Two Sides of the Power Pod Fence

[BATTLEAXE]

I’m thinking of trying a Velcro mount for the power pod. Basically just set the power pod upside down and use what was the bottom surface and use that to stick to the top of the fuse. Add in extra cheeks (or some sort of support) to maintain alignment and prevent it from pulling out. This will require the esc & battery to be secured some other way than just being set inside the power pod, but should run a bit cooler.

If I was to do that I would just glue the power pod into place to add as doublers for strength in the fuse and have a dedicated firewall. Which is kinda what I did with the Simple Scout. Works awesome

 

[PoorManRC]

If I was to do that I would just glue the power pod into place to add as doublers for strength in the fuse and have a dedicated firewall. Which is kinda what I did with the Simple Scout. Works awesome

OMG! I LOVE this Thread!!!
I'm hearing in my head, as I read some of these posts - a couple of the "elder guys" on this Forum....

Warming up their Flamethrowers, to tell us HOW RIDICULOUS some of these ideas are!!
And how they're SUPPOSED TO CRASH!
HOW they're going to be too heavy with the Mods we're discussing!!! 😲😜

Or in my case, the obligatory 4 paragraph Lecture on the Basics of RC Flight!!

Gentlemen, at least one of you know about my recent Debacle that was my FT Tubby Cubby Build.

I had Planned it for over 6 Months. I'm literally POOR as Dirt, so I slowly accumulated the Electronics, Paint, Hardware and Building Supplies.
I WAS very Fortunate to have two extremely Generous People here, help me with some of the Ancillary Items I needed!!! I was truly Humbled and very appreciative.

THEN I started the Build Thread for my Cub here...
I KNEW I was doing an unorthodox Build. I always do!! With all my other Hobbies as well. 😜
In particular, I had spent a LOT of time and effort, REDESIGNING the Landing Gear, moving it forward about an inch, bracing the Slot that holds the Removable Gear, and setting the Track between the Wheels about 1.5" WIDER.

This was ALL in the interest of curing the FT Simple Cub's most irritating flaw....
It's tendency to EASILY Nose Over on Landings! EVEN Josh Bixler COULDN'T Land it, without FLIPPING OVER Forward!!!😲😜

I've done a LOT of work on REAL Aircraft, Civilian and in the Air Force. My Dad was a BRILLIANT Aeronautical Engineer, and Air Force Pilot! Between everything, I had a pretty GOOD Basis and idea, what I was doing, and how to go about achieving this.

{And I'm sorry for the long drawn out explanation. Nobody really knows me here, so naturally will ASSUME that I'm a wet behind the ears, rank N00b!! 😖 NOT ALL OF YOU!!! Thank GOD.
I just wanted to establish WHO I am, in terms of rough Experience.} 😉

SO...... by the third Post on my Cub Thread, I started hearing about how I SHOULDN'T use .092" Wire for the Gear, it's TOO heavy.
And how I shouldn't even BOTHER doing the extra work, because it's just going to CRASH!!! 😖😠😣

Four of them say it in ABSOLUTES - like ALL these Planes know how to do, is CRASH! 😞

Next I started going into Modifications to STRENGTHEN the Wing, the Tail Feathers, the Fuse and the Nose area, particularly around the Power Pod....

Here's some DIRECT" "helpful" responses to what I did.

"But honestly (and especially for your first) the lighter a plane is the slower it can fly....

I suspect IF she flies, your stall speed will be quite a bit more than you might expect."
...... NOT MY FIRST!!!! 😠

"Errm, I can see why your so bloody heavy now lol, you have over engineered it a bit, they are pretty tough as they are.

I dont use landing gear, I belly land mine so I have milk jug plastic bonded to the underside to protect the foam, it has the side effect of adding a lot of strength in an impact and the damage never runs further back than where the plastic starts"
AND
"If you can get the weight down to mine then you will be able to carry more.
Personally, id scrap the landing gear completely, and belly land it"
....... THAT'S F'IN WONDERFUL! I'VE MENTIONED AT LEAST 40 TIMES BEFORE, I'M DISABLED, AND MY PLANES MUST TAXI BACK TO ME, WHEN I'M ALONE... But thanks for paying attention.

"Yes, my cub is over a Kilo but with a 4000mah 3S"
...... REALLY?? OVER 1000 GRAMS? FUNNY, WHEN TWO OTHERS WERE TELLING ME ABOUT MINE BEING OVERWEIGHT AT 820g, HE JOINED IN - TELLING ME HOW HEAVY MY CUB WAS!!!! 😖😠😠

"I would say roughly 85-90% of what you have added to yours is not needed and a classic noob 'i don't think thats strong enough' thing"
....... PAY ATTENTION!!! 😠😠

ANYWAY, between the hypocrisy AND lots of conflicting advice on what to do/what NOT to do...

