Tiny trainer questions +

earthquake

Member
New guy here, I have not flown any thing in 30+ years or so and want to try to get back into the game.
I am going to build a Tiny Trainer first and will have some questions as I go, first one is is it OK to build the glider wing in one piece? I would think so because its flat except for the tips.
I also need a new glue gun, what would be my best option for around $40?
Thanks for any help

Casey
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
New guy here, I have not flown any thing in 30+ years or so and want to try to get back into the game.
I am going to build a Tiny Trainer first and will have some questions as I go, first one is is it OK to build the glider wing in one piece? I would think so because its flat except for the tips.
I also need a new glue gun, what would be my best option for around $40?
Thanks for any help

Casey
Just a heads up!
The glider wing is designed to be a polyhedral wing for stability! If you decide to "Flatten" it you will lose a lot of its stability. The tip angles can be increased for a little greater stability but the dihedral of the central wing joint IS IMPORTANT!

Have fun!
 

Spyder91

New member
I was in your same situation, back several years ago!
I also chose to start flying again with the FT Tiny Trainer.
I set mine up with the aileron wing, and absolutely loved it. I would suggest going this route, as it will give you the basic controls that most planes have. I see the 3 channel plane set up, and change of the controls that they have, as a difficult adjustment that would be needed to switch to a 4 channel plane. Start with a simple and easy to fly set up, with limited throws, and you should be good! I was able to get it adjusted and trimmed out with no problems. I then enjoyed flying it and increasing the throws, and eventually making it do maneuvers that a home built foam plane probably shouldn't be able to do! After 3-4 months of flying several times a week, it succumbed to an unfortunate high 'G' turn after a steep dive where the wings collapsed. I still rebuilt it, but have moved on to other planes. I will pull it out if I want to introduce someone that has not flown at all, or for someone that is still learning. The benefit that I saw with this setup is that I could fly it without a fear of really damaging it. I crashed it often, while I was learning, and trying different maneuvers, but was able to always get it back in the air with minor repairs utilizing tape, glue, or a replacement prop. I have friends that were hesitant, or extremely cautious to sometimes just fly, let alone try out some of the maneuvers that I was doing, just for the fear that they would damage their high dollar planes. With that alone, it is a great plane to learn on!
As far as glue guns, I started with a cheap one, and just learned how to make it work. It is easier with one of the higher temp guns, and I think the one that I am currently using is a Stanley that I got at Home Depot.
Good luck with your build, and enjoy!
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
I use the cheap glue gun from Walmart, $6-7. Get a high temp gun, don’t bother with a dual temp or low temp gun.

The TT is a great choice.
 

earthquake

Member
Just a heads up!
The glider wing is designed to be a polyhedral wing for stability! If you decide to "Flatten" it you will lose a lot of its stability. The tip angles can be increased for a little greater stability but the dihedral of the central wing joint IS IMPORTANT!

Have fun!

Sorry I should have said flat in the middle, when I build it it will be a polyhedral wing, the sport wing only has dihedral. what I am saying is instead of making the wing from two half's, make it one piece for better strength, even the sport wing could be made one piece but you would have to trim out a piece of the top surface so you could put the dihedral in but it would still be solid underneath.

Casey
 

FDS

Elite member
I have tried and failed to fold a TT wing. The dihedral helps with stability, useful when you are learning. It’s harder to put that in with a single piece design.
There’s nothing to stop you making it that way but fibreglass tape on the join and the stock spar make it fairly strong.
 

bracesport

Legendary member
The TT flies so well with the polyhedral wing - even I can keep it in the air - I use the Adams Ready Board which is only 5mm thick, the paper barely stays on it, so I tape my wings - I found the wing to be remarkably strong with a centre join - after a few heavy crashes I started to get some stress lines on either side of the centre, so I glued a couple of overlapping skewers across the centre join into each wing and re-taped the surface - the wing is still going strong - actually I also glue my wing onto the fuse as I found the rubberband method hit and miss for alignment!
 
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Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I found a cheap and simple dihedral brace that I use a lot on minis including the TT. Fortunately I recently had reason to build another polyhedral wing and so I took a few pics of the dihedral brace/s I use.

it is based upon an "Ice-cream" stick, the peanut shaped stick that is.
DSCF0022.JPG

Then using a steel ruler and a sharp knife I split it down the centre, lengthwise.
DSCF0023.JPG

After the stick is split I just shave the 2 ends of the stick half on the side of the split to give the required height/vertical thickness and sand to make it approximately flat on each side of the bottom at the required angle.
DSCF0024.JPG

After measuring and marking the centre of the brace I then glue it to one of the wing halves so it is ready for assembly. The edges of the wing are beveled before fitting the brace of course.
DSCF0025.JPG

If the wing is to go onto a high powered and high speed version I can fit a second brace on the other side of the spar which is shown best on the open rear of the wing joint on the polyhedral wing.
DSCF0026.JPG

It works for me and I have never had a wing joint failure even when shredding the wing through a pile of tree branches!

