Just ordered my FT Viggen and Gear!!

[raptor3dpilot]

Oh man, I am so stoked that I just purchased the FT Viggen SBK (Killer deal for the amount of work put into the design) and I also purchased the Grayson Hobby 70mm EDF Power Package-Ultimate!!

This is going to be my first EDF build/aircraft, so I'm ready for this thing to arrive yesterday so I can get this build started.

I've always been a fan of GH since I started building RCP aircraft several years ago and I'm excited to see that Basil and the FT team have joined in selling products. GH has a $10 off code right now for orders over $100 (GADOT10).

 

[Tritium]

I will have to up-size my Viggen build. I scored a 90mm 6S fan today!

Thurmond

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Ooohhhhh, very nice! I bet that is going to scream! Haha, better to be sure to add the carbon fiber reinforcements to that one.

I don't have any carbon strips, but I do have some 3mm tubes laying around, I might try to hollow out a cavity where you first glue the wings on the SBKs and add it in.

Can't wait to see how yours turns out.

 

[Tritium]

I have about 2 dozen carbon arrow shafts 5mm that should do nicely. (Insert Evil Grin Smile Here)!

Thurmond

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Do you build with hot glue? I normally don't like building my planes with hot glue because in the summer here in Vegas, the glue tends to melt and the plane slowly falls apart... Haha. Have you ever tried FoamTac on the foam boards? I was worried that it might mot work as well with the paper on it. I use FoamTac for all of my depron/MPF builds.

 

[Tritium]

Yes I have FoamTac but prefer white gorilla glue for summer temps which can be 115 in the shade. I stored a couple of nice F22 Airframes made of Blue Core and hot glue in my shop only to find that the summer had made pieces of them.

I always use gorilla glue for motor mounts on foamies.

Thurmond

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Have you tried the MPF (Model Plane Foam)? I built my RCP F-18v3 out of it and it turned out really nice and is a lot cheaper than depron, but looks a little better than BlueCore. Definitely not cheaper than a stack of BlueCore, but good for nice builds.

 

[Tritium]

No I haven't yet since I have 2 bundles of blue core still. I started out with the RCP builds, F22, F117, Extra 300 etc.

Thurmond

 

[jhitesma]

I haven't had any problems with hot glue falling apart yet here in Yuma AZ where we spend weeks at a time enjoying 115+ weather. Of course...I don't fly in that heat I got out early in the morning or just before sunset to fly in the summer when it's only in the upper 90's (we're expecting low 90's this weekend...but it beats the snow I grew up with in Ohio!)

Of course, I can simply set an airframe out in the sun in summer and 10 minutes later I can easily disassemble it with no damage. Managed to salvage the first BB2 fuselage I made which I accidentally glued half A style half B style using that trick

The big downside is I have to store all my planes in the air conditioned house instead of out in my shed, "garage" or office (which is no longer AC'd since I don't use it regularly anymore.)

As for my viggen plans...working on reformatting the plans to fit on my plotter and crossing my fingers that my wife gets me the EDF for my birthday next month. She got me the openLRS setup I wanted for Christmas so I'm cautiously optimistic

I've only built with DTF though. I can't bring myself to try MPF since it costs more for the same foam but without the paper (though at least it doesn't have the waves.) And I've yet to find bluecore or FFF at any of our local building supply stores. Though given the way I fly sticking with the low cost DTF for now is probably for the best

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Yeah, all of my planes are stored in my "office/gym/hobby room", but my walls are filling up with planes fast. Lol.

I really liked the quality of the MPF, but your right, it's a lot more than dollar tree foam. The RCP planes are too heavy to build with the DTF, so I opted for MPF.

Hmmm, just had a pretty good idea. I think I'm going to try hot glueing all of the parts together then reinforcing the joints with a light bead of FoamTac to ensure they stay together. FoamTac is pretty light, so it shouldn't add too much weight as long as I squeegee it into the joints.

I'm planning to minwax and paint this one (haha, same thing I said about my FT Spitfire, but once I did the maiden, I had too much fun to paint it, so it's still white).

Just got an email notification that my FT Viggen has shipped!! I know what I'll be doing next weekend!! Haha.

