First ******** Build : FT Flyer

[HarleyRev]

Well I did it ! lol

Built my first ********, the FT flyer. I bought the 3 plane swappable kit from FT and will venture into the world of flying RC planes. I recently built a 400mm quad and have been having fun flying it so figured I might as well try planes too.

I spent about 5 hours building whilst watching the video. I took my time, ran into a few small issues but everything looks good to me. My radio is set for soft sticks, servos move like they are supposed too. I also used my soldering iron to iron the edges like I saw in an FT article, made sense to me that doing this would make the edges stronger and look a little better.

I plan on going out tomorrow and try to fly. If a crash and burn, no worries as I can buy new foam ! Whats not to like about it.

Thanks FT for this site and all of the inspiration and learning I get from it !

Wish me Luck .

hmmmm it put ******** for the word ******** ? lol I dunno

 

[ruud]

Now I'm curious what ******** is...

 

[PJaussie]

Looks pretty sweet dude. Do those decals come with the kit?
Do you know anyone who has RC plane experience? It may be cheap and easy to repair, but would hate to see you crash on first takeoff and put a sour taste in ur mouth about planes.

 

[Craftydan]

our admin, FlyingMonkey is playing games with the forum:

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?1011-Censored-word-quot-of-the-day-quot

 

[RAM]

our admin, FlyingMonkey is playing games with the forum:

http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?1011-Censored-word-quot-of-the-day-quot

lol totally missed that

 

[BridgeInspector]

It is air-plane without the dash. I had to change my signature.

 

[HarleyRev]

You are correct sir ! air-plane without the dash is getting censored....

 

[earthsciteach]

That must be a really frustrating thing. Simply trying to add some input to the forum, but Monkey has been messing with the forum. Way to go, you poo flinging beast.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

You're welcome!

 

[HarleyRev]

Well my first flite i flew about 100 feet then did a nose dive into the ground. Second flight I flew for about 20 seconds, did 2 loops(outa control) pulled back to try and stop it and nose dived into the ground again. lmao. It was fully expected. I failed to bring more than 2 props with me, doh ! , so that ended abruptly.
After replaying the flight in my brain I realized I had my elevator reversed. I did so intentionally when relating my quad flying to plane flying. I had up on the forward push of the stick. Intuitively I was pulling back on the stick, therefore impaling it into the ground.

So I changed the settings and went out a few days later. I had 4 flights, 1 crash. Longest flight was 4 minutes. Im getting a feel for it, i do like it. I dont think the flyer is a good beginner plane tho as it is sensitive to the touch and does not fly well in the wind at all. I was battling 5 to 10 mph wind and it blew the plane evey where, which took some of the fun out of it. I did have about 30 seconds of wind free flight and the plane was docile and reacting to my inputs so I did get a glimpse of what it can do. I do think this plane will be a blast on a windless day and when I get better at flying as well, it does do loops and turns very fast and well. It is easy to keep in the air, just not on a windy day.

So im going to build something with a bigger wing span that can fly in 5 to 10 mph wind, kinda just float along nice n slow, so I can take my time and enjoy the flying.

I did get a few tips from fellow RC peeps that I have met here where I live. The best one was when the plane is flying with the wind at its back it will fall, because it takes lift away from the wings. I had seen the plane doing that and it was confusing, but thanks to his advice I now know to add a little up to keep it level when wind is at its tail.

I got a big enough dose of plane flying to know I will enjoy it, I just need to figure out what plane I will get that will serve me well as a trainer and be fun and useful later on as well. I want to build something to save money but really dont have the space for planes or building a plane right now.

I want a pusher, I like that type of plane, no landing gear to deal with and keeps the motor relatively safe. Im thinking of getting an EPP foam type plane, I have seen the PELICAN that I like, but the build seems to be a bit more than Im ready for. Seems there are too many choices..... any suggestions from veteran flyers on a good ARF EPP foam plane, I would be very grateful.
Thanks

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

The tec-sumo, if you can still find them, seem to be decent EPP pusher flying wings. They should float pretty nicely if built light and can be pretty zippy when you want them to be.

 

[Tench745]

Building a bigger wingspan with the same weight will actually make your plane handle the wind worse. The bigger the wings the more area the wind can get hold of and throw the plane around. If you clip the wings you'll have to fly faster to stay in the air, but the wind won't catch it as much. This is related to wing-loading, usually expressed in ounces per square inch, or grams per cubic centimeter. In other words it's the amount of weight you have for a given area of wing.
More weight or less wing means you need to fly faster to get the lift you need to fly. This is a higher wing-loading.
Less weight or more wing means you can fly slower because you have more wing available to lift each ounce. This is a lower wing loading.

So, if you want your flyer to take the wind better, up the throws on he control surfaces to help you fight that wind and add some weight, maybe a bigger battery if you have it.

Also, if your flyer still seems twitchy try moving the balance point forward of the CG point slightly. A tail heavy plane will go from one extreme to another, suddenly nosing up, then whipping nose down when you go to correct.

 

[HarleyRev]

I thought about trying a bigger battery. I was using a 500mah, my next size up is a 1200 mah , i wasnt sure if the plane/motor could handle the weight. The plane is a bit overpowered with a 2208/1450 suppo using 8x4.5 props.

I can figure out the lift capability of a multi rotor, but dont know where to begin with that for a plane. Obviously as you state, larger wings make for larger lift.

