SuperSlo28

Introduction:

This was the largest plane I had built to date, but it was a continuation of my desire/obsession to find something which I could fly slowly around the house without heading to the park. When I saw the videos of it flying, I thought that I had found my plane. You can find the plans at sdparkflyers.com.

Components ($40):

• 2x 5g servos (elevator & rudder)
• 1x 9g servo (aileron)
• Hurc 300 1300kv motor
• 12amp generic esc
• 4 channel micro receiver
• 4x push rods
• 5x popsicle sticks (strengthen nose)
• 6x bamboo skewers
• 9050 propeller
• 2 sheets of Dollar tree foam board
• Colored packing tape

Conclusion:

This build took longer than I had expected due to the fact that I didn't have EPP foam and thought I could substitute it with Dollar tree foam board. I knew that DT foam board didn't compare when it comes to durability, but I figured that if I took the paper off and added reinforcements, I could still keep it light and strong. It ended up being a bit over 200grams (almost double the EPP foam version). One major reason was that I had to do some major reinforcement of the nose area (using 5 popsicle sticks) since I ended up crashing it nose first many times. The wings were made from two layers of foam board with bamboo skewers running the length of them. There were also bamboo skewers running the length of the fuse both top and bottom as well.

With the amount of structural improvements I made to it, it was like a tank and flew like one. It took nose first crashes like nothing happened, but it is also not a light/agile flyer. It also doesn't fly like your average bank and yank plane since it requires the use of the rudder in turns. Overall, it was a fun experience, and I am looking forward to building a smaller/lighter version of this using the same DT foam board (but without so many reinforcements).