Plane

Unbalanced

Plane

My plane currently weighs 235g (minus a few grammes of control surface connections), but it has a weight problem.

I used FreeCAD to design and print a simple balance frame. Screenshot of a frame to rest a model aircraft on to check the balance (I should have put a nice chamfer on the joints)

I then removed the battery (27g 600mAh 2S LiPo) and put some scales under the tail. They read 25g. In order to get the plane to balance, I’d need to place the battery somewhere about 300mm in front of the centre of gravity. The nose of the plane is 150mm long. Bugger.

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Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane?

Plane

It’s A Plane

An isometric view of a twin boom pusher plane with a skeletal fuselage When I was a teenager, I used to belong to the Chester Model Flying Club (which now appears to be defunct :( ) and I flew electric powered gliders of about 2M wingspan. Typically a balsa framework, with a 540 motor and a 6 cell NiCad battery. Power (& skill) were marginal, weight was high, but I had fun.

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