Italian Style FT Bloody Wonder with on-board Action Camera

[RodrigoDeLucca]

Hello Guys,
This is my first post here in this forum. I would like to share my experience with the FT Bloody Wonder.
I've started scratch building / piloting RC planes about 3 weeks ago, when my FT Versa kit arrived. From that point on I was hooked! I learned how to "fly" just barely enough with a friend and since then I'm hitting the airstrip almost daily (Work vacations!). I still have to work on landing and looping, but I feel I'm starting to get the hang of flying inverted (After many crashes).
I then bought depron plates (I cannot find anything similar to Adam's here in Brazil) and went ahead to build my first truly scratch plane, the FT Bloody Wonder. The plane was awesome but did not last much due to my poor flying skills and since I used a bad quality 4mm depron that I found in town. For the second build, I repeated the plane but with nice 5mm depron and also using colored tape to give it a Italian style (My soccer team colors). I also made some adjustments in order to have a stronger plane which would be able to carry an action camera (An SJ4000, which is similar to the GoPro's but for 1/3 of the price).
This is how it turned out (After some flights):


These are the new features I added to the plane:
Reinforcement to the vertical stabilizers:


Reinforcement to the tail section (Little triangle glued to the tail, which helps keep the vertical stabilizers on a 90º angle and also make the tail stronger):


Camera Pod, made for the exact dimensions of the SJ4000. The camera is also strapped to the top of the pod using a velcro tape that came with it.


Top View:


Bottom View:


Since most mod's were done to the tail, by adding things, the plane became is easily tail heavy without the camera. In order to balance it properly I have used a heavier battery when flying without the camera or I use de 1200mAh all the way to the front of the plane.

I also was able to film it during flight. The plane felt a little underpowered and I almost crashed during trimming. Other than that I really have to work on my landing skills (And also on my landing gear, since it is not working properly).

First fight:

Second flight:

And yes, there are horses around the landing strip! They belong to the owner of the land and since this is a small plane I did not feel like locking them all to the pasture beside the landing strip (They were having a great time watching me fly! lol).

For the people who will wonder, here are my specs:
Motor: E-Max CF2822 with a 25A ESC
Prop: 10 x 4,7 SF (The one with most trust I had)
Battery: LiPo 1200mAh 3S
Camera: SJ4000 (Weights about 60g)

I hope you like my experience and my mods!

Now I'm off to build another plane! Any suggestions for a beginner who wants to do some acrobatics? I was thinking about the FT-22 due to easiness of construction (At least it seems like to me) or the FT Duster to learn on a 4 channel.

Rgds,
Rodrigo De Lucca

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Welcome to the forums! looks like a very nice build and I love your simple mounting device.

The duster would be a pretty good 4 channel trainer, but don't fly it in too much wind.

 

[mjmccarron]

Welcome! Very nice BW. That's my current favorite FT Plane and you did a great job. Keep at it. You'll get better although, I've been flying RC for more than 30 years now and I still crash. Maybe not as often as when I first started but when I do it's usually a good crash!

Keep up the great work and above all, Have Fun!

Mike

 

[SP0NZ]

Welcome aboard Rodrigo. That's a pretty impressive first post! Nice job on your Bloody Wonder. I learned how to fly RC with the FT Bloody Wonder too. I've flown a lot of the FT planes and the Bloody Wonder has always been one of my faves.

 

[roversgonemad]

Don't fear the wind with the Duster. I have found that it actually penetrates wind fairly well. The Duster is pretty aggressive with high throws, but if you can handle the BW, the Duster should be manageable, just keep the throws down at first. My Duster rolls like a drill bit and is an absolute hoot to fly. The only thing I have found that it doesn't really do well is knife edge, and that's largely due to the large amount of coupling is has since it is relatively short and has a flat bottom airfoil.

I have not built one, but perhaps the FT 3D would be a good choice for aerobatics? Perhaps some FT 3D owners can chime in.

I also quite like the Baby Blender, but like the Duster it can be a bit squirrelly in the air. Again, with rates toned down it can be fairly sedate as well, but like the Duster it's rather short coupled, so it's pitch sensitive and again doesn't knife edge really well. I have flown both the Duster and the Blender with the Beef package and either will also fly with a smaller motor and that will also calm things down a bit.

 

[RodrigoDeLucca]

Duster it is! Since I only have the small motors (24g Hex / E-Max CF 2822 and CF 2812) I'll start slow... I cannot wait for the Beef motor to arrive so I can try to do a vertical takeoff of my BW!

This afternoon I might go to the airstrip and shoot more video. I've talked to some guys and they will be bringing their gas planes, so I can try to shoot the action from above (I'll not be able to keep up with them, though).

Thanks for all the support!