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FDS

Elite member
4 control horns, one firewall, pair of control rods, 2 sets of linkage stoppers. If you want 2mm undercarriage wire I have that as well, with post, as it’s long, £6 ish for all of it and undercarriage wire. I can chuck in sticky Velcro which you also need, bought a long roll the other day.
You will want more firewalls, I would buy a whole strip of them or make at least 6 if you are going to fly without a buddy box helper.
Source for firewalls and more control horns if you need them. More expensive than plywood sheet.
 
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smiling albert

Active member
Just measured those old whiteboards Seem to be between 0.6 and 0.7 mm thick.
Quite bendy but probably too thin for firewalls/horns.
Time to find some credit cards!
 

smiling albert

Active member
Hi
Yes will be using plywood for firewalls.
FDS- Will get back to you tomorrow on your kind offer-will know by then whether or not the laser cutter is available!!
 
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FDS

Elite member
No it isn’t. I linked you the ply. Balsa is a very soft wood, great in sheets or for light parts that take load in one direction, very bad for taking torque or point loads. Some hobbycraft stores sell ply sheet.
 

smiling albert

Active member
Hi FDS
Thanks for all the links
Will be visiting my local shop this weekend so will get asheet there
This should be ok?
https://www.servoshop.co.uk/index.php?pid=WPW101&area=Materials
Looks like it will now be Monday before I know whether I can use the laser cutter,the guy who runs it is away until then,so on hold until then.
Did buy some wire last week two 90 cm lengths of 1.1 mm diameter (control rods) and one 90 cm length of 1.8 mm diameter(for undercarriage ) but forgot linkage stoppers,will try to get some this time!
Anything else I need?
Thanks again for all the advice !
 

FDS

Elite member
1.8mm might be a bit thin if you make longer undercarriage legs. Should be fine for some for the TT.
Check the flexibility of the 1.1mm wire. FT use piano wire because it’s relatively stiff, if you have too much flex in the control wires you get poor flight. K&S metals music wire is the exact stuff supplied in the kits. You will also need some plastic tube for the TT to hold the control wires. A chupa chups lolly stick is the right size, treat the kids, save the sticks!
You need 1/16” not 1/64” ply for the firewall and horns. That’s 1.5mm in proper measurements.
 

smiling albert

Active member

FDS

Elite member
Laser cutter can cut any shape you draw in it. I never bother with that square hole, most of my motors don’t seem to align with it for feeding the wires, I just put them over the top, it’s quicker to swap the pod that way, two motor screws, switch pod, screws back in, done. No plug swapping.
No score lines on control horns.
The other designs will have details of how to mount motors. I would build a few FT ones before tackling more scale kits. Those plans are a true “scratch aid” type. You can use any control horn with most designs, as long as the end of the horn where the rod mounts is level with the pivot axis.
FT rods as supplied are thicker than 1.1mm I think more like 1.2-1.3mm, can’t get the callipers out to check right now.
At this rate you could have bought the speedbuild kit for the same price as getting the wrong bits from several places.
 

FDS

Elite member
You can use any wheel, just make sure it fits the axle you have and is at least 45-55mm high since you will want to roll on rough ground as well as smooth, you can go bigger on foam wheels without massive weight gain. Too small wheels just stop dead on anything but perfectly smooth surfaces.
 

smiling albert

Active member
HiFDS
Will take you up on your kind offer-not sure how we do this without giving the whole world our personal details.
Ps If can will enclose some whiteboards as a form of payment if you would like some
 

smiling albert

Active member

FDS

Elite member
You glue the control horns and wires, plus the two servos permanently into the airframe, they are all one use until the plane is destroyed. The firewall is unlikely to last long enough to move.
Most of us buy new electronics for each flying plane, salvage stuff from no longer airworthy ones.
Use the parts you have to make templates from. I put a set of 4 Simple Series sized control horns in your pack, as I had spares, they have the three holes.
If you buy speedbuild kits next time you will get everything except electronics in the pack. Otherwise you will need to make or buy more of both control horns and firewalls.
The designs you linked are all a box type fuselage with formers, the cladding made in card, they are not much more difficult to make than an FT plane with both card and FB parts.
 

FDS

Elite member
Yes, anything with smaller wingspan will work, do not scale down, the physics of smaller aircraft are very different from scaling up. They are also much harder to fly as you need to keep airspeed up to make lift.
Big planes are much easier to fly and design successfully.
The small control horns work fine for all the minis. Make a few of the larger ones too, then you have choice. The pack of control horns is only £8 from gliders.co.uk, you get 20 in the pack and the firewalls are the same price but there’s only 6.
 

smiling albert

Active member
Ok
Thanks for that.
So I could in theory scale up any of the mini FT s to “standard “size?
Watched a video for undercarriage and it seems you can just put a blob of hot glue on the end of your wire to hold the wheel,is that ok?