My Tiny Trainer Build

[Capt_Beavis]

Thank you, brother. I still spent most of the flight just trying not to crash, but I feel like the fourth flight was definitely more controlled than the first.

I have been flying for three years or so and this still describes me because I keep pushing it more and more. Of course, it gets easier not to crash but it still happens often. If you don't crash you probably aren't progressing.

 

[CapnBry]

Fantastic flights @buzzbomb! I have been following your progress from the start of the thread and you did so well it put my first month of flights to shame. Glad you were also able to keep all the fingers you started with too. I have been flying since September of last year and I still take the TT out every once in a while, it is still a fun and predictable plane although my rudder doesn't have quite enough throw to it (my own fault picking too close a hole in the servo). I've destroyed 2x FT Arrows completely, but the Tiny Trainer has gotten a new fuselage once, a new nose once, and many wing repairs and keeps on trucking. I'm flying an 1806 motor and 6x4 prop which puts out about 261g of thrust, and I wouldn't go with anything lower. 3S 5x3.5 is about 310g, 3S 6x3 is 382g, 3S 6x4 is 394g. All of those stay under 10A, although my motor has been crammed into the earth so many times it may not be operating at 100%.

For example the other day my firewall broke as I throttled up to gain height at takeoff, causing the motor, esc and eventually the battery to eject themselves!

I forgot to put the sticks back in my Simple Cub's power pod once and it waited until after I threw it to set itself free. Pretty funny when your motor, prop, battery and receiver just come shooting out and try to fly away on their own. Gotta have a camera though so you can catch your funny mistakes on film, right? (26 second clip)

 

[kilroy07]

the Tiny Trainer has gotten a new fuselage once, a new nose once, and many wing repairs and keeps on trucking.

Yea, I'm on my third nose!

There's a light pole where I usually fly as well, but I haven't nailed it yet.... "Yet!"

I think with the way FT planes are designed you are going to have a "pod ejection" at some point... At least I have. Mine was at attitude and a rather high G maneuver on an FT Flyer. Pod just ripped out the bottom (probably because I had a beefy battery in it) while the wings and tail just fluttered back. Back then I didn't try to video every flight and missed it...

 

[Paracodespoder]

I still spent most of the flight just trying not to crash

That' how the first flight on my bloody baron went, my first successful scratch built plane, and yes, the next few flights get way less stressful. Keep up the flying and you will be a pro in no time .

 

[buzzbomb]

my camera battery was flat so I missed something that would have made great video!

Epic! Epic is the word you are looking for. Mental image of all the electronics tearing right out the front of the plane? Yeah. That's epic.

 

[buzzbomb]

Fantastic flights @buzzbomb! I have been following your progress from the start of the thread and you did so well it put my first month of flights to shame. Glad you were also able to keep all the fingers you started with too. I have been flying since September of last year and I still take the TT out every once in a while, it is still a fun and predictable plane although my rudder doesn't have quite enough throw to it (my own fault picking too close a hole in the servo). I've destroyed 2x FT Arrows completely, but the Tiny Trainer has gotten a new fuselage once, a new nose once, and many wing repairs and keeps on trucking. I'm flying an 1806 motor and 6x4 prop which puts out about 261g of thrust, and I wouldn't go with anything lower. 3S 5x3.5 is about 310g, 3S 6x3 is 382g, 3S 6x4 is 394g. All of those stay under 10A, although my motor has been crammed into the earth so many times it may not be operating at 100%.


I forgot to put the sticks back in my Simple Cub's power pod once and it waited until after I threw it to set itself free. Pretty funny when your motor, prop, battery and receiver just come shooting out and try to fly away on their own. Gotta have a camera though so you can catch your funny mistakes on film, right? (26 second clip)

Thank you. Not only for being interested in this journey of mine, but I too, am happy that I have the same finger count as when I started! It honestly was a close thing.

Cool video, by the way. Not as epic as seeing it first person from the plane itself, but pretty darn cool. Not to self: Put ALL the skewers in. Ofcourse for me, falling out of the sky is always an option.

 

[Grifflyer]

...falling out of the sky is always an option.

No, you'll only be falling with style

 

[buzzbomb]

OK. I used up the two Speed Build Power Pods that I have. One is crunched. The other, the skewers just pulled out of. So I built new Power Pods. Four of them. Then I crashed two, and built two more. I'm crashing a lot lately. Not with the TT, but with the Mini Scout.

Thing is, the Mini Scout is the first to get the newly built Power Pods. So, I compared the newly built pods to the Speed Build pod, and the newly was inclined to the right by almost a millimeter! With a Mini, I suspect that right deflection in thrust would make a huge difference.

