ASDPyro's Ritewing ZII Project

[ASDPyro]

Hey Everyone,

About a week ago I received my ZII kit from CK @ RiteWing and started the build, today I flew my first successful LOS flight and after a pit stop in between flights to recharge my batteries I completed 2 more flights FPV. This is my first venture into FPV from my background in "normal" R/c aircraft. I have always been a fan of Glow engines and I was skeptical going electric. After a few flights I'm quite pleased

Maiden + Crash!!

View this video on YouTube


Equipment used in my build:

ZII Airframe
Hyperion ZS3014 12
Aeronaut Props, Spinner, etc. (9.5x6 atm)
Castle Creations Phoenix ICE Lite 75
2x Hyperion 3S 4000ma
Hitec HS-645MG Servos
SC2000 Pixim Cam
Lawmate 2.4 .5W
Duo2400v2 A/V Diversity Receiver
Standard JR R700 72mhz fm receiver with 1/2 wavelength extension.
Immersionrc EzOSD

Custom Stuff I did:
Stealthy CA prop stops (haven't seen it done before, ask me about it!)
I joined the two equipment bays and extended them all the way to the motor, allowing for my custom design for the hatch cover. (Very Sleek!)
Embedded the batteries into the sides of the battery bay.
Did the "tuning" of the Vtx by increasing the heat dissipation capabilities.
Removable wiglets using embedded nylon nuts.
Custom hand crafted control rods and servo horn.


First stage of build:

Joined the wing halves, Glued the motor mount, Glued in the spars, Trimmed my control surfaces, Hot wire cut out areas for wire/components and finally devised my removable wiglets using embedded nylon nuts and nylon bolts.


Stage 2 in following post...

[ASDPyro]

Second stage of my build:

I ran some of the wiring and Installed my servos/esc. I also extended the Hatch area as I intended to include the rear area.



I also decided to add some custom personalized aspects to my build and did something special with my hatch. But Ill show the finished results so no one knows my secrets

Stage three of my build:

I cut in my GoPro box, Created some custom control rods/linkages. and began covering my wing after testing my setup, I managed to forget photographing much of this process and have few Pix of it non-covered. I do however have some of my Hatch covered prior to covering the wing. The hatch incorporates an air intake which supplies fresh air to the speed controller and other heat producing equipment in the rear area. It also provides decent airflow to the air inlets in the motor housing and has a much more streamlined appearance. I suspect that less turbulent air is reaching the prop and am considering building a mini wind tunnel to test.



Stage four:

I began covering my wing, first with lam, then I followed with a thicker "durable" monocoat type material on bottom and a normal monocoat on top. The hatch area is covered with Hanger 9 faux CF Ultracoat, the Red and Black covering is Pearlescent so it is very shiny and sparkles a little while in the air. I also attached the Skids and covered all the edges of the corrugated plastic with colored tape. I then spent several horrible hours finding and removing air bubbles trapped between the lam and the monocoat



Final weight was 2367g, I thought for sure I was going to be heavier than this but I guess not :P

[ASDPyro]

FINISHED:






VIDEOS:

First LOS

View this video on YouTube


Second FPV Flight
On my first FPV flight I accidentally flew out to a mile with the wind that was blowing, didn't mean to
On this flight I flew out to 4500 ft without any problems except I got behind that hill a little, oops.
Props if you can spot the cows.

View this video on YouTube

[FPVer]

Geez, quick build, nice
I assume from your name this will be tricked out for JATO and with flares? - jk :P

[ASDPyro]

Geez, quick build, nice
I assume from your name this will be tricked out for JATO and with flares? - jk :P

Now that you mention it up I had thought about embedding two small rocket motors on each side of the prop area to do some vertical JATO style take-off maneuvers.... I might try that sometime when/if I have some spare ZII kits laying around

[brosius85]

2x rocket motors will be too hard to synchronize. it will spin like a pizza box haha

[ASDPyro]

2x rocket motors will be too hard to synchronize. it will spin like a pizza box haha

It was more of a joke :P but actually I have some experience with rocket motors and it's not as hard nor as necessary as you might think.

[brosius85]

i guess i was thinking of some really big ones haha

i also have some experience with rockets. it would be pretty cool for sure. i have seen gliders use them.

[BruceN]

Nice build. A single J-350 on the bottom centerline should do the trick. Though realistically an H-180 would be smaller and should do the job quite well and with less chance of little pieces of foam raining down. You could rig the casing to drop away with a pull-out chute at burnout.

[ASDPyro]

OP's updated to Include Maiden Crash, First LOS Flight, and 2nd FPV Flight. I also added my Grams since I have a scale now and some more info on the build.

My maiden I had the CG too far back and my rates way to high. oops.

My first FPV flight (someone) forgot to turn on the GoPro

You'll see in my second FPV flight where I accidentally flew to the other side of a hill partially blocking my radio signals. I was horrified that I might crash on my second FPV flight.