FT Tiny Trainer (Mighty Mini)

[CapnBry]

This design is still pretty great. I took a dumb uninteresting video of my veteran Tiny Trainer. The ailerons have weird non-symmetrical throws. The wing has spend overnight in a wet tree. The tail is a little crooked. The motor has been crammed into the ground a hundred times. Still flies ok though, even with my limited skills in a somewhat small area.

2S battery, 6x4 prop, 1806 motor
My aileron wing is 10% wider wingspan than the stock design (just extended the root by 1.5" per side) because I wanted to be able to fly a little slower. Not sure if it makes much difference but still fun to fly.

 

[Hai-Lee]

Updated the post on page 6 which lists a number of the possible modifications done to the Tiny Trainer to change or enhance its performance.

Have fun!

 

[CapnBry]

@thenated0g is building an awesome 8ft flying wing made from hot wire cut foam and his videos outlining the basics of the technique inspired me to give it a try. I had enough junk laying around the house to be able to try it without it costing me a penny.

• Bench power supply (needs to do about 18V 2.5A)
• 28AWG stainless steel "art wire"
• Wooden stakes I bought to build a hops trellis and had some left over for fighting vampires
• Pink 1" XPS foam panel (was 2ft x 2ft) left over from some other project, each wing panel 2ft x 5.75". I cut the each in half to add the polyhedral but if I were a smarter man, I would have just cut one in half and used one as a solid middle.

A couple loops around a field goal post were also attempted. Pro Tip: Aiming for the center of the uprights is not a great idea if you're trying to fly under it!

 

[thenated0g]

@thenated0g is building an awesome 8ft flying wing made from hot wire cut foam and his videos outlining the basics of the technique inspired me to give it a try. I had enough junk laying around the house to be able to try it without it costing me a penny.

• Bench power supply (needs to do about 18V 2.5A)
• 28AWG stainless steel "art wire"
• Wooden stakes I bought to build a hops trellis and had some left over for fighting vampires
• Pink 1" XPS foam panel (was 2ft x 2ft) left over from some other project, each wing panel 2ft x 5.75". I cut the each in half to add the polyhedral but if I were a smarter man, I would have just cut one in half and used one as a solid middle.

A couple loops around a field goal post were also attempted. Pro Tip: Aiming for the center of the uprights is not a great idea if you're trying to fly under it!

nice job, if you havent checked him out, andrew newton has some nice videos as well, his videos are actually what got me going:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=andrew+newton+hot+wire&page=&utm_source=opensearch

 

[PoorManRC]

There's some great things going on with the "lowly" TT lately. Very impressive things!!

I've been MIA for quite a while, for reasons that I dare not get into... But things still aren't good yet. We're surviving.

I have actually been working on mine, with my take on the "Cabin Fuse"....
Some nice guy recently got me a 3S Battery that fits in my GT6t FlySky Receiver!

Now I have to HOPE that my ONLY 2S Battery will take and hold a charge...
And I might FINALLY get to Fly!!

Some amazing, wonderful People had given me much needed assistance, getting into this! I will never forget.
There has also been 2 bad Apples that really threw me into a tailspin... but I choose to focus on the GOOD. We have had, and are still having, terrible challenges in our family.
Fortunately, we've also had incredible Blessings!!

So anyway, although I may hold the World's Record for the LONGEST time taken to build Foam Core Board Aircraft (!!!!), I'm very close to fruition.
Somehow, we will get what we need over here. I believe that in my Heart.

One thing I've learned....
When Life is causing insane thoughts to attack your Brain - THIS Hobby, even just working with Foam Core Board and slowly building...
Is awesome Therapy indeed.

I may have wasted a LOT of Foam Board on a silly amount of mistakes, the Process is extremely soothing.
- Hope to join you cool People in the Air, SOON!

~ Carmine

 

[Vimana89]

There's some great things going on with the "lowly" TT lately. Very impressive things!!

I've been MIA for quite a while, for reasons that I dare not get into... But things still aren't good yet. We're surviving.

I have actually been working on mine, with my take on the "Cabin Fuse"....
Some nice guy recently got me a 3S Battery that fits in my GT6t FlySky Receiver!

Now I have to HOPE that my ONLY 2S Battery will take and hold a charge...
And I might FINALLY get to Fly!!

Some amazing, wonderful People had given me much needed assistance, getting into this! I will never forget.
There has also been 2 bad Apples that really threw me into a tailspin... but I choose to focus on the GOOD. We have had, and are still having, terrible challenges in our family.
Fortunately, we've also had incredible Blessings!!

So anyway, although I may hold the World's Record for the LONGEST time taken to build Foam Core Board Aircraft (!!!!), I'm very close to fruition.
Somehow, we will get what we need over here. I believe that in my Heart.

One thing I've learned....
When Life is causing insane thoughts to attack your Brain - THIS Hobby, even just working with Foam Core Board and slowly building...
Is awesome Therapy indeed.

