Hi! I'm Brent.

[Stratospup]

My Jumper T12 radio arrived today! I even got it working in the Realflight Mobile simulator (post on that here).

I got everything I need to build my first FT plane yesterday, except a speed build kit. I'm not terribly confident in my printer and it's ability to print to scale , so I am going to buy a speed build kit and trace it onto some DTFM and maybe some poster board to make templates for when I break (or lose!) my foam board bird.

Edit: I BOUGHT MY FIRST SPEED BUILD KIT! I got the FT Explorer Starter kit so I have the right power pack, a battery, and a charger. It arrives Thursday! I won't be able to maiden the plane until later this month but I am sure the build and painting will give me plenty to do!

 

[kdobson83]

My Jumper T12 radio arrived today! I even got it working in the Realflight Mobile simulator (post on that here).

I got everything I need to build my first FT plane yesterday, except a speed build kit. I'm not terribly confident in my printer and it's ability to print to scale , so I am going to buy a speed build kit and trace it onto some DTFM and maybe some poster board to make templates for when I break (or lose!) my foam board bird.

Edit: I BOUGHT MY FIRST SPEED BUILD KIT! I got the FT Explorer Starter kit so I have the right power pack, a battery, and a charger. It arrives Thursday! I won't be able to maiden the plane until later this month but I am sure the build and painting will give me plenty to do!

Yup, the FT Explorer is a great plane! It flys great, just make sure you get it balanced!. And look into reinforcing the wing, particularly the middle section. Add a carbon arrow shaft or a paint stirring stick. I've not experienced it myself, but I've heard about people folding wings in high G turns.
It comes with both the 3 channel and the 4 channel wing I think, which do you plan on starting with?

 

[Stratospup]

Thanks for the tips on keeping the wing from folding! I plan on starting with the 3 channel. I'm very new to flying (a moment of silence for the Sport Cub S, lost but not forgotten) and that seems like the right thing to do for the learning curve. I think the only thing I need now is a radio receiver for the plane, probably a 4 or 6 channel Jumper receiver, which I think uses the Futaba or FrSky protocol. The T12 has a steep learning curve but playing around with it in the simulator has taught me a lot in just a few hours!

 

[Gazoo]

Thanks for the tips on keeping the wing from folding! I plan on starting with the 3 channel. I'm very new to flying (a moment of silence for the Sport Cub S, lost but not forgotten) and that seems like the right thing to do for the learning curve. I think the only thing I need now is a radio receiver for the plane, probably a 4 or 6 channel Jumper receiver, which I think uses the Futaba or FrSky protocol. The T12 has a steep learning curve but playing around with it in the simulator has taught me a lot in just a few hours!

Here is a tip for hand launching the FT Explorer. Because the Explorer is a "Bixler" type pusher, it has some strange launch tendencies. It has to do with the position and angle of the motor/prop. I just wanted to make you aware. There is much more if you google or youtube "hand launching a Bixler".

Don't let it scare you though. Just wanted to increase your chances of success!

 

[Stratospup]

The saga continues! I started working on the FT Explorer today and didn't realize my glue gun is a piece of garbage and can hardly keep one squirt of glue melted. Needless to say I didn't get far. Ordered a scratch-n-dent crafty kit for $70 (just the cutting board box is broken, not a concern) and a FT cap (I'm goin all in!). Ah well. I was so excited I wasn't going to wait and skip the template-making step but my efforts are on hold until Tuesday so I will probably make the templates.

 

[Hondo76251]

Awesome to read your journey, thanks for sharing!

I was stationed in Cali for a few years... I do feel sorry for y'all from time to time! Being from Wyoming (we're all pretty libertarian) the thought of the government descending on me for my toy quad is almost comical.

While appearances are important right now for our hobby and as someone who's worked in aviation I would never condone stupid, reckless, or illegal behavior, I will leave you with this thought... The FAA does not have the authority to regulate the air under your tree tops on your own private property (or else they would have to regulate football too) at this piont they do not have have the funding or manpower to ever enforce the "regulations" that HAVE been suggested, never mind something as draconian as a foamie or micro quad over your own lawn...

