Build a "Warp", a full-contact combat RC aircraft.

Some of the guys at the local RC club (Brindlee Mountain RC Club) and other clubs around the North Alabama area have designed a plane for full contact combat flying. The whole object is to bump/crash into the other guy(s) and have their plane hit the ground before yours does.

The current Warp has evolved from a design created by another "Don" who goes by the name of "Miderror" on the RC Groups forum thread "Don's Blue Plate Special" which is dedicated to these and other style combat planes. There is a video (20 megs) here showing the action between 2 Warps and 4 other kinds of planes!

The plane is made of 1/4" blue insulation foam available at any of the larger home improvement stores. This foam is inexpensive, easy to repair with hot glue and can take a lot of punishment. The Warp pictured below has been repaired many times but still flies beautifully!

One thing to ALWAYS remember, the tail fin is on the BOTTOM when the plane is flying normally, it looks like it's flying upside down. When you launch the plane, make sure you don't have the fin up and pull back on the elevator thinking it's going to go UP! It won't! I know this from experience. The picture below is really of the BOTTOM of the plane.

This Instructable is intended for people that are familiar with building and flying RC planes.

Step 1: Gather together what you need for the airframe.

You'll need a sheet of 1/4" blue foam, marker, ruler, Xacto or similar knife, soldering iron and solder, hot-melt glue gun and glue, and fiberglass packing tape. The schematics included are really just guidelines, they're for the Warp that I'm currently flying. You can round corners, change angles, and change any dimension you like, but keep in mind that any changes you make, you'll be changing how the plane flies.

Mark out the lines and cut out the pieces. If you're careful, you can get two complete Warps from one sheet of foam.

In the plans, all dimensions are in inches.

Comments

[mbainrot]

I kind of deviated from the plans a fair bit (no rudder just 2 elevons)

Is it possible for you to do a pdf export from autocad with the aircraft to scale? had a really hard time tracing this out using a projector at a local maker space onto depron foam gaffa taped to a rolling garage door.

It's been on the back burner since Dec last year and decided to go all in and just tape basic electronics with no control surfaces. Flew quite well into the ground (expected as it has no control surfaces). Hence its first repair.

With depron you REALLY have to make sure you got that bit of plastic the OP has on his (I am using 0.5mm plastic sheeting, quite heavy stuff but was the most ridged i could get) to stop the motor ripping the crap out of the foam.

Photo shown is me adhering the left elevon to the main body, pieces of plastic on the elevons is to provide a good solid point to adhere the linkage to the elevon

Using foam safe "super glue" which is strangely odderless, seems to stick other stuff to foam better then unprepped foam to foam, to stick foam to foam you have to sand the ends and then make sure you remove all the dust otherwise the glue won't go off properly and leaves you with a dodgy join.

Used depron foam instead of insulation because of what is available in Australia. Depron works quite well but needs reinforcing because it is not as ridged (in the photo you can see one of the two parallel foam reinforcing "bars" that run the length of the aircraft)

[mbainrot]

Picture below *take 2*

[tim127]

Me and some friends are planning to make a semi autopilot plane. This is a good place to start.

[he who crashes often]

good luck. what sort of system do you plan to use for autopilot? try going on diydrones.com, they have lots of really good information.

[techmonster]

would it be okay for me to use a standard spektrum receiver for this plane or would it be too big?

[coscade]

What program did you use to make the schematics?

[Don H.]

Autocad.

[coscade]

Thanks, and nice instructable

[coscade]

I have a question, What is that plastic piece you used to attached thae linkage rod to the rudder?

[Don H.]

Just a regular control horn made for foam planes. Any RC hobby should have them. I cut a slit in the foam and attached the horn with hot glue.

[i make shooting things]

Finally some Rc instructables (not crappy toysrus Rc) Great simple design I look forward to building it, I will try to put some pics up of mine I would recommend getting small gage wire to protect the prop (I lost a $50 brushless motor because of unprotected prop) I might try using a flying wing rc control set up and split the elevator and make "alervons" (which do the job of ailerons and a elevator) or w.e their called. But I think ill keep the ruder for greater stability. Is this more of a park flyer or a 3d plane? Can this fly strait up? Can it do a barrel roll or a loop? Just a few questions id like to know before I start building Thanks! Awesome job, one of the best first instructables iv seen!

