11/02/2007
Another month and another project.
I really liked the way my Euro Canard flew other than being a bit under powered so decided to do a remake based on 70 mm Wemotec fans with HET 2W motors for power. For more details read on.

Setting up for a 42" wingspan, the wing would not fit on a single sheet of 1/4" fanfold so I bought a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/2" bluecore foam.

Wing and fuselage outline marked before cutting.
(I screwed up the 1st one so it's a good thing the sheet was big enough to make two.

Wing cut out and grooved for the carbon fiber wing spar.

Wing spar epoxied in and weighted to keep it flat while the epoxy cured.

Wing leading edge marked with a hinge centerline marking tool.

Then beveled to the centerline. Using a strip of painters tape helps maintain the angle.

3M 77 spray adhesive was used for applying the balsa sheeting.

Top sheeting completed.

The same leading edge bevel is done to the bottom side.

What the airfoil looks like at the wing tip.

Like my 1st Euro, the batteries will mount in the lower ducting to help keep them cool. Chances are I'll use a couple of 3200 ma 3s packs but make the openings large enough to accomodate a 5000.

A 1/8" lite ply tray is fabricated to secure the batteries in place. With a 1/2" thick wing they won't obstruct that much airflow to the fans either. The 3200 ma pack will only protrude about 1/4". The 5000 closer to 3/4".

Fan mount former is fabricated. 4" high by 8-1/4" wide. 1/8" lite ply was used for the former and 1/4" ply for the mounting lugs. 6-32 blind nuts and bolts will be added after the epoxy cures.

"Cheater" holes cut in. The fans are in the shot just for a size reference.

Air diverters were formed from 1/4" fanfold using a heat gun and a piece of 2" (ID) pvc pipe to shape them over.

Lower rear fuselage sides added in before installing the diverters.

5 minute epoxy was used to install the diverters which are then trimmed and sanded flush with the top of the wing.

Lower diverter is trimmed flush with the fuse sides. Any long blade can work here. I actually used a carpenters saw for the rough cut since I couldn't find a hacksaw blade. (Work slow not much pressure) The tape will protect the foam underneath while cutting & sanding.

Diverter installation complete. At least until I add the lower fuse bottom.

Battery hold down installed. 3200ma on left 5000 on right. Which I use will depend on how much weight I need where to get the balance point right.
Yes, I'm still making it up as I go along.

Fan former attached. I know... most internal fans don't use the inlet rings. But, I'm not using "real" ducting so, thought I'd give it a try.

Upper rear fuselage sides installed.

Nose gear mount made from 1/8" lite ply

Forward fuselage box constructed from 1/4" fanfold foam.

Forward fuse test fitted to wing

Additional bracing added to nose gear mount.

Decided to add a 1" taper from 4" in front of the fan former to outer fuse leading edge.

Nose cone laminated from scrap 1/2" bluecore foam. Using the thicker material required 7 pieces instead of 14. Length of nose cone is 8".

Laminated nose attached to fuselage with 5 minute epoxy.

A surform rasp was used for rough shaping. Finish sanding will be done with 100 grit on a long sanding block.

The extra length of the nose cone makes the outline look HUGE. It is large for a 70mm fan model. I don't expect a lot of speed but think it will fly well when completed.

I like to spread a little knowledge when I do a page. This is construction of a simple servo tray for the steering. All the parts are cut from 1/8" lite ply.

Servo rails are attached to the braces using medium CA glue.

Servo rails and braces attached to 1/8" lite ply base with medium CA glue.

I used thin CA to harden and seal the ply in the area where the servo will mount. Then added a piece of servo tape in addition to the screws.

Finished assembly attached to inner intake side with 5 minute epoxy.

Elevon servos will be mounted in the bottom of the wing since there are no plans to bungee launch this bird. Outline of servo and lead traced into lower sheeting.

Lower sheeting removed from the marked areas. Foam is removed from the area where the servo will be mounted.

Servo test fitted in opening. When the wing covering is applied it will hide the servo leads.

Vertical fin base constructed from 1/4" x 1/2" hard balsa stock

Additional balsa was added to create a 1/4" wide slot for the fin to plug in to.

I used the template from my Rafale kit to make the thrust tubes.

Fan housings and thrust tubes installed in order to determine how big and where to make the outlet holes in the rear former.

Rear former (thrust tube support) installed.

Lower fan area framed with more 1/4" x 1/2" hard balsa to make a solid surface. The fan access hatch will later attach to it with screws.

Upper rear decking installed. The turtledeck will hide the balsa fin base when it's added in.

After a visit to the canard cg locator page marked the CG and landing gear blocks location.

Then used my "redneck engineer" hot wire cutter to remove the foam.

3/8" plywood strut torque brace added to the root of the landing gear blocks.

And blocks glued in with plenty of 30 minute epoxy.

Elevon leading and trailing edges center marked.

A strip of painters tape applied along the leading edge of the elevon to prevent cutting into it while sanding in  the taper.

After sanding to shape, the 1st side is sheeted to prevent warpage while sanding the other side.

Finished elevon profile.

Hinges installed in elevons and test fitted to wing.

Wing fairings cut from more of the leftover 1/2" blue core.

Steering servo linkage installed in preparation for attaching the rear fuselage lower pan.

Elevon servos set up and installed in wing bottom using clear silicon adhesive. 9" extensions will be needed to get the ends back into the fan/radio compartment.

While waiting for the local hobby shop to open up wing covering is applied. Low temperature white Econo-Kote was used.

