Flebatron (oz14529)
About this Plan
Flebatron. Radio control sailplane model. Wingspan 2640 mm.
Quote: "In September 2021 within the AMD Rhoen week, I listened to the lecture of Dr. Eder with the title '15 Jahre Vogelflugforschung – was können wir lernen?' (15 years of bird flying research - what about to learn from?) This was a part of an inner inertial ignition sequence for me to follow more the experimental way. Nearly by the same time, my friend Rolf spoke to me and we came to the solution, that a new type of a birds like dynamic glider has to be developed. We were dreaming of flying like an Albatross, ok landings should be much better ;-), but I remember that Albatross’ feather Heinz Eder showed to us that increases it’s moment of inertia while bending and a lot of more 'secrets' that I got the necessary push for a complete new creation.
Early ideas drawn in 3D show, that we must focus on a defined conclusion, but was it Einstein, who said phantasy and imagination is more valuable than knowledge? There are no borders for Fantasy. And this was kind of our engine to bring us forward with our project and jumping out of old thinking furrows. From being a child until to today I was always fascinating of the developments and improvements in aerodynamics and there was something like a secret memory collection, never forget anything of this fascinating things and all of this in our backpacks we started a roadmap and felt like path finders, that chased for sugar candy mountains, in a spirit of optimism.
Reality picks us up soon, but anyway obstacles are there to fly around them and have more fun. I started with our Ideas in 3D construction, but simultaneously we made calculations for the correct form of the wings and the right air foils. Modifications of air profiles were calculated and the profiles exchanged. It was a long way of 500 hours of calculation and 1000 hours of 3D modelling. Within this time I learned so much about the CAD and how to define and manipulate surfaces, that was really great and an enlargement for my personal skills.
The wingtip was one thing to steal from the birds. It was expired to zero. When the airflow directly beside the wing should pass unchanged, it is a must to start from zero with the wing. This was not possible to calculate either nor in XFLR5 than in FLZ Vortex but a stomach decision. If there should happen nothing, there has to be nothing, and then start with a single molecule. And so we just did this and never knew if it will work or what effect it will have.
But there was a defined place that should be the end of the calculated wing and this wing section needed a profile. A few things were tested and I know, it has to be as thin as possible, but super round and fat at the leading edge to handle the variation of incidence angle of the air in different situations. Good that the capacity of load in these outer areas is low. So when designing a wing the distribution of lift is essential for bonhomie and drag. Ok weight is also a factor. But when you chase for minimum drag the load distribution over wingspan and the gradient of lift in the wingtip area is most important. Today this wing tip work is often done with a Horten HM50t I used in the beginning.
Today we can calculate single wing profiles on our home computer and in this particular case I asked Peter Wick from Copenhagen for help. He spent the weekend with this and developed the new Flebo Tip V2-mod profile for our wing. I assembled this to the computer defined wing and the performance increases noticeable from the version with the HM50t.
So far a lot of design work was done, simultaneously with the calculation. The planform of the wing comes more and more clear and some variations with the nose were done, including the size and form of the Elevator. The Nose was not so 'criminal' like the tip, but the Elevator needs attention.
At this point there was still a lot to do the wing needs complete redesign in the way that the hinge lines of any rudders came out as a straight line. This was not so easy and makes some change in V-Shape of the wing. By the way the outer wings could have more negative dihedral to eliminate negative turn roll moment completely, but we are no birds that could change this in flight and we cannot land on the wingtips. So there is still some minor negative moment, but the rudder is 2 times the area, that is needed and I created a supple shape.
During the later construction phase all electronic parts were established as package models and places in Position. Although rudder kinematics was developed to be within the surface.
After all this work, the plane was scheduled and the data for production and manufacturing needed to be made. The plane was decided to be built in a hybrid construction. All parts should be laser cut from lightest wood as Balsa and poplar plywood. All wooden parts were transformed to DXF data 2d format. The outer shape of the leading edge area and the stabilizer should be added from molds, the Fin as a vacuum formed honeycomb sandwich standalone part, the torsion nose as a 'glue on the ribs' part.
