Best beginner 3D/Acrobatic plane?

[Matthewdupreez]

Thanks! But I don’t have a place to print the plans. The closest Office Depot is 3.5hrs away. So I’m currently limited to tiled plans for now. 😕

What PC are you using?? And what is??

 

[Matthewdupreez]

OS*

 

[Musdang]

What PC are you using?? And what is??

Yep it’s me good oll ladey dell book pro runnin the old windows 10. The dingus is as slow as me old Aussie accent type’n mate.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Yep it’s me good oll ladey dell book pro runnin the old windows 10. The dingus is as slow as me old Aussie accent type’n mate.

If you install Adobe Acrobat (it's free ) then you can tile the plans....

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Here
https://www.adobe.com/africa/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

 

[SSgt Duramax]

When you print in adobe, just click poster, and it will automatically tile them. Thats how I printed mine. I'm far to cheap to go to the office store, especially for a plane I am going to trash.

Oh yeah. I got impatient and did this. At least I have a back up fuselage. I think it looks great for a profile plane.

 

[Musdang]

Here
https://www.adobe.com/africa/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

Actually I think I have that! I’ll try it in the morning! Thanks!

 

[Musdang]

Well I gotta hit the hay! See everyone tomorrow!

 

[BlockerAviation]

When you print in adobe, just click poster, and it will automatically tile them. Thats how I printed mine. I'm far to cheap to go to the office store, especially for a plane I am going to trash.

Oh yeah. I got impatient and did this. At least I have a back up fuselage. I think it looks great for a profile plane.

View attachment 215159

Hey that looks great! I've been busy too. Been building a Raven out of 6mm epp. Going to finish it tomorrow to fly on Saturday's indoor flying.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

That looks awesome. I am looking forward to learning 3d. I think Ill really like it. If I dont its just foam!

 

[BlockerAviation]

That looks awesome. I am looking forward to learning 3d. I think Ill really like it. If I dont its just foam!

Thanks! I'd make sure that you really give it a fair try, things aren't going to come easy, you're definitely going to be wrecking. I still smash my profiles in every single flight, that's why I fly epp since you pick it back up and keep going. I used to love flying depron but Everytime you touch the ground it shattered, anyways Id better stop before I go to far off into the weeds. So best of luck to ya, I'd still recommend looking into a twisted hobbys airplane, or even a value hobby.if you do find yourself with a value hobby, hit me up as I can give you some tips to get them flying pretty dang good. I'll leave you with a picture of me trying to land my v Hobby slick on the windsock 😆

 

[Headbang]

Ok @Headbang since it is your design it is your pick. Which one should I use, the EPS fuselage or the DTFB one. The EPS (foamular) is about 10g lighter and "feels" stronger. View attachment 215090

The eps one is stiffer but will break easier. Always a trade off. Go for it tho and see what happens, worst case it will take longer to clean up the servos then to swap them if 1 fuse breaks beyond repair.

 

[Headbang]

Thanks! But I don’t have a place to print the plans. The closest Office Depot is 3.5hrs away. So I’m currently limited to tiled plans for now. 😕

Sorry, I never went to the trouble to make tiled plans. I could be wrong and maybe someone else can step in, but I am sure I saw a way in the print options for acrobat reader to print tiled. Or I could have kept reading and saw this was already answered lol

 

[CappyAmeric]

Hi everyone, I am looking to dip my toe into 3D flying and I am wondering what planes I should be looking to scratch build? From what I gather I should be looking for something with a symmetrical airfoil and large control surfaces. I don't want something too beginnerish (I suppose what I am asking for couldn't be considered that) but I also don't want something that I will plant into the ground in 10 seconds either.

Additionally I of course want something that is easy to build and easy to repair. I don't really like the look of profile planes, but I am not opposed to them either. I have had my eye on the FT simple stick and the FT 3D as they both look like they could fit the bill. The FT Edge looks cool but it also looks involved and tough to repair and I have also read that some folks have CG issues (although I doubt I would as I am paranoid about making my planes tail heavy and build accordingly) so it is probably one of those "once I get some experience and can get through a couple of packs without wrecking" planes.

