Delta Wing - Scratch Build

emaxx

Junior Member
Hello you Guys...
Thanks for the awesome videos you guys do on Flitetest and the whole website... I really love it! I just finished the FT Delta which is my first scratchbuild! The model came out really nice... There is only one problem...: Since i live in Switzerland, i don't have access to Dollar Tree Foamboard. So I use somesthing quite similar. The only thing is that my version is slightly heavier... The whole model weighs 400gramms with all the elektronics inside, landing gear and battery (3S 460mAh). So the model does not fly... ( it does a little bit when i give full throttle - esc throttle curve is configured ).
Which motor and ESC can i put on the model so it performs good?? Or should i rebuild it and try to import Dollar Tree Foam Board from the US?? Thanks for helping in advance : )

Greets from Switzerland : )
 

jhitesma

Some guy in the desert
Mentor
Built one last Sunday - but didn't finish the linkages until Monday evening and didn't have a chance to maiden it until today.

2013-04-29%2019.18.37-M.jpg


Did great, Tried it on a 500 2s first and it flew...but just felt under powered and sluggish. Switched to a 3s and it was more like I expected. What did catch me off guard was hard hard it was to get the CG back to the suggested spot with the 2s even all the way back at the very end of my swappable fuse it was a little nose heavy. And with the 3s it just barely leveled out. I'm using the suggested 24g Hk motor with a 30amp dynam ESC (what I had) and the HK 3 channel RX that binds with the 9x TX. So it should be fairly close in weight to what's expected. I may take the landing gear off to help a bit more...but it just seems really nose heavy for some reason.

Unfortunately my flying ended early, slightly hard landing broke my firewall. I've been blown away at the strength of the FT laser cut firewalls so far, and this one was fairly new. It broke right along line between the top two mounting bolts though so it seems I may have just hit a weak spot in the ply. I've had firewalls survive MUCH harder hits so I was surprised to see this one break so easily. It's repaired now though and ready for more flying tomorrow.
 

johanjonker

New member
I found rounding the leading edge, does help if you feel its unstable.. You dont really notice the difference with 24g motor, but as it speeds up with a bigger motor it kinda catches you.
 

RCJ3ST3R19

Junior Member
Anyone thought of adding rudders to this design? I was thinking about experimenting after I actually got my electronics and flew the delta a few times, but how difficult would calibrating and setting up two rudders be? I mean, I'm sure you'd have to switch the settings in the controller to a V-tail since the vert. stabilizers are angled. If anyone has some ideas let me know
 

onrivertime

Junior Member
FT Delta Battery and Tail Skid Mod

What a neat plane this is to build and fly.

I've developed a couple of simple mods that have made the plane a lot more durable, although the battery box mod will limit the power pod for use with the FT Delta only:

For the tail skid, I use a large removable zip tie instead of the steel piano wire. I cut a small slit in the back of the fuselage and install the zip tie to "pinch" the back of the structure.

I fly with a 3S 1000mAH 30C LiPo Battery driving a 1450 kV, 12 amp outrunner swinging a 7 x 5E prop. The plane flies great with setup; at 180 watts / lb, you can hang it on the prop for as long as you want. Everything runs cool. The only problem is the battery needs to be very far aft to put the CG in the proper place. With the original Velcro setup, I was starting to scrape the battery on landing. After several test flights to make sure I was happy with the location, I cut a battery box into the fuselage. I left about 1/2" of room fore and aft to fine tune the CG if need be. I also installed an additional bamboo rod to support the battery and provide a tie-point for the rubber bands holding the battery into the box.

Now the battery is tucked safely up into the fuselage out of harms way during landing. Given how easy the pod is to build, the swappable aspect is not all that important to me. I probably have no more than $30 invested in this plane.


LDC
 

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flyingfeak

Junior Member
I have a dx6i radio, I set for elevon mixing and when I pull up on the stick the servos just work as ailerons, when I roll on the radio I get elevator, did I set some thing wrong
 

BridgeInspector

Flite Test Groupie
I have a dx6i radio, I set for elevon mixing and when I pull up on the stick the servos just work as ailerons, when I roll on the radio I get elevator, did I set some thing wrong

Sounds like you need to change what channels you have the servos plugged into on your rx. Just try switching the two. Then check for correct throw direction which you should be able to reverse on your tx.

Welcome to the FT forum!
 
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33joe

New member
Hi guys,
So after FT Flyer i advanced as recomended, and so I build FT Delta.
Here are some pictures of it:
WP_002568.jpg WP_002570.jpg WP_002571.jpg WP_002572.jpg WP_002573.jpg

At maiden I had problem with CG, but at the end it flew well, so I started to do some acrobatics and it didn't ended well

WP_002580.jpg
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but the damage is minimal so no big deal :)

WP_002583.jpg
 

Spectre007

Junior Member
FT Delta Maiden

My very first scratch build from Dollar Tree Foam board. Built with the Suppo 2208/17, and 9x4.7 SF prop. Using a 1000mah 3S and OrangeRX 3 axis gyro/6 channel receiver and a FrSKY Taranis Plus. This thing is so much fun. I am very new to the hobby but really enjoy the build process and the rewarding feeling of seeing your creation cutting through the air. Thanks for all the great videos and build plans FliteTest!
 

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Tree Top Tommy

Junior Member
Our club has a few generations of modified (non-swapable) designs. Super fun for combat. Halfed BBQ skewers on all the leading edges for strength and skewers taped to the wing tips and vertical stabilizer with small pieces of rubber fuel tubing on the skewer ends for a little added safety.


c1.jpg c2.jpg

 
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davidhyams

New member
Slot and Prop FT Delta

I just completed the initial flights for my most recent scratch built Flitetest Delta and it flew awesome. After making a few trim adjustments it flew straight and was highly maneuverable. With a 24 gram 1300 KV motor, 7x3.5 prop, and a 800 mah battery it flew longer than my fingers could stand the cold. Roll rates were crazy good and the motor sounds at full throttle were pretty cool. I may need to adjust the thrust angle a bit since slamming the throttle caused the little guy to immediately gain mass altitude. Low passes were impressive and really showed off the speed factor. The slot and prop modification turned out better than I imagined with the prop line even with the CG. I covered the plane in red and clear packing tape to protect the foam board since we have snow on the ground here in Montana. Here are a couple of pictures of the finished product.

Delta_001.jpg Delta_002.jpg Delta_003.jpg
 

d_minor

Junior Member
Has anyone else built this using Power pack B (using an emax CF2822 1200KV motor) and had to place the battery (800mAh 3s) right at the back of the fuselage in order to get the plane to balance given the CG reference on the plans? or am I doing something wrong?