I ended up Second Guessing nearly EVERYTHING I had spent so much TIME and effort to redesign...
Mostly just for MY limitations, but also things that other People could find beneficial to Their Aircraft Builds....

That I ended up confused, overwhelmed and even Panicked. I REMOVED a bunch of internal Bracing (forgetting to check what its removal would do to the other Bracing - OR the Airframe itself).
I had altered the WING INCIDENCE, on advice - that I learned later was NOT needed!!

In fact, in last minute PANIC Mode - I COMPLETELY overlooked a big Wrinkle across the narrow part of the Rudder, between the Control Horn and 95% of the RUDDER! 😲

THAT caused Wind Pressure to PUSH the Rudder hard Left - causing SPIN, DIVE, CRASH - before I knew what happened!!! 😖😲💔💔

GUYS, I am not Bashing this Forum!! Especially not Bashing anybody in this Thread!
These are Amazing, Talented and VERY Helpful People. But, we're ALL Flawed Humans! 😋

This long, LONG Post was shared, so maybe you, and anyone in the future who comes along and uses this Informative Thread for Reference...
Can LEARN from this Painful Experience I just had. 😉

1: IF you come up with something. And you've RESEARCHED it, calculated it, and just put your Heart into it....
DON'T let ANYBODY talk you out of it!! Unless of course, you've overlooked something potentially DANGEROUS.
Give yourself a chance! 😉 TRY it first.
~ Hey, if the Wright Brothers gave up after a crash - or listened to the Swarm of Naysayers who told them they were Wasting their Time...
WHERE might we all be today?

2: IF you've stuck your Neck out, and put your ideas on a Public Forum (and THIS one is so much friendlier than most)...
Expect some Critique! Most will be Helpful and Constructive, a few - notsomuch.
If three or more tell you you're going in the WRONG direction, at least PAUSE, think and reexamine! 😉 THEY may not see your Vision. Or all of your hard work and concentration may have blinded you to something...

3: IF you're getting CONFLICTING ADVICE - STOP! Try to clarify, respectfully. Remember, if you've got a NEW IDEA, some People just aren't going to get it!
Try explaining things better. 😉

4: IT'S A HOBBY! Have Fun!! If you're not, take up Golf.

Thanks for indulging me! 😊
Carmine ✈🚂🚙

 

[PoorManRC]

BTW, feel free to check out my Simple Scout Thread. 😉 I think I've made myself less popular, and it's barely getting any attention.....

But, I have come up with different strengthening ideas, particularly a NON BENDABLE Rudder!! 😁
A Tail Wheel that WORKS.
A redesigned Turtle Deck.
A FIX for DENTS on the Wing Leading Edges!!! And it's even stronger and better looking than original....

Plus there may be more, as I keep building and looking at it thinking "there's got to be a better way!"

Just like YOU'RE doing here.

 

[The Hangar]

Well hey! I got my power pod built! I tried extreme packing tape for the first time. I didn’t do the bottom bbq skewers since I didn’t really have the patience to figure those out😂

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Well hey! I got my power pod built! I tried extreme packing tape for the first time. I didn’t do the bottom bbq skewers since I didn’t really have the patience to figure those out😂

Haha nice!
It's the bottom ones that will save you more then the top skewers. Most hits will crush from under the pod.

What plane are you using it in?

 

[The Hangar]

Haha nice!
It's the bottom ones that will save you more then the top skewers. Most hits will crush from under the pod.

What plane are you using it in?

True. How did you cut the cavity to fit the bottom bbq skewers? I’ll be using it in my viggen and maybe in my spitfire if for some reason I can’t use my c pack.

EDIT: I forgot the main reason I made it - for my night simple soarer build 😂

 

[PoorManRC]

True. How did you cut the cavity to fit the bottom bbq skewers? I’ll be using it in my viggen and maybe in my spitfire if for some reason I can’t use my c pack.

Looks GREAT!! I imagine that you just cut the two cavities a little wider on the Bottom, to make room for the Skewers, and be able to do a smooth A Fold.... Right?

 

[The Hangar]

Looks GREAT!! I imagine that you just cut the two cavities a little wider on the Bottom, to make room for the Skewers, and be able to do a smooth A Fold.... Right?

Thanks! I haven’t had a power pod that looked that good in a long time🤣

 

[bracesport]

I will reinforce my pod on the second Spit I am building and report back!

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Thanks! I haven’t had a power pod that looked that good in a long time🤣

I would suggest using a scrap piece of FB to find the ideal width of cavity you need to wrap the paper snug around the skewer to form a 90 degree fold, just because skewers aren't all the same size in diameter brand to brand.

The edge of the bottom plate is your fold reference for the outside corner of the fold, once you have your cavity width figured you will straddle that measurement on either side of that reference corner. Mine was 1/4" total, so 1/8" on either side of the corner. A couple of dry fits with the skewer in the cavity should get you up to 90 degrees and then glue and square it up. Same on both sides.

