Specter V2 - My best FPV plane yet

[IBCrazy]

This is my Specter V2. The first version flew well, but it was too heavy for small field flying. Yanking hard on the sticks resulted in a stall. Thus I wanted a smaller stunt version. Thus this is the V2 of the Specter.

This one is lighter, much lighter. Weighs in at 31oz AUW. It will not stall no matter what I do to it. It is also more durable as I used several layers of 5 mil laminating film rather than 1 layer of 10 mil. I also put a reinforcing band along the front of the wing. Other changes include a pan camera, the transmitter is now in the front, and no landing gear. The rudder is selectable on a selector switch to go between rudder and pan.

So far I only got one flight on it. It flew like a dream. Yanks and banks well. Refuses to stall no matter how hard I yank on the sticks, yet flies slow and smooth when I want. This is a really fun plane. Good thing I made it nearly indestructible or I'd be afraid to ruin it.

Specs:

Construction: 5mil laminated EPP foam held together by velcro tape and straps.
Wingspan: 48"
Length: 42"
AUW: 31 oz
Top speed: 68mph
Motor: Hand wound Go Brushless GBX double stator wound as a 13T 9N12P delta with 24 AWG wire.
Battery: 3S 2250mAh Lipo
Fight time: 20 minutes minimum throttle, 5 minutes WOT

And this is how she flies:


View this video on Vimeo


View this video on Vimeo


-Alex

[IBCrazy]

Here are a few photos if you want to build your own version. I highly recommend trying this plane. It is truly a fun ride and nearly unbreakable.

The airfoil I used is a Clark Y. The tail is moad of coroplast. The booms are fiberglass spars. The tail sits flat with the bottom of the wing.

The forward swept wing keeps the plane from stalling. I have the tips 1.75" in front of the root. CG is ~1.25" from the leading edge of the wing at the fuselage.

The fuselage is held on by 2 velccro straps wrapped around the belly. between the wing and the fuselage there are two small patches of sticky back velcro to keep the fuselage from shifting around. This allows the pane to fly rigid, but in an impact it will sever and leave the plane unharmed.

-Alex

[Vitamin J]

Alex was awesome enough to cut me a set of wings and send me a bare bones kit for a super good price! I only flew it today briefly and only LOS, but it was awesome! Tracks perfectly straight, never stalls or tip-stalls, and can just be thrown everywhere. I love having the wing performance with full 4 channel control as well, I need some bigger rudder throws though.

I built mine up light with minimum sparring. It's got a Blue 3530 motor from planeinsanerc.com and a Castle 36 ESC and running off a 2200mah 3S. I tried earlier with a 7x5 prop and top speed was about 50mph, it now has a 7x6 prop. My batteries aren't putting out enough juice though and the ESC is holding back during WOT after a few mins of flying.

It will use my tried and tested 5.8ghz set-up along with an RMRC 480 OSD camera and a HK Simple OSD. Single battery set-up with the best homemade LC filter I've done yet! I tried to keep it streamlined and clean and buried the camera in the nose.

I'm also thinking about lengthening the battery bay to fit two 2200mahs for longer flights or when it gets a bit windy.

This is a seriously cool plane both to fly and to look at and I can't wait to FPV maiden tomorrow.

[IBCrazy]

Keep it light, Vitamin, J. Trust me. This thing flies so much better when the wing loading is 11-14oz/ft. Wind is no problem. I have flown many like this in winds well over 25 mph.

Wait until you FPV this bad boy. You are going to love it! Double or triple up the laminating film on the fuselage to make it completely bullet proof. I put a second thin run along the wing leading edge to make it more durable as well.

Everything looks great on yours. I await the video. Keep it low and close. That's what this was built for

-Alex

[IBERIAN]

Which laminating film are you using? What did you make the fuse with?

[khaled_abobakr]

Hi .. The fuselage as well as the wings are made of EPP foam .. cut by hot wire .. but I don't know what brand is the lamination film

Khaled

[khaled_abobakr]

Hi ..

