First "Flight" and first Crash

[FDS]

I would not mount soft cell lipo uncovered anywhere on the outside. What happens when you hit a tree? It only takes a stick through the wrapper or puncturing a cell then you have a self oxidising lipo fire in a tree attached to your plane.
Likewise landing, unless your field is a private lawn or highly maintained sports field you can never guarantee that sharp items are not hiding in the grass.
I have not built my tiny trainer up enough to CG it yet but I have a couple of 2s packs from other projects to try and there’s a few different sized ones available.

 

[d8veh]

It's very easy to make a hinged pod that covers the battery, when you have it on the outside like that. All you need is a bit of scrap foam-board and some reinforced tape. You then put the rubber band over the pod instead of the battery. here you can see the one I made for my FT Flyer:

 

[Romf]

Hi!

Yay! My TT had its maiden today and it was great!
(Only when my second and last battery was almost empty I crashed it in an attempt to land it just in front of me...)

I stuffed the big battery far back in the fuselage almost to where the center of lift is to balance the plane out.

So what did I learn?
a) The Tiny Trainer is a great plane! It flew incredibly well and was much easier to fly than what I expected from my Sim experience.
b) The TT with a 3cell battery is really fast and goes vertical with no problem. (My wing is slightly bent, because I unintentionally made a high-G maneuver)
c) It was a great idea to have my first 100 crashes or so in a simulator. So my first flight was very enjoyable and relaxing.
d) Never go out to to fly your plane with only one prop...

I built it, it flew! Do I get a badge now or something?

- Robert

 

[Merv]

Hi!

Yay! My TT had its maiden today and it was great!

I built it, it flew! Do I get a badge now or something?

Congratulations!! I here by give you the badge of Successful Flitetest Pilot.


Now go teach someone else to fly.

 

[Hai-Lee]

Congratulations!
The only one prop is a given! There seems to be an unwritten law that the more spare props you carry the less often you break one!

Another thing to consider is that the more batteries you carry the greater the airtime you can get when the plane is actually flying well! Airtime is everything!

The only badge you get is the broken prop and the creases in your plane! You could mount the prop as a trophy!

Charge the batteries, replace the prop and go back and do it all again. In the mean time decide what your next build will be!

Have fun!

 

[buzzbomb]

I built it, it flew! Do I get a badge now or something?

You don't know it, because like most forums, most people read without liking or replying. But out there in the great internet void that our community resides in? You've a whole bunch of these:

Great job and well done, brother. Hopefully I will be there soon. With video, I might add.

 

[Romf]

Hi!

When I assessed the damage in more detail, I found that the servo for the rudder stopped working. Thas surprised me, because the plane clearly hit the ground nose-first.

I guess I will have to replace it ... Which probably means cutting it out with a piece of the wall. Good thing, I still have some scrap pieces of foamboard left from the kit.

Furthermore I found, that I only used up like half or maybe 2/3 of the batteries. I wasn't able to measure the voltage outdoors and have been to cautious... I guess I will see if I can make a telemetric voltage measurement with an Arduino... While waiting for the props to be delivered ... (I ordered 10, so according to the rule of @Hai-Lee I should be safe now! )

- Robert

P.S.: Thanks for the Badges!

 

[kilroy07]

WAIT!

If you have some rubbing alcohol you can use that to loosen the glue!
(FT has a video on glue tips or something... check it out before you start hacking away!)

 

[Romf]

WAIT!

If you have some rubbing alcohol you can use that to loosen the glue!
(FT has a video on glue tips or something... check it out before you start hacking away!)

I am not sure, if alcohol will loosen my hot glue, but I will give it a shot! Thanks!

 

[kilroy07]

Also, I use these on my lighter builds;
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2Pc...lgo_pvid=fbc17fd7-c0f3-4ff0-a26a-9be5f6c446f7
Sorry for the long link, I'm not sure why it does that...
Shop around, this might not be the best deal, it was just the first one I found.

They beep when the battery gets low (usually right before the ESC starts to limit voltage.)

