Monday, March 4, 2013

The Flying Fool remote controlled airplane

       The design of the fuselage is complete using the basic features of Solidworks.
       The main skin for the fuselage and the main and lower wing was created using the Surfaces feature built within Solidworks
       The elevator and rudder have been designed to use solid balsa wood or foam.
       The entire project is 100% complete
       Solidworks is one of the most powerful 3D design programs available. I set out on this project to learn more about Surfaces. I have also learned a lot about Scaling, Assemblies, Configurations within the Solidworks environment. Most of the resources I have used come from www.youtube.com and the Solidworks 2010 bible. I have included some videos at the bottom of the page.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

       The design of the fuselage is complete using Solidworks.
       The main skin for the fuselage was created using the Surfaces feature built within Solidworks
       The elevator and rudder have been completed.
       The entire project is about 85% complete.
       After searching the internet for plans to build the Flying Fool. Two different sets of plans were found. Using a set of plans from 1946, the fuselage was designed and built. Then using plans from 1958, the main and lower wing was designed and built, all using 3d software to create all the parts and surfaces.
       After tracing the parts and using the extrude command in Solidworks. Each part was then used in an assembly to create the plane in 3D space.
As us can seen in the pictures, the lower wing is much smaller that the top. The plane was designed as a stunt plane.
The project is right on schedule and should be done by the end of the week.
Solidworks is one of the most powerful 3D design programs available. I set out on this project to learn more about Surfaces. I have also learned a lot about Scaling, Assemblies, Configurations within the Solidworks environment. Most of the resources I have used come from www.youtube.com and the Solidworks 2010 bible. I have included some videos at the bottom of the page.



Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Portfolio class project



Here are more picture of my class project, The Flying Fool rc plane.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Project Pictures

After getting the fuselage modeled on Solidworks, I started on the outer skin or surface of the fuselage. I have ran into a few problems with both the fuselage model and the outer skin. The plans are actually off just a bit. My fuselage is just a little wider than the outer skin. I am going to have to tweak the fuselage just a little to get them to fit together.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Project Proposal


Date: January 29, 2013

Project Title: Scale RC Plane, The “Flying Fool” stunt plane

Course Title: Portfolio Preparation, IVY Tech Community College

Project Overview:

          The design and creation of the remote controlled bi-wing stunt plane call “The Flying Fool”

Statement of Development:

                During the development of my “Flying Fool”, I plan to use the Solidworks 3D modeling software to design the airframe. Once the airframe is built in 3D space I will then create the outer skin of the plane using the Surfacing part of the software.

Detailed Project Description:

                After doing some research on the internet, I will use drawings and photos of the “Flying Fool”  to create a 3d model of the airframe. From the 3d model I will then build the plane from balsa wood, foam and or fiberglass. From the prints and measurement,  I will be able to use the drawings from Solidworks to create the parts to build the plane.  Once the airframe is designed in 3D space, I can then use the Solidworks software to find the actual weight of the plane to determine the size of Electric motor  that I will use in the plane for the first flight.

Major Tasks and Milestones:

                Building of the actual plane and flying the plane by the end of the semester.

Resource Requirements:

                Oterzone.com, RCgrounp.com