Tiny Airplane :

This project was made for kids to have fun during covid19 confinement period.
It's a very simple hack of a rc micro quad (could be done with micro rc car or boat as well).

All you need is:

• old microquads parts (remote + flight controler + 1 motor + battery + prop)
• a bit of foam (here I use 6mm thick depron foam) > anything light enough will do the job, could be balsa wood for example
• a rigid bar and some screw/bolts to make the balancing lever
• some kind of weight (here I use a go pro hero 7)

Instructions :

1) Create an aircraft of your own design or with provided planes.
it's better if it's light but since you have a balancing weight it doesn't really matters as long as your motor can move it (
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FYI : the pink biplane I made weights 30gr with 300 mAh battery)

2) glue the motor on it. A little angle upwards helps if you want to fly high. It's better if you have low pitch 2 blades prop (less noise, slower flight, longer flight time). In this example I use one blade nano QX prop

3) plug the motor to the correct back motor outputs (haven't tried front outputs tbh)

4) find or make a rigid enough beam (balsa wood, pvc pipe..). Cut it to an appropriate length depending on your playground size (1m is fine).

5) Make the pendulum tower (foam, cardboard, wood doesn't matter)

6) find a way to create a 2 axis pivot (turning 360°, up/down 10-45°) > In this example I just use a screw and some loose adjustment. Ideally you could make smth nicer with a 3D printer and some ball bearings ;)

7) Fix the aircraft to the end of the bar, a weight to the other end and the tower in between. Position the weight so that the balance point is achieved when the battery isn't onboard.

Then attache the battery with an elastic or velcro tape, plug it, make a first flight and then improve the all system!

Side notes :

• Flying this thing slow is much more interesting in my opinion. Thus adding flaps can truly help
• I use velcro tape to attach the aircraft to the beam. That way I change spining direction if I want to. I also make sure I can move or increase the weight easily so that I will be able to create new aircrafts and adjust the system to them accordingly.

I highly encourage you to make it yours by creating new aircrafts and improving the idea as you always do !

I hope this will help you have good fun in this confined times.

Stay home and enjoy, Alex