EGTL
New member
Howdy y'all! I found myself with some extra time a few months ago, so I decided to get back into the RC hobby after *cough* years off. I bought the Hobbyzone Champ to fly in a park near my house, but I knew I wanted to get into some Flite Test style builds.
I got the Tiny Trainer speed build kit, A power pack with the 6x3 props, some 3S 800mAh packs, and a DSMX receiver to use with the Champ's transmitter. Even though I had gotten really comfortable with the Hobbyzone product (and it really is amazing how easily that whole package gets you into the air), I found the TT's flight characteristics to be really hairy. This was with CG and control throws set as recommended. So, some notes and how I got it to fly how I wanted.
- Field size is important. My park is basically 2x2 baseball diamonds, so not even a full football field.
- Secure your receiver! The build videos don't talk about it, but mine slipped through the hole in the fuselage bottom. I frankly didn't deal with the "emergency" that well, rushed my landing, and cracked my prop.
- The 3S on the 1806 motor is a whole lot of power. Unfortunately, it's also a lot of weight. I was not comfortable with the speed and turning radius for my field
- I had a trend of seriously overcontrolling both elevator and rudder.
I made a few changes to my setup and I really love how it flies now!
- Jumper T8SG radio. 30% expo really makes it easier to be smooth on the controls. Throttle safety is also a nice feature - I was literally using a rubber band on the Hobbyzone transmitter.
- 2S 650 mAh packs and 7x4 HQ Slowfly prop. The lower weight seems to lead to lower speed and tighter turning radius appropriate to the park. I was not getting nearly enough thrust with the 6x3 prop included with the A power pack, but she's got some vertical with the 7x4. I did an 8 minute flight today and still had 3.8 volts/cell afterwards.
- Other lightening of the platform by cutting in some speed holes (they make the car go faster) and removing paper from the bottom of the wing
- Open top for ESC cooling and easier battery plug-in
Lastly, it is amazing that despite now flying well in a pretty small park, it handles gusty winds with aplomb. I'm not sure if it's the glider-style wing that allows for penetration through the air, but I felt in control even though the treetops were moving quite a lot. This is in sharp contrast to the Champ, which has to be flown at dawn to avoid all wind.
Fantastic design, but I wanted to put these notes out there to hopefully help reduce the learning curve for the next person who tries to fly it in a shoebox!
I got the Tiny Trainer speed build kit, A power pack with the 6x3 props, some 3S 800mAh packs, and a DSMX receiver to use with the Champ's transmitter. Even though I had gotten really comfortable with the Hobbyzone product (and it really is amazing how easily that whole package gets you into the air), I found the TT's flight characteristics to be really hairy. This was with CG and control throws set as recommended. So, some notes and how I got it to fly how I wanted.
- Field size is important. My park is basically 2x2 baseball diamonds, so not even a full football field.
- Secure your receiver! The build videos don't talk about it, but mine slipped through the hole in the fuselage bottom. I frankly didn't deal with the "emergency" that well, rushed my landing, and cracked my prop.
- The 3S on the 1806 motor is a whole lot of power. Unfortunately, it's also a lot of weight. I was not comfortable with the speed and turning radius for my field
- I had a trend of seriously overcontrolling both elevator and rudder.
I made a few changes to my setup and I really love how it flies now!
- Jumper T8SG radio. 30% expo really makes it easier to be smooth on the controls. Throttle safety is also a nice feature - I was literally using a rubber band on the Hobbyzone transmitter.
- 2S 650 mAh packs and 7x4 HQ Slowfly prop. The lower weight seems to lead to lower speed and tighter turning radius appropriate to the park. I was not getting nearly enough thrust with the 6x3 prop included with the A power pack, but she's got some vertical with the 7x4. I did an 8 minute flight today and still had 3.8 volts/cell afterwards.
- Other lightening of the platform by cutting in some speed holes (they make the car go faster) and removing paper from the bottom of the wing
- Open top for ESC cooling and easier battery plug-in
Lastly, it is amazing that despite now flying well in a pretty small park, it handles gusty winds with aplomb. I'm not sure if it's the glider-style wing that allows for penetration through the air, but I felt in control even though the treetops were moving quite a lot. This is in sharp contrast to the Champ, which has to be flown at dawn to avoid all wind.
Fantastic design, but I wanted to put these notes out there to hopefully help reduce the learning curve for the next person who tries to fly it in a shoebox!
