I've had my Arrow for almost a year now and here's what I have to say about it and your video: - I removed the pod entirely once I noticed that the battery wouldn't fit and that worked great - My FPV camera is angled slightly down which I found to be better for keeping my orientation in a climb - When filming with a Runcam, I quickly noticed that having it pointing straight forward (no down angle) results in quite poor video - The wing seems to have a very small speed envelope: It stalls fairly quickly, becomes unstable even sooner (which is what I think happened to you in the beginning) and is too draggy to really go fast (even in a dive) - It's a great plane for the value and has proven to be veeeery durable (multiple impacts at high speed without any damage) but it needs you to fly it and to be careful - The bad low-speed performance gets noticeably worse even when adding just a Runcam, so keep that in mind: I've had mine stall and spiral on approach multiple times because it was 50g heavier than I was used to If you have any further questions, I'd be glad to help. Thank you so much for your awesome videos!

Regarding the "stability" question at 14:20. What you demonstrate would be considered "negative stability". If the movable ball was in home position at bottom of fixed ball, that would be called "positive stability". Turning gravity off, would demonstrate "neutral stability". Have noticed many having issues with foam board. Particularly in Australia and New Zealand. My FT non-kit build also turned out heavy and was prone to tip stalling. Did noticed Andrew Newton made a Mini Arrow using hotwire foam and thinking for giving that a try as first hotwire build. (that how I arrived at this older video from the future)

I have the Hobbyking X1 and I had to cut some custom winglets to get it to fly right. I increased the size by 30% and it helped a lot.

i got the kit from Graupner Germany. quick build really. i also used the tiny 5gr servos, boy are the small. and also got me a few 2S (!) 850 packs. Total flying weight (no fpv no runcam no paint job) 285grams. Had to add a €0.50 piece (@8grams) to the nose for balance with battery all the way forward and FrSky X8R in the left winghold, no room in the pod. It is indeed quite unstable, but enough speed with the 2S and 6x4 prop. the 2S gives my about 15mins of flying time at 50% throttle. Great fun, thanks for the vid

Having scratch built the Arrow using Adams board, I didn't experience the touchiness you are seeing. My overall weight with a 3s 850 mah battery, board cam and vtx was 340 grams. I had the battery pushed up as far as it could go and mounted the board cam to the top of the canopy pretty much where you put the run cam. I suspect the added 100 grams you are carrying plus the winglet design change is effecting the flight characteristics. I've also flown mine with a 2s set and it flys well. Not a beginner wing but fun to fly.

I found mine really touchy so I added a heap of expo which helped a lot. I tried bringing the servo pushrods closer in at the servo end but that gave me too little authority at full stick. These can be a handful and certainly not an aircraft I would put in a beginners hands. Mine will take off vertical if I can get it to stand up for long enough but I think it's a little over powered with a 2207 2700kv motor on a 5040. Motor comes down just slightly warm so I think it could stand more pitch or a bigger prop. Not gonna try it though, I still haven't been game to take it much over 60% throttle. I tried the FPV cam in the nose trick with the FT Sparrow and don't advise it. I broke a cam in a crash because the battery is right behind it and pounded it into the ground on impact. After a bit more fine tuning, FPV is next for mine. I'll have to weigh mine to see how it compares. PS it's not a quad, you don't need to throttle back when you roll. ;-)

Uncle Bills aren't everywhere in NZ but they stock Adams foam board which works/is the same as what Flite Test use.

I have found it very helpful to print the plans onto card stock. It makes the patterns firm enough to cut out and trace around the edges. Smaller curved parts I laminate to prevent deterioration.

After I have the plans taped together, I run packing tape over the cutout lines on the templates. After the templates are cut out the edge is quite stiff. I use thumb tacks cut down to 3 mils to attach the templates to the foam board. I can trace around the edges many times and the templates hold up very well, good for making multiple planes. The mini Mustang is a bit more difficult to build. You did a great job on the mini arrow, you should try the Mustang next, you'll like it. Great videos, keep em comming!

Honestly, my Arrow didn't fly right until I crashed it and rebuilt it 3 times or so... Now it flies great! Will fly hands off, straight and level, and I can do dead stick landings. Ended up having to add a lot glue to it to hold it together after the crashes, the different weight distribution may have helped. I actually have to push my 800mA 3-cells *back* as far as they can go to balance it. A friend if mine filled the wing cavity with expanding insulation foam and that helped its stability and durability.

Im sure this has already been mentioned, but in case others watch this video and are building this plane and want to know whats wrong. His winglets are to small for his plane. If you look at the ones for the kit they are bigger and sit more centered on the wing. As someone who has built A LOT of this exact FT kit I have tried many things, and to small of winglets do exactly whats happening here.

14:20 It looks like the center of balanced mass is above the wings and making it unstable. It's like a high winged plane with negative dihedral. (wing tips pointing down). In a high winged plane the center of balanced mass is below the wing. Could the instability come fro the vertical fins if not aligned properly ???

