Mini Trainer is here. Can I build it? Can I fly it?

Pony1023

New member
Casey if there were Phillips head screws i have not seen them yet. Looks like i wrote this yesterday and didn't post it. I did find some phillips screw in the servo boxes.

I wish Flite Test included that long handle Allen socket driver in their Power pack A

The Double D,

I didn't get one in the power pack A, or B kits. I believe was in the FT "crafty kit" which I also bought, just to get me off and running quick, at the cost of $$$. I thought this would help me out, to build my first FT the "Simple Cub". Looking back after the cub was built, I'm not sure if I can say if that was a worthy purchase or not, but it did save me time hunting down anything else needed to build an FT, as it has everything needed in it (except tools for bending wire, like needle nose pliers.)

Since then, (weeks ago) my first simple cub has only seen driveway time. It has yet to experience the air. I fell in love with it so much, I can't bring myself to crash it, and I've purchased another SC with floats, and the tiny trainer. Mostly because as many will say, my first build has lessons learned. I've also found the value in simulators, and am working on getting some "flight lessons in" in on Real Flight, although that has not started yet either. I own all the pieces the puzzle, work keeps getting in the way.

I too, was focused and concerned with the bevel cuts. I built a jig out of basswood, that I thought was the best thing since sliced butter. (Which I don't care to share the design, but I feel it's a waste of time). It worked perfect, and I thought I had build the best jig/tool ever, and would be hailed by the community as being the best inventor EVER. Then when the final bevel was being made, I realized on the final bevel, how quickly the blade becomes dull, and my jig wasn't as much as a time saver as I thought. I ended up freehand cutting the final one, and it was pretty good. (Although I'm now wanting to try the methods mentioned above) I ended up placing my foam on the table like Josh suggested, and used the table as a guide for my hand. Which made it to easy for my hand to hold the 45 degrees, and slide down the board/bench top edge, and it came out as good as my jig. Later I found that I again made a different type of "jig" in that I played with a "fence" on the edge of my table, and this way the hand holding the knife doesn't move, the board did using my other hand. Much like like a board moving across a router table. I've also then free-handed some more, and found that for me personally, I'm not as bad as I feared without anything except the table edge as a guide.

What is my take away from my story, and why am I wasting everyone's time with the lengthy post? Everyone has different levels of knowledge, eye hand coordination, work environments, and equipment. Some are left handed like me, others right handed. I have e-xacto knifes as an example, but have been using a razor knife like the videos show, because they came with the crafty kit. Point is everyone is different. I love the community because what works for me doesn't for others, but everyone helps with the findings that worked for them to save time and effort. Yet as close to your age as I am, it all boils down to the same lessons that we were told as kids, and now we are telling kids. "Measure twice, cut once", "Haste makes waste" and last but not by any means least, "practice, practice practice".

I laugh today, how much of a great job Josh did in the videos I used, to emphasis "practice, practice, practice" without sounding like he was preaching. And yet looking at my ability today, I realized I didn't listen to him as much as I thought I did, and after practicing the bevel cut as much as I have now, I can now do a close to perfect beveled edge on practice foam. I'm dumbfounded at how bad I thought I would screw up on the real thing when I started. (And yet for the record, I still get jittery when it's on the real thing, even though my scrap boards look impressive, the non practice pieces somehow don't look as good.) ;-)

You plane looks great so far, can't wait for the finished product.
 

Gold Max

Member
After church and my afternoon nap-(an optional entitlement of retirement) The wife and I ran over to Dollar General and picked up a piece of 3/16" foam board for a buck. I told my daughter who works for corporate Hobby Lobby lobby, that for the price on sheet of foam board at HL-$2.99 I could buy three sheets at Dollar General. She just made an ugly face.

I taped up the damage rudder and laid it and the elevator out and trace the them with a fine lead mechanical pencil. I will cut everything out tomorrow and see what happens.

medium800.jpg
there are also free tiled plans that you can print out here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/plans.flitetest.com/stonekap/FT-mini Tinytrainer-TILED-PLANS.pdf
 
Thanks guys for you comments and encouragement. Pony1023, your post was long but worth every word. Thank you.

