Noob Question - First Build

FL_Engineer

Elite member
I fell down the rabbit hole of FT youtube vids and after some research I'm about ready to commit to my first build. I think I'm going to narrow it down to 2 or 3 options and let my daughter make the final choice. I'm smart enough to know not to jump into something over my head but I've got a reasonable amount of confidence in my abilities and willing to learn from mistakes. That said, I'm leaning towards the Simple Cub given the cubs ubiquitous history and ease of flight / build; I'm also considering the Explorer and the Storch but open to suggestions. I ultimately want to do scratch builds but I'm not sure if a kit would be better for a first go or not. I'm a pretty handy guy (read engineer) but don't have foam build experience. I've got lots of other questions that I may get around to asking but this post is already getting too long ;)

TLDR:

What is the best first build plane?

Kit or scratch for a noob?
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Welcome to our forums.

The Cub is a popular model, but I would like to suggest the Tiny Trainer. I think it's a simpler build (particularly for CG) which I appreciated when my first one lasted 8 seconds...

The Tiny Trainer Speed build kit comes with a glider nose and a motor nose, a glider type polyhedral wing and a sport wing that features ailerons. Either kit will introduce you to FliteTest folds, cuts and foam building techniques so you can see them before you try to cut them from a plan. I found this approach worked well for me. I'm a guy who learns by doing it and having the example made it click.

Whichever you choose, I would like to suggest you start a build thread here on our forums with photos as you build.

Certainly, when you are ready to fly, film the maiden voyage post in on youtube (or something like it) and link it here. This way if you crash, we can see the video and help you fix issues and if you fly, we can all cheer with you!

Build, fly, crash, repeat... welcome to the party @FL_Engineer! Looking forward to seeing what you build.
 
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Bricks

Master member
Welcome to the addiction which ever one you decide to build trying to keep it lite as lighter always fly's better AKA watch how much hot glue you use it really does not take much to glue one together. First one I would not worry a lot of making it pretty mostly do some color to help orientation and do not get to carried away as it also adds weight.

As Wildthing mentioned that is how I did my first FT build, as usually the first couple of attempts at flight does not always go well.
 

FL_Engineer

Elite member
Thanks for the the suggestions; will try to update as things progress . I've pretty much settled on the Flysky fs-i6x tx and if we end up with the cub I'll stick with a motor in the 1000-1200kv range with something like a 8x4 prop with a 30A ESC. Seems like that power combo will be generally suitable for most of the trainer style planes anyway if I've been reading things right.
 

mach1 rc

Master member
Thanks for the the suggestions; will try to update as things progress . I've pretty much settled on the Flysky fs-i6x tx and if we end up with the cub I'll stick with a motor in the 1000-1200kv range with something like a 8x4 prop with a 30A ESC. Seems like that power combo will be generally suitable for most of the trainer style planes anyway if I've been reading things right.
If your doing a 1000kv motor I would reccomend a 10 inch prop because 8 inch was the propeller I started with and it took a lot of work to gain altitude if your doing 4s a 8 inch would be fine
 
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cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
Thanks for the the suggestions; will try to update as things progress . I've pretty much settled on the Flysky fs-i6x tx and if we end up with the cub I'll stick with a motor in the 1000-1200kv range with something like a 8x4 prop with a 30A ESC. Seems like that power combo will be generally suitable for most of the trainer style planes anyway if I've been reading things right.

If you are running a 4S lipo I think your setup will rock. On 3S, I think you are gonna want more prop.

The cell count in your lipo gives us the voltage which combined with kv gives us rpm which combined with prop length and pitch can give us amperage, wattage and thrust.

What cell count are you planning to run?
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
I agree with @cranialrectosis, more cells = higher voltage, higher voltage makes your motor spin faster, more rpms.
The faster a prop spins, the harder it will pull, that is, the motor will draw more amps.

When you add more cells, you need to use a smaller diameter prop, to prevent the amp draw from exceeding the maximum and burning out the motor, the ESC or the battery.
 

FL_Engineer

Elite member
Alright, looks like we are in for the Scout. It's on backorder in the store so unless I want to wait we may be in for a scratch build. From what I can tell I'll need a 3s 1300mah or so... Still reading up and watching vids but any tips on motor / prop combo for a beginner?
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
... Still reading up and watching vids but any tips on motor / prop combo for a beginner?
So all motors of the same size (watts) and Kv will preform about the same. Their may be a slight difference, 3-5%, if you are a super serious quad racer, that difference will be noticeable. For us mere mortals, we will never notice the difference.

A seller may say, this motor can run on 2-4S and suggest a range of props, 8x4 to 10x4. The 10 inch prop is for 2S, the 8 inch prop is for 4S and 3S would be in between, 9 inch.

Don’t over think the choice of motors, just get something close. Get an ESC and battery with slightly higher amp rating than the motor needs. A higher amp rating will not hurt anything, it’s just not needed. With battery's, you need to calculate the amps they can supply. The formula is mhr's/1000 x C. Example: a 1,300 mhr 30C battery can supply 39 amps (1,300/1000x30). Sometimes battery's will give two C ratings, a continuous and burst. Use the continuous rating, the burst is the draw for only a few, 5-10, seconds. Pay attention to the amp rating of the BEC on your ESC, don't buy anything less than 3 amps, this will be good up to 4 servos. If you need more servos, you will need more amps in the BEC.

The amp ratings on motors, ESC's & battery's are the do not exceed number. Using less amps is not a problem, if you exceed the amp draw, something will burn out.
 
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cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
So all motors of the same size (watts) and Kv will preform about the same. Their may be a slight difference, 3-5%, if you are a super serious quad racer, that difference will be noticeable. For us mere mortals, we will never notice the difference.

A seller may this motor can run on 2-4S and suggest a range of props, say 8x4 to 10x4. The 10 inch prop is for 2S, the 8 inch prop is for 4S and 3S would be in between, 9 inch.

Don’t over think the choice of motors, just get something close. Get an ESC and battery with slightly higher amp rating than the motor needs. A higher amp rating will not hurt anything, it’s just not needed. With battery's, you need to calculate the amps they can supply. The formula is mhr's/1000 x C. Example: a 1,300 mhr 30C battery can supply 39 amps (1,300/1000x30). Sometimes battery's will give 2 C ratings, a continuous and burst. Use the continuous rating, the burst is the draw for only a few, 5-10, seconds. Pay attention to the amp rating of the BEC on your ESC, don't buy anything less than 3 amps, this will be good up to 4 servos. If you need more servos, you will need more amps in the BEC.

The amp ratings on motors, ESC's & battery's are the do not exceed number. Using less amps is not a problem, if you exceed the amp draw, something will burn out.

All wrapped up and purdy for Christmas. Nice post @Merv.
 

FL_Engineer

Elite member
Thanks for the help; orders placed today on banggood and Amazon. Included a 2212 1400kV and a 40A ESC. Will be proping with a 9 x 4.5. Did everything I could to keep things cheap but the Tx and charger are push the setup cost up. Won't be here before christmas but it will likely be a slow father / daughter build. Fair warning, it may end up pink with unicorns or LOL dolls :)