Building an FT Tutor from SBK advice

[SSgt Duramax]

Is this more thread hijacking or just trolling?

No apologies.

Its hard to tell. Eventually someone will have to be the adult and get it back on track.

Not it.

 

[Ligbaer]

Its hard to tell. Eventually someone will have to be the adult and get it back on track.

Not it.

not it

 

[Monte.C]

Its hard to tell. Eventually someone will have to be the adult and get it back on track.

Not it.

Ooh. ♫ Somebody gonna get repooooorteddd ♬♩♯

That's ok, pick me. I'm generally the guy for that anyway.

 

[FlamingRCAirplanes]

Ooh. ♫ Somebody gonna get repooooorteddd ♬♩♯

That's ok, pick me. I'm generally the guy for that anyway.

Lordy have mercy. Your cat is wearing puke green glasses

 

[Monte.C]

Lordy have mercy. Your car is wearing puke green glasses

I haven't a clue what that means. I just searched "cars movie characters" and none of the cars is wearing green glasses.

 

[FlamingRCAirplanes]

I haven't a clue what that means. I just searched "cars movie characters" and none of the cars is wearing green glasses.

I meant “cat” sorry

 

[VTPete]

Hi guys. World’s dumbest question here: I received a couple of FT Tutor kits in the mail today. Are Josh’s videos the official built instructions? Or did I miss something? I’ve been building for years, but some of the laser cuts and resulting folds are no -obvious. I shouldn’t have a problem following along with the video, but wanted to make sure that’s the recommended approach.

 

[WillL84]

Hi guys. World’s dumbest question here: I received a couple of FT Tutor kits in the mail today. Are Josh’s videos the official built instructions? Or did I miss something? I’ve been building for years, but some of the laser cuts and resulting folds are no -obvious. I shouldn’t have a problem following along with the video, but wanted to make sure that’s the recommended approach.

Videos are it. Watch them all. Twice. I didn't bother with the single motor video when I did my Legacy because I went with twin motors. Yet there was a TON of basic stuff in the single motor video that they left out of the twin video. Really irritating. PDF instructions would be VERY helpful.

 

[Tench745]

Hi Everyone,

I don't want to high jack the thread. But I do have a question about the Tutor that I built. I have also put an Aura 5 board in the plane. I followed what Josh said about the servos and control horns. I have also put 125% in the transmitter for the throws. Josh had an earlier video about the Aura board and this is where the 125% came from. Here is my question. I have only about 10 degrees of throw. This seems low. What do you guys think ?

The reason you have to adjust the percentage has to do with how the rx talks to the servo and industry standards.
To summarize briefly for those who might not know, the Rx sends out a PWM (pulse-width-modulation) signal to each servo. This is a series of electrical pulses, one every so-many milliseconds, which the servo looks at to determine where it should move to. The shorter the time between pulses the servo moves one direction, and the longer the time, the servo moves the other.

At 100% throw, Spektrum radios put out pulse-width values of 1100-1900 milliseconds. At 100% throw, most other radios will output pulse-width values of 1000-2000. So if you have a flight controller looking at the PWM value, it will expect 1000ms to be minimum and 2000ms to be maximum, but a Spektrum radio set to 100% throw will never generate those values, so the flight controller will never output full control throw. If you bump the Spektrum outputs to 125% it will get to the 1000-2000ms values the flight controller is looking for.

 

[bearit]

Got the fuselage done tonight. Took my time and followed the build videos pretty well until I glued the bottom front piece on backwards. In a panic, instead of cutting it anyway... I removed it and scratch built one with some foam board my wife had left over from a dungeons and dragons project... I was very down when I realized what I had done at first, but I'm hind sight, it's the first time I've made a scratch build replacement part...and I kinda enjoyed the challenge

the more you do it the easier it gets

 

[VTPete]

Videos are it. Watch them all. Twice. I didn't bother with the single motor video when I did my Legacy because I went with twin motors. Yet there was a TON of basic stuff in the single motor video that they left out of the twin video. Really irritating. PDF instructions would be VERY helpful.

I build the Tutor and it flew fantastic. About 1/2 through the build I thought to myself, "Oh, I get it." I ordered a Simple Stick and plan on building some for friends.

 

[VTPete]

Ok, I *do* have one last question. The FT flat pack came with a piece of wood, roughly the size of an 12" ruler. What the heck is that for?

 

[Aslansmonkey]

Ok, I *do* have one last question. The FT flat pack came with a piece of wood, roughly the size of an 12" ruler. What the heck is that for?

That's in case your kids are unruly.

Seriously though, those flat packs are generic and are used for multiple kits. In some of those kits that piece of wood is used for landing gear supports in the wings (the FT PT-40 comes to mind). Hang on to it, it may come in handy in scratch builds.

It's not used in the Tutor. You didn't miss anything.

 

[WillL84]

Ok, I *do* have one last question. The FT flat pack came with a piece of wood, roughly the size of an 12" ruler. What the heck is that for?

I had 4 of them, about 8-9" long lol.

 

[VTPete]

Here's an interesting tidbit - I'm curious to get people's opinions.
Yesterday I went to Staples.com and uploaded some full-sized plans to have them print using their cheapest "blueprint" settings. (Less than $10 for three full size pages.) While I was there, an employee was laminating a printed poster on foam board and I started to chat about it. They use a heat shrink plastic coating on the foam board. It's very thin and relatively lightweight. The guy gave me a whole bunch of trimmings (large enough for controls surfaces, etc.) and then gave me an entire 3x4 sheet that was entirely coated. (It was a mistake - they forgot to add the design first!) While the plastic wrap will likely not glue well - and it will likely add some weight, the added strength is tremendous and hey, it might take Krylon paint and produce a mirror-like finish.
Anyone try this? I know people use polyurethane coatings sometimes.

 

[Hondo76251]

Here's an interesting tidbit - I'm curious to get people's opinions.
Yesterday I went to Staples.com and uploaded some full-sized plans to have them print using their cheapest "blueprint" settings. (Less than $10 for three full size pages.) While I was there, an employee was laminating a printed poster on foam board and I started to chat about it. They use a heat shrink plastic coating on the foam board. It's very thin and relatively lightweight. The guy gave me a whole bunch of trimmings (large enough for controls surfaces, etc.) and then gave me an entire 3x4 sheet that was entirely coated. (It was a mistake - they forgot to add the design first!) While the plastic wrap will likely not glue well - and it will likely add some weight, the added strength is tremendous and hey, it might take Krylon paint and produce a mirror-like finish.
Anyone try this? I know people use polyurethane coatings sometimes.

Dont see why it wouldn't work. Ive used doculam a time or two and it works well.

 

[Piotrsko]

Hmmm instant rasterized skins in color, ready to cut out, but pricey.....