Markus, I thought about that. I had the part, so I just traced. It worked, just not well. I think next time i will try the plan down load.

Casey I like your paint color. Absent the D-Day marker Bands, it could be a modern UAV.

Life has been keeping me away from finishing this two hour project in under a week, or has it been 10 days. I finished the tail construction several days ago, but again life got in the way. So here we go building-fixing the tail.

With the new rudder and elevator cut out and the bevel sanded in it was time for a dry fit.

standard.jpg


Hand cut, the slot in the elevator for rudder keel was a bit loose, something I needed to watch when I glued everything up.

standard.jpg


That came out fine.

When I did the dry fit of the tail onto the fuselage, I noticed this.

standard.jpg


Either the slot in the fuselage is too long-couldn't be, its factory, or I cut my Rudder-Elevator out wrong-yep. That's why i think Markus' idea of downloading the plans might be a touch better than tracing. You might notice in my pictures the Rudder control relief is on the right side. In the Construction video, that relief is on the left. Little details like this can be confusing to a first time builder. But with the help from the folks here i have learn to not sweat the small stuff, just adapt. There is another mistake rearing its ugly head, if you look real close, but we'll get to that. This "short" elevator can't be ignored, as it will bind the rudder.

standard.jpg


To adjust for the "short" Elevator, I cut a small piece of foam out to use a spacer and glued it in the front part of the slot in the fuselage.

standard.jpg


That correctted the "shortness. But it also shows another mistake if you look close.

standard.jpg


And finally the tail is all assembled.

At this point I had not yet spotted my mistake. I'll cover that and it's correction Adjustment next.
 

earthquake

Member
Double D
The paint I used is Rust-Oleum "Camouflage" what they call #279176 "Army Green", the stripes were just some black and white gloss I had on hand, It looks OK 5' away but up close the stripes are uneven, I just gave it a quicky paint job because I figure it will crash and get beat up, this is also why I decided to scratch build it so it was cheaper. I bought a few sheets of DT foam board and downloaded the plans a cut it out my self, I built it using a 10W hot glue gun which I don't recommend, it was hard gluing the wing because it wouldn't move enough glue through the gun so I had to get tricky doing it, I have a 80W gun now and it is barely enough, It only cost $14 so when I get a few bill paid of I am going to buy a 200W gun. I just ordered a radio off of Ebay that should be here tomorrow I hope, I wanted to be able to fly it on D Day but could not afford it yet. I want to build a "Old Foggy" next, I like slow flying planes because I have bad vision and I don't want to crash into something.
Something else I did to my plane was to rub white glue on all the exposed cut edges, it seem to smooth them out a bit. I don't think it added too much weight, my TT weighs 5.5oz with servos and motor & prop which seem pretty light to me.

Casey
 
Well a temporary interruption. The Door bell rang and before I could hardly get out of my chair, this 12 year old female blur went racing for the door screaming my Airplane is here!

medium800.jpg


She was right and two hours later, she has the fuselage built.

We both would be still working but Grandma said clean-up we have to go to the grocery store. OK so neither one of is so hooked that we will give up food for airplanes, at least not yet.
 
So here is where i am.

The tail is assembled mostly straight. Time to install the control rod horns. While dry fitting two conflicts popped up.

standard.jpg


First the tail, I hinted about this earlier. Some how inattention crept in. After gluing the tail and getting square, some way or another i must have pushed down on the skid and got it pushed up through the elevator almost flush.

standard.jpg


Add this to the issue that the Rudder horn of the airplane Josh constructed is on the left side and mine on the right, and the rudder is now canted forward I ended up with alignment issues and a touch of frustration.

Sitting here writing I can think of a couple of better ways to fix this. But here is what I did to correct. The horn position had to be moved lower as the tail is canted forward. Even with me moving the horn down it still did not allow the rod to clear the the precut relief. So I Just cut a clearance. I also cut a small strip on the left side so the rudder did bind. I also had to open the rod slot more in the side of the fuselage.

standard.jpg
 

basslord1124

Master member
The issue in terms of servos/control horns being opposite from the opposite is not a big deal. Just as long as you know what's what.

