In every industry there are some unsung heros. Jerry and Joe Teisan may not go down in history, and that's kinda sad. When I was a kid RC planes were large gas powered planes that were too expensive for kids. Today, foamies come from China in kits for very little money. And, if you're a bit ambitious you can build your own Dollar Tree Store Delta Wing. These Delta Wings are based on the Zagi design. The original Zagi planes were extremely simple. They were made from EPP foam, affordable motors and ESC, and covered in colored packaging tape. It made them cheap and durable which was forgiving for beginners This was the plane I attempted to build.
Mine had problems. My main problem was that I had no experience at plane building, and nobody to help me. I had issues with the initial build, servos breaking, issues with CG, and finally my ESC burning out. I never had the wonderful experience of getting the plane high in the sky. Never had the wonderful experience of watching it crash from high altitude. My original build was nothing short of fugly. It ended up in a state of disprepair in my garage for about a decade. I tried to get it going once before,and even bought a new NiCad pack for it. And well, once again no luck.
After finding all those wonderful videos on building Delta Wings online, I figured out my issues with my initial build. But, the tape is worn out and falling off the plane. There are a lot of issues. It needs a rebuild. This time I will approach it with respect and go out of my way to make it cool. Yes things have changed since the first build. LiPo batteries mean that it can be powered with a lot less weight. I can do a few things to add a little more weight without penalty. The other thing that I wonder about is the silver canister private labeled motor. It's the old canister style. Yes, there are much, much better motors now. But hey, we'll start with the original. The propeller is kinda small by today's standards. I am not opposed to throwing in an upgraded outrunner motor into the plane. On the Zagi website they are advertising a 3100KV motor which needs a 40 amp ESC. The idea is to spin faster and run at half power or lower. But, with a 40 amp ESC it means that this motor can really draw a lot of electricity. 3100 RPM is the upper range of the motor. Yet, there are other motors that work at the same RPM with half the amp requirements. This suggests to me that the torque on these motors are lower. This is the main reason why I don't jump into new motors so quickly. I just want to get out and fly it for a while. Things have a way of becoming more clear. over time.
The largest question I had was how to recover the plane? I listened to everybody. I considered Monokote and Econokote. What I wasn't liking about that was the need for new tools and the fact that tears show up fairly easily. It's a thin coat, which is fine to keep it light.
Colored packaging tape once again? Nope. My first real job out of college was working for a company that manufactured packaging tape. I worked for the mill. There are two things that you need to know about packaging tape. The smooth side is the film and the sticky side is the adhesive. The colored tape is acrylic adhesive. It's the least sticky of all the adhesive for packaging tape. The film side comes in various thicknesses. The thicker the film, the more weight we put on the plane. But it will also help protect it more better. The tape of choice for me is clear packaging tape, with a hot melt adhesive (it's also known as synthetic rubber). I will use a thicker film than the 1.8 or two mills used by Zagi in the past. But with a clear coat it will be extra ugly. It needs paint.
Sorry, I'm not spray painting the plane. I know it sounds stupid but my paint of choice is interior latex win gloss. It's a thick coat with one application to cover. Yes it will add weight as well. But look it this way. I am taking off weight by switching to LiPo batteries. The extra weight from the paint and heavier tape goes over the entire plane not affecting the CG. It will be heavier, but more sturdy. I hope.
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