I may have wasted a LOT of Foam Board on a silly amount of mistakes, the Process is extremely soothing.
- Hope to join you cool People in the Air, SOON!

~ Carmine

Glad to see your back and hanging in there. I hope things improve with your life situation and finances so you can stress less and build/fly more! There will be a turning point with the hobby where you finally get a couple decent flights on something and after that, the momentum starts building in your favor👍.Sad to hear about any "bad apples". I have not run into any here in my experience so far, but if they are here, they are a small minority and tend to keep a pretty low profile from what I can see. Welcome back and good luck!

 

[PoorManRC]

Glad to see your back and hanging in there. I hope things improve with your life situation and finances so you can stress less and build/fly more! There will be a turning point with the hobby where you finally get a couple decent flights on something and after that, the momentum starts building in your favor👍.Sad to hear about any "bad apples". I have not run into any here in my experience so far, but if they are here, they are a small minority and tend to keep a pretty low profile from what I can see. Welcome back and good luck!

Thank you so much for your kind words!
I'm not even going to mention the Bad Apples... Not worth it.

I'm really hoping to get SOMETHING airworthy soon.

 

[TooJung2Die]

I was reading back through this thread and read a few posts about broken props when landing the Tiny Trainer. A prop-saver is the solution but many TTs have 1806 quad style motors with 5mm threaded prop shafts.

There is a very easy way to adapt a prop-saver to threaded motor shafts. You can drill a 3mm shaft prop-saver hole out to 5mm. There will be plenty of thread left in the prop-saver to tighten it to the 5mm threaded shaft. I have done this to most of my 1806 size motors. The prop-saver screws will bite into and damage the prop shaft thread but I don't anticipate ever removing the modified prop-saver.

jon

 

[flyingavocado]

I have some DAL props from the FT store, but they are 6x4.5. I don't think they should be used on most 1806 motors. Perhaps on 2S - I'd want to run ecalc first, and also do a current draw check as well.

The 6x4.5 DAL props should work on an "F pack" 2204 motor. I've not tried since I haven't broken a prop that come with the F pack - mostly because I have 2-3 flights on that plane

I am a little late to this discussion, but I just picked up a bunch of 6x4.5 props on clearance from the Flite Test online store and decided to throw try one on my newly built TT with an 1806 and 12A ESC. The performance boost going from a 6x3 to a 6x4.5 on a 2S (75C) was awesome! I was able to climb vertically and do nearly unlimited loops using the polyhedral wing.

However, the question did come to mind; Am I stressing/overworking the motor? The motor didn't seem hot to touch when I landed. I also don't have a temp sensor on-board, so it could have cooled down a lot when coming in to land since I had to lower the throttle quite a bit to reach a landing speeds.

Do you happen to recall if you decided against 6x4.5 props with an 1806 on 2S? I am betting 3S is probably risky, but I am still curious about that as well (and a little frightened about how fast it would go after seeing what a 6x4.5 does on 2S).

 

[flyingavocado]

Flaperons - built my Tiny Trainer with a 6 channel receiver so that I could play around with flaperons, and it's been an interesting experience. Had to learn how to use the "dual aileron" wing type on my DX-6i transmitter to get things going. Still experimenting with different flap settings, but for now 75% seems to work well. Balloons a bit when the flaps are deployed, so I added an elevator mix to mitigate that.

Thanks for posting this!

I just built my performance wing and decided to throw a flaperon switch on mine while setting up the controls. I guesstimated my flaperons at 70% with the elevator offset of 30% to compensate for the added lift, but haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet. I would love to hear more about what has worked best for your flaperon settings for both the aileron and elevator offsets.

Thanks!

 

[mayan]

I am a little late to this discussion, but I just picked up a bunch of 6x4.5 props on clearance from the Flite Test online store and decided to throw try one on my newly built TT with an 1806 and 12A ESC. The performance boost going from a 6x3 to a 6x4.5 on a 2S (75C) was awesome! I was able to climb vertically and do nearly unlimited loops using the polyhedral wing.

However, the question did come to mind; Am I stressing/overworking the motor? The motor didn't seem hot to touch when I landed. I also don't have a temp sensor on-board, so it could have cooled down a lot when coming in to land since I had to lower the throttle quite a bit to reach a landing speeds.

Do you happen to recall if you decided against 6x4.5 props with an 1806 on 2S? I am betting 3S is probably risky, but I am still curious about that as well (and a little frightened about how fast it would go after seeing what a 6x4.5 does on 2S).

I fly mine on 3S 6x4.5 and it’s fine. If the motor was hot it would be hot coming down, experience talking. I think that you would only stress the motor if weight wise you were overweight. I’ve been flying 3S 6x4.5 for some time now and haven’t felt any issues with this setup.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Revisiting the Tiny Trainer

Tiny Trainer is the first RC airplane I successfully built and flew. It's been years since I've flown one so I built another.

