My Tiny Trainer Build

[buzzbomb]

Oh, shoot! Build thread!

Delaminating issue I've been fighting with: This delamination is non-essential, but the whole kit is doing it.

THE Power Pod. I'll admit it's not pretty, but I did a lot of squishing and pushing to get it square. It's wrapped in tape as suggested.

Fuselage built.

That big ugly scar? Yeah, after I glued the tail on I noticed one of my control rods was MIA. Apparently I'd pushed it back into the plane during the tail install. Nothing to do but open it up and fix it up at that point. I glued it back together, but you can see the gap. So I taped up the whole fuse. Battle Scar number one.

Here's where I strengthened the skewer-points, as I've seen suggested a lot of times. That fancy-ass curve on the front? It just broke off that way and it was beautiful, so I copied it on the other side. Then I just cut some pieces for the back skewer.

Here are a couple views of the midsection of the fuselage, showing the deflection and gap created by my strengthening of the skewer-holes.

I started on the wings next. More to come.

 

[mayan]

A few tips for you.
1) Less hot glue. Things still stick together with less hot glue.
2) It should fly even if its ugly looking. Hurts less though when you crash an ugly looking plane as opposed to something pretty.
3) The reinforcement that you did on the fuselage, you should do it on the nose as well. That gets a lot of beating and holds up good when reinforced. In regards to this I can also recommend to use extreme packing tape it does the trick to with less effort and work.

*** The blade you have laying around in one of the pictures is perfect for doing bevel cuts. I recently bought one and stopped having issues with those cuts. Highly recommended.

 

[Mode 1]

A few tips for you.
1) Less hot glue. Things still stick together with less hot glue.
2) It should fly even if its ugly looking. Hurts less though when you crash an ugly looking plane as opposed to something pretty.
3) The reinforcement that you did on the fuselage, you should do it on the nose as well. That gets a lot of beating and holds up good when reinforced. In regards to this I can also recommend to use extreme packing tape it does the trick to with less effort and work.

*** The blade you have laying around in one of the pictures is perfect for doing bevel cuts. I recently bought one and stopped having issues with those cuts. Highly recommended.

The dreaded bevel cut I sanded all of my bevel cuts on my first 4 builds.. never trusted myself. Just now getting a bit more comfortable with them.

 

[mayan]

The dreaded bevel cut I sanded all of my bevel cuts on my first 4 builds.. never trusted myself. Just now getting a bit more comfortable with them.

Like wise but you know what I hate about sanding it? The mess it makes and I have to clean up.

 

[Merv]

I’d also recomend a utility knife holder for the utility blade. The handle allows you a lot more control of the blade. While you make the bevel cut, run the tip of your finger under the foam to help you guide the blade, you’ll be able to feel the blade drift far more accurately than you can see it.

 

[buzzbomb]

A few tips for you.
1) Less hot glue. Things still stick together with less hot glue.
2) It should fly even if its ugly looking. Hurts less though when you crash an ugly looking plane as opposed to something pretty.
3) The reinforcement that you did on the fuselage, you should do it on the nose as well. That gets a lot of beating and holds up good when reinforced. In regards to this I can also recommend to use extreme packing tape it does the trick to with less effort and work.

*** The blade you have laying around in one of the pictures is perfect for doing bevel cuts. I recently bought one and stopped having issues with those cuts. Highly recommended.

1) OK.
2) Yeah. I'm a perfectionist at heart who is trying new things and it's not perfect. Hurts me on the inside. I will keep your advice in mind, though.
3) OK, and I'll get some.

THE Blade! It's the FT guys. I would be using an Exacto, but they all seem to just use a utility blade, sometimes with some glue on the top. I still like the Exacto to cut the connecters on the foam board, but that little blade sure does seem to do everything else.

 

[buzzbomb]

I’d also recomend a utility knife holder for the utility blade. The handle allows you a lot more control of the blade. While you make the bevel cut, run the tip of your finger under the foam to help you guide the blade, you’ll be able to feel the blade drift far more accurately than you can see it.

I'll try it!

 

[mayan]

2) Yeah. I'm a perfectionist at heart who is trying new things and it's not perfect. Hurts me on the inside. I will keep your advice in mind, though.

