Converting a FIK 80 Chuck Glider to Motorised Radio Control

Having always been an experimenter when it comes to model planes, I decided to have a go at converting the FIK 80 epp foam chuck glider into a motorised 3 channel glider. In the UK, these gliders sell at about £10 but her in Spain they retail at 20 euros or thereabouts...hmmm. I had seen plenty of other conversions but most of them had all the electrics strapped to the outside, I decided to have a go at hiding all the parts inside the plane giving a much cleaner look, only the control rods are visible in the finished article, enjoy!

Anyway here is a pictorial log of the conversion, any questions just email me.

This is what came out of the polythene wrapper

 

 

My first job was to strengthen the wing using a carbon flat strip rod of some 6 x 1mm. I marked out the cut on the top of the wing at the highest point and using my trusty Exacto knife, cut a slit 6.5mm deep along the line. I cut the carbon rod with a Stanley knife as it needs a little force to cut it. Test to see if the carbon will go in ok, if so, run a bead of foam safe super glue into the slit, then press the carbon in like so....

 

 As you can see from the photo, the carbon strip is hardly noticeable if inserted this way, but it's perfectly possible to simply tape the strip to the wing flat, although I think it's better hidden. Why is there a drinking straw and a plastic paintbrush in the picture? All will be revealed further down the page 

 

 

My next job was to add an elevator to the tail section. I decided not to trim any off the original, but to make a new elevator from 6mm depron.

 

 

I used fibreglass reinforced tape to attach the two together, here is a shot of the top surface

 

 

And here is a photo of the underneath. Using a foam block sander, I bevelled the edge of the depron 45 degrees so that the elevator had room to move up and down. So I taped the top flush then bent the elevator back on itself completely, then taped the underside, this makes a good hinge.

 

As the epp used in the tail is quite floppy, I decided to stiffen it up by adding a carbon spar of some 1.5mm rod. I marked the line with a marker then VERY CAREFULLY cut the slit for the rod to go into with a sharp exacto. To stop myself cutting right through the epp, I put some masking tape around the blade, leaving just a 2mm sharp point. By doing this, it stops the blade going in any deeper (Theoretically)......

 

Here you can see the carbon rod inserted into the slit, superglued in and everything weighted down to stop any possible warping. Hint; To widen the slit a little, as the epp is only 6mm and by inserting the rod, it could deform it, get a piece of wire, a cigarette lighter and heat up the last inch of wire then with a steady hand, draw it along the slit you've cut, this widens it so the carbon rod goes in easily

 

Use the previous method to stiffen up the tailplane too

 

 

Like so

 

 

Dribble glue down the slit, press the 1.5mm rod into the slit, I then taped the leading edge firmly to hold the shape. Use a weight to hold it down and keep it flat until the glue dries

 

 

Use the same method to make a rudder, cut the rudder shape out of depron, bevel the hinge edge 45 degrees and apply the fibreglass tape as before

 

 

Like so

 

 

Here you can see the rudder and elevator with control horns fitted

 

 

I decided to strengthen the fuselage too as I found it a bit too flexible for my liking and could possibly affect the control throws by bending too much. I used 3mm carbon rod and cut the slit out with my exacto and then applied the hot wire treatment to widen it into a channel for the carbon

 

 

Ah, now we get to the straw and paintbrush. Not liking the rubber band method of securing the main wing, I decided to make an alternative method of fixing it.

 

 

So I cut the end off a plastic paintbrush, bored a hole in the centre of the leading edge of the wing with a hot wire and UHU Por'd it in

 

 

Using the hot wire, I bored a hole into the fuselage

 

 

Then glued a short length of plastic straw into the hole

 

 

My FIK came with a steel rod used as a weight, so I took it out and replaced it with a wooden dowel, it looked like a pair of eyes, so I painted the ends black and yellow

 

 

My next job was to carve out a place for the micro receiver under the wing to protect it

 

 

Here I've cut the nose off to accept the ply motor mount, also I've marked out where I intend to cut a canopy out

 

 

like so

 

 

Here is the motor mount

 

 

And here is the canopy hollowed out ready to receive the ESC

 

 

Here is the battery compartment underneath, hollowed out and Velcro glued in

 

 

Here is the mount glued on and motor in place, the motor is a brushless outrunner with built in prop saver, model A2204

 

 

I decided to use 3.7g servos and to place them in the same under wing compartment as the Cirrus micro servo

 

 

Here is a view of them in place

 

 

And a view of the rear end!

 

 

Here is a shot of the canopy internals, what I did was to hinge the canopy using fiberglass tape at the front, then glue in a small magnet and screw, so when the canopy closed, it would be held firmly in place

 

 

Here is another view of the set-up

 

 

To hold the wing firmly in place, I utilised two small pieces of modelling ply and 2 M4 nylon nuts and bolts

 

 

Wing view

 

 

The nylon nuts glued to the underside of the ply which will be glued into a slot I carved into the fuselage

 

 

Like so

 

 

A view of the underside

 

 

And the top side

 

 

Everything screwed down

 

 

I decided to colour the glider similar to a black headed Gull......why? I don't know, but the eyes suggested that's what it looked like

 

I haven't maidened it yet as I only finished it today (20/4/2009) but in real life, it looks cool, the C of G is about right and I'm itching to take it down the club!!

If you have any questions at all, please email me

Nige

 

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