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Biker_Rick

New member
Hi,
My name is Ricky, I live in Hull in the UK. I;ve done a little indoor helicopter flying in my local club's village hall, and I have a mini vapor I've flown a bit, but I'd like to get more experience flying outdoor stuff.
I've been looking at the FliteTest site, d/led a few plans, and started building the Mini SE5, I also found a place in the UK that sells FT kits, so ordered the SE5 from them, along with a motor and ESC to suit.
I should have my first one built by the time the kit arrives, I'm considering my first build as a practice model, and the kit will be built much more carefully, with more scale detail, and I'm hoping to be able to figure out how to make a skins set for it too as that seems to be the easiest way to apply a decent colour job!
I;ll try to remember to take pics or the build of the kit version, and post them up on this site.
Cheers
Ricky
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
welcome. don't stress about looks to begin with. consider your first few to be "disposable" if you will. once you have mastered the build techniques and flying, then spend the time making them beautiful. remember, they are foam board and regardless of how good a pilot you are, they will eventually wear out. great part is, they are foam board, and you can build another for just a few dollars (pounds?). ;)

have fun,

me :cool:
 

Headbang

Master member
Welcome!

I agree. Planes made too pretty hardly fly. Planes with a splash of color and some quick details will be flown and worn out in a month or 2. It is more important to hit them with a color you can see, contrasting colors on the top and bottom for easy orientation. I do like the ideo of a practice build tho!

Good luck!
 

Biker_Rick

New member
Thanks for the welcome!
I was considering my first build, which I am part way through, as my practice plane - not just for building, but for flying too :) I realise I've already messed it up while building the fuselage, one of the nose doublers wasn't positioned properly, so I removed it, but hen I fitted it again, the previous layer of glue meant it was sticking out too far, and the power pod won't fit :-( I'll call this a practice run, and start the fuselage build again, good job I bought 10 sheets of foamboard :)
One thing I have noticed, and the reason I bought the FT kit, is that although the assembly is quick, due to using a hot glue gun, cutting out the parts from the downloaded plans does take a bit of time ( longer than putting it together!) so the kits are definitely a time saver, and worth the money, as long as I can get them fron a UK source.
Cheers
Ricky
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Look up Rasterize here on the forums. He has done a bajillion skins for nearly every FT plane made.

Thete is a running list of all his skins and he has now got a kick starter up for a new plot printer.
 

Vimana89

Legendary member
I'll probably paint my next mini Scout kit, because that one will(hopefully) last a while with my experience now. Otherwise, great advice. Newb trainers, sketchy prototypes, first kits, etc. I would not over-decorate. Quick and dirty, close enough for government work, is a good philosophy when in trial and error stages of building and flying planes. Sometimes when I want to spice up a plane without much effort, I just use contrasting foam board, white papered for the fuselage, black for the wing, etc., then just slap on some duck mirror metallic decorating tape or some colored vinyl sticker paper. both are thin and look great. A lot of times I'll add FT decals, they look great and I like to represent!
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member
@Rasterize is the man, and i can gladly claim as a good friend.

def check out his work. he has ton's available here on the forum and is starting his own website, stay tuned...;)

and yes...the tiling and piecing together of the plans is almost more time than some of the builds and prob just as frustrating. you figure out your routine and things will get quicker. then it's a coin toss of cost vs time from then one out. most i build, but some i still buy. i have built 4 gremlins, first 3 i scratch built from plans. my last gremlin, i bought it. i personally hate cutting the wing slot in the fuse planes. you can be surgically precise but if tiling plans, the odds are just stacked against you. so you just need to decide what is it worth to you?

good luck,

me :cool:
 
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Rasterize

Maker of skins and decals for foam board RC planes
Moderator
Mentor
Hi guys! Just thought I'd chime in.
First of welcome to the family Ricky! Remember take a man's wallet and he's poor for the day. Teach him to fly RC and he will be poor for a lifetime! Seriously, I would agree with what has been said about just starting out. Keep your planes simple and easy to repair without to much time and energy dedicated to making it pretty. Adding some orientation stripes (Think D-Day invasion stripes) are always helpful. Once you are much more secure in flying skills you can then start thinking putting more time/effort into making it look nice. I still use decals, paint and packing tape on my planes. Skins are for thoses "special" planes that you are comfortable flying and you would like a sharp version of.
Clear skies!
Stephen
 

Biker_Rick

New member
I'll probably paint my next mini Scout kit, because that one will(hopefully) last a while with my experience now. Otherwise, great advice. Newb trainers, sketchy prototypes, first kits, etc. I would not over-decorate. Quick and dirty, close enough for government work, is a good philosophy when in trial and error stages of building and flying planes. Sometimes when I want to spice up a plane without much effort, I just use contrasting foam board, white papered for the fuselage, black for the wing, etc., then just slap on some duck mirror metallic decorating tape or some colored vinyl sticker paper. both are thin and look great. A lot of times I'll add FT decals, they look great and I like to represent!

