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Hi!

I wanted to present you my actual project:
It's a Shadow 200 1:1.7 with 2m wingspan.
Earlier this year my 1.5m shadow hit a phone cable (which was almost invisible in fpv...) and crashed. Because this plane flew very well and had lots of room for equipment, i decided to build a 2m version now.

here's a picture from the original:


Here are the features i've planned to include in my model:

FPV system with audio:
- KX191
- 2.4GHz 100mW Tx
- amplified mic
- modular 270° pan/90° tilt system (wide platform with enough space for a strong flashlight or a second cam)
- EagleTree OSD Pro

Data aquisition/sensors
- ET eLogger V3
- Airspeed sensor
- Altimeter
- GPS
- RPM sensor
- Motor temp sensor
- FMA CPD4 stabilization system (maybe artificial horizon in the OSD later...)

propulsion system:
- 1.4kW turnigy motor
- turnigy k-Force ESC
- 6s 3700mAh LiPo

additional features:
- position- and maybe landing lights
- 3 RC switches for switching lights on/off or igniting smokers or firework
- maybe a servo to drop some cargo...

For all those components i'm going to make a little PCB to avoid tons of wire...

That's a whole lot of features, but first i have to get the plane in the air.
Here's the actual status:







The wing consists of three pieces that can be separated. The fibreglass tubes holding the tail are glued to the centerpiece.
The next step is installing the wires for the servos and lighting. After that i'll cover the wing wit 1mm Balsa.

cheers
Simon

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Do you have any suggestions for the covering of the wing?

My first intention was to cover the wing with 1mm balsa sheets and then cover the balsa with 1 layer of 80g/m^2 epoxy and glass.

I'm not sure if the glass is too heavy, or if it's stable enough without the glass covering. I also thought about using parquet coating and glass cloth, to avoid that epoxy stuff, but no idea if that works?

Some Progress:

The fuselage takes shape:





As you may have noticed it's not very scale, the main criteria for me is "form follows function".
cheers
Simon

Looking REALLY good so far Simon!

Hi Simon!
I love this plane, please report!

If I were you I would use leaf for covering your wings. But I don´t know how heavy your wings are.
Maybe you can try japan paper. You can put this over your wings and you have to cover it with a mixture of white acryl color and pva glue (white glue).
After drying you can use other colors for you personal design.

The wings have a weight of about 550g now, without servos and leading edge balsa. I guess the center part of the wing needs something more robust than just paper. I'll make a test piece to try, if glass cloth and parquet covering are solid enough, or if epoxy is needed...

For the outer wings i'll use a few layers of paper (like newspaper sheets). I've done this with parquet coating, which works very well. But if the color can be mixed right into the glue, then your white-glue-version is worth trying, thanks!

Hey Simon!

My attempts (10mW!) with glass cloth showed that you reduce your range of video downlink! Be careful with this stuff

Covering the wings with obechi veneer should be enough, with maybe glass over in high load areas (wing panel joints). What do you hope for as a max take-off weight?

Hi!

I've been working on the shadow this evening, and made good progress:
The wing is covered with balsa, leading and trailing edges are sanded and the mechanical and electrical connection of the outer wing parts is finished.

The wing is quite heavy now. It weighs exactly 1 kg, without the final wing covering and/or paint and the servos installed. But it is also very stiff, i guess it doesn't need any additional reinforcements.

Concerning the fuselage, there i made a quick test with the motor. It showed that the Balsa frame was not stiff enough, so i'll build it again but with styrofoam and pinewood stringers.

Here's a video of a pan/tilt prototype i wanted to use in the shadow: http://vimeo.com/6099303
But now i got an AHD 200 HD Cam, and pan/tilt in HD would be great. I'll try to modify the mount for the Aiptek...

@GeeW
I was hoping that the take-off-weight would be about 3kg, but after weighing the wings i think 4kg are more realistic. It will be somewhere in between 3 and 4, but closer to 4kg...

cheers
Simon

Hi Simon,

Good job

I think,100mw TX not enough for this size airplane.It's range will be only 200-300 meter with standart antenna, use patch antenna with spotter(or tracking system) or higher power TX(1W or 1.5W).

And your wing foil looking symetrical, original shadow have aymetrical very classic foil for higher payload and slow flight capability. You will be very fast with this symetrical foil.

Melih, thanks for your input.


The airfoil as a naca 2412 or similar, not a symmetrical one. I'm more afraid that the stall speed is high because of the low wing thickness.

And concerning range, watch this this video. 1.5km range and 1km altitude should be no problem with my setup