FT Planes for RC Desk Pilot

[rcspaceflight]

Have you downloaded BMI Flight sim? It's a variant of RCDP with better planes and a lake. It has some significantly better components to choose from.

Actually I haven't, and I probably should.

I thought about recording some sound from some Flite Test videos and creating my own .wav file for the engine sounds. But I don't think the sound is uber important, as long as it has sound. The props would be easy to do, I was just lazy and stuck to my initial lazy way of doing it. lol. I also admit that one thing that I never adjusted with any of the planes is the crash stuff. So maybe the planes are more crash resistant in the sim than in real life. Or they don't bounce as high when they crash in the sim as in real life. I wouldn't know what to even adjust those to, so I just left it.

 

[Foam Addict]

"Or they don't bounce as high when they crash in the sim as in real life."
funny you should say that, I was crash testing the nutball, and I was wondering why it bounced as high as the flagpole...

 

[rcspaceflight]

*shrugs* or they bounce too high. lol.

 

[Michael9865]

Thank You! I am enjoying your FT planes. Keep up the great posts. Again, Thank You!!

 

[Foam Addict]

Apologies in advance, I am deliberately embarrassing RCSF in every way imaginable!

I'm getting the FTBB flight characteristics sorted out: add three degrees of dihedral and 20 dihedral effectiveness to the Baby blender, and that solves the flat turn rudder turn.

Also, it glides better upside down??!

Your modeling is great though, I am really happy with these planes, especially the FT Flyer. I just fly that when ever I fly the sim it's just so much fun!

I know this is a lot to ask but, would you be willing to do a versa in white? I like white because I never paint my planes.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I know this is a lot to ask but, would you be willing to do a versa in white? I like white because I never paint my planes.

It isn't a lot to ask, but I've been sticking to different colors for the top and bottom of planes in order to make it easier with orientation while flying. I've also been avoiding blue and green so the planes don't blend with the sky or ground. But I've used blue on the FT BB... The Kraken will be white. But I could make a special white Versa just for you. I'm guessing you want it pusher? Tracker? Motorless?

I do have a question about the pusher version of the Versa, should I 3D model a Go Pro on the nose? I thought that would be a nice touch, but it may also take away from the looks. I'm considering not even having a battery on the pusher version to make it cleaner looking.

The FT BB doesn't have dihedral... And it's kind of fun to fly without any. But I'll try it with some and I may look into it gliding better inverted. I quickly threw the flying characteristics together and thought it was good enough.

I do appreciate the input. This way the planes will be better before I put the final versions into an article.

I should work on this project some more. I took last night off from working on it to play Mount & Blade.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Also, it glides better upside down??!

It would probably help if I had a better understanding of the lift graph. I thought I was doing pretty good for guessing.

 

[Foam Addict]

I adjusted the point in quadrant 3 (lower left) up a little, and that fixed everything. I also reduced drag, and it flew out of sight instantly. Don't reduce drag.

 

[rcspaceflight]

It turns out that the + and - button exaggerate everything. If you really crank up the lift, the plane not only instantly takes off, but it goes a lot faster. Those buttons actually makes it easier to get the right amount of lift. As far as I can tell, the two points that are on top are for when you're flying up right, and the bottom two are for inverted. I have been keeping the two halves of the graph about the same.

I've also noticed with RCDP that you want to exaggerate the flying characteristics a bit. At least I think so. I never calculated out the vertical and horizontal surface area of any of the planes, but I did try to get the weight correct, but ended up making the first three lighter and they flew better. I've honestly been guessing on a lot of the factors, but I've been getting the planes close. I just quickly adjust everything to what I think it should be, but exaggerated, and I've been getting the planes close.

I'm trying to get better at flying inverted so I can test that out. And I've been testing glide slopes.

I adjusted the FT BB some more and I think I have it a lot better. I did what you said for the dihedral and it does seem to be better. (I also changed the drag and side lift and I think I adjusted the surface area of both horizontal and vertical.) I'll probably play with it some more.

I'm guessing for flying wings that the nose is supposed to drop when you bank it to a complete 90*. I almost have the first version of the FT Versa done. I want to re-watch the FT episodes and I think I should turn off the elevator trim I put on it so it flies inverted better. Well, maybe I'll keep that but add more lift for inverted. I heard that wings are supposed to have a little up elevator so I added that to the sim.

 

[Foam Addict]

Knife edge is awesome on the BB. I will takeoff, roll 90 degrees, fly a few patterns with compensation, then roll 90 on final. I don't have lift down either, it's close though.

