My name is Brett.
I'm a geek dad, a lifelong maker, and a 25+ year commercial pilot currently flying corporate jets worldwide.
Aviation has always been in my blood, so when I was sidelined in 2018 with a medical issue - I looked for a hobby that could fill my needs and occupy my mind. I started with quadcopters and all manner of drones, RC helicopters and eventually aircraft. While I started line of sight - I quickly grew interested in FPV, autonomous flight controllers, UAS, and new technology.
Dissatisfied with the price, performance and limitations of existing kits, I applied my making skills and aviation background to create my own. My designs focus on simplicity - a form follows function mentality. I was not trying to replicate planes from the past - I was trying to build inexpensive - quick to iterate - aircraft to carry the FPV systems, flight controllers, and new battery systems I was interested in.
I wanted to build Useful Aircraft.
Пікірлер
Awsome video my friend
If you want to up your foamboard wing game there is an old content creator named nerdnic who had some good design ideas, do a search for his speed wing video. He goes through the trouble of shaving the leading edge of the wings then glueing the top and bottom so they come together to a point. Hard to describe. But its super slick. Also, not sure if this meets your weight requirement for a spar but he shows using 1/2" * 1/8" aluminum bars from box stores, they are only a few bucks and you can even put dihedral into them. For fast and heavier planes those spars are great and the weight isnt too bad, sub 250 they might be chonky. But having a chunck of aluminum for a spar to bank and yank with feels bulletproof.
Mini Pylon Racer…❤
It would do well in that! It’s really a fun flyer. Thanks for your comment!
Love your vids and builds. Really learning from your vids. Great flight as well. 👍🏾
Sorry the plane appears small in the videos - but it’s a tiny plane even holding it in your hands. I’m glad you enjoy and maybe you learned something. I’ve got videos to go - I’ve just got to get home to do them. Thanks for your comment.
Nice. I would like to point out, that when you designing a sub250 plane there are people who would like to build a sub250 FPV also. Which means you need some additional electronics like the video transmitter and camera and that additional weight. For example Im building now a STRIX Nano Goblin which is like 65g(bare plane without any electronics, motor, servos etc.) I picked the smallest lightest parts and it looks like what's left is like under 100g for battery. Keep in mind I am an beginner, never build and rc before :D
I love FPV. If you have a look at my other videos, and my builds on the wall of my office - I build a lot of FPV planes. I’ll put more out on the channel as I get the time. I’m currently a DJI O3 guy - with a couple of air units. However, I am intrigued by the Walksnail system - as I see the air units are smaller / lighter. While I could make a “naked” o3 and strip off the case as some do, I’d be wary as that case is also a heat sync, and here in Phoenix - we need all the heat sync we can get. You’re going to love that nano goblin. I’ve got buddies with them, and I’m very interested. I’m actually waiting on the new design that was just on Kickstarter not long ago that’s very similar. The sub 250g thing is a tight squeeze to fit a digital FPV system, Flight controller, and any battery with much capacity. Most of my FPV stuff is over 250g, but it’s something I’ve thought about - it’s just still on the list for now. Thanks for your comment - and I’d love to hear how you like the nano goblin after you get it flying.
Wow, that thing goes! Definitely needs a little color to see which side is up. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, I don’t often put markings on my planes - I kinda like the all white aesthetic - but on this plane, you might be right! It’s easy to lose orientation. Thanks for your comment.
@@usefulaircraftI like bright orange, and only on the bottom of the wing and elevators if you want max help on orientation.
