Winglet
Well-known member
Not a lot about FT Snowballs on the forums so thought I would post my experience.
I built a couple of FT Nutballs last summer and continue to enjoy those a lot, so the Snowball seemed like a natural for some winter fun.
Building the Snowball is a simple and very fun process. In anticipation of this project I included a SnowBall Conversion Kit in my last Flite Test order a couple of months ago. Snow was in our forecast last week so out came the kit. My Snowball is a combination of the FT Conversion Kit and a scratch build from plans. Big deal....so I cut out 2 parts. Cutting out the whole thing from scratch wouldn't be a big deal. I'm just getting lazy after ordering a number of their kits and I like to send FT a little money to show my support.
Of course the SnowBall needs to be waterproofed. I elected to go with the colored packing tape method. This is something I have never done before and I like it. Nothing could be easier. I'm going to use tape on future models.
My model is built to the plans with no real modifications. I'm running a Blue Wonder motor with an 8x3.8 slow fly prop. So far I've been using a 850mah 3 cell that seems to balance the airplane right on CG. This is the same setup I've use on my NutBalls.
The day after I finished the airplane I was surprised when I awoke to perfectly calm conditions and very frigid tempratures. Not a flake of snow but I noticed the lake behind our house was completely frozen. So...out I go for some testing off of the ice. I didn't trust the ice to walk on it yet but it was certainly solid enough to hold a 10oz foam airplane. I nearly froze but was having so much fun with the SnowBall I put a couple of hours on it. I came in the house a few times only to warm up and make adjustments and charge batteries. The airplane doesn't fly quite as well as the Nutball but it flies well enough. I think the big snowfloats cancel some of the lifting properties from the wing? It doesn't climb or glide as nicely as it's wheeled brother but again, it is plenty good enough to do what this airplane was meant to do, race around on the snow and fly over it and then come back in and land on it.
Today was extremely windy and extremely cold but we DID get about an inch or two of snow. I decided to do something else to the airplane today that I have never attempted. I added 18 little LEDs to the leading edge of the wing. Not really intending to ever fly it at night but I though it might look cool cutting through the fog on some snowy morning. I purchased a one foot strip of LEDs from the local hobby shop and simply connected the lights to my battery through the balance plug with a balance plug connector. Simple and works great.
Well....I finished setting up the lights and noticed the wind had magically quit. I also had just enough daylight left to give it it's first official flight off of real snow! At first I just wanted to mess around with it on the surface. It's a blast to high speed taxi on the snow. The CG is so low that you can really ski it around. It was time for my first snow takeoff. Nearly dark now I advanced the throttle and started to rotate for takeoff. Then WAHM!! Right at takeoff I nailed one of those little wire flags the water company uses to mark water lines. That little flag basically tranformed my airplane back into kit form. It tore the engine mount out and everything with it including my LEDs.
Back to the shop for some re-assembly and back out for some more taxi as it was now dark with a big ole full moon rising and lighting up the snow covered ground quite a bit. I raced the SnowBall around on my neighbors very large front yard and nailed every single little tree that he had planted last spring. I mean dead on nailed everyone. I couldn't do that again if I tried. Remarkably however no damage.
You can probably guess what happened next? I couldn't resist. Up she went! Great view of the strip of LEDs when it was coming toward me. (just a straight white line) but going away it virtually vanished. I made several close in night flights and decided I was pushing my luck and taxied on the snow back to the shop.
This thing is FUN! Now, I'm not dreading winter in Kansas quite as much. Putting my order in tonight for one of those transmitter muffs. I think i've just extended my flying season?
I built a couple of FT Nutballs last summer and continue to enjoy those a lot, so the Snowball seemed like a natural for some winter fun.
Building the Snowball is a simple and very fun process. In anticipation of this project I included a SnowBall Conversion Kit in my last Flite Test order a couple of months ago. Snow was in our forecast last week so out came the kit. My Snowball is a combination of the FT Conversion Kit and a scratch build from plans. Big deal....so I cut out 2 parts. Cutting out the whole thing from scratch wouldn't be a big deal. I'm just getting lazy after ordering a number of their kits and I like to send FT a little money to show my support.
Of course the SnowBall needs to be waterproofed. I elected to go with the colored packing tape method. This is something I have never done before and I like it. Nothing could be easier. I'm going to use tape on future models.
My model is built to the plans with no real modifications. I'm running a Blue Wonder motor with an 8x3.8 slow fly prop. So far I've been using a 850mah 3 cell that seems to balance the airplane right on CG. This is the same setup I've use on my NutBalls.
The day after I finished the airplane I was surprised when I awoke to perfectly calm conditions and very frigid tempratures. Not a flake of snow but I noticed the lake behind our house was completely frozen. So...out I go for some testing off of the ice. I didn't trust the ice to walk on it yet but it was certainly solid enough to hold a 10oz foam airplane. I nearly froze but was having so much fun with the SnowBall I put a couple of hours on it. I came in the house a few times only to warm up and make adjustments and charge batteries. The airplane doesn't fly quite as well as the Nutball but it flies well enough. I think the big snowfloats cancel some of the lifting properties from the wing? It doesn't climb or glide as nicely as it's wheeled brother but again, it is plenty good enough to do what this airplane was meant to do, race around on the snow and fly over it and then come back in and land on it.
Today was extremely windy and extremely cold but we DID get about an inch or two of snow. I decided to do something else to the airplane today that I have never attempted. I added 18 little LEDs to the leading edge of the wing. Not really intending to ever fly it at night but I though it might look cool cutting through the fog on some snowy morning. I purchased a one foot strip of LEDs from the local hobby shop and simply connected the lights to my battery through the balance plug with a balance plug connector. Simple and works great.
Well....I finished setting up the lights and noticed the wind had magically quit. I also had just enough daylight left to give it it's first official flight off of real snow! At first I just wanted to mess around with it on the surface. It's a blast to high speed taxi on the snow. The CG is so low that you can really ski it around. It was time for my first snow takeoff. Nearly dark now I advanced the throttle and started to rotate for takeoff. Then WAHM!! Right at takeoff I nailed one of those little wire flags the water company uses to mark water lines. That little flag basically tranformed my airplane back into kit form. It tore the engine mount out and everything with it including my LEDs.
Back to the shop for some re-assembly and back out for some more taxi as it was now dark with a big ole full moon rising and lighting up the snow covered ground quite a bit. I raced the SnowBall around on my neighbors very large front yard and nailed every single little tree that he had planted last spring. I mean dead on nailed everyone. I couldn't do that again if I tried. Remarkably however no damage.You can probably guess what happened next?
I couldn't resist. Up she went! Great view of the strip of LEDs when it was coming toward me. (just a straight white line) but going away it virtually vanished. I made several close in night flights and decided I was pushing my luck and taxied on the snow back to the shop.This thing is FUN! Now, I'm not dreading winter in Kansas quite as much. Putting my order in tonight for one of those transmitter muffs. I think i've just extended my flying season?
