FT snowball rolls hard right and dives, HELP

Kb9ies

New member
I converted a speed build kit FT Nutball , into a snowball with the conversion kit. I am using the B Power pack as recommended. The CG balanced, slightly nose heavy. On it's maiden, it scooted across the snow and took off only to roll hard right and dive into the ground several attempts. Can anybody tell me why and what I need to try in order to have it fly stable as possible? Or fly at all more than 5 secs.

The rudder and elevator are neutral upon powering up and throws are as recommended.
The ESC and battery are within the motor mount pilon area to get the CG. Receiver is directly behind the motor mount pilon.

Thank you
 
Speed and a gentle hand.
It's the stall characteristics of the design.
Delta does similar, but trys harder.

Arrow is probably the best blend of ease of build and performance
 

ofiesens2

Professional noob
It could just be the torque of the motor. The plane will want to spin right, which will follow with a nose dive. Like SoylentGreen said, don't just punch it off the ground. Slowly increase throttle until you are up in the air and under control. Not sure if you have already, but dial in some expos on your transmitter if you can.
 
FWIW they have a decent model of the nut ball for the rc desktop sim.
While it doesn't break into the death spiral in the sim, the tendency to stall is well rendered
 

Kb9ies

New member
RE could just be the torque of the motor

Usually the P factor causes the plane to go left, which is why to my understanding, pilots give right rudder to compensate. I would have suspected that if it had rolled left and crashed. I will have to look into that. thank you for your response, perhaps it can roll it right as well.
 

Kb9ies

New member
I do not yet have a 2.4 GHz radio with computer setting like mixing and expos. I have an old 72 MHz Futaba Conquest.
 

ofiesens2

Professional noob
Usually the P factor causes the plane to go left, which is why to my understanding, pilots give right rudder to compensate. I would have suspected that if it had rolled left and crashed. I will have to look into that. thank you for your response, perhaps it can roll it right as well.

Whoops, you're right. My bad, I mixed up the direction of motor torque. So please forget everything I said :p
On another note, (this is mostly speculation), if the CG is forward then you might be getting a high speed stall, and just the natural tendency of the plane is to fall to the right.
 

Kb9ies

New member
No worries

No problem on the info of the torque. I'm not sure what a high speed stall is? I see everybody flying theirs high attitude and it hangs on the prop flying slow. not sure why mine won't 😕
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
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Did you try trimming it to the left? Make sure that your wing and elevator are straight. If they aren't you'll have to try and compensate with rudder and/or elevator trim. I've built a couple of Nutballs and snowballs but never really had this issue with them. One mod that you can try that will let you fine tune it is to split the elevator and add another servo so you can set it up with elevons. It's a blast to fly that way.
 

Kb9ies

New member
I did try left trim. spontz It's a speed build kit so lazer cut precision. Everything looks straight. I do not yet have the ability to mix as I need a newer radio. So elevens not poss yet.
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
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Can you post some pics? Have you tried to check the lateral balance?
 

Kb9ies

New member
Pics if I did this correctly

IMG_5678.JPG IMG_5677.JPG IMG_5678.JPG IMG_5677.JPG
 

SP0NZ

FT CAD Gremlin
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Nice looking Texan. That Alp's design?

RE: Snowball, hard to tell from the pics, but it does look like your vertical stab/rudder is not perpendicular. Check that with a square and see if it is. If it's not, you can use BBQ skewers (like the FT Storch) to reinforce and square it up. Make sure you adjust for the CG shift. Also, check your lateral balance, that could also cause it to roll.
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Sponz is spot on. Definitely check lateral balance and also check the wing dihedral/fold lines for symmetry.

If the fold lines are not parallel the plane will track or turn due to the possible misalignment with the airflow. Same goes for the angle of the tips. if set at different angles the craft will roll towards the side with the greatest angle.
 

Kb9ies

New member
We'll Dan, I trimmed it and it flew for a bit until I had it coming towards me and newbie pilot error took over in a fast attempt to correct one way and I moved the stick the wrong way and made it worse crashing it. Pic attached. Do you think this is worth repair or just rebuild from scratch?
 

Kb9ies

New member
Yes it is Alps Texan design and plans. Thanks Dan. Not bad for a newbies first attempt I guess. My dad will paint and finish it.
On the snowball, the fold lines are as they should be as it was a laser cut FT speed build kit.
 

ofiesens2

Professional noob
Based on the pics you posted, it doesn't really look like anything needs to be repaired except one of the floats and the rip on the bottom. I'd say just layer the hole in the pontoon in packing tape and for the rip on the bottom, a bit of hot glue and tape should do the trick. Just give it plenty of time for the glue to dry before you do anything with it and make sure it is perfectly flat while it is drying. At FliteFest15, I was flying a Nutball that was so warped, it basically looked like a flying spoon. But it still flew. So even if your repairs aren't perfect, it still should be capable of flying perfectly fine.

If the repairs don't work and you decide to scrap it, you won't be out of anything but a bit of time because you would have had to rebuild it anyway.
Merry Christmas, and good luck!