FT Sea Otter
- Thread starter Ross
- Start date
mikeporterinmd
Still Learning
Looks like it will be a little bit tricky to fly off the water, but lots of fun. Can't wait for mine to come. I ordered a case of foam, too, just for the occasional repairs 
Mike
Mike
Looks like it will be a little bit tricky to fly off the water, but lots of fun. Can't wait for mine to come. I ordered a case of foam, too, just for the occasional repairs
Mike
It's only looks tricky in nasty weather. In calm weather it seams to handle takeoff's and landings better than any other floatplane I've seen video of so far.
I want to build a 150% size version.
Ross
Member
Looks like it will be a little bit tricky to fly off the water, but lots of fun. Can't wait for mine to come. I ordered a case of foam, too, just for the occasional repairs
Mike
Looks like a good snow plane too, half the year we deal with the snow and ice so it should get a lot of use.
mikeporterinmd
Still Learning
I'll bet they will; they are just getting their feet wet with the new foam board. Sorry.
Mike
These aren't speed build kits obviously, but they're very fast to scratch build. Drew up several sets of floats plans and have tested them out on a duster and a bushwacker so far. They work pretty darn well on water, and the bushwacker even does grass.
http://forum.flitetest.com/showthread.php?24068-Easy-to-Build-Swappable-DTF-Floats-amp-Ski-s
Water doesn't hurt brushless electric motors, they'll even run under water no problem. Servos, your receiver, and the ESC are vulnerable however if they aren't protected.
Check out this episode:
http://flitetest.com/articles/waterproofing-electronics
Ross
Member
Thank you, I saw them running everything under water but couldn't remember if they had treated them first.
The Otter is a pretty easy build. More parts than the usual for a FT plane, but still simpler than some of my own designs.
I sealed all the seams inside the fuse by slathering hot glue into all the edges the same way I do my PBY. Should keep things perfectly sealed in case I didn't get the lower glue joints perfect.
This glue surprising doesn't add much weight. I removed some of the paper from inside the wing like I always do. I'm using C pack electronics, which are probably 30-40 grams heavier than a B pack. Between the paper removal saving, and the added weight from glue and bigger electronics I'm only 20 grams or so heavier than the specified B pack weight.
I sealed all the seams inside the fuse by slathering hot glue into all the edges the same way I do my PBY. Should keep things perfectly sealed in case I didn't get the lower glue joints perfect.
This glue surprising doesn't add much weight. I removed some of the paper from inside the wing like I always do. I'm using C pack electronics, which are probably 30-40 grams heavier than a B pack. Between the paper removal saving, and the added weight from glue and bigger electronics I'm only 20 grams or so heavier than the specified B pack weight.
J Bergsmith
Member
Nice, looks like the same exact wing from the P-51.
It's an irrigation pond at work. Nice safe spot to fly. If I crash, it floats to the shore pretty quickly.
Yup, it's the same wing.
Either of those power setups should work fine. In the Otter episode, the unpainted plane had the CF2822, and the red one had the C power pack. I'm using the C pack in mine cause I like power.
If you have a bigger battery you might want to use it. The 1300mAh you have will run the plane fine, but you might have to add nose weight to make the plane balance. I always like to use bigger batteries in place of nose weight when that's an option