My gluing skills are questionable but I can lay a ruler on a line and make a straight cut. My son wants to fly, and the Tiny Trainer is the way to go. Only I can't make a Power Pod! I'm cutting to plan. I actually split the printed lines with the razor. Is that it? Do I need to be on the outside of the line, instead of splitting the line?

That's not a millimeter. That's a fraction of one. My son wants to fly, and I want to get the TT airworthy so we can both fly again. I am not even considering the Mini Scout challenge at this point. That's why I put the post here.

My style is stupid crazy, just trying to fly the Tiny Trainer. If you haven't watched the videos, take the time. Stupid. Crazy. Just trying to stay in the air. My son? With his gaming reflexes? If the plane survives the first crash, he'll own the skies. (Then get cocky and crash like the best of us.)

So, what's the deal with building a Power Pod? Am I messing up by splitting the line, doing something completely wrong, are the plans wrong, is my printing wrong? Or do I just go Hai-Lee and build them en-masse with a two millimeter inclination?

 

[daxian]

hey buzzbomb....
it really is not that critical....its only there to counter the torque of the motor ...reduce the amount of throttle at launch and it will be good !! all my flights start at half throttle at launch !!!

 

[buzzbomb]

hey buzzbomb....
it really is not that critical....its only there to counter the torque of the motor ...reduce the amount of throttle at launch and it will be good !! all my flights start at half throttle at launch !!!

My last launch with the Mini Scout was half throttle. Over to the right and down to the dirt. You can see the video here:

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/ft-mini-scout-newbie-challenge.57186/page-8

I'm currently repurposing one of the Speed Build Power Pods. Lots of reinforced, heavy duty packing tape. It's after 5am, I've been up all night and I'm not done yet. My son is going to at least get try to fly the darn thing!

 

[daxian]

@buzzbomb ...yes watched the vid when you first posted !!
i would be tempted to say there was too much right thrust .....or a twist in the wing !!!
must admit i have not flown the mini scout ,my scout ,(i built at 150% ) had no right thrust at all !!flew perfect :

 

[buzzbomb]

It's 6:30 A.M. and I've got to to bed. A long time ago, I had to go to bed. So why an am I on this forum, making a post? Because I did it! He's got a plane to fly! Whoots! My TT is airworthy and I am darn proud of myself.

My son has had a few flights in the sim. Mostly us flying crazy stuff and having fun. Later today, I'm handing him my transmitter and my plane. Sounds crazy right? Not really. I've already told him the worst he can do is crash. LOL!!

Build. Fly. Crash. Repeat. I added Enjoy. I'm going to add another. @mayan. With Family!

 

[mayan]

Sorry for not replying earlier but was busy trying to solder some electronics to get my mini edge back into game after burning out the 15a ESC. More about that here later today:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/hobby-newbie-learning-diary-family-included.54910/page-33

Ok back to topic. I cut split the lines of the plans at least try too. Why cause sometimes after a million lines I cut I miss a cut by 2-3mm and promise you that the things just fall prefect into place. If things are not working for me I’ll take a break be it few hours or a day. Won’t do you any good to push yourself into fustration. It’s like hitting a stone and expecting it to produce water. Doesn’t work or help. If any plane doesn’t fly like it should by now you will know it and feel it. During my short time in the hobby I had a TT or two that just didn’t sit right. Know what I did? Ripped out the electronics, created new pieces and built a fresh new one, put back the electronics and went flying.

I am so happy you have your son getting into the hobby, considering you didn’t think that he would find the time for it. Excited for you!!!!!!! You know they say “break a leg” well I say “go break a TT” in a good way that is .

I read earlier that you plan on hooking the TT with a sports wing and f pack motor, good luck with that. I would though recommend this setup for your son, a pack motor, 6x3 prop and 3S 800mah battery. Make sure he stays at 50% throttle and him and the TT will make peace cutting through the sky. If the wind is strong up it to 75%-100% throttle when flying into the wind, of course throttle down when flying with it.

Enjoy my dear friend.

 

[bracesport]

I am such a newbie to the hobby but I’ll chime in with my experience. I started last year and made a slow flier called the fish and while crashing that discovered the nube tube from experimental airlines. Well I built one of those and crashed it as well!

After that I discovered flitetest and after doing a lot of reading I distilled it down to a couple of basics

Fly slow - not to much throttle.
Add expo to the sticks - I run 50%.
Reduce throws to minimum - either mechanically or with end points in the Tx.
Keep motor and plane geometry straight and clean - trim motor offsets later!
Talk while flying - left when left is required, right when right is required, up pull back, etc

It’s kind of working for me ( gentleman crashes only) - but what do I know, I’m still chicken to launch my latest build!

