BrickPlane
Member
Surprised this little plane isn't getting any chatter about it. Starting this thread since I'm going to be building one over the next few days. Hopefully others will chime in as well.
FT Mighty Mini Old Fogey
- Thread starter BrickPlane
- Start date
BrickPlane
Member
Started the build tonight.
Tip: Remember that the speed build kits cause the foam edges to melt. I accidentally shingled the one wingtip to far and it's not super clean.
Absolutely hate that the melting from the laser makes thin areas like this a mess.
Got the body together, looking nice and square.
At this point, it was almost 3am and my phone was about to die, so I decided to do a dry fit of the wing and that's when disaster struck. I used the camber gauges included in the kit, and this is far from my first FT build, but the wing and fuselage do not come even close to fitting.
I figure that I'm gonna have to fabricate a foam gusset more or less. I'm tired and frustrated, so I'll look at this again in the morning.
If I were to do this again, I would probably build the fuselage first, then use the fuselage as the camber gauge.
Love the overall look of the plane.
Tip: Remember that the speed build kits cause the foam edges to melt. I accidentally shingled the one wingtip to far and it's not super clean.
Absolutely hate that the melting from the laser makes thin areas like this a mess.
Got the body together, looking nice and square.
At this point, it was almost 3am and my phone was about to die, so I decided to do a dry fit of the wing and that's when disaster struck. I used the camber gauges included in the kit, and this is far from my first FT build, but the wing and fuselage do not come even close to fitting.
I figure that I'm gonna have to fabricate a foam gusset more or less. I'm tired and frustrated, so I'll look at this again in the morning.
If I were to do this again, I would probably build the fuselage first, then use the fuselage as the camber gauge.
Love the overall look of the plane.
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BrickPlane
Member
Reserved for maiden
Edit:
Edit:
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WrongWayTurner
New member
I love my Old Fogey!!! I REALLY hope FT comes out with the scratch build planes for the Mini Old Fogey! How awesome would it be to have Junior and Senior flying together...LOL
BrickPlane
Member
Updated with build photos.
BrickPlane
Member
Well shoot guys, life got away from me and I never updated this. I solved the fuselage wing angle mismatch by going to a removable wing config and using popsicle sticks to brace the wing. It fits pretty good and flies soooo good! I have more fun cruising this little weirdo around than flying my 3D plane. This is not my maiden, but it was like the second or third flight, IIRC. Headphone warning, my wife is talking right next to the microphone and it's loud. Also, the focus is bad at the beginning and gets good around 0:30 seconds.
WrongWayTurner
New member
Excellent job BrickPlane!! Looks like it flies, and tracks awesome too!!
hankflies03
Active member
Nice flyer! do you think it can be flown indoors?
BrickPlane
Member
It would be perfect for that!
I was very surprised at how well it wants to track! Fairly touchy rudder with a tendency to Dutch roll though.
Unless you're a far better builder than me, as well as remove paper wherever you can to reduce weight, I think it would need at least a full gymnasium to fly comfortably in.
Foamforce
Elite member
My build is almost complete. One thing that surprised me was that the power pod is neither the standard or the mini, but in between. It’s called a mini in the plans, but it’s not. I carefully checked that it wasn’t a print scaling issue too. What’s up with this? Is there a new power pod size?
hankflies03
Active member
I saw that too on mine I just attached the mini firewall to the inside of the power pod walls instead of glueing it to the front like normal
Foamforce
Elite member
Ah, interesting approach! I just made one with plywood.
If it’s a new size on purpose, I kind of like it. The standard one size is bigger than necessary in most cases, since the batteries tend to be mounted on the bottom of the power pack now. The extra space is mostly wasted, adding unnecessary weight and drag. The mini one is too small in most cases because your can barely fit the ESC and receiver in it. The middle sized one is just right.
Foamforce
Elite member
Build complete! I’m looking forward to some good weather to maiden it, then paint.
The control throws seen minimal. For better or worse, the first hole in the servos wasn’t quite enough throw, but the second hole was way too much so that I had to dial it back to about 60% in the Tx. At least that will give me a lot of overhead in case I want to increase it later.
Cute plane. I’m hoping this will be good in smaller areas.
The control throws seen minimal. For better or worse, the first hole in the servos wasn’t quite enough throw, but the second hole was way too much so that I had to dial it back to about 60% in the Tx. At least that will give me a lot of overhead in case I want to increase it later.
Cute plane. I’m hoping this will be good in smaller areas.
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Foamforce
Elite member
First flight today! It was raining lightly and I didn’t do video. No dot in the sky for you!
First impression. When you’re used to more maneuverable planes, the controls feel like they’re not responding at first! There were though, and it flew very easily. This is definitely a plane that I can just hand over to a friend during flight. It’s the most stable plane I’ve flown. Hands off and it will just keep going. I might have experienced the Dutch Roll that I’ve heard about, but it wasn’t bad.
For my taste, the expo needs to be a lot lower. I only had 30 and 0 programmed in when I flew. I’m guessing that 10-15 will be nice. But for training, it’s very nice where it’s at.
It’s handy and durable. I like the simple glued on wing. I just tossed it into my car.
Plenty of power with the 1806. 2s 450mah was just fine, no lack of power. 3s 550mah was fun with almost unlimited vertical. I’m going to try my bigger 3s 650mah next time and I’ll bet it flies fine.
I could do loops easily. Rolls where impossible though. It wants to stay upright and it fights back!
I did a couple imperfect landings and it didn’t get any damage. I saw the landing gear compress really nicely a couple times and it held up just fine.
The balance points seem a little too far back, or maybe I don’t know the trick for using them when they’re at an angle. Initially I pushed the battery as far back as it would go in order to balance it, but then it felt tail heavy. I moved it over an inch forward so that it balances very nose heavy, and it flies nicely.
All in all, a nice relaxing plane, and an enjoyable scratch build.
First impression. When you’re used to more maneuverable planes, the controls feel like they’re not responding at first! There were though, and it flew very easily. This is definitely a plane that I can just hand over to a friend during flight. It’s the most stable plane I’ve flown. Hands off and it will just keep going. I might have experienced the Dutch Roll that I’ve heard about, but it wasn’t bad.
For my taste, the expo needs to be a lot lower. I only had 30 and 0 programmed in when I flew. I’m guessing that 10-15 will be nice. But for training, it’s very nice where it’s at.
It’s handy and durable. I like the simple glued on wing. I just tossed it into my car.
Plenty of power with the 1806. 2s 450mah was just fine, no lack of power. 3s 550mah was fun with almost unlimited vertical. I’m going to try my bigger 3s 650mah next time and I’ll bet it flies fine.
I could do loops easily. Rolls where impossible though. It wants to stay upright and it fights back!
I did a couple imperfect landings and it didn’t get any damage. I saw the landing gear compress really nicely a couple times and it held up just fine.
The balance points seem a little too far back, or maybe I don’t know the trick for using them when they’re at an angle. Initially I pushed the battery as far back as it would go in order to balance it, but then it felt tail heavy. I moved it over an inch forward so that it balances very nose heavy, and it flies nicely.
All in all, a nice relaxing plane, and an enjoyable scratch build.
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