country. Many great ideas are coming from great people. Thank you to everyone who is helping me out and giving me suggestions.
SAWN CRAFT
First, please hop over to Sawn Craft and check out the planes they make. Very cool! Those micros look like they would be a blast indoors. I might pick up a few for this winter. I also plan to buy the Aura soon.
https://sawncraft.com/
10MM #1.3 EPP
I have limited quantities of 10mm, #1.3, EPP, available. This was setup for sale a few minutes ago and should be ready for anyone who would like to purchase it.
CITABRIA
I have many different RC plane designs in various stages that I would like to eventually get into production and sell on this website. The other day I saw for the first time and fell in love with the Citabria. So, I am adding the Citabria to the collection and now in the design stage, however I love this plane so much that I think I will work on making it the first available in EPP. This will be about a 4′ wingspan. It should run on a 3s – 2200mah battery. It will be an electric motor that is about 480 size give or take a size up or down. I’ll know more once I cut out the EPP and get a better feel for the weight. I hope to cut the first prototype out next week.
I found the American Champion Aircraft website to be very cool. Check out the different color schemes and paint options for the full scale Citabria.
http://www.americanchampionaircraft.com/exterior-options.html
WHEELS
I will begin making custom wheels. I might have a prototype by next week to show everyone, so come back and take a look at what will be available. My wheels will be EPP and begin at 4″ inches in diameter and go up from there.
CUSTOM CASES
I am waiting on some samples of a different kind of foam that I will be cutting and customizing transmitter cases. If you have a favorite transmitter that you would like a custom case for it, let me know and we can work out the details of color, size, and the different levels of customizing I can do for you.
