SYNAPSE Foamboard Flying Wing - Intro Video
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- An introduction to a scratchbuilt foamboard flying wing for fun and FPV flying. Details, flying, and build videos to follow.
This plane is designed to be easy to build, compact for transport and storage, and relatively efficient in flight. The flying wing does eliminate several parts and the space and weight they occupy, like the empennage and horizontal stabilizer, but it must be properly balanced in order to optimize flight efficiency. The separate, movable, and interchangeable fuselage pod allows the builder to shift the payload weight relative to the wing in order to achieve that proper balance.
Made of 3 sheets of Readi-Board (aka Dollar Tree foamboard), hot glue, Gorilla Glue, one carbon arrow shaft, and packing tape, the airframe is under $10 and takes about 2 hours to build. Electronics are 2 x 9g EXI metal gear digital servos, receiver of choice, and battery pack 2000-5000mAh range. AUW as tested is 1200-1400g, estimated maximum 2000g.
Motor options are widely variable but at least 350 watts is recommended to get good performance and reliable hand-launches. Landing gear is an option, with a correctly sized propeller to allow ground clearance.
This plane includes some concepts and elements from: Gabe Kadonoff, nieder99, templton89, Rob MacKenzie, mountaindewdude. I encourage you to check out their channels for other good ideas.
No plans will be made but detailed build videos will follow, including all specs and parts links. Please comment or PM any questions.
"Synapse" is the name of the junction of the axon of one nerve cell to the dendrite of another nerve cell, where electrical signals are converted to chemical (neurotransmitter) signals and conveyed to the next nerve cell. I've always thought this is a very cool phenomenon, a kind of magical thing taking place on a very tiny scale, billions of times per second in every brain. Most psychoactive medications and drugs exert their effects in one way or another at the synapse. The word synapse is from the Greek words for "to clasp together", which also kind of goes along with the design of the plane - fuselage clasped to wing.
Pure genius Ed, you're the Rutan of the RC world...
That's the single biggest compliment I could be paid!
I have not had many windy days to test it but I will try when I can. The handling seems to be solid and steady with long, smooth lines. It is not aerobatic or very nimble. It feels to me like steering a boat or driving a Cadillac, as opposed to driving a Porsche or flying a 3D plane. It definitely goes where you want it to but it's smooth and gentle.
I trust this guy the most out of all the people on youtube im a 1 year experienced flyer and he still is teaching me things I didn't know
Thanks ExperimentalAirlines :)
Folding it just shows you are a badass and you can design luxuries into it because making something fly is too easy for you
Impressed with the foldable wing and the sliding trays...
Great design. Really like the ability to use different Fuse. on same wing. It's on my bucket list to make.
Awesome videos EdI built one of these last weekend and maidened it yesterday, gotta say I love it. It flew sweet right out of my hand with only a few clicks of down elevator, I got in another 5 or 6 flights this morning. I can see these wings becoming my favorite planes quickly. One reason is because when I started flying back in 07 or 08 the first two or so years was spent building and flying blu core wings.Thank you Sir
Absolutely amazing design! I love the ease of portability, a draw string for the spar and folding fins is spectacular!
Thanks Ryan. For just a little more build effort the Ansley Peace Drone is pretty darn portable and flies twice as long so far.
I've been wondering what to build with all the foam board I have stacked up... lol This might just be the one! Looks like it would be a fun easy build, and should fly great!
I went into my local dollar tree today to pick up some foam board. They were all out, the lady there said someone bought the two boxes that they had to "build an airplane or something" haha! At least one of my own kind beat me to it.
a lot of good ideas here!
WOW man you've totally outdone yourself! FANTASTIC!!
Ingenious folding design! Thanks for mentioning the motor's wattage, most just give a motor # and kv, which is often NO help. Tape turns a delicate plane into a much tougher one. 1st class videos, well edited, and concise.
ok ed you just got my attention, amazing how you have taken just a few basic building techniques and created so many different designs.....i will be building this!
Oh for sure, many other ways. I kind of hate rubber bands but at the same time they are cheap, low tech, forgiving, allow movement on crashes and hard landings, and are easy to set up and break down. Nylon nuts are a favorite of course. Velcro straps have been used with good success. You imagination is the limit.
Awesome idea Ed .. You always keep us on our toes can't wait to see the build video.. Thanks
Thank you very much,god bless you and you r family .
Ed, love the wings! I have a semi successful scratch-built Zagnutz wing (zaggi style wing) but had horrible issues with the CG. It flew, but not so well. I tore off all the electronics for another project and now just have the wing sitting alone and dejected in the corner. Now I know what to do it! Thanks for putting out such great videos. Your designs are simple, efficient and I love how well they fly. Keep up the great work.