Thanks, yes, I'm thinking of a quick spray job, just the main colours, Green on top of wings and fuselage, pale tan on undersides, with a couple of roundels printed on paper and glued on. Nothing too elaborate, and it will help with orientation. And you'll be able to tell it's a British WWI Bipe :) Either using spray cans from car shops (after testing it won't destroy the foam) or using a cheap airbrush. Should be easy and quick for my first FT plane.
Cheers
Ricky
 

Gazoo

Well-known member
Thanks, yes, I'm thinking of a quick spray job, just the main colours, Green on top of wings and fuselage, pale tan on undersides, with a couple of roundels printed on paper and glued on. Nothing too elaborate, and it will help with orientation. And you'll be able to tell it's a British WWI Bipe :) Either using spray cans from car shops (after testing it won't destroy the foam) or using a cheap airbrush. Should be easy and quick for my first FT plane.
Cheers
Ricky
I painted my first build. Then it flew (kind of) for like ten seconds straight up and then into the pavement. Don't regret spending all of the time on my crappy paint job. It looked like a nice pile of pieces.

Be proud of your first build. Decorate it the way you want. And take a picture before smashing it to bits. Share the pictures (before and after) and build again.
 

FDS

Elite member
When I painted the SE5 I just used Army Painter cans. Halfords also do a good SE5 green. Key the whole fuselage with 400 grit wet n dry to get the shine off the FT foamboard. If you seal the edges of the foam with an iron to round them off or just with PVA then the spray paint won’t melt anything, just keep the coats light.
I find the SE5 a handful to fly. Maybe it’s just mine but it’s not as forgiving as the DR1 and I wouldn’t describe it as a good beginner plane.
You might have better luck.
 

Biker_Rick

New member
When I painted the SE5 I just used Army Painter cans. Halfords also do a good SE5 green. Key the whole fuselage with 400 grit wet n dry to get the shine off the FT foamboard. If you seal the edges of the foam with an iron to round them off or just with PVA then the spray paint won’t melt anything, just keep the coats light.
I find the SE5 a handful to fly. Maybe it’s just mine but it’s not as forgiving as the DR1 and I wouldn’t describe it as a good beginner plane.
You might have better luck.

Thanks for the Halford's tip. I was thinking of going there to see what they had, since their spray cans are mostly acrylic now, I'll use your tip of sealing the edges of the foamboard with PVA too :) Although I am not a total beginner at RC flying, Imost of my experience is with small and indoor stuff. I did build a depron Cub style plane 36" wingspan around 3 or 4 years ago, I got 3 or 4 flights out of it before I trashed it, LOL. I have also flown an SE5a model of around 12" wingspan bought as a ready to fly thing, I had over a dozen flights with that at my local park, before i tried to fly it in too strong a wind, and it flew away never to be seen again! Just remembered, I built a Sopwith Triplane from depron as well, but crashed it on the maiden flight, seems the CoG was wrong! My local model shop (yes we still have a model shop in Hull!) carries a range of foam safe aerosol paints, I have used them on depron models before, but they aren't cheap and the range of colours isn't very big, so if I can use regular car spray cans that will be more economical.
And remember, keep shaking that can until the ball stops rattling :)
I should be finished cutting out a complete set of parts for my SE5 by tomorrow, including the cuts for the folds, etc. so I'll go out later on and buy the paints, as I need to paint the parts and sub-assemblies before gluing it all together.
Cheers
Ricky
 

FDS

Elite member
You should have no trouble with the SE5 then! Watch out for it dropping it’s nose hard when you apply rudder. Also make it really light. The wing loading on the minis is pretty finely balanced.
You shouldn’t paint BEFORE glue on FT board, the paint only just adheres, even with sanding, if you glue the painted parts you won’t get as good a bond and the paint will crack on the folds.
You can sand everything before assembly, it’s easier to do that, since you can use 400 grit and a block. Assemble without paint, then mask the control rods and fill the cavities in the airframe with screwed up paper and remove the power pod. Then paint it.
Here’s mine, done that way, with ironed foam edges.
2A714E95-BE85-4C10-A1B4-8952FC71A38E.jpeg
 

Biker_Rick

New member
You should have no trouble with the SE5 then! Watch out for it dropping it’s nose hard when you apply rudder. Also make it really light. The wing loading on the minis is pretty finely balanced.
You shouldn’t paint BEFORE glue on FT board, the paint only just adheres, even with sanding, if you glue the painted parts you won’t get as good a bond and the paint will crack on the folds.
You can sand everything before assembly, it’s easier to do that, since you can use 400 grit and a block. Assemble without paint, then mask the control rods and fill the cavities in the airframe with screwed up paper and remove the power pod. Then paint it.
Here’s mine, done that way, with ironed foam edges.
View attachment 130797

Wow, nice looking SE5! I hadn't thought about the glue not sticking after painting. I think I'll put most of it together, and paint it just before I stic the wings on. With those, I can make sure that the holes for the struts and where the bottom wing glues to the fuselage are protected from paint so no problem there, and much easier to paint the fuz properly without the wings in the way :)
Thanks
Ricky