FT Mini Scout Build (Mighty Minis)
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Hi everyone. I just built mine. It was very tail heavy though, even with using a 24g motor. Managed to cheat a bit by putting a heavier landing gear/tires but it now weighs 180g without battery! And to balance it even as it is, it will need a 2s 850. I wonder if it will fly! The Elmers foam board is a bit heavier than the other ones.
Am I the only one experiencing that it is tail heavy? I noticed someone said earlier that he got it light but he needed to take both paper out the foam board.
Am I the only one experiencing that it is tail heavy? I noticed someone said earlier that he got it light but he needed to take both paper out the foam board.
ViperTech
Member
My scratch built Scout. Used a bl-2204/14 pancake motor with 7x3 prop and 9 gram servos, 460mah 2s battery and gift card control horns. Flies nice!
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herk1
Trash Hauler emeritus
Got a chance to fly my ultra-lightweight (4.5 oz/127g) Scout indoors today for the first time (see post #30 for photo and lightweight build description). Success! It was very capable of floating along sufficiently slow, but still with good control response, mixing in nicely with the much smaller Parkzone micros and whatnot that others were flying. The power provided by the 10-gram motor was just right...I used about 55% throttle for that slow floaty flying, and pushed it up briefly to max for occasional fast lengthwise dashes across the flight area. Takeoffs and landings were smooth and easy, and added to the fun (I kept the landing gear on at all times). I did a nice loop -- it's one of the few planes I've gotten to loop at that arena -- but on the second loop, I hit a light fixture and busted a prop (but no other damage). Fortunately I brought a spare 6x3 prop. Flight time on the 350 mAh LiPos was 7 minutes, with 25% charge still remaining (reported by my Cellpro). Overall, the Scout is one of my favorite of the many planes I've brought to that arena...I was pleasantly surprised just how good an indoor flier it is for such a relatively large plane. Kudos to the plane's designer!
LooseBruce
Senior Member
Hi,
MY Scout was very tail heavy. More so since I am using a 11 gram motor from Hobby King.
To balance it out I installed an 850mAh 2S. This balanced it OK but the 2S just barely allowed flight. When I switched to a 500mAh 3S then I had enough power.
I am thinking of taking off the paper in the tail section and removing the case from the Rx. I have 9 gram servos and one is installed too far back. It should be moved also.I would like to either try to reduce weight on this one so I can use a small battery or build a new one with lightness in mind.
LooseBruce
MY Scout was very tail heavy. More so since I am using a 11 gram motor from Hobby King.
To balance it out I installed an 850mAh 2S. This balanced it OK but the 2S just barely allowed flight. When I switched to a 500mAh 3S then I had enough power.
I am thinking of taking off the paper in the tail section and removing the case from the Rx. I have 9 gram servos and one is installed too far back. It should be moved also.I would like to either try to reduce weight on this one so I can use a small battery or build a new one with lightness in mind.
LooseBruce
toomuchcookies
Junior Member
Tomorrow will be the maiden.
I might build my next mini scout with all paper of and some light servos and motor.
Jerome1212
Junior Member
I bought the CW motor. CW is not the rotation of the motor. Normally this refers to the direction of the thread of the shaft adaptor. With a standard CCW rotation of the motor, you should have a CW thread.
Biff45452
Senior Member
I have received my motor and you are correct, it looks to be the correct thread to tighten the nut when it's spinning conventional rotation so I guess I got the "right" one after all.
matt mountain
Junior Member
Ailerons on the FT SCout Mini
Been seeing a lot of stubs on ailerons, have had a go on my backward wing Scout and the results are excellent - have used a single 9gram servo, which has helped counter the massive tail heavy problem: maiden was worthy of the circle wing plane; stationary loops controlled by throttle...
Vid to come.
Using the quad motor suggested in the video, a basic 10amp esc, 460 2s, and 2.5 gram servos on rudder and elevator (easily enough).
Ailerons are 30mm deep, 100mm long.
Backwards wing looks cool but I think the forward shift in centre of lift is not helping handling. This was a rough tryout. Am rebuilding a clean one with the wing the right way round...
Been seeing a lot of stubs on ailerons, have had a go on my backward wing Scout and the results are excellent - have used a single 9gram servo, which has helped counter the massive tail heavy problem: maiden was worthy of the circle wing plane; stationary loops controlled by throttle...
