My Tiny Trainer Build

d8veh

Elite member
If you need to unglue anything, you can use a hot-air gun on its low setting. Keep the gun moving all the time wheile you run up and down the joint to warm it up. When you can feel that the foam is the temperature of hot water, you can pull it apart, reposition/repair and put it together again with the same glue. You could test on some scrap to get a feel for how it works.
 

degriz

Active member
I never was able to get the bevels nice with a blade. I use a hobby iron which is fast, neat and quick. I also use it to seal and round up the edges.
It works great! not very expensive.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
"Fast Wing" built. Here's the rest of the spars.

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Top side.

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Bottom.

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Top after gluing, taping and dihedral.

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Bottom after the same. I can't seem to put a post below the bottom pic, so I'll put it here. I had problems with folding it over and gluing on the spars. The paper kept coming off the foam. The glue stuck to the paper. Just the paper came off the foam. I contacted the FT store a week or so about the delaminating issue, and they sent me another FT Trainer kit. Hard to argue with that.

I forced the glue gun in between the folds of the wing and hopefully managed to cover everything. It seems to have worked.

With this build, I also finally got the difference between a dihedral and a polyhedral wing. I am not unintelligent, but a bent wing is a bent wing. Nope. I figured it out when I built this one.


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Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Looks OK but I would have beveled the ailerons before folding and gluing the wing. I addition I would have removed the material where the servos are to be fitted which would make their later fitment easier.

Anyway you are on the way.

I also like to separate the 2 wings and use plywood dihedral braces to strengthen the wing joint. (This is not compulsory but it does make the wings stronger and last longer).

have fun!
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Anyway you are on the way.

Yep. Holding the wing on the plane, this being my first... Yes it is a franskenstrosity, but it looks so good. That's an ironic thing for a perfectionist to say. That says a lot about building stuff that flys out of foam board and hot glue.

For me, personally, now? The perfection is not in how the build looks. It's going to be the fact that it flies. If it flies? It's perfect. Then, I'll move on from there...
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
Yep. Holding the wing on the plane, this being my first... Yes it is a franskenstrosity, but it looks so good. That's an ironic thing for a perfectionist to say. That says a lot about building stuff that flys out of foam board and hot glue.

For me, personally, now? The perfection is not in how the build looks. It's going to be the fact that it flies. If it flies? It's perfect. Then, I'll move on from there...
It will definitely fly - given enough airspeed and gentle control inputs that is.
The TT was designed to be able to fly even as a hand launched glider and so it has a great deal of stability. Just follow the build and setup instructions carefully and be gentle on the controls and you and the TT will do fine.

have fun!
 

CapnBry

Elite member
You're going to be flying in no time! I extended my "fast wing" to be 15% longer than stock and didn't do anything extra to make it more hearty (unless you count a coat of spraypaint) and it is still going strong. It's been hard crashed a dozen times at least and had to have been ripped out of a tree with a string-- twice! One of those times it spent the night and morning in 100% Florida humidity. I've had to tape the edge of the wingtip back together and use a little scotch tape to help stop the paper from delaminating here and there.

I actually took my TT out Friday to try it with 3S because I hadn't ever done that. It's been a few weeks since it saw action and I've apparently gotten a lot better at flying since then because I was in 100% control of it and only now can see the build flaws in the way it flies. I glued my elevator on crooked at about a 20 degree roll angle and it flew "fine". Only now that I have more experience I can see that when I use the elevator it adds some yaw which then makes the plane roll a bit, but nothing crash-inspiring. I knew it wasn't right but at the time I was unsure I could fix it. I spent 30 minutes with a razor, denatured alcohol, and a heat gun on Saturday morning to take the tail off and trim up the fuselage end to square it up and now it's all fixed and flies better than ever.

The point being that these things can fly ok even with something as bad as that affecting my beginner's learning process. If you're just staring out, then you will probably want to build and move on to a different model before you completely destroy the two tiny trainer wings and you'll forget all about that time you double beveled on a score line!
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
That wing is so much fun. You are gonna have a ball with it.

If you are unsure, post a short video from the tail of your plane, showing your remote and your control surfaces. When you move the sticks show the plane responding and we can help ensure you have your controls working correctly.

Reversed controls stink.
 

basslord1124

Master member
For me, personally, now? The perfection is not in how the build looks. It's going to be the fact that it flies. If it flies? It's perfect. Then, I'll move on from there...

Funny story that I don't think I have ever mentioned to anyone... The first time I had a successful flight with my FT Storch (first FT plane I built), I mumbled to myself: "Holy s**t, it flies!"
 

mayan

Legendary member
Some great stories going on here, happy to read through after a week or so of not being on the forum. A tiny storm hit the area and was doubled shifted at work. @buzzbomb I feel that you took all the comments that people here gave you and put them to practice. Good job amigo keep it up. And please do post a video of control surfaces with transmitter so you’ll get comments before hand. Reversed controls do stink, experience talking.

