Baby Baron - Build

[mad_milchmann]

Tried to fly it again today, but I encountered a severe problem:
German foamboard is much heavier than DTFB (my baby Baron weighs around 170g without battery, and i already used only 3mm foamboard). So the plane was quite tailheavy. the CoG was about 1-2" to far back
I couldn't figure out a way to balance it properly, i tried different batteries right at the end of the motormount but it didn't change much... then my prop broke and i had to head home. Since it was already close to sundown I didn't go out again, but i bench tested a bit.
It took me 25g of lead right at the nosetip to get the CoG about right... which is quite a lot dead weight for my taste
So it's about 240g now including battery and lead

I will try it out with the lead at the nose in the next days, when it's calm enough.
In the long run although I'll probably build another fuselage which is about 1" or 1 1/2" longer so that i can get the motormount and therfore the battery further to the front. By doing so the battery shoud move in front of the CoG. As it is now the battery sits to a good deal behind the CoG. So I wouldn't have to fly around with lots of dead weight.
I hope this is going to solve my problem.


apart from doing really strange stuff because of its tailheavyness the plane seems to fly nice, with lots of expo... and again I was surprised how well it handled the crashes :black_eyed:


--
I had similar problems with the big bloody baron but here it could be solved by putting the battery right behind the firewall in the powerpod.

 

[mad_milchmann]

OK now I came to an entirely different solution.
I didn't want to rebuild the whole fuse and also all the dead weight wasn't very appealing.

So my Baby Baron got a "droptank"!

I know it's the wrong WorldWar for droptanks, but it was a rather easy build and they look quite nice.
Also there's more than enough room for up to 1000mAh 3S Batteries or smaller ones and a Lipo warner.

I didn't have a chance to test it so I can't say how they change flight-charactersitics but I hope they shouldn't create too much drag.
Since the CoG moves further down from the Wing it might make the Baby Baron a bit less agile in the air, but since thats not one of it's week spots I'm not overly concerned.


I'll report back when I had the chance to try it out.
If someone else has this problem or wants a Droptank for some other reason I'll upload the rough plans I made.





I wanted to have a diagonal cut in the front for looks but messed up the measurements, and it didn't have enough clearance to the prop anymore when i would have fixed it with both BBQ skewers that hold the powerpod. So I glued in two small scrap pieces of foamboard in the back to push agains the fuse and prevent it from swinging

 

[SP0NZ]

Cool mod. I hope that helps you sort out the CoG issues you are having with the heavier foam board. By this time next year, hopefully that won't be an issue anymore. Flite Test Foam will hopefully be over there for you guys to start building with.

 

[pistolpete1982]

Just finish building mine.
How are you guys setting up throws?

 

[SP0NZ]

Just finish building mine.
How are you guys setting up throws?

Nice work on the build. Any construction issues? I noticed you notched out the back of the wing to fit the elevator servo. I'm probably going to change that in the plans too.

Now to your question. It looks like you are using HXT500 (5 gram) servos? That's what I have in mine. For the aileron control arm, I have the push rods in the third hole from the center. For the elevator control arm, I am using the second hole from the center. I'm using the FT mini control horns, so only one hole to use there, and I do have linkage stoppers in all three. I have my radio (ORX T-Six) set to 40% rates with 50% expo. It's still very responsive to control input at these settings. I would consider this the HIGH rate setting for experienced pilots. I haven't dialed it down more to find a more beginner friendly setup yet.

 

[pistolpete1982]

Just came back from the maiden. After a couple of broken props I was able to dial it in, mostly pilot error. I guess I should state that this is my first plane using ailerons, Ive only been flying the 3 channel (throttle, rudder, elevator) mighty minis, so this is completely new to me.

Right now Ive got the elevator pushrod set at the 3rd hole from center, and aileron pushrods at last hole from center which is 5th. Im using a Tactic TTX650, 6 channel receiver. Aileron dual at 40% & expo at -30%, elevator dual at 80% & expo at -30%.
Thinking of trying your setup SPONZ but I am not experienced so maybe I will dial it down.

Other than that its a fun little plane, and quick. I had it doing rolls after getting use to the stick movements. Will change settings and run another battery in it later and post results.

 

[mad_milchmann]

Just came back from the maiden. After a couple of broken props I was able to dial it in, mostly pilot error. I guess I should state that this is my first plane using ailerons, Ive only been flying the 3 channel (throttle, rudder, elevator) mighty minis, so this is completely new to me.

Right now Ive got the elevator pushrod set at the 3rd hole from center, and aileron pushrods at last hole from center which is 5th. Im using a Tactic TTX650, 6 channel receiver. Aileron dual at 40% & expo at -30%, elevator dual at 80% & expo at -30%.
Thinking of trying your setup SPONZ but I am not experienced so maybe I will dial it down.

