Miniac RC Mighty Mini P 47 Thunderbolt Scratch Build

[Marty72]

I've seen so little talk about this plane, so I thought I'd start a thread. When finished, it's a nice looking build, without as much effort as a Master Series plane. I'm hoping the MiniacRC designer sees this and chimes in. This is a really neat design and he desires a lot of credit for it.

Battleaxe, post up yours here too!

So after conversing with Battleaxe, I decided to build a 125% Mini P 47. I've built several FT planes, the Master Series Spitfire and now this. I'd say this is an easier build, and in some ways a better design, then the MS Spitfire. I found the shaping of the foam to be easier with this build, as well as, gluing the sections together. I'd say the most difficult part was the wing attachment (probably a scratch building error on my part). My wings didn't fit right, so I spent a fair amount of time sanding to fit. It wasn't hard, just takes some patience. I also found this build to be far less frustrating than the Master Series Spitfire (for me).

The 125% build requires a little preplanning and probably more hand fitting than the std size. The 125% version has a wing span just over 30 inches.

I finished it up today, hopefully I can maiden it Thursday morning. After painting, I was pretty happy with the way it came out.

Here are the build specs: Wt: 384 g AUW (everything but a battery)
Power: 2830 1300 kv motor, 8x6 prop, 30 amp esc, 1300 mah 3s bat.
CG location: I am starting with 1.5 inches.

Check back Thursday night, I should have a maiden and will share my initial thoughts on the plane.

 

[The Fopster]

I've seen so little talk about this plane, so I thought I'd start a thread. When finished, it's a nice looking build, without as much effort as a Master Series plane. I'm hoping the MiniacRC designer sees this and chimes in. This is a really neat design and he desires a lot of credit for it.

Battleaxe, post up yours here too!

So after conversing with Battleaxe, I decided to build a 125% Mini P 47. I've built several FT planes, the Master Series Spitfire and now this. I'd say this is an easier build, and in some ways a better design, then the MS Spitfire. I found the shaping of the foam to be easier with this build, as well as, gluing the sections together. I'd say the most difficult part was the wing attachment (probably a scratch building error on my part). My wings didn't fit right, so I spent a fair amount of time sanding to fit. It wasn't hard, just takes some patience. I also found this build to be far less frustrating than the Master Series Spitfire (for me).

The 125% build requires a little preplanning and probably more hand fitting than the std size. The 125% version has a wing span just over 30 inches.

I finished it up today, hopefully I can maiden it Thursday morning. After painting, I was pretty happy with the way it came out.

Here are the build specs: Wt: 384 g AUW (everything but a battery)
Power: 2830 1300 kv motor, 8x6 prop, 30 amp esc, 1300 mah 3s bat.
CG location: I am starting with 1.5 inches.
View attachment 176871
Check back Thursday night, I should have a maiden and will share my initial thoughts on the plane.

That's a REALLY clean looking build. Congratulations! Good luck for the maiden.

 

[Marty72]

Thanks! I need to step up my canopy game.....one of these days.

Any and all feel free to post up your Miniac RC P 47s.

 

[Marty72]

Got the maiden in today, I'm over due a maiden disaster and I just about got one today. The video doesn't do it justice, I've never flown such an unstable disaster before (my fault, not the design).

Here's the video:

Write up coming.

 

[Monte.C]

I've seen so little talk about this plane, so I thought I'd start a thread. When finished, it's a nice looking build, without as much effort as a Master Series plane. I'm hoping the MiniacRC designer sees this and chimes in. This is a really neat design and he desires a lot of credit for it.

Battleaxe, post up yours here too!

So after conversing with Battleaxe, I decided to build a 125% Mini P 47. I've built several FT planes, the Master Series Spitfire and now this. I'd say this is an easier build, and in some ways a better design, then the MS Spitfire. I found the shaping of the foam to be easier with this build, as well as, gluing the sections together. I'd say the most difficult part was the wing attachment (probably a scratch building error on my part). My wings didn't fit right, so I spent a fair amount of time sanding to fit. It wasn't hard, just takes some patience. I also found this build to be far less frustrating than the Master Series Spitfire (for me).

The 125% build requires a little preplanning and probably more hand fitting than the std size. The 125% version has a wing span just over 30 inches.

I finished it up today, hopefully I can maiden it Thursday morning. After painting, I was pretty happy with the way it came out.

Here are the build specs: Wt: 384 g AUW (everything but a battery)
Power: 2830 1300 kv motor, 8x6 prop, 30 amp esc, 1300 mah 3s bat.
CG location: I am starting with 1.5 inches.
View attachment 176871
Check back Thursday night, I should have a maiden and will share my initial thoughts on the plane.

Boy that's a good looking build. I like your style.

 

[Marty72]

The first hand launch was tail heavy, bad tail heavy, It couldn't be flown with any throttle, I landed it completely dead stick, it was a heck of a glider tail heavy. The cg was at 1.5 inches, and didn't seem like I was going to be able to make the kind of adjustment I needed, at the field, but I did.

The second hand launch was nearly a disaster, I must have bumped the elevator down trying to get to the stick to stop it from rolling over. The plane had a terrible roll to the left. I used all of the aileron trim adjustment I had (at the time) to get level flight (100 clicks). The plane flew great once trimmed out.

