10/20/02 Update: The D-VII flew, and flew well. It took off the floor of the gym very smootly and was a smooth flyer. It could do tight circles as well as nice easy figure eights. It flew at slightly over half throttle. So, in the future I'll probably switch from the BitCharger 3.0 to a 2.6. More details on final weights of components need to be calculated. But, final AUW was 22.4g. Click on the image for a complete set of specs, including a detailed weight breakdown. Actuators are DU coils, 3-stacked Wonder magnets, converted to actuator servos by Carl Martin, with CF push rods

10/10/02 Update: The actuators, modified by Carl Martin, are here. The complete pair weighs 1.9g. They use DU coils and 3 wonder magnets per coil. I have a retrofit RFFS-100 with one of Matt Keennon's PIC chips. So, actuator torque should be roughly double what it would have been.

9/30/02 Update: This is a very quick update. Work stopped on this plane back in April when it became evident its wing loading would be too high. I've started work on it again and finished the basic airframe, landing gear and wing struts. Right now it has a BitCharger 3.0 geared 5:1 with a U80 prop. The motor shown in the picture is still a M20-LV. The BitCharger propulsion set weighs 2.5g complete with wires and generates 13g static thrust. However, with a 145mAh Kokam LiPoly cell the plane does not balance. So, I've subsequently pulled the actuators out of the tail surfaces and will be replaceing them with actuator/servos mounted near the CG and push rods the to the tail. AUW is looking to come in around 22g or so.

4/21/02 Update: After quite a few static tests, I've settled on prop and gearing. Prop is 5x2.7 Mini-ARC type prop. I kept taking it apart and reassembling it to test different pitches. Now I need to make a fresh one with more CA. Gearing is Kenway 10t pinion and 60t Didel spur gear. Ball bearings are 1mm id and bearing tube is 3.8mm CF tube, both from Dave Lewis. This setup generates 18.8g static thrust at 3v and pulls 0.61 Amps. Motor is an M20-LV from an E-Charger. Next I'm lengthening the RFFS-100 leads so it can be moved further forward for balancing purposes if needed.

4/12/02 Update: Started assembling the components. Landing gear and struts next. Arg!

4/7/02 Update: Cutting holes for actuators with sharpened brass tube. Actuator installed and checking for movement. I cut the slots for the rubber band hinges to be 1mm wide — use 1mm CF rod to see how much. Apply medium CA with thin piano wire, and only to the ends of the rubber band. When the hinge flexes, it also flexes back in the slot, but this makes sure no CA wicks into the middle part of the rubber hinge. In this case it was a success and the elevator has lots of movement in each direction. Although not visible, the antenna is litz wire (available from Cloud 9) and is soldered to a stripped piece of the black wire supplied with the RFFS 100. This antenna weighs virtually nothing.

4/5/02 Update: Time to start installing actuators and make that landing gear "wing".

3/25/02 Update: Finished fuselage, more or less. Covered with inkjet printed tissue. Beginning to look like a Fokker.

3/23/02 Update: Printed out top wing graphics on tissue using inkjet printer. Applied to with with 3M photomount spray. Wing weight increased from 1.8g to 2.2g! Built fuselage, but still need to figure out how electrics will be mounted.

3/21/02 Update: Barely started cutting balsa. This plane will use the Dynamics Unlimited RFFS-100 actuator system.