Farfles Electric Ultralight.

Looks good! Until you have used a conventional aircraft covering system, where once the fabric is on and tensioned, the real work begins, (many different coatings, sanding, etc.) with Oratex, YOU'RE DONE. No paint booth to set up either, just a lot of huge advantages, especially for the occasional builder.
 
The gear looks like it could use some stiffer springs, it shouldn't be so splayed out. Or possibly, same springs but shorter shock struts. This will give better shock absorption, giving more travel before reaching the point where you have reached the end of the "stroke", and things start bending and breaking. It is a real important thing to get right. At first I thought maybe you were fully fueled, so heavy, then I remembered stored KW's don't weigh anything! Good looking prop, getting the gear squared away will also give better clearance. Sure is odd to see how smooth the start up is, no typical ICE engine shaking and rattling, just ON.
 
Burlier shock struts are in the works for sure. It has ~200lb/in springs now, and I just ordered some 600lb/in springs.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/111415538426

Ill likely be building new shock shafts too, as the existing ones simulate out to fail at ~3900lbs each, and just over 3klbs at 10K cyclic allowables. That being said they just look anemic in the hand.

The outer tube is .625" .065 wall DOM wrapped around 1/2" 4130 solid rod, and where the bolt travel slot cuts thru the solid rod, It looks pretty skimpy.

I will likely remake it in .75" .065 wall 4130 instead of DOM, and then do a .625 .120 wall shaft turned down to .615 for clearance.
 
Great to see if able to taxi on it's own steam - the e-aero equivalent of spinning the back wheel of a bike :D

How far off a maiden voyage do you think you are?
 
jonescg said:
Great to see if able to taxi on it's own steam - the e-aero equivalent of spinning the back wheel of a bike :D

How far off a maiden voyage do you think you are?


Likely a couple months out, but mainly because I need some flight instruction time lol.
 
Farfle said:
Likely a couple months out, but mainly because I need some flight instruction time lol.

Is there a flight simulator for one of those? Of course nothing beats actual flying time.
 
Simulators are actually really bad at teaching you the stick ad rudder skills needed to fly light aircraft.

They are great once you get to instrument flying but there is nothing that beats the seat of the pants feel for learning to fly.
 
I am pretty new to flying (whopping 6 flight hours logged) and the simulatiors (FS10 and Xplane) have been usless for the flying thing, but really usefull for practicing a flight. Doing it ahead of time lets me familiarize myself with the taxiways, the runway layout, what your route (and arrival airport) look like from the air, landmarks, and other things to make a first flight to a new place not quite so unfamiliar.
 
Get some electronic flight bag software and do the same thing. You will need it afterwards anyways.

Fltplan GO is free and there are a few others that are as well. The premium software like Foreflight is better but that is mostly in the UI department.
 
Making some more progress on the odds and ends that I need to get wrapped up before covering the fuse, and once the fuse is covered. It will be ready to fly!


The first thing was to make the aluminum shrouding around the tail feathers complete. This helps blend the fuse to meet them, as I was not sure how to cover the separate surfaces. It looks a little rough now, but will get sanded pretty later. The adhesive is West systems epoxy and microballoons mixed to stiff paste.

20180817_203807 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr

I got the sunroof mounts built and mounted, and then got the windshield trimmed to fit and mounted up:


20180819_101708 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr

image-20180819_124028 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr


Also, the un-covered portions of the fuse are painted and the fuse is almost ready for covering. Just some final odds and ends left to get sorted before its covered.


20180819_183217 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr

20180819_190353 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr
 
Fitting the cowling and windshield is always a PITA, not actually hard just time consuming to do correctly. Be careful about ever getting any gas on that lexan windshield because it will craze and.... oh thats right, never mind!

I had real good luck with my last build, my current plane, with Gorilla Glue, believe it or not. Someone else gave me a heads up on it, and it sticks about anything to anything, 12 years later and over 2000 hrs flight time nothing has moved. From the Ace Hardware aviation department. Also from them, Ace that is, Lexal, a crystal clear adhesive caulk, that is specifically formulated to glue lexan to plexi, and about any other plastic. I have a plexi shield but a lexan skylight, and this Lexal was used at the juncture with great results. As the stuff is super clear and pretty much invisible, I also used it to secure various small wire runs, like my GPS antenna coax that runs up the door post, a few dabs of the Lexal, while holding position with masking tape, and a day later the tape comes off and the cable just magically stays there, great stuff. There is also a lot of JB Weld used in my plane, and again I have never had it fail me, modern adhesives of any kind are a real time saver and often better then mechanical means to secure something, though old timers may scoff and consider them half assed, I don't.

There is an old saying in building airplanes, maybe you've heard it before: 90 % done, 90% to go! All the last little details, after the big things are done, take a lot of time, hang in there.
 
Alot of the foam cored composite structures are glued with gorilla glue, i love the polyurethane glues for a medium strength glue that just works. Although the West systems epoxy with the 404 filler works soooo well for high strength bonds. And for the ultimate in anything-to-anything flexible mega high strength bonding, 3M 2216 rocks.