The aileron trim before flight looked good. I'm not sure why I need such a drastic trim adjustment, (visually it looks wrong now). I'm going to add a lot more thrust angle to the motor and see if that helps. The tail feathers look pretty darn square with the wings (I'd had much worse w/o any issue).

I tossed it up a 3rd time and the plane was a fantastic flier . It's very fast, dynamic flier and surprisingly stable with a light breeze. I would have never imagined this plane could fly this well after the initial maiden attempt. After I got home, I measured the successful cg location and it was 1.2 inches. I would have never believed that going from 1.5 to 1.2 inches could make such a difference. I used almost zero elevator trim adjustment on the second hand launch. This was all cg! This plane is very sensitive to cg location, I can't over emphasize this.

I look forward to flying it again soon, maybe tomorrow.

 

[Marty72]

Boy that's a good looking build. I like your style.

Hey thanks so much. I really didn't think it was going to look all that good until I got paint on it.

 

[Marty72]

So it has taken me a while to get this plane sorted out. I've got 9 flights so far and I have to say it's a great little plane. It's one of the fastest, if not the fastest planes I have. It flies fantastic fast, it doesn't great slow. It is very CG sensitive and I needed significant thrust angle to get it to fly properly. But now that I've done these things, it's just an awesome plane. It's not a beginners plane, don't think you can build this as your first plane and have it work out. My first couple of hand launches were as sketchy as I've ever had, without experience, a fatal crash would have resulted. Honestly, never thought I was going to like this plane. After the first 2 flights, didn't think I do much with it but now it's one of my favorites.

I may build the MM Stuka (125%).

 

[MiniacRC]

First of all, SMOKES! THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL BUILD!
I can't thank you enough for all the kind words and the effort you put into making this review. I have to agree on the CG sensitivity; my friend and I both had tail-heavy initial flights and the only thing that saved us I guess was experience with lots of minis, so the characteristics weren't too shocking. I'm glad you were able to straighten things out. I think I had to use 4.75˚ right thrust on mine. And ditto on the fact that this was one of the most stable minis I've ever flown. It seems to have the locked-in presence of a slightly bigger plane.

The wing attachment is my biggest regret about this design as it was my first attempt at a fully molded single engine plane. I'd like to revisit it in the future with a more robust solution for fixing incidence angle.

I could rant on, but in summary, you made my day! Hearing about stories like these is what pushes designers like myself and @Grifflyer to keep doing what we do. I'm greatly thankful to be part of the FT community.

 

[MiniacRC]

Here's a flight my friend recorded once we got the plane locked in. 2205 2650 KV motor swinging a 5*5.2 Gemfan Flash biblade on 3S.

 

[Marty72]

Thanks for the kind words. It's a great video, it really shows how that plane flies. It's not some trick, the plane absolutely rips!

So I did some quick trig, and it looks like I 3.5 degrees to the thrust angle from what I started with. I didn't measure the thrust angle of the firewall initially, I just put in a little angle knowing I would be adjusting it. I should have just used your number to start with, lesson learned.

If folks are looking for a quick and simple way to add thrust angle without building a new firewall/power pod, just add some shim under the motor mounts. I typically go in .030 inches increments. I use a vertical climb (hammer head) and big high speed loops to determine how much thrust angle I need. Right now, I'm pretty close.

 

[Tr33s]

I’m working on one and here’s what I have so far... Thanks for the tips!

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Sorry @Marty72 just saw this thread. I have a couple pics of my P-47's from @MiniacRC.

This is the original size one I built...

His FW-190 in the background

Then this is the 130% scale up version for a larger B pack sized motor...

I haven't flown the original yet but i have completely demolished the bigger version. I will build it again though, so much fun for a warbird. Better then the Spit and lightyears better then the FT MS P-47

 

[MiniacRC]

@BATTLEAXE seriously y'all are cranking out 30" versions like pulling rabbits out of a hat! Hats off to you sir, the big one looks sweet!

 

[Tr33s]

So here it is so far...

 

[BATTLEAXE]

So here it is so far...

Nice job. How do you like the build so far

 

[MiniacRC]

So here it is so far...

Nice work ... and nice pup!

 

[Tr33s]

Nice job. How do you like the build so far

I like the techniques and there’s a new set of skills to learn! I’m using this build to get ready for a Master Series P-47. Or the Spitfire... Or... 🤔

 

[BATTLEAXE]

I like the techniques and there’s a new set of skills to learn! I’m using this build to get ready for a Master Series P-47. Or the Spitfire... Or... 🤔

I have only done the MS Spit but a handful of these Miniac planes, and a couple of my own. I might do another of these P-47 at 130% soon to get back into the warbird territory, or I could order some smaller motors for the minis i built.

The MS Mustang looks pretty sexy

 

[Tr33s]

I have only done the MS Spit but a handful of these Miniac planes, and a couple of my own. I might do another of these P-47 at 130% soon to get back into the warbird territory, or I could order some smaller motors for the minis i built.

The MS Mustang looks pretty sexy

It really does. I’m still undecided but that just might be my first MS plane.