I love the FT builds!
We have had a lot of rain here this winter, so have had lots of time on my hands to get some building done.
I am very new to the hobby and have loved both of the FT builds that I have done. (The FT Cruiser and Spitfire).
I may have jumped the gun on these builds and should have probably started with building the FT Flyer, FT Nutball or FT Delta...
...But I just couldn't help myself! The Cruiser and Spity just look so good on the site and the videos!
So I just had to give them a go!
Over the past two weeks, and when ever time has allowed. I have been cutting and building. A Big Thank You to the FliteTest team for making all of the plans freely available. I would have loved to have been able to buy a speed build or two off of the site, but the shipping costs to far off Cape Town are just a little too steep for my Rand/Dollar exchange
None the less! I was able to source a local supply of Dolartree/Foamcore and after a quick trip to the print shop. I was ready to get going.
I found the scratch build very enjoyable and had to stop myself tinkering well into the night.
So this past weekend I spent Saturday morning finishing up the electrics and gave both models a bit of colour. I was a bit worried that the poster board would not handle moisture very well. So thought that a light coating of spray paint would do the trick. The down side is that I think I may have added a bit too much weight in trying to even out the colour...
They both look great, pre-flight. I even splashed out on counter rotating props!
So Sunday past was the maiden of the FT Cruiser. I had dulled down my rates and checked my CG... Kinda... I am still learning the functionality of My Spectrum DX6i. My CG did seem to show that I was very tail heavy. I added 45grams of balast to the nose and got ready to launch! (in front of most of my local flying club members and their running commentary... so my nervs were all over the place!)
The take off was good and very short! But as soon as I was in the air I realized that the tail was still too heavy! So I got her back on the ground as quickly and as safely as possible, with only minimal nose foam compression.
After adding another 35grams to the nose, (80grams total), I was ready for flight number 2!
In a few short metres she was back up in the air, but still twitchy as heck in pitch! So with a little help from my father, managed to get her trimmed. But nowhere near where I would like it. I had to trim full forward on the elevator just to get to level flight, so I think I may need to add even more weight to the nose, (Not good), or I would it be better to move the rear two servos further forward instead?
I kept the flight short after I had her trimmed as I was also concerned as to how long a flight time I would have on my 3cell 2200 battery.
The Cruiser came in true and straight on my approach to land, I could feel that I had this landing in the bag! I would just softly set her down on our make shift runway and all would be well. What I had not remembered to account for on my landing, was the fact that our runway is frequently trampled by our local farmers cows... I touched down perfectly! ...perfectly square into a hoof print...
The landing gear snagged, and she went nose over tail with a bit of a crunch...
I expected the worst, as I walked my walk of shame, over to the runway... But to my great surprise, the only damage was a little squished foam in the nose, some scratched paint on the wing tips and some very bent undercarriage.
I did not maiden the Spitty. I need to do some soldering and get the right motor and prop. The one I had used just doesn't have the umph. But still looked good with the spinner on.
I plan on making some new landing gear this week as the wire that I had used on the Cruiser seems to be a little too forgiving and needs some stiffening up.
I think in future builds I might avoid spray painting and go even easier on the hot glue, but If any one has any tips or advice on CG and weight reduction, I would greatly appreciate the input.
A BIG Thank You to the Flite Test crew! Keep up the good work and great builds!