 

[rcspaceflight]

First version of the tracker FT Versa: ****((Taken down because I improved it))****

This is supposed to be the less power version with the "Blue Wonder" motor. After I know that all, or at least the majority, of the flying characteristics are good, then I'll do the pusher and Kraken version. I'm not super happy with the elevator controls, but only so much can be done.

The pusher version is going to have "the Beef" set up. Or something similar. And of course the Kraken is going to be bigger, with "rudder", and it looked like Josh Bixler had two Blue Wonders on his. So twice the thrust, and probably twice the weight. lol. I'll probably make it some where between the tracker and pusher as far as speed. Maybe slower than the tracker. We'll see. You can always change the thrust.

If you look closely the 3D model isn't perfect. Mostly the airfoil and how the airfoils of one half sticks out of the other half. But close enough. Especially since it would actually be a huge pain at this point to fix it. It's complicated.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Yeah, I was flying it some more and the FT Versa needs work. It was fun to fly before I messed around with the characteristics. I think it needs more stability and damping for the elevator and possibly less lift. I'm working on it.

 

[Foam Addict]

I'll look at it too.

 

[rcspaceflight]

For the FT Versa I changed the moments of inertia and a bunch of other things. I believe I have it a lot better and closer to real. Here is the updated version: View attachment FT Versa update but not done.zip

I removed the first version to prevent confusion. But I see two people downloaded it. I knew I should have waited before uploading any version. I think this one is real close and let me know if it needs any changes.

I also made this newer version bigger. The first one was rather small. I think I have the scaling off for all of the planes I've made so far. I know some of them are a bit big, but that just makes them easier to see.

 

[rcspaceflight]

I probably have too much elevator trim set on the FT Versa. You have to hold slight down to maintain level flight. Although, my trim might be off on my Tx. I have the same thing set on the FT Flyer which does the exact same thing. (Slowly pulls up when you want it level.) The trim is really nice for turns, it's just counter intuitive for level.

 

[Foam Addict]

All you RC Desk pilot flyers! Download this plane, Its AWESOME! This is an optimal flying wing simulation, and flies just like the Versa.


Try this, it flew almost perfectly for me with these parameters, Very Impressive!
Oh also, It seems somewhat over powered for the trainer version as well, unlimited vertical at half throttle seems a little excessive. It has a lot of right rudder on the ground as well.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Oh also, It seems somewhat over powered for the trainer version as well, unlimited vertical at half throttle seems a little excessive. It has a lot of right rudder on the ground as well.

As far as I can tell, you can't change how much rudder a plane has on the ground. Unless it has something to do with weight. I do have the plane set at a little over a pound. But the planes just seem to fly better when I keep them light. The too much throttle is probably because of how light it is also. Or I could change the thrust.

Did you make many changes to the newest version of the Versa? I'm just curious how close I got it. I see you did a few things according to the picture. I'll probably change mine to the exact same thing and then that will be the final version. Well, I might make the pusher exactly as the tracker currently is and then have less thrust on the final version of the tracker.

I'm sure there are a few small adjustments that would make it even closer to real. But like I said before, that would be a lot of work just to get it a few percentages better.

 

[Foam Addict]

Oh, yeah. Don't worry, it's awesome as is. I only changed those parameters up top. It flies so well though! It's almost exactly like my versa and most of my other wings.

And I added retracts.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Good good.

When I get around to it I'll probably try increasing the drag to slow it down. I'd hate for the Versa to take longer to take off. I probably lowered the drag too much. I figured that a wing doesn't have much drag so I lowered it. I'll experiment. But I want the pusher version to be exactly the way it currently is. I just want the tracker slower.

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I'm debating when I would write the next article. But more importantly, I'm debating how many FT planes I would actually do. No one seems to be interested in the FT Cruiser. I doubt many would really fly Duster or Ripslinger. The most interest is in the FT BB, FT 3D, FT Spitfire, and the FT Versa. I'll probably just do those and then ... well not stop, but not feel so compelled to make more. Probably at least an article at that point. Although I want to do the FT Old Fogey and I think the FT Simple Soarer would be good because RCDP allows towing. But at the same time, there are a lot, I mean a lot, of gliders for simulators. It just seems redundant to actually model yet another glider.

 

[Foam Addict]

Cruiser? I like the Cruiser! Especially if it has crazy mode! The Spit sounds awesome as well.

You could start a poll to ask what planes people want. That should help.

Could I ask a favor on behalf of the forum? Could you make the LG a separate piece on your Spit and Cruiser?