Very nice designs. I particularly like the removable spar and folding wings. Thank you for sharing !
My hats off to ya Ed... the best design I have seen you make to date... has style, sleek aerodynamics....easy to build... great FPV platform.... ,great FPV platform... did I say Great FPV platform....?...:-)
Ed. Many many thanks for you intuition and fine instructionals. I've been away from RC flight for 25 years and you're one of the reasons I got back into it. I just whipped together the wing of your Synapse model in no time. I'll probably build 2-3 more of your designs as well. Keep up the great work as it is very much appreciated. ~XXXTechRC
Nothing made more efficient. Just fits his ideals of preference better.
Brilliant! I loved the hand-launch sequence at 6:00. Having seen the carved-up hand of a guy who was launching a flying wing, it's nice to know this one doesn't bite(?).
I just had the maiden flight with my Synapse today! Its my new favorite plane!!! Ill bring a video soon.
Thanks Ed,
keep it up!
Honestly I don't think I'd change much, it looks near perfect the way you've done it! lol Looking forward to the build videos!
Purty nice sliding bay you got there. Good job.
Thanks Ed. It's a really great job you're doing - all for free, as someone had already mentioned.
NICE !! i am going to build this baby
what a sweet sweet plane.
That folding mechanism... Looks like freaking sorcery to me, I am building that ASAP!
Man, I love your inventions! You are one sharp cookie!!
WOW mate, you really know what you're doing. I build slow-flyers from foam board ( Lazy Bee, Tiger Moth, etc...). Now I'm gonna try building one of your creations.
Wow! Very smart design! I fly Zagis and always had issues carrying loads. This is a very good solution....
Great ideas! I look forward to viewing more of your videos. I know I will learn a great deal. Thanks!
Fantastic! Love the trike version and looking forward to build videos here in UK.
Well thought out design. I like the landing gear version. One thing I've done in the past is just to have a nose wheel with bamboo skids at the tips. This work quite well..
Just found your videos. Very cool. Just what I'm looking for. Love the simplicity and functionality.
Thanks Ed... been waiting to see this baby and can already see some of the reasons I think it ought to fly more smoothly than some of my "hybrid" efforts. Gentlemen, start your glue-guns!
Thanks for the good vibes, glad to hear you're going to give scratchbuilding a try. I do not use KF airfoils as I find the folded foamboard cambered airfoil (that I call "Armin wing" after my son) to be very easy to construct and reliable in performance.
All of your creations flies like a charm. Congrats. :)
Very impressive,nice work.
eres el maestro del foamboard, cada dia veo las maravillas que creas y me asombro seguidamente. gracias por tus videos.
That's a nice wing fold method. I hadn't seen that style before!
Awesome builds! Thank you for uploading these and looking forward to the build videos...
It's crazy you do this for free. Way to go man
Really like your designs and explanations. Good stuff for beginners or any DIY flight enthusiast! Thanks!
Very COOL Ed! I love this idea. This is your coolest build yet. I'm actually building my first armin wing right now. Once I perfect my technique, I will be building one of these.
Great job as usual Ed! I'll add one of these to my winter build projects. Thanks for all your creative ideas keep'em coming.
Another great build Ed! I may try to build one out of coroplast I have laying around.
Great job! Thanks for share!
Amazing thought has gone into your design. Keep up the videos, love to watch them, as they are very educational for a new guy like me.
Looks great and nice and quiet!.
Can't wait to see the build videos!
Oh yeah... that removable arrowshaft is BIG!!
Not sure about the winglet significance. The blue one is configured to never allow the prop to touch the ground. Maybe there's a little droop tip/wing fence effect. They are both probably larger than they need to be, but I'd rather go big and size down. A little more vertical surface is needed to mitigate the fuselage pod. Handling is very "determined", kind of smooth and locked-on, not twitchy, not super nimble. Stable in 5mph wind, but haven't really pushed the high winds yet.
I love these kind of wings.....:) they just look nice when flying :)
Super, thanks from India
Awesome as usual!
Cool! looks like a good GoPro platform!
Yeah, the Synapse has swept wings, a very short tail moment, and a bit higher wing loading. It really only needs the extra watts to get hand-launched. Cruise flight is actually quite mellow at about 150 watts level flight. With landing gear you could get by with less motor. The Peace Drone has enough "float" to make it hand launch pretty slowly and stay airborne while it builds airspeed. Flying wings kind of need extra oomph.
Your builds are really intelligent and amazing... I'm really
nice work Edd.
Thanks. Like your airplanes. Haven't built much with foam. I mostly use coroplast.
