New to RC in upstate NY

[RMDC]

I'm in a little town on the eastern edge of the Glove Cities bubble, about half an hour west of Saratoga and a couple hours east of Syracuse. There are plenty of upstaters here on the forums, but it feels like we're scattered far enough that it would take an act of Congress to arrange a gathering.

I have the day off work, but unfortunately that near-miss nor'easter left a legacy of wind, so today's not a flying day. I'll give it another go with more throttle the next chance I get and see how it goes before I start any surgery on my pod.

 

[lrussi750]

There are plenty of upstaters here on the forums, but it feels like we're scattered far enough that it would take an act of Congress to arrange a gathering.

Ain't that the truth! We like to break NY into upstate and downstate which is to narrow a view when upstate is most of state. I get so excited when I see some mention upstate NY and then get disappointed when I find out they live 6 hours away on the other side of the state. There is a fun flying event in Ohio during to summer we call all meet at, I hear it's pretty good :black_eyed::applause:

 

[PsyBorg]

Hey at least you guys seem to be a lot closer to congregations of FPV groups like Multi GP. I am smack dab in the middle of three clubs all over 50 miles away with no one in between to play with. If I was allowed to drive I would be traveling as much as possible to meet other pilots. Still after three years into quads I have only met two locals that even fly multi rotors.

 

[RMDC]

Today was sunny, with temperatures in the positive single digits Fahrenheit and little to no wind, so I gave the Cub another shot. I had camera issues, so there's no accompanying video, but I took Tench's advice and cranked the throttle up more. It wouldn't even get off the ground with the floats on, though it did crank hard onto the left wingtip and nose into the ice. Next, I hand launched. It had strong left and down tendencies even after doing some preemptive trimming, but I was able to fight it with the sticks long enough for a ten-second flight before I chopped the throttle and executed a nice belly landing. A final hand launch did only slightly better, giving me about twenty seconds before I did a gorgeous swan dive into the ice that snapped the prop and added a little character to the motor cowling.

I had fun, but I think I must have seriously screwed up this build. I'm considering pulling the plug on my Cub and scratch-building something else that can accept the B power pod. It's a shame to have spent the money on a speed build kit that's not going to get flown, but it did give me building experience.

 

[PsyBorg]

Mman how did you manage more then 5 minutes outside today. I went grocery shopping and the walk from my friends car into the store alone made every joint in my body ache. I had to stop several times while bringing the groceries up stairs to thaw my hands so I could grab more even WITH gloves on. It was a whopping 4 degrees today with a negative 12 windchill before noon.

Been a BRUTAL few weeks here with this cold camping over us here.

 

[RMDC]

I grew up in Mississippi. I will never be ungrateful for a real winter.

 

[Tench745]

Some more things you can try:
-Make sure your prop is on, numbers facing forward.
-Shift the wing slightly to the left, helping to prop up that wing. (The FT Speedster did this as well. If you had ailerons you could trim out the roll tendency.)
-Shim the motor with a little down and right thrust.

A point of note, LiPo batteries are rather sensitive to cold. The colder it is the less voltage and run time you get out of them. It may just be too cold for a battery that small. (Among other things, bigger ones have more thermal mass and cool off slower.)
Keep trying, I promise you can get there with this plane if you want to. I taught myself to fly RC with a Hobbyzone Champ a few years ago. Learning on something proven may help you develop your flying skills before trying to tame an unknown build.

 

[RMDC]

After a little snooping around the forums, I found this thread describing exactly the issue I'm having. I have hope - I'm not the only victim of left roll syndrome in the Simple Cub, and I have options for remedies. I think I might build a new wing from DTFB, eschewing dihedral and adding ailerons. I'm also going to true up the stabilizers and see if that helps.

I'm considering building another body that will accept this B-pack power pod. Is the pod the same as the early swappable pods for the original 3-pack? The FT Flyer looks like a quick, fun build, and if I can't get the Cub to cooperate, I'd like to be able to easily slap the electronics into something else.

