Cruisin for Bruisin

[Theuglycamel]

Hello again!
Got another project going now since the golden goose was laid to rest. I know I'm repeating from another thread but I just wanted to start a new one for these builds. I'm about 90% done with my daughters mini cruiser. I'm running flysky electronics with emax 2204 2300kv motors on blheli escs. Just need to get the servos wired up and she'll be ready for air. I've sealed the edges of the foam with hot glue like usual, but I'm not going to try and seal this one up like I did the others. Trying to keep this one as light as I can get it. We acutally used my daughters new mini glue gun and some glitter glue sticks to do the sealing. Didn't turn out quite as glittery as I'd hoped, but she had fun gobbing it on lol.
For a flying buddy, I'm going to start on the big cruiser tonight or tomorrow. I'm going to use the iPower 2212s 1000kvs I had in the golden goose originally. I've always been impressed with these motors and I should be MUCH lighter than the goose was. (see: cooked goose lol). I'll be running a flysky receiver and simonk escs. I'm considering using this one as my first test of fiberglass resin for sealing up the foam. I know it'll add weight but I should be well within the margins. Besides, fiberglass is MUCH more dramatic during a crash lol.
I'll keep posting updates and we make progress.

 

[mrjdstewart]

2204's are gonna be a beast on that plane. i use 1808's w a 12A esc and it is plenty quick enough. if this is actually for your daughter to fly you may want to rethink your plan. just my $.02 worth.

good luck,

me

 

[Theuglycamel]

I hear ya there, and it's a product of necessity. I've got 4 of these emaxes laying in a box and only one hubsan 1806 left. As long as she'll still carry a decent stall speed, I'll just mount some gimbal limiters.

And of course, just like fishing poles, if she don't like it, I'll take it lol.

 

[mrjdstewart]

i understand.

is that my canopy that you downloaded? looks very similar.

good luck,

me

 

[Theuglycamel]

Alas, no. I haven't broke down and bought a printer yet. It's on my christmas list though. That's actually a plastic easter egg sliced in half... took me 3 eggs to figure out how to cut them even but this one turned out ok... (razor saw and sandpaper)

 

[Theuglycamel]

Well yesterday was a phenomenon here. 65 degrees and no wind whatsoever. Kiddos and I had a great 3 hour run with our UMX sport cubs and the new cruiser. I apologize for the terrible video, as I didn't have a cameraman I had to cut the one good flyby out of 10 min of a lone oak tree movie. I was testing the setup on 3s and I do have to say it screams! I had a 600 mah in it so the flight time was low but it floated very well with the reduced weight. I think I'm still a little heavy with the receiver and 9g servos for the ele/rud, but I did stick with 5gs in the wings. I do have a complaint about this design that I'm still having issues with. The elevator is VERY weak on the port side. By design, the two elevator halves narrow where the rudder overlaps. I added a 2mm carbon spar across the two halves to add some strength, but I still noticed the tendency to "whale over" when applying elevator. It's very pronounced in a loop. At first it was so bad that a loop turned into a wing-over-flop-u-turn. Looked really cool but puckered you up at the same time. I added another 5mm carbon spar that I epoxied down in the foam between the elevator halves. It definitely improved the rolling but I'm still not happy with it yet. I'm also going to be moving the push-rod up above the elevator and flipping the horn on the other side. This will reverse the push/pull so I'm pulling for up elevator and pushing for down. I definitely noticed with the 3s that it got very mushy under stress. Other than that, its a gorgeous flying plane. It doesn't like to roll very well and it definitely will belly over if you let your speed drop too much. I mixed some rudder in with the ailerons (I'm not using differential thrust) and my daughter had a pretty fair experience doing figure 8s. I don't have my buddy box setup yet so I had to hover over her quite a bit but it was a blast nonetheless.
I do want to brag on my landing gear which I think turned out great. I bought some old servo retracts and removed the pull lever and lock. Now the gear swings freely and can either be pinned back with tape for belly landings or pulled forward with hair-bands. This also gives the gear some give without being too sloppy. You can add resistance with more bands or simply pull them back out of your way if you're in a grassy field. I braced them up with balsa stock and hot-glue.
My last bit here, I tried making my firewalls from basswood and epoxy. I strongly suggest either using good ply or simply buying the mini power pod firewalls from FT. I spent more time and frustration getting the motors centered than it was ever worth (and I'm still not happy with them). That's all for now, I'll post pics of the landing gear tonight.