Keep up the great work!

 

[Hai-Lee]

The side thrust on the powerpod is to counter "P" factor which has its greatest effect at high power settings when travelling slowly, (At launch). Where a side thrust angle is given it should NEVER be ignored as to do so will complicate take offs unnecessarily. As for the TT with its relatively large wing span a throttle setting of up to 70% should be easily handled. The real trick is to launch the Plane like and spear thrown at an angle slightly above level/the horizon!
Expo settings should be inversely relative to your your flying skill. 50% is the absolute maximum recommended as at this setting the control inputs in the centre of the stick movement range become almost zero and you can find yourself almost slamming the sticks from one maximum to the other just to get some control. A normal setting for a beginner is around 35%.
Until you are comfortable with the flight envelop of the model you are trying to fly it is dangerous to try to keep it flying slowly. It might actually cause you to lose control or even stall both of which will result in a crash.
Do not get carried away in turning down control throws, (Especially if you are trying to fly slowly), follow the setup instructions and if you require or wish to use lower settings for any reason use the low rate switch to reduce the throws. Control effectiveness is related to the aerodynamic pressure the control surfaces generate. Low forward speed means low control effectiveness. High forward speed can make the controls appear a little twitchy - hence the low/high rate settings provided.

My recommendations if any are that you allow the plane to do what it was designed to do and that is fly! Most newbie crashes are due to either poor setup, trying to fly too slowly, or over-controlling. BE GENTLE on the controls and the flight will be uneventful, attack the sticks and the plane will almost definitely kiss the ground!

Have fun!

 

[buzzbomb]

We got to go flying yesterday! I screwed up. My son did great! The videos were uploading all night. Also I apologize for the blurred graininess of the videos. They get progressively worse. I had no clue what was going on until I had an epiphone while leaving work tonight. The darn lens was fogging up! I think there was warm air trapped between the lens and the hardcase, and it condensed in the cold and fogged up. I'm hoping the solution is to simply take it out of the case when I'm readying the plane.

Yep, that's what it looks like when your motor is spinning the wrong way. So excited, I forgot to do a crap check? Yep. So we climbed into the car to warm up, and I worked on the plane in the back. Took it apart, swapped the motor wires and had a heck of a time getting it back together. It might be a problem with my build, but I have a horrible time trying to get the skewers back in place. Eventually, I got it sorted out and we did this:

You couldn't hardly see it, but I was right. He owned that little piece of sky! He may fly better than me, but he lands just like his Dad! He also has the dubious honor of being the first in our family to break a prop! That crash did it, so we went back to the car for a new prop and battery. Then the remote wouldn't bind. Just kept beeping. OK. Close up the car and tear the plane down again. All the wires are connected, just the remote won't bind. Yes, it was exactly what you are thinking: The throttle was up, just a hair. I probably bumped it when I was replacing the prop in the back of the car.

Same problem with the skewers again, took forever to get the thing assembled, and eventually we did this:

I am so sad that you cannot see what he was doing. He was doing some pretty respectable acrobatics, on his second flight ever, with a Tiny Trainer with the Training Wing and the A-Pack. Simply amazing. Cold. Wet. Windy. He flew wonderfully (and landed like his Dad). It was an absolutely glorious afternoon.

He leaves for Basic Training in July. Between now and then? Oh, there are going to be some good times! With hopefully better video...

 

[buzzbomb]

Sir! Damage Report, Sir! Pretty darn minimal, actually.

The skewer holes in the front got beat up, and broken off in the back. A little hotglue and reinforced packing later...

(Nearly) good as new! The PowerPod took a beating, and the glue separated on one side, but the tape held it together. I'll just inject a bit of glue, and it's ready to go again!

 

[Hai-Lee]

At least you know your build was sound! Unfortunately it puts the responsibility back on you if you are unable to get it flying.

Well done now you need to build one for you to fly at the same time as your son!

Have fun!

 

[mayan]

@buzzbomb I am happy for you! Belive it or not I could hear the enjoy in your voice. Happy to be spending the afternoon with your son. I wouldn’t expect less from your son’s ability to fly considering your first flight was just as good. You should have him help build another TT with you for two reasons.
1) That would get him more involved. Get him to be more aware of the plane.
2) You two will be able to fly together.

About the power nose I’d recommend you re-enforce those holes before the first maiden extra re-enforcement never hurts.

Wish you many more happy flying together before he goes off in July.

 

[Kendalf]

So great to hear your enthusiasm and encouragement for your son! Building memories together, that's what this hobby is about!