Building a Micro Fatty -- Skeeter 30 Phat Boy

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I didn't know if I should do this in the build threads section, or the electrics, so I picked electrics. Sorry, move it if you need to.

Some of you may know that I designed the Skeeter 30 profile last year, and have been having a lot of fun with that little electric 3D plane. You can downlaod free plans, or got o billyhellrc.com and buy a laser cut kit.

I decided to take the plane to the next level and make it a full fused micro 3D plane.

Span: 30 inches
RTF Weight: 13oz-15oz.
Motor: Himax 2015-4100 6.6:1 gear
Battery: 3cell TP 1320
Servos: 4 9 gram.
Prop: APC 11x4.7
Covering: Ultracote LITE. Solite would save more weight.
RX: GWS 4 channel
ESC: Pheonix 25

Take the gear from your foamie and slap it into this bad boy phat boy.

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Took about 1 hour to build and sheet the fuse, while taking pictures. I think the next one I could do in 30 minutes.

The entire fuse ( minus sheeting ) went together and held without glue. I then wicked thin CA in everywhere.

On my crappy scale, the fuse is about 2.5oz.

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A few more fuse build pics

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A few more.

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The wings took 30 minutes. Could have been 15-20 without taking pics.

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Here she is so far. Scale says 4oz. I think the dry frame will be 4.5, maybe 5 ready to cover.

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This is how I sheeted the decks:

1/32 balsa dampened with a wash cloth. I did each side separately and tacked the bottom to the fuse stringer, then wrapped it over to the top. Holding it tight, I glued it to the bulkheads from the underside. I then tacked it to the top and trimmed away the excess. On the other side I did the same thing, but overlapped the other sheet, trimmed away the excess and then sanded smooth. I was worried about the curve, but it really was not hard and went very quickly.

The front was done as a single over sized sheet. I tacked it down with a bit of CA, then rolled it around the edges, trimmed excess away and then when happy with the fit, I glued it to the bulkheads from the bottom, then the edges, trimmed the front and back and sanded smooth. Again, very quick process.

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Tail feathers:

If you have built a Skeeter 30 profile, then it's just a repeat of that process.

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[SleepyC]

DUDE!! Nice.

I likes it. I likes it alot!!

Is this a kit that is available?

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Motor mounts.

You have an option of the stick mount for your gearbox setups, or the outrunner mount for you guys that like it all hanging out. I built this one with the gearbox setup. Below is a pic of the outrunner mount. Just take the ply plate that comes your your outrunner and glue it to the front.

The gearbox mount has a hardwood stick that runs through the smaller box and into the bulkheads and firewall.

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[HjorturG]

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Here's some pics just after covering. I taped the raw cowl plug to it so I could see what she looked like. The entire mid belly area can be left open, or you can cover up to the mid spar area. This is your battery and radio bay. Leaving it open is fine, and is what I like to do, but it's totally up to the builder. I like being able to get at the radio easily.

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To mount the wings, trim away the covering from the fuse sheeting where the root ribs touch. Use regular white Elmer's glue and liberally smear onto the main fuse bulkhead where the spars will touch it. Slide the wings into the slots in the fuse sheeting and when happy that you have no dihedral or anhedral tack into place with thin CA. Yes, this is strong enough for this airplane

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For the gear, you gotta bend the wire yourself. The exact wire layout is printed on the plans. Just bend the wire to match. CA the 1st layer of the mount to the bulkhead, then lay in the wire and CA the top layer on.

The wheel pants are formed from red plastic, so if you want them white like me, you need to paint them. Any good spray paint will work, with Rustoleum being my favorite. Stay away from cheap brands, like the Walmart brand, or other store brands. Give it a coat of primer, then shoot the white on.

I used a shot of Goop to hold them on, but the pants include a small nylon strap, wood block and 2 micro srews if you want to use that to hold it to the wire gear. I honestly find Goop to be much easier. Put a dab on the wire gear and use some tape to hold it in place for an hour for the Goop to setup. If you use the nylon strap you will have to bend the wire slightly different than the plans show. Put a flat part right next to the wheel pant for the strap to hold onto.

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Cut out and trim all the vacuum formed plastic parts. The parts are all formed slightly larger than needed, so trim away as much material as needed to get a good fit.

BE CAREFUL!!!! These parts were formed THIN to save weight, yet be strong enough to hold up to ProBro style abuse. They are thin, though. Also, don't trim away toom much!!!!

I just use Scotch tape to hold my parts on. I also painted the canopy black. The canopy is clear for those that want a pilot. I like black and tinted canopies. The Canopy is PETG, so I think that should take tea staining , but be carefull not to warp it while staining. I think I's just shoot light coats of charcoal or black on the inside to tint it.

The cowl and wheel pants are Polystyrene.

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