With hard to remove paper n foam chunks you can boot the paper with a tiny bit of water and as it dries, press on it with your finger, squish it, and then when it dries it'll release the foam chunk or peel easily and it won't hurt the build at all. Hope that helps. I've ran into some stubborn foam and struggled like you did until I fussed with it enough and figured this out. Also, ruining your fingernail backwards against the paper a few-6 times will loosen the material too...especially well after the water trick or while it's almost dry.

I also build one for myself and this is most stable plane that I ever tried. It will fly and soars on almost any battery I try all from 450mha 2s all way to 1300 mha 3s, but I mostly fly with 800mha 3s so if you ask me it flies on almost any CG. This one probably tips when on low power because back of the wing is way to thin and does not get as much lift as needed.

such a beautiful lands you live man

I've wondered for a while where to get foamboard in NZ, bunnings!

I have built a few of these and they don't seem to unstable. I did have to put a heap of lead in the nose too. I fly pretty much full noise the whole time it's a lot of fun. Maybe it is the winglets??

just check the wings are level with each other in case they've warped out of line? I don't think with the heavier servos it'll be elevon flutter unless your linkages are sloppy?

i've managed to put this on an 1000x680 mm sheet just by separating the wing on the leading edge, i always crack it when bulding so there was no problem doing them on two

I built one out of West foamboard which is also heavier. My total waight is 325g with an 850mah 3s battery. however i had the opposite problem. mine is nose heavy. it needed tons of trim to fly level, it almost nosed into the ground on first flight. And yes its got the recomended up reflex. I couldnt move my battery far enough back to get it to balance so had to add coins to the stabilisers. Mine flies, but like yours is quite unstable and will randomly rock its wings. ive also seen it yaw in slow flight but i guess thats just the wind. I also feel like i have a lack of control authority, full aileron will result in a very slow roll. although its fine to fly circuits,.

for testing - double the winglets by glueing some extra foam to them. You will get the positive result after 2 mins:-)

BrianW .. John Dunne experimented with flying wings pre-WW1, one monoplane, the rest biplanes. The later ones built by Short Bros. UK Navy ( .. RAF not invented at the time), complained that the extraordinary stability of these planes 'didn't offer a sufficient challenge' to the pilot. Some licence built in USA, factory burnt down. Dunne a sick man and an opportunity missed.

Wonder if your improvised winglets are having an affect on it... I recently saw another video where they were having the same issue, and they used a software mod to correct it. How many years did it take for the pioneers in aviation to make a flying wing, and make it stable? And now you can do it in your living room... Incredible!!! Let us know if you figure out the problem/fix please :-)

Got me stuffed all my arrows are nose heavy. I jam the 3s 1000mah batt as far back towards the motor as i can jam it. It wasnt enough so i moved the engine pod out a bit ( 2 inchs ) and have the battery as far back as i can and its awesome except i cant do real fast loops without it sliding out of the loop. Slower loops are fine, and it rolls like a drill bi and with a bit of up ailerons it glides nice too. About to try arrow number 11 from really really light foam. :)

Do you think there is room somewhere for a FC/GPS for Inav use? Thanks for the video!

@lachlangreen8389

3 жыл бұрын

Yes in the wings

Just looking at the bit where you show the battery doesn't fit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're showing it against the back **with the power-pod fitted**. The power-pod doesn't go up to the front where the battery would go. Looking at it, the battery you've shown would fit at the front where the power-pod doesn't limit the width.

winglet area is too small which generally results in wobbly aileron and rudder authority/control especially for small wings like that one.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

9:06 the area and vertical height doesn't seem so different to the recommended one. You mean the one given in the kit is too small as well? Is there any reason to have the winglet both above and below the wing level?

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

The winglets are also about on par with the size of those on the teksumo and bonsai....

@gunterguttroff3522

7 жыл бұрын

yes it looks like it is too small. Had the same issue with a similar wing. The optimum winglet area basically is a function of speed and angular momentum of inertia. Your mass is quite high. If you look closely to your onboard footage you will notice that it also does not have good enough yaw authority at low speeds and better authority at high speeds which kind of proves this assumption. Also a wobbly yaw control induces a wobbly aileron control for these wings. As said - glue some spare foam to the winglets for the test and you will see.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

I see. It certainly is heavier for its size than the teksumo and bonsai. I'll give that a try.

@gunterguttroff3522

7 жыл бұрын

of course you can add a flight control which does the stabliization. This should work as well. Successfully done that with MWC, APM and other.

I really love my FT Mini Arrow but the only thing I have to compare it to is the FT Mini Mustang. AUW 336g with a 950mah 3S and lots of repairs, battery is on top (not inside fuselage).

do you control the altitude with the throttle?

You used Elmers Foam Board for this. Flite Test uses Adams Foam Board. Elmers board is heavier only because of the heavier duty paper.

There is no substitute for a sharp xacto knife. It cuts curves way better than a razor blade.

Cool! flitetest plane :) i've got the spitfire as well.. WAIT, YOU KNOW RON!?!

