Originally Posted by Tom Frank

Interesting! What kind of reinforcement do you have (planned?) for that thin section of body foam above the fan?

Nothing too extra -- the motor is only 4300KV 64mm (3S). I think the outter skin (5mm Dollar Tree foam) will hold her in there pretty sturdy. The duct inlet will be just under the leading edge of the wing, and the fan will be completely enclosed.

Originally Posted by SNice

Nothing too extra -- the motor is only 4300KV 64mm (3S). I think the outter skin (5mm Dollar Tree foam) will hold her in there pretty sturdy. The duct inlet will be just under the leading edge of the wing, and the fan will be completely enclosed.

OHHhhh.. that make a difference! I thought it was going to be left open as shown in the pics. Should look pretty interesting when done.

I've got a dual build going on here.
The stock Titan with R/E/T and the hot rod clipped wing T-45 version. Shot the orange today and should get the black painted tomorrow.

The trainer should be flight ready tomorrow too. Hoping to get a buddy hooked on RC with this one.

Biggest change on the little jet is shaping the nose more to look like a T-45. The old one had too much of a spaceship look to it. When the canopy gets blacked in I think it will look pretty cool.

Here are some pics of my build, the plan i to give this to my dad for fathers day. This is my second attempt, my first one the motor mount was not well thought out and did not hold when powered up plane on static control test. Hinges are dubro hinges with hinge tape holding them down on top of the elevators and ailerons. the rudder i actually cut slots and glued the hinges in place and then taped the hinge as well. I need some ideas on a paint scheme so please offer some up. Since I had to buy a second air frame i have un altered wings I can throw in to act as a docile trainer, or put in the shortened wings with the ailerons and have a faster more aerobatic plane. I think i am going to wait on the maiden to do it with my dad to see how it goes...could at least make for a good laugh when it crashes and burns.

Right now the CG seems to be a little ahead of the leading edge, where are people finding the best point for the CG?

so just did a static hand test and it seems that the plane with current CG will need a bit of up elevator trim to remain in level flight, i held it just in front of the leading edge and powered up the motor, with a bit of up it seemed to want to go straight (going by feel in my hand) rudder seemed to have some good authority too at least using the propwash, when i applied rudder i could feel the plane pushing back on my hand. I noticed that my down elevator doesnt have a lot of throw the pushrod (i used a carbon fiber rod) flexes a bit, I can attach a second one with some hot glue and string to reinforce it to get rid of some of the flex and get some more down movement, the up pull didn't seem to have the same flex issue and it had lots of up throw. I know the hot glue will hold, as I had to use some hot glue to attach two fiber rods together for my elevator pushrod as I was out of a long enough peice at that point but had scraps laying around. another benifit is it might help with adding some weight to the tail to move back my CG a bit

maybe add some servo rod guides to reduce flex. I bet your gona find that rudder is too big. The elevator also looks quite large.

Originally Posted by captaingeek

maybe add some servo rod guides to reduce flex. I bet your gona find that rudder is too big. The elevator also looks quite large.

I can see the rudder perhaps being too big but the elevator? I used the stock elevator and cut it out from there, are you saying I cut my peices too large? I have a second elevator that is still stock I could make the surfaces smaller. and replace it.

One issue I can see from your photos is the control horns are too far from the pivot line on your elevator. The rod is flexing because the angle is trying to tear the elevator off Always try and get your control horn - to - rod connection as close to on the pivot line as possible (if I'm not being clear enough here I can post pics for ya).
Look back a couple pages and check again where we have had the best luck with balancing (CG) because in front of the LE sounds way nose heavy.

Good luck, hope your 'ol man appreciates the effort

--Ray

Originally Posted by Wrench66

One issue I can see from your photos is the control horns are too far from the pivot line on your elevator. The rod is flexing because the angle is trying to tear the elevator off Always try and get your control horn - to - rod connection as close to on the pivot line as possible (if I'm not being clear enough here I can post pics for ya).
Look back a couple pages and check again where we have had the best luck with balancing (CG) because in front of the LE sounds way nose heavy.

Good luck, hope your 'ol man appreciates the effort

--Ray

Hi Ray, thanks I get what you mean. I may just start over on the elevator and make the control horn more in line with the pivot line. Do you think the control surfaces themselves are too large, on HI settings all the surfaces have a large throw distance? If i tried to shortcut it by doubling up on the control rod by gluing another one to it do you think that would work or would it add to much stress on the servo? I doubled up the rod on the rudder out of necessity and it seems more rigid and doesn't flex. the elevator rod only flexes on the down movement, up is great.

