Author: Spencer Gould

Drill battery storage ammo can

/ Spencer Gould
Quick project showing how you can store your lithium drill batteries in a Mil-Spec metal ammo can.

The 30 cal ammo can is the perfect size for most modern lithium drill batteries.

I made a 3D printed tray that will hold up to five 1.5 Amp HFT brand Bauer batteries

Sunlu brand black PLA is a great option for the tray

3D printed Tray files for the 1.5AH Bauer battery is up for free on Thingiverse

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6477075

Rust-Oleum painters touch works great on the metal ammo cans. Amazon actually has a lower cost on this right now than the box stores.

Thorp T-18 – Aircraft of the month

/ Spencer Gould

The Thorp T-18 was designed in 1963 and is still a common home-built aircraft to see at airshows like Airventure & Sun-N-Fun. Over 400 examples have flown.

John Thorp the designer worked on many aircraft during his career i`ncluding the Piper PA-28 Cherokee series.

The T-18 was originally an open cockpit aircraft powered by a 0-290G ground power unit. But evolved into a closed cockpit with a O-360 for power.

It paved the way for the Van’s RV series of kitplanes. Used T-18 finished aircraft and projects come up from time to time. kits / plans are are difficult to see if they are still around. One resource is: https://www.homebuilt.org/kits/elkund/elkund2.html

A few other websites to check out:

http://www.t18.net

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/t—z/thorp-t-18

A few YouTube videos on the aircraft:

Outerzone has 3 T-18 plan options for anyone looking to build a RC model.

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=9236

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2403

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=10701

Arnold AR-5 – Aircraft of the Month

/ Spencer Gould

Over the holidays I binged watched / read quite a bit of AR-5 content.

It’s claim to fame is going over 200 mph, carrying an adult on only 65 hp. It even has fixed gear.

In 1992 it set a FAI C1a world class speed record of 213.18 mph over a 3km course

Latest info is the aircraft is on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA

Mike Arnold the designer gained composite experience in the Mojave CA, and used basic Rutan methods to build the aircraft. Information is sparse but it did look like he passed away a few years ago.

https://aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=125483

https://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N105AR.html

Mike has a few long format videos he put out around the 2012 time frame:

RC options are limited, a company called Matney Models has the follow on aircraft to the AR-5 called the AR-6

http://www.matneymodels.com/vixen.html

Verhees D-Plane – Aircraft of the month

/ Spencer Gould

The D-plane is a unique all aluminum delta wing aircraft that first flew in the mid 2000’s as a single seater, they expanded the design to a 2 seater.

As an Aerospace engineer with a heavy background in aircraft structures the Delta wing is one of my favorite configurations due to the simple to achieve strength to weight, flight dynamics and they work at all kinds of Renolds numbers from this small D-Plane all the way up to the Vulcan.

2 previous delta wing aircraft of the month include:

Dyke Delta

Avro Vulcan

Company Web Site:

Kit production

Kitplanes Article:

https://www.kitplanes.com/verhees-d2/

There is a good amount of YouTube videos on the aircraft:

There is even some RC aircraft coverage for this series of aircraft:

https://www.rbckits.com/shop/verhees-delta.html