FT-EZ Three Pack Plans?

[Aviator08]

I was going back over the video that was taken of the one Josh made, and it looks like he has a bit more dihedral then I do.

 

[FlyinAgain]

I felt a great disturbance in the Force … as if millions of trekkies suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.[/QUOTE)

that's funny ... my only excuse is that I inadvertantly followed the lead of our Great Leader (Vulcan Bird of Prey ?) and mixed the Star**** references ...

but maybe they should be mashed up ... will look for some actual Starwars designs to include here ... Mandalorian Razor Crest ?

 

[FL_Engineer]

Haha, I'm not complaining; I'm a huge TNG / DS9 fan myself. Do you think you could make a Borg Cube fly?

 

[FlyinAgain]

I was going back over the video that was taken of the one Josh made, and it looks like he has a bit more dihedral then I do.

your builds look great ... what you can cutout in a few minutes ... takes me atleast an hour and a half ... laser cutter would be a great toy to have ... but I don't build enough to justify it

I wonder if "pitch-y" flight might be caused by thrust angle and increased pitching on throttle-up ? ... I remember always adding down (and right) thrust in the old days ... maybe I could modify the design to add an adjustable/variable thrust angle of the motors ?

 

[FlyinAgain]

Haha, I'm not complaining; I'm a huge TNG / DS9 fan myself. Do you think you could make a Borg Cube fly?

there was a guy at one of the FliteFests that had an RC flying cube ... I think it was the topic of one of FT's community build videos ... will have to do a search for it

 

[Aviator08]

your builds look great ... what you can cutout in a few minutes ... takes me atleast an hour and a half ... laser cutter would be a great toy to have ... but I don't build enough to justify it

I wonder if "pitch-y" flight might be caused by thrust angle and increased pitching on throttle-up ? ... I remember always adding down (and right) thrust in the old days ... maybe I could modify the design to add an adjustable/variable thrust angle of the motors ?

With the dual motors it doesn't require right thrust. I played with the first design this morning, I think it will end up being somewhere in the middle. I will keep you updated.

 

[DazDaMan]

So, here's a thought....

 

[Flyingshark]

there was a guy at one of the FliteFests that had an RC flying cube ... I think it was the topic of one of FT's community build videos ... will have to do a search for it

Are you thinking of assimilating that cube design?

On a side note, I've downloaded the plans for the Bird of Prey. Later today I'll print them out and start building it. I'll post some pics when it's done.

 

[Flyingshark]

Yesterday afternoon I started cutting out the parts for the Bird of Prey:

I'm building from the first set of plans, like the one Alex flew in the Enterprise video. Right now, I'm not planning to add electronics, but that will probably change if I can get it to behave well as a chuck glider.

 

[FlyinAgain]

so I built a USS Reliant out of Dollar Tree foam board ... using an updated copy of the Reliant05.pdf plan (attached) ... built using 20mm of dihedral (measured vertically at the disc edge) ... all foam edges finished/rounded with a MonoCoat iron ... all paper removed from the upper rear stabilizer and engine nacelles ... a piece of carbon fiber rod glued to the sides of the engine nacelles for strength ... 15gm of binder clips added to the front of the disc ... setting the CG at 115mm from the leading edge of the disc ... and it glides smooth and clean ... did not have to use any trim from the tabs at the rear of the upper stabilizer

now all I need is an EZ pack ... may have to order a Crazypony C-17 kit from Amazon ... really want to support the FliteTest STEM program but what the hay ... I'll get this one from Amazon and order a couple of more from FT when they are back in stock ... done ... Amazon Prime, $50.99 ... 4 day delivery

 

[FlyinAgain]

release of the EZ-PowerPack brought back flashes of the "early days" at FliteTest ... with that in mind ... here's another homage to Josh's early designs ... an Old Fogey with a 490mm wingspan

glides great ... airframe weighs in at 46gm and is a bit tail heavy, requiring 19gms up front to balance at the camber break in the wing ...

question to those who are actually flying EZ-PowerPack planes ... is 46gm too heavy of an airframe for the EX pack ?

 

[legodragonxp]

So, here's a thought....

If you made it wide enough and could keep the aircraft under 30g (before electronics) you might have a good idea there. Put the props as pushers where the engines are.... but I fear you'll be at about 50g before the electronics and will have an airliner, not a fighter. Put the gyro board about where the RIO sits and the battery at the Vulcan's muzzle?

 

[MrNic]

Does anyone have ANY idea when the backordered EZ-3 glider pack and the EZ PowerPack-2 might get restocked in the FT Store?

