Eurofighter FPV build thread

**AJ Jelly** · 06-05-2012, 10:07 AM

Very very nice fella

**Spanner** · 06-05-2012, 10:38 AM

Looking good chap, just a couple of observations, and these are only if you are going for authenticity.

You have the left MHDD showing the hyd page and the right MHDD showing the stores page, this can't happen as they both belong to the same group of pages selectable on one screen at a time. More likely group of pages would be the elevation (side on radar) on the right screen and perhaps the tws radar view on the left MHDD. On the far right of the console you have no lighting in the MIDS net , TACAN beacon or the IFF channel indicators.

Reading this sounds incredibly anal! Feel free to tell me to bugger off!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

**Zeeflyboy** · 09-05-2012, 06:38 PM

Lol, thanks for the info.

While I am interested in authenticity to an extent I've never been one to let it get in the way of looking cool lol.

I'm fairly happy with the aesthetic layout for now, so will probably leave it as is since its all glued together again now. I do appreciate the input though so please feel free to keep it coming. Of course I may do a v2 cockpit sometime and the info is definitely useful!

Good news - I finally have my carbon so when I get back at the beginning of next week I can finally mount my wings properly! Then it's just a light glassing, waiting for my malfunctioning ezuhf rx to be returned and then it should be maiden time.

**Danny_K75** · 10-05-2012, 10:14 AM

I think you've got most of the forum on their tippie toppies waiting for that maiden, good luck and well done on all the work so far!

**Zeeflyboy** · 10-05-2012, 02:15 PM

Cheers for the kind words

That moment is definitely getting closer, but alas in true british style it's coming in behind schedule and over budget lol. The wing spars are a big thing, so glad I can finally get those done... but I do then need to wait for the EZUHF Rx to come back and to do some rather extensive ground tests for the whole system.

With the weight she's coming in at I'm not sure hand launching is the best idea ever either, so a bungee might need to be built. That wouldn't take more than a day though if needed.

**Cagey** · 10-05-2012, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by zeeflyboy

with the weight she's coming in at i'm not sure hand launching is the best idea ever either, so a bungee might need to be built. That wouldn't take more than a day though if needed.

R.A.T.O.G. ?

**Zeeflyboy** · 10-05-2012, 10:18 PM

No idea what that is but I'm going to assume along the lines of JATO, so the first two words would be rocket assisted lol...

I would be lying if I said the thought hadn't occurred to me... Bungee seems both cheaper, safer and all round more sensible however!

**Angelos** · 12-05-2012, 01:15 AM

Zeeflyboy,
nice looking plane. I admire you patience. Where in the UK are you? Aren't you coming to the FPV meet next month?

-Angelos

**Zeeflyboy** · 13-05-2012, 01:50 AM

Hey Angelos... When I'm in the UK I'm not far from you - my Girlfriend lives just outside Oxford (Cumnor) and my Parents live in Goring.

Alas this plane lives in geneva lol... When is the meet?

So, as for the build - the problem with delays is that I get ideas...

My carbon for the wings is finally in my possession, but I've not yet got to work on the main spars.

Today I tried out some light weight glassing using WBPU and lightweight 25gm cloth. I must say I'm impressed by how easy it is, how much it toughens up the foam, and how light too.

I started off with a canard to see how well it worked and how much weight it would add:

First I filled the gaps in the surface with lightweight filler and sanded it back taking off all the paint from the foam. I also took the opportunity to shape the canard a bit better with a nice sharper trailing edge... Then I covered it with a layer of the lightweight cloth and WBPU (almost invisible!)

Then using grey base paint I put on a few layers while sanding it back to get it smooth. Here it is in between coats and sanding so you can compare to the other canard (ignore colour, it's just a primer coat).

And here's the final article, smooth and primed ready for a light final coat of whatever colour I choose in the end.

So how much weight did it add? 2.8g in total! 0.6g of that was the light weight filler, so the glassing itself was only 2.2g for the entire canard including primer coats. Rough back of the envelope guesstimation suggests the whole plane could be done for around 100g penalty. AUW is currently at just over 2.5kg with batteries, and apparently the guys on 8S like me are flying her up to 2.8kg with no problems at all, so I do have some wiggle room.

It's now completely resistant to the light knocks that dented the foam before, and while it's not as tough as a proper glassing, it is seriously light weight and a big improvement over bare foam.

Inspired by that I moved on to my dashboard.... filled and sanded to tidy it up:

In the process of glassing:

And glassed, now awaiting some base coat/sanding etc.

**Stuart** · 13-05-2012, 01:59 AM

Honestly your putting so much attention to detail in this and I'm loving every minute.....I think I would be tempted to buy and simple plank and encase the Typhoon in a fishtank with a do not touch sticker on it.....

**Angelos** · 13-05-2012, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

[...] When is the meet? [...]

2-3 June... first two days of the double bank holiday weekend

-Angelos

**Zeeflyboy** · 13-05-2012, 05:36 PM

Hmm, it's my cousin's wedding on the 2nd which is very inconsiderate of her. I have to wait to see my roster but if I'm off on the 4th and thus don't need to travel back to gva I may be able to pop along on the 3rd...

Stuart - very kind of you... I just hope it flies lol. First launch will be nerve racking....

**Angelos** · 14-05-2012, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Zeeflyboy

H[...] I may be able to pop along on the 3rd...

Send me an email at fpvbounce@gmail.com and I'll reply with details on how to get there, etc

-Angelos

**Zeeflyboy** · 16-05-2012, 03:02 PM

will do angelos, cheers.

So, slow work this stuff now...

I have done a little more glassing, now have both canards, nose cone, dash and am close to getting the tail done.... obviously need to paint the dash and finish off the tail, so don't judge too harshly lol.

I also started work on mounting my wing spars... here you can see one cut out with plywood cross braces inserted for a test fit.

I then glued it all in place using gorilla glue, then topped it off with lightweight filler and sanded back to smooth. The spar is very solidly mounted indeed, I hope the tube mount in the plane comes out equally as strong! I will still be doing two per wing just to be safe. The problem is with two, the alignment is the most important bit - if these two spars aren't perfectly aligned with each other then wing insertion/removal will be incredibly difficult... I may have to come up with a simple jig to make sure they do end up aligned.

And because I need to have something else to distract me since this clearly isn't a big enough project, here's what I've been putting together as well! I bought a turnigy talon v2 and have made some custom mounting plates for extra FPV gear.... plate for an EZUHF 8ch Diversity RX at the back, eLogger will go beneath the plate. On the right OSD Pro on the bottom of the plate and IMRC 5.8Ghz on top, on the left will go GPS. it makes a nice solid little quad actually - I was quite impressed with the build quality... anyway I know it's not really related but there we go...

**Zeeflyboy** · 17-05-2012, 07:04 PM

So this afternoon I glassed the cockpit area... quite a slow job since it's quite a complex shape for sanding etc.

I also did a bit more work on the dash... pretty much done now - just need to make a small screen for the bottom right and put in the HUD etc.

I may try to come up with a small locking mechanism for the canopy - after seeing rcexplorer's disappear after being held on by just magnets it'd be a shame for mine to do the same....