fatedev.com - Project Night Flyer amazingly bright depron model

Dark nights are here cutting flying time. My Depron Delta is a fun night flyer but I'm getting tired of the 3 minute flight times. The idea of this project is too have a super simple build with lots of surface area and very bright. The 2nd objective is to have at least 8-10 minutes flying time for maximum fun.

It takes my charger about 15 minutes to charge 1500mAh and I have 2 packs. If I can have 10 minute flights then most I'll ever wait is 5 minutes to fly again.

Items used:

Depron sheets: 3MM and 6MM (wing is 9MM bonding 6+3, you can opt to buy 9MM)
1.5MM carbon rod for control lines
3MM carbon rod for wing brace @ 70CM
UHU Por glue
4 control horns
1MM metal wire for control line ends
Turnigy D2826-6 2200kv Outrunner Motor
TURNIGY Plush 25amp Speed Controller
Turnigy nano-tech 1500mah 3S 25~50C Lipo Pack
4 light weight servos sub 8 grams (I used 4g servos)

Here are the plans I generated in PlaneDesigner.

The fuselage is 5CM box with the bottom piece at 6.2CM for the 2 sides at 6MM thick each.

Now the fuselage is together with one of the dividers at the back horizontal flat to give more surface area for the tail too bond on.

The tail shape I just made up as I went a long following the size measurements of the plan.

With the tail fixed in place I end up with an open box back on purpose, here the elevator control line and wire for LEDs will run through.

Using 1.5MM plastic sheet or plywood add in a 3CM panel where the leading edge of the wing will be. This panel must well attached, I also taped around the fuselage over the panel.

Because I'm using such a large lipo pack I can afford to place the tail servos right at the rear of the fuselage. One is upright for the rudder and the other laying flat to control elevator.

/theme/NightFlyer/7-carbon-re-enforcement

At the front I ran a strip of carbon plate 1MM thick on each side. Also you can see I've added a velcro strip for components to attach too.

The motor is installed on 1.5MM plastic sheet or again you can use something like plywood. The ESC is not staying in this position.

Now to see the basic shape coming together. For a 70CM wingspan model the box fuselage shape and wide tail help create 1800cm3 surface area.

/theme/NightFlyer/10-ailerons-carbon-enforcement

Each aileron is 5CM out from center wing and 10CM long by 4CM wide.

On the center of the wing you can see the 3MM carbon fibre rod I added in to help brace the wing.

The servos are pretty close into the center keeping COM pretty balanced.

I wanted to follow correct aviation light colours but around the whole wing and a strip on each wing tip top and bottom.

The fuselage has LEDs around the entire tail and fin and along the bottom of the fuselage there is also a strip of white LEDs. Very bright!

/theme/NightFlyer/14-wing-front-retainer

on the wing you will see two pieces of plastic sheet at 1.5CM thick. The bottom piece is 5CM by 3CM and the top piece is 3CM by 3CM. These are to go at the front of the wing.

The back of the wing will bolt in place using a nylon 5MM bolt. I added a piece of 1.5MM thick plastic to help spread the stress of the bolt pulling down on the wing.

The ESC has been moved back, this was why I used velcro so things could move around super easy. The 1500mAh pack goes to the front of the fuselage to balance COG correctly. COG being at 5CM in from leading edge.

/theme/NightFlyer/17-fuselage-bottom-retainer-leds

The wing bolt nut is attached to a plastic plate on the bottom. You can also see where the bottom LEDs end from the tail along the fuselage.

/theme/NightFlyer/18-wing-bottom-retainer-blocks

Now you can see the front wing latch, this slides under the plate we put on the fuselage earlier.

The wing latch slides under the plate then bolt in the back of the wing. You can see I added a block on each side of the rear wing which aligns the wing to bolt it in and helps deter twisting.

/theme/NightFlyer/19-fuselage-lids-velcro-easy

To keep the access super simple as I'll be flying in the dark I want to get in and out easy. Each panel is tape hinged using the same clear tape I used to cover all the LEDs and along the bottom of the fuselage.

On the other side are velcro panels with the lid side using the same transparent tape as a hinge.

This model is super easy to build and can be made in about 2-3 hours with UHU drying time considered. With 1.8Meter3 of surface area it'll be a nice floater.