As long as you used hot glue, you can always take a hair dryer or heat gun to get the glue back to liquid so you can move your tail section back (putting the tail skid back in its place). Just have to watch as the glue will turn back solid again once it loses heat.

And yeah sometimes, when mistakes happen, you can try and repair OR accommodate to the mistake and make it work for you. Despite how the video may show it, there is always more than 1 way to reach a goal. Remember some folks will modify the existing plans so that it works for them. It's always good thing to get a little creative with these builds. ;)
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
The Tiny Trainer is a very forgiving and resilient model.
My first attempts at building one were way way worse than you current issues and mine still flew, (until I crashed it enough and it finally gave up).

What you have there will still fly and just as good as a perfectly assembled version done by a very experienced builder.

A recommendation is to finish your build and then worry about the mistakes and how they will effect its flight performance. You will be amazed how it flies quite well, (mistakes and all).

Save all of the scraps from the kit though because not only can it be used as a template BUT it can also be a source of material to "Patch" the original plane when needed).

Hang in there and have fun!
 
On to the servo's. First of course cut the arm. That was simple.

standard.jpg


I did one more thing. I used the control rod to open up the hole in the arm.

standard.jpg


Josh used a Z-bend tool in the build video, just be aware all Z-bend tools are not alike. Josh's tool was an end bending tool. mine bends on the side.

standard.jpg


standard.jpg


With the bends in it was time to glue the servos in place, My hands and finger are a bit large but after some fiddling I got the servo's in place.

standard.jpg


So now you are caught up to where I am.
 

basslord1124

Master member
Uh oh, don't forget the servo screw.

I heard a story one time of a person who built and flew some foamboard model. Took it to Flitefest and flew the crap out of it. At some point it had crashed. He began dismantling it and then realized one of the servos never had a servo arm screw installed the whole time. I don't think that was the reason he crashed. Talk about lucky!
 

Matthew Sanders

Elite member
So a little while ago you posted about you and your granddaughter were both building airplanes. I don't know if you have flown airplanes before or if you haven't in a while. I know om 16 and very new to the hobby, (though I got my first plane 10 years ago) but I think I got flying the right way. You have the tiny trainer. Here is my suggestion. When you finish the plane, put it on the glider nose. Also put on the trainer wing. Don't forget to put in your ESC, as that connects to your battery. Then put your servo wires into the 3 channel control system. If you haven't flown before, Ailerons will throw you off. It's much easier to fly with just rudder and elevator. Then go to an open spot and toss it around (while it's powered up of course) you'll learn pretty fast how to control the plane, and then you will be comfortable enough with how to fly that you won't even give it a second thought when you toss it in the air on your maiden powered flight. That's how it's happening with me today. I'm planning my maiden with the TT in a few hours. I'd been crashing my trainer on takeoff for a while and needed a little victory. The glider game I just described really helped me. Before every attempt at flying I always was so nervous that I couldn't eat. Now, before this flight, I'm starving! I'm not even thinking about crashing. So try the Glider Game, it really helps! Good luck to you! I can't wait to see how things work out for you sir.
-Matthew Sanders
 
Basslord, thanks the for the hot air gun tip, I have filed i t for the future in my memory bank. Also thanks for spotting the missing servo screws. Shortly after you posted, Grand daughter asked if she was supposed to leave those off.

Gold Max, having the Granddaughter help is a bonus, her little finger were almost too big to hold the missing servo screws and install them.

I am glad I am not making any new mistakes, never liked to be the first do something wrong.

Words of wisdom from an experience pilot always welcome even coming from a 16 year old, and brilliant idea that is Matthew, running 2 stage is a great idea, thank you.

So moving on with my build. Time to build the nose pods.

Following along with the video I started last week on the glider nose. I got everything cut out and dry fit before life interrupted and I had to put my build aside for a while. I did get the reinforces glued up.

