All right kids, the time has come. We're up to 10 versions now and I think this thing is finally ready to make public.
I've been flying RC for about 3 months, and so far everything has been Flite Test planes. Granted, I'm still a noob, but never-the-less, I wanted to try my hand at scratch building something that I designed myself. Lately it seems everyone is building cargo planes, so I made a cub variant instead. I also have a lot of younger nieces and nephews, and wanted something they could fly with me (on a buddy box if necessary).
Some details about the build:
It's 2 sheets of Dollar Tree foam board.
4 Channel (in tail dragger config), 5 chl (in trike config, if you want steerable nose wheel).
Uses typical FT swappable power pod and parts (I cut mine short so it fits better, and cuts down on weight).
15 oz (without battery)
36" wing span
22" fuselage (if you count the ele/rud sticking out the back)
Probably possible to set up as tail-dragger, or with tricycle gear.
I like to run a NTM 28/26 1200kv slinging a 7x6 APC SF prop (powers it great and nothing even gets warm). I use the 18A plush ESC and the typical FT favorite 9g cheap blue servos.
Decorated with Tape Brothers red and black packing tape and a bunch of random decals i download and printed on regular paper and affixed with 3M spray adhesive.
This thing flies like it's on rails. Super smooth and easy flying! VERY forgiving on low rates with expo, and agile, fun, and acrobatic on med/high rates. It'll fly as slow as you want to take it (30% throttle, no problem). Super gentle stall (soft nose over is all you'll see). The "stolen from FT" wing tip under-camber design means it doesn't wing-tip stall on slow landings or passes. It'll do some impressive acro as well in high-rates.. Rolls are beautiful, loops are also easy. Inverted is nearly hands off. You can even get it to harrier and knife-edge (kinda). If you're not careful with making sure your gear is straight it'll ground loop something awful (in tail-dragger configuration). Just make sure your gear is straight and slightly toe-in, and give a little rudder correction and it'll lift off in just a few feet with little to no elevator input. I'd love to see this plane with that new AS3X receiver that Spektrum just released. I'll bet it'd fly even more forgiving.
This version has been dressed up in a quazi-USAF scheme, and before you all start barking, I know I've decorated this without regard to any kind of scale or rules, or patterns. I just put on some stuff for fun, so we'll just leave it at that.
If there's interest, plans can be made available.
Update! Here's the plans. Keep in mind, there are some small random details that are not included in the plans (servo placement in the tail, cutouts for aileron control horns, etc.) that I'm expecting you to know if you've built any of the FT planes. I'll try to include some detailed photos of how I've done things so you can copy if you like.
Cub Trainer Wing v5 - pdf
Cub Trainer Body/Tail v10 - pdf
Please comment, give suggestions about things I can improve, and let me know what you think!
I'll soon post links to youtube videos of the maiden and followup flights (gotta edit them first).
I've been flying RC for about 3 months, and so far everything has been Flite Test planes. Granted, I'm still a noob, but never-the-less, I wanted to try my hand at scratch building something that I designed myself. Lately it seems everyone is building cargo planes, so I made a cub variant instead. I also have a lot of younger nieces and nephews, and wanted something they could fly with me (on a buddy box if necessary).
Some details about the build:
It's 2 sheets of Dollar Tree foam board.
4 Channel (in tail dragger config), 5 chl (in trike config, if you want steerable nose wheel).
Uses typical FT swappable power pod and parts (I cut mine short so it fits better, and cuts down on weight).
15 oz (without battery)
36" wing span
22" fuselage (if you count the ele/rud sticking out the back)
Probably possible to set up as tail-dragger, or with tricycle gear.
I like to run a NTM 28/26 1200kv slinging a 7x6 APC SF prop (powers it great and nothing even gets warm). I use the 18A plush ESC and the typical FT favorite 9g cheap blue servos.
Decorated with Tape Brothers red and black packing tape and a bunch of random decals i download and printed on regular paper and affixed with 3M spray adhesive.
This thing flies like it's on rails. Super smooth and easy flying! VERY forgiving on low rates with expo, and agile, fun, and acrobatic on med/high rates. It'll fly as slow as you want to take it (30% throttle, no problem). Super gentle stall (soft nose over is all you'll see). The "stolen from FT" wing tip under-camber design means it doesn't wing-tip stall on slow landings or passes. It'll do some impressive acro as well in high-rates.. Rolls are beautiful, loops are also easy. Inverted is nearly hands off. You can even get it to harrier and knife-edge (kinda). If you're not careful with making sure your gear is straight it'll ground loop something awful (in tail-dragger configuration). Just make sure your gear is straight and slightly toe-in, and give a little rudder correction and it'll lift off in just a few feet with little to no elevator input. I'd love to see this plane with that new AS3X receiver that Spektrum just released. I'll bet it'd fly even more forgiving.
This version has been dressed up in a quazi-USAF scheme, and before you all start barking, I know I've decorated this without regard to any kind of scale or rules, or patterns. I just put on some stuff for fun, so we'll just leave it at that.
If there's interest, plans can be made available.
Update! Here's the plans. Keep in mind, there are some small random details that are not included in the plans (servo placement in the tail, cutouts for aileron control horns, etc.) that I'm expecting you to know if you've built any of the FT planes. I'll try to include some detailed photos of how I've done things so you can copy if you like.
Cub Trainer Wing v5 - pdf
Cub Trainer Body/Tail v10 - pdf
Please comment, give suggestions about things I can improve, and let me know what you think!
I'll soon post links to youtube videos of the maiden and followup flights (gotta edit them first).
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