Maiden flight report:
I'm happy to report, that the FT3D flies great! My setup is as follows:
CF2822 1200kv motor
Skywalker 20A ESC
4x SG92R 9g servos
(all from valuehobby.com)
9x4.7 prop
OrangeRX 610 receiver
(Hobbyking.com)
Dial the control throws WAAAAAAY down! I had mine set at 30% throw across the board, and it flew about like a normal, though aerobatic airplane. At 100% throws, this thing is just nuts (and my rudder servo was binding). Ailerons especially, I found uncontrollable. I eventually set the high throws at 60% aileron, 65% ele, and 75% rudder, and that's about all I can handle.
I flew with 3 batteries: Zippy compact 1000mah 3s 35C, Turnigy 1300mah 3s 35C, and Zippy 2200mah 3s 20C. I noticed virtually no difference between the 1000ma and 1300ma. Power was adequate, it had enough to hover, but it didn't really have much "punch out" power. Getting out of a hover required some loss of altitude, though very little.
The 2200mah battery actually flew very well, and might turn out to be my favorite, as I'm not a great 3d pilot. With the 2200 it was somewhat nose heavy, which made it really predictable and it flew like it was on rails. It didn't have enough power for unlimited vertical, but it had plenty of power for sport flying and any aerobatic maneuvers you wanted to do (except hovering). The 1300/1000ma batteries are definitely better, but the 2200 makes it a great sport-fly airplane.
My first landing was in the grass, and the landing gear was noticably tweaked just from the nose-over. reinforce the landing gear area with packing tape, as the paper tears easily from the underside of the fuse.
I crashed it once, while attempting my first "blender". Almost pulled out of it, but not quite, and the landing gear ripped off. Again, reinforce with packing tape. I threw it back in the air and kept flying.
Great plane guys, definitely worth the (somewhat lengthy) build. Thanks Flitetest!
I'm happy to report, that the FT3D flies great! My setup is as follows:
CF2822 1200kv motor
Skywalker 20A ESC
4x SG92R 9g servos
(all from valuehobby.com)
9x4.7 prop
OrangeRX 610 receiver
(Hobbyking.com)
Dial the control throws WAAAAAAY down! I had mine set at 30% throw across the board, and it flew about like a normal, though aerobatic airplane. At 100% throws, this thing is just nuts (and my rudder servo was binding). Ailerons especially, I found uncontrollable. I eventually set the high throws at 60% aileron, 65% ele, and 75% rudder, and that's about all I can handle.
I flew with 3 batteries: Zippy compact 1000mah 3s 35C, Turnigy 1300mah 3s 35C, and Zippy 2200mah 3s 20C. I noticed virtually no difference between the 1000ma and 1300ma. Power was adequate, it had enough to hover, but it didn't really have much "punch out" power. Getting out of a hover required some loss of altitude, though very little.
The 2200mah battery actually flew very well, and might turn out to be my favorite, as I'm not a great 3d pilot. With the 2200 it was somewhat nose heavy, which made it really predictable and it flew like it was on rails. It didn't have enough power for unlimited vertical, but it had plenty of power for sport flying and any aerobatic maneuvers you wanted to do (except hovering). The 1300/1000ma batteries are definitely better, but the 2200 makes it a great sport-fly airplane.
My first landing was in the grass, and the landing gear was noticably tweaked just from the nose-over. reinforce the landing gear area with packing tape, as the paper tears easily from the underside of the fuse.
I crashed it once, while attempting my first "blender". Almost pulled out of it, but not quite, and the landing gear ripped off. Again, reinforce with packing tape. I threw it back in the air and kept flying.
Great plane guys, definitely worth the (somewhat lengthy) build. Thanks Flitetest!