FT Mini Speedster Modifications
I love the lines of the FT Speedster design so I ordered both the mini and full size speed build kits. I wanted to experiment with some modifications of my own so I built the mini version first. Here is a brief description of my modifications;
Created my own wing design from stock Readi-Board. Removed polyhedral angle from wing tips and added ailerons. Cut and mounted a single 5g aileron servo just in front of CG on the underside of the wing center. Added control horns and pushrods with maximum throws.
Used 1.5 inch Du-Bro foam wheels and changed landing gear mounting method, copied concept from FT Cruiser, to provide a wider stance. Used wooden b-b-que stick and a rubber band to enable removal of landing gear.
Added small shelf below cockpit to mount 2.5g rudder and elevator servos. Added micro linkage stoppers which can be adjusted through a cockpit access cutout.
Covered lower rear fuselage section with stock Readi-Board and added FT wooden control horn as tail skid.
Added FT Elements Reinforcement Discs to power pod and landing gear b-b-que through holes.
Mounted Tatic 6 channel receiver with Velcro to underside of wing center up against the trailing edge. Left little antenna wire stub hang below fuselage.
Installed Emax MT1806 motor with Castle 10A ESC/BEC, GWS 5043 prop, and Turnigy 500/800mAh 3S 20-30C batteries mounted below power pod.
Tried to fly in a small gymnasium without much success. I must have hit every possible obstruction including basketball backboards, overhead lights, retracted bleachers. Broke some props and added some minor creases to the Readi-Board but no major injuries, completely amazing.
I flew it outdoors in light winds with awesome results. I was blown away, figuratively the winds were light, by the simplicity of handling and flight performance. Full throttle caused the plane to pitch up which I will try to reduce by adding some downward thrust angle to the motor. Also I’m pretty sure the under camber and positive wing incident are culprits for the pitching up during full throttle. But at mid throttle I was able to loop, roll, and even stay inverted for short periods of times. I ran through all of my 500mAh batteries and so I decided to try my 800mAh batteries which made the plane a bit nose heavy but still vey flyable. I had to keep power up during landings with the bigger batteries but otherwise it was an outstanding day of flying. The mini speedster tracked perfectly, recovered easily from stalls, and looked fantastic in the air and on the ground.
A little more testing with the mini version and then I will build out the full size version. If there is any interest I can create an article with pictures and plans.
