FT Explorer Alternative

[beacon]

I’m looking to build a foam-board pusher, where the prop is protected during a crash. The Explorer seemed perfect, but forum posts describe so many problems (wings folding, balance being way off, motor thrust angle, servo positions, etc.) that I’m hesitant to bother. Are there any others out there?

 

[skymaster]

hello there. how about a wing you could try the mighty mini arrow or the versa wing. good luck and have fun.

 

[Headbang]

Nothing wrong with the explorer. Only issues are the need of any sort of spar in the wing if you are going to fly aerobatics. Not a big deal anything will do, I use a couple bbq skewers in mine and it holds up to some serious flying. As for balance issues. It balanced perfectly with a 3s 3200mah battery. For a 2200 you either need to extend the nose a bit or add a little wieght to the nose. Adding a little wieght to achieve balance is a perfectly normal thing in rc airplanes. Rarely does a plane balance perfectly, slight differences in how it was build, equipment, ect.

 

[Paracodespoder]

You could try @Dr. Looping Looie 's f-pack pusher. Another thought that comes to my mind is the ft sea otter, or you could do what I am going to do and modify the ez-glider with a top mounted 1106.

 

[beacon]

L

hello there. how about a wing you could try the mighty mini arrow or the versa wing. good luck and have fun.

Looking for something where the prop is protected when I crash.... which I do a lot. Something with the prop up high.

 

[BrickRedRock]

I second @Headbang 's response. Other than adding weight, mine flies really well with the stock build. I did pull one extremely lazy loop and it didn't seem to hurt the wing any. The biggest plus for me after 4 hard crashes, the second where a nose dive folded the tail over onto itself, it looks rough now but still flies and flies well.

 

[kdobson83]

Well, my explorer balanced out perfect with a 2200, no extra weight needed. No issue with folding wing or incidence either. But, if your that concerned, try this plane
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.p...trainer-ft-power-pack-a-or-f-swappable.39413/
It's not FT but it builds just like any other FT design I've built. I added a carbon arrow shaft in place of the foam spar and fly it on 4s. Flys like it's on rails! Here's a pic of mine. Needs decorations.

It's smaller than the explorer but it flys amazing.

 

[FoamyDM]

2 years ago (Back in my hobby infancy) I shrunk down the FT- Explorer to A/F-pack size. I haven't had any of the usual problems. I flew it with the proper 3-channel setup (rudder in the Aileron Channel) and it flew so fun.
I just put together a Kolibri High-Alpha Flyer and that is an F-Pack flyer. Spent nearly all my time decorating it. I will be flying it within the week.
Cut out in 30 min. Assembled in 15. Electronics ~20 min... without decorations, the plane is ready to fly in an hour. (I will try this again) BTW - the winglets are NOT nose doublers. (But they can be)

 

[JennyC6]

Could always build a Spear with two pushers swinging 5" props and tricycle landing gear. Mine's nitro, but there's no reason you couldn't use some small BLDC motors instead. Do that, and the only way you're breaking a prop is if you somehow manage to land hard upsidedown.

 

[Chuppster]

If you really want to build the Explorer I'd say go for it, just put a Carbon Fiber arrow shaft in the wing spar, delete the dihedral, and it's a great flying airplane!