We are using a 10 watt and 20 watt glue gun that have a few years on them and output was tedious. Since I knew my build was going to be delayed i looked around town while on my obligatory shopping trips with wife for a new glue gun All I could find was more 20 watt guns, so it was off to the internet. I do shop Amazon, but they are not my favorite place as prices tend to be high, not this time. I found an Ad-Tek 200 Watt for $35 free shipping two days. Now when i said put my build aside, i meant pick it all up and move it off the Dining room table. I knew i would not have access to the table again until this morning. So when I got everything all set up and ready to take up where I left off this morning, I discovered a problem.

medium800.jpg


The glider hatch cover-nose cover has gone astray. No problem, the fine helpful folks her have already prepared me for a solution. Print out the plans and make another. I'll do that later. Now I am rolling and will continue on with the power pod.

As with the Glider nose the the power nose has reinforces, wow what a world of difference thais 200 watt glue gun is. I also spread glue along the edges as Josh demonstrated. Nice to have glue right now.

large.jpg


Nose all glued up and ready to go.

medium800.jpg


Cross pins in place...I will never look at shish-kabob in a restaurant the same. not annoying bamboo sticks that is hard to get the food off, rather source material for my next build.

medium800.jpg


Someone up thread mention people will have different ways to do the same thing. That my alibi for not removing the finger notch before applying the skid pad tape.

medium800.jpg


So here is where i am. I would be slightly further ahead, but granddaughter asked me to take her to Lowe's to buy paint.

large.jpg
 
So next must be wings. Looks like a pretty straight forward operation

I got them popped out the foam board and joined together.

medium800.jpg


I have been working on the round end of the dining room table so I had to move around to the straight side and invade my wife's space to do my breaks.

medium800.jpg


Of course that break require a bevel to be put in, a great long bevel. I made up another sanding block this time long and narrow, and started sanding. Sanding bevels is probably going to be my go to method. I just feel I have more control. He is a tip for this type bevel. Fold the bevel over and look at the bevel seam. If you need to take more off, look where the two side contact. The point where the two bevels touch is where you need to sand. Where they don't touch, don't sand. Also after folding the two bevels together look at the bevels themselves to see if the bevel is rounded and has a high spot where it was touch, if it does you only need to sand the high point. Sand and try, sand and try.

large.jpg


Safety shoes are not required. :)

With the bevels in I score the crease and did a dry fit of with the long stringers, So far so good,

large.jpg


The dry fit went well so I glued everything up. I am glad I bought this bigger glue gun. It took a lot glue to do the wings. Grand Daugher did her wings with the little glue guns, without help, and I don't know how.

large.jpg


large.jpg


The polyhedrals went quick.

large.jpg


Now just put the wing on and the plane is ready for elcetronicd.

xlarge.jpg
 

Gold Max

Member
So next must be wings. Looks like a pretty straight forward operation

I got them popped out the foam board and joined together.

medium800.jpg


I have been working on the round end of the dining room table so I had to move around to the straight side and invade my wife's space to do my breaks.

medium800.jpg


Of course that break require a bevel to be put in, a great long bevel. I made up another sanding block this time long and narrow, and started sanding. Sanding bevels is probably going to be my go to method. I just feel I have more control. He is a tip for this type bevel. Fold the bevel over and look at the bevel seam. If you need to take more off, look where the two side contact. The point where the two bevels touch is where you need to sand. Where they don't touch, don't sand. Also after folding the two bevels together look at the bevels themselves to see if the bevel is rounded and has a high spot where it was touch, if it does you only need to sand the high point. Sand and try, sand and try.

large.jpg


Safety shoes are not required. :)

With the bevels in I score the crease and did a dry fit of with the long stringers, So far so good,

large.jpg


The dry fit went well so I glued everything up. I am glad I bought this bigger glue gun. It took a lot glue to do the wings. Grand Daugher did her wings with the little glue guns, without help, and I don't know how.

large.jpg


large.jpg


The polyhedrals went quick.

large.jpg


Now just put the wing on and the plane is ready for elcetronicd.

xlarge.jpg
Looks good I just got a new glue gun to not sure how I did it with the old one