Likewise just try to think of it as a beta version. Try to think of it as a first crash and burn practice plane. Remember this build, fly, crash repeat the more you do this the better you get at both building and flying.

 

[Merv]

I'm a perfectionist at heart

So if you want perfect hinges, make a sanding block. Glue a piece of sand paper to a straight piece of scrap wood. Do an OK bevel cut, then hit it with your sanding block to remove any imperfection, just a few strokes is all you need. Much faster & less mess than sanding all the way.

 

[buzzbomb]

The wing was a beast. It was really difficult for me to tell which side Bix was working on at any particular point. I think I've got it, though. I think I've got a wing.

 

[Hai-Lee]

It looks as if you made a channel in the wing at the rear fold line! It will still fly but its strength in torsion has been seriously compromised!

In other words the wing may twist and otherwise distort in flight.

Have fun!

 

[Arcfyre]

Did you do a bevel cut where the airfoil folds over? That line running down the length of the wing should not be there, and in the picture it looks like there is foam missing. That line was meant to just be a crease to guide where the wing folds, no bevel cut needed.

I agree with Hai-Lee. I feel like that wing is pretty seriously compromised from a structural standpoint. You may want to get a sheet of DTFB and try another one from scratch. Not sure I'd fly that one.

 

[buzzbomb]

Yeah, I made some mistakes with the wing. But hey, it's only the wing, right... JK. I had trouble recognizing what was supposed to happen where in the build video. That white foam was very disorienting and sometimes I wasn't even sure which side was up.

Gonna do a re-do and I get to try my hand at scratch-building at the same time. I'm actually kind of excited about it, though it'll be a few days before I can get to DollarTree.

 

[buzzbomb]

So. I was thinking about scratch-building a new wing, and how excited I am about it, and then I thought about my screwed-up wing. I thought "NO!!" I am not just going to hang it. I am going to make it fly! I can be a hard-headed son of a gun and I know it. It's also one of the things I like about myself.

We keep saying "It's just foamboard." It is. I'm still going to scratch-build a better wing, but in the meantime this is what I'm maidening with:

I took a page out of the FT book. I cut some pieces, and glued them on to strengthen the weak point, and BOOM! A little heavier perhaps, but no flex in the wing at all. My perfect first build has become a Franken-strosity. I am totally cool with it. It's gonna fly.

 

[buzzbomb]

3) The reinforcement that you did on the fuselage, you should do it on the nose as well. That gets a lot of beating and holds up good when reinforced. In regards to this I can also recommend to use extreme packing tape it does the trick to with less effort and work.

I still haven't got the extreme packing tape, but I did have the remainder of that gift card and some hot glue. Here's the reinforced nose:

 

[buzzbomb]

Oh shoot. I'm rereading, and I wrote "Franken-strosity"... Frankenstein Monstrosity. Let's drop the dash. Frankenstrosity. It even spell-checks. Google search comes up with nothing. I've created a word! You read it here first.

I'm trying to build a plane and I've created a word. That's....I am just speechless at this point.

 

[basslord1124]

I'd build another wing just in case and as for the current one...I think I'd chance it and drop a bunch of glue in that bevel cut, tape it, and reinforce any way you can. I ran into some glue issues on my Storch and the wing was bubbled up on the leading edge on one side. Still flew fine.

As for delamination...my Seaduck did it real bad around the battery hatch. It happens.

 

[buzzbomb]

This is the "Speed Wing." This is an unusual time in the process to put up a build pic. It is, however exactly where I screwed up the trainer wing. Recognizing I'm a noob, I accept the fact that I make noob mistakes. Hopefully once. Here is the shallow channel for for the fold and the first spars are glued on.

The wing folded over flat very nicely. I used the skewer tip to channel the same cuts the spars are glued between. I'm not going to be building on it anymore tonight. Please let me know if I screwed something up.

Frankenstrosity. I can't believe that spell-checks. Wow.

 

[Hai-Lee]

There should be a couple of strip spars between the wing joint and the servo positions. Without those strips the wing will be too weak and fold in flight.

Fit the spars before folding and glueing! Otherwise everything looks OK!

have fun!

 

[daxian]

tip for cleaner v cuts : steel rule to guide the blade , set at 5mm from the edge ...keeps the blade from wandering !!