I have never been all that good at building things or working with my hands, so even getting this far and starting to improve and get better at it has been a great feeling. I think I am finally getting the patience to keep at it and not get frustrated if something doesn't work the first time. You don't fail at it you just learn a way not to do it!

Awesome dude...you have a great attitude for this hobby!

No I don't think you will have much trouble with those large controls IF IF you can tone them down with your transmitter settings. The size of them is larger than really needed but it will still fly, you just need to limit the throws to keep from scaring yourself on the first go.
Not sure what to tell you on the balance issue of that plane, being as the nose of the Titan is sooooooooo long and far out in front of the CG point on the wing, mounting the motor on the front nearly means sticking the battery back near the tail! LOL That's why I went the easy way and made mine a pusher......motor and battery are on two opposites so the CG is easier to hit

Converting these into a good solid flyer takes a few skills you may not have aquired just yet......you almost need to look at the project as a scratchbuilding job.

Like I said though, keep at it, keep looking at the projects before that have been finished and flown successfully and keep asking questions 'cause someone will help you through the difficult parts

--Ray

Originally Posted by Wrench66

Awesome dude...you have a great attitude for this hobby!

No I don't think you will have much trouble with those large controls IF IF you can tone them down with your transmitter settings. The size of them is larger than really needed but it will still fly, you just need to limit the throws to keep from scaring yourself on the first go.
Not sure what to tell you on the balance issue of that plane, being as the nose of the Titan is sooooooooo long and far out in front of the CG point on the wing, mounting the motor on the front nearly means sticking the battery back near the tail! LOL That's why I went the easy way and made mine a pusher......motor and battery are on two opposites so the CG is easier to hit

Converting these into a good solid flyer takes a few skills you may not have aquired just yet......you almost need to look at the project as a scratchbuilding job.

Like I said though, keep at it, keep looking at the projects before that have been finished and flown successfully and keep asking questions 'cause someone will help you through the difficult parts

--Ray

Ok well I am pretty good at using my Dx5E to fly out of trim planes while I get them in trim, I use low rates get them high up and then trim them out. My father has a Dx6i so we could tone down the rates to make it even easier as you suggested. I was conflicted over the motor placement, I have never flown a pusher and I wanted to be able to hide as much of the wires and electronics as possible for a nice neat look. I think even with my battery bay adjustment It is still nose heavy, I am thinking about cutting out a spot to hot glue some weight into the tail (probably where you all mount the pusher motors).

I have only been involved in this hobby for maybe 3ish months now. My first plane was a parkzone P-51 mustang and the airfield 800mm BF-109 I crashed them a bit but learned pretty quickly on them. Thank growing up in the 90's video game generation. I learned how to fix them, change out the esc's/ motors, solder on connectors, fabricate my own mount/firewalls etc by bashing the 109 into the ground until I had to rebuild the nose essentially (put in that same BP 2212-10 motor into my 109). the first attempt with that thrust angle was off had to add more down thrust and now I have just been waiting for the wind to die down before re-testing it. When I first started this hobby I really didn't feel like I would be able to fix anything if it went wrong, but some determination and necessity of saving money by making something fly again if at all possible has been very rewarding.

I think it would be even more rewarding to get something like this to fly nicely.

Yeah you've got the idea.......once you have flown something that you once only envisioned is an amazing feeling, getting a lowly kid's glider to fly nicely on RC power is very close.

Also, these planes have a tremendous amount of wing area so adding a little weight to get the balance right isn't going to hurt the flight envelope much at all...balance though is EVERYTHING

Originally Posted by Wrench66

Yeah you've got the idea.......once you have flown something that you once only envisioned is an amazing feeling, getting a lowly kid's glider to fly nicely on RC power is very close.

Also, these planes have a tremendous amount of wing area so adding a little weight to get the balance right isn't going to hurt the flight envelope much at all...balance though is EVERYTHING

Ok well what if i used the stock unaltered wings no aileron control on the maiden flight...i know the change in wing size will affect the CG but do you think it would change it tremendously?

Originally Posted by scote621

Ok well what if i used the stock unaltered wings no aileron control on the maiden flight...i know the change in wing size will affect the CG but do you think it would change it tremendously?

Well, I like the plane's flight personality with the clipped wings, reduced dihedral and ailerons, but that's my own preference. There are plenty of them that have flown with the standard wing set up using only rudder instead of ailerons. The change in balance shouldn't be too drastic

Originally Posted by Wrench66

Well, I like the plane's flight personality with the clipped wings, reduced dihedral and ailerons, but that's my own preference. There are plenty of them that have flown with the standard wing set up using only rudder instead of ailerons. The change in balance shouldn't be too drastic

Cool, I think we will do the maiden with the stock wings for more lift, then put in the clipped wings that i have with the ailerons assuming maiden shows it flies.