First Sub-£100 Plane :D

[JeromeF]

I bought and built over the last 10 days my sub £100 FW, this is my first ever plane.

Comprising of the following:
[LIST][*]GWS Formosa SG - £20[*]RC Timer 1400kv + 30a ESC - £17[*]Zippy 1300mah 3S1P - £12[*]4 x 9G Generic Servos - £9[*]Spektrum AR6100E - £29.99[*]Servo Extensions - £4[*]Props - £5[*]Motor Stick Mount - £3[/LIST]
Total cost: £99.99 - 10 Evenings building

( I bought some extra things, which you don't need to complete the build - foam safe spraypaint, Zap-O Foam Safe CA and Zip Kicker. )

I used 4 servos, but you can use 3, I just wanted more control over the alierons and the ability to add in mixing. It was a pain cutting the wings for the servos, making the control rods etc but IMO is worth the extra hassle. I also moved the elevator and rudder servos to the rear of the fuse.

Took it for maiden flight, my first ever time in the air with a FW model (although I've had some sim time) - came back it one piece, except I lost the black canopy :( My landings aren't the best at the moment but in the field I was flying, it has nice long grass so I could pratice belly landings.

[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0231.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0232.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0233.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0234.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0235.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww62/jeromef/IMG_0236.jpg[/IMG]

[Dannyyy]

Awesome!

[kevinh]

Hi Mate

what sort of size is this plane?

[tibbs]

Welcome to the dark side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tibbs

[JeromeF]

[quote=kevinh;286337]Hi Mate

what sort of size is this plane?[/quote]

Here are the sizes taken from a Review:

[quote][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=2][COLOR=#000099]The Formosa is foam low wing monoplane 912mm long and 900 wingspan.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote]

[JeromeF]

[quote=tibbs;286339]Welcome to the dark side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tibbs[/quote]

Ahh it's very good darkside haha.

I enjoyed my 12min flight, just wish now I had more batteries. Found it quite easy to fly to, it's very locked in and goes where you want it. There is massive amounts of power, vertical climb rate is crazy and flying into the wind.

[tibbs]

We ([url=http://www.glos-mfc.co.uk/]Gloucester MFC[/url]) have got our summer bbq on the 21 may,if youve got BMFA insurance pop over and have a fly.


Tibbs

[Smoothound]

Is this an original Formosa or the newer bigger one?

I had both and found the original one far superior.

I did the same as you and used 4 servos :D

Flew on my old T-Rex450 packs.

I also beefed up the airframe a bit inside with CF strips and rods ;)

[JeromeF]

[quote=Smoothound;286384]Is this an original Formosa or the newer bigger one?

I had both and found the original one far superior.

I did the same as you and used 4 servos :D

Flew on my old T-Rex450 packs.

I also beefed up the airframe a bit inside with CF strips and rods ;)[/quote]

It's the Mk-1 which is slightly smaller.

Very impressed with it for a £20 airframe :) Just lots of fidly hard work to get it built... Epoxy all over the place haha.

I might consider a bigger lipo, maybe 1800, as it has loads of power - but will wait and see as don't want it too heavy.

Added some support to the rear ele, a CF rod to stop any flex and used more hinges on each flap than stated.

With my current setup I have the following:

42MPH Top speed and 670g of Static Thrust - from calculations.

[Smoothound]

Yeah thats the better one ;)

Later one is bigger but not as good ;)

I see you did the right thing and cut the Ailerons full length :D

I ran mine on 3s 1800 and 2100 packs but they were all ex 450 packs so a bit lacking power wise. I still have the motor in the loft, not sure about power but I was running an 8x8 prop and it went really well for what the whole setup cost :D

[Boggy]

great value little plane. i have crashed mine dozens of times and all it takes is 10mins with the hot glue gun and off it flies again:)

[Sqwidge]

My FunJet only stands me at £55 which is the frame cost as I had everything else from another plank, Its the most fun I ever had with a fixed wing, buckets of power and looks good to boot, welcome to the dark side Jerome.

One more thing, on your prop you have the silver cone where your prop nut goes, I really like that where can I get one? And how did you calculate your speed and thrust? Can you do mine for me?

[JeromeF]

[quote=Sqwidge;286476]My FunJet only stands me at £55 which is the frame cost as I had everything else from another plank, Its the most fun I ever had with a fixed wing, buckets of power and looks good to boot, welcome to the dark side Jerome.

One more thing, on your prop you have the silver cone where your prop nut goes, I really like that where can I get one? And how did you calculate your speed and thrust? Can you do mine for me?[/quote]

The silver cone came with my motor and ESC Combo which was £17 from Hong Kong on eBay... Called RC Timer.

I used [URL="http://www.adamone.rchomepage.com/calc_motor.htm"]this calc[/URL] to get rough figures.


If you need any help with the calculator let me know, I'll try my best to help... Not been into FW very long so most of it is all new to me hehe.

[Sqwidge]

Thats a good bit of kit that, I used it and my speed came out at 60mph with 22oz of thrust, but this was based on guess work as I don't know what motor I have in my Jet nor the KV of it, I don't know the weight or resistance of my ESC either.

[Gav]

not to divert from helis but these foam planes are really great and cheap way of plank fun without the old skool method of building hours n hours out of balsa lol.

I am temped with this foam ductedfan Hawk and with the exchange rate it works out to be £60.00 or so plus postage of course. Just need a rx and servos:...

[URL="http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=4954&Product_Name=BAE_Hawk_Complete_Kit_w/_Motor/EDF/BESC"]Hobbycity Online R/C Hobby Store : BAE Hawk Complete Kit w/ Motor/EDF/BESC $109.95[/URL]_#