The Master molds were 3D printed and the molds for the wing spars were printed in Resin. These Molds are not got for a 2nd and 3rd part to build and could easily be destroyed during deforming so the better way would have been to resin print the master mold and build molds in fiber glass; something for the next project to check. The printed nose parts were glued together, filled and sanded to perfection. The split line for these was an obstacle but we managed it with perseverance.
Astonishing for us was the super fit during final Assembly process, when parts from different manufacturing ways like 3d print and 3d laser cut, each including with manual built up, come together. It fits perfect!
The name Flebaton is a neologism based on Fledermaus (English:bat), Albatross and the film named Tron (Tron …move on light rails? Flebatron …move on virtual calculated 3d rails/ardupilot).
Anyone who is fancy to build a Flebatron is welcome, that’s why we publish the plans here and give all 3D parts for molds or foam wing milling. Please share your experience here, too.
The world needs more modeler that like the experimental way and the best flights are still in front of us."
Direct submission to Outerzone.
Note the main planfile here is a single PDF file with 17 sheets. This serves as a quick overview. For a more detailed (itemised) view, see the supplement file "named_sheets.zip" for the same plan, but here each plan sheet has a title of material and size. Then of course there is the full CAD file download in DXF format. Steve.
Update 1/5/2023: Added FLZ Vortex data zipfile, thanks to Matthias.
Supplementary file notes
Article.
FLZ Vortex data zip.
Named sheets zip.
Photo pack zip.
STP files zip.
CAD file
This plan is available for download in CAD format.
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-
(oz14529)
Flebatron
by Matthias Moeller
2022
104in span
Glider R/C
clean :)
all formers complete :)
got article :) -
Submitted: 24/04/2023
Filesize: 2265KB
Format: • PDFvector • CADfile
Credit*: MatthiasMoeller
Downloads: 1283
Do you have a photo you'd like to submit for this page? Then email admin@outerzone.co.uk
User comments
That is an incredible piece of engineering. Beautiful.SteveWMD - 30/04/2023
Okay - what does flebatron mean?
Kurt Wolfram - 30/04/2023
I fully agree. This is a very complicated concept (500 h of calculation) and detail design (1,000 h of 3D modelling), as the superb plan displays in superb clarity! But then this is a Matthias design, so could we expect less than excellence?
The shape is surprisingly fluid and elegant, and the name a mystery, but once you read the article - or the About column here on the left - it becomes clear :)
Miguel - 30/04/2023
Far beyond my feeble abilities. Fabulous!
Lewis Lingwood - 30/04/2023
Thanks for your comments
fle - from fledermaus / bat
Ba - al(ba)tross
Tron- from the film motorcycles on lightrails we wanna fly on to virtual 3d rails with KI at the very far end for my presently a hangglider to have fun.
The feelings you have when the bird leaves your hands and the everything really everything works like you scheduled before, is undiscribeable.
If anyone is fancy to mill from foam and fly under 1.4kg I will be curious about result.
There will be more soon;/) cheers Matze
Matthias Möller - 30/04/2023
Absolutely magnificent, both in conception and execution! You have, perhaps, fully captured the essence of an albatross with this creation.
Jan Novick - 30/04/2023
Meraviglioso...
Maurizio Paganelli - 30/04/2023
Matthias, Would you please also provide the XFLR5 file and associated airfoils? I would like to see how you used that application to model the wing.
Congratulations on an intriguing design! Well done.
Patrick Flynn - 01/05/2023
Wow... What can I say that hasn't already being said. This is something the likes of which I won't be tackling anytime soon (ever, really...). Superb work Matthias.
