Spitfire76's Build log of FT's Sea Duck (to fly off water)

Spitfire76

Well-known member
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Note: This is more of a post build log as I have completed the Sea Duck but have yet to maiden it.

The reason for building the FT Sea Duck
Several members of my AMA club fly at a local lake during the summer and since I have never flown off water I wanted to give it a try. Initially I thought about using the FT Tutor with floats but how do I taxi it on water ? I decided on the Sea duck as it is has twin motors and uses differential thrust so should be easy to steer on water.

During the build I found this article really useful.

Components I used
  • FT Water Resistant foam board (brown version from the FT Store)
  • Motors - 2 Emax GT2215/09 (original C pack from FT Store)
  • ESCs - 2 RCElectricParts.com 30A classic (Amazon)
  • Servos - 3 Emax ES08MA II (12g metal from Amazon)
  • Props - uxcell RC Propellers CW CCW 9047 9x4.7 Inch 2-Vane Fixed-Wing, Nylon Red 4 Pair with Adapter Rings (Amazon) *
  • Battery - HRB 3300mAh 60C 260g (Amazon)
  • Receiver - Frsky X8R (to be replaced with a Radio Master ELRS later)
  • Gyro - Arua 5 Lite (FT Store)
  • 2 XT60H Plug Extension Cable XT60H Plug Male Connector to XT60H Plug Female Connector Wire Adapter with 11.8inch 14awg Silicone Wire (Amazon 3PCs) 4
  • No Wire 1 XT60 Male to 2 XT-60 Female XT60 Parallel Battery Connectors for RC NiHM Lipo Battery ESC (Amazon 2PC)
  • 3 Servo Extensions
Friend has a pair of 9" 3 blade props some might try those.

Build notes
  • Even though I cut out the parts on my TimSav foam board cutter this was a long scratch build and has taken the whole month of June 2024 to build.
  • I did design some 3d printed servo holders as I don't like to glue in the servos.
  • Did not do a full cut on the tail boom bottoms for the rudders as it breaks up, perform full cut with knife.
  • Remove some unneeded half cuts from rear bulkhead.
  • Checked if its watertight in the pool but the rear bulkhead is taking on water, seems to be getting under tape and outer paper.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Maiden today was successful!. Flies really well, slow but that's fine with me. Second landing was a bit hard and the popsicle stick came away from one of the pontoons but that's an easy fix.

Also, despite using the water resistant foam board and covering the bottom of the fuselage with packing tape as per the build video the water seems to soak though the paper so I'll somehow need to address that.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
I was back at the lake yesterday with the Seaduck but it did not want to leave the water.

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I believe the issue is with the elevator not having enough authority due to warping of the horizonal stabilizer after getting wet from the maiden. Also the paper is delaminating in several places despite using the FT water resistance FB but I did lightly sand it before painting so that may have reduced its effectiveness. If I build another it will be with Dollar Tree FB.

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Also one pontoon has broken off twice despite reinforcing with a popsicle stick.

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So for the time being the Seaduck will remain in the hangar and I will try the FT Tutor with floats on my next visit to the lake.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
The Tutor didn't do so well, the floats created quite a bow wave and the prop kept hitting it resulting in reduced thrust and so the plane never took off the water. So back to the Sea Duck. I have hot glued down the delaminated paper and sealed all exposed edges with it too. I got to have 2 flights last Friday and I will be taking it the lake this morning.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Flew the FT Sea Duck again today but lack of elevator authority forced me to make an early landing. Looks like I’ll have to rebuild the tail section which has severely suffered from getting wet.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Attempted to fly the Duck again this week but the right pontoon was dragging and causing the plane to turn and so I could not get it off the water.

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I also noticed that the battery area is getting wet so I don't believe that I will be trying to fly this plane again.

@FoamyDM suggested using Flex Seal and I will try it but more likely on a complete rebuild.

In the meantime I am going to try to finish the Eclipson Model XL with floats

 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Despite what I said in a previous post I had another attempt at flying the Sea Duck yesterday and it flew just great! I have an Aura installed in it and found that it helped if the gyro is off on take off.

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I am definitely going to build another one of these but will have a 3d printed battery tray as well as a battery hatch. Also possibly 3 printed pontoons.
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Just received this notification on the Eclipson FB group "The admin team removed your post in Eclipson Airplanes Pilots". I was simply saying that I would like to see Eclipson develop a sea plane. Ok, it had a picture of my Flitetest Seaduck but I see quite often FT feature Eclipson planes.
 

AIRFORGE

Make It Fly!
Moderator
Just received this notification on the Eclipson FB group "The admin team removed your post in Eclipson Airplanes Pilots". I was simply saying that I would like to see Eclipson develop a sea plane. Ok, it had a picture of my Flitetest Seaduck but I see quite often FT feature Eclipson planes.
You may have violated the 2nd group rule.
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
You may have violated the 2nd group rule.
View attachment 245300
You are probably right also apart from my reference to the FT Sea Duck there was a reply from someone that had a link to a the following

I thought it was interesting but understandable they need to keep the focus on their Eclipson models
 
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Spitfire76

Well-known member
Well went to the lake today and the Sea Duck is no more. Investigation to follow along with a full video of the crash.
 

Mr NCT

VP of SPAM killing
Moderator
Well went to the lake today and the Sea Duck is no more. Investigation to follow along with a full video of the crash.
Were you able to recover it? How are the electronics? Don't write the servos, motor, rx or esc off immediately because they got wet. Let them dry thoroughly, maybe a couple of weeks, then test them. I had a plane hung in a tree all winter (https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/still-up-a-tree.68321/) and the servos, motor and esc still worked!
 

Spitfire76

Well-known member
Were you able to recover it? How are the electronics? Don't write the servos, motor, rx or esc off immediately because they got wet. Let them dry thoroughly, maybe a couple of weeks, then test them. I had a plane hung in a tree all winter (https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/still-up-a-tree.68321/) and the servos, motor and esc still worked!
I did recuperate all the electronics and cabling so its just the foam board that had to be placed in the bin. I likely will rebuild one but not for awhile.

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Spitfire76

Well-known member
My flying buddy was so impressed with the FT Sea Duck (when it did fly) that he wants to build one and is encouraging me to build a second one at the same time so looks like I will be doing a rebuild sooner than later.