 

[Stratospup]

Thanks, Hondo! It truly is incredible how paranoid our local government and residents are. You can't even fly a DJI Spark in Golden Gate Park anymore, or even on the beach. I have SF's other great park, John McLaren Park, right across the street from me and I have seen from my room stunt quads flying around the big blue water tower occasionally. Actually, its quite a sight to behold as they climb, flip, dive the tower, climb and circle the tower, dive again! My housemate says it sounds like a weed wacker flying through the sky and they shouldn't be allowed to make such a racket. I asked him if he's giving up his weed wacker then I have heard though that SF Rec & Parks is enforcing rules, so...

Back to the build, so I tried to trace the parts and found that it's not tracing the foam but the paper. The paper seems to be a bit larger than the foam (maybe like 1/32). I am going to look into getting the large format plans printed at a print shop so they are perfect. I have read articles about tiling from my own printer but I don't quite get it.

 

[Stratospup]

Here is a tip for hand launching the FT Explorer. Because the Explorer is a "Bixler" type pusher, it has some strange launch tendencies. It has to do with the position and angle of the motor/prop. I just wanted to make you aware. There is much more if you google or youtube "hand launching a Bixler".

Don't let it scare you though. Just wanted to increase your chances of success!

Whoops missed your post!

Thank you for the advice! The plane seems like a fantastic glider, and some of those videos suggest just launching as a glider and then throttling up and pulling back. I'm quite eager to try towing the glider with my crawler truck. I dunno if it'll go fast enough, but the idea is fun!

 

[Hondo76251]

It is human nature to be apprehensive of new and unfamiliar things... Even more so when others have spread misinformation that builds on the fear...

I like how you mention your father as part of this journey, I can relate to that. My dad died when he crashed his Champ when I was still young. He always loved flying and I've continued that in my life. I desperately wanted to fly model planes when I was young but they were expensive and, frankly, the men at the field were rude and uninviting, more interested in their rules than promoting their hobby. (Found a similar feel in the HAM world too, but that's another story) I found the guys at flitetest so refreshing when I discovered them. There's hope for this hobby yet! Lol.

There is an episode on the YouTubes where bixler and the gang went to a fly in and ran into some of those old school model rc guys (tried to find the video but couldn't) it was almost comical to see Josh, in his kind as a Sunday school teacher way, be visibly furious at how these guys treated people...

Glad those days are behind us and we have great growing communities of young people in the hobby. Hopefully there will be enough of us promoting the hobby that we can keep our benevolent government from selling out our airspace to Amazon!

 

[Stratospup]

My dad has been on my mind as I've tried hard to get into this hobby. I saw a video where the FT crew put rocket engines on planes, an "E" engine and I got giddy because I actually knew what that was and what it would do. He and I had our successes and our learning failures (which were sometimes more fun than the successes!!) and I hope to find that in this hobby. There is a club up in Sonoma and I am going to go to one of their events when I am up there next. I talked to a guy at the hobby shop and he said they are a really great group and really welcoming to newbies. I hope my experience is better than yours, and I am sorry you had to deal with people like that. Snobby old-boys-club attitudes are not stewardship and if it wasn't for people like the FT crew and everyone on these forums this hobby would be forgotten, with VR and video games replacing the thrill of being outside and maidening your craft with friends.

 

[Vimana89]

I didn't even have to watch that vid to know all about what they meant by "deny the dip". It has to do with any high mounted pusher that is located forward of the CG. No matter how much you compensate with a little downthrust angle to blow down behind the cg, there is always a bit of nose-down tendency. I use a similar style fuselage on a couple scratch builds of a completely different style of plane than the Explorer and same business. Not intimidating if you are ready for it👍

 

[Vimana89]

It is human nature to be apprehensive of new and unfamiliar things... Even more so when others have spread misinformation that builds on the fear...

I like how you mention your father as part of this journey, I can relate to that. My dad died when he crashed his Champ when I was still young. He always loved flying and I've continued that in my life. I desperately wanted to fly model planes when I was young but they were expensive and, frankly, the men at the field were rude and uninviting, more interested in their rules than promoting their hobby. (Found a similar feel in the HAM world too, but that's another story) I found the guys at flitetest so refreshing when I discovered them. There's hope for this hobby yet! Lol.

