Please sign the roster for this project if you are interested in collaborating!
Who all is interested in contributing to this project? What times work best for you meeting at DMS? What times do NOT work for you meeting at DMS?
Also letās start posting planes that we would like to make! (please provide STLs or ortho images)
I love the Dora 
If anyone needs it: lots of 3 views.
Is the goal to use something like this?
In addition I wonder if we could make airfoils this way, seems like the slicer would take the widest point which would allow for sanding smooth after glueing.
Iāve been wanting to do an extreme loiter / endurance RC plane that could carry some 5lb (for a camera + gimbal) and fly slow circles directly overhead. Iām pretty sure that would look like a sailplane, but Iām not 100% on that yet.
Iāll see if I can find a planform later.
[spoiler]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xw66wd_new-james-may-s-toy-stories-flight-club_shortfilms[/spoiler]
Maybe something like this, the glide ratio they ended up with was pretty awesome.
Sorry for the blurā¦ it tried to auto-play
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Thatās one of the coolest shows, ever. And that one was a good one. Quite enjoyed it, eh old chap?
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It really is, and it instantly added another project to ye olde project board. Man Lab is also awesome and makery.
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A huge THANK YOU for negating the auto play! 
This one may be a good one! 
Placement of a gimbal may be a bit of a head-scratcher, but aerodynamically itās just what youāre looking for.
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Also donāt forget to sign up on the roster (it will make it much easier to schedule meetings)
In the same vein, for extreme loiter consider this:
70:1 Glide ratio for the real thing
Eventually it would be pretty epic to do a solar powered glider conversion.
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arenāt gliders air powered? 
Except for motor gliders Some of them have a motor to add energy back or for self-takeoff. See picture above.
Source: Motor glider - Wikipedia
PS. In a lot of ways they are already solar powered as glider folks spend a lot of time in thermals that convert solar power into convective lift, ploughed fields etc.
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Very, very interesting. Never heard of such a thing. To be fair, I think once you add propulsion, itās no longer a āgliderā, but I can see how we got there.
Thank you for the elucidation!
I always thought that was the POINT of gliders; you have to know and understand your craft, your surroundings, thermal patterns, updrafts, and bunch of other things I know nothing about, to maximize the pleasure of no-engine flying. I though that was part of the fun. I guess we all get our jollies different ways, and thus marches progressā¦
I agree, but I definitely can see the attraction of being able to launch without a winch or a tow. This old engineer I used to work with did a lot of gliding, and he had stories about other pilots having to land in farmer fields, or on country roads etc because they ran out of altitude away from a landing field. I can see how nowadays it would be a big plus to be able to avoid that, I could only imagine the local law enforcement reaction toā¦ wellā¦ āyeah, I know I landed in the middle of the street.ā
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So do we have a way to do a poll here on talk? (Not seeing anything on my phone, but I miss crap on mobile sites left and right so yeahā¦)
Anyways, the old fashioned way:
- The bi-plane ā time-consuming to build, easy construction, easy engineering challenge
- The war bird ā quickest to build, moderate construction challenge, moderate engineering challenge
- The sailplane ā challenging to build, high-precision construction, difficult engineering challenge (folding/moving parts)
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I think thusly:
- Yes
- No
- Maybe
0
voters
https://meta.discourse.org/t/try-out-public-polls/45420
(From an old android phone)
So my idea on how this program would work is as follows:
- Design a new plane
a. prioritize using electronics we already have
b. attempt to get funding/donations for whatever else is needed - Build plane
a. collaborative design meeting - collaborate on design ideas and custom elements like printed parts and construction methods
b. independent design tasks - if there is a custom part that must be designed (like a hinge/mount/guide/lock/latch/etc)
c. airframe build session - building the airframe (could be broken into multiple sessions based on plane)
d. electronics build session - installing electronics and ground testing - Fly plane
a. pilot ordering method TBD (likely prioritizing whoever donated/funded most for that build) - Crash plane (please, we all know itās coming)
- Harvest electronics
- Rinse and repeat
The idea is to keep this as an ongoing program rather than a 1-off project. Allowing us to, potentially, build everyoneās designs, giving more people more opportunity to get their thumbs on the controls, and to instill the idea that crashing in NOT THE END!
How about we do a meeting to discuss this program? Only Karl and I have signed the roster, and it looks like weekends and weekday evenings are best. Iāll put a meeting up on the calendar for Saturday, Apr 15th at 10am.
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