Mini FT planes!

by Captain T | October 11, 2014 | (8) Posted in Projects

 

 

Recently I have been obsessed with smaller planes and decided to try and make some scaled down FT planes. The smaller ones seem to be a tad bit harder to fly than the bigger ones, and take more tweaking, but it is totally worth it when they are done. Some of the advantages of smaller planes are that they are convenient, easy to build, take only 1/2 to 1 sheet of foam, and can be flown indoors. The main disadvantage is that they can't handle the wind.

    

    First, I did a 75% viggen. I put way too big of a motor on it so you have to throw it straight up, otherwise it will torque roll over and crash! Once it is in the air, it flies just like the normal size viggen. It is really fast 70 mph+, can high alpha, glides ok, and has a incredibly fast roll rate. It has a 1800kv motor from a sky surfer and a 5 inch 3 blade prop. The battery is a 3s 1300.


            

       The second one I made was a 50% bloody wonder. I didn't expect it to fly very well, but it flew awesome. Once again, it flew just like the Normal sised bloody wonder. I took off the paper on the inside of the airfoil to save weight, but I don't think it was necessary. I also only used half of a spar to save weight.


 

 

     The third plane I made is a 60% FT delta. This is my favorit to fly because it is quite fast, but yet very easy to fly. The only bad thing is that it can't handle any wind.   

 

      The last mini plane I made is a 50% ft versa wing. This one is AWESOME! it's not super fast or very slow. It also glides ok for how much it weighs and how small it is.

 

 

 

Sorry, the video isn't too great, but it works.

 

I use a hobby king 2000kv 10 gram motor for all the planes (except the viggen) with a 5 inch prop. The recommended prop is a 7x5 prop, but it makes the motor incredibly hot after 10 seconds of half throttle. The 5 inch prop barely even makes it warm.                

 http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=30925&aff=854261

I am using a hobbyking 10 amp esc, but it only needs to be a 6 amp esc.  http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=26491&aff=854261

For servos, I used 3.6 gram servos for the delta, bloody wonder, versa. I used standard 9 gram servos for the viggen. The 3.6 gram servos are very delicate and strip easily so be careful if you use them.  http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=33324&aff=854261

 The battery is just a standard nano-tech 300ma 2s.              http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=36953&aff=854261    

 

If you decide to make a scaled down ft plane, just know the build process is almost the same as a normal sized one, but you have to make notches for the a and b fold cuts a little bit wider unless you use a different material like 3mm depron. I think Flite Test is coming out with some smaller planes over the winter, so I would recommend waiting for their build videos and plans just to make sure you do it right.

COMMENTS

LetsFlyRC on October 16, 2014
Good job, man. That Viggen seems to fly great, even in the wind.
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rick_harriss on October 19, 2014
Interesting - I wonder how small you could go and carry the weight of motor 2 servos and battery.
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Yogenh on October 20, 2014
They do make the motors, servos, and batteries really small now a days!!! May have to start using paper to get that small. LOL
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Yogenh on October 20, 2014
You did very good
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Captain T on October 20, 2014
Thanks!
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Captain T on October 16, 2014
Ya, it handles the wind the best out of all of them.
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jordy123 on June 7, 2016
Are any of these still breathing?
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Captain T on June 8, 2016
nope, lol
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Mini FT planes!