I liked the idea of supporting the FT STEM Store, so in early June I tried *repeatedly* to order the $99 EZ-bundle from them for my son's 8th birthday. But it was a black hole. Never heard back from FT STEM -- couldn't get a quote, couldn't place an order, couldn't get them to reply to my emails (or my multiple voicemail messages either, when my emails were going unanswered). Then, joy! I read on the forum that the main FT Store had started to carry the BasicX bundle! And behold -- people were actually receiving them, and flying them, and loving the whole experience! So I immediately went to order it from them (and gave up on the FT STEM Black Hole) only to discover that it had been so popular that the online store sold out really really fast. Sigh!

Then -- good news! -- around June 26th someone on the forum noticed that it was back in stock. But ... bad news ... I only saw their post 3 days later, and by then it had already been sold out again. awwwww.... I'm guessing FT Store must have had dozens of backorders ...so when the shipment came in to them, all those units were already spoken for and just got shipped out straight away to fulfill the backorders.

Anyway, long story short, on June 29th I then decided to put in three separate orders for the C-17, the glider pack, and the EZ PowerPack-2. That way, that whichever of the three things came in first could at least be shipped to us, vs having to wait for however long it took the store to get all THREE things in stock simultaneously. (yeah, I know, extra shipping costs for us, which totally defeated the purpose of the $99 "Bundle". But hey -- at least when the Microfreighter did end up being restocked two weeks later, my son got to start FLYING something rather than just waiting waiting waiting).

Soon it will be six weeks since the order, and as summer ticks by, I've taken to checking back on the order status every day to see whether it's changed from "Pending" to "Shipping" ... But alas. In bright red font, "Waiting for Stock" is the sad news every time I check.

Does anyone have any inside info on how long it might be before the FT team in Ohio will be able to actually produce some EZ-3 glider packs for the FT Store, so that the online store can ship them off to eager young Massachusetts builders-in-waiting? Or anyone have news about the delay on the EZ PowerPack-2? Are all those little boxes of boards and motors and props making their way across the ocean from China, d'ya think?

 

[Aviator08]

Does anyone have ANY idea when the backordered EZ-3 glider pack and the EZ PowerPack-2 might get restocked in the FT Store?

I liked the idea of supporting the FT STEM Store, so in early June I tried *repeatedly* to order the $99 EZ-bundle from them for my son's 8th birthday. But it was a black hole. Never heard back from FT STEM -- couldn't get a quote, couldn't place an order, couldn't get them to reply to my emails (or my multiple voicemail messages either, when my emails were going unanswered). Then, joy! I read on the forum that the main FT Store had started to carry the BasicX bundle! And behold -- people were actually receiving them, and flying them, and loving the whole experience! So I immediately went to order it from them (and gave up on the FT STEM Black Hole) only to discover that it had been so popular that the online store sold out really really fast. Sigh!

Then -- good news! -- around June 26th someone on the forum noticed that it was back in stock. But ... bad news ... I only saw their post 3 days later, and by then it had already been sold out again. awwwww.... I'm guessing FT Store must have had dozens of backorders ...so when the shipment came in to them, all those units were already spoken for and just got shipped out straight away to fulfill the backorders.

Anyway, long story short, on June 29th I then decided to put in three separate orders for the C-17, the glider pack, and the EZ PowerPack-2. That way, that whichever of the three things came in first could at least be shipped to us, vs having to wait for however long it took the store to get all THREE things in stock simultaneously. (yeah, I know, extra shipping costs for us, which totally defeated the purpose of the $99 "Bundle". But hey -- at least when the Microfreighter did end up being restocked two weeks later, my son got to start FLYING something rather than just waiting waiting waiting).

Soon it will be six weeks since the order, and as summer ticks by, I've taken to checking back on the order status every day to see whether it's changed from "Pending" to "Shipping" ... But alas. In bright red font, "Waiting for Stock" is the sad news every time I check.

Does anyone have any inside info on how long it might be before the FT team in Ohio will be able to actually produce some EZ-3 glider packs for the FT Store, so that the online store can ship them off to eager young Massachusetts builders-in-waiting? Or anyone have news about the delay on the EZ PowerPack-2? Are all those little boxes of boards and motors and props making their way across the ocean from China, d'ya think?

MrNic, I am in the same boat. Made some EZ flyers for my grand kids and told them I would have a power pack sent to them..... only to have them go out of stock. So I likewise check every day to see if they have come back in stock . My guess is the pandemic has messed up a lot of stuff. I will just keep checking.

