FT Slow Stick S250
- Thread starter makoman1860
- Start date
This Stuff I Do
New member
Hey all.
Seems like folks are posting builds here so here goes. I'm fairly new to the hobby and, like many others, I found it very annoying to have to adjust all the components to balance. I'm not sure I'll use the battery/motor combo shown, which would throw off the balance. Currently drastically under-powered. Also I'm kind of weird about making things permanent in my projects. My solution, which seems to work very well, was to modify the parts to add M3 screw clamps. This lets you move the parts around easily as needed, then clamp them down in place. I was surprised what light screw pressure was required to lock the parts in place. Just had to snug them down gently. No glue except on the foamy bits. The flex in the clamps also allow the parts to fit nicely onto arrow shafts of slightly different diameter. I'm printing SLA so mods like this might not work well in FDM. YMMV.
Wing back
Wing Front, the "star of the show"
Tail wire:
4ch servo holder:
Holder:
Ailerons, naturally.
I'm like, 90% sure the little Blue Wonder isn't gonna' cut it. I didn't use the printed motor mount because:
1) I don't like how it looks
2) It's an arrow. Make it an arrowhead. So I turned that on the lathe. Particularly well suited for this 'hole'-mounted motor type. Blue Loctite.
MIG wire driving rudder/elevator. I think I'll probably replace that or put it inside a tube.
Seems like folks are posting builds here so here goes. I'm fairly new to the hobby and, like many others, I found it very annoying to have to adjust all the components to balance. I'm not sure I'll use the battery/motor combo shown, which would throw off the balance. Currently drastically under-powered. Also I'm kind of weird about making things permanent in my projects. My solution, which seems to work very well, was to modify the parts to add M3 screw clamps. This lets you move the parts around easily as needed, then clamp them down in place. I was surprised what light screw pressure was required to lock the parts in place. Just had to snug them down gently. No glue except on the foamy bits. The flex in the clamps also allow the parts to fit nicely onto arrow shafts of slightly different diameter. I'm printing SLA so mods like this might not work well in FDM. YMMV.
Wing back
- Lengthened and fattened the little rubberband grabbies. Also beveled the rear edges to not cut the rubber band.
- Down-facing M3 screw clamp
- Fillets! "You get a fillet! You get a fillet! Everybody gets FILLETS!!!!!" Sharp internal corners make stress cracks, which was a concern in SLA. Turned out not to be a problem but it's a little prettier.
Wing Front, the "star of the show"
- Beveled, bigger rubberband grabbies.
- M3 clamp offset to allow use of original landing gear holes.
- Fillets, fillets and more fillets
Tail wire:
- Thickened a bit to fit width of typical M3 screw head
- Clamp
4ch servo holder:
- Clamp on only one side. Might be good to add a little slit to the other loop to let it 'flex' around different shaft sizes.
- Fillets
- My 5g servos didn't fit so I had to use 3.7g. What's the deal with that?
Holder:
- Clamp
- Fillet
- Would also benefit from a flexure slit on the fixed side
Ailerons, naturally.
I'm like, 90% sure the little Blue Wonder isn't gonna' cut it. I didn't use the printed motor mount because:
1) I don't like how it looks
2) It's an arrow. Make it an arrowhead. So I turned that on the lathe. Particularly well suited for this 'hole'-mounted motor type. Blue Loctite.
- Printed wheels also visible. Haven't secured those yet.
- Gyro, because I'm a coward
- 'Wing rear' and 'Tail Wire' parts, clamped in place.
MIG wire driving rudder/elevator. I think I'll probably replace that or put it inside a tube.
Captain Video
Well-known member
Ok. I'm in! How about the feild behind the middle school near my house. I will coordinate with my sons see if they are up for it.
skymaster
Elite member
would it not work if you drill a hole in the original pieces to keep them in place
This Stuff I Do
New member
Like a set-screw? Could work.
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
This is a great idea thanks for sharing!
Captain,
we need to build a super jumbo one for flite fest!
kilroy07
Legendary member
Model a hole in the 3D part, then add one of those brass hot melt insert nuts and you're golden.
(Too late for my first build... but I want to take #2 into the ultra-ultra light realm.)
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
That would be awsome! how much would you scale it up by?
kilroy07
Legendary member
You mentioned being new to the hobby, so I'll share a tip. Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) will "unstick" hot melt glue.
