"Butterfly" Hoping to make some for Indoor

[JohnOSullivan]

I have been flying my old and battered Butterfly for most of the season and have enjoyed it very much. The "Macro Vapor"
It is assembled with carbon rods which slot into plastic joint mouldings. Geoff usually has a decent stock of carbon.
I have been messing around with my 3D printer and have been making up these plastic joints and plan on building a new Butterfly (or derivative thereof) for next indoor season.
If anyone is interested, I can turn out a few extra

[bdg]

John - this is an incredible flyer! Any of us would benefit greatly from any insight / plans that you might be able to share including build tips, motor and propeller combinations, etc. And even the STL files would be great - if you were willing to share those.

Brian

[JohnOSullivan]

Well, progress is being made. Although fairly well versed in 2D CAD, this 3D stuff is quite a challenge. I tried Sketchup, which is about as good as Etch-a-Sketch. I got a program called Design Spark which works well. Then I tried Autodesk Fusion 360 on a months trial. I found this to be more user friendly and had some very well presented tutorials. Hobbyists can get a full years free use and extend it from there. I have spent a lot of time on it and can manage the basics.
I have 3D files of most of the fittings for the Butterfly and Just have the niggly fittings for the undercarriage and radio mounting to go. I have beefed up the fittings over the original Butterfly and the model should be quite sturdy.
Once the fittings are done I will make the files available and also will provide finished parts. Construction is quick and simple. About the only possible problem is covering. I'll likely use Ultracote or maybe some of my special "Icarex" which is a ripstop Kite material used extensively by the international Free Flight fliers. (I had some on the fin of my Butterfly). The problem with covering is that the use of a heat gun is a no-no. The carbon on the wing and tail is in strong tension on the curve and any heat softens the epoxy and the carbon snaps. An Iron may be used as long as it is kept a distance from the carbon.
Here is a shot of the new model as far as I have progressed. Everything fits together beautifully and quickly.

[the-mailman]

It's not very sophisticated, but I have pretty good luck with TinkerCad.

https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/designs

[JohnOSullivan]

I had a look at TinkerCAD and it is from Autodesk as is Fusion 360. Looks like a good basic #D learning program. I'll stick with Fusion as it seems to work well for me.
well, the structure is done on the Bluenose ( I've renamed the Butterfly as I have my own variations and nobody has used Bluenose for a model airplane as far as I know).
Covering will be Blue Metallic Micafilm on the wing. Micafilm was a very light rip proof covering popular in the 80's and 90's but was discontinued.
Note the flat wing, Dihedral is put in after covering, helped by crossed monofilament strings attached to the outerpoints in the wingtips.
there are more than two dozen individual 3D moulded parts on the model, including the wheels. It was a fun project, but now all the parts are done.

[JohnOSullivan]

Image looks a bit limp without dihedral. Fixed that up with monofilament criss-cross supports. lines can be seen crossing wing.
Yes- that looks better.

[retiredVTT]

What is the wingspan John...? That will give us a better idea of overall size. Love the name..!

[JohnOSullivan]

Wingspan is 790 mm (31inches) All up weight of my current one is 128 gm (4.5 ounces).
Motor is a 1811 Turnigy (15 gm) which is really too much and a 10 gm Turnigy would be plenty.

[retiredVTT]

Thanks John, looking forward to your progress..

[JohnF]

You certainly did a lot on creating that plane since I was at your place earlier this week. That is a really fine job that printer of yours does. The precision of the small parts made by that printer is amazing.