Have fun!
 

earthquake

Member
Has any body used the Elmer's foam board from Walmart? I was in there today and found a piece that is Neon Green on on side, I was thinking about using it for the wing and horizontal stab on my TT, it does seem to be a bit heavier then the Dollar tree foam.

Casey
 

kdobson83

Well-known member
Has any body used the Elmer's foam board from Walmart? I was in there today and found a piece that is Neon Green on on side, I was thinking about using it for the wing and horizontal stab on my TT, it does seem to be a bit heavier then the Dollar tree foam.

Casey
The Elmer's board is twice as heavy as the Dollar tree stuff. While it might be a bit more durable it'll do definitely add a lot of weight. On a plane like the TT with the added weight might not fly as well. Just a precaution. It is just foam board tho, feel free to build it and compare the weight to the Dollar tree one.
 

FDS

Elite member
I would add to the above that weight is really important. Lighter planes fly more slowly, which is what you want in a Trainer.
I found heavier boards increased weight by up to 40% overall, since they had both more dense foam cores and heavier paper covering. If possible try making your first plane from the DTFB or FT board, as it will save you from any weight issues. Then when you have a feel for how it flies, experiment with alternatives.
 

earthquake

Member
I weighed the two on a postal scale, The DTFB is about 4 oz's for a 20" x 30" sheet, the Elmer's FB is about 7 3/4 oz's for the same size piece. I think I will save it for some other project.

Casey
 

mayan

Legendary member
@earthquake again great choice for a first plane and good luck. I used heavier FB in the past it just need a strong battery and/or motor or both :). Although I would still highly recommend to use the light FB.
 

Hai-Lee

Old and Bold RC PILOT
I weighed the two on a postal scale, The DTFB is about 4 oz's for a 20" x 30" sheet, the Elmer's FB is about 7 3/4 oz's for the same size piece. I think I will save it for some other project.

Casey
I build a great deal in the heavier FB. For the TT the Heavier FB is OK for the fuselage, tail and the polyhedral wing. The sport wing does not perform very well due to the weight and a wing incidence issue.

For aileron, (and flaps if you want them), instead of the sport wing try building the wing for the MUTTS. It is designed for greater lift and much greater all up aircraft weight. See: https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/my-mutts.57768/

If building the MUTTS wing you CAN add dihedral the same as the original TT sport wing and leave the flaps either without hinges or you can leave them so that they are not cut free from the ailerons so that you have MASSIVE full span Ailerons. The choice is entirely yours!

If you need any help with the mutts wing IF YOU build one then just ask!

Have fun!
 
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earthquake

Member
I went to DT today and they had black FB [ my sister picked up the white for me and I did not know they had black] so I picked up a few, I think I will make my wing and tail black with a white fuse.
They also had some thin card board wall border trim I thought might make a good stencil for painting a wing. just tape it to the leading and form it to the wing it already has a curve to it and spray over it. I was hoping it was vinyl sticker but its just thin poster board.
IMGP3751.JPG


Casey
 
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earthquake

Member
Well, I made a practice wing today, I used my Sister's cheap 10W mini glue gun. It would not get hot enough to get a bead of glue for crap, I got a wing done but it looks terrible, it should look better with a coat of paint on it.
IMGP3752.JPG
the poly hedral tips are a little less the the gauge but they are the same on both sides, I need some practice making the double bevel cuts, I had a couple of thin spots that popped when I folded it over. I used a lot of thin packing tape and had a few wrinkles but since this is going to be the first thing I have flown in years and I am sure it will get crashed a few times, especially since I will be teaching myself.
I am using a rotary cutter for the straight cuts but it seems to compress the foam a little on the bottom.
I made one big mistake, I forgot to put glue on the spar and had to drizzle some in after I had it folded over, it seems to be pretty strong. I guess its time to try to make a fuselage.

Casey
 

Arcfyre

Elite member
Has any body used the Elmer's foam board from Walmart? I was in there today and found a piece that is Neon Green on on side, I was thinking about using it for the wing and horizontal stab on my TT, it does seem to be a bit heavier then the Dollar tree foam.

Casey

I use it for fast flying wings and my heavily modified Storch fuselage. I would not use it on a glider like the TT or the simple soarer. It has niche uses when you need something extra strong and you have some payload to play with.
 

earthquake

Member
How about "D-Day" Invasion stripes? I will paint the fuselage the same green with the strips too. they did not come out very good but neither did the originals in 1944, most were painted with a brush. they look OK from 10 feet away.

Casey IMGP3753.JPG
 
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