Ultralight RC Balsa Slow flyer - Build And Maiden Flight! 

Thank you!

Thank you! Happy flying!

Hehe yeah I got a little close to that foamie...😅

Thank you!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.

Thank you so much! :)

Yes this is really the most beautiful, fulfilling, and fun part of the hobby for me. Lightweight, slow-flying, peaceful little fliers. They were much more popular back then than they are now. Unfortunately, our modern culture of instant gratification and short attention spans has lead my generation away from such a beautiful hobby and toward more superficial things like video games and social media. So i must do all I can to keep the hobby alive and bring it to the world. :)

That’s great! You should make RU-vid videos about it; I’d love to see what you build! :)

@@AeroCraftAviation I'll let you know if I do :)

Aw thanks! :) yeah, these slow flyers can be tricky. The important thing is to use the lightest wood you can find, and also use lightweight electronics. Like these for example. www.ebay.com/itm/PZ-15330-4-8v-6-0v-1-9g-Low-Voltage-Digital-Servo-for-3D-Aerobatic-Fly/261933131201?hash=item3cfc6e65c1:g:AGQAAOSwpwRb9hXW Or this www.ebay.com/itm/2-4G-4CH-Micro-Low-Voltage-Compatible-Receiver-With-Brushed-ESC-For-DSM2/254038293057?hash=item3b25dcba41:g:k5oAAOSwNlJcIMki Build them light and they will fly slow and stable! Happy building! Cheers. :)

Thank you!

Thanks man! :)

Thanks!

Hi, glad you enjoy the videos. Electronics all came from an E-Flite UMX Yak airplane. Check out my new tutorials for in-depth glider building lessons. Cheers. :)

I thought so too during the build process, but flight performance suggests otherwise. Hehe, maybe I screwed up the wing incidence. 😅

Thanks!

Thank you!

Adhesive for the plastic covering is 3M Super 77 spray adhesive. I use that adhesive for all Mylar/plastic/O.S./ Gampi type coverings. Light and strong. The AS3X is actually not really noticeable given how inherently stable the aircraft is, but I believe it is having a slight positive effect on stability.

Thank you!

Lol everyone is saying this and I don't get why it's such a mystery. Slow flying aircraft are meant to fly at a high-alpha angle of attack. To achieve that, the CG is shifted back. The battery is even suspended below the aircraft such that at high alpha it pulls the CG even further back. I wanted this aircraft a very specifric amount tail-heavy. A standard CG is highly undesirable here, especially flying in an indoor space with other aircraft. Slowness is key, so tail-heaviness (and high incidence) are key.

Getting them slow can be tricky. Minimize weight, and always use a high-lift airfoil! Happy building!

Haha looks like this one is already shooting them down: figuratively speaking, with its awesomeness, of course. 😂

I find that I am naturally very methodical, so this style of document my build processes just came naturally as I got better with editing and got more serious about my RU-vid channel. I also like to make these organized documentations because I find that the majority of build videos I watch on RU-vid don’t document the whole build, or don’t progress sequentially, and thus don’t give very complete representations of the build. I try to avoid this by making my videos as straight-forward and clear as possible. I definitely did notice things about the flight characteristics which I would like to improve upon. For example, I noticed that although it was slow, it didn’t naturally stay slow, and it often ended up stalling when I tried to pull the nose up and slow it down. This tells me that I likely need more down thrust, and maybe the wing should’ve been higher above the center if gravity. Also, the wing was not producing quite as much lift as I thought it would, which means the airfoil probably didn’t have enough undercamber (curvature in the underside). Also a higher angle of attack between the wing and horizontal stabilizer would have helped.

@@AeroCraftAviation Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Best of luck to you on your next flight. ;~) GB

Haha good point. I used to fly helis. Flew them for from the time i was 8 till i was 12 or so. Then i got bored of little helis and wanted to go to bigger (450, 500 size) helis, but couldn’t afford them. So switched to fixed wing which was affordable. Still really love helis, and i still often fly my helis. But i post fixed wing content because it involves building and design and ends up being more interesting. My goal is to return to rotorcraft in college when i can choose my field of aeronautical study.

Don’t need em, but they’re built into the board so I had the to work with them. As for tail-heaviness, I think a lot of people are unused that seeing an aircraft that tends toward a high alpha attitude, but actually that’s the goal for slow flyers.

Sort of. The motor torque makes it hard to switch directions from left to right, especially when it's in a steep bank. Thanks. :)

@@AeroCraftAviation Only teasing, actually just learned alot more about motor torque as I've been building more.

Thanks! Wings are covered with Japanese Esaki tissue paper. You can get it pretty cheap from easybuiltmodels.com

@@AeroCraftAviation Excellent! Thanks for sharing.

The original Yak 54 was 39 grams, whereas this is 42.47. The Yak was a 3D aerobatic aircraft, which means the motor has a LOT of power. So this slow flyer even has enough power to climb vertically.

Nice! Lots of Power is good. Looks like it has a very nice balance of power and float-ability. Looking forward to seeing an outdoor action video come springtime.

Well, as soon as the indoor season is over, this thing is going back in the storage bin for next season, because it is simply too delicate for outdoor flying. The varying humidity, heat, and sunlight outdoors would definitely ruin the airframe, being that it is all from super light 1/16“ and 1/32“ balsa. And that’s not to mention the wind, even a little bit of which would make it simply unflyable, and any more than 3 or 4 mph of which would definitely snap the wings. But never fear, I have some new outdoor flyers ready for outdoor action as soon as Spring rolls around!

