Finally! The maiden flight/crash has occurred!

sklutch

Lurker in Shadows
I’ve had my TinyTrainer built now for over a year, but life, weather, and lack of flying space have all conspired to keep me grounded. Today, everything fell into line for my first flight. It was gloriously tragic. I was optimistic and only brought one bag of extra props b/c “the Joshes, Alex, etc etc” made it look so easy. Five ground-snapped props later, I’m stress giggling as the plane once more screams into the sky, before eating Bermuda grass. I believe the root fault is my case of “Lt. McSpazzStix fingers” that don’t understand small control movements, just snapping from one extreme setting to the next. I’ve since dialed down my control throws, but since I was out of props, I’ll have to wait until next time to try once more.

The plane itself is solid, and aside from grass stains, looks about as good as before my fumble-fingered flights of terror.

I’ve waited over 35 years for a chance to fly my own r/c plane. For someone raised a Po Redneck from the farmlands, the present availability of electronics/parts to fly foam board planes is just proof that we live in the G*****n future.

Thank you Flitetest for not letting this childhood dream die like my others!
 

DamoRC

Elite member
Mentor
What a great description of your first flight attempt! It only gets better from here. Good luck.

DamoRC
 

donalson

Active member
small movements are huge (haha see what I did there)... it doesn't take a lot to do a lot...

quick questions... did you dial in the max throws into your radio... low rates and high rates are very different.

also if you haven't... if you have a computer give one of the free sims a try, it made my first time out pretty comfortable considering what all could go wrong... granted I did mange to lose one into the water thanks to wind haha...
 

Namactual

Elite member
I agree Damo, 100%

sklutch, wait until you first successful flight. You will be grinning ear to ear and all that happened before will be worth it. RC piloting has a learning curve something like a brick wall. A brick wall that is only waist high. Once you climb over it's smooth sailing and becomes more rewarding as you go.
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
A sure cure for the “Lt. McSpazzStix fingers” is a little expo on the transmitter... Welcome to the forum and the addiction :)
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Something I was told when I restarted into the hobby, "When flying your RC model EXPO is your only friend".

Have fun!
 

donalson

Active member
Something I was told when I restarted into the hobby, "When flying your RC model EXPO is your only friend".

Have fun!

I agree to some point but as a noob myself expo only goes so far when you are new and forget/freak out and yank the sticks all the way to the side... running properly dialed in rates WITH expo is your real friend :)...
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Don't let em fool ya!!! it doesn't get easier.. small stick movements don't matter (I can fly a quad and move it a mm at a time if need be can't get a plank to behave yet) Expo is your friend but ONLY if you have teamed up with COG and are bestest buddies. o_O

Nice story on the first attempts to fly mate. Sounds like me with the ground strikes eating props. That's why in my first attempts I quickly swapped over to the DAL indestructo props from my quads.

Keep at it you will get there like the rest of these guys. (y)
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Sounds like you're enjoying it. :) I've not built the Tiny Trainer yet, but sounds like one I need to put together. :) And expo is your friend! start with about 30% on all of your channels, and if you want, set up a switch so you can throw it between the different expo levels, just to see how it reacts. I did that with my last few planes that I've built (Bushwacker being the one I noticed it most on, but the Nano Goblin that I bought a while back also showed a better reaction with some expo!), and it's pretty effective, especially if I want to have it set for crazy aerobatics once I get the plane off the ground, but then throw it into a more normalized, softer switch, for landings and takeoff.
 

donalson

Active member
Don't let em fool ya!!! it doesn't get easier.. small stick movements don't matter (I can fly a quad and move it a mm at a time if need be can't get a plank to behave yet) Expo is your friend but ONLY if you have teamed up with COG and are bestest buddies. o_O

Nice story on the first attempts to fly mate. Sounds like me with the ground strikes eating props. That's why in my first attempts I quickly swapped over to the DAL indestructo props from my quads.

Keep at it you will get there like the rest of these guys. (y)

lol I can fly a plane no prob now... but my quad flight is sooo bad lol... need to practice more on the sim and put more lipos though it... but I get so much more time on the same lipos with fixed wings...
 

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
You guys talk about expo. I think i had reverse expo for 1.5 months on FT x-29 until I realized... which meant in stead of making it easier, it was touchier.:cry::ROFLMAO: now it's switched up!
 

FoamyDM

Building Fool-Flying Noob
Moderator
I took this plane back out with my 4S's this weekend.
It was steady wind - from Half to full sock.
For the first time in a While, I flew more than one Battery all the way! with the Expo and the limited aileron, this plane is fun to fly. on t 64mm EDF it isn't going to break any speed records, but it is a lot of fun to wheel around the sky. I don't think the gusts helped much. I tanked it a couple times. but for some reason, it still keeps kickin' I'm glad I taped the snot out of it.

The limited aileron throws (50%) and expo are a must for good fun flying results.

Took a kite with me, for the kids. Also picked up a Radian style EPP chuck glider. They had a blast too.