Complete newbie here, need some help, tips, and advice please.

mayan

Legendary member
Txwarthog your doing a great job. Making all the right checks even more than what I did on my first flight. Keep you the great work and remember don’t be afraid to try it’s the only way to succeed. I agree with cranialrectosis your plane will fly. Just dare to turn on the motor and let it cruise the sky :).
 

Txwarthog

Active member
Well this was my first flight.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
And only flight. Back to the drawing board. I do thank everyone for their encouragement it really does help.
 

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buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Ouch. That hurts man, but it looks like the expensive stuff is intact. I don't know for sure, but looks like the prop might be bent a little. Worth checking.

Otherwise, dude I have yet to fly and you have probably just shown me my first flight. The beauty of it, and my willingness to dive into it? It's foamboard! Build a partial front end, cut off the broken one, glue on the new one with some popsicle sticks for strength, balance the CG and then figure out what went wrong.

What? Did you think you were some kind of RC building and flying prodigy? Oh. Sorry. That's my dream. Whoops. No. Seriously. It is, and I know I'm not. Fun times ahead!

On a more serious note, keep at it. Everything I've read in this forum has shown me that there are people here who are willing to help. I haven't even built my first plane yet. I feel your pain. Keep at it. Rebuild it and make it better. Then FLY it!

On a side note, I just realized I've written my signature...
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Well this was my first flight.

Ahh bummer.

Like @buzzbomb says, rebuild, re-balance and figure out what went wrong. Get back on that horse and re-build ASAP. It's only foamboard. :)


Your flight looked to me like it ended due to a reversed elevator. When you pull back on the stick, the elevators should move up. If they move down, you get a nosedive. Did I miss that in the earlier gif?
 

d8veh

Elite member
Yes, It looked to me like you had either the rudder or elevator reversed, or both, or you just pulled the stick in completely the wrong direction.

Don't lose hope. I lost two planes completely before I ever go my first flight. My first was a glider, which I handed over to an experienced pilot to trim out. He insisted on using his own transmitter, but, of course, he didn't check servo directions, which we didn't find out until the glider was released from the bungee at about 100ft. What was most annoying was that it flew beautifully when he let go of the sticks, but he insisted on diving it into the ground at an enormous speed. The second was a Mini Super with an OS15 glow engine. There were no simulators in those days and I didn't trust anybody else to fly it after the previous incident. At full throttle, it was rather lively, and I was panicking so much that I forgot to reduce the throttle, so that one ended up as matchwood too. Moral of the story, don't forget to throttle back to something like half-way as soon as you have control of the plane after launch. It'll make it much more docile and easy to control.
 
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Chuppster

Well-known member
Ahh bummer.

Like @buzzbomb says, rebuild, re-balance and figure out what went wrong. Get back on that horse and re-build ASAP. It's only foamboard. :)


Your flight looked to me like it ended due to a reversed elevator. When you pull back on the stick, the elevators should move up. If they move down, you get a nosedive. Did I miss that in the earlier gif?

The gif that showed the sticks with the ele/rud had the elevator reversed. Defiantly switch that!
 

mayan

Legendary member
Could you post a video of your transmitter sticks moving while showing us the rudder and elevator movements?
 

d8veh

Elite member
Could you post a video of your transmitter sticks moving while showing us the rudder and elevator movements?
He's already done it in post #12. It shows the elevator reversed. It's a shame nobody noticed then!
 

Txwarthog

Active member
Trying to build a new power pod based off the old one. It didn't seem like I could fix the old one. I enforced the body, regluegd the servos. I'm not sure I started off with the best glue.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
Did I build this right? I just went off the old one. I think I need the pitch to the Right. Not worries about not catching my mistake. I had it right, then changed it. I over thought it.
 

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OGnapkin

Member
in the video, your elevator was moving in the wrong direction. when you pull back on the stick, the elevator should move up and when you push forward, the elevator should go down. also the rudder should be on the left stick not the right @Txwarthog
 

Txwarthog

Active member
If I rough it, the holes seem like they could be in a better place from the kit.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
I think I'll make a longer one the old one took a beating.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
I went longer on the power pod, I think I made it stronger. I can always cut it back.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
Power pack rebuilt. Thoughts? I think I'll have to level the top better. I heat shrink the wires where it touches the wood.
 

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Txwarthog

Active member
So my thought now is to take some kite string over the top of a goal post long enough the plain doesn't hit the ground, and attach it to the rubber bands and see what it does.
 

mayan

Legendary member
He's already done it in post #12. It shows the elevator reversed. It's a shame nobody noticed then!

My mad I missed that video. Well first thing you learn to understand when a plane takes such a dive off the lunch its many times reversed elevators.