Tiny Trainer (stick version)

Lorenzo

Senior Member
I'm not sure if it was laziness or fond memories of my first trainer, the GWS Slow Stick, that led me to finish the FT Tiny Trainer with a 1/2" balsa stick fuselage, but I like the result. It took just a few minutes, it's easily replaceable, and it cost about $1.50 (I know, the equivalent amount of DTFB is cheaper, but again, just a few minutes...). Anyway, here it is, in all its utilitarian, very basic glory:

Trainer1.jpg Trainer2.jpg Trainer4.jpg Trainer3.jpg
 

degriz

Active member
Very interested in how it fly's, I just cut tail feathers out of coroplast and this could be an option for a lighter fuselage.
 

finnen

Senior Member
Love it! The charactefishsticks should be very similar to the tiny trainer as long as it has similar length from the wing to the tail surfaces. Dead simple to build (it's always the fuse that takes the longest for me), and should be fairly sturdy. I'll probably suggest this for anyone interested in starting to fly, might even build one for the heck of it :D
 

Lorenzo

Senior Member
Yessir, I too spend the most time/frustration getting the fuse just right. This bypassed all of that, it took maybe 10 minutes, if that. I was only able to do some straight and level runs in the back yard but I was impressed - it wanted to just keep going and going with little power, I had to force it to come down. I will do a full maiden flight tomorrow as it will be our first dry day this week.
 

royw

Junior Member
You beat me! I have one on the bench with CF arrow shaft. I epoxied a couple balsa pads to mount the feathers and wing. let us know how yours goes.
 

royw

Junior Member
You beat me! I have one on the bench with a CF arrow shaft. I epoxied a couple balsa pads on it for the feathers and wing. Right now I'd have to water proof everything to fly because we have a bunch of snow on the ground and in the air.
 

Lorenzo

Senior Member
You beat me! I have one on the bench with CF arrow shaft. I epoxied a couple balsa pads to mount the feathers and wing. let us know how yours goes.

Very cool! I'm sure yours is 100 × more durable than mine.
 

Lorenzo

Senior Member
Well, I got a quick maiden in this afternoon; she flies but I'll need to adjust the motor mount with some thrust angle as it did not want to turn right. I'll fix it up tonight and see how she does tomorrow. Other than that she flew great!
 

Christopher14

Driftin' with the wind...
Alright, I'm doing a glider! I'm thinking a 2s 300mAh, 1811 2900v motor, 5x5 prop... This is getting interesting. Thanks for the inspiration, Lorenzo! :D
 

Christopher14

Driftin' with the wind...
Yep. :) Especially after flying a 150% FT Spit for a month with no 'stupidly fun little planes' to mess around with for the insane fun of it!
 

Lorenzo

Senior Member
I think the prop was just too big, swinging a 6.8 x 3.5, the torque was just too much even with the corrected thrust angle.
 
Last edited:

Lorenzo

Senior Member
I think a 6x3 or 5x4 should be fine (of course it depends on your particular motor). But, most importantly, it requires significant right thrust angle, much like the Mighty Minis.
 

wbvike

New member
I might make the stick version like you did with my son so he can fly one. For the thrust angle, you're saying just angle the front of the balsa wood to the same angle as the power pod is for this plane? so when the motor mount is attached it will now have the proper angle. I often wondered if that angel was necessary.... Thanks for the simple stick idea!