Mini Telemaster Kit-Bashing
- Thread starter rockyboy
- Start date
Thanks guys! I finished the radio setup tonight and bolted the wing back on to stay for a while. I made some neat flat washers to spread out the load from the screw by drilling out and painting a couple of the round disc style servo control horns that multiply in the junk drawer.
All that's left before maiden flight is the right wheels with a little locktite on the collars. Should be delivered in a day or so.
All that's left before maiden flight is the right wheels with a little locktite on the collars. Should be delivered in a day or so.
And finally - over a month later - I got out for a maiden flight yesterday. 
Put four flights on her and she performed beautifully! Didn't have to touch the CG - flaps work amazingly well - stalls straight forward without dropping a wing, has plenty of power to loop and hammer head, and is easy to keep track of in the sky. I love how this plane turned out! On the first takeoff with a 9x4.7 it mowed the grass a bit, and when trying to taxi it really spit grass pieces all over the place. I switched to an 8x4.5 and she still has plenty of power and doesn't assault the vegetation as much. Two 7 minute flights with that prop and the battery came down at 3.9v per cell on each flight - I bet I could get 12 minute flights without tearing up the battery. The only thing I want to change is to try to bend the landing gear to give it a little more ground clearance.
Put four flights on her and she performed beautifully! Didn't have to touch the CG - flaps work amazingly well - stalls straight forward without dropping a wing, has plenty of power to loop and hammer head, and is easy to keep track of in the sky. I love how this plane turned out! On the first takeoff with a 9x4.7 it mowed the grass a bit, and when trying to taxi it really spit grass pieces all over the place. I switched to an 8x4.5 and she still has plenty of power and doesn't assault the vegetation as much. Two 7 minute flights with that prop and the battery came down at 3.9v per cell on each flight - I bet I could get 12 minute flights without tearing up the battery. The only thing I want to change is to try to bend the landing gear to give it a little more ground clearance.
roversgonemad
Member
Nice work!
Turbojoe
Elite member
Outstanding! Might have to start on mine again. The fuse is done but I couldn't decide how I wanted to go with the wing so I put it away for a few years. Thought about building stock for once but I hate R.E.T. flying so will at least do ailerons. Probably not flaps. Will probably set up trike gear. I've had a Telemaster 40 that I built (w/flaps) years ago and just need to cover it. Hey, why finish something when you can start yet another project or three?
I haven't done much of anything R/C for a year but just pulled out my Park Scale Models Monocoupe 90a that I've been working on for 11 years and have it about 90% ready to fly. Once done and maidened I will likely get back to the Mini Telemaster and use this thread to shamelessly steal some of your ideas.
Joe
I haven't done much of anything R/C for a year but just pulled out my Park Scale Models Monocoupe 90a that I've been working on for 11 years and have it about 90% ready to fly. Once done and maidened I will likely get back to the Mini Telemaster and use this thread to shamelessly steal some of your ideas.
Joe
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
Well Done Jon!!
I do have to give you a wrist slap though for flying over the pit area If in fact you were as the video makes it seem you were looking behind the flight line hehe BAD Jon!!
On the other hand that flew nicely and landed pretty smooth too even if it bonked its beak on the grass. Again another good build in the books mate enjoy it!
I do have to give you a wrist slap though for flying over the pit area If in fact you were as the video makes it seem you were looking behind the flight line hehe BAD Jon!!
On the other hand that flew nicely and landed pretty smooth too even if it bonked its beak on the grass. Again another good build in the books mate enjoy it!
Well done! Have you hand launched it yet? The Mini Telemaster is great for that when grass is too long for a rolling take off.
Thanks!
Outstanding! Might have to start on mine again. The fuse is done but I couldn't decide how I wanted to go with the wing so I put it away for a few years. Thought about building stock for once but I hate R.E.T. flying so will at least do ailerons. Probably not flaps. Will probably set up trike gear. I've had a Telemaster 40 that I built (w/flaps) years ago and just need to cover it. Hey, why finish something when you can start yet another project or three?
I haven't done much of anything R/C for a year but just pulled out my Park Scale Models Monocoupe 90a that I've been working on for 11 years and have it about 90% ready to fly. Once done and maidened I will likely get back to the Mini Telemaster and use this thread to shamelessly steal some of your ideas.