It works like magic!!
That said, Great work on the 3D modeling!
Hello All
First time builder from Australia, thought I would throw in some information about the wings for those in the future, the foam board that I've managed to find locally (5mm Thick, white paper both sides) doesn't like to bend in the same way that I've noticed that others have been bending, so I've found some ways to make my attempts work (I've made three Nut Balls, Two Flyers and now one and a Half slow sticks, none of them I've managed to get flying, I get time in the evenings, but not during the day due to work, but hopefully some time this weekend to try them out, if I can figure out the CG Issues (but I am going to try the 'glide/chuck tests first, so hopefully this will make me a little more confident that we wont destroy them!)
I am going to be using 8x6E Props on a 2208 Motor, with a 20A ESC with a 4 Chan FS2A with either a 2S or 3S 500Mah Battery (what I have on hand)
I took the information from a previous post from Soareyes on June 28 2023, and have done some changes myself.
I cut everything out (for myself, I take the plans, print them out on a A1 Printer, and then lay them down on a sheet, and cut out a master set/Template) from the master set I created, once cut out from the reference template, I then do the score cuts and break along those cuts (the red dashed cuts), put some fibrerglass tape on the reverse side of the hinge (The length of the "cut"), I then do the bevel cuts (I find what works best for me is to put the ruler about 2-3mm behind the line and then cut along after the section has been folded back), I then run some hot glue over the "hinge" and run some scrap foam along it, making it nice and thin, and then put aside to let it dry.
For the Camber, I followed Soareyes procedure, but for me, I found that getting the bend is exceptionally difficult due to the material, so when I do for these kinds of bends, it take a blunt skewer and run it along the cuts in the wing so that it opens it up so it has somewhere to fold into, I built up a 25mm wide, by 350mm long , by 20mm high "spar", glued together, with painters tape on each end, I placed between the 3-4 cut, on the side of the cut, and then started to glue, gluing one cut at a time (Running enough glue to let it leak out a little, and then opening again, and then closing once more, to make sure the glue is distributed, then running a piece of scrap foam board along the cut to clean off the excess) then turning the wing over so the cuts are facing down, and the spar is support it, I simple push down on the leading edge, wait a few minutes until its cool and dry, and repeat, when you get to the 3-4 cut, and it needs to glue, I pulled the tape off, and just moved it a little forward, I found that I accidently glued the spar to the wing with the glue oozing out, It holds the camber described, and then I placed wide fiber tape along the cuts.
To Glue the two sections together, (as there is a slighly different cut in the middle, its not square to the wing, this allows the two to be put together to get dihedral) I loaded them into the front brace (the 3D Printed Brace) and with some painters tape, got it all square, pulled the brace out, turned it over to expose the underside of the wing (where the cuts are) opened up the center cut, and then ran hot glue along the center section, pushing it back together and waiting for it to dry, pulled of the painters tape, and ran fiber tape along the cut on the top and bottom, and this seems to make a truly strong joint.
The shaft is 82cm long, I only managed to find 8mm extruded Carbon rod in my area, I was looking at Arrows, but the price difference was substantial, I've redesigned the motor mount as again, I only had m2 screws with hex heads so they didnt fit in the model supplied, I found there was a 2 Degree right and down tilt to the mount which I built in again to the new mount.. I think I've just managed to make it heavier!
A photo for the sake of it, I have not figured out how to CG it all yet, my thoughts are find a place for the wing, and then balance the wing, and then make the model balance around the position of the wing, to me that would make sense. Please ignore the apprentice in the photos, its a super cheap market place purchase, that I got for a silly cheap price, it was crashed, and thought for the cost, may try my hand at fixing it (Tail is broken, nose wheel is broken, rudder servo is broken etc, and the tail section towards the tail feathers has a truly nasty crack through the foam that needs some more glue and supports)
Thanks!
First time builder from Australia, thought I would throw in some information about the wings for those in the future, the foam board that I've managed to find locally (5mm Thick, white paper both sides) doesn't like to bend in the same way that I've noticed that others have been bending, so I've found some ways to make my attempts work (I've made three Nut Balls, Two Flyers and now one and a Half slow sticks, none of them I've managed to get flying, I get time in the evenings, but not during the day due to work, but hopefully some time this weekend to try them out, if I can figure out the CG Issues (but I am going to try the 'glide/chuck tests first, so hopefully this will make me a little more confident that we wont destroy them!)