RC Yeager - 01/05/2023
I'll send the FLZ-Vortex File to steve and a picture that shows position of foils in 3D with incident and span as described here:
1.) 0° incident 0 mm span is a PW75 sw chamber 1,0°
2.) 0° incident ca.200mm span where the nose is most back a PW98 mod
3.) 1,2° incident and 480mm span a PW98 mod
4.) 0° incident 880mm spanPW 98 mod
5.) -3° incident at 1234mm Flebo Tip V2 Mod
Matthias Möller - 01/05/2023
This may be the most thoroughly engineered model design in the Outerzone. The only improvement I can imagine would be to evolve this into a hypothetical Bird of Time Mk V, but one must not temp the gods lest they give us what we wish for 8-)
I admit I scratched my head before I saw the explanation for the mysterious name. I could not see what the connection might be to Phlebology, the medical blood vessel speciality ;-)
Miguel - 01/05/2023
Thanks Miguel,
Yes the name came more or less during development and all the things we were thinking about :-)
„The Flebatronic is what Flying made possible in the first way“ think I heard something like this in a film, ….Fluxcompensator ;-))
Matthias Möller - 01/05/2023
Previously I commended your emulation of an albatross with the Flebatron. Upon reflection and looking at the photographs again, especially the front and rear views and the wing profile, I am more reminded of a pterodactyl. This tends to reinforce your observation that the Flebatron is about "what flying made possible in the first way“. These creatures naturally evolved to make the most efficient use of the air possible in order to become airborne for perhaps the first time.
Jan Novick - 02/05/2023
Jan
If you would know what is hanging in my livingroom ;-)
It is 70 Million years old has 4 m span scale 1:3 approx for a male Pteranodon. Its the Original machine from Fred Ludwig, I bought from his brother approx 2014, a wounderfull bird ??
Matze
Matthias Moeller - 04/05/2023
You continue to astound on so many levels! Unfortunately, the only Ludwig work I'm really familiar with is Jakob der Lügner. I note that he is perhaps, fittingly, buried in Falkensee cemetery.
Jan Novick - 05/05/2023
just about the Ludwing beast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1snF95pWp8A
Pit - 05/05/2023
Is this an illusion or what? For a few seconds after 0:55, I believe I see the wings flapping, and the voice-over says something about "flugelschlag"!!! The rotating head, the squawking and the beak opening and closing are the ultimate gimmicks! Excellent design and execution, together with a hellish sense of humour!
This family line of flying lizards was an evolutionary dead end, the feathered dinos like the archaeopteryx and co. were the ones that went ahead till today. The first archaeopteryx fossil was found in Germany, I hope that was a coincidence :-)
Miguel - 05/05/2023
Miguel, take a look inside the monster...
https://www.rc-network.de/threads/pteranodon-bau-und-flugerfahrungen.175552/page-23
pit - 05/05/2023
First of all, my congratulations on keeping this Magnificent Contraption for preservation, Matzito, it must be a fine sitting-room conversation piece!
Pit, your ability to find the most obscure references is beginning to become a legend, thank you once again! The dedication and expertise revealed in the thread is amazing, my respects to everyone involved ??
Miguel - 05/05/2023
Hi yes thats the one of the two he had flying in the end.
I bought the fully composite version from his brother and I knew Uwe Asmus and contacted him, he decided to buy the wooden one.
Das Nurflügelteam kept the Internetpages of Fred Ludwig alive here:
http://www.das-nurfluegelteam.de/
Choose left side Flugsaurier!!!
The one in wood and Flügelschlag is with Uwe the other one in composite is with me ;-) hanging from the top above my eating table ;-) take care if you have fish for the dinner its his favorite food.
I will send a foto to steve may be he can publish it here or somewhere.
Cheers Matze
Matthias Möller - 05/05/2023
Here are some pictures of the Pteranodon we spoke about it in the Flebaton comments [pics 011-014]... Cheers
Matthias - 06/05/2023
Here is some video of the Flebatron 1st flight, filmed by Rolf. See: https://vimeo.com/821900638 Cheers,
Matze - 07/06/2023
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- Flebatron (oz14529)
- Plan File Filesize: 2265KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 584KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_article.pdf
- Supplement Filesize: 75KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_flz_vortex_data.zip
- Supplement Filesize: 2275KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_named_sheets.zip
- Supplement Filesize: 1112KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_photo_pack.zip
- Supplement Filesize: 2810KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_stp_files.zip
- CAD Zip Filesize: 454KB Filename: Flebatron_oz14529_cad.zip
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