Automated airframe

It appears the road to a GPS-Controlled airplane (Drone) is paved with broken Styrofoam. Pictured above is on of my first automated flights on an old P-47 I had. It lived up to its historical nickname of “Jug” which is how they look when they nosedive in to the ground. To move forward I am going to try to make my own airframes from a $15 AirHog glider I picked up at Target. I have a few of them on hand, and they are pretty big. Each wing is 2′ long. To start I needed to cut off the top, so I can CNC in some pockets inside to hold an arrow shaft (for strength) and to house all the electronics.

I do not have a Styrofoam cutter, but I do have some nichrome wire I used as a electronic firework igniter so I hacked something together. I took the blade out of a tree saw I have, strung some nichrome, added a 12v wall wart and sliced away.

I have started laying out the electronics, servo mounting holes, and cuts for flaps in my cad software, and will share those results when I get them on the CNC.