 

[BikeDad613]

I tried building an EZ Plank, based solely on dimensions i guestimated from Josh's build video. It looked about right, and glided a bit, though it was a bit nose heavy. When it came time to fly it with the EZ power pack, it would just climb straight up and do wild loop-de-loops. I thought I had it under control for a bit by cutting the throtle in half, but then it would crash after a few seconds. After a few hard crashes, the wing broke in half along the fold line for the dihedral.

So, my question is, what would cause these loop-de-loops, and how can I fix that behaviour?

I am totally new to building planes...

Thanks!!

 

[Aviator08]

I tried building an EZ Plank, based solely on dimensions i guestimated from Josh's build video. It looked about right, and glided a bit, though it was a bit nose heavy. When it came time to fly it with the EZ power pack, it would just climb straight up and do wild loop-de-loops. I thought I had it under control for a bit by cutting the throtle in half, but then it would crash after a few seconds. After a few hard crashes, the wing broke in half along the fold line for the dihedral.

So, my question is, what would cause these loop-de-loops, and how can I fix that behaviour?

I am totally new to building planes...

Thanks!!

Hi BikeDad613. Welcome to building! They are designed to fly around half throttle, more throttle causes them to climb, less to descend. It is possible you had a little bit too much pitch on the horizontal stabilizer, causing it to pitch up too much ( loop de loops).

 

[FlyinAgain]

Hey Aviator08 - in regards to BikeDad613's flying problems ... could it be due to having the flight board mounted incorrectly ? ... in post #212 you mentioned that on the EZ-Corsair you initially had the board mounted flat and it didn't work ... posts #208 to #215 also talk about the board orientation ... since I'm in the same boat as everyone else (waiting to get my EZ Pack) ... I can't check this out myself

also ... BikeDad613 ... welcome to the joy (and fustration) of building and crashing foam board planes ... could I suggest that you begin with an easier project to fly than the Plank ... you're likely to have a much more satisfying experience building something like the EZ-Glider (plans available in earlier posts) ... plus, you'll have the benefit of building from tried and true build plans that you don't have to create yourself ... Aviator08, Sponz and others have provided several other build plans on this thread that are available to download ... some are tried and tested designs that are known good flyers ... some are still prototypes and are awaiting tweeking ... in any and all cases ... don't let the crashes get you down ... the FT way is "build-fly-crash-repeat" ... Dollar Tree foamboard is really cheap

 

[Aviator08]

Hey Aviator08 - in regards to BikeDad613's flying problems ... could it be due to having the flight board mounted incorrectly ? ... in post #212 you mentioned that on the EZ-Corsair you initially had the board mounted flat and it didn't work ... posts #208 to #215 also talk about the board orientation ... since I'm in the same boat as everyone else (waiting to get my EZ Pack) ... I can't check this out myself

also ... BikeDad613 ... welcome to the joy (and fustration) of building and crashing foam board planes ... could I suggest that you begin with an easier project to fly than the Plank ... you're likely to have a much more satisfying experience building something like the EZ-Glider (plans available in earlier posts) ... plus, you'll have the benefit of building from tried and true build plans that you don't have to create yourself ... Aviator08, Sponz and others have provided several other build plans on this thread that are available to download ... some are tried and tested designs that are known good flyers ... some are still prototypes and are awaiting tweeking ... in any and all cases ... don't let the crashes get you down ... the FT way is "build-fly-crash-repeat" ... Dollar Tree foamboard is really cheap

FlyinAgain... that is a good thought. I suppose it is possible, however when I put the control board in improperly it didn't fly at all,( immediate roll and into the ground.) The fact that he was able to keep it in the air for a little bit would point to a different issue.

 

[legodragonxp]

I tried building an EZ Plank, based solely on dimensions i guestimated from Josh's build video. It looked about right, and glided a bit, though it was a bit nose heavy. When it came time to fly it with the EZ power pack, it would just climb straight up and do wild loop-de-loops. I thought I had it under control for a bit by cutting the throtle in half, but then it would crash after a few seconds. After a few hard crashes, the wing broke in half along the fold line for the dihedral.

So, my question is, what would cause these loop-de-loops, and how can I fix that behaviour?

I am totally new to building planes...

Thanks!!

Pictures would go a long way here. I have the EZ-Plank and it is arguably one of the best of the three pack. Based solely on the information here, your center of gravity was too far back, probably a millimeter forward of the center of lift.

 

[BikeDad613]

Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement everyone! I rebuilt the broken wing with a few minor changes and took it for another flight tonight. It worked!! It handles like a drunkard at times, but also pulls off interesting spins and loops. Super fun!

The main changes I made were to increase slightly the dihedral and the size of the ailerons. It actually took off better at full throttle this time around. Taking off at half throttle caused nosedives.