I am an intermediateish pilot, I can fly my P-40 inverted, but it doesn't like it (I guess due to dihedral) and requires a ton of forward elevator and likes to self right and go back to the "correct" orientation.

What say you all. I swear this isn't like the time where I ask you all what the best warbird is but I already have a P-40 started.

I have A,B,C, and F power packs and 9g servos to spare, so parts aren't an issue.

FT 3D is great with C pack. I’ve build a couple. If you decide to go with EPP/EPS, I recommend one with a little more substance like the RC Factory Edge 540. The lighter profile planes do not hold up well in crashes. I have crashed my RC Factory Edge too many times to count repaired with CA or FoamTac. I have a FT C radial on mine. https://twistedhobbys.com/th-39-epp-edge-540-v3-series/

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Thanks! I'd make sure that you really give it a fair try, things aren't going to come easy, you're definitely going to be wrecking. I still smash my profiles in every single flight, that's why I fly epp since you pick it back up and keep going. I used to love flying depron but Everytime you touch the ground it shattered, anyways Id better stop before I go to far off into the weeds. So best of luck to ya, I'd still recommend looking into a twisted hobbys airplane, or even a value hobby.if you do find yourself with a value hobby, hit me up as I can give you some tips to get them flying pretty dang good. I'll leave you with a picture of me trying to land my v Hobby slick on the windsock 😆 View attachment 215163

That looks fun, good pic!

The eps one is stiffer but will break easier. Always a trade off. Go for it tho and see what happens, worst case it will take longer to clean up the servos then to swap them if 1 fuse breaks beyond repair.

My thoughts exactly. I glued the wings in with gorilla glue so it should be solid there. It looks like where it normally breaks is the back fuse area.

FT 3D is great with C pack. I’ve build a couple. If you decide to go with EPP/EPS, I recommend one with a little more substance like the RC Factory Edge 540. The lighter profile planes do not hold up well in crashes. I have crashed my RC Factory Edge too many times to count repaired with CA or FoamTac. I have a FT C radial on mine. https://twistedhobbys.com/th-39-epp-edge-540-v3-series/

I might look into that. On the bright side I will have 2 and a half planes to crash. Once they get destroyed beyond repair, and I am still enjoying it, I will 100% buy an EPP plane. I just like to be stubborn and build my own first.

Has anyone tried this one out?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingr-tm-mx2-3d-epp-955mm-arf.html

 

[L Edge]

When you print in adobe, just click poster, and it will automatically tile them. Thats how I printed mine. I'm far to cheap to go to the office store, especially for a plane I am going to trash.

Oh yeah. I got impatient and did this. At least I have a back up fuselage. I think it looks great for a profile plane.

View attachment 215159

Boy, you are impatient to get going to do 3D.
As I have said before, in order to do 3D stuff you need to be able to do 2 things. Learn these first, this is the way I teach 3D. Then your crashes will be very few.
Many of the acrobatics included knife edges and flying inverted where the rudder is used to navigate. Not only doing it from right to left, you need to turn around and doing it from left to right. Then you will learn throttle management. Why do you use SF props, to reduce the speed and having stability will prevent the crashes. Also practice 3 crash heights until you got it.

Start with the sim and try a knife edge. Go watch a bunch of videos(slow motion) showing what is taken place with rudder,elevator,aileron and of course throttle. Then try it.

For example, in summer with a steady 10+ wind, you actually can stop a knife edge from moving horizontal, reduce throttle and drop vertically, then add throttle and go across the field. Could you explain in detail how I did that?

Those days are few and far, but here is one with the same idea. Now add gusty wind.

Fly a figure 8 inverted doing both ways.