The rest is as per usual

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Looks GREAT!! I imagine that you just cut the two cavities a little wider on the Bottom, to make room for the Skewers, and be able to do a smooth A Fold.... Right?

You could just cut out an extra bit of foam into the side cheek just to fit the skewer above the original bottom plate as well. Would work the same, whichever is easier

End result

 

[The Hangar]

You could just cut out an extra bit of foam into the side cheek just to fit the skewer above the original bottom plate as well. Would work the same, whichever is easier View attachment 140649
End result

One extra helpful thing I did was give extra paper on the tabs to flood over. This really helps keep the paper from separating from the foam in the tabs after many “swaps”

 

[BATTLEAXE]

One extra helpful thing I did was give extra paper on the tabs to flood over. This really helps keep the paper from separating from the foam in the tabs after many “swaps”

Actually I recently changed my perspective on the indexing tabs thing, @daxian has me convinced that the tabs aren't really needed on most models except maybe for something like the Nutball, I just cut mine off. And I really don't miss them lol

I like how this is catching momentum and people are wanting to try it. If you really get ambitious and want to take your resistance of crash damage to the next level, check out how I do index and support the back of the pod in my Nose mods on the FT Spitfire thread. Most models can accommodate this option too, and again another layer of protection and you will see crash damage there was minimal and super easy to fix, using this same pod I started this thread with and as you have seen I fixed

 

[Piotrsko]

Read the whole thread, my only comment is: Pick what you want to fail, preferably the easiest cheapest thing to repair/replace. That should be your weakest point because eventually everything else will survive.

I had a tank like trainer once that survived a brutal crash and was immediately flyable except the most expensive bits (motor and radio) were trashed. Same for the 302 powered Pinto, and other dumb things I have done

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Read the whole thread, my only comment is: Pick what you want to fail, preferably the easiest cheapest thing to repair/replace. That should be your weakest point because eventually everything else will survive.

I had a tank like trainer once that survived a brutal crash and was immediately flyable except the most expensive bits (motor and radio) were trashed. Same for the 302 powered Pinto, and other dumb things I have done

I totally agree. What I have noticed with something like this is there are so many perspectives to the power pod, and everyone is either open to trying new things to figure out what they really like and will stick with, or the people that already know what they like and run with it. Either way there is no absolute right way for everybody, or an absolute wrong way for anybody either.

A good failure point would be your BBQ skewer that hold your power pod into the fuse. Reinforce your holes on both the fuse and in the power pod and make the BBQ skewer your weak link. Makes for a quick field fix when things go south and you are back in the air, as long as you didn't bust up the nose of the fuse to bad. A suggestion if you decide to go that direction.

Me, I don't like things prematurely breaking down, and as you can see from earlier in this thread and my Nose mods on the FT Spitfire I am happy with how things have turned out with it. BTW I have had at least 3 decent nose hits to my Spit since these mods to my power pod and have only had to fix it once. I guarantee that if I kept everything absolutely stock to the original design i would already be building a whole new plane... just sayin that's MY experience so far

 

[Piotrsko]

BBQ skewers holding the power pod on? So that's what they are for. Heck I use rubberbands. Used the skewers for pushrods.
I used controlled explosion to survive inadvertent impact

 

[The Hangar]

Actually I recently changed my perspective on the indexing tabs thing, @daxian has me convinced that the tabs aren't really needed on most models except maybe for something like the Nutball, I just cut mine off. And I really don't miss them lol

I like how this is catching momentum and people are wanting to try it. If you really get ambitious and want to take your resistance of crash damage to the next level, check out how I do index and support the back of the pod in my Nose mods on the FT Spitfire thread. Most models can accommodate this option too, and again another layer of protection and you will see crash damage there was minimal and super easy to fix, using this same pod I started this thread with and as you have seen I fixed

Great idea! For some of my planes like the tractor versa I still need them, but in most planes they are just a pain!

 

[BATTLEAXE]

BBQ skewers holding the power pod on? So that's what they are for. Heck I use rubberbands. Used the skewers for pushrods.
I used controlled explosion to survive inadvertent impact

I like using the skewers for pushrods as well. The idea came out of necessity at one point but it has a sharp vintage look, Takes more time but it isn't really any heavier or weaker then using just wire

 

[The Hangar]

I like using the skewers for pushrods as well. The idea came out of necessity at one point but it has a sharp vintage look, Takes more time but it isn't really any heavier or weaker then using just wire

Can you show a pic of how you did it?

 

[BATTLEAXE]

Great idea! For some of my planes like the tractor versa I still need them, but in most planes they are just a pain!

I haven't built any of the slow fly or versa wings other then the Mini Arrow, and it was a pusher. I haven't needed the tabs at all to hold the pod in, they just get in the way actually.