This plane has very similar dimensions to Ralp Bradley's Guided Mite. So, since this one uses a pre-molded Depron wing and is so quick to build, it is called the Quick Mite. It started out as a V-tail, without much success. So, I put a conventional tail on it. So far it seems to be a success. I did my first ever indoor loop with it.
Design goals were to (1) be a quick build and easy to rebuild/repair after a crash, (2) use the new Selman actuators, (3) be able to fly indoors and hopefully outdoors in a slight breeze, and (4) allow easy transfer of equipment.
It uses a Takeoff 2000 molded Depron wing, cut down to 14-inch span with 65 sq. in. wing area. With a 140 LiPoly and geared M20-HV the AUW is 25.5g. The push rods are 0.5mm CF rod, with 0.1mm copper wire glued to the actuator ends for Z-bends, and similarly thin piano wire at the control surface end. Both push rods together did not register on my scale which goes down to a tenth of a gram.
After a number of crashes and lots of good flying I put the QM back together as a 2-cell plane. I used a RFFS-100 modified with Matt Keennon's method to allow using two LiPoly cells. The 2-cell RFFS board from BSD does the same thing, and is not permanent (can be reversed). I molded a 3-bladed 5x3 CF prop, used 6.7:1 gearing, and the weight with 145x2 Kokam's at 29g. But, it had 43g static thrust. I also used a micro switch to turn it on and off, and a voltage monitor from Dave Lewis since this setup pulls nearly an amp to insure I don't over discharge the cells. The motor is the M20 from Toytronics, which is really a medium volt motor and can be run on two cells. Another suitable motor would have been the M20-HV from Kenway (available from BSD) which can also run on two cells, but has a higher resistance than the Toytronics motor. There were some problems with glitching. So, I soldered on resisters from the terminals to the motor case and between the terminals and that eliminated most of the glitching. The higher voltage and motor induced static was likely the reason the resisters were needed. I also had to machine an aluminum prop hub that extended back along the shaft and had a cup for the gear on the front of the spur gear to slip inside. There is so much thrust that the gear spins on the shaft, and no amount of CA will solve this, since the Didel gears are made from Delrin.
Flying is a blast. The plane goes straight up anytime, will loop, and has power to spare. I've crashed it several times, and just keep putting it together again.