Baby Bugatti

[Mid7night]

I second the caution to flying the Baby Bugatti as a (re)starter plane. It's easy to build, but it's definitely an intermediate and above plane to fly. Keep the plans though! When you're comfortable flying again, it's a really fun little plane.

I would suggest getting the Simple Cub speed build kit and power pack - it's also a simple build, and is more stable and forgiving than the smaller mini planes.

Welcome back to the hobby!

 

[med4life]

i would caution this as a first airplane. it is not easy nor forgiving. it seems counter intuitive but bigger is easier, smaller is harder and less forgiving.

if you really want to get the kid involved and be successful, go to the flite test store and buy the mini-scout speed build kit ($15) and start there. it is a simple build and easy to fly. once you get some building skills and a little flight time on the sticks, then build the baby B. i would also highly recommend a flight sim, Phoenix 5.5 is what i have and it allows you to import many of the FT models. best, cheapest, safest way to learn to fly.

as for the plans, just print, then tape to foam board, then cut. pretty straight forward. make sure you do your score cuts first, then cut out the edges. make sure your printer is set to 100% scale or things will be off.

good luck,

jason

thanks jason and mid7night for the advice and info jumping on flight tested to order the mini-scout now

 

[mrjdstewart]

make sure to check out the build thread here in the swappable section. there are few tricks that make the scout even easier to build.

good luck,

jason

 

[JakeTheSloth]

I'm using small portions of polymer glue to temporary attach plans to foam, I'm making cuts along lines, I mark fold lines by puncturing foam through plans and then marking them with pen. When I'm done I simply carefully rip off plans from foam, so I won't damage them, because it's good to have them for rebuild. Some people use pins to fasten plans to foam, but I don't like it because plans are still moving and pins make awful looking holes in foam.
I triple the caution - don't go for bugatti as your first plane, also - don't buy cheapest R/C Rx, go for FlySky FS-i6 at least, it's comparatively cheap yet it has mixers, expo setting and throw trims, that will be vital to fly fast and small planes like BB, mini Mustang or Baby Baron. When you master Scout go for MM FT-22. It's very easy and fast to make and it'll teach you how to fly planes with ailerons. Another advantage of this plane is pusher motor - it'll protect motor and props from damage and also will be more safe to fly, because if you hit someone you won't cut him
Sorry in advantage for any mistakes, English isn't my primary language.

 

[rockyboy]

Jake, your English is great - as is the advice. I agree with all of it.

 

[Michael9865]

so i have been watching flight tested for some time now and used to fly as a kid. now i have a 6 year old boy and would like to get into flying. so i saw the vlog of the baby bugatti that mid7night made and thought to my self this would be an easy build to get him into the hobby so i downloaded the pdf and printed it all out on paper but i'm not sure how to transfer it to foam board so i can cut it out. dont know if this is the right place to post this but i thought it pertained to the baby bugatti i thought i would post it here. but any help or if there is a video on youtube showing this it would help me out tremendously thanks all.

+1 to the advice and tips you have been given. Also welcome to the forums. I also took a break from the hobby for a while and am now back and having a blast thanks to Flite Test.

 

[JakeTheSloth]

I'm glad to hear (or more like read, heh) that rockyboy
midnight what 2s batteries are you using to get 4s setup? I could use a link or specs. Btw I guess 12A esc won't be enough to work with 4s setup, so many things to buy, so little spare cash :/
These bloody trees grow so fast haha. Time for BB Mk.II

 

[Mid7night]

I'm glad to hear (or more like read, heh) that rockyboy
midnight what 2s batteries are you using to get 4s setup? I could use a link or specs. Btw I guess 12A esc won't be enough to work with 4s setup, so many things to buy, so little spare cash :/

I actually DO just use the 12A ESC with 4s ... just don't run full throttle the whole time.

To get a 4s setup in there, I use two 500mAh Zippy Compact, but all 3 varieties on HK are sold out right now:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-compact-500mah-2s-25c-lipo-pack.html

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-compact-500mah-2s-35c-lipo-pack.html

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-flightmax-500mah-2s1p-20c.html


Just make sure you prop down a bit, or just don't run full-throttle 100% of the time.

 

[JakeTheSloth]

Cool, I think that I just hit a jackpot - I ordered 2 Gens lipo's 520mAh 30C/60C that weigh less than zippy's and I paid 5$ for each 4s lipo's are very expensive, thanks to you I found a way to make cheap skyrocket (don't mistake with XF5F). Aaaand I picked 20A esc - better safe than sorry

 

[BenjiFPV]

So after seeing this featured on FT i decided to bite the bullet and have a go at building it. Now this is my first ever scratch built plane, I've been flying for about 15 years on and off and always had artf's and one FT Racer kit so it was a big step for me.

