Greetings and a quick question re: balance of FT Flyer, plus bonus question.

galorin

Junior Member
The FT Flyer is not my first plane, but it is my first FT foam board build. Previous scratch builds were wire-cut foam ribbed planes that flew very well in the hands of a decent pilot. That is something I am not, so I switched over to the FT Flyer for getting better, before I put my current cut-foam bird in the air.

According to the plans, the balance point on the FT Flyer should be close to the front tabs for the power pod. The foam board I am using is heavier than the Dollar Tree stuff, but since it's uniform, that shouldn't be a problem.

My ESC is a 30A, the motor is a EMAX CF2822 1200kv motor, swinging a 9050 prop. Landing gears are a bit shorter than expected, but shouldn't biff the prop on a good landing. Irrelevant since I fully expect to land nose-first. I have a 9060 available as well, but only one, got a bag of 9050s.

With all my electronics firmly ensconced as far forward as possible, and my desired 2s 500mAh battery, the balance point sits at the servos. Very far back, and I don't know if it will even fly with it being that tail heavy.

I also have a 3s 2200mAh pack that was going into a NERF blaster. When I attach this one to the FT Flyer, positioned about half an inch back from the firewall, the balance point is exactly where the plans say it should be. But, that thing is bleeding heavy. Haven't weighed the plane yet, but it feels rather hefty and I don't know yet if it will fly.

How much margin of error is there on the balance points for the FT Flyer?

I also have a Turnigy D2830-11 1000kv that is twice the weight of the current motor. I could put that on instead and get a heavier nose without packing it with clay. With that and all other electronics, I can swing an 1070 prop with a few amps to spare, but that's a bit too big for this airframe... Need to find a bigger FT build to fit that prop on. What single-engine bird would work well with that guy at max?
 

albent_33

New member
Try the FT Simple Storch or FT Explorer with your Turnigy 2830-11. They are good trainers and are forgiving. With that motor I would go with a 9x6 or 10x4.7. As far as the FT flyer balance point it is better to have a way nose heavy plane than a slightly tail heavy plane. That being said you could fly it with the 2200 3s but it won't be fun to fly.
 

galorin

Junior Member
Without the 3S battery, it's going to be extremely tail heavy though... I don't think a 1000mAh 2s or 3s will give the weight I need to balance it out, plus I'd need to order one. Might anyhow... I haven't got access to lead shot or fishing weights right now. Can't think of anything else I might have that is dense for filling the nose with.

What about the 3S will make the Flyer not fun to fly?

I like the look of the Simple Storch, might make that my next build, once I find somewhere in the North of Scotland where I can get foam board for less than £7 per A1 sheet. I'm sure there are places, just haven't found one that'll ship here for a reasonable price yet.
 

razor02097

Rogue Drone Pilot
First just wanted to welcome you to the forum

Next is the FT flyer is pretty forgiving with COG. I actually run mine a bit back from the original plans. Most of the time I spend in high alpha flying low and slow. If I want to fly faster I have to move the battery up and turn the rates down a bit.

As far as it not being fun on 3S what he was saying is the 2200 is a big heavy battery which the FT flyer would carry but it would not have desirable flight characteristics because of the weight. I've found that a 1300 3S does pretty well but an 800mah 3S is my favorite. Flight times for that are right around 10 min and I have great vertical.

There are more details on my setup at the bottom of this blog post... http://forum.flitetest.com/entry.ph...ing-to-the-FAA-my-FT-flyer-is-now-safe-to-fly!

For AUW try to aim it around 300-350 grams if you can.