This journey I’m on…

[Clintonious]

I’ve posted a few other threads already (like this one), but this one is going to be where I document the build process, what I’ve learned along the way and what problems I’ve run into. I’m also learning that there are a lot more resources available, but they’re somewhat scattered. I might try to document that too…

So I started building yesterday. I’m building a mighty mini trainer from a speed build kit.

(Guess what, it comes with all the parts you need except the receiver and battery! I previously wondered if I needed to buy the servo wires, control horns, etc. Those were all included.)

First thing I noticed… the laser melts the foam back a lot more than I expected! Is this normal?


I butchered the chamfer on the rudder… so I made a new one with some foam board I had left over from making one a @nerdnic chuck glider for the kids. (The chuck glider lasted a few days, I should call that a success.) I sharpened my box cutter blade before attempting the new rudder… that helped a lot, even though the first time I was using a new blade!

I’m done with the fuselage, and the glider front end… the front of the power pack is rough due to the melt back. I tried filling it with glue and made a mess.



Then today at lunch I tried to link my Radiomaster R88 receiver to my Radiomaster Boxer transmitter. I can’t get the led to light up, no matter how long I press the bind button…



I tried following this video in addition to the FT starting out video… no dice.

Does the motor have to be hooked up?


The speed control made the right noises when I plugged the battery in… that’s good.

I’ll be back with more… it’s nice out, but I gotta finish painting the boys new room! I never should have done the pixelated camo… it looks good, but it’s taken me FOREVER… “you’re killing me Smalls!”

 

[Clintonious]

So I just read the manual again and it’s official: YouTube has failed me! I didn’t pay close enough attention… I’m going to have to get better at that…

The manual (and YouTube) says I need to push the bind button BEFORE I connect power to the receiver!

One small battle… victory will soon be mine!

As with painting their bedroom, those boys have no idea what I’m putting into figuring things out so they can fly. Oh well, it shall make victory even more sweet!

Edit: This one is a bit more helpful than the first one I found!

 

[Clintonious]

So I have the glider wing done and attached to the fuselage... and it's a bit forward heavy with a 2 cell battery. I'm also wondering where I'm going to put the Aura board to help prevent my son from planting this like a tree...

I realize that my build kit didn't come with the linkage stoppers. That's going to be a problem because I trimmed out the elevator (just by looking at it) and ran out of travel on my servo... since I didn't use linkage stoppers, I'm going to have to do something drastic anyway. This will be interesting... I'm tempted to build a little tray for them so I can screw the down. We'll see...

I'm sure somebody posted this on the forum elsewhere, but hey look at this, a manual for how to use EdgeTX! (Too bad there aren't very many examples... I guess that's what Youtube is for?)

 

[AIRFORGE]

I consider RC Video Reviews the best YouTube channel for Open/EdgeTX. He has everything from beginner to advanced level vids.
Also check out Painless360, and Joshua Bardwell.