Help! Let's Solve This For Once & All.
- Thread starter TheOldMonk
- Start date
TheOldMonk
Member
Thanks. What about flyer?
Foamforce
Well-known member
I built one, but it never flew well for me. It felt erratic. However, that may have either been a COG thing or bad servos. The little blue 5g servos fail half the time and it might have been those. I intend to build another sometime, to see if I can get it to fly better.
Shurik-1960
Well-known member
The drawing of the Cessna 150 has no official author, many attribute it to themselves. This model is easy to make in a couple of evenings for a beginner.There are a lot of videos on YouTube. There are 3 models in my hangar, the Cessna 150. The last one according to the drawings https://numavig.com/plans/Cessna-150 / . Beautiful models fly beautifully. A piece of paper and cardboard is also flying, but this is already...
Piotrsko
Master member
Newer than what I use. There's also this thing called a throttle. Don't always need 100% power. Most flight will be about 40%. All things being equal, heavier flies a bit faster, really heavy needs to fly really fast. Build it 100% size because everything is pre calculated. Mod it later after you get tired of it or it becomes a tape monster.
Crash Test RC
Member
I think a 25%increase would be best.
Bayboos
Active member
Yeah, FT plans tend to recommend motors "on the larger side" (to put it mildly). For example: the FT Simple Storch page recommends Power Pack C, with FT Radial 2218 1180kV Brushless Motor, and in turn the motor's page says it's recommended for planes in the 200-600g range. That's INSANE. In THIS VIDEO, a guy did a wonderfully detailed test of this motor, and the results were (in general) over 300W of power and over 1000g of thrust! In almost any configuration!
On the other hand, I was flying my Storch, AUW in 750-800g range, using 40g motor with approx. 450-500g of thrust - and those are numbers suitable for learning. I obviously went even further and tested HexTronik 24g motor - 80W peak power, 250g of thrust max (from my experience, the manufacturer states 400g but I did not confirm that), and you know what? It was still perfectly flyable. If you find this hard to believe, please WATCH THIS. That's a clear and easy 60g of saved weight, on a motor alone; add smaller ESC and battery to it and you can reduce the AUW by 100g or more - and on top of that, make it cheaper
Power Pack B is much closer to what I would recommend for the Storch. FT Flyer, in it's original size, is supposed to weight less than half of that, which will make it overpowered - and that's not a good thing, despite of what some of our american friends might say In such case I would recommend looking for smaller motor, as a first, second and third option. And only if neither of those is possible - increase the size of the plane. But not too much. Remember that the original FT Flyer don't have any wing support, therefore the max wingspan is somewhat limited. 25% increase seems to be a reasonable compromise; anything above that may require adding struts or spars, and therefore weight.
Good luck, and have fun.
On the other hand, I was flying my Storch, AUW in 750-800g range, using 40g motor with approx. 450-500g of thrust - and those are numbers suitable for learning. I obviously went even further and tested HexTronik 24g motor - 80W peak power, 250g of thrust max (from my experience, the manufacturer states 400g but I did not confirm that), and you know what? It was still perfectly flyable. If you find this hard to believe, please WATCH THIS. That's a clear and easy 60g of saved weight, on a motor alone; add smaller ESC and battery to it and you can reduce the AUW by 100g or more - and on top of that, make it cheaper
Power Pack B is much closer to what I would recommend for the Storch. FT Flyer, in it's original size, is supposed to weight less than half of that, which will make it overpowered - and that's not a good thing, despite of what some of our american friends might say
In such case I would recommend looking for smaller motor, as a first, second and third option. And only if neither of those is possible - increase the size of the plane. But not too much. Remember that the original FT Flyer don't have any wing support, therefore the max wingspan is somewhat limited. 25% increase seems to be a reasonable compromise; anything above that may require adding struts or spars, and therefore weight.Good luck, and have fun.
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Keep in mind your question is going to spark a great deal of debate. Kind of like asking what is the best car? Many will give reasons why Chevy is better than Ford or Dodge or vice versa. But the truth is they are ALL good cars that will get you from point A to B. People are just describing there personal preference. And there is nothing wrong with someone giving a personal preference. But their preference may not be your preference.
All of the planes you listed are good trainers. FT has done a great job putting together power packs that work for each plane. Pick one, build it to spec & learn to fly. After you learn to fly then you can go crazy modifying the plane to make it do what you want.
The main advantage of building your plane over a store bought plane. Once you learn the skills to build your plane. Now you have the skills to fix it when you crash. Not if you crash but when.
In other words, crawl before you walk, walk before you run & run a bit before you start training for a marathon.
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Bayboos
Active member
Nah bro, it's obviously nothing american made - they are all overpowered to insanity
But yes, it is true that there's more than one way to learn, but they all have one thing in common: patience and moderation (well, maybe two things). And in the old days FT was good with providing good, light, entry level planes and recommending correct power setup. Just watch the old videos (if they are still available) - almost all the planes were meant to fly on 24g motor (mostly because it was cheap - "for everyone"). Need any examples? Here: the original build video for FT Flyer with a 24g motor. Literally nobody mentions that today.
And your car metaphor is actually fiting here: would you want someone to teach him/herself how to drive using a Corvette, Mustang, Ram or FT-450? Of course you would prefer them to use Prius - for their own safety as well.
Foamforce
Well-known member
Nah bro, it's obviously nothing american made - they are all overpowered to insanity
But yes, it is true that there's more than one way to learn, but they all have one thing in common: patience and moderation (well, maybe two things). And in the old days FT was good with providing good, light, entry level planes and recommending correct power setup. Just watch the old videos (if they are still available) - almost all the planes were meant to fly on 24g motor (mostly because it was cheap - "for everyone"). Need any examples? Here: the original build video for FT Flyer with a 24g motor. Literally nobody mentions that today.
And your car metaphor is actually fiting here: would you want someone to teach him/herself how to drive using a Corvette, Mustang, Ram or FT-450? Of course you would prefer them to use Prius - for their own safety as well.
Actually, the new version of the Flyer is lighter overall and specifies an 1806 motor, which is only 21g.
The all up weight decreased from 326g to 275g.
Piotrsko
Master member
Actually there has been a noted limited success doing drivers ed in a hotrod, just not much. Iirc, some young lady learned how to also pilot a rail before learning to drive moms wagon. 24 gram motors were pretty much what was available prior to better silicon in ESC'S. WHATEVER.Nah bro, it's obviously nothing american made - they are all overpowered to insanity
But yes, it is true that there's more than one way to learn, but they all have one thing in common: patience and moderation (well, maybe two things). And in the old days FT was good with providing good, light, entry level planes and recommending correct power setup. Just watch the old videos (if they are still available) - almost all the planes were meant to fly on 24g motor (mostly because it was cheap - "for everyone"). Need any examples? Here: the original build video for FT Flyer with a 24g motor. Literally nobody mentions that today.
And your car metaphor is actually fiting here: would you want someone to teach him/herself how to drive using a Corvette, Mustang, Ram or FT-450? Of course you would prefer them to use Prius - for their own safety as well.
Easiest plane I've ever flown was the Ft Slow Stick Arrow
The Flyer is one of the few we haven't made/flown.
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