Yes after all that work, I would not want to see the wings fold due to an errant breeze. Didn't realize it was quite that delicate.

Yeah it’s maybe a bit overkill when it comes to being lightly built, but it’s worth it if only for how slowly it flies.

Thank you! What does LRF stand for?

Sorry, it's Living Room Flyer. I think your plane has the capability, and I think you have the skill. Just watch out for ceramic nick-nacks and such. ;-)

Ah I see. Well I’ll see what i can do! It would be risky, cause you know, that tighter you turn, the faster you fly, unless you turn totally flat, with rudder, at which point you get unstable, which is equally tricky to handle.

You might be able to cross control and make very flat turns, indeed. Steer with the rudder while giving opposite aileron to keep it level. I don't think it would be that unstable. I'd practice in the gymnasium, though.

That’s true. I hadn’t thought of cross-controlling it, past whatever small amount of cross-controlling I naturally do when flying: I will practice that. Thanks!

The 8mm coreless brushed motor with gearbox from the E-Flite UYMX Yak 54.

I sure am! And you know, I'm sure my messy sketches are half rolled, half crumpled up together somewhere in my basement back home. I'm at university now and can't access them. And I can't with great certainty recall what any of the particular dimensions were. I really am sorry about that.

The electronics are taken from an E-Flite UMX Yak. Hope this helps. :)

Also, is eigentlich ziemlich egal ob die Leitwerken über oder unter der Flügel sind, weil die Stabilität des Flugzeugs, und die Kontrollfunktionen der leitwerke nicht wirklich darum gehen. Was eigentlich wichtig für so einen Slowflyer ist, ist das der Schwerpunkt des Flugzeugs sich ein wenig unter der Flügel befindet, weil dann hängt der Gewicht unter der Flügel, so zu sagen, und es schwingt so ein bisschen wie ein Pendel, wodurch das Flugzeug den Stabilität hat. Also mit diesem Flugzeug im Video habe ich eigentlich die richtige Entfernung zwischen den Schwerpunkt und Flügel so genau eingebaut, damit das Ding SUPER stabil fliegt, und richtet sich ganz ganz genau danach, wie man kontrolliert

@@AeroCraftAviation Bist du sicher dass dieses Ding super stabil fliegt? Have you tried it out, on the fields?

Das würde ich aber nie machen! Das ist do leicht, dass weniger als 2-3 Stunden Kilometer Wind würde es bestimmt kaputt machen. Du musst ja nicht vergessen, es ist doch nur 42 gram, so leicht wie sieben 20cent Münzen. Was man meint wann man „Stabil“ sagt, ist nicht das ein Flugzeug gegen dem Wind fliegen kann, sondern, das es sich gut richtet, danach, wie man es kontrolliert, und nicht umkippt beim Abbiegen, und das es ohne ständige Steuerung nicht Komplet abstürzt. Weil es gibt doch manche Flugzeuge die ohne konstant Kontrolle gar nicht fliegen, und diese würde man nennen „UNstabil“, wobei ein Flugzeug was keine ständige Steuerung benötigt um zu fliegen, nennt man „stabil“.

@@AeroCraftAviation As I've said already, I'm no expert. Nonetheless, I just can't really accept that a real-size plane of such design would be stable. I asked you already what the goals of this design were. I'm all ears!

My goal was to create a very stable, lightweight, slow, and power-efficient aircraft, capable of flying with minimal control inputs, for a relaxing flying experience. I wanted to make the airframe as light as I could, which would justify the use of a larger motor, which would use power more efficiently, making possible the use of a small battery, which would overall get good power efficiency and weight. Almost all slow flyers use wings higher than the tail and fuselage, to get the stability I was talking about earlier. Here are some links to videos of aircraft which are stable because of the high wings: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RpxDHjqS1Gs.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yaM0k_7fBaM.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lZ1vUKcktVk.html&app=desktop ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fxIx4ZBNFaQ.html&app=desktop ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5vGPJM-4Xm8.html&app=desktop

See here: www.amainhobbies.com/hobbyzone-gear-box-motor-set-hbz4930/p172224?gclid=CjwKCAiAr6-ABhAfEiwADO4sfah5R0bPbEhLfROEAADIXF0mb4kG4DePO8YG3nt-0sDXLi1l8Z0hCRoCyeoQAvD_BwE

@@AeroCraftAviation thanks

Glad you enjoyed. Stay tuned for more!

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thank you. Huh. Many people are pointing this out. The CG is very intentionally placed exactly where it is. That is so that the aircraft tends toward a high angle of attack, and flies slowly. If the CG were farther forward, I would have to hold constant up-elevator to achieve the desired flight speed, which would have a few negatives, not the least of which being impracticality. I may make a video explaining this in further detail. Would you like to see that? Cheers! :)

@@AeroCraftAviation Yes the high alpha position, almost on the point of stall, is desirable for extra slow flight.

@@bobwebber8521 ah thank you! Finally someone gets it. A lot of people have been objecting to the high alpha attitude of my slow fliers. Rather annoying. Glad to see at least someone gets why it’s optimal. Cheers. :)

@@AeroCraftAviation - You could install the wing at a high AOA on the fuselage, to avoid all the extra drag from the fuselage and the tail. Would save battery power, and look nicer in flight as well!

@@julesdomes6064 That is a good idea. Silly of me not to have thought of that before. 😅

Thanks. Haha, I was just a kid, and I was super into it. Gimme a break. 😅