FT Mini Arrow

Airkaos

Member
How about a pizza box arrow, modified from the pizza box video.
 

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Schiksie

New member
After the first build i decided to build another one :). Not a kit this time but with the plans and some foam board.
Since the small pod was very annoying not even fitting 30mm wide lipo's i decided to widen it. Very easy mod and now i can fit more off my lipo's.

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RickyG

Member
I finally got around to building my inav FT arrow. I'm running a modified inav 2.4.0 that supports SRXL2.

My setup:
ESC: FT 20A with 3A UBEC
Motor: FT Radial 2205 2300kv
Prop: 6030
Servos: 2 x Emax ES9051 Digital
Battery 3s 850mah Lipo
GPS: RMRC UBLOX M8N GPS
Flight Controller: Matek F405 Mini
Camera: Runcam Micro Swift 3
Receiver: Spektrum SPM4650 DSMX Serial
Video Tx: Immersion RC Nano Tramp
Antenna: VAS Minion Antenna w/ u.FL Connector

It really helped to add the packing tape and colors while the foamboard was flat. I also remixed this 3D printed pod to make it lighter here.

I was able to maiden it this afternoon and it flies fantastic. If you have never seen inav auto launch you are in for a treat!


Ricky
 

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CrazyFastFlying

Elite member
I finally got around to building my inav FT arrow. I'm running a modified inav 2.4.0 that supports SRXL2.

My setup:
ESC: FT 20A with 3A UBEC
Motor: FT Radial 2205 2300kv
Prop: 6030
Servos: 2 x Emax ES9051 Digital
Battery 3s 850mah Lipo
GPS: RMRC UBLOX M8N GPS
Flight Controller: Matek F405 Mini
Camera: Runcam Micro Swift 3
Receiver: Spektrum SPM4650 DSMX Serial
Video Tx: Immersion RC Nano Tramp
Antenna: VAS Minion Antenna w/ u.FL Connector

It really helped to add the packing tape and colors while the foamboard was flat. I also remixed this 3D printed pod to make it lighter here.

I was able to maiden it this afternoon and it flies fantastic. If you have never seen inav auto launch you are in for a treat!


Ricky

Seeing yours makes me want to build one! I've never flown a wing before though, is it hard?
 

superhappyfun

New member
FT recently put out a video where they fiberglassed the Arrow. In the video they fiberglassed the elevon hinge and I was wondering if this would make the hinge too rigid? Or do you simply loosen up the hinge afterward and reinforce it with tape? Has anyone else fiberglassed the Arrow and if you did, did you also fiberglass the elevon hinge?
 

RickyG

Member
I think you would loosen it up and reinforce the hinges with tape, but I've never fiber glassed one before as I just use packing tape. Here is a video over and flight of mine with the packing tape covering.


Ricky
 

Jsteketee

New member
I think you would loosen it up and reinforce the hinges with tape, but I've never fiber glassed one before as I just use packing tape. Here is a video over and flight of mine with the packing tape covering.


Ricky


I built a really similar arrow using a 3d printed center pod. I'm having a big problem with the glue seam between the pod and the upper wing failing. The rest of the wing is very well reinforced with packing tape and can easily withstand minor/moderate crashes. When I do crash that seam is always the first to go. The entire edge of the wing against the power pod detaches. I used a hefty amount of hot glue btw. Any advice on how to strengthen that joint?
 

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RickyG

Member
Even after a season of flying with no crashes, the glue on mine separates. It is definitely a weak spot. At flitefest one year, I watched an arrow that was 100% reinforced with fiberglass cloth split down the middle. (I think it was running on 6s though) That's the weak spot in this airplane.

looking at your pod, I wonder if you could shorten the top so it would be flush with the top of the foam board? That way it could be reinforced with packing tape maybe going the entire width of the airframe? I really like how you mounted your camera.

Ricky
 

CapnBry

Elite member
I also tried 3D printing all sorts of pods like that, with tabs and slots for the wings to go into, with a skewer locking mechanism, with a skewer spar between the two sides, reinforcing the bottom wing surface, it always would come apart. The only way I got around it was to keep as much of the wing intact and just put a little pod on the front and put the ESC directly on top the wing. I think it is just a losing battle when the lower wing foam is the only thing holding the whole model together.
 

RickyG

Member
The arrow is a fantastic plane as are most of the foamboard airplanes from FT, but it is still foamboard and while strong enough to fly, not strong enough to take crash abuse. I've had my arrows since about 2018 and they are all still in one piece. My arrow with the 3D printed POD is the only one I really have to watch out for. It's completely covered in packing tape with one piece starting from the back of aileron's, around the leading edge and all the way across the bottom then back around the other leading edge then back to the other aileron.

I know it's hard to explain and I can't find any pictures, but while the foam was flat I covered it in overlapping packing tape all the way across it, so it is really strong. After it was taped up, then I folded it over and glued everything together (you can kind of see the tape in the video above, but there isn't anything along the top that holds it up except the hot glue on the 3d printed part, but it's worked well for years.

There are other EPP wings you can get that can take a TON of crash abuse, but I've found that the more crash-able a plane is designed for the more it tends to crash... I had a kombat airmadillo made out of aluminum tubing and corrugated plastic and it flew, but when the engine quit it fell like a rock. Or I would cartwheel a landing and nothing would break. It wasn't until I learned to not cartwheel and got better at flying that I needed need an airframe so robust.

Ricky