Ed you are awesome, I love your work. I've build 2 armin wings in anticipation for a flying wing and found this video after searching for fuselage/electronics ideas. Will post a video once I've flown it (and decided on a fuse)
awesome, another ingenious design!
Thanks bro
Im from india.
I followed your guidance and built the synapse.
It's really awesome to fly 💯
I wana mention this... Around my village of 50km radii no one involve in rc related hobby.
As a great explanation in your playlist, I could build it.
Thanks a lot man...
Now I can let my surrounding people to get into this hobby aswell.
I have few doubts. If you okay, let me shootout so I can be much clarified...
Cool,Just thought I'd ask-I see alot of people using both techniques,yours are probably lighter in weight with the void in the wing than several layers of material and the glue to hold them together would be.Keep 'em flying!!
I think it is a good idea in principle, but I have always had very good luck using the ESC brake and just letting the prop flip up and out of the way upon landing. I literally have never had a broken or misaligned prop that way. I would use caution with prop savers on large diameter, high power, high rpm motors like the ones I recommend for this plane, as a prop saver might let loose of the propeller if not perfectly balanced.
This is it, this is the one. I'm in love.
Very informative video very good job 👍
Thanks for the" how to tips" & great videos!
Thanks for the" how to tips" & great videos!
Ed, removable arrow shaft is an amazing idea! Just blew my mind. Even though I've switched to quads/tricopters since last bajiWing build, I'm seriosuly considering building a fully folding wing.
First, you would need larger foamboard to get a 60" wing on the Synapse due to the geometry of the swept wing. If you could do it the wing loading would be decreased and flight efficiency would be increased. There are some losses due to the flying wing design which depend a lot on the CG, but many other factors are in play. It gets more complicated than just straight wing loading. My guess is that under ideal situations you would be right - Synapse better by a small margin.
Sweet work! Love it! Hope you make a bigger one! may be on the 9 Feet range!
Nice Ed ... looking forward to the build videos and hope you do some in depth presentation on CG balancing.
Believe me, I tried that and everything else first, including an interrrupter switch that would bring the motor to full power the moment it left my hand. The way I have this plane loaded with FPV gear and balanced with the CG conservatively forward, the only reliable way to get a clean launch on level ground is a power-on side toss or overhand throw. I wish it weren't that way. At least I feel better about the prop clearance with video documentation.
Only the videos, but they are very thorough.
Indeed! Credits to you in the comments. Nice idea!
Amazing job! I've been wanting to see your idea of a flying wing
The hand-launched uses a 4000mAh 3S and gets 15min to 11.3v. The landing gear version uses two (possibility for three or more) 2200mAh 3S and gets 13 minutes to 11.3v. Personally I usually shave off a couple of minutes of flight time and take my packs down to 40% for storage and longevity purposes.
Muy bueno todos los videos .
Un saludo muy grande de Argentina.
Yes, you are correct on all points.
Murphy, it IS YOU! Robocop actor doppleganger you are lol.
really nice!
Wow, that was cool!! Unfortunately, the raining season is coming soon so I was wondering how about making these "rain proof" somehow?
Please let me know the angle of your pusher motor. Is it straight in, or is there an up or down angle for straight and level flight durring acceleration. Please let me know. Thanks.
You deserve it!
Regards -Gary
Clever, thanks for sharing!
pas mal le systême !
Yes Chandler. I drive by that park all the time.
After being cut for the Synapse design, the wings are actually not 30" rectangles but rhomboids, 26" long on the leading and trailing edge. At a 135 degree nose angle (22.5 degrees sweep for each wing) the wingspan is 48". You can try this on an online triangle calculator if you like. Sorry I am terrible at drawing so I try to use video as my teaching medium. The instructions are quite detailed. Look at the one on the wing specifically and you will see the dimensions.
Rotation of the tips along with the elevons will enhance control with less deflection
I'm sure you could, though I make mine lock in place in a certain position. But the possibilities are many.
Você é um Gênio !!!
Wouldn't it be a good idea to use a prop saver instead of the prop adapter? Seems to me that the shaft can get easily bent on a landing on the plane without gear.
Great channel Ed-you provide alot of insight to the RC flyer;whether a newb or vet,anyone can gain from checking out your videos.I've flown for years,but I never really scratch built anything with much success.Thanks to this channel,I think that is about to change.
Do you ever use Kfm airfoils?
very nice
Congratulations Ed, it is very nice design ! Have you test them on windy day conditions. What was overall fly behavior?
Wonder if you had thought about a tail dragger wire (or duel wire equal spaced) which might assist in keeping your hand clear on launch... if its long enough...Worst case is the tail dragger would hits your hand at launch before the prop, causing the plane to deflect the angle of release to the point of clearing your hand (and crashing the plane). Just my 2 cents