128% FT3D
I too made a couple regular sized FT3Ds and found them to be heavy and not really very satisfying from a 3D standpoint.
I've built a few FT3Ds at 28% bigger. Mine have about a 41.5" wingspan. Totally different flying plane than original with lots of glide, super low stall speed, hoverable, KE, harriers, snap rolls, really stable and will handle some wind too (and I'm no great pilot either!). I use an emax 2218/9 and an APC 11x5.5 and I've been using the HXT900 servos with no problem. 3D is better with an 1800 or 1550, but it will carry a 2200 just fine. I put 1x3mm cf strips in the elevator and rudder because as you scale it up, those things get floppy - I cut channels for them and put them into the foam, (sorry pics to follow) and glue in with foam safe CA. I remove a lot of paper from the foam. The fuse has the paper left on the outside to facilitate the 90 degree folds, but the wings and other pieces have paper removed from both sides and then I use colored packing tape. Wings have packing tape on outside only and tail pieces have packing tape on both sides for rigidity. I also found it necessary to use small cf tubes to make struts for the horizontal stab as that also starts to flop around as you scale up. Everything is scaled up 28% except the fuse is that same height and width as the original size, just 28% longer. Also, I thought the ailerons were quite wide, so I removed a full 1" from the width after scaling up, but added that back to the wing cord giving the same wing area. I don't use a power pod, I just glue in the ft firewall/motor mount.
AUW comes out to 628g with a 1800 battery.
On the one that I'm building now, I'm reinforcing the edges of the balsa spar with a bigger size of cf strip as I noticed the last one has quite a bit of wing flex. It held up to all sorts of flying and it didn't appear to flex in flight, but I know it was too flexible compared to other planes out there. I will also probably use towerpro MG90S, at least for the rudder and elevator to see if it makes a difference.
As I mentioned, it becomes an absolute blast to fly and even with my meager piloting skills, I get lots of positive comments and curiosity about it at the field.
These don't crash pretty as the fuse area between the wing and motor mount crushes easily and I always have better ideas for building a new one rather than repairing.
Here's a couple of kind of blurry pics of one of my previous builds at 128%. I will post more pics tomorrow....
cheers,
sconnie
I too made a couple regular sized FT3Ds and found them to be heavy and not really very satisfying from a 3D standpoint.
I've built a few FT3Ds at 28% bigger. Mine have about a 41.5" wingspan. Totally different flying plane than original with lots of glide, super low stall speed, hoverable, KE, harriers, snap rolls, really stable and will handle some wind too (and I'm no great pilot either!). I use an emax 2218/9 and an APC 11x5.5 and I've been using the HXT900 servos with no problem. 3D is better with an 1800 or 1550, but it will carry a 2200 just fine. I put 1x3mm cf strips in the elevator and rudder because as you scale it up, those things get floppy - I cut channels for them and put them into the foam, (sorry pics to follow) and glue in with foam safe CA. I remove a lot of paper from the foam. The fuse has the paper left on the outside to facilitate the 90 degree folds, but the wings and other pieces have paper removed from both sides and then I use colored packing tape. Wings have packing tape on outside only and tail pieces have packing tape on both sides for rigidity. I also found it necessary to use small cf tubes to make struts for the horizontal stab as that also starts to flop around as you scale up. Everything is scaled up 28% except the fuse is that same height and width as the original size, just 28% longer. Also, I thought the ailerons were quite wide, so I removed a full 1" from the width after scaling up, but added that back to the wing cord giving the same wing area. I don't use a power pod, I just glue in the ft firewall/motor mount.
AUW comes out to 628g with a 1800 battery.
On the one that I'm building now, I'm reinforcing the edges of the balsa spar with a bigger size of cf strip as I noticed the last one has quite a bit of wing flex. It held up to all sorts of flying and it didn't appear to flex in flight, but I know it was too flexible compared to other planes out there. I will also probably use towerpro MG90S, at least for the rudder and elevator to see if it makes a difference.
As I mentioned, it becomes an absolute blast to fly and even with my meager piloting skills, I get lots of positive comments and curiosity about it at the field.
These don't crash pretty as the fuse area between the wing and motor mount crushes easily and I always have better ideas for building a new one rather than repairing.
Here's a couple of kind of blurry pics of one of my previous builds at 128%. I will post more pics tomorrow....
cheers,
sconnie