Fly Bear FX-702

Introduction:

This was my first chuck glider conversion and was a very straight forward build. The tricky part was keeping the CG in the correct spot while being able to use batteries of different sizes. I ended up cutting out a large area of foam on the belly of the plane right under the CG location and then securing it by using duct tape and velcro. It may not be the most elegant, but it definitely worked well since the duct tape could take the hard belly landings without tearing apart like the thinner packing tape. The original glider was 57grams and the final product came to around 90grams (without battery). I tend to use larger 2cell 650mah batteries since a 10gram motor is a bit much for this plane. It can hover even with an AUW of 120grams.

Components ($40):

• Fly Bear chuck glider or equivalent
• Racerstar br-1306 3100kv (in pics) & later converted to a C10 2900kv Micro brushless mounted on a milk cap and finally converted back to another racerstar BR1306 3100kv motor
• 2x 3.7gram servos (aileron & elevator)
• Redcon CM421 micro receiver (under the black tape right behind the aileron servo)
• Generic 10amp ESC (under the canopy)
• Props: 5045
• 2x bamboo skewers (under the wing and along the bottom of the plane)
• 1x toothpick (rear elevator)
• 2x push rods
• Optional wire & plastic circles for a landing gear.

Conclusion:

The plane flew really well and can do all your basic aerobatic manuvers (rolls/loops), but the motor windings came loose upon the first nose first impact. I'm not sure if it's a fluke, but I moved to a C10 motor and it's handled crashes much better (albeit with a better motor mount design).

As for the plane, I was thinking of adding rudder control, but I think I am going to build another version that is more crash resistant by using a center or rear mounted motor in a pusher prop configuration.

Version 3 (update 4/29/17) - The C10 motor came loose midflight (my fault for not tightening the screws enough) and the windings fell apart. I decided to try another racerstar motor since it flew so well with it originally. Since I was breaking propellers with every flight, I decided the more economical option was to add landing gears. I'm happy to report that I landed it successfully without breaking the prop for the first time during the first flight with all these new changes!