 

[kilroy07]

Here's the video

 

[d8veh]

You can remove the servos with a hot air gun maybe even a hair dryer. Just warm it up slowly so that you don't delaminate the foam. You don't need to make it very hot before the glue melts. I've successfully removed several servos like that when I changed my mind about which ones to use.

This technique also works well when you've glued something crooked or something similar, or when the glue dries before you got your part in the correct position. Just heat it slowly and carefully.

The hot air gun can also be used to fix twisted tails or control surfaces. When I got my Sportster out yesterday to fly it, I noticed that it had slipped from where I left it so that it had been resting on the elevator for a week. The result was one side of the elevator up about 30 deg while the other side was at zero deg. I got out my hot-air gun and warmed it up, then twisted it back to shape and held it there while it cooled down. It set perfectly straight and flew perfectly. I think it was helped by the glue I had put on the bare edges of the foam which works as a bit of a brace.

I love the Sportster. It flies very well and it can do some crazy things as well as fly really slow and gentle. One would be really good as a second plane after you've learnt to fly thr Tiny Trainer. With the rates turned down, it's very docile and if you make a mistake, it recovers very quickly and safely.

 

[Romf]

Hi!

I tried the trick with the alcohol. And even if it surely does not solve all problems in life, it sure solved mine! ;-)

I was able to remove the servo with only the tinyest damage to the paper surface and I even was able to repair the servo (wire had come loose, could be resoldered).

So to bridge the time until my new props arrive I will build a battery level telemetry...

I heard a lot of good things about the sportster. @d8veh do you have the mini version or the "regular" size?

- Robert

 

[d8veh]

I heard a lot of good things about the sportster. @d8veh do you have the mini version or the "regular" size?

I have the regular size one.

 

[Flite Risk]

Top of the plane will counter act the polyhedral in the wings. Remember you want weight center and low .

One other thing you can do, I did this to my Tiny trainer, add a few strips/beads (30mm x 8mm or so) of hot glue on the bottom side of the horizontal stabilizer. just next to the control surface. The further back from the balance point(aka cg) the less weight is needed.

I put down a pice of packing tape first then built up glue on it until the trainer balances. That makes it easy to remove the glue later. -tape stays on glue lifts right off ;;--))

Pro tip:
To remove or undo any hot glue or hot glue joint, use rubbing alcohol. (i use a Q-tip as an applicator then a hobby knife to lift up the hot glue)

 

[Flite Risk]

Didnt see the hot glue tips between when i finished reading and posting. sorry eh.

 

[Romf]

Yesterday my new props finally arrived and I was excited to get some flight time... Only to find out that in Germany and in the US we do not use the same convention to describe the direction of rotation for a prop! :-(
So I have to send them back and order the right ones ...

So, beginners be warned! (CCW in US notation is right-turning in Germany!)

- Robert

 

[d8veh]

Yesterday my new props finally arrived and I was excited to get some flight time... Only to find out that in Germany and in the US we do not use the same convention to describe the direction of rotation for a prop! :-(
So I have to send them back and order the right ones ...

So, beginners be warned! (CCW in US notation is right-turning in Germany!)

- Robert

You can still use them if you swap two wires to the motor, which will make it spin the other way. In theory, the nut can come undone, but if you do it nice and tight and/or you use a nyloc nut and/or you put a bit of loctite/cyano/hot-melt on the thread, it should stay on.

 

[Grifflyer]

You can still use them if you swap two wires to the motor, which will make it spin the other way. In theory, the nut can come undone, but if you do it nice and tight and/or you use a nyloc nut and/or you put a bit of loctite/cyano/hot-melt on the thread, it should stay on.

Yes this is true but if he were to do that he would have to change his thrust angle.

 

[Romf]

I ordered new Props and this time they are turning the right way! So finally I will be able to fly again on the weekend!

And I am currently thinking of trying to do a scratch build (without speedbuild kit). Therefore I am researching the best foamboard to use for that purpose. Foamboard that I can buy in Germany for less than 120,-€ per Box that is...

- Robert