It has a few modifications. 2204-1400KV motor with a 7x6 prop, 850mAh 2S has power to spare and long flights. No power pod, the plywood firewall is fixed. The rear fuselage is upside down to raise the horizontal stab. Paper stripped off the inside of the fuselage and wings for weight saving. The ailerons are extended to the end of the wing and start farther out from the fuselage so the rubber bands won't catch in the aileron slots. Changed the shape of the wing tips and tail feathers. I think that's about it.

It flies Great! I found myself attempting maneuvers I would never dare try with my scratch built balsa airplanes. The extended ailerons make it roll like a drill.

After surviving a hard nose plant in a corn field a subsequent landing in a tree finished her off. I was having so much fun I had to quickly build another.

Bottom showing the extended airfoil. Servos moved out to center of full length ailerons.

The second one is built much like the first with a few more changes. I eliminated the undercamber at the wingtips and extended the airfoil the full length of the wings. The tail is in the normal position but the rudder is raked and fixed. Since my left hand still doesn't know what to do with a rudder it's a 3 channel bank and yank flier. I covered the fuselage with laminating film to guard against landing in wet grass. Ironed the edges of the tail feathers and ailerons. It flies Great too!

The TT is so much fun to fly I always include it with the airplanes I bring to the flying field.

Jon

 

[PoorManRC]

Those are exceptional TTs!!

 

[Brett_N]

What KV 1806 are you running?

I run 1500kV w 12A ESC and 8" props all the time. 9" with a 2S battery.

If it's a 2200kV stick with the 6"

 

[flyingavocado]

What KV 1806 are you running?

I run 1500kV w 12A ESC and 8" props all the time. 9" with a 2S battery.

If it's a 2200kV stick with the 6"

I'm not sure if you were responding to my post about the 6x4.5 props or not, if you were I am running the 2280kV 1806. Either way, thanks for tip!

As I am just starting out, I am also curious to learn why you went with a larger prop/lower kV moter setup. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a larger prop w/lower kV?

 

[dryhiker]

Thanks for posting this!

I just built my performance wing and decided to throw a flaperon switch on mine while setting up the controls. I guesstimated my flaperons at 70% with the elevator offset of 30% to compensate for the added lift, but haven't had the opportunity to try it out yet. I would love to hear more about what has worked best for your flaperon settings for both the aileron and elevator offsets.

Thanks!

I used the left side slider on my Hitec radio for flaps, mixed into the ailerons. I don't remember how much elevator I mixed in, but it makes the ballooning disappear. Flaperons reduced the landing speed and I like using them. One caution is that if you fully deploy the flaperons, you can get a control reversal in roll. One side doesn't move as the aileron, because it is fully down. The other side moves up to make that wing go down. Trouble is, when it moves up drag on that side goes down and the plane yaws toward the other wing, rolling the plane in the wrong direction. Just practice and be aware that you want some altitude for experimenting at first.

 

[rickp]

Over G'ed my polyhedral wing and it folded in flight, so repaired it by cutting out the center section and adding a longer one that gave me about 20% more area. Flies nice as describe in my RCG blog here.

Had played around with flaperons and they were just okay, so decided to build a wing with dedicated flaps and a symmetrical airfoil.
That turned out nice, and the details are in my blog.

First picture is the repaired polyhedral wing beside the standard aileron wing.
Second and third pictures are the symmetrical wing with dedicated flaps.

Just received a 7 channel receiver, so now I can explore things like crow braking.

Enjoy, rick

 

[TooJung2Die]

That's interesting. The Tiny Trainer is a good platform for trying out new ideas. I folded TT wings too so I started using 3/16" wood spars, especially at the servo cut outs.

 

[alan0043]

Over G'ed my polyhedral wing and it folded in flight, so repaired it by cutting out the center section and adding a longer one that gave me about 20% more area. Flies nice as describe in my RCG blog here.

Had played around with flaperons and they were just okay, so decided to build a wing with dedicated flaps and a symmetrical airfoil.
That turned out nice, and the details are in my blog beginning at post #145.

First picture is the repaired polyhedral wing beside the standard aileron wing.
Second and third pictures are the symmetrical wing with dedicated flaps.
I have a 7 channel receiver on order so I can explore things like crow braking.

Enjoy, rick

Hi rickp,

I have a question for you about your wing in the #2 and #3 picture. I tried to find post #145 with no luck. Can you tell me what size the wing is ? Length and width ? I want to play around with my tiny trainer with different wings.

Thank you for any input,
Al

 

[rickp]

Hi rickp,

I have a question for you about your wing in the #2 and #3 picture. I tried to find post #145 with no luck. Can you tell me what size the wing is ? Length and width ? I want to play around with my tiny trainer with different wings.

Thank you for any input,
Al

Sorry about that Al - I just reorganized my blog and the link is now correct.
The wingspan is 30 inches and the chord is 7 inches.
Half span drawing with dimensions is below.

Have fun, rick