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Thank you - I should have that video out next week - I've got a busy travel schedule in the days ahead. I appreciate your comment.

As of now - I've not put together kits, as I wasn't putting these out as ads for products - but to share ideas back to the community, and to play around with making videos. But when things cool off in the winter - maybe I'll put together some kits for sale. I frequently upload my 3d design work to thingiverse, but I may need to make a more concerted effort to get stuff out there. I'm on the road for work in the days ahead - but I'll add it to my list. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for your comment. I should have the build video out next week. I've got a busy couple of days at work ahead - but it's in process.

Don't worry about making KITS. The Chinese or FliteTest will steal your design for themselves ! - Robert 😆

Thanks for the vote of confidence - sometimes I wonder if my tech talk gets too far into the weeds. I appreciate your comment.

Thank you. I hope you like my other designs as well - I’ve got plenty more to share. Just give me the time to make some more videos. I appreciate your comment.

I know the airframe could handle the additional weight - but I have the DJI O3 air units - and it would take some effort to incorporate the flight controller for them and still remain Sub 250 (especially as they need a digital arming signal from a FC or a spoofer). I’ve heard Walksnail’s FPV systems are lighter - and I’d love to try with them - but I’m frugal and slow to buy new things while I’m facing a kiddo about to head off to college. I have flown previous versions of similar size flying wings with flight controllers - but they were not build to be sub 250g. The airframe will handle it - the capability is there, and maybe I’ll stew on the idea more. See what bubbles up. The seed change on my design was opening up the nose as I did on my plank and other builds. That gave the DJI air unit the cooling airflow it needed to run here on the warmer days. This plane has the older rolled nose that I used to use frequently. It has a look I like - but the airflow of the open mouth planes is far better at cooling the O3. But this plane, and others like it, are great to keep in my car, and when I need a mental break, and want to lose myself flying a pack somewhere - this is a great plane to have on hand. I toss it up and for the duration of that battery - I just lose myself in flight and simple RC. Don’t get me wrong - I love FPV - but RC and FPV hit different. FPV is more similar to being in the plane - you’re somewhat isolated in the googles. Flying RC is social. Folks come up and talk to you - and it’s just kinda zen. I love them both. Thanks for your note - sorry for the tangent.

@@usefulaircraft I have yet to get into FPV. Just in the last few weeks got my hands on some old analog gear (I'm very frugal as well) to play with. Haven't put it on a plane yet, haven't flown at all since I got it either, too dang hot still. Not terrible at first light, need to get out early and get my "therapy" 🙂.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about those - but I’ve yet to see one in person. My evolution of this design came from making small flying wings, and having trouble with getting the CG far enough forward. Working in aviation - I was familiar with the old Hansa jet’s - and they were my inspiration to sweep the wing forward. The central fuselage layout came from trying where to hide the battery. My early versions had much bigger batteries, and tucking them into the leading edge laterally wasn’t bringing the CG far enough forward - so I rotated the battery 90 degrees and built a fuselage. After building and crashing a million of them - the design evolved into what you’re seeing here. It was not an easy road - but I really like the finished product. Thanks for your comment.

Thank you very much! Hopefully you’ll like some of my other designs as well.

Eliminating vibration is critical. Foamboard has some natural dampening tendencies - but the first place I always start is the propeller and flight control attachments. A misbalanced propeller will produce more vibration than anything else. Start with a well balanced propeller - both track and balance. When possible - multi bladed propellers are often smoother than two bladed props - but there are design considerations in selecting propeller types that may dictate certain choices. Loose flight controls also can lead to vibration. Check that control linkages are tight, and there is no slop at the flight control. As I can be a very lazy man - I’ll often just hit a loose linkage with a blob of hot glue, and that will often fill in loose tolerances until a proper repair can be implemented. As far as vibration dampening foam or rubber inserts - there are a variety of commercially available foam tapes (often times double-sided) that can work to reduce vibration. I’ve had a roll of something by 3M that works fairly well - but I have no clue where or when it appeared in the garage, and I doubt it was aviation related. The best advice is to simply experiment. You can put the airframe on a test stand and see where the source of your vibrations are (although some vibrations only appear in flight - I’ve done plenty of test flights in jets chasing noises and vibration). The best effort would be in eliminating them at the source - piston engine planes use rubber mounts for the motors to help reduce vibration - and maybe that could be something to try - rubber motor mounts to reduce as much of the vibration to begin with - but again - start with balancing your prop and powertrain. Now you’ve got me wanting to experiment with rubber mounts incorporated into my motor mounts. Interesting… I’m curious what you find is the best path forward for you. Thanks for your note. I hope this helped.

