Radio-Controlled Millenium Falcon

Transcription

1 Radio-Controlled Millenium Falcon Written By: Feitan Page 1 of 19

2 Step 1 Radio-Controlled Millenium Falcon First step, the design, tricky part is to have the whole setup balanced. It will be carried by one of my quadcopter (some call it a "drone", they are wrong, that's a RC helicopter that happens to have 4 motors) Page 2 of 19

3 Step 2 Main material is this insulant, expanded polystyrene, in 20 and 30mm thickness. It's heavier than classic EPP, but also much stronger, and easy to cut clean. Also, it's almost the proper color of the spaceship. Step 3 Printed half-a-shape 1:1, and reassembled the A4 sheets Page 3 of 19

4 Step 4 Can see the "host" on the left, that's my 335mm quad, also a custom build. It's normally flying FPV and carries a Gopro, but for this project I'll remove the camera, the video transmitter and the GPS antenna to gain some weight. 800gr for the quad, and between 300 and 350gr for the Falcon hull. Step 5 Cutting bits of foam, quick quick before wife comes back home Page 4 of 19

5 Step 6 Quick check for the balance, attached to its power train. Seems ok-ish, that's critical, or it may not even take-off Page 5 of 19

6 Step 7 This hook thing slides inside the carbon frame of the quad at the front, tight fit is required so the propellers are not hitting the foam. I went for 10mm of free space between the tip of the blade and the foam. Step 8 The two side tunnels should help with some vibrations I noticed in the maiden flight I made in the garage Page 6 of 19

7 Step 9 Improving the shape. Must keep the space above and below the 4 propellers free. Everything is glued with a basic hot-glue pistol. Step 10 Making cylinders, 1 corner at a time.. Insert wisdom here Page 7 of 19

8 Step 11 Smash and stamp! Insert wisdom here. Step 12 Adding the cockpit, it's hollowed, to limit the unbalance to the right. The more the center of gravity of the whole assembly is near the center of the propellers, the better Page 8 of 19

9 Step 13 Making a new thruster Insert wisdom here. Step 14 I hope here to have the top part making shade for the LED strip of lights so it's more visible in the day Page 9 of 19

10 Step 15 Radio antenna, yes I know in the old movies it was circular, but in the trailer for the new movie it's a smaller rectangle. So a rectangle it will be for now, better aerodynamics. Flying forward with so much surface should be enough of a challenge asis. Step 16 Added these thin strips of foam for visual thickness when seen from the side Page 10 of 19

11 Step 17 How it locks into the frame at the front Step 18 The underside Insert wisdom here Page 11 of 19

12 Step 19 From top Step 20 Testing some paints, must find the proper color, and also a kind that does not harm the foam, will have to be acrylic. Will paint with a compressor Page 12 of 19

13 Step 21 The 2 lights at the front, serial, so each get only 6V instead of 12V according to specs. 12V was really bright, I don't plan to fly this in pitch black night. Step 22 The infamous curved thruster! Top LED strip is blue, bottom is white. Plan is to have the LEDs reflect against the top and bottom curves. Blue is on top because I expect this one to be dimmer than the white. I'l maybe add aluminium tape so it reflect more, will see Page 13 of 19

14 Step 23 Let there be light! Insert wisdom here. Step 24 Yay, gorgeous blue-ish-white, sometime plans are working as intended! Page 14 of 19

15 Step 25 Base color is a light gray sprayed, and over this I added few details and weathering with a brush, grey "smoke". Step 26 Made a quick'n dirty weathering. Better not polishing too much, brings bad luck for the first flights... New turret, facing rear, because this spaceship is always chased Page 15 of 19

16 Step 27 Insert wisdom here.added few extra things, all the small parts are made of Depron, it's even lighter than expanded polypropylene, and I have it in 3mm and 6mm thickness Step 28 After 2 test flights in the garage, 1st flight outside, was very dark Page 16 of 19

17 Step 29 2nd flight outside, with snow, it looked great. I fly it line-of-sight only, since it's not fitted with FPV (first person viewing) gear. With my usual FPV modules I could fly it out like 500 meters, but that's not its purpose, and also it's not a very efficient flier at all. Step 30 It's quite sensitive to wind, but less that what I feared Page 17 of 19

18 Step 31 Top speed is barely 35% of what the naked quadcopter can do (90km/h+) And battery time is reduced from 8 minutes to about 5 Step 32 Cannot put too much angle or the flight controller goes crazy because of too much inertia Page 18 of 19

19 Step 33 With the soft snow and the propellers protected by the foam, it's almost impossible to break :] Step 34 Insert wisdom here. This document was last generated on :11:20 AM Page 19 of 19