CrossedUpChris
Member
Hi Guys
I'm fairly new to the hobby. I'm 27 and live in north west England.
I have always been interested in RC stuff and had plenty of cars and a plane (which lasted about 1 flight - the second attempt didn't involve much flying :black_eyed: _ ) when i was a kid.
Anyway after stumbling across the Flitetest EDF afterburner video on youtube and working next to the shop where i bought that first plane all those years ago, my interest was rekindled.
in the past few months i've watched pretty much all of the flitetest videos and in late June i took the plunge and decided to get my first trainer.
WOW! the tech has come on a LONG WAY.
I opted for a ready to fly Ares Taylorcraft 130. a well priced 3 channel plane with the option to upgrade to 4 channel.
after waiting a couple of weeks(!) rewatching the beginner series for the wind to die down i took it out for our maiden flight and preceded to beat the crap out it.
the plane held up really well. the wings and wing braces are held on with magnets so it simply dismantles itself when you crash - a great idea.
after a couple of rough landings i started to get the hang of it and before long i was out flying every time the battery finished charging.
after a couple of weeks flying i ordered the clipped wing set and installed it (very easy to do), then began to teach myself to fly 4 channel.
Moving ahead a couple more weeks; As much as i loved flying the Ares, it was too small and underpowered to fly in anything more than a light breeze - time for a new plane
I'm not sure what the new plane was called but here it is pictured underneath the little Ares. i got it second hand with motor servos and esc already installed from the hobby shop. I also plumped for a DX6i.
The first flight was a STEEP learning curve. People were playing cricket where i normally fly (on their cricket pitch, how dare they?!) so i took it to my work where we are surrounded by fields and have a concrete loading bay. There was Not enough space. after taking off and being taken back by the speed of the thing i spent pretty much the whole fliight crapping myself and trying to figure out how i would land it in the space available. it had so much lift that I had to bring it in for a landing about 1 foot above the fence to the adjacent field to get it down in time on the concrete.
then stupidly as about to pack up and wait till i could fly somewhere more sensible i decided to have one more go...
hmmm, I think that picture explains it all.
after taking a large dent to my pride and moderate dent to the wallet, i decided to scratch build a FT plane out of the servos, ESC, and radio gear i had just bought.
probably not a super wise move but i opted for a Viggen. something simpler and slower would probably be more sensible but i had wanted one ever since watching that first FT video.
i bought a 62 mm EDF off ebay and got cracking. this was my first time ever using foam board but the plans and build video were great. hats off to David. i used Hobby craft A2 sheets and with careful planning managed to cut all of the pieces out of 2 sheets.
Here it is
I was so happy with it. crafting it myself really made me appreciate it and couldn't wait to fly it.
You know what, it flies GORGEOUS!
I was only running it on a 3s 2200 as this is the battery i had from the first plane and what was recommended on the ebay EDF, so it wasn't super fast but the speed was probably more suited to my ability.
i had a lot of fun with the Viggen but eventually the inevitable happened and i crashed it. only this time i ploughed into an overhead line whilst trying out the high rates and getting distracted by my phone ringing
I smashed the nose and ripped of the side of one of the intakes at the front of the fuselage.
I managed to fix it, build a new nose and got a bit carried away with some sticky back vinyl and ended up with this.
As cool as it looked, the crash damage, extra glue and the way i put the vinyl on (badly then usign lots extra to patch up and overlap, coupled with some gusty wind meant i couldnt get it flying. After perciveering i managed to get the crumpled plane in the air but by this time i had unknowingly damaged a control horn and when i came to level the plane after a left turn it took a hard hit into the ground and was damaged beyond repair.
This was last friday and this weekend i have built my MK2 Viggen!!
Once again i recycled all my parts. i learned a lot from building the first Viggen and am really happy with the finish on this one. I applied some red vinyl (sparingly) to some of the surfaces before cutting and assembling them.
Now i know this might be a silly idea but in an attempt to get a bit more speed i have scaled this one down (either 75 or 80%) i cant remember. i know this will reduce the lift by a considerable amount as the wing surface is a lot smaller but i wanted to try it. I'm hoping the smaller thrust tube will help the 3s set up give thrust more representative of that designed for the plane. only scaled down. Squeezing the 62mm edf into the smaller plane was tricky and it only just fits after cutting some partial reliefs out of the fuselage and wing.
I really hope i don't smash it up as it looks amazing but i'm hoping to take it for it's maiden tonight.
If you've got this far, thanks for reading. I'll let you all know how it flies!