Great video! I've recently discovered that Li-ion packs don't have to be low current anymore. I use 4S2P soldered packs of Molicel 21700 P45B cells to power a Arrows Hobby Edge 1300mm plane. Pulls up to 75A, 1000W at max throttle. Each cell has a capacity of 4500mAH and can supply up to 45A continuous - so double those numbers for 2P. I manually solder my packs and include balance leads so I can balance charge them in the same way as a Lipo pack. I did look at using commercially available connection frames but found them too bulky for 21700 cells. I use tin/lead solder rather than spot welding - works fine so far - I've made two packs so far and flown dozens of times already without mishap. The drawbacks with 21700 cells are that they are bigger and heavier than the typical Lipo packs that they are replacing in my planes. But the extra flight time is amazing. I'm getting around three times longer in the air. Video of one of my first Li-ion test flights in a Dynam Waco 1270mm biplane: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pGaDsLamnJfggrw.html
I love the li-ion cells. Don’t get me wrong - Li-Po still has its place in my sub250 stuff - but for my FPV or bigger builds - Li-Ion is my pack of choice. I started off with commercial packs, then tried soldering - and eventually built a spot welder, but then I saw the battery racks, and thought to try them after a particularly bad crash that punctured a cell. Sure, the battery racks weigh more - but the added capacity make it a non issue. For balance considerations - I just charge each cell independently, and monitor their internal resistance and temperatures at charging. If any individual cell draws my concern, it’s trivial to swap it out with a cell more similar to the profiles of the remaining batteries in that pack. I much prefer being able to isolate my cells completely for travel, as it (in my mind) reduces the risk of connected packs (albeit this may only be in my use case in a cramped carry on bag). I do have a few planes that fly off the 21700’s - and some that really benefit from their added capacity, but just be wary that unlike fuel tanks on full size planes, the weight of an empty cell is the same as the weight of a full cell, and it takes fuel to tanker fuel. So in some use cases - you may find that 18650’s could give you a better specific range due to lower cruise power requirements (because of lower overalll weight). But this all depends on if you’re solving for endurance or distance, and would require very exacting power control and testing. Most times - it just depends on the airframe I’ve built, or CG purposes. Either way - we’re really lucky to be flying with these amazing batteries. Cool video, and thanks for the comment!
Where can I get those weight blocks, awesome content I fly a lot of wings myself and do a lot of scratch built park jets
I buy them off Amazon, but you can find them on Aliexpress as well. Search for 123 blocks. The versions with holes are handy for stacking on top of foam board structures, as they’re light enough they won’t crush the structure beneath. You’ll start with a couple of them - and as you learn how handy they are - they tend to multiply. I’d love to see what you make with them. Thanks for your comment!
Really cool.
Thank you!
Great video and explanation, Will it fly longer with a larger prop? like 5 inch etc.
It’s really easy to over prop a motor. There are some efficiencies gained with larger props, or props with fewer blades, but once the prop is too large, the motor isn’t turning at the speed the ESC is commanding, and you start to see a heat rise that if left unchecked, will eventually burn out your motor (it usually just overheats, and the insulation melts on the windings, and the motor shorts out internally.) I’m not the smartest guy for sizing motors / props, and there are some builds I’ve used larger or multi bladed props that run the risk of burning out the motor - so I don’t always follow best practices. But have a look around online- there are some brilliant folks out there that really seem to enjoy figuring motor / prop combos. If I’m honest - I use a lot of cheap quad motors and props namely because they are inexpensive. You can spend as much money in this hobby as you want. I’m a fan of bulk buying cheaper parts so I can build more planes, and everything gets recycled into other builds unless I really love the design and it gets hung on a wall. Thanks for your comment!
Always very good video's, Thanks, Could you please direct me to the mentioned Elevator/Pitch mix example with Throttle as used in EdgeTX, I looked at the transcript, comments, and more but did not see the example you mentioned. Thanks in advance.
I could not improve upon the work in explaining this that was done by Painless360. Have a watch of this video here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/ooRnzJicgNmzcZM.htmlsi=NelKlq8uE-RmeqbG He, and others like him, have forgotten more about EdgeTx / OpenTx than I’ll ever know. I hope this helps - and thanks for your comment!
Thanks. It was fascinating to understand your elevator setup. The one thing I still don't get, is there a difference btw. a "regular" plank and a slight forward swept plank like yours as far a flight characteristic, control surface setup?
Control surface wise - they should be the same. Aerodynamically in full scale aviation, there are some studies about stall propagation in forward swept wings as spanwise flow can tend to move towards the root (however washout must prevent the tips from stalling first otherwise further pitch up will occur), and movement of center of pressure at differing angles of attack and throughout different speeds / Mach can have advantages for certain applications, but they do carry complexity as well (yaw instability), so you really don’t see many (X29, Hansa, S37). At the end of the day - my foam board wing was just something I wanted to build, with an aerofoil unlike what most use (but makes building planes super fast), and the plane flies well, plus I think it looks cool on the wall. I’d love to hear if you build something similar and how you think it flies. Thanks for your comment.
I’m just discovering the RC foam flyer hobby and I find your construction, design insight and RC knowledge quite inspiring to my beginner’s journey. I realize it might be less interesting from your perspective, however making the hobby more accessible to those just getting would be helpful to folks like myself. If you could bring some of your valuable knowledge on getting started and maybe do a beginner level build to flight series it could help grow your channel as well as grow the hobby. Your presentation style is relaxed and enjoyable to watch. Some of it can drift a little heavy for someone getting started as we grapple with hobby terms and aerodynamic concepts. I instantly subscribed to your channel and look forward to learning more as I dive into the hobby.
