John Kennedy
New member
After many years away from flying RC airplanes I started flying again about 3 months ago. Purchased the FT Super Scout XL all in one bundle to get started into the hobby again. I found the FT support to be excellent answering all my questions quickly and thoroughly. Josh's build videos are very well done and make the build process for the Super Scout XL look easy, but as a first time foam builder I found the build challenging. I made a few mistakes, but everything turned out OK, and the build is very forgiving. I used the FT color scheme with roundels but the FT roundel decals don't stick to the paint, and had to tape them on. My son is an advanced RC pilot and he helped me get the Scout setup and trimmed on the first few flights.
I started flying in stabilization mode which I found made it pretty easy to get back into flying. Even so I had several crashes before I could take off and land with some consistency. Stabilization mode clearly helps auto correct for flying mistakes and makes takeoffs and landing easier. Some of my crashes resulted in severe damage to the Scout (including a broken wing spar), nevertheless with a little epoxy, hot glue and packing tape I was able to make the required repairs. Frankly I was amazed that the Scout still flew and flew well after some pretty extensive repairs. I am now trying to learn to fly in normal mode but find myself over controlling the plane and at my son's suggestions added 30% expo to the ailerons and elevator. This helped but I still find the controls very sensitive. So one downside of learning to fly with stabilization mode is that it has given me the bad habit of over controlling, which is hard for me to unlearn.
After 3 months here are a few other thoughts I have about the Super Scout XL:
The landing gear bends easily even with moderately hard landings on our grass flying field. I sliver soldered a reinforcing bar across the bottom of the landing gear about a half inch above and between the wheels; this makes them much more robust. Using spring steel on the landing gear rather than the current softer steel rod would also help this problem but would make bending it more difficult..
After several crashes and hard landings the landing gear block fits fairly loose in its slot in the fuse, and I added a screw at the top with a plastic washer to preventing it from falling out. The big wheels are great on our grass flying field!
The steerable tail wheel makes the plane tail heavy which must be compensated with weight in the nose, and this is not mentioned in the build videos. This forced me to move the battery backwards to make room for the weight which is counter productive. Some allowance for balance weight should be made in the design but still allow the battery to be as far forward as possible. I found the steerable tail wheel breaks off easily and I finally screwed it to a small aluminum bracket hot glued to the bottom and sides of the fuse, which required more weight in the nose. A small piece of wood on the bottom inside the fuse would also allow the tail wheel to be screwed in but can't be added after the fuse is built.
The removable canopy also took a lot of abuse and I finally had to reinforce the front grabber foam with a small piece of aluminum. I still like the wing screws and canopy better than rubber bands typically found on trainer planes.
I found after a lot of use, when the wing is removed, the wing hold down screws easily fall out and got lost during transport, so I added some homemade plastic washers that keep the screws held into the wing so they won't fall out during transport. Spare wing screws would be nice too.
The small single thickness of foam on the center inside trailing edge of the wings next to the ailerons are easily bent and I have had to reinforce them several times with packing tape, but something better is needed, maybe some small internal skewers in the foam?.
I dislike the FT linkage stoppers / easy connectors with Phillips screws, hex head screws would be better for positive tightening, even so CA and / or lock tight is still required.
Don't forget to use a fiber scouring pad on the foam before painting or the paint won't stick very well. One downside of painting the airplane is that you have to remove the paint to make repairs to a damaged plane so the hot glue and tape will stick properly.
Overall I have enjoyed the FT Super Scout XL very much. It has taken many severe beatings, and difficult repairs and still flys great. I have purchased a second one for a winter build project and will incorporate my modifications into it. This will give me a much nicer looking Scout come next spring.
I started flying in stabilization mode which I found made it pretty easy to get back into flying. Even so I had several crashes before I could take off and land with some consistency. Stabilization mode clearly helps auto correct for flying mistakes and makes takeoffs and landing easier. Some of my crashes resulted in severe damage to the Scout (including a broken wing spar), nevertheless with a little epoxy, hot glue and packing tape I was able to make the required repairs. Frankly I was amazed that the Scout still flew and flew well after some pretty extensive repairs. I am now trying to learn to fly in normal mode but find myself over controlling the plane and at my son's suggestions added 30% expo to the ailerons and elevator. This helped but I still find the controls very sensitive. So one downside of learning to fly with stabilization mode is that it has given me the bad habit of over controlling, which is hard for me to unlearn.
After 3 months here are a few other thoughts I have about the Super Scout XL:
The landing gear bends easily even with moderately hard landings on our grass flying field. I sliver soldered a reinforcing bar across the bottom of the landing gear about a half inch above and between the wheels; this makes them much more robust. Using spring steel on the landing gear rather than the current softer steel rod would also help this problem but would make bending it more difficult..
After several crashes and hard landings the landing gear block fits fairly loose in its slot in the fuse, and I added a screw at the top with a plastic washer to preventing it from falling out. The big wheels are great on our grass flying field!
The steerable tail wheel makes the plane tail heavy which must be compensated with weight in the nose, and this is not mentioned in the build videos. This forced me to move the battery backwards to make room for the weight which is counter productive. Some allowance for balance weight should be made in the design but still allow the battery to be as far forward as possible. I found the steerable tail wheel breaks off easily and I finally screwed it to a small aluminum bracket hot glued to the bottom and sides of the fuse, which required more weight in the nose. A small piece of wood on the bottom inside the fuse would also allow the tail wheel to be screwed in but can't be added after the fuse is built.
The removable canopy also took a lot of abuse and I finally had to reinforce the front grabber foam with a small piece of aluminum. I still like the wing screws and canopy better than rubber bands typically found on trainer planes.
I found after a lot of use, when the wing is removed, the wing hold down screws easily fall out and got lost during transport, so I added some homemade plastic washers that keep the screws held into the wing so they won't fall out during transport. Spare wing screws would be nice too.
The small single thickness of foam on the center inside trailing edge of the wings next to the ailerons are easily bent and I have had to reinforce them several times with packing tape, but something better is needed, maybe some small internal skewers in the foam?.
I dislike the FT linkage stoppers / easy connectors with Phillips screws, hex head screws would be better for positive tightening, even so CA and / or lock tight is still required.
Don't forget to use a fiber scouring pad on the foam before painting or the paint won't stick very well. One downside of painting the airplane is that you have to remove the paint to make repairs to a damaged plane so the hot glue and tape will stick properly.
Overall I have enjoyed the FT Super Scout XL very much. It has taken many severe beatings, and difficult repairs and still flys great. I have purchased a second one for a winter build project and will incorporate my modifications into it. This will give me a much nicer looking Scout come next spring.
