Moth Minor Swappable - design, build, and review log

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
Thanks for the review! I had to add some down trim as she wanted to climb on me a bit. I'm not sure what would cause the opposite. Is your hstab neutral with your wing? Definitely play the the CG also and let me know how everything goes.

I too had a tough time with landing in wind. The low wing added with the wing span can make it easy to grab a wing tip on landing.
 

jamboree1

Active member
While waiting for the weekend for more testing I added some designs to it, mostly for orientation, also installed the windshields, bit funky looking for being printed on standard printer paper and sticking on with glue stick but it'll serve the purpose intended. I might add more graphics in back if I come up with a good idea. Photo0296.jpg Photo0297.jpg
 

jamboree1

Active member
I cheated, I printed out the picture, stuck it on some vinyl sticker and then cut it out. There isn't an artistic bone in my body, i once had a science teacher tell me i couldn't even draw an amoeba.
 

SnowRocker88

Amateur pilot and builder
I cheated, I printed out the picture, stuck it on some vinyl sticker and then cut it out. There isn't an artistic bone in my body, i once had a science teacher tell me i couldn't even draw an amoeba.

Hey, this is just proof that ingenuity can be a substitute for artistic ability! Still, great job!
 

jamboree1

Active member
I have finished fine tuning this plane. My COG is about 1/4 back from the plans, this might not seem like much but plane tracked a lot better. I tried 3 different props with my 1500 kv motor, the first was a 9x6 APC, while this prop worked awesome in my baby blender, this proved to be to much thrust for the way the Moth wants to fly. My next selection was a 9x4.7 SF, this proved to be a near fatal decision as at low speeds I got crazy tip stalling with it, reasons, unknown. My last choice was an 8x4 APC, now we're talking, motor was happy, esc even happier and even Mothra liked it because this prop did the way she wanted to fly. Ailerons were able to be set at 80% which seems to be the sweet spot at slow and fast speed effectiveness.
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
I have finished fine tuning this plane. My COG is about 1/4 back from the plans, this might not seem like much but plane tracked a lot better. I tried 3 different props with my 1500 kv motor, the first was a 9x6 APC, while this prop worked awesome in my baby blender, this proved to be to much thrust for the way the Moth wants to fly. My next selection was a 9x4.7 SF, this proved to be a near fatal decision as at low speeds I got crazy tip stalling with it, reasons, unknown. My last choice was an 8x4 APC, now we're talking, motor was happy, esc even happier and even Mothra liked it because this prop did the way she wanted to fly. Ailerons were able to be set at 80% which seems to be the sweet spot at slow and fast speed effectiveness.

Can you show where you have your CG set?

I ran with a 9x6 but only 1100kv. 1500kv would definitely be on the top end of what a 9 inch prob can manage in general. I'm not sure what your SF prop was doing, but you'd get more thrust from that vs the 9x6APC.
 

jamboree1

Active member
The red dot you see in the pic is a sewing pin I swiped from my wife, I use 2 of these for COG balancing, the other pic is where i place my 163 gram battery Photo0301.jpg Photo0302.jpg
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
Ahh, so you're just slightly forward. I'm glad that works for you, though. I'll give it a try on my next nnMoth Minor, I don't currently have one built.
 

jamboree1

Active member
Nic, possibly due to the landing gear, or build differences, battery weight, etc. Either way it's close enough to not be an issue. I plan to get some serious air time with it tomorrow. I do have to do some work though on reinforcing the wing tips.
 

jamboree1

Active member
After numerous batteries Mothra likes my 1300 battery the best, it is 100 grams, my 2200 battery is 163 grams. It doesnt seem like much difference but it allowed for a floatier flight when i wanted to fly that way. Even had all my landings shiny side up and nose in the air instead of the ground. My next project on it is to remove the Y harness so i can run seperate ailerons to program in some elevator.
 

jamboree1

Active member
Hated to do it but it was nearly 80 degrees outside and esc was getting hot, so i half-arsed a naca duct in for cooling Photo0304.jpg
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
Thanks for reporting back! I didn't have access to anything less than a 2200 while flying mine but I do have some 1500s now that I can try. And that's a bummer about having to perform unplanned naca surgery. Doesn't seem too bad, though, especially if your electronics are better for it.
 

jamboree1

Active member
Nic, I get a lot of comments on your plane on how scale it flies, watching it take off from the ground is a thing of beauty. I have had several things said about how stable it was flying, even in wind and as far as one guy wanting me to show him there was no gyro installed. If you give an aileron a nudge it moves to that position and stays there until it's told to do something else
 

nerdnic

nerdnic.com
Mentor
Man that makes me so happy to hear. It's great to get your plane noticed and I appreciate you sharing that with me!
 

abieex

Member
Mentor
Still have a couple of planes to finish then that one is next. Hopefully get to Nics build and do a few before spring. I'm thrilled every time he brings out another plane cause Im not really into minis or flying aircraft carriers! lol