Thank you for your comment! I do have some easy builds that may be suited for guys starting out, I’ve just got to get around and make the videos. My planes may not be the most efficient - as pure aerodynamic dudes will argue their designs all day - but my builds get to the flight line faster than most, and are simple to repair. Don’t get me wrong, I started out cutting ribs out of balsa by hand and gluing them to spars pinned on plans, and I’ve still got my iron for coating wings… but I don’t always miss that. For my tastes, I’d much rather design my planes while I’m sitting in hotels on the road, cut them on the laser, and then be able to build them in an hour or less. To each their own. I like your ideas. Thanks for your comment!
Great discussion on setup and configuration of radio/control movements for flying the design. It's an important part of the overall aircraft design, that is too often overlooked. It all leads to having a better flying experience, and happier pilots. True flying is more that bank and yank.
Amen! Plus it makes the flying more interesting. Modern radios and an extra servo allow you to explore things like flaperons, crow braking, and all kinds of control mixing. I really appreciate the efforts of the radio developers for giving us the tools to explore this. Thanks for your comment.
91 degrees! Yikes! Where do you hang your hat? Might want to look up Aesthetic, your pronouncing it incorrectly. I'm an English tutor. 😀Cheers.
Yeah - it get’s a little warm out here, but the winters are nice. I don’t doubt I bungled it - that’s what I get trying to throw out a big word once in a while. Public school education… you know how that goes. Thanks for your comment
Been watching your videos for the last week or so while on vacation to fill empty time and I have been enjoying your content. Just subscribed. Cheers. I played with foam board a few years back and am now building mostly with XPS foam. Now it might be harder to find in your climate but you can buy here in chilly Colorado 4'x8'x2"thick XPS. Hotwiring foam has been a great joy. I can make consistent 1mm or 2mm thick foam sheets for building even lighter. You can make stencils and cut out foam blocks for fuselage shapes then cut them full of holes and skin with the very light 1mm foam and it works great. I recently started using a CNC machine and am hoping to build bigger and more accurate.. cutting by hand is a huge time suck. But back to you. I love the simple designs and the goal to stay under 250. Stay cool.
Thank you! I’ve wanted to build a hot wire cutter, and a CNC - but I’m really limited on shop space, and my one car garage is very optimized for my current workflow. If I ever got a larger shop - I would LOVE a CNC hot wire cutter (as well as a lathe, mill, proper drill press, Tormach….). Either way - you work with the tools you have. I really appreciate your comment, and I’m jealous of your tools…. I’d love to see your designs as well.
My hotwire just hangs on a wall, they really don't take much room, I use folding tables in my 1 car garage to work off of and have to pack up to park the car. Space is always at a premium! Oh man, a drill press and a lathe would be awesome. But try explaining to the wife that you need 2k more of tools to make proper landing gear for your hobby lol "well yea, I just bend wire now by hand... And yea the planes land fine... But this would be so much better! Imagine tiny shocks!!" Lol
Really nice work!
Thank you!
I am a plank fan too. And recently a 250 fan. The problem of not being able to flair is experienced by the famous man carrying planks like the Fauvel. But that led me to play with deep stall. The trick there is pass quickly into that mode, use lots of dihedral and Oh yea a strong bottom because a wing isn't very big parachute.
They have their limits, and their challenges - but I’m attracted by their simplicity. Great comment - Thanks!
I went back to your first video. Brett is your name. Right? Most excellent philosophy of building. Just like mine. Do you like communications under your youTubes or do you prefer contacting through your website?
KZread comments are great for sharing - but my email is in the channel info - or you can reach out on my website as well. I’m not always the fastest to respond - as it’s family first, then my work, and finally my hobbies - and there are only so many hours in the day, and it doesn’t help when I’m gone for work and come home to a list of assigned projects. I’m sure you can relate. Thanks for your comment. I look forward to hearing from you.
Super cool! Laser cut? What is the process of making those v-groves?
Yep, laser cut on a CO2 laser. The cuts for the hinges are just done at a faster speed and a reduced power setting. The laser has incredible precision - it just takes time learning your laser and how it works on that material. That said, a laser can do amazing things. Find a local makerspace / hackerspace / STEM center and try one out- that’s how I started. Thanks for your comment!
Tape over the wire channels would be a good idea before putting Fuselage on.
That's a good idea. Can't deny that. Thanks for your comment.
