*Unofficial* FT Sea Duck

Gazoo

Well-known member
Well I finally finished it. The fiberglass pontoons and belly/nose worked out, however alot of work for a foam plane. I havent flown it yet but sure it will be fine. I will protect against dents. I wish a balsa version kit was available so it would last longer. Anyway, I could have detailed more, but I had to remind myself this is a foam plane not meant for glory. Here is the final product. View attachment 86523 View attachment 86524

Nicely done Titan! It looks awesome!
 

Titan176

New member
Has anyone tried flying the sea duck on the stock props on a 4-cell? They recommend a 9 X 4.5 prop if flying on 4-Cell. What's the worst that could happen if I use the stock props? (Burn out ESC?)
 

basslord1124

Master member
Not sure as I am not sure what other gear you are running. If you don't have one, spend about $20 and get you a wattmeter...a great investment. It will pretty much tell everything power wise you need to know. Watts, max amps, etc. I did a stock setup with the FT Simple Storch (1200KV motor, 30A ESC, and a 10" prop) and I did not like how close it put me to max amps on my ESC so I ended up backing down to a 9" prop. That saved my ESC from potentially frying and brought the amps down to a lower amount. The stock specs of the Seaduck could very well produce the same result, I dunno. That's why I went ahead and purchased a 40A ESCs for it instead. :) I always say it's a good idea to give yourself some headroom in the ESC department. But yeah, get you a wattmeter and see what it says.
 

Hubert

New member
yeah, you will burn something up pretty soon if you run a 4 cell with stock props. Emax say the motors pull 26 amps with that prop on 3 cell I believe. 4s will make that go over 30 amps, so the esc won't be very happy. I bought some glacier 4s 2600 batteries, and the APC 9x4.5 props (for multi rotor). Will see how things go. I don't have a watt meter, but will be checking motor temps with a infared thermometer. If I get more into electric, I will probably end up buying a watt meter. How much does your airpane weigh? Sweet paint job BTW.

Hubert
 

Titan176

New member
Took the Sea Duck for a test flight today. Flies great. I used the stock props with a 3-cell 2200....I have new props on order for use with the 4 cell. Really nice flying airplane cant wait to really giver with the 4-cell. I don't have an all up weight, have to invest in a scale. I had to add some nose weight and tone down the aileron throws, but a really nice flying airplane. Im excited for summer. :cool:
 

basslord1124

Master member
Got mine mostly finished last night, still got a few quick things left to do besides paint. It's been a fun build, but at the same time I am glad it's almost over with so I can start flying it. :)

I only have 1 little complaint which I had sort of worked around... in the video there is emphasis on keeping the wiring short (which I understand since it is a water plane) and the receiver is more towards the rear of the fuse. If this were the only plane on my transmitter I wouldn't care about that, but where I have a computer transmitter and different planes I'd think that receiver placement would make it a royal pain to access when you would need to bind your receiver. I ended up mounting my receiver towards the front of the fuse on the wing...basically almost directly above where my battery will sit. This will make easy access when I need to bind that receiver. And really my ESC servo wires were the perfect short length like in the video but with this, I had to add about a 6" servo extension to them. Like I said, small complaint, but worked around it ok. :)
 

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RookieVet

New member
Looks great. I still have to build mine. I've had it for months. I didn't think about the wings not being removable and fear it won't fit in my car so I've been holding off...

Regarding the bind port... Another option for situations like that is to use a servo extension wire and leave that plugged into the Bind port of your Rx. This gives you more options on where you place your Rx. For me, I use Spektrum and the Bind port is usually also the Program port which is used with a smartphone app to configure the Rx and AS3X settings. So I almost always put an extension on my Bind ports anyway so I don't have to struggle with the programming cable when the Rx is installed into the aircraft.
 
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basslord1124

Master member
Took mine out for its maiden the other day. Ran 3S 2200Mah battery and 9x4.5 counter rotating props. Ground taxiing was nice....it was actually very nice that I didn't have to fight with rudder on takeoff to keep it going straight. Just gave it throttle and away she went. Once she was off the ground, it shot straight up like a rocket. Not sure if that was thrust or angle related...or both. But I got her leveled out and did need quite a bit of down trim to get it about level. Once she was level though she flew very well. Super easy and I would almost compare it to flying my Hobbyzone Champ. Ran it with plenty of expo and only 60% low rate travel. Even with that, I still pulled off some nice rolls with it. Mainly tried the diff. thrust for ground but I did do a small test turn while in the air...did very well. Overall I am very impressed with how it performed. Can't wait to get it painted and really try it out to see what we can really do with it. :D Videos will be coming soon too.

Oh yeah funny story...while trying to find the balance point with my battery, the nose pointed down real quick and the battery fell off the tray and inside the fuse at the front of the nose. I didn't have it secured to the velcro at that point obviously since we were just testing the battery position. Well after digging and shifting the plane around different ways I was able to get the battery out. Kind of a dummy move that I didn't velcro but oh well. :eek:

One more thing....after all the moving around and such, I have had to reglue/tape the battery hatch paper back to the foam right there where the hinge meets the front of the canopy a few times already. Thinking I may just cut the hinge entirely and make the hatch just a removable door instead.

Oh, I like the servo extension wire on your bind port... good idea. :D
 

Winglet

Well-known member
Another Sea Duck joins the fleet. Not sure if I had fun building mine or not? (build went on forever) But now that I know how well it flys and floats I wouldn't hesitate to build another. Mine is powered by the recommended FT combo from the store and uses 3 cells. Thanks Flite Test. I know a lot of design work went into this one. Best model in my hangar.


Sea Duck maiden.JPG duck 3.JPG
 

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Winglet

Well-known member
I friend designed the cowlings and printed for me. They ARE absolutely sweet! I don't think he has a Thingaverse account? I will check. He is a fellow FT builder and flyer. Maybe I can get him to share because they really adds a lot to the airplane.
 
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zombiefox

New member
I've been assembling this for the past few weeks.
I've found that the power pods weren't pushing into the nacelles as far as they do in the video, probably because the firewalls I was given with the speed build kit are too large for it (or I accidentally made the nacelles to narrow). This means that the motor sticks out past the nacelles opening by a few inches. Will this make a difference? Either way the power pod is reinforced with tape and secured to the nacelle with bbq skewers.

motor.jpg
 

Winglet

Well-known member
Yes, it will make a difference. Just take a little sandpaper and sand down the edges of your firewalls until it fits.
 

thenated0g

Drinker of coffee, Maker of things
Mentor
Got the Kit and power pack from Amain hobbies. Didnt want the same yellow scheme all the other ducks seem to have so i went with a CalFire Bronco color scheme. Think it came out pretty close to scale version. Graphics are Vinyl from Callie graphics. Custom ones i had them make for me.

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