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What a HOOT to fly. These little flying wings only take about1.5 hours to complete (1 hour if you use the Template) and under $10 in materials. Keep in mind that this is merely our version of this magnificent ship. The originators of this design are in England and have a website at: Watch the video:
Materials:
Many MANY thanks to Mike Meyers (http://members.hscis.net/~mamyers/) for his excellent 2-mil plans that we stole and modified for our own greedy use!!
It is actually quite simple to build yourself a Template out of thin backer board that you can get at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. Use these dimensions:
and cutout the white parts. Once you make your template, simply lay it down on the 2' x 4' sheet of 2-mil Coroplast like this:
Trace out:
Then shift the template over to the left side of the sheet and trace out the 10" doubler and the 5" square, that, when cut diagonally, will provide you with your winglets. Your sheet should now look like this:
Cut out the main wing, the 10" doubler square, and the 5" fin square (and then cut it diagonally to get two fins). Place a straightedge between the top middle marking and the right elevon marking and score the fold line with a Phillips screwdriver. After scoring, fold the right wing half up against the straightedge like this:
Do the same with the left wing half. Now take the 10" doubler and trial fit it inside the wing like this:
Make sure the two upper wing halves can fold down forming an airfoil without binding against the doubler. Most likely there will be 1/4 to 1/2" between the two fold lines and the two sides of the doubler. Trace around the doubler. Remove the doubler and run hot glue (on the HOT setting...be careful!) inside the tracing. Lay the doubler down on the hot glue and hold firmly until glue cools. Now you can lay your way cool Flik template back down on your Flik and trace out the servo locations:
and you should end up with the Flik looking like this:
Now it's time to zip-tie the servos into place. Before you zip-tie them in place, it is usually a good idea to turn on your transmitter, hook your servos to the receiver and plug the battery into the receiver. This will center both servos (so that their servo arms are centered to where they will be when the sticks are at rest). Make any adjustments to the servo arms at this time (such as removing them and replacing them so that the hole that the EZ Connector will fit into is at the top of each servo).
Start out with the zip-ties loose and with the clipper part of the zip-tie at the base of the servos. Notice that there are TWO zip-ties per servo and that the top ones are just under the servo eyelets while the bottom ones are just above the servo wire. [note: since this picture was taken, we've found that using two zip-ties as pictured above will usually work just fine as long as you ensure the zip-ties are TIGHT...however, using 2 zip-ties in a cross pattern (one going from front to back and the other going from side to side) actually works better and the servo will not move at ALL...even after a hard landing.] Using a zip-tie gun ($10 at Home Depot or Lowes...gotta get one!), tighten the zip-ties nice and snug. At this time you can also carefully trial fit the flat-pack battery and lay down some velcro. Make sure the two wing halves can still fold down and form a nice airfoil with the battery in place. I usually put the "hook" side of the velcro on the Flik and the "hairy" side of the velcro on the bottom of my battery:
Go ahead and fit the battery down onto the velcro with the wire pointing down. Go ahead and stick some velcro down for the receiver too:
Now you can begin setting up your servos with their pushrods. Use the small circular servo arms that came with your servos. Don't worry about using HUGE servo arms because even the little circular ones will still give your elevons PLENTY of throw, PLUS being smaller, they'll fit completely under the wing and not bind against the wing surface. I use EZ Connectors on my servo arms (see: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXE114&P=7 where you can get 12 of them for under $7.00). Here's a closeup:
I usually use Dubro Nylon Kwik-Links with 12" 2-56 steel rod - Cat. No. 184 (see: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD884&P=7 where you get 5 of them for just under $3.00). Here's a closeup
Place a pushrod into each EZ Connector and lay them straight down towards the Elevons:
One wing half at a time, carefully fold the wing half over and mark where the pushrod will come through. You will need to look inside the wing from the right to see about where the pushrod makes contact with the top wing half. Cut the slot in the wing where the pushrod will come through. Notice how I have the nose of the Flik firmly stuck into my Wing Jig to keep the nose down so as to achieve a nice flat bottomed airfoil:
Once the slot is cutout, thread the pushrod through and fit the end that is INSIDE the Flik into the EZ connector on the left servo. Fit the Kwik Link side to a home-made PVC Control Horn and, with the wing half being held down to where it will be glued and stapled (but don't glue and staple just yet), trial fit everything to make sure the pushrod can move back and forth with little binding. Go ahead and trace where the control horn will go on the Elevon. Also, while the wing half is being held down during this testing, go ahead and trace the trailing edge of the upper wing half. You'll use this as a guide for laying down hot glue:
When you are satisfied that the pushrod cutout slot is right and that everything is straight and true, carefully lay down a line of HOT glue just inside the trailing edge tracing you did in the above picture. Move the push rod out of the way as much as possible. Then fold the wing down and place a 2x4 on top of it to ensure an even gluing job. Notice that the nose end of the Flik is STILL held tightly inside the Wing Jig to ensure that the airfoil is a nice flat bottomed beauty.
After the hot glue cools, go along the trailing edge and, using a heavy duty office stapler, staple the trailing edge about every 4" or so (this wing simply will NOT come apart):
When you get towards the end of the wing, measure in 3" and 4" and make marks and then cut as shown and then staple one last staple right at the left edge of the wing:
Do the same steps above for the right wing half. You should now end up with your Flik looking like this:
Before advancing to the next step, now is a good time to cut the trailing edge trapezoid cutout and also to cut the TOP flute of your Elevons, making a hinge. It is easier to understand by looking at:
This is actually a picture of a 4-mil wing aileron being hinged...but the concept is the same. CAREFULLY cut out the top flute of your elevons, right up near where the top wing halves were glued and stapled, and trim away any unecessary Coroplast that will bind your hinges from moving cleanly. Now trace around your Control horns (if you haven't already) and then hot glue them to the Elevons and clamp them until they cool:
Don't forget to hot glue the Control horn back plates onto the other side of the Elevons:
and finally...drill a small screw through the top Control horns down through the elevons and out the back plate to hold it all together:
You are now ready to zip-tie the winglets on. While holding a winglet against the side of the left wing half, carefully mark two holes on the wing and the winglet. Use an awl, or a small Phillips screwdriver to poke the holes through the wing and winglet. Zip-tie the winglet to the wing using small zip-ties (and cut off the excess zip-tie):
Do the same for the other winglet. Now cut two small holes right above the EZ Connectors on your servo arms so that you can tighten down the push rods. Using a small needle nose pliers, you should be able to tighten the nut on the EZ Connector so that it holds the pushrod firmly. Don't be afraid of cutting a larger hole to get at the servo better. You can always tape over the hole you cut out. I left mine small because I've built enough of these to know how it all goes! You will too!
BEFORE you tighten down the EZ Connector, turn your radio on and plug your receiver battery into your receiver and let the servos center themselves. Then push the elevons up slightly (giving you a slight upward reflex of the elevons). Then tighten the EZ Connectors. Decorate as necessary. I've found that CD labels work marvelously and give my Flik a sort of "face" that is easy to see so that I know which side is up and which is down. Final instructions:
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Last Updated:
10.09.2006 The site that started it all: Spadtothebone.com
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