Mini Mustang Mod

[dryhiker]

A couple of months ago I badly crashed my Mini Mustang. I love this plane and the way if flies. I am not so crazy about the hatch. See the photos, I used this plane to prototype a simple mod which makes the wing the hatch, and which might protect the wing a little in a minor crash as well.

Fairly beat up Mini Mustang. That is an as-yet un-maidened Herr Starlite in the background.

I cut off the bottom of the fuselage and glued it to the wing. That step should take place before the wing is inserted into the fuselage, replacing that procedure. After the fuselage bottom section is cut off, place the wing where it belongs and hold everything together. Adjust the wing until it is centered and square to the fuselage. Use a pen to draw as many alignment marks on the wing and fuselage as you need to ensure that it can be properly placed during the gluing operation.

Now there is a bigger hatch to work with.

The stick holds the front side and the rubber band holds the back. The skewer for the rubber band also stiffens the fuselage as well if you glue it into place. (You can also see my servo mounting method, I have overheated a number of servos by gluing them to the airframe.) You just need to make sure that there is no tape between the fuselage lower section and the wing. You can use pre-cut tape or carefully cut it away after building the wing. Angling the fuselage cuts will make the wing arrangement self-centering. I also protected the cut surfaces with hot glue in a similar way as hinges are protected. It is best to do the alignment and marking after the forward mount and surface protection are added.

I will build my next Mini Mustang kit with this wing mounting method. The paper parts will then glue directly to the fuselage and will not be taken apart. That should save a few grams from the airframe weight. I will have to modify the formers for the upper fuselage a little, but that won't be too hard.

Any comments on this mod are welcome!

Andy.

 

[Merv]

Great idea

 

[dryhiker]

Here is my new mustang! I like the way the profile is lower without the top hatch. It looks more scale to me. With the F-pack motor it is extremely fast. I flew the first flight under half power. I also have way too much aileron travel, and my thumb was barely moving the whole time. The second flight was a crash on launch, so I had to repair. Now I am ready for a second flying session. I dialed in a lot of dual rate to try to tame the controls and look forward to trying that out.

 

[dryhiker]

Here is an update on the Mini Mustang after six flying sessions totaling 11 flights. That includes some crashes and hard landings. There is even a crash into a tree in there as well!

The fuselage forward of the wing may need to be beefed up to hold the front of the wing over a long period of time. The rubber band at the back is kind of ugly but it works. The crashes caused more localized damage than the Mustang with the wing glued in, which may be a plus.

In flight the Mini-Mustang with a Power Pack F setup and 3-cell battery is a real heavyweight. She weighs in at 300 grams on the dot. The wing is ok at that weight, but landings are fast. Power is unbelievable and I am not yet ready for that much speed. Launches are ok because if I just throw the plane up with a good amount of power, it climbs fast enough where I have plenty of time to get my hand on the stick. Roll is very sensitive even at a low amount of aileron throw.

 

[dryhiker]

The next flying session ended badly. I thought the plane was a total loss. Then I looked more closely. I have rebuilt and will fly again soon. I swapped motors for the 1806 and will fly on a very small Tattu 2S 800mAh battery. That will shave over 40 grams off the weight and I will report back on how she flies.

 

[ThatsALotOfPlanes]

This is an awesome mod! I also like the repair, I had a mid-air and replaced a chunk of wing the same way a while back

 

[dryhiker]

ThatsALotOfPlanes, Thanks! I really do like the access provided by the big hatch. I would like a better way to close the hatch, though. If you (or anyone) can think of a better way to hold the wing on, it would make it even better. I have thought about using a fore and aft skewer and rubber bands on each side of the wing,but the forward skewer limits battery access to the forward fuselage.

 

[TenienteDan]

How does it fly with the 2s?

I have only flown mine on a 3S. Half throttle is more than enough, but I wonder if 2s is powerful enough, as I am using a bit heavier foam (weights around 325g with the battery).

 

[dryhiker]

TenienteDan,

I really like the way it flies now. Flying weight is 257g. Landings are still tricky, but not as critical as before. There is some float which helps me a bunch. I use the full throttle range and never find it underpowered. On one session I had 3 flights and on the final flight I decided to power back and see how much total time I could get on a battery. It was 14 1/2 minutes! Of course, I could not maneuver much at that power setting, but it was fun to stretch the battery as long as possible.

Flying is different. Flying is less on the prop and more on the wing. I think launches are a little trickier using the 2S batteries because you have to fly right away. With the 3S setup I could sort of pitch it vertical and then I had plenty of time to get my right hand (launching hand) onto the stick with time to spare. This plane still snap-rolls on a stall, so you always have to know that and avoid that situation. It also needs dual rate or expo and a steady hand on the controls.

In all, I really love the mustang. It is no trainer, but my skills have certainly improved since I started flying it. My last few flying sessions were without any crashes and it is a really great feeling to have a bunch of flying with aerobatics and come home ready for a fresh battery.

Andy.