| Type: |
Wingeron sloper |
| Wingspan:
| 52" |
| Wing Area: |
270 sq in. |
| Airfoil: | S3016 |
| Weight: | 27oz |
| Construction: |
Fiberglass fuselage, balsa sheeted foam core wings, balsa tail surfaces |
| Controls: | Wingeron, elevator |
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The C.R. Turbo S was a highly aerobatic wingeron sloper (wingeron meaning the entire wings pivot to provide roll control, rather then using ailerons). The orginal Turbo had balsa sheeted foam wings and a slab sided balsa fuselage. It was a great plane, with a phenominal roll rate. A couple of my friends had them, and I noticed that it was around the same size as my Dragonfly. I thought it might be cool to combine the Dragonfly's sturdy, sleek glass fuselage with the Turbo's fast, effcient wings, and thus, the TurboFly was born.
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| The original Dragonfly. |
The conversion was actually pretty simple. First, I built the two CR Turbo S wings per plan. Next, I gutted the Dragonfly's fuselage, removing the servo rails and wing mounts.
Once everthing was cleared out, I added some carbon fiber reinforcement to the inside of the sides of the fuselage at the location where the wing rod goes through. Plywood plates were then glued into this same area, both to give the wing bellcranks a vertical surface to rotate against (because the sides of the fuse are curved), and for further reinforcement. Once this this was done, I could set up the servo rails for the wing servo, and the elevator servo, which sits behind the wing rod.
I removed the Dragonfly's tail feathers and replaced them with the Turbo tails. I decided to make the tail removable, and so added some extra wood to the base the vertical tail, which let me tap it for a couple 4-40 bolts. The bolts go in through the bottom of the fuselage and come out through the top where they thread into the fin. The horizontal tail is held in place by the rear-most bolt, which goes through the center of the stab, and tightens the vertical tail on top of it. It's kept in alignment by a pair of fillets on the bottom that hold snugly to either side of the fuselage. With the tail being removable, and the wings being two removable parts, the plane breaks down into a really compact package.
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The TurboFly, finsihed
in its original color scheme. |
View of the servo
installation and hatch. |
The hardest part was making the hatch. Since the orginal wing was gone, I was left with a large, uncovered wing saddle on top of the fuse. I ended up carving a big balsa block to a shape that would conform to the top of the fuse, and used a thick mixture of epoxy and micro balloons to get the bottom to conform with the original wing saddle. This was then attached to the forward part of Dragonfly's orginal fiberglass canopy, then glassed and painted. The whole thing is a bit odd looking when it's removed from the fuse, but when its attached, it provides a nice, sleek hatch.
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| TurboFly in its present color scheme. |
The plane flies much better then the original Dragonfly did. In fact, it performs almost exactly like a Turbo S. Although it has the same span and wing area as the old DCU wing, the Turbo's SD3016 airfoil makes this a much better flying airplane. It flies well in light lift, and has much better energy retention. Of course, being a wingeron now, the roll rate is incredible
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