There is an episode on the YouTubes where bixler and the gang went to a fly in and ran into some of those old school model rc guys (tried to find the video but couldn't) it was almost comical to see Josh, in his kind as a Sunday school teacher way, be visibly furious at how these guys treated people...

Glad those days are behind us and we have great growing communities of young people in the hobby. Hopefully there will be enough of us promoting the hobby that we can keep our benevolent government from selling out our airspace to Amazon!

I really have to check the flying field and club downtown. As little experience as I have with the hobby I can already imagine those type of people and was running it through my head. Are these guys going to be friendly or snobby and elitist and stuck in the past? A good-old-boy network where you have to have a friend in the club? Will they have a million rules that accomplish nothing, a feeling of being monitored and scrutinized and evaluated at all times and ready to be reprimanded or ridiculed? Will they scoff at my home designed foamies and say they aren't legit to fly there? Those are the things I ask. Some time I'll probably go have a look.

 

[Stratospup]

@Vimana89 or will they call my transmitter a cute toy!? That's my big fear lol. The hobby shop guy didn't have much respect for the Jumper transmitters. I wanted One Transmitter to Rule Them All rather than a box-o-transmitters I have to dive in when I get the itch to fly something else.

 

[Stratospup]

I didn't even have to watch that vid to know all about what they meant by "deny the dip". It has to do with any high mounted pusher that is located forward of the CG. No matter how much you compensate with a little downthrust angle to blow down behind the cg, there is always a bit of nose-down tendency. I use a similar style fuselage on a couple scratch builds of a completely different style of plane than the Explorer and same business. Not intimidating if you are ready for it👍

Thank you for the explanation as to why the FT Explorer has such a tendency!

 

[Hondo76251]

I really have to check the flying field and club downtown. As little experience as I have with the hobby I can already imagine those type of people and was running it through my head. Are these guys going to be friendly or snobby and elitist and stuck in the past? A good-old-boy network where you have to have a friend in the club? Will they have a million rules that accomplish nothing, a feeling of being monitored and scrutinized and evaluated at all times and ready to be reprimanded or ridiculed? Will they scoff at my home designed foamies and say they aren't legit to fly there? Those are the things I ask. Some time I'll probably go have a look.

I havent been back to a club for 20 years but I'm sure things have changed by what I see in the forums and on you tube.

I'm very happy that I live on the ranch. I have 100 awesome spots that I fly from that are cooler than most air parks, and (shhh... Dont tell anybody) but I occasionally use my phantom 3 pro to check cows in the river breaks and I may go a "little" past line of sight now and then... But one thing I would love to be a part of is the group flying experience. Airial combat looks like an absolute blast! I too have thought about checking out a club but, last I knew, closest one to me is over 100 miles (of course, so is McDonald's) lol

 

[Vimana89]

I havent been back to a club for 20 years but I'm sure things have changed by what I see in the forums and on you tube.

I'm very happy that I live on the ranch. I have 100 awesome spots that I fly from that are cooler than most air parks, and (shhh... Dont tell anybody) but I occasionally use my phantom 3 pro to check cows in the river breaks and I may go a "little" past line of sight now and then... But one thing I would love to be a part of is the group flying experience. Airial combat looks like an absolute blast! I too have thought about checking out a club but, last I knew, closest one to me is over 100 miles (of course, so is McDonald's) lol

I would also like to be part of a group experience, but no friends in the hobby. I've got a desert lot across the street in a small town residential neighborhood. Not a ridiculously tight space, but far from huge, with residential stuff on all sides and a highway on one. My flying style sort of reflects this. I can "soar" and swing wide a bit more with my Hobby Zone Champ, it is tiny and stable and slow with a nose-up tendency(a bit too much, but not bad). The first couple of my own designs have been low aspect planes, and while I certainly can bank long and wide with them, they are better suited to really "busy" flying and tight turns, and one does low, slow, high alpha particularly well.

Both have the sort of pusher prop discussed earlier, and both have a RET control scheme that's odd for deltas, but tames the roll axis and makes them a bit more beginner friendly to build and fly. Here's my flying field and one of my planes, this is the high alpha beast of the two although the other's a bit more stable and beginner friendly, and it's probably the most slender delta anyone's been crazy enough to fly.