I am going to be using 8x6E Props on a 2208 Motor, with a 20A ESC with a 4 Chan FS2A with either a 2S or 3S 500Mah Battery (what I have on hand)
I took the information from a previous post from Soareyes on June 28 2023, and have done some changes myself.
I cut everything out (for myself, I take the plans, print them out on a A1 Printer, and then lay them down on a sheet, and cut out a master set/Template) from the master set I created, once cut out from the reference template, I then do the score cuts and break along those cuts (the red dashed cuts), put some fibrerglass tape on the reverse side of the hinge (The length of the "cut"), I then do the bevel cuts (I find what works best for me is to put the ruler about 2-3mm behind the line and then cut along after the section has been folded back), I then run some hot glue over the "hinge" and run some scrap foam along it, making it nice and thin, and then put aside to let it dry.
For the Camber, I followed Soareyes procedure, but for me, I found that getting the bend is exceptionally difficult due to the material, so when I do for these kinds of bends, it take a blunt skewer and run it along the cuts in the wing so that it opens it up so it has somewhere to fold into, I built up a 25mm wide, by 350mm long , by 20mm high "spar", glued together, with painters tape on each end, I placed between the 3-4 cut, on the side of the cut, and then started to glue, gluing one cut at a time (Running enough glue to let it leak out a little, and then opening again, and then closing once more, to make sure the glue is distributed, then running a piece of scrap foam board along the cut to clean off the excess) then turning the wing over so the cuts are facing down, and the spar is support it, I simple push down on the leading edge, wait a few minutes until its cool and dry, and repeat, when you get to the 3-4 cut, and it needs to glue, I pulled the tape off, and just moved it a little forward, I found that I accidently glued the spar to the wing with the glue oozing out, It holds the camber described, and then I placed wide fiber tape along the cuts.
To Glue the two sections together, (as there is a slighly different cut in the middle, its not square to the wing, this allows the two to be put together to get dihedral) I loaded them into the front brace (the 3D Printed Brace) and with some painters tape, got it all square, pulled the brace out, turned it over to expose the underside of the wing (where the cuts are) opened up the center cut, and then ran hot glue along the center section, pushing it back together and waiting for it to dry, pulled of the painters tape, and ran fiber tape along the cut on the top and bottom, and this seems to make a truly strong joint.
The shaft is 82cm long, I only managed to find 8mm extruded Carbon rod in my area, I was looking at Arrows, but the price difference was substantial, I've redesigned the motor mount as again, I only had m2 screws with hex heads so they didnt fit in the model supplied, I found there was a 2 Degree right and down tilt to the mount which I built in again to the new mount.. I think I've just managed to make it heavier!
A photo for the sake of it, I have not figured out how to CG it all yet, my thoughts are find a place for the wing, and then balance the wing, and then make the model balance around the position of the wing, to me that would make sense. Please ignore the apprentice in the photos, its a super cheap market place purchase, that I got for a silly cheap price, it was crashed, and thought for the cost, may try my hand at fixing it (Tail is broken, nose wheel is broken, rudder servo is broken etc, and the tail section towards the tail feathers has a truly nasty crack through the foam that needs some more glue and supports)
Thanks!
Attachments
I am looking for the plans for the slow stick but haven't been able to find them. Can someone please post a link? Thanks
The Slow Stick S250 is the name of the plane/plans from the flying arrow vid.
You can get the plans on FTCA.FliteTest.com
Hope this helps.
I used some corrugated plastic in some cases, to lessen the printed parts
Worked great this way, balancing CG thanks.Hi Aslanmonkey,
Thank you for writing down how you are balancing your plane. I talked to a friend of mind about putting the slow stick together and he told me to put the whole plane together with the tail glued on and the rest of the parts not to be glued yet and find the cg of the plane by moving the main wing back and forth. I like have great minds think alike.My understanding by doing this balancing method the arrow shaft does not need to be a certain length.
Put mine together finally
Attachments
I still haven’t found them. There were some others
Currently, it is the latest set of 13 plans. Are you a member, and logged in?
After you login, scroll down 'til you see the plans, and the Slow Stick S250 should be there. If you want to see all of the 13, you can click the large PLANS link and then you can sort them via the drop-down on the right. Currently, it will only show 12 per page.
Last edited:
Similar threads