[Don H.]

Thanx for the kind words! The plane is a great park/backyard flyer, as it'll fly pretty slow and turn quickly. I don't really know about flying straight up as I've not thought to try it, for the combat flying, we like it slow and close in and therefore don't use much over half throttle. It's really not designed for that kind of flying. I kind of doubt it'd do 3d as you really need ailerons. As for the elevons, there is another type combat plane called a "Stubby" (you can see one in the picture on step 8 at the top. I haven't built one of these yet, but I do have another sheet of foam and the dimensions to build it. I'll take pictures as I build it and make another Instructable.

[i make shooting things]

Thanks,
Please join my group, this is the first true good Rc anything iv seen on instructables by the way im gona add the instructable to my new group if u dont mind
I'll look forward to "stubby"
P.S welcome to instructables

[samyakchakma]

can i make dis plane with thermocol ?

[Don H.]

Sorry, but I have no idea what a thermocol is.

[Electroinnovation]

About how much does one of these cost from scratch with everything needed to fly?

[Spokehedz]

Under $140. The cost is in the radio and electronics, which usually are recoverable from a crash/battle.

[Electroinnovation]

Cool. How much does each styrofoam piece cost

[Spokehedz]

Umm... like, under $10-20 dollars. Or less if you find some from someone insulating their attic.

[samyakchakma]

is the white stuff thermocol

[Electroinnovation]

I know kinda a stupid question I just want to know

[Pr0pmaster]

where can i find a rudder servo and elevator servo in house hold things ?, please answer

[Don H.]

I don't know what you mean by "in house hold things", but you can get servos at any hobby shop or online by searching for "rc plane servo", usually for less than $15 each.

[cteja]

hey thank you, nice and its usefull

[JesusFreak179]

could u make a vidio of someone building this? it would help me alot. thanx

[JesusFreak179]

if u could make the propeller go bakward you could mabe set it down and then tilt bak with throtle then go full to launch and mabe make 2 bak fins to keep from tipping

[mumbles]

i have 2 questions first one is can these fly in a light wind also maybe heavy wind.
second question could i use a nitro engine instead of electric in theory

[Don H.]

They are fun in light wind and I haven't tried in heavy wind, but I'd think not...they only weigh 10 or so ounces. As far as a nitro engine, no way! Who in their right mind would do full contact combat with a flammable fuel???

[mumbles]

Lol that's why I said in theory and also I have done some pretty stupid stuff
Thanks for the reply I have made the body and I'm going to mount the engine tommorow I will let everyone know how I get on

[mumbles]

sorry it's a bit late but i finally finished mounting the engine and tested it and it failed it took off fine but i put it in the ground and now the body is screwed and the fuel tank it cracked luckely the engine shut off and dint ignite the fuel. ow well lesson learnt

[rohanbansal]

do you know how to launch this plane???

[mumbles]

hand launch

[he who crashes often]

thats easy. just chuck it!

[fauzanrc]

please tell how to make the transmitter

[Don H.]

You can't make the transmitter, you buy it.

[he who crashes often]

i accept your challenge...

[bowmaster]

A few ideas for this. 1. Cover the battery with thin metal so it won't get damaged and explode, then try to shoot it down with airsoft guns. There won't be much damage to the electronics, except maybe a lucky hit on a servo. 2. String a very then wire tightly between two posts, and try to slice the plane in half by flying it into the wire. 3. Reinforce the area around the motor with carbon rods, then make a mount on top for a model rocket engine, higher up so it won't catch the plane on fire.

[scarfey7]

Here's my Cad Design using 5mm foam :)

[Don H.]

Nice! What program did you use?

[mnmax]

the balance of the plane could be enhanced by cutting into the foam and putting the battery inside ;)