 

[Stratospup]

I havent been back to a club for 20 years but I'm sure things have changed by what I see in the forums and on you tube.

I'm very happy that I live on the ranch. I have 100 awesome spots that I fly from that are cooler than most air parks, and (shhh... Dont tell anybody) but I occasionally use my phantom 3 pro to check cows in the river breaks and I may go a "little" past line of sight now and then... But one thing I would love to be a part of is the group flying experience. Airial combat looks like an absolute blast! I too have thought about checking out a club but, last I knew, closest one to me is over 100 miles (of course, so is McDonald's) lol

That's the nice thing about having family in Sonoma with a vineyard, though the Evil Tree (tm) in the middle of the vineyard seems to have a siren call to anything with props. They are outside of controlled airspace and are very encouraging of my hobby and flying on the grounds. Their dogs LOVE it, chasing the shadows on the ground and barking and racing to the craft when it lands crashes. So far no one wants to join me in the flying or building, which is why I am eager to connect with the Wine Country Flyers. I doubt I'll be able to get to Flite Fest, though the idea of making it my vacation is tempting. My partner would NEVER go for it though!

 

[kdobson83]

That's the nice thing about having family in Sonoma with a vineyard, though the Evil Tree (tm) in the middle of the vineyard seems to have a siren call to anything with props. They are outside of controlled airspace and are very encouraging of my hobby and flying on the grounds. Their dogs LOVE it, chasing the shadows on the ground and barking and racing to the craft when it lands crashes. So far no one wants to join me in the flying or building, which is why I am eager to connect with the Wine Country Flyers. I doubt I'll be able to get to Flite Fest, though the idea of making it my vacation is tempting. My partner would NEVER go for it though!

You could offer to do other things while your out at FF! That's what I did. I offered to spend one day at FliteFest and one day at Cedar Point, a huge roller coaster park about an hour or so away. And my wife agreed! Showed her a couple FF recap videos, like the one with the Guinness World Record, and said it looked cool, even tho her eyes roll back into her head when I mention anything RC to her. Lol
Anyway, if your partner isn't into roller coasters you could research the area and find some he is interested in. It's Northern Ohio! All kinds of stuff a stone's throw away! Offer to spend one or two days at FliteFest and one or two days doing something he wants to do.
All though I do see you live a lot farther away. It is a tad closer/easier for me here in Louisville KY.
Anyway, mull it over, and ask him. What's the worst that could happen? What if he says yes?! 😋 Sorry I'm playing devil's advocate here a little. Lol

 

[Stratospup]

So I have nearly completed the build on my FT Explorer! I burned myself quite a number of times, accidently glued the spar on the top of the wing instead of inside, glued the motor mount into the powerpod too low and had to make a shim under the powerpod to get enough clearance for the prop, and used way more packing tape than the build video says to. I think I will be lucky if it flies at all! I am in awe of how wide the wingspan is. You really don't get a sense of scale from the videos! I think I need to build a smaller plane next time haha. I am holding off on pictures because I want to take the plane outside for photos and I want to paint it and we are having some weird weather for SF this time of year. And yes, I'll take pictures of it looking a little rough from my mistakes first there are slight divots in the wing on top from having to rip the spar off when I glued it in the wrong place, so, that's fun. All in all a fun experience to build, it took me the greater part of an evening to do it.

 

[Stratospup]

You could offer to do other things while your out at FF! That's what I did. I offered to spend one day at FliteFest and one day at Cedar Point, a huge roller coaster park about an hour or so away. And my wife agreed! Showed her a couple FF recap videos, like the one with the Guinness World Record, and said it looked cool, even tho her eyes roll back into her head when I mention anything RC to her. Lol
Anyway, if your partner isn't into roller coasters you could research the area and find some he is interested in. It's Northern Ohio! All kinds of stuff a stone's throw away! Offer to spend one or two days at FliteFest and one or two days doing something he wants to do.
All though I do see you live a lot farther away. It is a tad closer/easier for me here in Louisville KY.
Anyway, mull it over, and ask him. What's the worst that could happen? What if he says yes?! 😋 Sorry I'm playing devil's advocate here a little. Lol

Okay, I will have to look into making it happen but most likely FF 2020