Virtual 2 Reality

This is seriously cool stuff! Thanks for sharing. It looks to me like the process of unfolding the model must be kind of tedious (but then you're going to cut the sucker out of foamboard and glue it all together which is WAY more tedious).
 
Thank you gentlemen!

@uncle808us:
Flying RC aircraft can go anywhere from relaxing to causing you to physically shake. It all depends on the aircraft and how it was designed to function. The aircraft in the vid is more on the relaxing side. The thrust vectoring of the elevons will allow you to correct your path even post stall. You can just “play” without too much worry. I have a few EDF F-22 kits that will cover not only the baseball field, but the entire school grounds in a matter of seconds. It is a serious adrenaline rush, but not really what I would consider fun.

If you are really interested in building one I do have prints here…
https://sites.google.com/site/namsrcplans/F18X-RhinoV3.3_Tiled.zip?attredirects=0&d=1
Updated: Version 3.3 05/28/18

As well as the build guide is here…
https://sites.google.com/site/namsrcplans/F-18X Build Guide r2.1.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

I must warn you, documentation is not my forte.:redface: Updated. I would not recommend just building one and attempting to learn to fly with anyway. I am just linking these so you can have a look. If you really want to learn, a simulator is worth its weight in gold.

Flying is not hard, but it’s something you have to practice. Muscle memory is everything. If you have to stop and think about what stick movements are required to move the aircraft a certain way, you will not be in there air for very long. You will learn more in just one hour on a simulator than you ever would trying to learn to fly by yourself. The amount of crashes in the first hour would pay for the simulator ten fold.

@podperson:
Tedious does not even begin to cover it.:frown: The foam building part is very rewarding for me. I am not going to lie though, the building and unwrapping each face is a lot of work. That said, sometimes it’s almost therapeutic to just turn on some music, zone out and unwrap something like that. Especially after you spent days trying to figure out a way to shove an EDF through a wing spar and still hold the plane together. And at the end of the day when I am grinning ear to ear flying something like that it’s all worth it.

Again, I thank you for the kind words. And if anyone has any questions on getting started with RC aircraft feel free to ask. I will help however I can.
 
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I just finished the first skinned airframe for the airshow. Unfortunately I had an issue with the local printing company so I had to print the skins myself on 8.5x11 sheets and tape them together. :frown:


Oh well, it was good practice, and the tape will not be noticeable in the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFXXEGrutiw


Now I get to do it all over again with proper prints this time.:redface:
 

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Thanks bud!
I just maidened her today. It was windy!
https://youtu.be/veXX-kw7nps


Too windy to be messing around like that. Had a little mishap there at the end. I tried an Immelmann a little too low and was hit by a wind gust. I did not have enough energy to finish the maneuver and tried to bail. If I just had and extra foot or two.:redface:



It's all good though, I have had far worse.:icon_thumbup:
 
I have a few UMX kits with the AS3X, but I just like to fly the plane myself most of the time.


Flying an RC aircraft with a flight controller for me is like driving sports car with an automatic transmission. Don't get me wrong, it's still fun and it is a lot easier, but it's just not the same. I like to feel the aircraft and what it's doing.


Speaking of which, here is a little more aggressive flying. I had the ball field all to myself that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIkd0vllFZE


I rarely get a chance to play around like this. Fun stuff.:icon_thumbup:
 
Thanks Albert!


I have updated my blueprints as well as the build guide in the post above.^


And I am done with the Navy Skin. Build to follow.
 

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Thanks Albert!


I have updated my blueprints as well as the build guide in the post above.^


And I am done with the Navy Skin. Build to follow.

Annapolis is where I live and the Blue Angels where just here for Navy Graduation.
I was walking around the Navy Stadium yesterday and there is one of their planes on display permanently that you can touch cool. I said to my wife about one of the overflow parking lots"That would be a good place to fly a model plane."
 
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@Uncle: Did they perform there, or did they just do a fly over?