 

[Sero]

My last bit here, I tried making my firewalls from basswood and epoxy. I strongly suggest either using good ply or simply buying the mini power pod firewalls from FT. I spent more time and frustration getting the motors centered than it was ever worth (and I'm still not happy with them). That's all for now, I'll post pics of the landing gear tonight.

How fun! Love when kids get involved.

Basswood is good for wing spars or structures similar to that, but it will crack easily under certain loads like a firewall as you have seen.

I use thick plastic for firewalls. I went to Walmart and found a square plastic garbage can for a few dollars, probably make 50 firewalls with it.

 

[Theuglycamel]

Funny you say that, I actually had some thick shower wall material I was going to make these out of. I haven't had any cracking yet, but the grain on basswood makes it miserable to sculpt (at least the stock I have is). I've noticed that Guillows uses vynal firewalls now vs the old warped ply. Might just have to give plastic a shot next time.

 

[kdobson83]

Funny you say that, I actually had some thick shower wall material I was going to make these out of. I haven't had any cracking yet, but the grain on basswood makes it miserable to sculpt (at least the stock I have is). I've noticed that Guillows uses vynal firewalls now vs the old warped ply. Might just have to give plastic a shot next time.

Want another hobby that will also fix your firewall problem? 3D Printing! Get yourself a cheap begginer 3D printer like the Creality Ender 3 and print your own firewalls, and unlimited other things, like control horns, wall hangers, canopy's, engine exausts (for looks), and all kinds of stuff. The Ender 3 is $200 roughly. It's a great hobby that your kids can get into as well. The options are endless with 3D printing!!!! 😉

 

[Theuglycamel]

Want another hobby that will also fix your firewall problem? 3D Printing! Get yourself a cheap begginer 3D printer like the Creality Ender 3 and print your own firewalls, and unlimited other things, like control horns, wall hangers, canopy's, engine exausts (for looks), and all kinds of stuff. The Ender 3 is $200 roughly. It's a great hobby that your kids can get into as well. The options are endless with 3D printing!!!! 😉

On my list! Too bad Christmas is half a year away lol.

 

[Hondo76251]

Awesome!

Always fun to bring the kiddos into the hobby and have a great family experience!

I'm a plane nerd and a big fan of the DH .88 and the FT Cruiser is one of my favorite flitetest builds.

its fun to see someone else enjoying theirs as much as I have mine! This old girl is getting near retirement, more glue and tape than airframe now! Want to get a few videos it before its laid to rest. I dont think I can be without a large DH.88 in the fleet so ive been toying with a lot of ideas how to improve the design and make it a bit more scale...

Loved your landing gear, what a neat idea!

 

[Theuglycamel]

That's awesome Hondo! I've got the plans ready for a full size cruiser that I had planned to paint up like "Black Magic" from the MacRobertson Air Race. After flying this mini I'm gonna have to put his at the top of my list this year.
I'll post some pics on that gear as soon as I get home. Just ignore the grass stains and bloated nose... Touch-n-goes don't work in hay fields lol.

 

[Hondo76251]

I was thinking black on the next one too...

I can sympathise with the hay field landings! Lol I dont have to travel to fly unless I want to, but even then, just storing the larger FT Cruiser is a challenge in a small area. My next one will have a longer, more DH.88 shaped wing and its definitely going to be removable! (Probably just past the nacelles)

I think my little home made ultra micro comet will have to be the red one... I'll probably do one more final perfected design before she goes to paint though...

 

[Theuglycamel]

I can for sure see removable wings being a blessing. I've got a fairly nice hangar and I don't ever travel with my planes, but I've caused almost as much damage with hangar rash than I have plowing into the ground at Mach OMG.
UMX cruiser.... now you've got my wheels spinning!!!