 

[Timgfoley]

Let us know if your Grayson order arrives. I placed mine back on Feb 10th and have had nothing from them, no emails, no responses to my calls and my emails and my support ticket. It still shows "send to warehouse" on the 11th and thats it.

Thanks

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Ahh man, that doesn't sound good! I've been checking the UPS tracking each day and it still shows "Order Processed: Ready for UPS". The GH email say's it's scheduled to be delivered by 2/21, so I was going to wait until that day to see if anything shows up. I saw on FB they had a major pipe burst in their warehouse, but hopefully that is not the case in the delay. I'll definitely keep you updated on the status of my order once I hear something.

On positive note, I received my Viggen yesterday from FT!! The box was a little smashed up, but all parts to be in tact and no creases on the foam. Whew!

 

[raptor3dpilot]

I sent Basil a FB message to see if he will repsond on there.

Out of curiosity, have you checked your junk mail folder for a reply from GH? When I placed my order, both the FT/GH confirmation email went to my hotmail junk folder.

 

[Timgfoley]

Yes checked both, actually the automated reply from opening the tech support ticket did go to junk.

I finally got a response tonight stating that it's customs that is the hold up... whatever, never had that issue before nor taken 1.5 weeks to tell me that. I had already filed with Paypal for a dispute and I've since placed an order with EDF Hobbies for the better changesun fan 10 blade & motor (though not as good of a price as GH had for the other model). If I end up with two, guess I have to build another

Either way, my belly aching aside, keep us posted on how it goes and the install. Hope yours arrives safe!

Cheers
Tim

 

[crash bandicoot]

I ordered a Grayson Hobby kit on Monday and it's in Atlanta hopefully catching a plane right now. It will also be my first EDF. I tried to get and EDF from Valuehobby first, but they were out of their 3s 64mm kit. I'm prep minwaxing right now in anticipaiton of the build. when I saw David playing in the snow on the Viggen video I know I would need to minwax the intake area.

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Have you minwaxed any of your other planes? I want to do the minwax as well, but was thinking about waiting until after assembly because I don't want it to cause additional stress on the paper when folding it into position. Do you think this would be an issue? It would definitely be a lot easier to minwax prior to punching out all of the pieces.

 

[Craftydan]

I minwax mine after the build all the time -- it works well.

For the Viggen, it'll be hard to protect more than the fist few inches inside the intakes after assembly, but you likely won't want to do more than that anwyways.

Minwaxing before hand is simpler than applying then cleaning every nook and cranny, but I've heard reports that the glue won't stick as well to the uncured surface, and the paper is a bit more likely to delaminate -- Never tried it that way, so can't confirm that for myself. The "after build" method works for me, so that's what I use.

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Sounds like I'll be sticking with my initial plan of minwaxing after the build. I plan to reinforce some of the critical hot glue areas with foamtac to make sure it all stays together.

One thought for the intake would be to just minwax the intake areas prior to the build and then assemble the plane. Once that is done you can mixwax the rest of it.

 

[raptor3dpilot]

Well I must admit that I am a little disappointed in GH. I finally received a shipping update from UPS and my stuff is scheduled to arrive on Thursday 2/27, two weeks after I placed my order.

I received my first shipping notification on 2/14 and the package wasn't picked up by UPS until 2/20. I understand that sometimes there are delays in getting shipments out, especially with the influx of orders that they have probably received for the FT Viggen gear advertised on FT, but I believe communication is a critical part of a business. I also know that they had to deal with some major flooding issues at the store, but again, a simple email stating there is a delay would be important in order to keep your customers happy.

I've never really had any issues with GH and they have always been great about returning my emails and getting my products to me in time.

So it looks like I'll be staring at a box of foam for another week.

 

[Timgfoley]

I also got my shipping notice yesterday. I suspect there was other issues affecting us all. Either way, glad to see they are both finally coming.

My EDF Hobbies Changesun is also on it's way as I want to try the 10 blade too, it is supposed to sound SO MUCH better with the extra blades (more like a jet). But it didn't include an ESC, easy fix though.

I'm still amazed at how well it flies without any sort of airfoil shape to the wing!

P.S. I put the work plotter through it's paces and printed out plans for about 6 other planes. Looks like my and my sons will be busy ;-)