The build went pretty well although i did struggle to make all the electronics fit and made a couple of rookie mistakes during the build process but eventually i got it complete.

The maiden was today and as you can see from the pictures it didnt go too well. It took off and seemed to appear tail heavy however i knew this wasn't the case as i had checked the CG and it was nose heavy. I guessed that i just hadn't planned for it to be quite as twitchy as it was and it ended up having a fast meeting with the ground nose first. Luckily all that seemed to break was the tail section and wing tip which both seem to be easily repairable.

I hope to have this little beast up and running again by the weekend lol.

Ohh and yes that is an FT Racer with the motor ripped out. I guess i pushed the throttle a little too hard today.

 

[Mid7night]

Another great attempt, keep at it! That's not a bad fix at all, you'll be flying tomorrow.

With all these rough maidens, I'm starting to wonder ... maybe this little bird needs to grow up a bit? I still LOVE the "baby" size, and there's already another member here doing a 700mm (27.6") span version, but maybe just growing it to 24" would help settle it down? Thoughts?

 

[willsonman]

I think a larger size would certainly help with the "twitch factor." The key here guys is to keep the rates pretty low and up the expo. I flew mine at 60% expo and was still on the edge of "stupid fun" and "stupid uncontrollable." Love the PINK!

 

[Allenhat]

It certainly wouldn't hurt giving it a try. I am game to build a 24" version and try it out.

The only reason I would keep it there original size is how well the parts fit a 11" x 17" sheet of paper for making skins.

 

[zklove06]

I like this.

 

[Mid7night]

I got the new (not so) Baby Bugatti finished last night and out to the field today. I scaled it up to have a 24" wingspan, which is about the biggest you can build and still fit all the pieces on just ONE sheet of foam. It's definitely not as twitchy, and there's lots more room inside the body for all the electronics, as well as a decent sized 2s or 3s battery.

I flew on a 1000mAh 3s today, and I tried two props: 5550 2-blade bullnose and 5x4x3. The 5550 bullnose was fast, but I think I was pushing my little 12A ESC into overtemp-protection territory - would probably be fine on a 20A ESC. My recommendation with this size Bugatti would probably be A-Pack or F-Pack to start, and then graduate to a B-Pack or your preferred setup after.

I like the top hatch on this version. Access to everything is much easier.

After flying, a couple of the guys at the field were really interested and admiring the little racer, and one guy had just crashed a maiden of his own...but before I could talk to him he just walked back to his car, bummed from the crash. I talked to his friend, pulled my Rx and ESC out and said "make sure he gets this". He offered to pay me, but that's not important. What's important is now I have to build another one!

 

[lawrenceyy]

It certainly wouldn't hurt giving it a try. I am game to build a 24" version and try it out.

The only reason I would keep it there original size is how well the parts fit a 11" x 17" sheet of paper for making skins.

If you are interested in building a larger Bugatti (700mm), take a look at my post. I've recently added the plans in a tiled format (8.5"x11").

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?36200-Baby-Bugatti-700m

 

[Mid7night]

Yes I've been following your 700mm version, it looks great!

My goal with the original Baby Bugatti was a 1-sheet build, so that was my only hard requirement for myself when scaling it up. A 24" span is about the max I could scale everything up to, and still fit all the pieces on just ONE sheet of foam.

I just made some updates and improvements tonight, so look for those to be posted here soon.

 

[lawrenceyy]

A 24" span is about the max I could scale everything up to, and still fit all the pieces on just ONE sheet of foam..

It's funny because I took the opposite approach. I scaled up the wing as large as I could (to some round percentage, which was ~140%) while still fitting on one sheet of foam board (I do have to reduce the foam board from 20" to 18" to fit the laser's bed). After tiling for 8.5"x11" paper, it's less efficient, but still fits on 2 sheets of foam board. My 700mm version is not so baby-sized anymore. I wanted it to handle well at low speeds since I like to do gentle landings (for the longevity of my foam planes).

 

[willsonman]

What ever shall I do with these 160% plans that I've printed?! Probably just go in the to-build pile with the rest of them.

 

[Mid7night]

What ever shall I do with these 160% plans that I've printed?! Probably just go in the to-build pile with the rest of them.

Build the "Teenager-Off-To-College" Bugatti, powered by the contra-motor he sto...ahem...BORROWED from his dad's firewall!