 

[Theuglycamel]

Well here's that landing gear I was bragging about. I know it's globbed up pretty good but it holds. In hindsight I'd have set another bbq skewer aft so I could pin down the gear retracted. I haven't had a good test with it yet, but it scoots around the driveway without a hitch. I was afraid I didn't have enough elastic to hold them upright but I want to make sure they give in a hard landing (we have WAY more of those than the smooth ones). I got some new 6030s I want to try on it too, but the wind wasn't agreeing yesterday. Maybe this afternoon I can try them out. I had some triple 5040s on it and she screamed like a banshee. They were plenty strong but I'm rough on triples. I'm hoping I can get a brake set with these and cut down on some prop changes. Or I'll just man up and run with the gear down. Anyhow... here she is, in all her grass-stained glory!

 

[Hondo76251]

Like the gear!

Get a chance to test her out yet? (and maybe a video? )

The FT Cruiser style sure lends itself well to a retractable gear set... got me thinking

Grass stains are rarely the problem, its the road rash that I worry about!

 

[Theuglycamel]

Like the gear!

Get a chance to test her out yet? (and maybe a video? )

The FT Cruiser style sure lends itself well to a retractable gear set... got me thinking

Grass stains are rarely the problem, its the road rash that I worry about!

Yes I did, but alas I've yet to get a good video. The last 3 days have been WAY too windy with this storm rolling in. Might get a chance tomorrow if it's not too awful wet in the afternoon.

I was actually thinking the same thing with the full size cruiser I've got planned. Don't know if these servoless retracts I have are quite big enough though... Might just have to make some longer legs for them...

I really like how it handles in the air, and my daughter even got a go with it for a few laps. I've got a bit of rudder mixed in the ailerons and no differential thrust. Makes it a breeze for her until she looks down at her thumbs lol. She's getting way better though.

I was fighting some flex in the elevator causing it to pitch over in a loop but I think I've got that carboned up well enough now. Wish it rolled a little better, and I'm actually thinking about playing with the throws a bit. But to be honest, it very well could be my thrust angles (and yes there are multiple). I noticed it's almost impossible to fly inverted and you really have to work the elevator when speeding up/down. I think when I get to 180 degrees into a roll the thrust angle is driving me straight down. I'm probably running way more up trim than I need due to this too. I just got some plywood firewalls in today so I'm going to slap some new power pods on after supper. I didn't do a very good job with my basswood firewall (obviously) and I've actually got one motor hanging about 2mm lower than the other. I need to pull them anyway since my motors are backward. Hasn't been a problem yet but I'm just one hard punch from loosing a spinner.

One last thing I want to complain about are these Gemfan 6030 props I just bought. I'm suspecting they're knock-offs as they are all WAY out of balance and I actually had one disintegrate on me simply due to the harmonics it was creating (and being paper thin). I'm definitely putting this is the "Daddy Only" pile as I don't trust them after that. I've tested three other props and they all have varying degrees of howl. What really makes me mad is they pull like a champ... Oh well, kiddos can run my purple trips and I'll balance these and run them when they're not in the field with me. I've been very happy with these 2204s. They didn't seem to add too much weight and you can slow her way down still. Anyhow, my CAP 232 is done, the Cruiser is done and tuned, and my workbench is clean...

Big Cruiser... or Guinea Mk3....

 

[Hondo76251]

Big Cruiser... or Guinea Mk3....

Hate to be too predictable... But FT Cruiser all the way! Lol

My "cargo plane" is the Sea Duck, never built a guinea... Done a few drops with it but the cruiser was still my favorite, I have 3 separate "bomb release" pods on her... Endless fun!

 

[Theuglycamel]

I think you're right. I've rebuilt this Guinea twice now anyway. Besides, that black with gold trim keeps singing to me. Especially with this black core foam board I've got!
I might have to think of a nose job to get closer to the 88.

What's that motor/prop combo you're running Hondo?

 

[Hondo76251]

I'm going to do something along the lines of how the ft corsair is built for my next 88, keeping it simple but being much more scale than my old Ft Cruiser its replacing in my squadron... But I'm keeping the bomb releases!

I have the 2215-10 grand turbo e max from the old flitetest c pack still in it. I ran the 10x4.5 slow fly props at first but, especially as the repairs kept adding weight, slow fly isn't what the cruiser is for. I've run quite a few different props now but I think I settled on liking something in the 9x6 department. Although I never felt that it was underpowered,(think those motors do about 1,200g of thrust on 3s) I'm going 4s on most everything these days so the next one will have something appropriate for that... Even if I were to do another speed build I'd go with a good 4s motor...