My FT3D has had a good six years, but now the paper is delaminating from the foam board. The last time I flew it, the left side of the elevator stopped doing what the right side was doing, and I barely got the plane down in one piece. Time to make another one!
And while we're at it, might as well make some improvements...
My goal here is to improve the flight characteristics of the FT3D without making the model significantly harder to build. The community has learned a lot since the original FT3D plans were published, so there's a lot to draw on.
Here's some video of the current prototype:
And some photos:
Modifications I've made so far:
And while we're at it, might as well make some improvements...
My goal here is to improve the flight characteristics of the FT3D without making the model significantly harder to build. The community has learned a lot since the original FT3D plans were published, so there's a lot to draw on.
Here's some video of the current prototype:
And some photos:
Modifications I've made so far:
- Made the tail 2 1/2 inches longer to improve tracking
- Moved the wood parts of the wing to the top and bottom edge to make the wing stiffer
- Thickened the ailerons to stop them from flexing
- Stiffened up the connection between the two halves of the elevator
- Replaced the turbolators with Twisted Hobbys-style wing tip devices
- Closed up the big drag-inducing hole in the front of the fuselage and added a battery hatch on top