Balsa Baby Baron
- Thread starter Jackson T
- Start date
Jackson T
Elite member
I finished the removable rudder mechanism today! There are two slots in the horizontal stab for the rudder keys to slide into, with little pieces of balsa either side to make sure the rudder stays at 90 degrees to the horizontal stabilizer. A small piece of pushrod then slides into the rudder key to hold it in.
Paracodespoder
Elite member
Any updates on this? I’ve built a baby Brit from foamboard and I loved it, I think that I would like one of these though😉.
Jackson T
Elite member
Sorry for the long time away from this project. I gave my dx4e transmitter to a friend the day my upgrade (OrangeRX TX6I) went out of stock for a few weeks, so I haven't been able to do any servo stuff until now 
. I've got the aileron servo glued in and sorted, and the tail servos have been cut out for but not glued in yet. When I put the battery on the powerpod like most of the swappables, it's very nose heavy, but if I put the battery behind the powerpod, it's very tail heavy! Any suggestions? I also haven't even thought about where all the electronics are going to go, so if anyone has any thoughts please share them
Here's a couple pics:
. I've got the aileron servo glued in and sorted, and the tail servos have been cut out for but not glued in yet. When I put the battery on the powerpod like most of the swappables, it's very nose heavy, but if I put the battery behind the powerpod, it's very tail heavy! Any suggestions? I also haven't even thought about where all the electronics are going to go, so if anyone has any thoughts please share them Here's a couple pics:
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TooJung2Die
Master member
I'm not a fan of power pods since the first Tiny Trainer for reasons like you just described. You could eliminate the pod and glue a firewall into the fuselage. The Balsa Baby Baron (B cubed) looks great.
nhk750
Aviation Enthusiast
Put the battery in the pod as normal, then put your ESC and radio as far back as possible and you should be good. If you can mount the radio in the tail, as far as possible, that would help and also makes for great reception. That's what I did on my Hog Bipe and it worked great.
Jackson T
Elite member
Thanks! I originally used the powerpod so I could do the swappable thing and fly other planes, but I don't have any other planes currently that need down and right thrust, so I probably could just glue a firewall in. That would give me heaps more room to mount everything where it needs to be as well. I really need to find a nickname for this plane!
I want to keep this powerpod normal so I can use it for other planes in the future. I could trim it down about an inch, just behind the rear BBQ skewer hole, but it probably wouldn't shift the CG enough.
Neither can I !!!
The plane is relatively short coupled, and it was either very nose heavy or very tail heavy because I'm using an 800mah 3s, so I don't think the receiver and ESC (12A) will balance it.
TooJung2Die
Master member
How about the "Brittle Balsa Baby Baron"? Kinda rolls off the tongue.
Paracodespoder
Elite member
I can agree with this to a certain degree, I’ve found that if you build it properly it can be stronger than foam. But for people like me who haven’t built much with balsa, it can be frustrating to have to keep fixing a part that needed fiberglass, but you didn’t want to so you didnt. Just so you know, I definitely didn’t do that with my bug sal glider’s fuselage!
Jackson T
Elite member
I glued the firewall in today.
I still don't know where everything is going, but with a simple firewall glued in instead of the power pod, At least I have options. By the way, I have just upgraded from a spektrum dx4e transmitter and spektrum receiver to an orangerx tx6i with an orangerx r615x receiver, and I've lost signal and crashed three times in like 7 flights! Has anyone else had this issue?
I still don't know where everything is going, but with a simple firewall glued in instead of the power pod, At least I have options. By the way, I have just upgraded from a spektrum dx4e transmitter and spektrum receiver to an orangerx tx6i with an orangerx r615x receiver, and I've lost signal and crashed three times in like 7 flights! Has anyone else had this issue?
TooJung2Die
Master member
Are there any steel or carbon fiber control rods running alongside the antenna? Those can be signal suckers.
Range test with the Rx installed in the plane.
I might also suggest, as an extreme measure, to confirm that your range test function is working (keep walking until the signal fails to communicate with the plane and then turn off the range check and confirm that the plane is now receiving signal). The reason I say this is that on the older Tx6 (DSM2 only) I discovered while trying to trouble shoot my dx6i that the range test function on the Tx6 did not work. Using a crude 2.4ghz signal strength circuit I could easily see the drop in signal from the dx6i when in range check mode but not from the Tx6. This was probably a firmware issue and may not have been fixed on the Tx6i
Jackson T
Elite member
It is in an FT Goblin, so no carbon fibre. Before the Goblin it was in an FT Arrow, which it lost signal in too. Each time it loses signal it isn't at the furthest point from me, like one time I flew out really far from myself, then when I was more than half way home it lost signal! The funny thing is I have flown it in the Goblin and my scratch built powered balsa glider successfully with very good range!
Ok, I"ll do that!
Jackson T
Elite member
I flew my powered FPV balsa glider yesterday, when my dodgy radio gear cut out again. This happened.
So, the maiden probably won't happen for a little while until I sort this out properly.
So, the maiden probably won't happen for a little while until I sort this out properly.
Paracodespoder
Elite member
Ouchhh! That hurts just looking at it. What radio are you using? Sounds like you need you need a new one. Good luck getting that fixed, might take awhile , I’m sure you’ll do it though.
, I’m sure you’ll do it though.