That is a great sub250g flying wing. It looks licked in. Excellent build.
Thank you.
I've found hotglue is heavy and less is more.
Everything in moderation. It does make for a quick and easy build, and can be used to trim CG. Thanks for your comment.
Murfy’s law caused that servo wire to jump out of position
He's a frequent visitor to my shop some days.
Just Sub… Keep it up… 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you. I have plenty more to share.
Is that KEF airfoil on the Mini Wing inverted?
Yep. I've flown it both ways. Works great. I honestly think the wing flies due to AOA, not Bernoulli. I've built up full wings, laser cut aerofoils, minimum weight, all the time spent in getting things perfect. Yet because this wing is so easy to build- I keep coming back to it. It's just fun to fly and quick to build. Thanks for your comment.
I noticed you use a battery eliminator rather than a Normal ESC... I presume that's because you have a surplus drone ESC which doesn't have power for the radio. I have surplus ESC like that too. But I can't find a "battery eliminator circuit" with those key words.
The real reason is many of my pylon builds (ESC and motor) get incorporated into builds with flight controllers. Furthermore, ESC's that incorporate the BEC are frequently far heavier as they incorporate a heat sync that's heavier than if they don't incorporate the BEC. I buy my BEC's from aliexpress. They're just 5v power supplies. I'm on my phone, but let me know if you need a link, but honestly they're pretty generic and I usually order 10+ at a time as I build them into all kinds of stuff, and usually very cheap. If you run into challenges finding them, comment again and I'll get an exact link. Thank you for your comment.
I appreciate the weeds! I plan to send my noob podcast listeners here so they can see a good example of a flying wing setup, what flight tendencies to look for, and the basic why behind it. Good stuff, thank you.
Thank you. I hope I can continue to provide value for you and your listeners.
Surely you must know that you can curve foam instead of using the slats as you’re doing on the nose.
Yep, many of my designs have curved surfaces. But every design evolves differently based on how it's cut. As this part is laid out on the laser, the cuts are on the outer surface. If I was making show pieces, I'd solve for the aesthetic, and she'd have a smooth nose. But I build these to quickly iterate and get out and go flying. I can go from a sheet of foam to a flying plane in under an hour, and that has value to me. Thanks for your comment!
You and Brett should try folding your wing around a V-cut in the foam. That allows a nice leading edge. Add a spar and you have an airfoil. You can even push down on that leading edge while it drys to form a lifting airfoil.
Very interesting! Had no idea the this transmitter had that capability. Thanks for sharing!
There are some incredibly useful functions when you get into the menus. Thanks for your comment
Edgetx can do anything you can figure out how to program.
Great looking and compact bird! Too interested in plans or kit if you decide to offer! Been considering new build weights, where might I purchase something like the ones you are using in the video? Thanks!
I buy the 123 blocks off Amazon. They are a fantastically useful tool for many projects. You'll find a million uses for them. Thanks for your comment.
Please provide the dimensions for the wings, fuselage, and ailerons.
Can’t wait for the flight video.
I’ll have more videos out shortly- I’m back on the road - so I’ve got to make it home first - but there will be more. Thanks for your comment.
Interesting timing of this video. Was just having a discussion with some folks on a Facebook group this morning about pitch trims at various speeds and I suggested they do a throttle to elevator mix for dynamic pitch trim so it would fly level through a more broad range of airspeeds (throttle positions).
I come out of full scale aviation, and trim is constantly in motion with power changes. I use the sliders on my TX16S constantly for my pitch trim as it falls easily under my trigger finger and it's great for a fast trim. Flying out of trim is just something we do in my line of work. We're always trimming for hands off flying. The mixing in the radio works great. And the slow up/down really works brilliantly in many situations. I cannot claim credit, but whoever integrated this gave us a tremendous tool. Thanks for your comment.
This looks amazing, please can we have plans?
Hi, thanks for sharing! Did you tried to use KFM-2 airfoil?
I've tried all different varieties, and now I'm just kinda doing what works for the design. My steps are not always on the top, and their span varies, so I'm pretty much off the page. That said, I really love how my planes fly.
I can’t wait to see your plane plans come out.
Looks to me that the KFM foil is on the bottom instead of the top of the wing . Why ?
