Complete newbie here, need some help, tips, and advice please.
- Thread starter Txwarthog
- Start date
mayan
Legendary member
According to the FT site it should weigh 6.8 oz when fully assembled without battery, so 3oz should fly. My suggestion is load the prop and turn on the throttle to full power you should feel a drag sort of a pull force that the plane wants to pull out of your hand. If it feels like a strong pull feeling, meaning that you feel that if you let go the plane will fly than you’ll be fine. At least that’s how it was for me.
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buzzbomb
I know nothing!
Heck, yeah! That's both absolutely awesome and completely hilarious at the same time! It looks so close to taking off in the gifs. That's amazing.
So a couple of things going on here in the last few days.
First off shout out to @d8veh. Great instructions for a glide test.
@Txwarthog you mentioned you are not sure if you are doing this right. At this point you have totally destroyed your first Tiny Trainer. You have tested balance and control directions and have glide tested this plane to a 'fare thee well'. Your frustration level is just below the limits of what you can take and you have 5-10 people reading and pitching in to help.
I would say you are doing EXACTLY what is needed to get into the air. Everyone goes through this. Pilots are the ones who stick it out.
Here's a hint. Most people who quit, do so within sight of their goal. You will never be closer to quitting than just before you win.
Never mind the bent plane and the foam bits. No one's first Tiny Trainer is straight. All of these models eventually end up in a bag with the electronics torn out for future use.
The model doesn't matter. It never did.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Churchill
This is what you came to FliteTest to learn.
I say you are doing great! Keep it up!
First off shout out to @d8veh. Great instructions for a glide test.
@Txwarthog you mentioned you are not sure if you are doing this right. At this point you have totally destroyed your first Tiny Trainer. You have tested balance and control directions and have glide tested this plane to a 'fare thee well'. Your frustration level is just below the limits of what you can take and you have 5-10 people reading and pitching in to help.
I would say you are doing EXACTLY what is needed to get into the air. Everyone goes through this. Pilots are the ones who stick it out.
Here's a hint. Most people who quit, do so within sight of their goal. You will never be closer to quitting than just before you win.
Never mind the bent plane and the foam bits. No one's first Tiny Trainer is straight. All of these models eventually end up in a bag with the electronics torn out for future use.
The model doesn't matter. It never did.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Churchill
This is what you came to FliteTest to learn.
I say you are doing great! Keep it up!
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buzzbomb
I know nothing!
Wow. That was...inspirational. It wasn't even directed at me and you've made me more comfortable with my first (ugly and getting uglier) build.
Tx, THAT's what I'm talking about, man! We can do this!
buzzbomb
I know nothing!
I do not want to steal this thread. You've got help us out though, with a link to the thread you are mentioning.
Hai-Lee
Old and Bold RC PILOT
You will learn to build and fly as long as you keep at it and do not give up.
If you need advice or the like just let us know what you would like to know!
We are more than willing to give what assistance and information we can as long as we know what you need to know or understand. A few years ago I struggled to get the hang of flying RC but now I teach people to fly. I also build and repair for others who are unable to or those who are willing to pay for the service.
Flying a model is a matter of 3 things! They are practice, practice and more practice! Just like riding a bicycle at first it is difficult and you fall down a lot but with practice it becomes automatic!
have fun!
Tjhochha
Active member
If you can, I'd print off a set of the plans for your tiny trainer and the mighty mini. That way when you do damage your plane, you can just build a new part instead of buying a new kit and starting from scratch every time the damage gets too bad to repair. From the looks of it, you've spent as much time repairing as it would have taken to cut a new fuselage out of dollar tree foam board and build a new one. Watch your glue usage, like the build videos say, more is not always better, use just enough to bond the pieces together. Do your best to keep it light, use your battery location to balance the CG rather than adding weight.
I only started three weeks ago but I've already built 2 planes, I have completely redesigned and rebuilt the fuselage of the corsair the CG was way too far back, due to scaling issues and excess glue. Initially I corrected the CG with nose weight but it really was not good in the air, too slow and almost no ability to climb.
Keep at it, and as others have said, make sure the transmitter and receiver are on and trimmed before trying to glide test it. I may be wrong but, maybe find an area with very tall weeds to glide test it in, I have gotten very lucky quite a few times because of the tall grass/weeds where I fly. I would be on my 4th plane if I had been flying in a nicely mowed field. The tall grass is pretty good at cushioning the "landing".