@Frank: Aye, these are just quick test renders I am just doing to get a visual of the skins before the build. I like the images so much I may do some high quality renders for show purposes. If I do get that far I will definitely try that out as well as add things like control surfaces in non zero positions and such. Thanks for the tip.:icon_thumbup:


Here is a link to the USMC skins if you would like to build one...
Full 30x20" sheets
https://sites.google.com/site/namsrcplans/F-18X_USMCv1.1Skins.zip?attredirects=0&d=1



Tiled 7.5x10" sheets
https://sites.google.com/site/namsrcplans/F-18X_USMCv1.1Tiled.zip?attredirects=0&d=1


The full sheets are for 20x30 foamboard. the first two print sheets are to be glued to full foamboard sheets. Only the first half of the 3rd sheet gets glue to foam, the second half, (underside wings), as well as the 4th sheet are NOT to be glued to foam. They would be cut out and glued to the backside of another pre-cut part.


The tiled prints are formatted in such a way to minimize the number of seams, not the amount of sheets. You will have a lot of wasted paper. As a result, if you glue the prints as is to foam you will have wasted foam as well. The idea is to cut and tape the larger parts together then cut the templates down around the full sized part. Once cut down, you would cut a matching piece of foam to glue each part to.


If anyone here does try to actually build one of these, I can elaborate.
 
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I finished my Airshow Navy skin and had them printed, I will be building the two new Airshow planes in parallel and hope to have them done in about 2 weeks.


Other progress has been made with the actual squadron skins. I hand painted the textures used below. I took the base shading, panel lines and rivets I already had and added weathering, scorch marks as well as other scale details. I also did some quick sketch models of weapon pylons, AGM-84, AIM120 and AIM9x. I will do some test 3D prints of these and see how much they weight. These probably will never end up in the air.



This build will not happen probably until after the RC event. Probably a month at least.


Lastly, I tried my hand at video editing again. This is only my third, so don't judge it too harshly. This is something I really like doing, but I have no idea what I am doing. :redface:Just flying by the seat of my paints so to speak. This was a footage from 3 flights. A few shots made it in twice and I did not notice until after I had compiled the film. :frown:


https://youtu.be/DBGFHKaOZmE
I am still learning.
 

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I have been busy on these planes. The good kind of busy.:smile:


First, I completed my VFA-103 Jolly Rogers squadron skin. It turned out great. The prints came out a little dark. Consequently the weathering is a little overdone, but it still looks good. In fact the exaggerated weathering stands out better in the air. I also designed a 3D printed motor mount for it. You can see it in the bottom left corner of the pic. It works great.:icon_thumbup:



Here is the maiden flight...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rezHN5mN88
Sorry for the commentary, I had a few spectators and I did not feel like editing the vid.


Second, I designed an entirely different aircraft. I call this one the Thresher. It's based off of a FT-Racer, in fact is uses the Racer's wing. The rest was custom built though. I really like this bird. I am in the middle of doing some modifications and plan to release the plans soon.


I tried the motion blur you suggested on the wallpaper render Frank. It's a quick simple render, but it does look cool with the prop spinning. Thanks again. And again, I must apologize for my build area. It does get messy.:redface:



Here is a little little vid I did for it. Another video editing practice project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t0vvh9CTqQ
It's a nice relaxing flier.


You will notice all of the tiny pieces I have to put together to make the translation from 3d model to blueprint it the second pic. If anyone has any ideas on how to make that an easier process I am all ears. :redface:
 

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Thank you gentlemen.


I have been pulling the new design apart and putting it back together again for the better part of the day yesterday. I think everything is in order to build the beta. I had a few nasty surprises on the alpha prototype which I fixed on the fly, but there were some changes that had to be made.


I think this will work as advertised now and be a very serviceable airframe.
 

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Prototype is complete...
UpdateC3D01.JPG
I need to install the electronics yet, but the frame is done.
C3DD2.jpg
I am pretty happy with it over all. I will need to rework the hatch assembly, but the rest of it turned out great.
C3DD4.jpg
This is the quickest design and build yet. I stated the design last Monday and had it built in just under a week. Next is the texture painting. It will get the same treatment as the F-18 I did last year.

I am not sure when I can get out flying, but when I do I will post some video.
 
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