Lazy Eight Mk III

technoid

technoid

Well-known member
The P-38L is finished so I want something to tinker with so I'm going to revisit a plane I've already done a couple of times but with some fun changes. I have to admit this plane is being designed to explore the huge 3d areas in the first version of RF-X, they're huge and you can fly forever and just look around. Yes the scenery is desert with some mountains but I really enjoy flying around and exploring it. Yep, not RC in the true sense but something I enjoy doing sitting at my desk. So I'm going to create another plane to do it with. Looking forward I expect to have one of the next generation NVIDIA graphics cards so I'll finally be able to fly in RF-X with the frame rate I want to see. The GTX 1070 I bought just isn't up to the task, for me at least. It's way more than you need for RF-8 but not enough for RF-X. I found out sadly that a 1080 is the minimum needed for RF-X.

The first version of the Lazy Eight was designed to explore 3d fields in RF 7.5 so it had a front mounted cockpit with a glass floor and a wraparound canopy. Then I created a second version for RF-X using a tapered wing with a wider wingspan which definitely looked better to me, which I ended up releasing for RF-8 because the RF-X swap pages were never created. For the third version I'm going to take the second version and create a full built-up structure showing the bones for all the parts, fuselage, wings, booms, hstab, and vstab.

You'll also be able to see the four cylinder horizontal four stroke mid-mounted engine that powers it and the drive shaft that connects the engine to the pusher prop. Sort of like the P-39 Bell Airacobra used but going to the rear instead of forward. Of course you'll be able to see the fuel tank. The engine has a fuel pump so the tank can be mounted anywhere I want.

So yeah kind of a silly plane but I want something to do where I have a free plate to work from. So for this plane, reality is somewhere besides this build thread.

To start off the build thread here's two pictures of the first versions and it will be interesting to see what this version ends up looking like.

lazy%20eight%2003_079.jpg


lazy%20eight%20mk%20ii%2001_4sa.jpg
 
Oh boy !! I love this plane. Just so relaxing to cruise over 3D stuff. It almost lands itself too.
 
May I make a request to make the leading edge of the airfoil less blunt and more rounded?
 
legoman said:
May I make a request to make the leading edge of the airfoil less blunt and more rounded?
Click to expand...

Yes that sounds like a good idea it is pretty blunt. Thanks I'll do that.

It could be this plane gets lots of changes to the design so don't be surprised if it ends up looking quite a bit different than the first versions. Who knows it could end up using a different name in the end. But I wanted to start with this airframe because I plan to fly this plane and explore lots of areas in RF-X after I upgrade to the next generation graphics card due to be released in August. But maybe not available until September.

Design change hint. It might not be a side by side this time. Not sure yet I just started thinking about this plane this morning. I had been looking at the AT-6 Texan for my next project. Nothing is set in stone it could end up with two engines instead of being a pusher. That's why I said I wanted an empty plate to work from. So the idea is a replacement for this plane, not a duplicate. It could end up with a Tigercat(ish) look. But NOT a Tigercat just some inspiration from it.

Ha.. it could end up being an EP too. (Don't quote me on that I'll deny it)
 
This type of tail.
 

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Inverted V-tail is another name for it. I barely ever see them in models and this would look awesome!
 
Kha'Zix said:
Oh well! I just love flying through trees with the 2nd lazy eight.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's why I made it. Hopefully I'll put something together that's even better. I enjoy tinkering with the design as I go. I won't forget the A tail so thanks for bringing it my attention to it.
 
Looking forward for this one,it should be another great aircraft, I sure enjoy the MKII it is a fun plane to fly!
 
Sorry guys but I bit off more than I wanted to chew with the changes I talked about making to this plane. I got excited about the upcoming release of the new Nvidia graphics cards and mentioned much more work than I want to do. I knew I would fly this plane a lot in the first version of RF-X to go exploring again but I really don't want to put that much work into the plane just to do that. So I decided to cut down the changes to just a few items, which most are already done. Of course remapping will be the most work and I haven't started that yet I still have one more thing to do. (create the new gear doors on the booms)

1. Reshape Airfoil - finished.
2. Taper front view of wing - finished.
3. Reshape booms to hold main gear - finished.
4. Move booms out 1.5 inches to help gear width - finished.
5. Resize HStab for new boom width - finished.
6. Move VStab out 1.5 inches to match new boom width - finished.
7. Move servos as need for new boom position - finished.
8. Move landing gear to retract into booms - finished.
9. Create new main gear doors on booms - still need to do.
10. Remap parts as needed for changes - still need to do.

And maybe create a new color scheme. Like I said I mentioned much more work than this plane is worth just to fly it around in RF-X. But the changes I'm making will make it a bit nicer plane and that's good enough for what I want to do with it. I always wished I had made the wings tapered from the front view but they already had the gear cut into them and if I did that I'd have to rework the gear. But this time I decided to put the gear in the booms so I removed the cutouts in the wing for the gear and moved the gear to the booms. Which is a nice little change.

So sorry about the grandiose thoughts I had at first.
 
Whatever is fine technoid. The main thing is you are having fun. I was gonna kid you about reversing the booms and making it a canard but now I won't :rolleyes:
 
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