MiniMaster - not a F3P!

[hornet_dave]

I'm trying something different for this winter; the indoor sessions I attend are too crowded to really practice any pattern sequence, and I've been flying a bling-bling for the last two seasons and i just needed a change.

So I figured I could take the F3P electronics (baby hacker, 300 mah batts, etc) and put them into a smaller airframe and hopefully get something that is a little more spunky and lively. Since I want a parkmaster for an outdoor airplane (maybe this spring?), I decided to use a parkmaster inspired outline and shrink it down to around 24" X 24" - both to increase wingloading so it flies a little more like an outdoor airplane, and also so I can cut an entire airplane out of a single sheet of depron I can get locally. I can now cut the wing out in one piece and still have the grain run in the correct direction!

I used to have an outdoor airplane called the Nemesis 3D which was around the same size but closer to 6 ounces, if I recall correctly, and it was a lot of fun. So, this airplane should be OK at 3.5 ounces. I'm hoping it will tumble and KE spin, we'll see at the KEIF this saturday. Here it is, as yet unflown:

[Aio_1]

Very nice. It should be lively!
Let us know how it goes.

Aidan

[birdie_in_texas]

Looks like a Juka a little bit, but no counterbalances on the wings...

Look forward to seeing the vid Dave..:)

[hornet_dave]

Well it flies very nicely I must say! But it's a very different experience compared to a F3P airframe. At 100 grams, the A10-15S with 7X3.5 prop is very powerful even with crappy old worn out batteries. It hovers easily, has little knife-edge coupling, does the easiest knife-edge loop I've ever experienced (but im mostly a helicopter guy so that doesnt mean a whole lot..). It does a lot better outdoors in a light wind compared to a pure F3P design, the lack of airbrakes and smaller wing lets it penetrate a lot better. However, i don't think it would do good when it's over 5 mph of wind outside. This airplane would absolutely STINK in a basketball sized gym if you're trying to do precision flying as it flies too fast. It's more like how the Shockfliers would fly back when folks were putting Axi 2208/34's on the nose.


That being said, I do have improvements in mind for version 2.0; I want to shorten the fuse by about 1.5 inches to both give it a more pleasing proportions and increase it's ability to flip on its axis (I miss the way my old Nemesis 3D balsa profile would flip like nobody's business!). The elevator hingeline will get moved forward a little bit to increase the size of the elevator relative to the horiz stab. Hovering and tracking will suffer but I can live with that for this airplane.

But my biggest question has been answered - F3P equipment can be a lot of fun outdoors simply by putting it in a smaller airplane. 6 minutes is very doable with 250 mah batteries when flying outside in a light breeze.