I'm fairly new to the hobby. I'm 27 and live in north west England.
I have always been interested in RC stuff and had plenty of cars and a plane (which lasted about 1 flight - the second attempt didn't involve much flying :black_eyed: _ ) when i was a kid.
Anyway after stumbling across the Flitetest EDF afterburner video on youtube and working next to the shop where i bought that first plane all those years ago, my interest was rekindled.
in the past few months i've watched pretty much all of the flitetest videos and in late June i took the plunge and decided to get my first trainer.
WOW! the tech has come on a LONG WAY.
I opted for a ready to fly Ares Taylorcraft 130. a well priced 3 channel plane with the option to upgrade to 4 channel.
after waiting a couple of weeks(!) rewatching the beginner series for the wind to die down i took it out for our maiden flight and preceded to beat the crap out it.
the plane held up really well. the wings and wing braces are held on with magnets so it simply dismantles itself when you crash - a great idea.
after a couple of rough landings i started to get the hang of it and before long i was out flying every time the battery finished charging.
after a couple of weeks flying i ordered the clipped wing set and installed it (very easy to do), then began to teach myself to fly 4 channel.
Moving ahead a couple more weeks; As much as i loved flying the Ares, it was too small and underpowered to fly in anything more than a light breeze - time for a new plane
I'm not sure what the new plane was called but here it is pictured underneath the little Ares. i got it second hand with motor servos and esc already installed from the hobby shop. I also plumped for a DX6i.
The first flight was a STEEP learning curve. People were playing cricket where i normally fly (on their cricket pitch, how dare they?!) so i took it to my work where we are surrounded by fields and have a concrete loading bay. There was Not enough space. after taking off and being taken back by the speed of the thing i spent pretty much the whole fliight crapping myself and trying to figure out how i would land it in the space available. it had so much lift that I had to bring it in for a landing about 1 foot above the fence to the adjacent field to get it down in time on the concrete.
then stupidly as about to pack up and wait till i could fly somewhere more sensible i decided to have one more go...
hmmm, I think that picture explains it all.
after taking a large dent to my pride and moderate dent to the wallet, i decided to scratch build a FT plane out of the servos, ESC, and radio gear i had just bought.
probably not a super wise move but i opted for a Viggen. something simpler and slower would probably be more sensible but i had wanted one ever since watching that first FT video.
i bought a 62 mm EDF off ebay and got cracking. this was my first time ever using foam board but the plans and build video were great. hats off to David. i used Hobby craft A2 sheets and with careful planning managed to cut all of the pieces out of 2 sheets.
Here it is
I was so happy with it. crafting it myself really made me appreciate it and couldn't wait to fly it.
You know what, it flies GORGEOUS!
I was only running it on a 3s 2200 as this is the battery i had from the first plane and what was recommended on the ebay EDF, so it wasn't super fast but the speed was probably more suited to my ability.
i had a lot of fun with the Viggen but eventually the inevitable happened and i crashed it. only this time i ploughed into an overhead line whilst trying out the high rates and getting distracted by my phone ringing
I smashed the nose and ripped of the side of one of the intakes at the front of the fuselage.
I managed to fix it, build a new nose and got a bit carried away with some sticky back vinyl and ended up with this.
As cool as it looked, the crash damage, extra glue and the way i put the vinyl on (badly then usign lots extra to patch up and overlap, coupled with some gusty wind meant i couldnt get it flying. After perciveering i managed to get the crumpled plane in the air but by this time i had unknowingly damaged a control horn and when i came to level the plane after a left turn it took a hard hit into the ground and was damaged beyond repair.
This was last friday and this weekend i have built my MK2 Viggen!!
Once again i recycled all my parts. i learned a lot from building the first Viggen and am really happy with the finish on this one. I applied some red vinyl (sparingly) to some of the surfaces before cutting and assembling them.
Now i know this might be a silly idea but in an attempt to get a bit more speed i have scaled this one down (either 75 or 80%) i cant remember. i know this will reduce the lift by a considerable amount as the wing surface is a lot smaller but i wanted to try it. I'm hoping the smaller thrust tube will help the 3s set up give thrust more representative of that designed for the plane. only scaled down. Squeezing the 62mm edf into the smaller plane was tricky and it only just fits after cutting some partial reliefs out of the fuselage and wing.
I really hope i don't smash it up as it looks amazing but i'm hoping to take it for it's maiden tonight.
If you've got this far, thanks for reading. I'll let you all know how it flies!