Joe
Sometimes we all need a little break - glad to hear the RC bug has got you again ! And steal away - I don't hold claim to a single original idea here - this is all stuff I picked up from someone else too
Yeah, it's pretty awesome! And a really nice change of pace from a series of hard luck maidens I'm still feeling from last year.
Thanks! And yeah, she did get behind the line a bit there at one point. No good excuse - just lucky there wasn't anyone underneath and that I was able to pull her back in the flight box pretty quickly.
Not yet, but thanks for pointing that out - I'll be sure to try that to avoid covering the wings with shredded grass next time
That looks like one smooth flyer rocky, great job!
Thanks! For the money and time involved, she is one of the best flyers I've built. Some others are maybe more locked in, or faster, but nothing else I've done has the flight duration or smooth comfortable response. A real joy to fly!
On some planes I agree, but the Mini Telemaster handles it perfectly.
I don’t think I could lift it with one hand!You mean you're not up for a hand launch of the Cessna you're working on
So I've got 8 flights on her and I show up at the field at 6:30 in the morning. Sun is shining, no wind, blue skies - just beautiful. The Tele takes off great, and I'm doing some lazy circles and loops for a few minutes and I think "there's no wind and no witnesses - let's practice some inverted flight so I can get ready for the club class pattern contest I want to do this fall".
I start about 1 mistake high pointing to the west and pull a loop to get into an inverted attitude. It takes me a moment to get enough push on the elevator to stabilize into inverted flight pointing east. Instead of 2 mistakes high where the loop left me, I'm now at 1 mistake high crossing the field. Doing pretty well too - until I get to the east end of the field and stare right into the bright morning sun. I try to roll out of inverted and get turned around, couldn't tell up from down with the spots in my vision, and flew her right down into the field. While I was doing the walk of shame I was still seeing spots in my eyes. And the fuselage and wing were both noticeably out of shape when I got there. Not a good start to the morning.
At home that evening I got a fresh single edge razor and started cataloging the damage.
1. Firewall loose all the way around from impact
2. Right wing mount tore loose, and left wing bolt snapped off the top.
3. Bad things happened to the fuselage behind the wing mounts. I think this area was already weakened due to a poor hand hold when putting the plane into the car once - I heard a little crack, but didn't see anything out of shape so I went flying anyway. And here's the results.
I was able to peel off the dark brown trim where I needed to pull off the covering, so getting her looking new again is going to be easier
4. The inside of the wing looks a little trashed here. Need to rebuild a couple ribs, reinforce the trailing edge and flap hinges, rebuild the D box spar, and reinforce the leading edge strip.
Overall, not too bad, and some good lessons were learned. When at the field super early in the morning, don't fly towards the east of the pits. And when practicing inverted flight, go back to foamies for a bit till I get better
I start about 1 mistake high pointing to the west and pull a loop to get into an inverted attitude. It takes me a moment to get enough push on the elevator to stabilize into inverted flight pointing east. Instead of 2 mistakes high where the loop left me, I'm now at 1 mistake high crossing the field. Doing pretty well too - until I get to the east end of the field and stare right into the bright morning sun. I try to roll out of inverted and get turned around, couldn't tell up from down with the spots in my vision, and flew her right down into the field.
While I was doing the walk of shame I was still seeing spots in my eyes. And the fuselage and wing were both noticeably out of shape when I got there. Not a good start to the morning. At home that evening I got a fresh single edge razor and started cataloging the damage.
1. Firewall loose all the way around from impact
2. Right wing mount tore loose, and left wing bolt snapped off the top.
3. Bad things happened to the fuselage behind the wing mounts. I think this area was already weakened due to a poor hand hold when putting the plane into the car once - I heard a little crack, but didn't see anything out of shape so I went flying anyway. And here's the results.
I was able to peel off the dark brown trim where I needed to pull off the covering, so getting her looking new again is going to be easier
4. The inside of the wing looks a little trashed here. Need to rebuild a couple ribs, reinforce the trailing edge and flap hinges, rebuild the D box spar, and reinforce the leading edge strip.
Overall, not too bad, and some good lessons were learned. When at the field super early in the morning, don't fly towards the east of the pits. And when practicing inverted flight, go back to foamies for a bit till I get better
Last edited:
jaredstrees
Well-known member
Ouch!
Damaged, but not destroyed! The fuselage should be a fairly easy fix and the wing doesn't look too bad either. I'll bet if the wing were held on by rubber bands the damage would be less, although I always prefer the bolt-on style.
