All-male Xplorer 4m fuse and lady-like Icon 2 wing bits meet in a dive bar, fall in love, and merge to create a glider stronger yet stranger than its' individual parts.
Got a bunch of crashed Icon 2 fuses and wings from a buddy (parts which I will be repairing on video for a new how-to repair program coming soon) and repaired a few of the better wing panels to make a complete wing.
After a few late-night stouts had in my shop, I happened to see the Icon 2 wing panels sitting just over a new but wingless Xplorer 4m electric fuse I had left over from the making of the Electric Sailplane Clinic video training series. An idea sparked, and I quickly matched up the wing to the electro fuse, and damm, almost a perfect match.
The Icon 2 is a fantastic flyin' glider (advanced Drela sections) and the wing doesn't care what it's attached to. Checked the tail volumes of the XPL 4, very close to the I2 fuse. This was going work.
The Xplodicon was DNA-spliced and re-sequenced.
Mounting the wing was the only real challenge as the Icon bolt holes only match the front hole on the XPL, and the XPL hole is M6 and the Icon's M4. I wanted to keep the XPL mounts intact in case it ever wants to have a proprer XPL 4m wing. Solution was to just drop the Icon M4 bolt straight through the XPL's front blind nut hole, then into a custom blind nut epoxied to a G10 backing plate that butted up against the already stout XPL front wing mount. The rear bolt had to be drilled through the fuse top and another custom blind nut glued into a carbon and G10 backing plate. Extra carbon plates were added underneath to spread the load as the rear bolt hole was close to the big DB9 connector exit hole in the top of the fuse.
One big problem was when I was squaring the wing to the fuse to drill that rear mounting hole, the measuring string from the tail to the wing tips was 2 inches off even though the wing looked square to the fuse! WTFF. Discovered the I2 wing bolt holes were 1/8" off center, and even the flap surfaces were different lengths!!! Had to go with the original I2 hole locations, yes there is 1/8" more span on one side of the Xplodicon, though she static balances perfectly. The flaps barely clear the sides of the fat XPL fuse.
I had a hot power system already in wait for the XPL fuse, a Neu 1110 1Y with P32 box, Castle 100, RF spinner and 16-10 prop which prop calc said would work best. Battery is Revoletrix 2200 60C 3S. Radio is 9 series DSMX, with a mix of AT and JR servos running off a Castle 10 amp BEC.
Set CG like an I2, and she flew straight from a hand toss. She's getting more power than estimated, blew my ball cap right off at launch and went vertical after building up to prop speed. Looks like 800-900 watts average. Amazing to have a big brute of a 4M go straight up FAST. 200 meters in 10 seconds. I have not run the motor longer than that in over 10 hours of flight time. Great legs, flies like an I2, no surprise there. Not light at around 80 oz, but climbs out just fine in low light stuff.
Tuning and program set up is getting better every flight and will be flying her at the Polecat, just need to learn to use those huge flaps to advantage. - Paul Naton
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