@@usefulaircraft Absolutely it helped! Thanks for taking the time. I haven't played with quads for a while, but I bought 3-blade props for the last one I was building. I was using isolation rubber mounts for my controller, and I was balancing my props, but I hadn't thought of mounting the motors with vibration in mind, so thanks for that idea. I'll keep you up-to-date with whatever I do when I get back to it. Thanks again.

While selling kits wasn't the aim of this channel - I may do so when the summer cools down and it's more tolerable to spend extended time in my garage. With the Phoenix summer heat I'm lucky to get an hour or two around sunrise to work in the garage - and that's not everyday. I appreciate the feedback - I've got other designs you may enjoy - I hope you stick around. Thank you for your comment.

Thank you. I'll have something else out in the days ahead that I hope holds your interest. I'm glad you enjoy.

My transition to Speedybee has been pretty seamless honestly. While I thought I preferred soldering on the large Matek pads - I really hated the floating ESC signal lines (the flat pads just floating in the middle of the board). For the money - I'm not going back - unless Matek really competes on price or adds features that enhance it's feature set to a level that changes my view. It seems to me that Speedybee is really competing at a price/features proposition that's hard to beat. Now all my builds are relatively inexpensive - with the most expensive airborne components being the FPV gear - so I'm not really feeling driven to more robust systems that would be better suited for commercial operations - I'm just enjoying the flights. Thanks for your note!

@@usefulaircraft Great advice, thanks!

I appreciate the support.

Thank you. I've got a few more things tucked away in planes that I'll get to as well. I'm glad you enjoy.

The camera arm passes under the piece of foam board at the front of the fuselage that bridges the left and right walls together. The camera itself then slides back into an indent in the bridge piece preventing the nose from sliding side to side. When the camera and its associated hatch are in place, and the camera is slid aft into the detent in the fuselage bridge, the arm prevents the lid from moving vertically. The camera arm’s ability to slide forward and aft allow it to be moved for installation and removal of the camera hatch. The sliding vent at the aft end of the camera top plate slides aft and engages a tab under the leading edge of the wing. When I get home in a few days I’ll try to get a better video of this engagement system to clarify things. It sounds complex as I write it out - but when you hold it in your hand it’s obvious. I’ll work to capture this system better. Thanks for your note.

@@usefulaircraft Very clever! I like your 3D printed parts to keep stuff neat. I also really like the idea of the re-useable O3 camera. I fly quads mostly. Gonna have to think of a way to do this with my quads too. Do you buy extra FC to O3 cables and leave the cables in your planes?

Oh, do you sell your planes cut out? I actually have access to several laser etchers and it never occurred to me to design planes and cut them out on the laser. Does the foam board cut well? Seems like it would burn and melt. I'd probably be as interested, if not more, in getting our design. SVG files?

Thank you! I hope to have other stuff to share when I get back from this trip. Sadly - the job takes me out of the shop from time to time.

Thank you. I’m glad to share.

The glue gun is a Surebonder I picked up on Amazon way back in 2015. They changed their colors - but they’re still available, and I like the hand feel and extruded width of the glue line. That said - I’ve used plenty of different brands, and it’s whatever you get used to and feels good. The hot glue is AdTech - the 10” full sticks, also off amazon. They’re about $25 a box - but that’s a lot of hot glue. I really like the consistency of their glue. Thanks for the comment.

He overtook us. He was at least .85

It's a G. Weike LC1290 with a Rudia controller driven by Lightburn. I spent quite a bit of time in makerspaces trying different types, but found the Chinese CO2 lasers net my needs. I've got a 100 watt tube, and a spare 130 watt tube. A CW-5200 chiller, giant air extraction fan and a small compressor for the nozzle. Get a spare power supply, as they go out occasionally. They're an incredible tool. Just do it.

Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one losing and somehow simultaneously hoarding my glasses. I'm on the road for the next few days, but I'll have more. I've got a host of different builds to share, and the process of improvement is never-ending, so I'll hopefully be able to keep you entertained. And one day, when it cools down, I'll bring y'all flying. Thanks again for the note.

Thank you

Thank you. Glad to try and give back to the community.

Thank you!

Nothing wrong with welded packs. I arrived at my solution after having bought welded packs and having built my own welding setup to weld my own packs. My packs suit my needs better for when I travel and I want to ensure the packs are isolated, and I do enjoy the ability to swap out cells, but a welded pack will be lighter if it's built right. At the end of the day, they both get you flying. Thanks for your comment.

Thank you, I completely understand. In many ways, there is a deeper satisfaction to getting that build just right. It puts order and satisfaction in my universe. I'm glad we share that.

That was a full flying surface flight control that I'll show off in another video. I was inspired by the F16's tail surfaces, and was looking to minimize parts count. It's effective at both, but it's needs significant airspeed for effective control. I'll have more on this later, I'm still experimenting. Thanks for your note.

The pivot point needs to be at 1/4 chord, as that’s the location of the aerodynamic center for a symmetrical airfoil.

@@PolarisPilot 📷📸

I'm happy to share most of them - I just uploaded the antenna mount for you: www.thingiverse.com/thing:6690735 Let me know how it works out.

My favorite parts too. Thanks!

Thanks! I really like the placards. I've had some guys ask why I need them - and I remind them in the jets I fly at work - we have written checklists that tells you to put the landing gear down before landing - and both of us read that out loud and verify it on every flight. These models are all different - and can be amazingly complex and capable devices with subtle (yet important) differences. Cheat sheets help keep it all straight. Thanks for your note.

It's a G. Weike LC1290

I agree - it's my preferred way, unless all I have in the parts bin is the old combined speed controllers with the giant heat sync. It just depends on how weight critical I am - but going forward, I prefer the separate BEC / ESC for most of my builds.

Here in Arizona - I only print my hardware in white PLA. The reflectivity really helps to keep the heat down. I also try to integrate cooling airflow through my planes, and through the motor / mount. If you retain too much heat - it will melt PLA - but if you're careful, and allow for both active (airflow) cooling and good reflectivity - I've had good luck - but I also just don't enjoy flying in the heat of the day when it's 110+. Thanks for your note.

Thanks for the comment. I agree 100% on the heat - this summer seems brutal. When temperatures get back down, I try and get out an fly as often as possible. Maybe if there are enough folks interested - we could do a meetup in the winter - I love to see new planes and show my builds as well.

@@usefulaircraft A meet up would be fun if we are semi close, I'm out in the East Valley/ Queen Creek area, what area are you?

I'm in North Phoenix. Once it cools down, I'm open to fly somewhere new. Let's follow up once it cools down.

Thanks for your note - I'm still trying to figure where I'm going with this - for now I'm enjoying the videos - but when the temperatures come down in the winter, and I've got more time in the garage to put some kits together, we could probably work something out.

Thank you for your note, I'm glad you enjoy it. I'm working on an interesting new project and should have something out shortly. Thank you!

…..full size aviation shows through .

Thank you. I'll have some new stuff out shortly for an interesting project. I really appreciate the feedback!

I'm right there with you. I'm still building, but it's tough as hot as it is here in Phoenix. It was 116 today, and that's just too hot to be outside. Build when you can't fly. It's good to keep a hand in. Thanks for your comment. I'll have more out soon.

Thanks for the comment. I was willing to take the weight penalty for the ability to swap cells, and better isolate my packs for travel. This system has worked great for me for several years, and I wouldn't go back to lipos. You've gotta be careful when loading your packs, but for me it's well worth it.

I'm not sure I'm understanding. Like a pan and tilt setup?

Osmo Pocket 3. I’m very impressed with it. Thanks for the comment!

Thank you!

Thanks for your comment. I just really believe in keeping things as simple as possible. I'm glad you enjoy the videos.