59 year old newbie - adding more planes

[Jimun]

I have been wanting to fly rc since I was a teenager and I am just getting started now. I have put together a Tiny Trainer from the plans and I got the power pack and a Spektrum DX6 about a month ago. I took it out for the first time last week. My wife threw it down into the ground twice - lol - then I reaIized had the elevator reversed. On the 3rd try it took off and I freaked on the controls and did a cartwheel and broke the prop and damaged the wing.
I tried again today and reset the d/r and expo settings to be safer this time. This time I got it to fly, not in a straight line, and back to the ground on the grass. I did this for about 10 or 12 times. I got it to go straight and land good a few times. Also went into a chainlink fence and a few hard landings, but I kept going. Then I did a hard nose landing on the dirt road and broke my backup prop. So now I waiting for more props to come so I can crash, I mean fly again -lol. The Tiny Trainer looks a little beat up but a little hot glue and it is ready to go again.

 

[Txwarthog]

Welcome Jimun, I think everyone will say we need pics and videos, here was my flying day so far.

 

[d8veh]

That's a nice story. I reckon many flyers went through a similar experience when they started on their own.

I'm having some thoughts about expo. We never had it when I started flying. Recently, I had a long break from flying, then started again with new equipment, which of course has expo. I noticed that my flying was not quite as good as it was before. I was OK most of the time, but whenever I needed to make an urgent turn, I had the plane rocking from one side to the other from unstable control. Now, I took all exponential off and everything is nice, like it used to be. I think exponential is better for precision aerobatics, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for beginners because when you want to do something like a medium turn, you don't get sufficient response when you push the stick a bit, so you push it a lot further, which then gives you maximum and your plane rolls past where you want to the other way. You end up rocking from wing tip to wing tip instead of flying straight. You can take it to the extreme by imagining how it would be if the stick operated like a switch, only giving maximum or nothing, I think your brain is more calibrated to proportional control.

 

[Antioch]

Jimun sounds like a similar path tome... good luck.

 

[Merv]

Welcome, remember the moto: Build, fly crash, repeat

 

[buzzbomb]

Jimun, welcome! We had a saying in the motorcycle forum I used to frequent: Pics or video or it didn't happen"! I'm still waiting to maiden my TT. It sounds like it's pretty tough. Really looking forward to hearing more from you.

 

[IanSR]

That's a nice story. I reckon many flyers went through a similar experience when they started on their own

I went through six planes before finally getting one to stay in the air for more than 3 seconds.

 

[d8veh]

I went through six planes before finally getting one to stay in the air for more than 3 seconds.

Sadly, that's what happens when you try and learn on your own.

I used to teach the newbs to fly in a very large club. I can't remember ever losing a plane while they were under instruction. This was before buddy-boxes were common, so I used to fly their plane high and then pass over the transmitter. Normally the plane would be in a spiral dive within seconds, so I had to wressle the transmitter from them, get control, then fly the plane back up high for them. Each flight was about 10 minutes, and I'd say the average was about 6 to 10 flights before they were able to attempt a landing.

All that was with a plane that I trimmed out before handing over the transmitter. A newb has more or less no chance of trimming his/her plane while learning to fly, and correct trim makes a massive difference to how easy it is to control it, so I'd always recommend that you seek help from an experienced flyer if you can get it.

Those old planes were relatively heavy at around 5 to 7 pounds, so they didn't bounce very well. A crash was normally terminal. You have a much better chance with these Flitetest foam-board planes because they can take a few crashes and hard landings.

 

[kilroy07]

Well, I can say you picked out a great plane to start with, my first tiny trainer is on its third nose!

Some things that I had trouble with early on was;

Reversed controls, which you’ve already seen can be the cause of rapid deceleration..

Center of gravity, most all plans have a mark for cg. USE IT! Before you fly check it again ...
lately I’ve been putting just a dot of hot glue right on the mark. That way I have something tactile in the field for my fingers to find.

Expo is your friend, ‘nuff said.

Cheap equipment is okay IF (and only if) you understand the limitations.
If you bought the FT F pack for your TT then don’t fly it on a 3cell battery until you upgrade the ESC (ask me how I know!) I suggest you stick with th FT power packs until you get more familiar with the equipment. I went through a bunch of cheap stuff not knowing what I was doing, over propping, over drawing the BEC, etc (the FT power packs will just remove the doubt that you’ve got matched equipment. “Cept that anemic 10a esc in the f pack...)

Welcome!

 

[Jimun]

Here is my plane finished and before 1st flight

Here is the second wing and glider nose

 

[Jimun]

Wing repair after first time out. A little glue more tape.

Repaired wing after 2nd time out when I hit the chain link fence.