Vid to come.
Using the quad motor suggested in the video, a basic 10amp esc, 460 2s, and 2.5 gram servos on rudder and elevator (easily enough).
Ailerons are 30mm deep, 100mm long.
Backwards wing looks cool but I think the forward shift in centre of lift is not helping handling. This was a rough tryout. Am rebuilding a clean one with the wing the right way round...
Attachments
Had so much fun with my sportster last weekend I had to bash a scout together this week. Had planned on using the same pod - but due to the different downthrust decided to just order another motor. Same DYS 1806 motor I used on the sportster but since I don't have any more spares and am not quite ready to pull the four on my 250 quad off yet I broke down and ordered one more. It got here yesterday so I was able to get it up for a maiden today. At the end another local FT fan showed up 
He didn't have any planes with him today but we still had a bit of fun with my Scount and FT-22 (he also got to see me smash my knuckle quad into pieces yet again.)
I almost think this flew better than the speedster. Like the sportster it seems the CG shifts quick, just 1/4" forward or back with the pack made a huge difference. I wound up having to let the motor stick out a bit and still had to put the pack right up at the front to get the CG right. (After my experience with the sportster I tried to keep the servos back just a bit more on this one.)
I think what may have helped the most was I used the next hole closer to the pivot on the servos this time to soften the controls a bit more. It felt very stable and sure in the air even with a slight breeze. I still have to work on my landings.
Went to try it with a 3S pack a little later...but forgot to double check my throws and didn't realize I was on the wrong "mini" in my TX. Went to pull up and nosed right into the ground. I had reinforced the motor pod holes on this one by putting a bit of gift card/ hotel room key material between the motor stacks and the side:
That kept the fuselage from taking any damage - but instead the pod ripped itself out completely. Thankfully a new pod is pretty quick to build
He didn't have any planes with him today but we still had a bit of fun with my Scount and FT-22 (he also got to see me smash my knuckle quad into pieces yet again.)I almost think this flew better than the speedster. Like the sportster it seems the CG shifts quick, just 1/4" forward or back with the pack made a huge difference. I wound up having to let the motor stick out a bit and still had to put the pack right up at the front to get the CG right. (After my experience with the sportster I tried to keep the servos back just a bit more on this one.)
I think what may have helped the most was I used the next hole closer to the pivot on the servos this time to soften the controls a bit more. It felt very stable and sure in the air even with a slight breeze. I still have to work on my landings.
Went to try it with a 3S pack a little later...but forgot to double check my throws and didn't realize I was on the wrong "mini" in my TX. Went to pull up and nosed right into the ground. I had reinforced the motor pod holes on this one by putting a bit of gift card/ hotel room key material between the motor stacks and the side:
That kept the fuselage from taking any damage - but instead the pod ripped itself out completely. Thankfully a new pod is pretty quick to build
ClearSkiesCalmWinds
Active member
Great meet up! That knuckle was sweet. looking forward to the resurrection of that workhorse. Motivating to have someone to fly with. Clear Skies, Calm Winds.
One more video of the scout from today. Went up to a spot I've been wanting to photograph from the air for over 10 years, finally got some video of it with my FPV quad - but ran into some issues so spent more time just enjoying the sunset and my scout instead:
If you're into watching a scout fly against a great desert sunset there are two more videos of it on my youtube channel...this one had the worst view of the sunet but had the least embarrassing moments
If you're into watching a scout fly against a great desert sunset there are two more videos of it on my youtube channel...this one had the worst view of the sunet but had the least embarrassing moments
Weather was just good enughe to get some air time.
Scout with ailerons at just around freezing and no wind.
No hat cam, just a stationary shot, sorry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVvyEiEctXU
Scout with ailerons at just around freezing and no wind.
No hat cam, just a stationary shot, sorry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVvyEiEctXU
Weather was just good enughe to get some air time.
Scout with ailerons at just around freezing and no wind.
No hat cam, just a stationary shot, sorry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVvyEiEctXU
How did you put ailerons on it? Pics?
matt mountain
Junior Member
Mini Scout Ailerons
Hi - check my reply to the last question on this for pics of one way of doing it... (a bit messy but worked fine)....
Hi - check my reply to the last question on this for pics of one way of doing it... (a bit messy but worked fine)....