EDIT: between the time I loaded this thread and when I submitted my post, you posted your reply, Tench. The prop is facing the correct way (or it was, until I snapped it ). The battery still provided plenty of oomph, it seemed to me; the motor still hollered at the same pitch, and the plane was still yanking itself out of my hand on the final launch. I'll try shifting / shimming the wing to see if I can salvage this wing before building a new one, but I admit I'm attracted to making this thing 4-channel.

I've actually had the Champ bookmarked as something I intend to buy for my daughters when warm weather returns. At a hundred bucks for a highly-recommended RTF, you can't go wrong. If only a SAFE-capable plane came at that price point.

 

[Tench745]

The simple cub has the same full-size power pod of the earlier swappables. One thing FT has been pretty good at is keeping their designs consistent with their powerpod design. I've designed a few planes and always throw out the idea of using a powerpod because it's so hard to get the look I want with that as a size restriction.

 

[4U2NVME]

....

I had fun, but I think I must have seriously screwed up this build. I'm considering pulling the plug on my Cub and scratch-building something else that can accept the B power pod. It's a shame to have spent the money on a speed build kit that's not going to get flown, but it did give me building experience.

Hey RMDC, I am new, but I was also thinking make sure the numbers are forward on the prop. Check out my Good-Slow-Trainer-for-Newbie-with-no-buddy-box-friends

I 'think' your powerpod work with the Old Fogey build, its an awesome one to learn on, at least it has been for me so far, and I have got lots of success with it! You will just need to move your ESC inside the Power Pod, as I have my batteries in flight mounted to your current ESC spot.

Good luck flying, crashing, rebuilding and learning

-NV

 

[RMDC]

Prop is definitely on correctly. I've watched enough warnings on Flite Test videos about prop orientation to double-check it every time I put it on.

The weather was warm today, but we had threats of rain, so I decided not to test out wing shims today. Instead, I printed out plans and got new wing pieces cut out and scored. If the Cub won't cooperate with either wing, I'll move on to something else. Probably not the Old Fogey, though. I know that every new pilot who posts on the forums is contractually required to start with the Old Fogey with violations punishable by fifty lashes. Even so, I don't like the look of it, and for every enthusiastic endorsement there are two people who say it's too finicky.

 

[Tench745]

Of the few FT planes I've built (listed in my signature), I think I like my Mini Scout the best. It uses the Mini powerpod though.
Of the planes that use the standard powerpod, the Speedster is a nice slow flyer, but needs lots of tweaking to behave especially if overpowered. The blunt nose versa was a fun plane that can slow down and slope soar but still too fast and responsive for a new pilot.

The FT Explorer seems like a good beginner plane, but I have no experience with it. Likewise, the Simple Cub seems like a great place to start, but perhaps slightly less forgiving in a crash than the Explorer because of the tractor configuration.
The new FT Simple Scout might be worth a look.

 

[PsyBorg]

I was eye balling the remaining snow all day as well here. Its not melting as fast as I anticipated. We still got tomorrow low 40w and then Thursday with low 50s. I am hoping to at least get out and burn a few packs in one of my quads if I don't think the ground is dry enough to maiden the FT3d. Gonna finish the edges of that tonight and get then sanded and glues Then I can do the control rods and set up the radio gear. Have to decide what to pillage a receiver from again before all that happens.

 

[RMDC]

Had a pretty warm day today - mid 30s - so I took the Cub out for one more run. Between the servo issues and the impacts, it didn't really survive. As they say in Antarctica, c'est la vie.

 

[Tench745]

I couldn't tell if you did or not, but I usually have my radio powered on, prop off for glide tests. Lets you correct for really bad flight characteristics while tuning and not destroy things as badly.

 

[RMDC]

I did run glide tests like that on my first two flight sessions, powered but propless - though that was more about gaining familiarity with running the sticks in live flight than anything else. Once I saw that the new wing only marginally improved the turn issue, I decided to just see how long I could keep it in the air. I'm guessing the lion's share of the problem was further down the fuse or empennage, probably the vertical stabilizer not being trued enough... but then again, I'm a neophyte making slightly educated guesses.