And the nose after a hard day

 

[Jimun]

Welcome Jimun, I think everyone will say we need pics and videos, here was my flying day so far.

Thank you, I just added some pics. No videos yet.

 

[Jimun]

That's a nice story. I reckon many flyers went through a similar experience when they started on their own.

I'm having some thoughts about expo. We never had it when I started flying. Recently, I had a long break from flying, then started again with new equipment, which of course has expo. I noticed that my flying was not quite as good as it was before. I was OK most of the time, but whenever I needed to make an urgent turn, I had the plane rocking from one side to the other from unstable control. Now, I took all exponential off and everything is nice, like it used to be. I think exponential is better for precision aerobatics, but I'm not sure it's a good idea for beginners because when you want to do something like a medium turn, you don't get sufficient response when you push the stick a bit, so you push it a lot further, which then gives you maximum and your plane rolls past where you want to the other way. You end up rocking from wing tip to wing tip instead of flying straight. You can take it to the extreme by imagining how it would be if the stick operated like a switch, only giving maximum or nothing, I think your brain is more calibrated to proportional control.

Thank you. I have a hard time using video game controllers and I feel the expo will help me find a sweet spot that I can work with and get better so I can get to a point of weining off of it.

 

[Jimun]

Jimun sounds like a similar path tome... good luck.

Thank you

 

[Jimun]

Well, I can say you picked out a great plane to start with, my first tiny trainer is on its third nose!

Some things that I had trouble with early on was;

Reversed controls, which you’ve already seen can be the cause of rapid deceleration..

Center of gravity, most all plans have a mark for cg. USE IT! Before you fly check it again ...
lately I’ve been putting just a dot of hot glue right on the mark. That way I have something tactile in the field for my fingers to find.

Expo is your friend, ‘nuff said.

Cheap equipment is okay IF (and only if) you understand the limitations.
If you bought the FT F pack for your TT then don’t fly it on a 3cell battery until you upgrade the ESC (ask me how I know!) I suggest you stick with th FT power packs until you get more familiar with the equipment. I went through a bunch of cheap stuff not knowing what I was doing, over propping, over drawing the BEC, etc (the FT power packs will just remove the doubt that you’ve got matched equipment. “Cept that anemic 10a esc in the f pack...)

Welcome!

Thank You

 

[Merv]

Wing repair after first time out. A little glue more tape. Repaired wing after 2nd time out when I hit the chain link fence. And the nose after a hard day

That's why I've started to build 3 & 4 planes at the same time. Something like an assembly line. That way WHEN trouble finds you, your ready to go, just transfer everything to the new one and your good to go.

 

[Txwarthog]

I'm getting reports that not using the correct prop can ruin your esc
... I'll have some testing about that on my thread after Nov 5 when I get parts.

 

[d8veh]

I'm getting reports that not using the correct prop can ruin your esc

That's right. You have to have your motor, prop, battery and ESC all suitable for what you want, but they also have to work with each other. The relationship is very complicated. The most important thing is to get the motor working in its efficient zone, but nobody ever seems to mention that. To make things simple, tell us which motor, prop, battery and ESC you plan to use, and maybe someone can advise. If you're lucky, the motor manufacturer provides data on your motor, so you can see what happens with different props and batteries. The efficiency data is hidden within that. I don't know why they don't publish that in the listings, as it's the most important characteristic.

 

[Merv]

I'm getting reports that not using the correct prop can ruin your esc
... I'll have some testing about that on my thread after Nov 5 when I get parts.

Get yourself a watt meter to test a new prop size. As long as your prop does not cause the motor to pull more amps than what the motor, esc or battery are rated for you'll be OK. If your pulling more amps than one of those three are rated for your asking for trouble. Don't go right up to the rating, give yourself a safety margin. Some props are more efficient than others, that is they will produce the same or more thrust with less amps. I'm more worried about wrecking my motor, esc or battery than I am about getting every ounce of thrust out of my prop.

Here are the general rules, 1) the faster the prop spins the more amps you'll draw, "with the same prop." 2) the larger diameter of the prop the more amps you'll draw. 3) the larger pitch of the prop the more amps you'll draw.

So if you want to go faster, you'll need a higher pitch prop, a higher kv motor or a higher cell count battery. All of these choices will increase amp draw. You may need to reduce the diameter to keep the amps low enough.

If you want to 3D, you'll want a lower pitch prop and a lower kv motor. Both of these choices will lower amp draw. You'll have "room" in your amp budget to increase prop diameter.

 

[d8veh]

1) the faster the prop spins the more amps you'll draw.

Did you mean to say that? Don't we fit a smaller prop to a motor so that it spins faster into the region where the current is lower.

The faster the motor spins, the higher the back emf, so the lower the net voltage driving current through the motor, so the less current you get.