Father/Son Build Team. First Plane (Build Log)
- Thread starter Cooley
- Start date
Cooley
Father/Son Team
Alright, with 20 minutes left in the weekend, I deliver on my promise for a build log. We ended up making our purchase from HobbyPartz.com and expect components to come in sometime this week. You might see another string of pics this week when/if we stylize the plane, a bit of paint and a nice FliteTest decal maybe. One more when assembling electronics.
The maiden flight is tentatively scheduled for next Saturday. We planned early so some of my buddies can take off work and be there. Lastly before the pictures, we added a Simulator to our order so I'll dust off FRAPS and see if I cant give you something to laugh at before the maiden flight.
So here are my plotted full-size plans. Doing it this way turned out to be a huge help. And it looks pretty cool.
We fabricated our own Firewall and control horns. The control horn for the elevator ended up needing to be extra long so we salvaged a plastic one off a twenty-year-old balsa trainer from a pile of scrap parts from dad's old flying days.
The build went pretty smooth, we reinforced everywhere we could. Our engine is a little more powerful than necessary so we figured the few extra grams wouldn't be a problem.
And here she is, final product, with some push-rods from the box of salvage we are now just waiting for the post-man. Talk about nail-biting.
The maiden flight is tentatively scheduled for next Saturday. We planned early so some of my buddies can take off work and be there. Lastly before the pictures, we added a Simulator to our order so I'll dust off FRAPS and see if I cant give you something to laugh at before the maiden flight.
So here are my plotted full-size plans. Doing it this way turned out to be a huge help. And it looks pretty cool.
We fabricated our own Firewall and control horns. The control horn for the elevator ended up needing to be extra long so we salvaged a plastic one off a twenty-year-old balsa trainer from a pile of scrap parts from dad's old flying days.
The build went pretty smooth, we reinforced everywhere we could. Our engine is a little more powerful than necessary so we figured the few extra grams wouldn't be a problem.
And here she is, final product, with some push-rods from the box of salvage we are now just waiting for the post-man. Talk about nail-biting.
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Well done, man! Best of luck with the maiden!
Some have been known to use old credit cards or gift cards for making control horns...
Unused servo arms work well, too.
I tried Chad's zip tie idea for the control horns on my Flyer and they've worked great. It's been crashed enough the nose is all floppy but those zip ties are still doing great!
I also used the ends of popsicle sticks on my delta and they work...but having tried both I think I'd go with the zip ties next time I don't have any FT horns on hand.
I used the cut up gift/credit cart method for my first couple of planes, but I also did tape covered foamboard on those and hot glue just doesn't stick well to gift cards or tape so they kept popping off on me.
I also used the ends of popsicle sticks on my delta and they work...but having tried both I think I'd go with the zip ties next time I don't have any FT horns on hand.
I used the cut up gift/credit cart method for my first couple of planes, but I also did tape covered foamboard on those and hot glue just doesn't stick well to gift cards or tape so they kept popping off on me.
Cooley
Father/Son Team
Here is one thing, because HobbyPartz had them in stock for a very very nice price, I ended up going with a 24gram 2000kv motor. To compensate I got 2s batteries under the impression that less voltage with a higher rpm/v would kinda equal out. Perhaps I should have asked if my logic was sound before ordering parts, lol.
Cooley
Father/Son Team
Well, maiden flight was today, and it was a distressing failure. our first warning sign was when we had all of the electronics as well as aluminum landing gear pushed as far forward as we could and still needed almost 4 ounces of lead stuck to the bottom to balance it right. then our 2000 kv motor with a 6x3 prop wouldn't pull it any farther than it would normally glide. so we moved up to a 8x6 and a 9x6 and neither of those put out enough power to pull it either.
So were looking at bigger motors, and pops needs someone to simplify motor and prop selection for him cause my method of eyeballing it doesnt convince him. We have some pictures of the maiden "glide" ill get up later.
So were looking at bigger motors, and pops needs someone to simplify motor and prop selection for him cause my method of eyeballing it doesnt convince him. We have some pictures of the maiden "glide" ill get up later.
I look at what the watt rating is. I tend to prefer at least 100 watts per pound. 200 watts per pound really makes me happy though.
kah00na
Senior Member
FlyingMokey, how do you figure the watts? I have a 1300 kv RC Timer motor and 3s 20c 500 mAh and 1000 mAh batteries with a 30 amp speed controller. I've heard a few other mention it but I haven't ever seen how to figure it.
As far as this plane goes, I would have guessed that a 2S battery wouldn't have enough volts to pull the plane very well. I used my 3S battery with my FT Flyer and it was okay but it is really good on my Bloody Wonder.
As far as this plane goes, I would have guessed that a 2S battery wouldn't have enough volts to pull the plane very well. I used my 3S battery with my FT Flyer and it was okay but it is really good on my Bloody Wonder.
Don't know how monkey does it, but you can either:
- look at your motor specs for max draw w/ #s battery with LxD prop, you have the current. for instance if a motor specs 8A on a 2S w/ an 8x6 prop, your current is 8A. For the voltage, an good average for lipos is 3.7v x #, so a 2S runs 7.4V. Wattage is volts*amps, and for this case, 7.4*8 = 59W for a 2S w/ a 8x6 prop -- only apply what you plan to mount on your plane.
- get out a watt meter, mount & restrain the motor with the prop you intend to use, and throttle up. you should be able to read the amp directly (many watt meters will go ahead and calculate the wattage).
Now this is watts used, not energy put into the air. The motor will always waste some energy as heat, but different prop/cells combos can make the motor more efficient than others. Getting the actual watts put into the air can be nearly impossible to measure with all the parts still disassembled on the bench, but the 100+W/lb is a rule of thumb -- there's enough margin in it that estimates like watts consumed can tell you if you should worry or not..
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Most of the time the watts are listed in the motor specifications.
But also be mindful that the stats are the results of combining a certain sized battery, and a certain sized prop. They will sometimes give you varying stats with a change in either prop or battery size.
MikeDeLuca
Member
So, what connectors did you end up with on your batteries? My first attempt at changing mine went very poorly.
MikeDeLuca
Member
Sure, soldered the connectors I bought, was rushing and didn't wrap all of them, long story short, fried the battery when 2 connectors arced.
MikeDeLuca
Member
Yes, lesson learned. I am going to go with the XT connectors from now on, seem much easier to use and so much safer.
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