Topic: The Willow

Lots of info and build log of the new Willow,

  Took delivery of mine (PINK) and Andy B's today, Just a few garden piccys for now to get things started.








Wings weigh 628g each and total airframe is 1760g

Nice. Is that a one piece bolt on tail?

Nice. Is that a one piece bolt on tail?

Sure is

Looks very Race M ish.  Nowt wrong with that though.

Simon

Ooooooooh nice, "pretty in PINK"
Look forward to instalation & flight reports 

  Stuart.

This looks very nice! luv the colour 

R

you just not seen mine yet .............

you just not seen mine yet .............

 Oh dear, sounds like were in for a bit of a shock guys, best get your dark glasses ready 

  Stuart.

Congrats to Ian for seeing this project through.

It seems to have all the right bits,
and necessarily in all the right places.

Hope its a great success.

Thanks Mike,
  The Willows wing does use the Race M's plan form (with permission).  The shape allows the spar to go all the way to the tip of the wing- ready for those catch a tip landings.

  As a project it's been a realy fun one and a twist on rolling your own.

Ian

Wishing you every success with the Willow Ian. Huge congrats on getting this far

  Stuart.

Ok so it has the plan form of the race M , but what else does it share, moment arm length, Tail planform, ect ect.
Can you get an Xtail version, who desighned the section and where, and why was it given to the 2 girls to test...................

Scott r

Looks very Race M ish.  Nowt wrong with that though.

Simon

You guys have got sharp eyes.  To me it looks like any one of the current crop of F3X planes out there  .

You guys have got sharp eyes.  To me it looks like any one of the current crop of F3X planes out there  .

helps with landing and stuff....... 

You guys have got sharp eyes.  To me it looks like any one of the current crop of F3X planes out there  .

That's 'cos folks like you (and me) are not into that kind of model, so they end up ~3m wing span but all looking the same.
Aren't we ignorant!

There is a difference - the Willow is pretty 'good value' (ok ok - it's cheap...)!

Adam any chance of more detailed pics prior to your install.

Vey Narce 

When you say 'cheap', what are we looking at? I like the idea of F3F sport flying

When you say 'cheap', what are we looking at? I like the idea of F3F sport flying

   Apparentley £500 for glass. Or that's whats the aim is.

Radio tray made, and rolled my first ever home made ballast tube for it too

  Takes my old Strega ballast so 10 slugs at 36mm long. Production models may need a shorter tube to allow for bigger v tail servos in line rather than the 2 Hitec 65s side by side, (some people prefer a bigger servo).

center of ballast tube 22mm in from rear of the tray




Ample ballast


2 Hitec 65s Side by side for the Tail






Once the radio tray and ballast tube are fixed in place it should make the nose nice and strong


Obviously as its not a majorly expensive model there are a few little things that you need to do yourself, Like fixing the inner nose to the fuse, I figured 25mm over lap would do the job. and installing the V tail surface horns. All pretty straight forward.

Fantastic to see how they should be built properly Adam.

The lack of a ready made ballast tube was an error in packing up the box.  They'll all come with a carbon ballast tube.

Ian

Having looked at Andy's, I think that the inner nose should just be put in the amount of the MB mix thats there, about 10mm
Leave the tray to put the extra strength into it, the inner nose will then be a tight fit right into the end of its outer sheath.

If you mount it shorter the outer nose will be less secure and could allow it to move and gain extra force against the inner nose.

Agreed, I've just had to do that as a repair to my Acacia and now I need to pad out the outer nose to make it fit snugly again.

Although I am thinking about using stiff foam instead of something solid, to maybe absorb some shock? Can't decide which would be better...

This Willow looks very like the Acacia (III) to me. Which is a good thing, it's mighty purty.

I also think that if the inner nose breaks off in an arrival it will be the inner nose itself that breaks at the front edge of the rear fus, so whether its pushed in 10mm or 100mm will make no difference.

On my A3 there was a thin 'sleeve' sticking out from the front of the fuse which the inner nose slips inside and sticks into.

When I crashed it, it was where the sleeve met the fuse that split - it was only a few layers of glass cloth at that point.

Looks like the front of the willow fuse is more solid than that and the inner nose slips inside it - can't really tell from the pictures.

Thanks for the feedback lads,

  With my experience from the first model and the other feedback from the Beta versions we're actually making the inner nose 15mm longer to tighten up the fit.  I'll be posting a picture of the new plug I'm working on on the blog today.

  I'm sure I'll be cart wheel testing it very soon.

Ian

I'm sure I'll be cart wheel testing it very soon.

If you want more ruggedness testing I'll happily provide the dumb thumbs...

is there going to be a carbon version with 2.4 friendly nose?

Willow website here:
http://willowf3f.com

and Willow news/blog here:
http://www.willowracing.blogspot.com

Phil.

cheers Phil

is there going to be a carbon version with 2.4 friendly nose?

All the versions will be 2.4 friendly.

and there will be a carbon wing version.

Ian

thanks Ian

Ian,

All that needs to be said

 

Iain

All programmed up and ready for its maiden hopefully this weekend



Put four Graupner 448mg wing servos in this as i had them, but you could possably get a 15mm servo in all round



surface horns and clevis cut outs are done for you and all line up nicely.

Looks very good. Looking forward to reading your analysis Adam.

adding the Willow video to the Willow thread 
hopefully there will be more vids when Adam gets his going 

Willow F3F

Phil.

I see Mason still hasnt learnt any aerobatics then! 

williow video was like watching paint dry.
Throw it about a bit then !

williow video was like watching paint dry.
Throw it about a bit then !

goes left, goes right
don't you like F3F ?

Phil.

It came back in one peice give the guy a break , i am sure all the aero's in the book will be on the next vid
Lee

Ian had better let Phil fly it then

I saw Ian do a loop once. I think he wrong sticked it!