10' Ford Tri-Motor

[DamoRC]

Again - congrats on a great looking plane and some lovely scale flying.

Quick question - you mention in the video that you have a separate battery for each motor. Do you have them paralleled? That is, do you have a loom running between them to wire them in parallel. The only reason I ask is that when I built an 80 inch twin plane (two independent 40 inch planes joined at the tips), I installed a wiring loom so that I could connect the batteries together in parallel with the goal of keeping the two balanced with each other. I did not have differential thrust built in and I did not want to have to deal with one battery discharging faster than the other leading to yaw. It worked great, every time I came down, both batteries were always at the same voltage. I plane to do the same for the 160 inch (4 x 40 inch) monster. Thoughts?

DamoRC

 

[Aviator08]

Again - congrats on a great looking plane and some lovely scale flying.

Quick question - you mention in the video that you have a separate battery for each motor. Do you have them paralleled? That is, do you have a loom running between them to wire them in parallel. The only reason I ask is that when I built an 80 inch twin plane (two independent 40 inch planes joined at the tips), I installed a wiring loom so that I could connect the batteries together in parallel with the goal of keeping the two balanced with each other. I did not have differential thrust built in and I did not want to have to deal with one battery discharging faster than the other leading to yaw. It worked great, every time I came down, both batteries were always at the same voltage. I plane to do the same for the 160 inch (4 x 40 inch) monster. Thoughts?

DamoRC

I do not have them in parallel. They are each hooked up separate with the speed controllers all connected back to the receiver, ( minus the red wire on the two outboard motors). I just make sure my flights are short enough that I don't run out of power. If I were to do it again , I would place all the batteries in the nose and run leads out to the outboard motors. That way I could use less lead in the nose to get the proper CG.

 

[Aviator08]

Are you going to make it look more like a real airliner or keep it silver? The blue trim on the FS versions look pretty good.

Not sure what I will end up doing for the paint scheme. Part of it will depend on how ambitious I get before FTFF West. I will most likely add a little blue to the nose, and maybe some N numbers.

 

[Aviator08]

A real airliner? How dare you! that damn thing looks more real that the real one!

ROFL !! Thanks, I love your reply!

 

[Aviator08]

A couple more update photos.



Two more dummy radial engines 3D printed thanks to Jared.




Getting ready to mount the radial engines on the nacelles.

 

[Aviator08]

Almost there

 

[willsonman]

Yay! More drag!

 

[SlingShot]

Thanks,

I do plan on taking her to FTFF West.

Nice. Just caught up here. That takeoff run is looking very scale!

 

[Swimjim]

Looks Awesome!!!

 

[Aviator08]

Update... It didn't like the way I took it off at FF West and stalled into the ground. It is fixable with a little formboard , hot glue and 3D printed parts.

 

[willsonman]

Awe man! Too bad but I'm sure you will do a great job on the re-build. Such a nice flying machine.

 

[SlingShot]

Awww man.....Sorry to see that.

 

[rockyboy]

Looking forward to the rebuild and video!

 

[earthsciteach]

Oh no!!!! Such a great flying and great looking model. Please rebuild!

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Please do rebuild! Such a great looking bird and a great presence in the air.

 

[Aviator08]

Finally got it rebuilt and flown. Will add pictures and video once I get them downloaded. There is so much more drag with the dummy radial engines that the motors overheated. Im going to have to put bigger motors on it and go to 4 cell.

 

[Aviator08]

 

[varg]

Wow this is a beauty of a plane. I can't say I've seen foamboard look any better.

 

[Kunphushun]

First time I've seen this! Absolutely out standing! I have some questions if you dont mind.

1. Can you tell me how you attach the wings to the center section for disassembly and transport?
2. Are the wings covered in foam board or posterboard?

 

[Aviator08]

First time I've seen this! Absolutely out standing! I have some questions if you dont mind.

1. Can you tell me how you attach the wings to the center section for disassembly and transport?
2. Are the wings covered in foam board or posterboard?

Thanks.

1. I have plastic bolts that go through the bottom of the wing into the ends of the aluminum carry through spar.
2. The wings are covered in foam board.