Mud Duck Aviation Forums

Well Duck II is pretty much done. I strayed slightly from the stock Agri-Duck to morph it into a D-40 War-Duck.
Oh a D-40 you ask?  Think Duck meets P-40 Warhawk. Revamped tail feathers, new nose and canopy, and get this, it has a steerable tail wheel and RETRACTS!!!!

Couple of teaser photos, till I get the rest of the little things like decals and hand painted emblems on it.
Check out the new nose art I painted tonight, and wait till you see what I replaced the "Flying Tiger" emblem with.

Excuse the wheels, I had a set of Dubro inflatables on it originally, but they didn't care for 90 degree Florida sun.
They swelled up so bad they were egg shaped, so much so the Duck would have waddled like a duck going down the runway.
I'm building a set of regular Duck wheels to adapt to the retracts, so they will look better then what's on it now.

I'll post specs and completed photos as soon as I finish up.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to see her all done!

I especially like the duckified shark face.  Nice touch!

Couple more of the artwork I've added.
And a BIG THANKS to Greg for coming thru with a perfect set of tubes for the tires.


Instead of the "Flying Tiger" side panel emblem, well it's a DUCK, so it needs to be a "Flying Duck"

And as it's a War-Duck, it's gotta have "kill" flags for each successful hunt.

This is going to look awesome in its entirety!

Greg

Wait till you see the surprise I came up with for it! 

FINALLY, most of the decals arrived.
Darn post office, 12 days form Canada to Florida, I could have walked that fast.

Anyhow here she is in all her glory.

And she has a double surprise built in to her. Once I get the videos on her you'll be able to see it in action.

Since I went the cartoon version I thought it appropriate that she do a little more then a stock Duck.

In all those WWII films when they fire up the engine there is a cloud of smoke from the exhaust.

Ditto mine. That chin intake has become a dual function item. Not only is it a cooling duct for the electronics, but it has also become the exhaust system.   Just behind the intake for the electronics is a hole for the smoke system.

And you'll get a kick out of this, the smoke comes from used up charcoal. A tablespoon or so is all it takes.

Soon as the prop fires up the air blows the dust out the back of the chin intake system, making a neat cloud of sooty exhaust smoke.


And since it's a fighter version and sometimes they aren't always victorious, this one can show it's battle damage.

I'm in the process right now of building a servo operated hopper to drop the dust down into the rear of the chin intake, so it will appear the Duck has been wounded in battle and is limping home trailing smoke.


Can't wait to get her up in the air and try out the system. Hopefully this weekend she'll be airborne, and I'll have video to prove it.

And since I didn't want the other Duck to feel left out, and I had waaaaaaay to much coffee last night. I was up till 2am building this.

Combo bomb drop dusting contraption.

Figured if I load it with dust and with all those holes are in the front, the dust is going to blow out before I want it to.  So I built it with a pair of doors. Front one can block off the intake holes, and rear one is to disperse the load.  Single servo runs them both, and was a real pain getting both doors to operate in synchronization of of it.

In the closed position both doors are closed. DUH! And yes in the open position, both are open.
Using a regular servo I can operate the system off a switch, for large drops at one time. Or put it on a knob control and I can regulate the drop amount.

I can load up the hopper with just about anything that will fit. As the front door not only blocks off intake air, it also keeps what ever is inside in there. Also as it operates the front door opening forces whatever is behind it to the rear exit point.

The whole assembly attaches with industrial Velcro, so it can be easily installed or removed. And the servo lead plugs into a harness in the belly of the beast.

See what happen if you drink too much coffee.

Very Nice!!!  I can't wait to see her fly!

"DUCK AERO WORKZ" huh?  Is that the package from the decals you ordered? or are you starting a cottage industry based on supporting Mud Duck's with aftermarket hoppers?   That caught my eye as fast as the hopper did! 

The hopper is a great idea, especially for "already built" Ducks;  although the concept is like putting a cargo box on top of an empty cargo van!  There is only about 4 cubic feet of empty space inside the fuselage!   I'm only kidding; you were, in fact, under the influence of a heavy psychoactive stimulant drug.

I'm almost afraid to see what your going to stick in that thing to drop!

Yeah Greg, the decals came in that, one of my flying buds does em for me, and as we often swap stuff around, most packages have some kind of silliness written or addressed on them.  Like if a plane kit is picked up and sent to someone who's married, we ALWAYS plaster the shipping box in bold lettering about how expensive the goodies inside are.   

As for my package, it's from Canada, or as we call it Skunk Works North.  And it's hard to see but in the small print, it's sent to the attention of THE CHIEF BOTTLE WASHER.

And yeah I guess I could have gone inside on the hopper, but since my Duck has a hood, and no canopy opening, it would have meant preforming surgery on it. I didn't have that much coffee. LOL!


As for the payload, well if it goes as planned, you'll laugh your head off when you see it. Oh and it will be Duck related.