We’ve been working through the weekend to assemble our platform to a flight-ready condition. The first item of completion is the T-Tail. We started by positioning the internal structural components and cementing them into place along several carbon-fiber rods. This was followed by installation of the elevator/rudder servos and the routing of internal wires. Finally, we finished the tail with sheets of balsa and installed it onto the main fuselage rod.

As far as the wing is concerned, we completed installation of the retooled wingtip ribs which support the tilting mechanisms. The retooling was necessitated by an improper fit, and the new assemblies have remedied that. We did a dry-fit of the tilting gears and are satisfied with both fit and operation.

The last few items of completion include gluing of the main fuselage to the wing and printing of mounting assemblies for the motors, ESCs, and autopilot unit.

Now, as far as work that still needs to be completed goes, we need to monokote both the wing and the tail and install control surfaces. This will be a learning process for us as we’ve never attempted to assemble a wing this way before. We also need to test our custom controller to ensure stability. We’ve decided to adopt a control scheme that differentially actuates the tilting mechanisms to achieve yaw control because it will eliminate a host of trim problems during fixed-wing flight (this will allow us to counter-rotate opposing rotors unlike typical quadcopter configurations). We expect to be able to test the controller by the end of today (May 25). We’ll continue pushing to complete fabrication by Wednesday.

By Chris Tan, UAV Forge