FT Tiny Glider (Tiny Trainer Mod) - Kittenz First Build

SheppO

Member
FT Tiny Glider (Tiny Trainer Mod) - Picture update

So I guess my story is similar to many:
I was fascinated by flight as a kid but could never afford the costs of balsa builds, 4 channel radios and gas engines. Fast forward 15yrs and I discover Flitetest.

I decided that before I jump in and start spending on new electronics I would try and make use of an old Sanwa Dash Saber 2channel Tx/Rx out of an old RC sailing boat.

With no 3rd channel I am limited to a glider, and living in small apartment, a sub 1m wingspan seemed sensible.
I toyed with trying nerdnic's DLG beta plans, or coming up with an Alula clone of some kind (additional on board mixing required there of course) but settled on the tiny trainer as my base airframe.

So I ordered a new 27mhz micro receiver from an RC car store (£8) and two Hobby king 4.5g servos. I looked into lipo batteries / chargers etc but I settled on a 4 x AAA battery case from maplin (£1) The electronics including battery came out at 80g in weight.

Rather than build the TT with the glider nose I thought I would make efforts to streamline the plans a little to save weight and end up with a dedicated 2 channel glider configuration. I also decided to do a 1 piece wing rather than have the central join - this can just about be achieved with UK foam board dimensions of 841x594mm. So the key differences with the TT plans are:

Longer nose - to allow battery to go further forward if required for CG
Slimmer one piece fuselage (turns out a bit to slim to get the servos in easily!)
One piece wing - ease of construction - strength benefit maybe ?

The plans are attached here - but obviously when I started building the prototype I found some issues that could do with revising. We have heavy foamboard in the UK so I stripped off some paper where I could. The airframe ended up at about 100g - so all up weight including 80g electronics is under 200g and balances perfectly using the battery pack.

Kittenz_TinyGlider.jpg

Will post photo's of the finished build and a few comments later - possibly even a maiden video - although I actually need to find somewhere to chuck it now, which is not so easy in London !

Photo update of build:

image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg

Impatiently chose to maiden her in the tiny park next to my place - with no where near enough space and too much wind - I have never flown anything before but It was a buzz and she seemed to glide pretty well .....right into a tree trunk...
Need to rethink the fuse design as the nose just buckled and eventually sheered off after 4 or 5 "landings" of varying severity.
 

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Povvercrazy

Senior Member
Canary Wharf? chuck it off the top? haha
Nice looking plans, I've actual spent most of today putting my tiny trainer together, glider wing but with motor.
I've gone for a cheap Flysky i6 (6ch)radio as a start was only £35 with receiver imported from china (Aliexpress).
I live in the welsh valleys now so a chuck glider would be a nice idea, but I,m too lazy to walk up the mountains
maybe the local council will install a ski-lift for me :)

4aaa's are proper old skool, if you can get nimh's their a touch lighter than alkalines or zincs,
plus they have a higher capacity :)
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
from my experience with the tiny trainer you can move the balance point back i am currently almost at the back to the edge of the bottom panel move it back slowly and see where your comfortable at.
 

SheppO

Member
thanks guys - still haven't found time for photos or a maiden
dutchmonkey - interesting - so you mean balance the plane around a CG point further back ? forgive my ignorance - what effect does this have -is it preferable for gliding ? If i understand you right you mean a CG in the middle of the wing (ish) rather than say 30% back from the leading edge -which i understood to be a rule of thumb ?
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
ok there are a lot of good tests you can do to check your balance. most cg locations are meant to be on the safe side also a cg for a powered plane is not always the best for a glider. start with the recommended cg and slowly move it back 2-4mm at a time. do a straight toss and look at how it glides 10 feet before it touches down. also check the way your elevator is trimmed if you have to have up elevator to maintain your flight your probably nose heavy. when your glider reaches that sweet point it will seam a little twitchy but it will also signal lift better. i will try and find these articles to help you out. and yes powered flight vs gliding is a different set of rules
 

Povvercrazy

Senior Member
Good job, one thing do your servos clash? from this angle they seem rather close,
you could always put them in the first hole if there are issues.
Either way good job keep it up, I've already built a NutBall.. I just love the design, unfortunately
I've gotta give it a weeks break, granddaughters birthday otherwise I'd have another 10 models built :)
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
So I used your plans over the weekend and made my son a free flight glider. I modified the nose to taper down basically I took the straight wrap and turned it into an hour glass about 1/2" wide in the center. The cg on his glider is about 1/2 to 5/8" farther back and it glides beautifully no triming needed. Great mod on the fuse
 

SheppO

Member
Good job, one thing do your servos clash? from this angle they seem rather close,
you could always put them in the first hole if there are issues.
Either way good job keep it up, I've already built a NutBall.. I just love the design, unfortunately
I've gotta give it a weeks break, granddaughters birthday otherwise I'd have another 10 models built :)

Yes the servo fitting was a pain - as I had skimmed the fuse a fair bit it was difficult to get them in as per the original design - I went second hole to get more throw as first hole was barely achieving the low rate deflection on the gauge. What you can't see from the pic is that the right hand servo is sitting on a block of foam so the arms overlap but don't clash / rub.

