FT Mini Guinea Build

[Tree Top Tommy]

Finished my build today with steerable nose gear I had from an old plane I crashed a while back. Also, my old Walkera QRX350 wasn't flying well anymore (it had various problems) so, I stripped it down and used two of those motors on this build. They are a little heavier but work well with a 3s 1300 mAp lipo and the QRX props. I did extend the wing some to accommodate the larger props (but I probably did need too). The Cargo bay works great too. As always, I am very happy with the build thanks to the awesome videos and plans that FliteTest provides. Thank you!

 

[BridgeInspector]

Looks nice Tommy. I like the yellow with red accents.

 

[BridgeInspector]

Trying some removable gear using magnets. I often change field locations and conditions, grass, dirt, pavement. So why not change plane accordingly.

Time and testing will tell how well they work.







Crude but works swival

 

[BridgeInspector]

Minion Mini Guinea - aka Bob

So when trying to come up with a paint scheme my daughters mentioned a minion plane. So I looked in the garage and saw an Amazon Minion box and wondered if I could get the graphics off. They came off rather easily with a score cut on the perimeter and slowly pulling the top layer if cardboard off.



I painted the Rossboard with some cheap lime colored spray paint, one medium thick coat. Then hot glued the trimmed graphics and added the FliteTest sticker. Painted the prop tips as a last minute addition. It looks awesome in person but the front nose "Bob" doesn't show as well in the photos.











The gear is held on with magnets, will have to see how well it works on maiden.

 

[AircPirateNinsei]

Use your Mini Power Pods and build the famous TaleSpin Sea Duck!

 

[JLT_GTI]

Trying some removable gear using magnets. I often change field locations and conditions, grass, dirt, pavement. So why not change plane accordingly.

Time and testing will tell how well they work.

Im curious if that magnet hold gear would hold..

i have mine glued and fitted like in the build video/instructions go and i had issues with the front one bending and the rear one ripped once from the foam

But the option of removing the front gear is very interesting.. i wouldnt bother with the rear one.. this little plane cant fly fast enought that the rear gear is a drag problem ..and it doesnt create landing problems on grass like the front one does

tecnically i could remove mine ..i use a linkage stoper to stop it falling from the plane.. so it would be just removing the linkage stoper and the front gear .. the problem is that its a quite annoying to fit it back (using pliers and so to hold it inside the plane until inserting the front gear throught it

 

[JLT_GTI]

Check your motor spinners/collets...

In found out the harsh way what happens when one of the props sudenly losenes up.. happened to me 2 days ago when i was doing some kind of goofy tight turn .. the plane sudenly spiraled out of control ... i managed to raise the nose the last moment but even so it smashed the nose into concrete.. opening up like its suposed to do (you know predator face style)..

i saw something small bouncing away from the "crash site" and when i got there it was the prop spinner with one propeller gone (it was in the ground destroyed)..

Fortunatelly the nose didnt needed even to be replaced ... it could be repaired easily and its good as before ..

I took the chance to replace the 5030 for 6030 props.. i want to see what this can do on 6030 with the DYS 1806s

 

[RcMatt]

I made a custom nose for my Guinea and it flew great with the mobius. Using 6" props makes the thing a rocket! Unlimited vertical

 

[BridgeInspector]

Im curious if that magnet hold gear would hold..

i have mine glued and fitted like in the build video/instructions go and i had issues with the front one bending and the rear one ripped once from the foam

But the option of removing the front gear is very interesting.. i wouldnt bother with the rear one.. this little plane cant fly fast enought that the rear gear is a drag problem ..and it doesnt create landing problems on grass like the front one does

tecnically i could remove mine ..i use a linkage stoper to stop it falling from the plane.. so it would be just removing the linkage stoper and the front gear .. the problem is that its a quite annoying to fit it back (using pliers and so to hold it inside the plane until inserting the front gear throught it

Mixed results so far. If I take off avoiding any possible bump, they work. They haven't stayed on for a landing yet. I have doubled up the magnets (since I ordered more) and they hold much better now, but haven't tried them out yet as I have just been belly landing on grass.

 

[BridgeInspector]

parachute drop video!

Did some parachute drops yesterday with my RunCamHD attached to the paratrooper.

 

[nevenelestate]

How big is the parachute you used? I did this with a 30" diameter chute made in the style of Experimental Airlines, and it fell a bit slower than yours. However I was also using an 808 #16 camera which is a bit lighter than the RunCam or mobius.

One of my drops...

 

[BridgeInspector]

How big is the parachute you used? ......

It is about 24" spread out, but that is a guess as I haven't measured it. My daughter picked it up at Flite Fest 2014 for about $5.

.......

One of my drops...

I think your drop example is also higher than mine, it was too windy to drop too high as it floated too far away. A bigger chute and a higher drop are definitely in the future plans.

 

[nevenelestate]

It is about 24" spread out, but that is a guess as I haven't measured it. My daughter picked it up at Flite Fest 2014 for about $5.
...
I think your drop example is also higher than mine, it was too windy to drop too high as it floated too far away. A bigger chute and a higher drop are definitely in the future plans.

I like the view you get from a camera like that, look forward to more videos. hopefully I'll have a cargo plane flying again in the spring!

 

[JLT_GTI]

Both my wingtips (the wing tip part from where the flat bottom ends to the tip) have bent due to hangar rash (one of them was due to something falling on top of it in some turn in the trunk of my car).. they are flat but in flight they bend slighty upwards (like dinamic dihedral ).

any tips to keep those wingtips flat? inserting some wood or carbon rods maybe?

 

[BridgeInspector]

Both my wingtips (the wing tip part from where the flat bottom ends to the tip) have bent due to hangar rash (one of them was due to something falling on top of it in some turn in the trunk of my car).. they are flat but in flight they bend slighty upwards (like dinamic dihedral ).

any tips to keep those wingtips flat? inserting some wood or carbon rods maybe?

I had that issue on first build and I used bamboo skewers and hot glue. So when I rebuilt The frame I just used the bamboo skewer reinforcements to start with.

 

[JLT_GTI]

I had that issue on first build and I used bamboo skewers and hot glue. So when I rebuilt The frame I just used the bamboo skewer reinforcements to start with.

mmm good idea... i tried with a small strip of carbon but it doesnt work very well. ... the bamboo skewers seem a better option.. i guess aerodynamics in this kind of small plane in the concave area wont matter much

 

[dantheman]

I am continually having issues with my entire mount setup coming loose. I have glued them back on probably 5 times each now. Any advice on keeping them solidly on?

I am starting to wonder if I need to balance the props or something.

 

[BridgeInspector]

I am continually having issues with my entire mount setup coming loose. I have glued them back on probably 5 times each now. Any advice on keeping them solidly on?

I am starting to wonder if I need to balance the props or something.

What about it is loose? Does the pod not fit tightly or is the tape coming off?

I have only used the tape method, yiu could try the skewer method also. It is always good practice to balance your props for best performance.

 

[nevenelestate]

I had a motor mount come off last time I flew, my issue was that I taped the wing before gluing the nacelle pod onto the wing. It was a cold day out so the hot glue just let go of the tape on a bumpy landing.

 

[dantheman]

The entire mount comes unglued. The pod stays in the mount really well. Its the mount that is the issue. I am going to pull them off with a heat gun and redo them I think. May add some gorilla glue in there as well for good measure.