Dynam Hawk Sky V2 1370mm (53") Wingspan - PNP

http://www.motionrc.com/dynam-hawk-sky-v2-1370mm-53-wingspan-pnp/#specifications

I think im going to purchase one of these. Looks like a good stable flyer and can be modded later on to make it more sporty.
Was thinking about a bix3, but i dont like how the motors and servos are mounted, seems you must destroy the plane to get to them.

 

[Tench745]

I usually use one of these things to get an idea of plane performance:
http://flbeagle.rchomepage.com/software/webocalc_1.7.6/html/webocalc_imperial.html
or
http://www.ecalc.ch/motorcalc.php?castle&lang=en

 

[Capt_Beavis]

Most trainers won't handle the wind very well. It sounds to me like you are doing very well. If you think the plane is too twitchy, have you played with your rates, or where the pushrod goes into the control horns? On the servo side, closer to the servo will give you more resolution. On the control surface side you will want it farther away.

 

[HarleyRev]

I do have some DR and expo on my radio to soften the sticks. What it feels like to me is small movements dont change much on the plane, so I have to go full movement, which results in a "quick" turn, left/eight/, up/down, which then leads me to counter stick movements to get the plane to do what I want it to do, end result is a constant battle between me and the plane.

Since it was a windy day I attributed most of this to the wind blowing around the small little plane. I know some of it is me being new to plane flying. With plane in hand , I move the sticks and seem to get good travel on the surfaces. There was a 30 second break in the wind, that gave me the feeling of being in control of the plane, it was turning slow and doing what I wanted it to do, then the wind came back and the fight started again.

Im going to experiment by putting KFm3 on the wings in hopes of adding lift to the flyer to enable slow flying ability. And maybe adding length to the rudder and tail for more control. Should be fun to see what kind of difference it makes. Ive been reading alot about what makes a good trainer. An airfoil gives a wing lift, which enables slow fly ability. Dihedral and polyhedral help the plane self right. So I may add that to the flyer as well. If nothing else it will help me understand wings effects on a plane etc.

I think im going to scratch build a simple trainer too, create a wing with airfoil and dihedral on a simple frame like the swappables have, too have a little fun building and hope to create a stable slow flyer that I want. Something heavier that can stay on course in 10 mph winds.

 

[Tench745]

What you're describing almost sounds like TOO MUCH expo. As you increase expo the center area of your stick movement gives very little surface deflection, thus the controls feel mushy until you push the stick far enough that it finally does something, only now that something is a big control surface deflection.
But, if it seems to do what you want in a lull in the wind then it probably is the wind.

The flyer is a bit odd, because you're essentially flying a falling leaf. It's just this big diamond-shaped sheet, and if you bank too far is slips sideways and loses a lot of altitude, and if you aren't flying at a higher alpha (angle of the wing relative to direction of travel) then it just kind of tries to sink into the ground. Wind doesn't help these tendencies. It's big tail likes to weather-vane into the wind and when you bank it the wind catches the large wing area and tries to roll you even more. Usually very suddenly. If you can keep the Flyer in the air with the winds you were mentioning, I think you're a darn-good pilot.

I added a KFM-2 foil to my flyer and noticed almost no change in handling but it did stiffen the wings which I liked a lot. The KFM-3 you're considering would probably have a more noticeable effect. The Flyer already has a fair bit of dihedral built in, this with it's sweep on the wings is what allows it to turn with only rudder and then stabilize it's self once more.

 

[HarleyRev]

"What you're describing almost sounds like TOO MUCH expo. As you increase expo the center area of your stick movement gives very little surface deflection, thus the controls feel mushy until you push the stick far enough that it finally does something, only now that something is a big control surface deflection."
It may be that, didnt think of it, i will try lowering the expo.

"The flyer is a bit odd, because you're essentially flying a falling leaf. It's just this big diamond-shaped sheet, and if you bank too far is slips sideways and loses a lot of altitude, and if you aren't flying at a higher alpha (angle of the wing relative to direction of travel) then it just kind of tries to sink into the ground. Wind doesn't help these tendencies. It's big tail likes to weather-vane into the wind and when you bank it the wind catches the large wing area and tries to roll you even more. Usually very suddenly. If you can keep the Flyer in the air with the winds you were mentioning, I think you're a darn-good pilot."

You describe its flight characteristics perfectly ! I am a noob pilot lol , I just had alot of determination that day, the plane was going to fly wind or no wind lol. It was a battle for sure, I did win as I only crashed once and learned alot. Now I've caught the bug for building and flying planes too. Its great to be able to build a plane with $5 of foam so you dont have to worry about destroying it.


"I added a KFM-2 foil to my flyer and noticed almost no change in handling but it did stiffen the wings which I liked a lot. The KFM-3 you're considering would probably have a more noticeable effect. The Flyer already has a fair bit of dihedral built in, this with it's sweep on the wings is what allows it to turn with only rudder and then stabilize it's self once more."

I saw josh add the KFM2 to plane, then I researched how to add lift to wing that is already built. Figured it would be fun to see if it will make it a little more floaty for now. I didnt think about the dihedral it has, it is self righting for sure. Does loops really well too. I think it will be a fun little plane once i get better at flying it and have a clam day. Im also going to try an 1806 motor with a 5" prop to try and slow it down, the motor I have on it now is too powerful.