 

[SSgt Duramax]

Boy, you are impatient to get going to do 3D.
As I have said before, in order to do 3D stuff you need to be able to do 2 things. Learn these first, this is the way I teach 3D. Then your crashes will be very few.
Many of the acrobatics included knife edges and flying inverted where the rudder is used to navigate. Not only doing it from right to left, you need to turn around and doing it from left to right. Then you will learn throttle management. Why do you use SF props, to reduce the speed and having stability will prevent the crashes. Also practice 3 crash heights until you got it.

Start with the sim and try a knife edge. Go watch a bunch of videos(slow motion) showing what is taken place with rudder,elevator,aileron and of course throttle. Then try it.

For example, in summer with a steady 10+ wind, you actually can stop a knife edge from moving horizontal, reduce throttle and drop vertically, then add throttle and go across the field. Could you explain in detail how I did that?

Those days are few and far, but here is one with the same idea. Now add gusty wind.

Fly a figure 8 inverted doing both ways.

Oh, I plan on starting slow with the maneuvers, pretty much doing exactly what you are talking about. I have been practicing in my sim, watching Michael Wargo videos, reading all the articles I can.

He suggests learning Harrier and working from there. I will practice your advice too. Thank you for the help.

The whole point of me wanting to build one of these planes is the fact that I didn't currently possess a plane that had the ability to do any of these things. The most acrobatic plane I have requires tons of forward stick and lots of wiggling to keep it inverted, as it always wants to self correct. I am sure I could learn on it, but at the end of the day I figured it would probably be better that I learn on something meant for it.

 

[Headbang]

Oh, I plan on starting slow with the maneuvers, pretty much doing exactly what you are talking about. I have been practicing in my sim, watching Michael Wargo videos, reading all the articles I can.

He suggests learning Harrier and working from there. I will practice your advice too. Thank you for the help.

The whole point of me wanting to build one of these planes is the fact that I didn't currently possess a plane that had the ability to do any of these things. The most acrobatic plane I have requires tons of forward stick and lots of wiggling to keep it inverted, as it always wants to self correct. I am sure I could learn on it, but at the end of the day I figured it would probably be better that I learn on something meant for it.

I had a solid month, maybe 100 flights where all I did was go back and forth doing knife edge, both directions, belly in and out. Kept doing it till no matter the orintation I automatically used the right rudder input. Most of 3d is muscle memory, more stick time you have the better you get. Practicing 1 maneuver over and over and over and over till it is second nature. Years later you will still have at least 1 maneuver that is the Bain of your existence! Good news is once you have 4 or 5 down and can transition you will look like a rock star, no one needs to know what you don't know lol

 

[SSgt Duramax]

I had a solid month, maybe 100 flights where all I did was go back and forth doing knife edge, both directions, belly in and out. Kept doing it till no matter the orintation I automatically used the right rudder input. Most of 3d is muscle memory, more stick time you have the better you get. Practicing 1 maneuver over and over and over and over till it is second nature. Years later you will still have at least 1 maneuver that is the Bain of your existence! Good news is once you have 4 or 5 down and can transition you will look like a rock star, no one needs to know what you don't know lol

Yeah, I am going to take your plane up this weekend. I just need to button up the electronics on it this evening and it will be good to go. I have 5 battery packs for it, so we will see what I run out of first, tape or batteries (I bet the former).

Then my daughters pelican will go on it's final flight before retirement, and once we run out of those packs, we will fly the snot out of the P-40 (I finally got our buddy box system working, so yippee!) It will be her first 4CH flight, so I am pretty excited. If she takes to it well, I may just give her the P-40 as my F6F is nearly done, and I will still have a warbird to fly. I am highly considering sticking an EDF on her pelican, just for science.

 

[BlockerAviation]

That looks fun, good pic!


My thoughts exactly. I glued the wings in with gorilla glue so it should be solid there. It looks like where it normally breaks is the back fuse area.


I might look into that. On the bright side I will have 2 and a half planes to crash. Once they get destroyed beyond repair, and I am still enjoying it, I will 100% buy an EPP plane. I just like to be stubborn and build my own first.

Has anyone tried this one out?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingr-tm-mx2-3d-epp-955mm-arf.html

Never flown one but I've heard good things about them