JUSS10
I like Biplanes
So I'm sure I'm not the first to make a swappable ultra stik, but here is my take on it.
I recently had the fortune to purchase a like new eflite mini ultra stick for cheap. I started looking at the balsa plane thinking, wow, why has FT never released one of these in foam? I sat down with my caliper and ruler along with my computer and a 2D cad program. I had rough plans drawn up in an hour. It fit nicely on 3 sheets of foam.
I had never designed a fully symetrical wing before so I did some test cuts to make sure the wing would tuck in to the fuselage exactly like I wanted it to. After a few test cuts and fitting I got a really nice fit. I proceeded to jump on the laser I operate in the model shop where I work. Over the holiday last week I was able to build the plane up. It went together really well but the fuselage ended up a bit wider than planned. That was a mistake on my part. Made a few more changes, added some doublers, and made it work with the simple scout power pod and FT floats while i was at it. Re-cut the fuselage and it built great. It uses the standard FT firewall but I mounted it upside down to get the thrust line up higher.
Finally got a chance to maiden it yesterday on a comparable C pack setup and 3s 2200 lipo. It flew pretty great! Was a tad nose heavy on the first flight. moved the battery back a bit on the next flight and it felt really great. Only change I want to make is a slightly larger rudder to give it a bit more yaw authority and better tracking. I have found with other planes I've designed that the taller rudder really helps with tracking.
Sadly I won't be able to make it to Flitefest this year but I am sending it along with some friends who are going. Hoping to get it in the hands of Josh or one of the other FT team if possible.
I have a few other tweaks I made since the maiden but overall I'm very happy with it. Its a very snappy plane and fun to fly for sure!
I recently had the fortune to purchase a like new eflite mini ultra stick for cheap. I started looking at the balsa plane thinking, wow, why has FT never released one of these in foam? I sat down with my caliper and ruler along with my computer and a 2D cad program. I had rough plans drawn up in an hour. It fit nicely on 3 sheets of foam.
I had never designed a fully symetrical wing before so I did some test cuts to make sure the wing would tuck in to the fuselage exactly like I wanted it to. After a few test cuts and fitting I got a really nice fit. I proceeded to jump on the laser I operate in the model shop where I work. Over the holiday last week I was able to build the plane up. It went together really well but the fuselage ended up a bit wider than planned. That was a mistake on my part. Made a few more changes, added some doublers, and made it work with the simple scout power pod and FT floats while i was at it. Re-cut the fuselage and it built great. It uses the standard FT firewall but I mounted it upside down to get the thrust line up higher.
Finally got a chance to maiden it yesterday on a comparable C pack setup and 3s 2200 lipo. It flew pretty great! Was a tad nose heavy on the first flight. moved the battery back a bit on the next flight and it felt really great. Only change I want to make is a slightly larger rudder to give it a bit more yaw authority and better tracking. I have found with other planes I've designed that the taller rudder really helps with tracking.
Sadly I won't be able to make it to Flitefest this year but I am sending it along with some friends who are going. Hoping to get it in the hands of Josh or one of the other FT team if possible.
I have a few other tweaks I made since the maiden but overall I'm very happy with it. Its a very snappy plane and fun to fly for sure!