Thanks for the support . I was a bit down hearted after the maiden and resulting destruction - but last night in about 20mins I was able to glue back together - insert bbq sticks to stop the nose buckling and tape it all up !
 

SheppO

Member
So I used your plans over the weekend and made my son a free flight glider. I modified the nose to taper down basically I took the straight wrap and turned it into an hour glass about 1/2" wide in the center. The cg on his glider is about 1/2 to 5/8" farther back and it glides beautifully no triming needed. Great mod on the fuse

Wow ! I'm so glad you found the plans useful - never thought someone would actually use them as they were really only a first draft - Awesome that you developed the tapered nose thing - I will definitely try this ! Love to see a photo.
 

SheppO

Member
So here are side view comparisons with the Tiny Trainer with glider nose (bottom) , and looking at a version dutch's nose mod on my plans.
Screen Shot 2015-06-25 at 10.48.29.png
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
sorry i keep forgetting to snap a photo of this for you. but ya that's what i did after seeing it glide i want to do a rc version with one of the vl911 heli boards i have if you put a small tow hook on the bottom you could hand tow with a fishing pole (vintage free flight) to get some altitude.
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
here is what i did different with your plan the red is new cut lines and the green is where you trim for the a/b fold. i noticed there was an extra layer you dont need on your fuse so i crossed it off
 

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SheppO

Member
Oh my ! - heli board + fishing pole sounds just the ticket ! I think my silly 4xAAA setup is going to have to go !
That extra layer + lack of a/b fold marks was because my intention was to take off all the paper, add tape on the outside an do a "rolled up" fuse tube like experimental airlines. Idea swiftly jettisoned once i started building.
Ive barely flown this one successfully but i'm already drawing again.... Screen Shot 2015-06-25 at 10.23.57.png
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I haven't been in the RC aircraft hobby in about 20 years, but these foam built electric planes have really captured my attention this summer! I love the idea / look of this glider, and am in process building one with the dutchmonkey narrow nose mod.

I got the fuselage assembled last night, and then realized I glued the top down before installing the control rods. Oh well, guess this one will be a pure a free flight glider. I did make sure to trace out the parts on a spare piece of foam board before starting to glue, so the next body should be even easier to build.

Pictures to come soon...

Thanks!


Workbech: FT Tiny Trainer, Kittenz Tiny Glider
 
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RAM

Posted a thousand or more times
I haven't been in the RC aircraft hobby in about 20 years, but these foam built electric planes have really captured my attention this summer! I love the idea / look of this glider, and am in process building one with the dutchmonkey narrow nose mod.

I got the fuselage assembled last night, and then realized I glued the top down before installing the control rods. Oh well, guess this one will be a pure a free flight glider. I did make sure to trace out the parts on a spare piece of foam board before starting to glue, so the next body should be even easier to build.

With foam, all you have to do is cut a hatch after the fact. It can still be what you wanted.
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Good point - I used to do stick and tissue where that wasn't a very good option. On the plus side, building a free flight glider first means I don't need to wait for my servo order to arrive. :)
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
Success!

Build complete!

2015-07-02 23.31.29.jpg

It's too wet outside to toss it around tonight, but from simple chucking across the living room it seems to glide best with the CG way back on the wing. I expected to balance at the 1/3 point back from the leading edge, but it glides best (very short distance) with the CG about 2/3 back from the leading edge.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll get some sun to dry the grass out, and I can toss this around the soccer field down the street!
 

dutchmonkey

Well-known member
Build complete!

View attachment 49805

It's too wet outside to toss it around tonight, but from simple chucking across the living room it seems to glide best with the CG way back on the wing. I expected to balance at the 1/3 point back from the leading edge, but it glides best (very short distance) with the CG about 2/3 back from the leading edge.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll get some sun to dry the grass out, and I can toss this around the soccer field down the street!

Run some packing tape down the bottom of the fuse will help with landings and any moisture. Looks good though
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
She flies!!

Things dried out enough to fly a bit yesterday, and the model was great!

It has about 6 cents of weight in the nose, and glides beautifully!


Thanks for the designs and advice - our first scratch build is a complete success!