Let me tell you a quick story in regards to the plane flying, just emphasis that it real doesn't matter how it looks. Some of you might know that for the last two weeks or so I am trying to build a 50% scale of anyone of the FT models that will be able to fly in real space areas. Built the MM Sportster, Speedster and the TT. All seem to have failed to fly mostly crashing with the motor directly into the concrete. Any how in one of my attempts I ripped the anethna of my receiver. I soldered it back together and decided believe in my work. The next day was nice outside so decided to go to out to the big field in which I fly taking my red TT with me with the MT1806 2280kv motor. The first and last time I flew it was in an underpowered situation with a MT1806 1430kv motor. I connected everything, checked control surfaces and was air born in no time. The plane gained altitude as expected started flying further away from me and then some thing unexpected happened the plane wasn't responding anymore. At this point I was left there looking at the plane fall out of the sky like a bird that was just shot down. I could have expected it? Surely, but the egear to go fly was way too strong to think it through. The crashed hurt the wing pretty badly, the rest of the plane was fine probably because the wing took the full load of the hit. Taped it at the field and gave it another try, trying to keep the plane closer by, so that the connection between the receiver and transmitter won't happen again. But guess what? Same exact thing happened again. This time I decided to use my head and stop trying to break the plane just because I want to fly. Got home ripped of the tape, added hot glue into the crack on the wing, and taped it back up.

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The next day it was still nice outside so decided to give it another shot, I took a my DX4e transmitter and receiver along side the damaged receiver which I have soldered again for the RadioLink T8FB transmitter and went to the field. At the field I did a distance check to see if the receiver that I fixed was doing better, simply because I like the RadioLink Transmitter more. Distance check failed so changed the setup to use the DX4e receiver and transmitter, and did another distance check that was much better. Control Surface checks were fine, and I was air born. Flying back and forth having a blast. Of course I crashed a few times with no real damage and was air born again a no time. To sum up if you do the right checks you will fly and if you don't because something is damaged or not working properly, don't give up go home fix it and try again.

Got a tip for you when using the sports wing. I had a problem with rubber bands falling into the aileron tabs, putting a lot of pressure on the them (not good). So I hooked the back end of the wing with a U shaped 1.5mm steel piece instead of the BBQ stick.

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Any how good luck with flying it, waiting for a video :).


P.S.
Your motivation was what inspired me to start the 50% scale challenge I set on two weeks ago, you can read about it here.

Happy Flying.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
I've been all over this forum with another build, transmitter stuff, flight sims, my son growing up. You name it.

Finally back to the build! My first trainer wing didn't turn out so hot. I've decided to take the advice given and maximize my chances of success on my maiden by not relying upon a broken wing. So? New wing! Jen sent me another kit when I mentioned I was having delamination issues with the first. I expected to build a second TT with it, but I think it is better utilized to help make my first TT correct. By the time I get there, I'll be able to scratch a wing to replace

This will be a little longer process than the first time. I'll be taking lots more pics and waiting for responses if I'm not sure of something. What screwed me up the first time was not realizing which side Bix was working on in the build video. I've since realized that you figure that out by pausing and looking for cut lines.

Second Tiny Trainer, trainer wing build commences.... Now.

Pieces cut out and taped together:

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They're just as tight together as I could get them with only two hands. The center indentations are from my thumb and forefinger of my left hand pulling the two pieces together, while I lay down the tape with my right hand. I used my triangle on the leading edge to try get the parts as flush as possible.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
The two halves of the wing after gluing. I didn't have the overflow that Bix said was crucial, and so had nothing to smear along the seam. This is a pause. Do I add a bead of glue along the seam and smear it, or keep going?
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buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Got some build time this evening. I've got everything I need to maiden the bird. It's a little frustrating to step back and build another wing, but I want to maximize my chances of success. Hence the rebuild that is currently underway. Don't worry. She'll be flying before we know what happened!

Next was folding the wing and cutting a double bevel. I practiced on nearly all edges of all the scrap foam I have. I used four different blade varieties. (It's amazing how quickly FB dulls a blade.)

I couldn't manage to keep a straight edge in the right place and guide the blade, I don't want to sand, since I'm doing this in my bedroom, and I don't yet have a hobby iron. Though, I like that last option.

Here's what I came up with: I eyeballed the suggested 5mm and drew a line.
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I then moved the wing to the edge of the table and attempted the bevel cut by following the line. I think with more practice and a really sharp blade, the method may be viable for future builds. Here's where I'm currently at.
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The bevel is not perfect. That's OK. I believe it will only get better, and it's way better than the first time. So. How are we looking? OK to proceed?
 

Paracodespoder

Elite member
Cleared for takeoff, err, to proceed😉. That’s better than my first bevel, my first one was with rather crumpled black foamboard and the blade may as well have been an unsharpened piece of metal, but I did it.
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Cleared for takeoff, err, to proceed😉. That’s better than my first bevel, my first one was with rather crumpled black foamboard and the blade may as well have been an unsharpened piece of metal, but I did it.
Yeah, the sanding and ironing methods seem to produce better results. Bix would just run a blade down the length and say "What, there's a problem?"