In watching your videos, I think you're throwing it too hard, it should take just a moderate toss following the diagram d8veh posted to check for trim. The way I did it was probably not the best way to go about it, but I checked my wing and tail surfaces to make sure they were parallel did one glide toss to make sure it was reasonably trimmed and then flew it. It was only about 3 minutes before I crashed but I didn't have any more damage than you have on your glide tests, mostly because of the tall grass.
I'm lucky enough to have 20 acres of empty space behind my house so when I crash, I run back in the house and glue it back together. You could get an inverter for a car and have a hot glue gun handy when you go to the field to fly to make minor field repairs, or have packing tape ready.
I only started three weeks ago but I've already built 2 planes, I have completely redesigned and rebuilt the fuselage of the corsair the CG was way too far back, due to scaling issues and excess glue. Initially I corrected the CG with nose weight but it really was not good in the air, too slow and almost no ability to climb.
Keep at it, and as others have said, make sure the transmitter and receiver are on and trimmed before trying to glide test it. I may be wrong but, maybe find an area with very tall weeds to glide test it in, I have gotten very lucky quite a few times because of the tall grass/weeds where I fly. I would be on my 4th plane if I had been flying in a nicely mowed field. The tall grass is pretty good at cushioning the "landing".
In watching your videos, I think you're throwing it too hard, it should take just a moderate toss following the diagram d8veh posted to check for trim. The way I did it was probably not the best way to go about it, but I checked my wing and tail surfaces to make sure they were parallel did one glide toss to make sure it was reasonably trimmed and then flew it. It was only about 3 minutes before I crashed but I didn't have any more damage than you have on your glide tests, mostly because of the tall grass.
I'm lucky enough to have 20 acres of empty space behind my house so when I crash, I run back in the house and glue it back together. You could get an inverter for a car and have a hot glue gun handy when you go to the field to fly to make minor field repairs, or have packing tape ready.
Txwarthog
Active member
Thanks everyone. I think I should have started off with 2 planes for how much they cost. At least a trip to the park won't be a one and done, that was the most disheartening I guess. We have had some pretty good weather (rain and wind) here in Dallas. I probably need to take a little break any how. The new plane, props, and battery should be here Thursday or Friday.
There are the guts of the plane. Looks like I'll have to rebuild the power pod. Ill use the other 2 servos for the new build. I've tossed around the old plan. Adjustments and counter waits still seem to be needed. If I don't get video of that tonight I will tomorrow.
There are the guts of the plane. Looks like I'll have to rebuild the power pod. Ill use the other 2 servos for the new build. I've tossed around the old plan. Adjustments and counter waits still seem to be needed. If I don't get video of that tonight I will tomorrow.
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mayan
Legendary member
As for as I know it has nothing to do with the shape of the tail because ailerons are ailerons no matter what tail the are on. But still I’ll be waiting for more feedback because I also have a DX4e transmitter.
Tjhochha
Active member
I think it would require some sort of special setup because the v tail will act as both the elevator and rudder. If you move the right stick left/right the both halves will shift to the left or right together to rotate the plane, if you move the right stick up or down, both sides will move opposite directions left and right or right and left to move the tail up or down. If that makes any sense.
opposite of an elevon where they move opposite to bank for turning and together when controlling the pitch.
mayan
Legendary member
As far as I know you connect the one servo to elevator and the other to aileron channel and then turn on the mix option on the transmitter, simple as that. Hope that makes sense. Will try to post a video of it soon with my Versa Wing should be the same setup.
Hai-Lee
Old and Bold RC PILOT
It appears that the DX4e only supports elevon mixing, (Elevator and aileron). though if your "V" tail is for 3 channel operation only then the aileron channel can be used as the turn, (rudder) and so a "V" tail can be implemented.
If the plane is a 4 channel model then you may need to use an external "V" tail mixer. They are very cheap but they do require you to limit the range of control input. Simply if 50% of rudder is mixed with 50% of elevator the servo will give 100% of travel. Unfortunately if you already have 100% of elevator then adding rudder will not make the servo go beyond its existing position of 100%. It can lead to control confusion to the inexperienced. Set low rate for alevator and rudder of using an external mixer!
have fun!
Txwarthog
Active member
This is where I'm at right now. I'm doing Velcro in the nose to manage counter weight. Taking a little break before I work on the sevos, and see if I can even make this thing work. It's going to rain here for a few days. Once I get the sevos done I'll post a gif and see if it's worth making a power pod at that point.
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Txwarthog
Active member
Tjhochha
Active member
I think you’re reversed on both axis’s. When you push up, the rear surfaces should go down. When you go left they should go to the right when the plane is coming at you like you have it sitting there.
This build is looking really good. Keep it up!
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