This may come as a surprise to all you aficionados, but can you believe there are actually people out there, makers even, that have not as yet discovered the awesome world of FliteTest - I hadn't a few short weeks ago. 
We're fully locked down still here in the U.K and, for long-winded reasons, I ended up in lockdown with almost no tools and no materials. I recently watched the BBC documentary on the recreation of the Colditz glider (on YT - dream watching for anyone on here!) and slowly but surely a plan began to form. I've flown fixed wing Cubs (a long time ago) and have a couple of quads I regularly chuck around. I'm a fairly competent maker but had never attempted to built anything with the ability to beat gravity. The initial intention was to build a glider, until I found the motor / servos and radio gear from a long dead Trek 450 then it all got rapidly out of hand!
Starting completely from the school of 'making stuff up as we go along' I began... and the results were... predictable. There's a full thread on Twitter, for those who are interested, here: 'Escape From Castle Covid' -
I had *so* much fun but so much frustration too, until I was introduced to FliteTest by a buddy from work. What a revelation! The quality of the plans, the effort that's gone into all of this, the community etc. - all just goddamn awesome. So my mad mashup creation rapidly morphed into a fully functional Tiny Trainer that flies like as absolute dream.
Maiden flight video here:
I also got totally carried away and designed a really simple parachute drop mod that actually worked like a charm and then spent a fun few hours mucking around putting this together:
In short, can't thank the FliteTest family enough for an amazing introduction to the world of home built flight, it's certainly helped keep me together in these weirdest of times!
Thanks loads to everyone!
We're fully locked down still here in the U.K and, for long-winded reasons, I ended up in lockdown with almost no tools and no materials. I recently watched the BBC documentary on the recreation of the Colditz glider (on YT - dream watching for anyone on here!) and slowly but surely a plan began to form. I've flown fixed wing Cubs (a long time ago) and have a couple of quads I regularly chuck around. I'm a fairly competent maker but had never attempted to built anything with the ability to beat gravity. The initial intention was to build a glider, until I found the motor / servos and radio gear from a long dead Trek 450 then it all got rapidly out of hand!
Starting completely from the school of 'making stuff up as we go along' I began... and the results were... predictable. There's a full thread on Twitter, for those who are interested, here: 'Escape From Castle Covid' -
I had *so* much fun but so much frustration too, until I was introduced to FliteTest by a buddy from work. What a revelation! The quality of the plans, the effort that's gone into all of this, the community etc. - all just goddamn awesome.
So my mad mashup creation rapidly morphed into a fully functional Tiny Trainer that flies like as absolute dream. 
Maiden flight video here:
I also got totally carried away and designed a really simple parachute drop mod that actually worked like a charm and then spent a fun few hours mucking around putting this together:
In short, can't thank the FliteTest family enough for an amazing introduction to the world of home built flight, it's certainly helped keep me together in these weirdest of times!
Thanks loads to everyone!
