Mighty Mini F-22

[TooJung2Die]

This airplane is a whole lot of fun for a very small investment in time and material. I do not fly fast airplanes so flying the Mini F-22 is out of my comfort zone. But I'm having fun learning. It's a belly-flopper so water proofing the paper or using FT foam board is a must. It all fits on a little more than one sheet of Adam's Readi-Board.

It doesn't take many parts to build the Mini F-22 and a few of these are not part of the airplane.

Ready for the maiden flight. Graphics are black permanent marker.

Jon

 

[Timmy]

Nice! This is on my list of things to build so I'm interested to see how the maiden goes.

 

[TooJung2Die]

The Mini F-22 has been around for several years and I don't know why it hasn't gotten more attention. It is an easy build, looks cool and flies like you'd expect a jet to fly. I was nervous for the maiden flight but my anxiety was unjustified. It flies great. Like Josh said there are better prop slot jets for slow speed and high alpha but the F-22 tracks at speed like an arrow without stabilization. I've flown this airplane faster than anything else up to this point. I've never flown anything that rolls faster.

Jon

 

[TooJung2Die]

Ever notice it can take a long time to make a video short? It's only a minute and I hope it makes you want to try out the FT-22. I might have to get the Aurora for this airplane to see how fast it will go.

Jon

 

[2jujube7]

The Mini F-22 has been around for several years and I don't know why it hasn't gotten more attention. It is an easy build, looks cool and flies like you'd expect a jet to fly.

I agree, I recently built one and it flies fantastic. It can do high angle of attack slow flying, or it can zip around and do lots of rolls.

Jude

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Ever notice it can take a long time to make a video short? It's only a minute and I hope it makes you want to try out the FT-22. I might have to get the Aurora for this airplane to see how fast it will go.

Jon

22's are great planes to fly, I have had 5 so far. Great vid

 

[Mr_Stripes]

22's are great planes to fly, I have had 5 so far. Great vid

FIVE!!!!!!!!!!?????

 

[Mr_Stripes]

How do you cut it so nice?

 

[TooJung2Die]

How do you cut it so nice?

I use extremely sharp blades. I use a leather strop to get a barbershop razor edge and strop the blade after every few cuts. The raw edges of the foam board have been ironed to a sharp point. I use a cheap clothes iron set to cotton. It melts the foam and brings both sides of the paper together. It prevents de-lamination of the paper, hardens the edge of the foam and makes it aerodynamic. Here's a close up of the wing leading edge.

Jon

 

[TooJung2Die]

FIVE!!!!!!!!!!?????

My first one lasted two days. 😢 You get a little confident, get a little bold with the maneuvers ... Wham! Good thing I already had #2 cut out and ready to assemble.

 

[danskis]

I'll be interested to see how fast you can get this one to go. I've been working on the big F22 to hop it up. Took all the extraneous foam off and put on a 2207 2750kv motor with 4s. It went fast but not as fast as expected. I think the slot jet platform just won't go that fast. BTW - the big one flys even better than the little one and its easier to see.

 

[TooJung2Die]

BTW - the big one flys even better than the little one and its easier to see.

It depends on your opinion of what better means. The two sizes fly differently that’s for sure. Not having built the larger one I have no opinion. I read it was slower and more maneuverable. Prop-in-slot does rob thrust and is noisy.

 

[danskis]

Nice SE5

 

[SlingShot]

My first one lasted two days. 😢 You get a little confident, get a little bold with the maneuvers ... Wham! Good thing I already had #2 cut out and ready to assemble.

If you slow the roll rate down to a reasonable level you'll get even braver. It's a good little plane.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Nice SE5

Thank you. I have a Guillow's balsa SE5A and a Vincent Unrau foam board SE5. Which one did you see?

If you slow the roll rate down to a reasonable level you'll get even braver. It's a good little plane.

You are so right! It looks so cool doing slow rolls and making big loops. I think the second F-22 will last a bit longer now that I'm getting used to it's flight envelope. I mostly fly gliders and slow no-stress airplanes. The F-22 is a learning experience. I love taking it vertical and spinning it like a blur. It has a Racestar BR2205 2300kv racing edition motor so there's no lack for thrust. The first ESC was 12A and that overheated at full throttle. It has a 25A ESC now.

 

[danskis]

The Guillows I'll go look for the foamboard one now

 

[BATTLEAXE]

FIVE!!!!!!!!!!?????

I'll be interested to see how fast you can get this one to go. I've been working on the big F22 to hop it up. Took all the extraneous foam off and put on a 2207 2750kv motor with 4s. It went fast but not as fast as expected. I think the slot jet platform just won't go that fast. BTW - the big one flys even better than the little one and its easier to see.

I had one of the standard size my forth F22 had a 3536 1200 kv spinning a 8x8 on 3s that went pretty fast. One thing i did notice is that the better aerodynamics you can get the faster it will go. I changed out the nose for the one from the Alpha, upsized to 122% and increased the speed with that little mod.

Here is a pic of the original nose mod i did...

This is the one i did witht eh Alpha nose...

This is the maiden of this 22 on the C pack with a 8x6...

After this vid a couple days later i changed tot he larger motor and noticed a significant difference in speed. The one thing i like about this plane is that the balance can almost be anywhere depending on how you want to fly it. If you want slow backyard stuff move the CG back and it get super maneuverable, easy in slow flight. If you want speed bring the CG forward and it will track at high speed like it is on rails. Flies in the wind like a hot knife through butter. And it will take the larger motors as well.

Here is another vid of some fun in the wind...

Love this little plane... can you tell lol

 

[danskis]

Totally agree about the CG (in the big version). I got rid of most of the foam on the bottom and reinforced the wing with a KF airfoil on top and carbon rods on the bottom and pointed the nose too. 40 amp ESC and it used it all. I fly at a grass field but I was still worried about the servos.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Love this little plane... can you tell lol

No, no clue. 🤣 I really like the nose mods. I watched your "Finally Flying Again" vid too. You can hear the difference in prop speed as you went up in motor power. I like the noise it makes but it might be too loud for some parks.

I fly at a grass field but I was still worried about the servos.

Put the servos up top next time.

After a few flights the friction fit cockpit hatch started coming loose during flight. I added a couple of strategically placed barbecue skewers.




Jon

 

[2jujube7]

One thing i did notice is that the better aerodynamics you can get the faster it will go. I changed out the nose for the one from the Alpha, upsized to 122% and increased the speed with that little mod.

I made my mini F22 a couple weeks ago and flew it religiously (well, until It took a big crash when my FPV cam got static-y)
I just put 5 (or so) extra nose braces into the nose, then shaved off the edges/front into a real F22 cone shape

After a few flights the friction fit cockpit hatch started coming loose during flight. I added a couple of strategically placed barbecue skewers.

Wow, that's a lot more complex than my solution. I just put a rubber band around the whole nose to hold the cockpit on