I just wanted to let you know that I've maidened my specter this morning .. flown only LOS with an FPV dummy weight of 120g, 2200 mah 3S (195g), prop is APC 7X5 E , Motor is 2210 1650KV (250watt).. I can squeeze 10 mins of hard flying .. and the battery is 3.75/cell...

Here is my 1st impression... Wow .. this plane is so agile and can really really make very tight turns... at very low speed... also a new kind of turns I've never seen except in 3D planes .. which is very small half flip .. it looks so beautiful in the air ... yes it has the essence of the A-10 Tank killer

the Aileron, and Elevator have very strong effect on the attitude of the specter...

But I have some points that I need to work on.. so I'll list them here ..

1-Is it normal for the Specter to drop its nose when I cut the throttle ?

Does this mean it is nose heavy and it needs its CG to be moved a little backward ?? Does it suppose to glide at all ??

2-It's not fast at all.. it weights almost 1000g .. and at WOT.. it's still slow in zero wind


Thanks a lot .. your advice is greatly appreciated as always

Khaled

[IBCrazy]

Hi ..

I just wanted to let you know that I've maidened my specter this morning .. flown only LOS with an FPV dummy weight of 120g, 2200 mah 3S (195g), prop is APC 7X5 E , Motor is 2210 1650KV (250watt).. I can squeeze 10 mins of hard flying .. and the battery is 3.75/cell...

Here is my 1st impression... Wow .. this plane is so agile and can really really make very tight turns... at very low speed... also a new kind of turns I've never seen except in 3D planes .. which is very small half flip .. it looks so beautiful in the air ... yes it has the essence of the A-10 Tank killer

the Aileron, and Elevator have very strong effect on the attitude of the specter...

But I have some points that I need to work on.. so I'll list them here ..

1-Is it normal for the Specter to drop its nose when I cut the throttle ?

Does this mean it is nose heavy and it needs its CG to be moved a little backward ?? Does it suppose to glide at all ??

2-It's not fast at all.. it weights almost 1000g .. and at WOT.. it's still slow in zero wind


Thanks a lot .. your advice is greatly appreciated as always

Khaled

1. If it is dropping the nose, then it is nose heavy. Check your CG. It should be ~4 cm behind the leading edge of the wing. Take out the dummy weight (or at least some of it) and see how it does.

2. It should be doing about 45-50 mph. Faster than your Bixler, but not nearly as fast as a flying wing. It wasn't meant to be fast.

-Alex

[Vitamin J]

This plane flies so well! I just can't get over it. My ESC must be going bad because I'm limited to about 1/4 - 1/2 throttle only but it still hums along just fine, even though my top speed was only about 40mph. It's super efficient and can slow down really well. It's just on rails and I felt at ease flying just a foot or two off the ground and through trees.

I pushed it out past 2km to soar along the ridge. A Corona glitch turned into a catastrophe because I didn't fasten down my battery. Needless to say it bucked out and was hanging by a wire when I was 2km out and 1500' up. I was able to limp it back just by gliding, I thought my motor came loose because power made it even more unstable. Anyway when I was closing in on my launch site the bucking got really bad and the battery fell off. Fortunately I was close enough to watch it go down LOS, got in my car and found it easy.

Damage report isn't too bad. I snapped the coax for my SPW clean off the SMA adapter, the rudder connection linkage broke off on the far side rudder, and my shiny new RMRC 480 OSD has a mark on the lens case, though it appears to function 100%. I soldered the SPW onto a new SMA and it's perfect again!

The worst part was my brand new 35C 2200mah battery I got from RMRC on Black Friday is lost I scoured the ground around the crash site but no luck, I will go over the footage and maybe I can find it again. My plane is repaired now and I'm gonna go fly as soon as the glue dries

The video will be up tonight, I have the world's shittiest computer to edit footage on so it takes forever.

[Vitamin J]

Here's my FPV maiden:


View this video on YouTube

e: Alex you were right, this is my new favorite plane :P