Space Shuttle Construction Notes

A foamy "space shuttle" under development to soar the slopes. This re-design is taken from AMA plan # 368, originally published by Luther Hux, back in 1980 for a balsa shuttle. Prototype is made from 2" thick pink "insulation" foam, and if it works, ( YES, it does work ! ) we'll construct one ( maybe 2 or more ? ) from EPP foam. The wing was purposely made "bigger" with hopes of having at least some control.

Airfoil used is a SD7090 @ 8.2% thick at root and 9.2% thick at tip,
 selected by John Maxwell,  and used a 14.75" chord at the root to give a 13" rib w/9/21" TE spar.
Chord for tip was 5" to give a 3.75" rib w/7/32" TE spar. 
The root thickness was chosen to fit within the thickness of the foam block.
The tip was thickened to allow for a thicker spar at the tip.

click here for pictures of launch, in flight & landing  at Cape Cod

Slope Soaring the "Shuttle" at Ft. Adams, Newport, RI..    pic 1 & pic 2

Flying the Space Shuttle is a real challenge, to say the least.  This was my first attempt to construct a slope foamie after only flying slope for about 6 months and although, it does fly, the wind needs to be "right-onto" the slope and at least 15 mph. One of the more experienced flyers in our group managed a 10 min. plus flight. One of these days, I'll experiment with a different airfoil and make the whole thing a lot lighter. It does look cool in the air though !

One Saturday, Kurt Lauth, John Maxwell & I spent several hours cutting EPP foam fuselages & wings....Many thanks to both for their ideas, suggestions & comments regarding construction of this foamie Space Shuttle

• First shuttle wing & 2" wide fuselage ; December 2000

• Trial mount with cardboard fin

• 4" wide fuselage, servos & rx installed, ready for initial hand toss glide with battery pack taped to top

• Improved & painted "pink foam" prototype following successful hand tosses, including into a 20mph wind from SW at Ft.Adams on March 25, 2001

• "pink" Prototype weighs 25oz. with 300maH battery, 37.5" wingspan, 25" fuselage length

• Prototype & plans, with "spruced up" coloring

• April 14,2001 - Successful slope flights at Ft.Adams,  Newport , RI of "pink foam" prototype

• First EPP foam version completed and ready for slope testing ( April 15,2001, pictured above), weighs 29oz, 27" length & 4" width fuselage, 39" wing span containing a 250 mAH pack, two standard servos &  HiTec 555 receiver. The CG for the foam version is about 1" forward of the wing spar. 

• March 27, '01 - EPP foam wing & fuselage halves, ready for construction; the 1/4" x 3/8" balsa spar is mounted  into bottom of wing...spar placement is same as in prototype, 2" from trailing edge at tip , running on angle to 8" from trailing edge at root end. After setting about 2 degrees dihedral, and joing the wing halves, entire wing will be covered with strapping tape

• 1.9 density EPP foam is used for the fuselage  and 1.3 density type for the wings 

• At trailing edge of foam wing halves, a 1/4 x 3/8" balsa sub-trailing edge attached with goop

• EPP foam wing halves joined & with 2" strapping tape appliedto entire wing; elevons shaped, at slight upward angle from trailing edge of wing;  fuselage halves ready for servo installation and hollowing out excess material from leading edge of wing to rear

• In order to facilitate a good clean fit of wing to fuselage, a 2" width from root of the upper portion of foam wing cradle ( the part left over when wing is cut ) is cut away from the "cradle" and used as a wing "mount". Thus you only need to make a horizontal cut in each fuselage half, to accept the wing, yet be certain it is flush with bottom of fuselage

• Two standard size servos are mounted on each side of the fuse, 6" from the nose; servo & receiver placement was determined before the fuselage halves were joined & shaped

• The receiver is mounted in bottom of fuse, centered, about 1/2 " forward of the servos; the antenna is routed from receiver cavity, up through to hollowed out portion of fuselage to extend thru it

• A 250 mAH battery pack is located 1" behind the receiver cavity in bottom of fuselage; battery placement determined experimentally to get the CG as close to wing spar as possible

• Shaping of fuselage completed; required rounding the front & top, before affixing a coroplast fin

• Bottom of wing is spray painted a flat black, directly over the strapping tape. Top of wing covered with white oracote, after applying 3M 77 adhesive; Elevons are attached to trailing edge of wing using black oracote  to make the hinge

• Fuselage nose area to leading edge of wing is completly wrapped with strapping tape, as is the tail end from leading edge of fin to rear. Strapping tape also placed horizontally along fuselage above the wing

• Fuselage also covered with white oracote and black duct tape is used to protect wing leading edge

• Wing assembly is attached permanently to fuselage using goop

• After attaching the main wing assembly, the narrow portion of wing that extends forward to the cockpit, is fashioned from triangular pieces of foam, shaped, and gooped directly to strapping tape of the fuselage; this portion of the wing is covered with black duct tape

• Black duct tape was also used to cover the bottom of the fuselage to simulate the heat resistant tiles !

• May 5, 2001 - EPP foam, shuttle, Discovery completed successful flights on Cape Cod ( click here for pictures of launch, in flight & landing )