Good plane to learn 3d?

[Quackerhonk]

On mine, the battery (1300mah 3s) was strapped right behind the motor on the bottom of the power pod and the ESC was inside the power pod, also toward the front. That matched the marked COG. From what I know now about 3d, those should both be pushed way back to make it more tail heavy.

Thanks. I am also using a 3s 1300

 

[Quackerhonk]

Be careful moving cg aft. A wee bit might work, a bit more than that makes it un-flyable really quick. Stay inside the range if they give one. They don't tell you in the instructions where stuff goes bad. 3D generally has much more authority in the response to inputs so sometimes you can get away with cg changes, not always.

For my first flight i am definently fling nose heavy

 

[L Edge]

Agreeing with @Piotrsko, I always change it about 1/4" each time.
But what they don't tell you is you need to see how that reacts in roll, pitch and yaw. So the first thing that you need to do is increase your throws to make it easier on you to control it. By the way, you should reduce your expos so your reaction time is quicker. I run usually 10 to 15%(my son uses no expo) especially if you are flying close to ground.

Next, get some flight time trying some maneuvers and see how it reacts in one control or more. If ok, move your 1/4" again and redo process. When you are almost scared to fly it, back down and that is your limit. Sure your 3 crashes high, but remember landing, that's where most accidents occur.

My plane(never paint them) just looks like yours at extreme heights. Try to come down where when you input control, you can see what is the result. Like hovering 50 ft from you, you add/subtract throttle (torque starts the wing turning,) if front of you, easy to spot quickly, by the time you recognize and correct 50 ft away, it's probably will crash due to different orientation time.

Hovering is the hardest, no moving airflow, only propwash over the controls. Add/subtract throttle changes the propwash speed, and if all 4 controls are deflected initially, a control change is needed to keep it steady. So the left and right hand on the transmitter will always be on the move.

So timing is important. Like the big pilots, do you have an emergency plan(got torque now causing rotation due to punching throttle) so as you lost balance in front of you and the right wing tips down with the plane's belly facing you, you know what to do in less than 1/6th second?
So use a cheap foamy, not an expensive store bought model.

 

[Quackerhonk]

I love ft because you can buy a $20 fuselage instead of $100 if you total it. My ft tiny trainer (first plane, still works and flies) has been nose darted into the ground at full throttle 3times and in my 2 years of flying it i have never made a new airframe part for it.

 

[Piotrsko]

Make the fuselage out of foamboard and most expensive I ever got was $2.00 (2.50 nowadays [inflation?]) AND that was a big plane.
Unless the fuselage had the motor trying to eat the tailfeathers with the prop, or the battery was compressed enough to catch fire, most of the stuff will salvage and re use. Hmmm maybe not the motor mount plywood.

 

[Quackerhonk]

Just maidened the 3d, it flew great. I did my first hover (even though it wasnt that good prolly because it was set to be nose heavy). Unfortunately I was hovering it, winged it over with the rudder, and rolled it on the way down. I tried to recover but i think i was too low. It smacked the ground on the front end. The wing was a little peeled off, the front was a teeny bit dented, and the thing with the skewers that holds in the power pod came off. Something very unexpected was the rudder started fluttering when i did a control check post-crash! I dont know how the servo got stripped or whatever, but i am not impressed with ft’s servos. Either way just got home and will hot glue the slightly damaged parts and replace the servo.
These pics are of the damage (i dont have a crash vid)

 

[Quackerhonk]

Still am very happy with the plane either way.

 

[Quackerhonk]

Also either im terrible at landing or the gear system loves to give out. Whenever i land it springs away but the rubber bands spring it right back so i like that

 

[Quackerhonk]

Also does anyone know any good paint jobs for it?

 

[Mr Man]

Also does anyone know any good paint jobs for it?

Rust-oleum and masking tape.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

Just maidened the 3d, it flew great. I did my first hover (even though it wasnt that good prolly because it was set to be nose heavy). Unfortunately I was hovering it, winged it over with the rudder, and rolled it on the way down. I tried to recover but i think i was too low. It smacked the ground on the front end. The wing was a little peeled off, the front was a teeny bit dented, and the thing with the skewers that holds in the power pod came off. Something very unexpected was the rudder started fluttering when i did a control check post-crash! I dont know how the servo got stripped or whatever, but i am not impressed with ft’s servos. Either way just got home and will hot glue the slightly damaged parts and replace the servo.
These pics are of the damage (i dont have a crash vid)

When you upgrade your servos, get the cheap metal gear ones off Amazon...They will last forever and what ever you put them thru! 😂

 

[Bricks]

If you can do your repairs with out hot glue you can save adding extra weight, lighter flies much better. What Houndpup said for replacement servos even thou they are not true metal gears the ones taking the most torque are metal.

 

[L Edge]

If you are really serious about 3D, change from the cheap analog servos to using digital servos. Too much slop in analogs.

 

[Piotrsko]

They are both digital anymore using PWM to digital conversion to run the driver and power sections on the cheapos and the "computer ones" transmit a discrete number value. the difference in the servos: analog uses a potentiometer for +/ 2 degrees output shaft sensing and the digital uses a rotary encoder on the output shaft which gives much more resolution, like .05 degree or they count how many turns of the motor so the cheapo ones are sloppy and the expensive ones have better chips running better resolution and higher output torque.

 

[Quackerhonk]

Rust-oleum and masking tape.

I mean designs

 

[Quackerhonk]

They are both digital anymore using PWM to digital conversion to run the driver and power sections on the cheapos and the "computer ones" transmit a discrete number value. the difference in the servos: analog uses a potentiometer for +/ 2 degrees output shaft sensing and the digital uses a rotary encoder on the output shaft which gives much more resolution, like .05 degree or they count how many turns of the motor so the cheapo ones are sloppy and the expensive ones have better chips running better resolution and higher output torque.

I bearly read that

 

[Mr Man]

I mean designs

Oh i see what ya mean 👍

 

[AIRFORGE]

I bearly read that

Simplified: Digital are generally more accurate, have higher resolution, less slop and are stronger.

 

[Quackerhonk]

Thanks!

 

[Quackerhonk]

I found a great design and can prolly make it with this decal set i have lying around. I also happen to have some carbon fiber ish vinyl