I’ve built them both ways. When I started with KFM, the step was on the top, as usually shown. However I really began to feel after flying them extensively that their lift at this scale was primarily due to AOA, not Bernoullian (sp?) lift - just fly them inverted and see - they fly based on pitch attitude. If you look on the wall behind me, you can see an earlier version of this exact plane with the step on top. Flying both - you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart. Thus step placement became a design choice that on different airframes depending on other factors. I’m not willing to accept all I read, and I’m quick to iterate and build and test things that others say will obviously fail - but I’ve got to understand myself why - and so I just try things. I’ve built many planes that in hindsight - are obviously flawed. But with regard to step placement in my designs, it’s very possible that there are advantages in some flight regimes - but I’m not trying to chase the last percent of performance - if I was, I wouldn’t be building from foamboard. So in this case - it really came down to I preferred the looks of the inverted KFM. It looks better hanging on the wall - and still has remarkably good flight performance. Build it both ways and report back. I’m always interested in the results of experiments. Thanks for your comment.
I have built from plans with Step on Top or bottom depending on the designs Author, they fly well both ways.
Great work. Do you sell the plans? and where to purchase it
I may have to soon enough. I never started this with that goal in mind - it was primarily intended to share back to the community - but the choir of voices asking for more is growing. I’m busy with work (gotta pay my bills) right now - but I’ll add it to the list of things to do when I get more time in the garage. Thanks for your comment!
how come the paper on foam board did not come off?
I don’t often peel the paper off. Unless you really get it wet or work to peel it off - it’s pretty well stuck on there. Peeling it off would just be another step, and I’m a lazy man. Thanks for your comment!
Plans?
I haven’t got around to drawing them up - as I’ve only built them for me, and they’re a rather long evolved free form construction. I may need to get around to drawing some up when I have some free time. Thanks for your comment!
Coming from quad fpv. New to fixed wings, lot to learn.. enjoying content .. thank you
Thank you. I started with quads as well and still have a few. They both scratch different itches in my book. I hope you learn to enjoy fixed wing as well.
Great simple clean build. Can tell a well thought through design with a number of nice design features. Great 3d-printed motor mount design. This is something that Flite Test should have integrated into their foam board designs. (they used flat wood, which could result in thrust angle issues)
Thank you. I spend quite a bit of time and have made hundreds of iterations and evolutions to get here, but I really like how they've turned out. Thank you for your comment.
Is there a reason you are using the Samsung 20R vs say the 30Q or 35E that have 3000mah & 3500mha respectively? I just started looking to see what is available on Amazon and saw these higher rated choices. I don’t know much about these type of batteries and was wondering your thoughts. Thanks!
I bought these batteries nearly two years ago. It may have just been availability. I've not bought off Amazon, but I'm sure there are good sellers there. IMR has been my vendor, but I've got no particular loyalty to them, I'd just say shop around. I've had really great longevity from my packs, as right now I've probably got around 20 individual cells in my active circulating pool. They have lasted remarkably well, despite me oftentimes putting them in half baked planes that don't always fly great. I'll be curious to hear your experiences going forward. I'm very satisfied with my batteries. No regrets. Thanks for your comment
I've found with the Hv Lipos and good throttle management I can get some good run time out of them. Maybe an extra 5 to 7 minutes even longer in a few gliders compared to a normal lipo of the same Mah rating.
Careful throttle management is key. I seldom fly full throttle, and more frequently fly closer to best glide to maximize endurance. It all depends on your mission, and staying disciplined about your power usage. You've got the right idea. Thanks for your comment.
I just discovered and binged your channel! Good stuff but you seriously need to get some plans out there so we can build our own. I’d gladly buy you a cup of coffee (that’s an app if you don’t know) for the SVG or PDF for that thing. Of course just the videos taught me a lot of new things. Looking at your collection it looks like you need to invest in some colored packing tape, a strip or two will add maybe a gram and lots of color. Anyway thanx for the channel and I hope you keep it up.
Thank you for your comment. I'll most likely make kits and plans available, but I'm at work for now, so it's all a process of fitting it into the available hours. We'll get there. Thanks for your comment
ขอบคุณมากครับ รับรู้และติดตาม❤❤❤
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
A great solution! You are right, nothing wrong with soldering a pack but the flexibility this give is really appealing. Thanks for the video.
I appreciate your feedback. I'm willing to admit I'm not the smartest guy, but I love the flexibility of swapping individual cells vs assembling packs of questionable history. Thanks for your time and consideration.
Thank you. You made resolved an issue i had on my own plank build.
Planks ere a mysterious creature with a very finite balance. I hope your plane flies well. If not, I'll have a beer and chat with you about it. Thanks for your note.
you really should publish/sell plans for this plane.
I'm leaning towards doing that. Thanks for your comment