Eurofighter FPV build thread

[Zeeflyboy]

Haha, banging... I like it cagey!

Cheers!

When I get back from hol I'll start playing with retracts too. I just ordered a trio of lenses (1.8, 2.1 and 2.5mm) so I can experiment some more with camera position and field of view/depth of field as well.

[Zeeflyboy]

So back from holiday and work begins on refitting the euro!


my RVOSD 5 arrived, really nice looking bit of kit I must say... You can see here as well where I have soldered on the wires for the Airspeed unit and then re-covered it again with heat shrink. I'm using the MPXV7002DP kit from diy drones.





As mentioned, the RVOSD is limited to 30v, so my 8S system is too much for it. Here is my wiring harness with current sensor between the two batteries to provide half the voltage to the sensor and RVOSD yet still give correct current readings. I also added the 4S pick up lead for the IMRC vTX, with the positive downstream of the current sensor shunt so as to include it in the mah readings.





And here is the RVOSD installed with double sided foam tape on a grey foam insert that has been shaped to fit a cutout in the fuselage. as you can see this then fits nicely inside the middle of the fuse and sits almost directly over the CG give or take a couple of inches. Hopefully the foam mount will cut vibrations to the unit too...













After my damage to the nose I have also started repairing it, which involved cutting the whole tip off and rebuilding it along with a new pitot... I then stuck the nose back on and am in the process of putting it all back to sexy.... you might also note the presence of a nose wheel!

[muscleflex]

It was about 6 1/2 years ago that I had to decide between RAF and commercial... Needless to say I was fairly up on the "current events" given the selection process!

Man! so you could have been flying the real thing now if you stuck with the RAF?!

[speedy jon]

What a fantastic thread this has been so far. The amount of work and detail is incredible.

I wonder if it could be possible to arrange a visit to a Raf base and have a few photos of the model next to the real thing

[Zeeflyboy]

Man! so you could have been flying the real thing now if you stuck with the RAF?!

That is one possible eventuality... only one among many others unfortunately!


Jon - Cheers! Spanner has in fact already kindly extended just such an offer, so I will hopefully be able to take him up on it sometime!

[Zeeflyboy]

Here's a quick look at the retracts.... need to do a little tweaking on the nose gear door and then glue/paint etc.


I'm hoping to have enough space to cut out the wheel wheel to fit straight struts for the rear, but it may infringe on the ducting. Gear doors would be nice to add for the mains too.

[Zeeflyboy]

So, Range video are replacing my RVOSD for me


anyway


Thought you guys might like to see my in progress retract modifications


As mentioned, I didn't like the dog leg struts - I thought they looked a bit pants, and the real one has straight struts. So.... I ordered some suspension straight leg struts from hobbyking for a little over $10 (bargain!!)...


So the only real issue was that they take a 5mm pin and the landing gear has a 4mm pin... I chucked the pin into my pillar drill and used a file to step it down to 4mm... I then inserted the 4mm length into the retract and job done!


This mod has a couple of advantages besides cosmetics - this eurofighter can be tricky to rotate on take off, it likes to stay sucked to the ground. These struts are about 0.5cm shorter than the stock ones, and thus give the euro a little more angle of attack during the takeoff roll. They also move the pivot point of the wheels slightly closer to the CG, meaning less force is needed to pitch up the nose during the rotate.... They also have the happy advantage of being able to be pulled straight out of the fuselage while retracted - a big plus for my removable wings!


Here you can see how the straight leg compares to the dog leg - as you can see it does move the wheel a bit further forward which should really help with those rotations! I just cut a little foam here to allow the retract to fully close. Note the thickness of the strut compared to the stock ones - it matches the nose wheel strut much better and looks far more coherent as a result.







And here I am starting work on the gear door mechanism. You can see my 3g servo hiding just inside the hollow space in the fuselage, which then will connect to the door hinge.









And here's a video of the door in operation

[Gav]

Wow, just had a catch up on your build -
Did I just see the pilot move his bloomin joystick and throttle, in the model cockpit?
Do you have bird talking to you giving you low voltage warnings ? Very impressive
Top Banana mate - looks the nuts, don't crash it.

[Zeeflyboy]

Yes, both hands move with aileron/elevator/throttle... And yeah there's voice warnings when I hit my low fuel state, and then a further voice warning if the voltage gets critical.

Unfortunately, voice warnings aren't possible with the new system, which is a real shame. It has enough other advantages to make it worth switching though.

Cheers!

[Cagey]

Keeps getting better Zee. Intriguing trying to guess what's next, windscreen wipers, reheat, brakes ? Keep it rolling buddy.
PS What filler do you use on the foam stuff ?

[Zeeflyboy]

You joke Cagey, But I've actually considered adding brakes... it would allow me to shoot the approach a little hot giving better visibility and more margin for stall but still keep the landing distance short. It's not out of the question!

[challis349]

any more updates on this mate, enjoy reading through your thread