T-Richard
Active member
onboard Footage from my mini scout in my first indoor event last Saturday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxPOi1TKWbc&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxPOi1TKWbc&feature=youtu.be
Matt, I'm still trying to figure out how the ailerons move with such steep angles on the control rods.
Lozenge Camouflage Scout
As soon as I saw JB's Mini Scout design I knew exactly what I wanted to do. With it's classic early 20th century look and feel, I knew I had to dress it up in some lozenge camouflage, I also knew the exact version I wanted to apply. I had run across a pic of this funky Austro-Hungarian lozenge camouflage on a Aviatik (Berg) D.I. and used it as my guide.
From there it was on to Illustrator where I opened the scout PDF plans and used them to create my graphics.
I then printed them on tissue paper (tutorial to follow one day), removed the paper from the front and back of all the parts and then using 3M 77 spray, sprayed the part and carefully applied to the tissue paper (also another future tutorial).
Here are the results:
I added a few details (cockpit. spandau machine gun, wheel coverings, radiator and wing support wires) to finish the look.
I used a 1700 kv blue wonder type motor since it was all I had and mounted it permanently in the front being sure to to have a little right thrust built in. I used a 10 amp esc, a micro receiver (no case or shrink wrap) two 5 gram HK servos, an 800 2S and stuck a 7X5 ACP prop on the front. I checked the CG and it seemed really nose heavy, so I mounted the battery to where it almost touched the servos.
How did it fly? Well, not so great. It seemed to take a lot speed to stay up there and would pull to the right as well as pitch up and stall to the right as well. I have some video but it's so blurry it's almost useless. (11 year old camera girl)
It finally sustained so much damage (torn wing at the root, broken engine mount) that it would not fly anymore. :black_eyed: Unfortunately I'm a better graphic artist than pilot!
So it's back to the hangar for repairs and improvements. I have since added some carbon fiber to the wings (they were a bit floppy) and a FT recommended motor and prop are on their way which will be mounted on a mini power pod this time. I will also be making darn sure she is nose heavy!
My next project will be posting the graphics in an 11X17 format so others can print if they want as well as a sheet for the new fuse topper, guns and wheel coverings.
After I get this guy squared away, I plan on giving it an Billy Bishop SE5 make over!
Later!
Stephen
As soon as I saw JB's Mini Scout design I knew exactly what I wanted to do. With it's classic early 20th century look and feel, I knew I had to dress it up in some lozenge camouflage, I also knew the exact version I wanted to apply. I had run across a pic of this funky Austro-Hungarian lozenge camouflage on a Aviatik (Berg) D.I. and used it as my guide.
From there it was on to Illustrator where I opened the scout PDF plans and used them to create my graphics.
I then printed them on tissue paper (tutorial to follow one day), removed the paper from the front and back of all the parts and then using 3M 77 spray, sprayed the part and carefully applied to the tissue paper (also another future tutorial).
Here are the results:
I added a few details (cockpit. spandau machine gun, wheel coverings, radiator and wing support wires) to finish the look.
I used a 1700 kv blue wonder type motor since it was all I had and mounted it permanently in the front being sure to to have a little right thrust built in. I used a 10 amp esc, a micro receiver (no case or shrink wrap) two 5 gram HK servos, an 800 2S and stuck a 7X5 ACP prop on the front. I checked the CG and it seemed really nose heavy, so I mounted the battery to where it almost touched the servos.
How did it fly? Well, not so great.
It seemed to take a lot speed to stay up there and would pull to the right as well as pitch up and stall to the right as well. I have some video but it's so blurry it's almost useless. (11 year old camera girl) It finally sustained so much damage (torn wing at the root, broken engine mount) that it would not fly anymore. :black_eyed: Unfortunately I'm a better graphic artist than pilot!
So it's back to the hangar for repairs and improvements. I have since added some carbon fiber to the wings (they were a bit floppy) and a FT recommended motor and prop are on their way which will be mounted on a mini power pod this time. I will also be making darn sure she is nose heavy!
My next project will be posting the graphics in an 11X17 format so others can print if they want as well as a sheet for the new fuse topper, guns and wheel coverings.
After I get this guy squared away, I plan on giving it an Billy Bishop SE5 make over!
Later!
Stephen
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