My plan is to build an FT Flyer for some quick success with my B-pack motor before going into anything more complicated. I looked at the designs you suggested above. For now, I'm going to stick to standard swappables for the simple reason that I ordered a pack of firewalls for that size and configuration. The Scout was the design I'd first wanted to try, but then the Cub was released, and that changed my course fast. I'm concerned about trying it now, though, because the build video still has an error where stock footage for the mini power pod was incorrectly dropped in. Between that and the store page, I can't even tell if the Scout is a true swappable or if it simply uses the same firewall. I suppose I have more research to do. The Old Speedster is one I want to pick up down the line, once I'm not afraid of destroying its less sturdy wing. I'm already planning paint schemes in my head for it. It's distinguished and fun-looking.

 

[Tench745]

I enjoyed flying my speedster once I got it tweaked, but too much power sends it shooting uncontrollably skyward at full throttle. Tight turns and pull-outs like you accidentally do when learning really torque the undercambered wing. Mine folded on the first flight and needed repairs. I ran BBQ skewers along the underside of the wing in the crease to reinforce it. This helped, but I don't fully trust it. I think the wing on the Sportster is better than the Speedster, but it's heavier and won't fly quite as slow.

I was thinking about my Jenny's maiden flights and I had a similar problem to your Simple Cub; ie, it would climb uncontrollably and roll left. The last problem I has was that it wouldn't turn right. The solution was a combination of too much power, not enough down-thrust, and needing right trim. This solved the first two problems, but not the third.
The aircraft would not turn right because when the servo pushed the pushrod for the rudder the pushrod bent instead of moving the tail. On the ground the problem wouldn't happen because there were no aerodynamic forces keeping the rudder from moving. Going to a thicker pushrod and/or adding supports mid-way along it to prevent bowing solved that issue for me.
I'd be happy to meet up somewhere once it warms up a bit and help walk you through things if you haven't gotten it on your own by then.

I haven't watched the build video for the Simple Scout yet, but looking at the plans it goes together a lot like the cub.

 

[RMDC]

You know, that pushrod issue probably was the origin of my right-turn problems after all. I've been back over some FT videos recently where coffee stirrers came into play as pushrod sleeves. I ought to pick up a box of those. I also ordered linkage stoppers from Hobby King a few days ago. I think that's going to be more reliable than hoping I z-bend the right spot, even with my shiny z-bending pliers from the FT store.

Hopefully I'll have my crap together by the time it warms up - then maybe we upstaters can find a good median spot and a free weekend to have a proper meetup.

 

[RMDC]

I built the FT Flyer a couple weeks ago. I Minwaxed and Rustoleated (new word? New word.) it right before I left for a week to visit family. When I came back at the beginning of this week, I dropped in the hardware and waited for yesterday's good weather.

Man, I had so much trouble. My CG was spot on, but it just felt squirrely. I couldn't keep it in the air. I managed to get some decent emergency landings in, at least. I'm sure the crashes didn't help its flight characteristics, though I have to say it's in better shape than the Cub was after its first flight. I blew through five props before I called it a day, as well as a couple zip ties for the landing gear. I slapped a little packing tape over a couple gouges. In the end there really wasn't that much damage to the plane. What finally sent me packing was the separation of the glue between the wing and the rear fuselage, probably from the cold.

I figure the points of the triangle of failure are the pilot, the builder, and the environment. I guess I can control two of those factors. I installed RC Desk Pilot. I think I'll spend some time on the simulator before I try anything more.

 

[Tench745]

The FT flyer is not what I would consider a "trainer" It and the nutball are a lot like trying to fly a falling leaf. You have to keep the nose up to fly level (not lose altitude) but if you raise it too much it stalls, whips around on that big tail and points itself at the ground. Then you have to have enough altitude and either speed or power to get the nose up again. Then, when you turn, it kind of wallows itself around. If you turn too hard, it banks up and slips sideways. If you don't turn enough it tries to kind-of side-slip forwards.
The upside: it's really easy to build a new one when you crash it. I added a kfm style airfoil to mine which stiffened the wing and helped reduce the need for a high angle of attack for level flight.
Mileage may vary.