My first F1D

[Skymon]

OK here it is, a documented journey through an F1D build.
This is a little different to the usual 'how to' threads.
I have no previous experience building one of these planes, so I've not got anything to 'teach'.
You can watch me struggle through the buid, learn new processes, make mistakes, get stuck, try again, etc.
Hopefully the thread will prove to be an inspiration to anyone else who feels like giving these planes a go.


So initial steps.
I downloaded a bunch of plans, there are a lot out there. INAV, F1D blog and HPA are good places to look.
I did a big table of the dimensions of the plane and the wood and tried to work out if there was a pattern or a formula.
There isn't really.

Wings are constrained by the max dimensions and fuselages tend to be about 750mm long.

In the end I decided to follow a published plan from Ivan Treger.
It has a world record and it looks nice and clean in it's lines.

I looked up the wood and ordered it from Nick Aikman.
Then I set about working out what other parts I need:

Here's the initial steps in my kitchen while I cook the weekend breakfast.

Pic 1 is the plans in A3 and A4 and the wood. I listed the weird stuff like boron, carbon and tungsten wire.
Pic 2 shows me testing the boom wood in a pretty rudimentary manner.
Pic 3 shows the Motorstick wood - I had two pieces that are almost exactly identical, very nice.
then the plan itself.

[LASTWOODSMAN]

Hi Skymon !  You are INSPIRING ME ...      I am looking forward to following your first F1d build, as I have never built one - but I have seen the flights and they are pretty hypnotizing !            And thank you for this invitation "You can watch me struggle through the buid, learn new processes, make mistakes, get stuck, try again, etc."     LOL  - I will do just that.   Thank you again,  I will be following this one.   Thanks for posting everything in your build.  It will be great to follow.   

LASTWOODSMAN

[ffadict]

Dito on the inspiration Skymon. I am slowly working my way through the mini-quark after seeing your build.