Making more progress on the airplane front. I put some wheels on the top and got it flipped over. Scuffed and cleaned all the surfaces to be covered, and managed to get the bottom fuse skin on!


20180828_150254 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr

20180828_151709 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr

20180828_151709 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr



20180828_211617 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr


[youtube]dhtjYvWlc3w[/youtube]
 
Making more progress! All of the panels for the fuse are cut, but we had to call it a night to wait for the glue to dry on them. We did get the right side panel roughed in and glued on though. Todays goal is to get the whole fuse roughed in, and then to start work on the stabilizers. Friday is tidy up and finish tape, and then sat/sun its headed to the paint booth!


20180829_190924 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr


20180829_233752 by Jackson Edwards, on Flickr
 
Wings painted, lights and folded-wing tie-down clips are in. Did a runup in the driveway for the first time in 8 months, and it started and ran beautifully! Go figure .

Will be more than casually following FAA AC 90-89B for the first hours of flight. The phrase "Just fast enough to kill you" comes to mind.

[youtube]Ku6MPPVSSu0[/youtube]
 
fechter said:
Looks pretty much finished. When is the maiden flight?

I need to go thru the AC for the first flight (and add a secondary retention to the door frame). But probably end of october
 
Once again, the turbine like smoothness of the e powerplant runup is amazing. The static thrust looks good, judging from the dust behind! Prop design is a black art though, and lots of static can be deceiving, kind of like gearing a truck: it could be really strong off the line but then run out of poop (thrust). Unlikely but something to keep in mind once the relative airflow increases. The gear looks like it should.....were you fully fueled? OH, never mind. :roll:

In 1988 I was doing taxi tests on my brand new Kitfox 1 out at a rural airstrip, up to that point I was a ultralight pilot, and a hang glider pilot before that. A taildragger, of course, I got distracted by a weeping brake line and, long story short, while increasing throttle and holding brake, up came the tail and there went the BRAND NEW prop. That prop (along with others, at least with better stories as to why) is up on the shop wall Hall of Shame. Judging by your elevator position, you know better, just don't forget. Having a line on a backup prop "just in case" is not a bad idea though, nothing worse to not only trash a prop but to then have wait weeks or months to get a replacement. I really like the span of that thing, looks like it has some decent squares and should lift off at a very low speed. What did your all up empty weight come in at?
 
Craneplaneguy,

Lookin' good, there. One day, maybe you should explain that screen name. 8)

'Way back in the day, (as in WW-I), there were no variable-pitch props, at least not the hydraulic or mechanical types. They still wanted (needed) them, to make the best use of those engines. They came up with props that would flex to a more shallow pitch at higher RPM,so the engines could pull hard on the ground, and then run faster in flight. Can't say who or where right now, but some ultralight company has been making these flexing "variable-pitch" props again lately, from composites, as a cheap way of getting the advantages without the weight, cost, and complexity of variable prop hubs. Just a thought . . .
 
There is a professional artist/cartoonist that frequents a flying forum I'm on, that offers his services to pilots. Send him a picture of your bird, and he will render it in a cartoonish form, at an extremely reasonable price. 30 or 40 bucks as I recall. Here is mine, on the back window of my crane (my day job, and yes, I have landed that big peak in the background, the only fixed wing pilot to do so), he summed up the spirit of my plane perfectly. Note the little smile under the cowl, it makes me laugh every time I look at it, and give motorists stuck behind me as I labor up a grade, something to think about :lol: I can hook you up with him if you want one of your bird, I for one would like to see what he would come up with, it would be his first e plane subject.rsz_img_20181001_142352934_hdr.jpg Any modern day commercial sign company should have the capability of taking an emailed pic, and printing it out for you pretty cheap. Mine is on self adhesive vinyl, and looks like new after more then two years, and cost me $15.00.
 
X2flier said:
Craneplaneguy,

Lookin' good, there. One day, maybe you should explain that screen name. 8)

'Way back in the day, (as in WW-I), there were no variable-pitch props, at least not the hydraulic or mechanical types. They still wanted (needed) them, to make the best use of those engines. They came up with props that would flex to a more shallow pitch at higher RPM,so the engines could pull hard on the ground, and then run faster in flight. Can't say who or where right now, but some ultralight company has been making these flexing "variable-pitch" props again lately, from composites, as a cheap way of getting the advantages without the weight, cost, and complexity of variable prop hubs. Just a thought . . .


18 years a self employed hoisting contracter, (small crane/boom truck, 30 ton, owner operator) 46 years a pilot, thus the screen name. Please explain your avatar, that a Kasper Wing or a Fledge? I was a Manta hang glider dealer and a Pterodactyl ultralight dealer for years.....google the cover of the August 1983 National Geographic, that's my 'Dac on the frigging cover, my 15 minutes of fame, so far.
 
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