After picking up the extensions installed them. Heat shrink tubing over the connections will keep them from coming apart. The wired will be routed underneath the balsa frame prior to installing the belly pan.

Lower fuselage pan installed with 30 minute epoxy.

Battery access hatches cut in.

Canards constructed from 1/4" balsa.

Canard pivots made from 1-1/4" hardwood dowel. Center drilled and then angle cut to get the anhedral angle. Then, epoxied to the 1/8" ply doubler inside the fuselage.

Canard torque rods cut from 3/16" carbon fiber tube.

Completed canard linkage. I used some spare servo horns drilled out to a snug fit on the carbon fiber tubes then secured them with CA glue.
The tubes butt against each other along the centerline keeping them from shifting in. The servo horns against the bushings keep them from shifting to the outside.

Due to my limited workspace I covered as much of the rear and front fuselage pieces as I could before joining them together. White will be the dominant color with Insignia Blue for the bottom surfaces and a bit of Red on the top. 

Front fuselage is joined to the rear section with 30 minute epoxy.My collection of lipo's made good weights for holding it down while the epoxy cured.

Upper fuselage decking added. 30 minute epoxy used here as well.

A rudder servo tray is cut from 1/8" lite ply and rudder servo mounted.

Fans, motors and ESC's installed. There's enough room on this installation to install the thrust tubes on the fan units before sliding them into place.

Vertical fin constructed from 1/4" sheet balsa.

Fin test fitted to fuselage and foam marked for removal.

Foam is removed down to the balsa fin base.

Vertical fin is drilled to lighten it, then 1/16" sheeting added to bring it up to 3/8" thickness and make it a more rigid structure.

Sheeting completed and fin/rudder sanded to proper shapes. The lower 1/4" portion did not get sheeted so it will still fit into the mounting slot.

Hinges added and both pieces covered in Red Econo-kote.

Hinges secured with thin CA glue

Canards sanded to an airfoil shape after marking the centers all the way around.

Again the use of masking tape makes it easier to maintain the angle wanted. Front angle shown here.

And the sanding line for the rear angle.

To increase strength, the canards get "skinned" with 1/64" ply.

Skins are cut slightly oversize and then easily trimmed close with shears once the glue has set. I used 3M 77 spray adhesive.

EconoKote covering added. Red trim will be on top, blue on lower.

Canards attached to the torque rods with 6 minute epoxy. Set at 0 incidence to the wing.

Vertical fin temporarily installed and rudder linkage set up.

Forward turtledeck installed and canopy construction started. 1st lamination glued to the base.

A surform rasp is used for rough shaping. It took 8 laminations of the 1/2" bluecore form.

After initial sanding, the remaining rasp divots are filled with lighweight wall spackle.

Fan and radio hatch constructed from 1/8" balsa. I used 1/2" wide strips for bottom framework spacers and added 2" wide strips on top for the covering to attach to.

Fan & radio installation. Spektrum AR6100 receiver tucked in between the thrust tubes.

Vertical fin permanently attached, turtledeck completed and covered.

Fuselage covering completed.

Red accents are added to the top wing leading edges. The blue on the lowers is not visible in this photo. The covering is DONE!

To keep the canopy from shifting in flight decided to add some railings. 1st I set my balsa stripper to the same thickness as the fuse sides, then cut foam strips to the same width.

Holding the strip flush with the outside of the canopy, lines were drawn. Then, the strips get glued on with the outer edges against the marked lines to get the correct spacing inward.

All strips attached with a gap for the former. 1/8" lite ply hold down (slides in under top front fuse section) added to front.

1/8" lite ply brace added to rear of cockpit area. Doubler strips get notched deep enough to allow it to sit slightly below the sides to allow for the thickeness of the velcro fasteners.

Finished canopy attachment. Neat & simple kinda like me. 
Hey, I at least qualify for the "simple" part. ;-)

12/12/07
Fully finished and awaiting test flight. All up weight (fully balanced, fully loaded with fixed gear attached) twin 5000ma 3s Evo 25's is 7 pounds even.
Thrust generated is 3 lbs 5 oz so not expecting fast flight with this one. It should fly though, even if it won't be "impressive" other than it's size.
Hoping to find out this weekend if it's weather fit.

Just for a size reference, I am 5'-10" tall.
I'll be quick to agree that the model is a lot sexier and better looking than I am too. (grin) For those into statistics, this is a screen grab from the Canard CG Calculator web page.
I'm done taking photos but "hope" to add video after the test flight is made.

12/23/07
This video is the Typhoon's 2nd flight. The 1st was yesterday with landing gear attached, from the pavement at the SRQ Squadron Field. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough usable video from it to post. Just as it rotated, my drafted camera man announced that he'd lost it in the sun. From that point on, all that was visible was ground and his feet.

Today was shot at MCRC field with landing gear removed and launched from a bungee. Much better results video wise. The actual launch was missed with the video starting about the time it came free of the tether. And, the one semi-low "camera pass" that I did got missed altogether. Gotta give Jim did credit for an excellent job at keeping up with the model for most of the flight though. And, it's proof that it does fly (even if not impressively). Thanks Jim!

Pretty much the whole flight was done at full throttle since it starts losing altitude right around 3/4 throttle. I'm guessing that it would be close to 70 mph on a couple of the downhill runs. Running at full power for 3 minutes only dropped the batteries about 50% (my charger put 2500ma back into them) and left them barely warm.  

I guess now it's time to scale down to a 36" wingspan version if I want any kind of performance on 70mm fans. Or, find some way of putting 90's in this airframe.