Other than that its a fun little plane, and quick. I had it doing rolls after getting use to the stick movements. Will change settings and run another battery in it later and post results.

I think 30% is way to less. I started with 70% and 50% on high and low rates (90% throw on both to start with). and I felt like 70% was the better choice.
It's hard to compare with normal flying since the plane was rather tailheavy as I mentioned but I would rather start with high expo values and go down, especially when you're new to ailerons.

Cool mod. I hope that helps you sort out the CoG issues you are having with the heavier foam board.

I guess they are sorted out now, at least it looked it when I balanced it on my fingertips, but whe I wanted to testfly today I was in such a hurry to get out before it gets to dark to fly that I forgot to tighten the prop properly and so it was a VERY short flight.

I'm afraid I'll probably have to wait till middle of next week until the winds calm down enough to fly again.

By this time next year, hopefully that won't be an issue anymore. Flite Test Foam will hopefully be over there for you guys to start building with.

From your Lips to God's ears my friend. would be awesome if we could get the proper foam (and maybe even Speedbuild Kits for decent shipping costs)

 

[pistolpete1982]

2nd flite.....changed pushrod locations on servos to SPONZ suggestions also raised rates, alot smoother flight.

 

[pistolpete1982]

Heres video of maiden and crash

 

[SP0NZ]

Heres video of maiden and crash

Thanks for sharing that video. It made me smile. I crashed my prototype about as hard (okay maybe a little harder) than you. Put on a new prop and threw it right back in the air and kept on flying.

It Looks like it's flying pretty good for you. Nice job on the video too.

 

[SP0NZ]

I'm afraid I'll probably have to wait till middle of next week until the winds calm down enough to fly again.

I've been grounded for a while now. Need a break in this weather soon.

 

[pistolpete1982]

Thanks for sharing that video. It made me smile. I crashed my prototype about as hard (okay maybe a little harder) than you. Put on a new prop and threw it right back in the air and kept on flying.

It Looks like it's flying pretty good for you. Nice job on the video too.

Thanks. Its a quick little plane, especially for me.

 

[SP0NZ]

Thanks. Its a quick little plane, especially for me.

It certainly can be. I was kind of surprised by how much I could get it to slow down and still fly good though. It definitely does not float as nicely as the Bloody Baron, but I was flying it pretty well between 1/3 and 1/2 throttle on a 2s.

 

[SP0NZ]

A little bit more progress on "Baby Red" today...

 

[SP0NZ]

It's mini me...

 

[ruud]

Flew the Baby Baron on 3S today. OMG what a rush. The rolls are just a blur.

 

[Darneto]

Sweet build, can't wait to see the plans, I did a baby blender which I call the infant, 14 1/2 wing span

Still work in progress first build did not work so well to big of a fuselage,

 

[SP0NZ]

Flew the Baby Baron on 3S today. OMG what a rush. The rolls are just a blur.

Too cool. You are a braver man than I am. Still flying on 2s and I can barely keep orientation rolling it.

 

[SP0NZ]

Sweet build, can't wait to see the plans, I did a baby blender which I call the infant, 14 1/2 wing span

Still work in progress first build did not work so well to big of a fuselage,

That is really cool. Report back and let us know how she flies. Are you making plans?

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[mad_milchmann]

Sweet build, can't wait to see the plans, I did a baby blender which I call the infant, 14 1/2 wing span

Still work in progress first build did not work so well to big of a fuselage,

I've built a 60% Baby Blender quite a while ago, but never had the chance to fly it yet. There was always something that kept me from it somehow. But seeing yours reminds me that it is really time to do so


but back to the baby baron:
flew it again today. the CoG was about right now with the Droptank. It flies really nice, although I wish I had used a prop saver, I destroyed 6 props today due to the roughness of the field where I landed.

What I learned today: NEVER fly it with a clockwise spinning prop if you use the standard right angled motor-mount. I tried it, since I had just one CW 6" prop left, and the plane flew like I was totally drunk...

I had to switch to 5x3 Props after that, which work also quite well on 3S, obviously less fast and powerful, but still enugh to keep her in the air and keep you busy.
If you don't want to do anything high speed those props are well enough but more than relaxed backyard flying and some carefull aerobatics won't work I guess (never tried anything crazy on 5x3).

Also the Velcro Idea for fastening the wings was abandoned. It was strong enough to hold the wings in place but they where a bit wobbly and also the velcro always ripped pieces out of the plane... velcro and glue were strong enough but the lamination of the paper to the foam wasn't.
Maybe there's the perfect balance between enough velcro to hold the wings firm enough and less enough velcro to destroy nothing when taken apart, but the way to find out is too long and tedious for me if there is a simple enough solution with rubberbands.