Fox 1:3 from Tomahawk Aviation - FES version assembly thread

[Steve P]

Maiden flights were in Cumberland at the summer event. LOVE! It also flew at the Black Dirt one day event and will make the trip to Sky High in Muncy, PA this September.

A few Cumberland shots. It’s REALLY yellow….

[Steve P]

PVC did a job on me. You know I’m a real sickie. Guess I’ll have to break the news, that I have a Fox to move. Simple and quick transport cradle for inside the trailer.

[Steve P]

A small bit of beefing up, or is that chicken soup? Added three strips of 6oz glass to each side of the fuselage where the wing bolts on and the front anti rotation pin inserts. Embedded a washer in the middle.

[Steve P]

Some graphic intervention last night. I stuck with the dark gray and silver theme....

A little tribute to the home town of Tomahawk and its most famous former resident


Damn right it's a FES, take your purist attitude elsewhere


PowerBox inside


Adding to the wing


It's may look crooked here, but it is aligned with the main wing graphic.

[Scalesoaring]

I like how you snuck in the "Dummies" book...

The elevator connection solution was a good idea, but I agree dual servo would be best. I know Brian drilled a hole of the other side so a nutdriver could fit through.

Bruce

[Steve P]

Initial program finished while seeking to keep it simple with three flight mode presets — camber mode drooping the entire TE slightly which I also hope will work on tow, cruise mode with a bit of aileron to rudder mix, and aerobatic mode mixing flaps to ailerons and no rudder mix — and best of all everything is moving in the right directions. Throws will have to be refined.

Without airbrakes, crow is the landing recommendation. I think it will take a few flights and knocking knees on approach to get the proper combination of flap-aileron-elevator comp dialed in. I right now have a good bit more flap than Tomahawk specs, but that is what moving the left stick is for.

Balanced just a skinny hair nose heavy @ 110mm with 1.5 ounce of lead in the tail cone. I guess I could scooch the receiver batteries back an inch, but with a big beast like this, what’s an ounce or two?!

Now need an opportunity to get it airborne and refine things! I’d prefer to start with a tow versus try to ROG a brand new plane and untested setup.

[Steve P]

JB Weld is a much better approach!

I also added two M3 nuts to the mix — one on each horn outside, the distant one then extending to the locknut. Plenty of threaded retention. This approach releases the ball joint but retains the screw so it doesn’t fall inside or some alternate universe never to be found.

I do think the elevator setup in general is a PITA. Especially outside at a flying field. Two thin wing servos in the horizontal would be a vast improvement. I did that on the Valenta Fox and it worked perfectly. Even better with today’s LDS. That setup in my Antares is rock solid.

[Steve P]

Well that didn’t work at all. Nut cracked right out of the epoxy. Onward to JB Weld!

[Steve P]

No. Seriously. That’s exactly the way Tomahawk details the elevator linkage. Gluing a lock nut to one side of the horn and then accessing the bolt through the opposite side. Really.

[Steve P]

The seat pan mounts running down the sides of the fuselage are all structure made from laser cut ply. The next arts and crafts project was to paint out all that plain wood in gray so it blends with the seat pans. The boys got seat cushions, headrests, control sticks and tow releases.

[Steve P]

From the small things make a difference department…. The seat pans are flexible so that they can be removed from full length mounts running down each side. By flexing the front of one side it is possible to make them pop out. Unfortunately, with the weight of a 1/3 scale Axel pilot in place they also tend to flex and fall through, downward into the fuselage. My hopeful solution is to make one side —that does not need to flex to remove — slightly more rigid with the addition of a strip of pre-preg carbon sheet. The front pan also made slightly wider tapering from front to back.

Easy peasy….

[Steve P]

Not much time today to invest in the workshop. Project number one was to get the RC system batteries mounted and then a quick project to hide the rudder and elevator servos from view.

[Steve P]

I hate floppy canopies. On this model, they go all the way over and hit the side. One big gust of wind if they unlatched in the pits and they can snap right off. My solution here was a couple simple leashes using 0.032 Kevlar cord.

[Steve P]

Wurst und bier erbrechen bag

[Soaranator]

Don't forget to give the passenger, usually the person in the front seat, a barf bag...