CFP1 (oz16071)

About this Plan

CFP1 (Cheap, Fun Plane). Radio control aerobatic model, for electric power. Wingspan 32.7 in, wing area 320 sq in.

Direct submission to Outerzone.

Quote: "Free Pullout Plan. After flying a Wattage Crazy Max for quite a while, and having put it through its fair share of abuse, it finally came time to retire it. I really liked the size and power of the plane for flying at ball fields and on camping trips; however, I wanted maneuverability more typical of a Fun Fly type aircraft for its replacement.

The goal for this model was an inexpensive plane that would be fun to fly using the existing hardware from the retired Crazy Max, I also wanted the design to offer an upgrade path to a higher performance package using a brushless motor. Thus, the CFP-1 was born. For those interested, CFP stands for Cheap Fun Plane!

I built and flew the first CFP-1 using the stock Crazy Max motor and 8-cell 800mAh NiMH battery. This combo gave me a solid eight minutes of fun aerobatics. I then moved up to a Thunder Power 2S 2100mAh LiPo pack. This gave me much more flight time - well over 15-20 minutes. Since I've never drained the batteries, I'm not sure exactly how long they lasted! From there I moved to the Hacker B20-12L using the LiPos. I now have vertical 3D performance, with flights of over 15 minutes and I still haven't drained the batteries!

The CFP-1 allows you to start simply and expand in increments to reduce your expenditures at any one time - and still have fun along the way!

The CFP-1 performed very well in the initial test flights. I recommend starting with the following control deflections; one inch in each direction for ailerons and elevator, and 1 1h inches for rudder. Once you have a few flights under your belt, work your way up from there. I'm currently flying with 1-1/2 inches of aileron throw in each direction, with the elevator at 1-3/8 inches and the rudder at 2 inches. With aggressive pulling at the higher elevator settings I have noticed a slight wing drop. This is easily corrected by mixing in half an inch of coupled flaps. The CFP-1 now does loops with an 8-10 foot diameter. The ailerons are very effective as well, with roll rates exceeding 720 degrees a second. As I experiment more with my prototypes, the performance is only getting better.

I had the good fortune of having Fly RC chief test pilot Dave Baron fly the CFP-1 on its first day out. Dave was doing maneuvers I can only dream about for now (though i'll keep practicing), all within a 100 x 100 x 50 foot cube! Needless to say, this CFP is very maneuverable! The CFP-1 has a lot of pull, and can accelerate quickly. This allows you to fly in reasonable breezes up to 10+ mph or so.

Building Tips: I'm assuming that the modeler interested in this project has some understanding of building techniques. Based on that, here is the basic flow of construction and a few notable things along the way.

Wing: I dust oversize ribs blanks with spray adhesive, stack them together with a paper template and cut them out with a jigsaw. After I sand them to final shape, I mark the top side of each rib to avoid any alignment problems. I stack two pieces of 1/4-inch sheet to shim the trailing edge 1/2 inch above the building board for assembly. The spar is reinforced with X-bracing instead of sheet shear strips.

Only the center rib bay has a full sheet shear web. This is added when the fuselage tube is attached. Add the edge stiffeners to the outboard side of the two center ribs. Shape the leading and trailing edges. Add the tips and top and bottom gussets..."

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