Gralha Azul (Azure Jay)

Signature servo-ornithopter bird line, evolved from a geared 1 m flapper (2019) to a refined 700 mm servo bird (2025).

Description

Signature servo-ornithopter bird line, evolved from a geared 1 m flapper (2019) to a refined 700 mm servo bird (2025).

Development Log

  • 2019-09-14 — Gralha Azul flapping test — added wing membrane and scraps of cloth on different foam. for informations how to build this stuff, please look this thread: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?3409245-Gralha-Azul
  • 2020-01-19 — Gralha Azul Flights
  • 2020-09-01 — Gralha Azul Rework flight in Wind 01.09.20 (Bad camera) — some rework on the Bit too weak wings by Just taping some 3mm 30g EPP onto it which reinforced them giving some additional lift and thrust. also hind Attachment of Wings is a Bit lower .
  • 2020-09-03 — Gralha Azul fuselage Remake testflight in Park and Rain 03.09.20 — Small Park ist too small because model got faster with Epp Wings, gearbox needed to be fixed after Crash into tree
  • 2021-01-16 — gala arcticuno mobilé
  • 2021-08-13 — Large azure jay Maidenflight (strong flight) — Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-14t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2021-08-18 — Gralha azul TestFlights in wind 18.08.21 — the model has few overweight , but flapping is strong. some metal pieces got stuck in the motor which causes the test flights to end. control is difficult in wind without stabilizer Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-14t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2021-08-22 — Gralha azul TestFlights 18.08.21 — Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-14t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2021-08-27 — Gralha azul Glide test in Wind and Rain 26.08.21 — By Rain and Heavy flight controller the Models overweight increased more. Glide lock was Not Locking reliably. Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2021-09-01 — Gralha Azul test 01.09.21 good gliding — reduced weight, use faster motor (1700kv to 2300kv) and smaller pinion gear (10t instead of 12t). it can flap fast now by lighter 3S battery, and easier continue flap from gliding. finally some good glides were possible, although glide performance may improve by CG more to front) Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2021-09-01 — Gralha azul Glide Test 31.08.21 — Glide lock works reliably now, But overweight became more an issue. Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 1700kv brushless outrunner lipo: 4S 450mahGears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM
  • 2021-09-07 — Gralha azul gliding test 07.08.21 — Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2022-05-21 — Gralha Azul test 22.05.22 — model was repaired from a crash and flight controller was made anew. Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2022-06-10 — Gralha Azul Test Flight 07.06.2022 with New Spread Pinion Wings — Spread pinion wing works pretty well . The wing characteristics have changed much, the front of wing generates more lift than before I think, that is why the model got more tail heavy. Also the carbon spars used were a bit too thick therefore they don’t resonate too much, but the way they are attached guarantees that in essence they work as intended. However, the model is now much less prone to stall and lift improved because spread pinions help to attach the lift curve tighter to the wing, and reduce drag… flap speed required for level flight is about the same, but the bird moves slower through the air when flapping, it seems something is stopping the bird, it may be that theyre not tuned right/too hard/have inaccuracies or the extra lift generated is slowing it down. gliding became more smooth. Wingspan: 1m Length: 41cm weight: 220g (without lipo) Motor: 2211 2300kv brushless outrunner Gears: 69t0.5mMaingear(Arrowmax)-7t0.5mPinionwire-60t0.5Mspurgear-10t0.5Mpiniongear control: 2X D56MG 5.5g metal gear servo receiver: 4CH Flysky PWM lipo: 3S 450mah
  • 2025-05-22 — Servo Gralha Azul maiden flight 22.05.25 — i made this bird to have a better performing servo flapping ornithopter, it took some time to optimize the wing for offer aerolastic airfoil, it features some optimization from the heron i made before, but simplified, it has a slight gullwing anhedral and slight forward sweep and washin, optimizing the airflow. the result is a good climbing ability and some stall tolerance. also the receiver and flightcontroller perform much better than ppm rx plus arduino pro mini, as they are lighter and offer higher control resolution and responsive, at the price of maybe 20mA more load on battery. also this board features a multicolor LED and i want to try use it with optical glass fibre cable. wingspan: 700mm weight: 28g motors: 2x BLUEARROW AF-D43S 6.0 MG flightcontroller: RP2040-tiny receiver: happymodel elrs ep2
  • 2025-06-01 — Servo Gralha Azul flight 31.05.25 — wingspan: 700mm weight: 28g motors: 2x BLUEARROW AF-D43S 6.0 MG flightcontroller: RP2040-tiny receiver: happymodel elrs ep2 Arduino Code: https://github.com/dantiel/o-grande-codigo-da-gralha-azul/blob/main/o-grande-codigo-da-gralha-azul.ino

Tagged as #ornithopter, #gralha azul, #azure jay, #bird, #servo, #animatronic, #flying-machine.