Modeled after the Hanger 9 Tribute 4D, this is a scaled down foam look alike with a 24" wingspan weighing 10 oz less battery.

This plane uses a variety of foam sources and is covered with Oracal 651 vinyl from http://signsplusbanners.com.

The fuse is made from 3/4" Dow Protection board from Lowes. The ribs are cut from 1/4" FFF bluecore, also from Lowes. Ailerons, rudder, stab, and elevator are cut from 6mm Depron foam from rcfoam.com. The wing is sheeted with 1mm Depron foam, also from http://rcfoam.com.

Additional material used includes a 1/8" carbon fiber tube for the wing support, a 3/8" fiberglass tube for the belly of the fuse to give it support, 1/4" basswood spar for wing trailing edge.

1/8" and 1/16" Dremal router bits are used on the Phlatprinter for cutting the various parts.

The 1mm sheet foam comes with a slight bow in it, which works to our favor. It is already formed to basically fit the symmetrical properties of the wing without further forming.

The wing is formed by first cutting the 1mm foam bottom and top wing panels with an Xacto knife and straight edge. Take a ball point pen and scribe indentations along the leading edge every 1/8" to aid in bending the foam into place as it rounds the curvature of the leading edge.

Next, we glue a straight piece of basswood on to the trailing edge using a glue such as Elmers wood glue and let it dry. Place a weight if necessary on the trailing edge to ensure that it is straight.

Once the leading edge is in place, start gluing the ribs down with hot glue working from the center out. Glue only from the trailing edge forward to about 1" back of the leading edge. We will glue this part later.

After all the ribs are in place, cut a 1/2" strip of FFF for the leading edge and sand one edge to be rounded to match the ribs. This strip will then be cut into individual pieces to fit between each rib.
As you cut these pieces, hot glue them into place making sure the leading edge stays straight. It helps to have the carbon fiber tube inserted at this point.

After all of the leading edge pieces are glued in, you can now start from center and work out to the oustide edges, gluing that final 1" of rib and the sheeting to the leading edge.

When you are through, the wing should be straight and the leading edge should be line up all along the wing with the trailing edge and be straight.

The top sheet is glued down again working from the center out. This foam is very pliable, so you can fold it back as you glue the sheeting down. Be careful as you go so as not to put a twist into the wing.

When the wing is complete, you can move on to covering the parts with Oracal or painting as desired.

The rest of the build is pretty much self explanatory. I use hot glue, but you can also use epoxy or whatever to secure the rest of the parts.

I am powering mine with a BP 2217-9 moter, 18A speed controller, and an 11 x 4.7 prop.

I use 4 hitech HS55 servos in mine. Attached files TributeElevRud.skp (388.6 KB)Â TributeFuse.skp (840.5 KB)Â Tribute_Ribs.skp s="gc-filesize">(606 KB)Â

 

I have not maidened it yet. Waiting till after my show and tell tonight where I am taking the Phlatprinter and a few planes to show off at an AMA meeting.

I did not want to bust it up before showing it off

I also built one of the mini arrows that Crash donated. I will be giving a couple of them away tonight during my show n tell. I am going to cut one of those out as my demonstration this evening. It only takes 12 minutes so it makes a good demonstration.

 

Today I maidened the new Tribute. All I can say is WOW! What an awesome plane.

Full throw aileron spin was so fast I could not tell up from down... It was a blur.

Did not need to trim a single surface. It flew perfect out of the box, so to speak.

We are having some heavy winds today, so I did not want to push my luck and brought it down after only a 4 minute flight of putting it thru a few of its paces. It slowed down into a gentle walking pace as it touched down for its first landing.

I am pleased. It was worth all the work that went into it and it lives up to Marks comments... It is a Mean Screamer indeed.

I also maidened one of Crash Hancocks little Mini Arrows today. It flew very well. It is quite responsive and will make a great combat plane. I had just gotten in an order of batteries from HobbyCity, so the timing was perfect. These little 50g 500mh 11.1v jewels are lite as a feather and supplied plenty of power.

With the winds being so strong, I nearly lost it. The wind kept taking it further and further out and I had a bit too much up elevator built it for the first flight. The more I tried to overcome the wind, the higher it went, looping and giving me a run for my money.
I finally got it together and pushed the elevator down, went to full throttle and got it headed back to me. Whew!

So for a day in which I probably should not have even tried to fly in, I had a good time, maidened two new planes and brought both of them home with no damage. Can't ask for more than that.

If you're looking for a 3D plane to build that pushes the envelop, the Tribute 4D Foamy will make it worth your effort. I'll try to get some video of it when I can find someone to run the camera for me.