Anybody else scratch building tonight?

Piotrsko

Master member
Climb a few feet above the ground (like on a picnic table) and throw your completed model a few times without power, just to see how it glides and ajust the trims as much as possible BEFORE commiting to your maiden flight.

If trimmed correctly (and with the C.G. in the right place) it should glide with no control inputs. If not, ajust some more.

The first flight is often so much harder than the 3th or 4th would be, simply because the trims are usually totally off.
That's why the best way (when possible) is having an experienced pilot for the maiden, who than passes you the remote.

Good luck! Keep us posted.
Gosh that sounds like my constant preaching/harping
 

Sheriff

Active member
Gosh that sounds like my constant preaching/harping

I found the perfect image to illustrate:

An out of trim aircraft would be like a bicycle with a misaligned handlebar; It is still ridable (if you compensate), but if it is your first time riding, I can pretty much garanty it won't end well.
:)
 

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K3V0

Elite member
Just some slow progress on the mini scout, refuse to paint until I can keep one in the air more than 30 seconds...
I know exactly how you feel. It wasn’t until number 4 that I even drew a pattern on with sharpie. But decorating the plane is fun! And it made it easier to see what was going on in the sky when I did get higher off the ground. The little nose art on 004 was for all the eventful things: Successful circuits, tree, landing gear failure, buildings flown into and lawn dart 😆
 

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Piotrsko

Master member
I found the perfect image to illustrate:

An out of trim aircraft would be like a bicycle with a crocked handbar; It is still ridable (if you compensate), but if it is your first time riding, I can pretty much garanty it won't end well.
:)
Imho, more like a bike with out of round wheels that also wobble from side to side, but your illustration works good for me.
 

Tr33s

Well-known member
So I am working on scratch slow flyer with a square 10mm CF tube and parts from the FT store. So far I think it will be light enough. 48” wingspan, 35” square CF tube, FT power pack B and servos, I was given a few of the plastics for the GWS, so I will use them until they fail.

Upscaled the FT Old Fogey wing to 48”. Just did the tail off the cuff by hand. Trying to build light and strong. Keep the shiny side up folks.
MJ
 

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K3V0

Elite member
Happy Saturday all! I took the Storch out for a maiden this morning and I have to say it went pretty great! I made a mistake of trying to just go straight up from take off instead of letting it actually get some speed 😆. Ok, Round 2! Second try went sooooo much better and I was as pleased with a scale take off as I was to to be flying. It’s flying characteristics are new to me but it was super fun flying slow and cruising around. I had programed some flaperons but I was kinda nervous to use them while flying so I didn’t notice them in the air too much. They did help a treat when I came in a little hot for landing! It was fast and I scraped off the tail skid while slewing to the left but it stayed upright.

Im home now and it seems like the skewers holing the wing need reinforcement as do the landing gear. Thanks for the support and for anybody working on a project, happy building/ flying!🤘
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buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Happy Saturday all! I took the Storch out for a maiden this morning and I have to say it went pretty great! I made a mistake of trying to just go straight up from take off instead of letting it actually get some speed 😆. Ok, Round 2! Second try went sooooo much better and I was as pleased with a scale take off as I was to to be flying. It’s flying characteristics are new to me but it was super fun flying slow and cruising around. I had programed some flaperons but I was kinda nervous to use them while flying so I didn’t notice them in the air too much. They did help a treat when I came in a little hot for landing! It was fast and I scraped off the tail skid while slewing to the left but it stayed upright.

Im home now and it seems like the skewers holing the wing need reinforcement as do the landing gear. Thanks for the support and for anybody working on a project, happy building/ flying!🤘 View attachment 146409 View attachment 146410 View attachment 146411 View attachment 146412 View attachment 146409 View attachment 146410 View attachment 146411
It looks good! Congrats on the successful maiden!
 

K3V0

Elite member
New build, everyone! After the scout went down yesterday, I began putting together something a little different. You can see the beginnings of it next to the dissected 005. I’m calling it the mountain scout and it’s overall very similar to the mini scout.
Just 3 channel rudder. Single layer of wing, no spar. Same A power pack. The fuselage is longer and so are the wings. The tail surfaces have been enlarged too. You can see it next to a standard mini scout and a TT.
I realize that I could just build a full ft scout and also get 4 channels but I went with the mini scout base for a few reasons. First, I have the plans already made and I don’t want to tile out another set of plans right now. The mini scout is super easy to crank out once you’ve had to make a few 😉. Second, I love flying this little battler! It’s fun because I'm not worried about crashing; I can play and learn from mistakes. If this works out I’m planning on playing with alerons. Maybe like the way the bloody baron does it with one servo.
I’m almost done so I’ll take it out this week. The wind is crazy today and it’s not supposed to settle out until Tuesday. Happy Sunday everyone!
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Tr33s

Well-known member
I finished the Frankenplane tonight. Hope to maiden it this weekend.

35.5” 10mm carbon fiber tube
Modified Old Fogey wing 48” wingspan
FT B 2212 1050 kv motor & 9g servos
10x4.7 prop
Just drew out the tail feathers by hand
CG about 2.5”

Dihedral aileron wing built as well - if this goes well. We’ll see how flies soon 😆
 

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K3V0

Elite member
I finished the Frankenplane tonight. Hope to maiden it this weekend.

35.5” 10mm carbon fiber tube
Modified Old Fogey wing 48” wingspan
FT B 2212 1050 kv motor & 9g servos
10x4.7 prop
Just drew out the tail feathers by hand
CG about 2.5”

Dihedral aileron wing built as well - if this goes well. We’ll see how flies soon 😆
Nice work!👍 It’s always so satisfying to wrap up the build part. Let us know how she flys!
 
M

MCNC

Guest
Getting the rods bent and servos installed in this tiny miniscout fuselage is probably my least favorite part of this build.... at least the scout had a bit more room. Broke a rod bending and decided to solder on a pre-bent z section , that was much easier than bending inside.
 

Grind

Active member
I finished my Tiny Trainer last night.

I failed miserably, by not taking some pictures of the wing mod I did, though. I added two 24x3/16" square basswood spars, in place of the short FB strips. I then V-notched them in the middle, for the dihedral angle.

After I had the wing folded and glued, I smacked myself, for not taking pictures. :oops:
 

K3V0

Elite member
I’ve been slowly getting the mountain scout together. Here’s a couple of shots of how I mount the receiver under the turtle deck. I agree with MacClark about the z bends being a pain. But I just keep pulling the old servo/ rod combo out of the wreckage and shoving them into the next one. 5 planes later they are still working :) going to maiden this one tomorrow morning! I also started working on a Mig3. If anybody has some wisdom regarding this plane I’m all ears!
 

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The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
I’ve been slowly getting the mountain scout together. Here’s a couple of shots of how I mount the receiver under the turtle deck. I agree with MacClark about the z bends being a pain. But I just keep pulling the old servo/ rod combo out of the wreckage and shoving them into the next one. 5 planes later they are still working :) going to maiden this one tomorrow morning! I also started working on a Mig3. If anybody has some wisdom regarding this plane I’m all ears!
I’ve been interested in the mig3, but as I have a spitfire, I don’t really feel the need for another warbird. I am however planning on building an ft-3D this weekend! Pretty excited for that! Just was wondering - has anyone used electrical tape as a substitute for vinyls? I’m considering trying them out on the canopy and for stripes on the bottom of my wing in the ft-3D.