FT Tiny Trainer (Mighty Mini)

[Ron B]

I did the TT with the 4 ch wing and maidened it on the 2s 800mah battery and it flew nicely but found that the props that come in the electronics package from flite test are really junk as there is no way to land with out breakage unless you had landing gear to not let the prop touch in any way shape or form. Two flights and both props broke so I have some genfan 6x3 props and am going to try them. In this form it does not float as well as I would have liked and I am going to make another wing and add about 11 inches to make it a little more floaty on the 4 ch set up I think this would make it a better transitional set up to go from 3 ch to 4 ch then go to the standard TT 4 ch wing.

 

[Torf]

In this form it does not float as well as I would have liked and I am going to make another wing and add about 11 inches to make it a little more floaty on the 4 ch set up I think this would make it a better transitional set up to go from 3 ch to 4 ch then go to the standard TT 4 ch wing.

I have sort of done what you described. I took the 4-ch wing as the root, and laid the 3-ch wing over it for the tip so that the entire wing spanned just shy of one full sheet of foamboard. The goal was to incorporate flaps, spoilers and ailerons in a 5-channel config, possibly 6-channel down the road.

With the two wings together, I designed a new wing template and then made a couple copies. Did them in 2 pieces, rather than one long piece.

The center of the wing has a small dihedral, maybe 3-4 degrees? The tips use the same technique as the 3-chr wing, only I lowered the angle on those a bit as well. The result was amazing!

It spans 58.25 inches, and glides REALLY well. A lot better than I was expecting, that's for sure. With a long wing, you have to really use the rudder though. Non-coordinated flight happens all by itself with a wing like this. I also had to change the thrust angle quite a bit downward. I don't use any right or left on my regular TT wings, but this one definitely needs down angle. I cut my powerpod 4mm longer on the top surface than the bottom corners.

 

[nhk750]

Tiny Trainer build

Working on a Tiny Trainer scratch build for park flying in the field next to my house. The Storch is a little big for the football field...anyway it is coming along good. Did some ironing on the tail feather edges to strengthen and not add weight.

 

[nhk750]

Well, ready for minwax and vinyl decals...

 

[jtrops]

Since you're ironing the edges anyway you may want to iron the edges at the nose. My TT had some unfortunate nose hits and the front end mashed up pretty quickly. On the replacement front end I ironed the edges, and it has been much more durable. The plane is at school right now, but next week I can take a photo.

 

[nhk750]

Since you're ironing the edges anyway you may want to iron the edges at the nose. My TT had some unfortunate nose hits and the front end mashed up pretty quickly. On the replacement front end I ironed the edges, and it has been much more durable. The plane is at school right now, but next week I can take a photo.

I already hot glued the front edges, I thought about ironing them, but wasnt sure...next time I will try it! I also still need to iron the wing edges.

 

[nhk750]

So, I am installing my pushrods onto my ailerons and try to center the servos and one of the servos is completely locked up. I think when I hot glued it in I overheated it and the internals melted. I used pliers and it would not turn and I actually broke it trying to turn it. So, I dug it out and ordered a new one for $9 with shipping from FT...crap, this little plane is costing too much now... I guess I learned a lesson, don't use too much hot glue when installing servos...

 

[Henry]

I think when I hot glued it in I overheated it and the internals melted.

The exact same thing happened to me

 

[nhk750]

Now, I have a smal divot where I dug out the old servo, how should I fill this? Maybe a little hot glue, then hot glue the new servo onto that?

 

[Henry]

Did some ironing on the tail feather edges to strengthen and not add weight.

How does this work? Do you just run the iron along the edge melting the foam? Does it do anything for the aerodynamics?

 

[nhk750]

Ironing

How does this work? Do you just run the iron along the edge melting the foam? Does it do anything for the aerodynamics?

It's super easy, but you have to be carefull. You just run the iron on one edge at a 45 deg angle, keeping the iron moving back and forth, and melt the foam. Then, flip it over and do the other side. It makes it more aerodynamic, strengthens the edges, seals the edges and paper to the foam, and does all this without extra weight of hot glue!

Practice on scrap foam first, there is a learning curve to this proceedure, but it's a short one It's easy to over heat the foam causing warping, so keep the iron moving and move to diferent areas if you have a large area to work on. The beautiful thing about this is, you can stop and let it cool and come back to it anytime to finish. I use reading glasses and lots of light to watch my angle and how much I'm melting too, it makes it easier. After doing this to two planes now, I'm getting better and faster!

 

[nhk750]

Finished, RTF

Ready to fly, Minwaxed, decaled and 250grams weight ready to fly without battery.

 

[mikeporterinmd]

That's nice looking!

Mike

 

[nhk750]

Had it's maiden today, went flawless, flew perfectly with just a little down trim needed. Had a great landing on frozen ground with no broken prop, and actually a perfect landing. I am very happy with this scratch build. I also maidened my scratch built Storch today with similar results! I guess all that simulator time this winter is paying off!

 

[TexMechsRobot]

Yeah it flew really nice! Well done.

 

[nhk750]

Thanks! I am ready to try the football field near my house now with this little guy, should be some good practicing back there.

 

[nhk750]

I have been flying my Tiny Trainer like crazy lately and loving it. It doesn't perform as predictably as the Storch, but I can fly it in the football field near my house and it packs in the truck easy for taking anywhere. No crashes yet and about 20 flights so far, just one broken prop...

 

[Hai-Lee]

I have built many TTs and last week I was given one of the polyhedral wings back as surplus. Today I forgot to take my TT with me though I did take the wing as a give away for one new RC pilot who recently received a second version TT fuselage. Sadly he did not front.

I wanted to see if the wing would still fly and so I looked into the pile of planes that I had taken to the field and selected my (Das) Little (Parkflyer) Stick as an almost perfect wing match. After I fitted the polyhedral wing I opened her up and AWAY!!

It flew really well, a little faster than the original TT and maneuverability was incredible. For those wanting a slightly lighter and faster fuselage which can support the TT wings as well as its own flat wing for even more fun than I do recommend the (Parkflyer) Stick.

 

[Rokcrln]

Here is one I built and have flown a few times now and am very pleased with how it flies and handles. I'm currently using a cheap 2s 800 from some banggood RC boats we have laying around and I'm getting 10 min flights with extra battery left. Almost vertical flight with this as well.

 

[grassy_noel]

FT Tiny Trainer breaking a lot of propellers

I've been flying my tiny trainer for about a month now. I've moved from chuck-gliding with elevator and rudder, through 3-channel flight with the polyhedral wing, to just starting out with full 4-channel. I feel like I'm getting the hang of it, and my crashes have become less frequent and less severe as I learn.

My issue is that I'm breaking propellers all the time. I'm on my fourth propeller now and it seems like no matter how gently I land the plane, if the prop happens to be in the up-down position when it stops, the bottom blade catches in the grass and snaps off. Does anybody have any recommendations for this?

I love the idea of a prop-saver where the blade mounts by a rubber band, but my motor is the threaded shaft type rather than the two knobs for a rubber band mount. I've considered trying to bodge a folding motor-glider prop onto the plane so the bottom blade can fold back when I land. Finally, I was thinking some type of rudimentary landing gear or skids could keep the nose of the plane off the ground when I land.

Any thoughts would be super helpful. If this question has already been answered, can you point me to the right thread?

Thanks,
Noel