Did you have the battery pushed as far forward as possible? I only had to add 7g to my nose to hit the recommended CG.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

yes, of course :)

I understood the description about the roll you done on the computer screen.

beautiful video, is that 4k, SlowJo

Same problems here, I'm in Brazil and we don't have those Adam's foam boards here too. We have some depron sheets with a thick and softer paper that looks like just the one you show on the video. I had to use some extra lead weight on the nose even with a 1500mAh battery inside (the same with a 1000mAh). It's not a plane that I like, I should say.

just maiden this model this morning, and I manage to break it, glued back, throw it then fly like normal then crash again, have to glued back again.

this plane was the reason i gave up on RC planes and went to quadcopters, it was hard to handle, hard to balance , FT didn't say it needed weights in the front, yet they said it was a beginner friendly plane... it defiantly was NOT. it also needed to go waaay too fast to generate lift, at least in my setup, which was the bare minimum plus FPV gear

what is the foam board called? I can`t find it at my local bunnings

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

In the craft section usually www.iforce2d.net/tmp/foamboard.jpg

I've built two and It is a bit of a bastard to fpv well.

How much heavier is your foam board compaired to the flite test stuff?

@iforce2d

6 жыл бұрын

I don't know, but one 20x30 sheet of this stuff weighs 188g

@iforce2d

6 жыл бұрын

www.flitetest.com/articles/comparing-foam-board Looks like Adams brand 20x30 weighs 115g

@t395delta

6 жыл бұрын

Looks like the same foam board I'm using, that's quite a difference

I know its 2 years down the track and someone may have said already also but when I want to remove the paper from one side of the Bunnings board, is rub an acetone soaked cloth over the paper briefly. If you get the timing/soak right it will melt the glue on the paper but not melt the foam :)

It is too heavy (and tail heavy in first place) cause you have heavy foamboard (some are twice as heavy!).

very nice

Are you kidding me??!! I made one a few days ago and it flew amazing...even with a faulty servo I had fun with it! I wouldn't slag this plane off like you did....

@iforce2d

5 жыл бұрын

silly me, I should have made a video about your plane instead :)

@ammo193

5 жыл бұрын

@@iforce2d when I install the new servo, I'll upload a video matey

I fly mine with a 1500 three cell battery and it fits. I also just have the battery for nose weight. That is odd that you had to put in so much nose weight. The flight characteristics on mine are much better as well. I can not tell you what is wrong with your plane.

Dont give up, everyone needs at least one plane that doesnt care how windy it is

Does anyone know where to get Dollar tree sytle foamboard in Germany or Europe. And cheap foamboards would be nice

@765ihjg78ukhjg

7 жыл бұрын

im Bastelladen hab ichs schon gesehen

@LemberTheMember

7 жыл бұрын

Ok gut zu wissen leider ist es bei mir sehr schwer sowas zu finden. Sonst müsste ich mir halt Depron kaufen aber das ist echt teuer.

@avelkm

7 жыл бұрын

Check Graupner website, they have waterproof FT foamboard now.

@LemberTheMember

7 жыл бұрын

Yaroslaw Kaminsk i know but i found a better one

I built this from Flite Test's speed build kit. It's the MOST STABLE PLANE I've built! So I don't know what you've done wrong.I did add a AA battery worth of weight to the front but figured that would be about what a camera would weight. Balance is otherwise perfect. I see others suggest that it's the foam board. Yes, the foam they provide...and Dollar Tree Foam...makes a difference. I built a MIni Mustang out of Elmer's Foam Board it it would not fly well. With Dollar Tree Foam, it soared away like a dream. I LOVE the Mini Arrow and would love to build a slightly bigger one.

@brianthomi5431

7 жыл бұрын

Tim Burns you can build the versa wing or the Kraken, also from flite test.

Which prop do you use?

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

5045 bullnose

Your foam board Looks simiIar to hobbyking foamboard that is available in the uk.

I know what it was - you didn't have your wing flying Wellies on? he he All wings fly different and all require concentration to fly. I think you are going just fine and when you get the plane and you dialed in, it will be grand fun. Way kool man!

Te Aroha store I hope?

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

Hamilton

@georgef7754

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I'm always so jealous of the beautiful land people in non Southern California claimants seem to have . I wish there were fields of grassy green where I could fly, instead I have small fields of dry desert type land crowded with people mountains and buildings. lol. I should move.

@calilakeboi88

7 жыл бұрын

who know I might be lucky because I can fly all year long, barely any rain and no snow.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

It's green for a reason... 14 days in a row of rain like we had a while ago is no fun :)

@calilakeboi88

7 жыл бұрын

+iforce2d makes sense. lol. still is super beautifull

Excuse Me for commenting or trying to help was not trying to offend anyone

I notice that you drop your throttle when you do a roll. As if you were flying a quad. Seems like you have very little trouble controlling it. Good job on the sticks I guess.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

Yeah when just looking at the plane fly it doesn't look so bad - maybe I need to overlay a stick cam view as well :) I find that with other planes if I don't let off the throttle a bit when rolling it will do a corkscrew instead of a straight roll - didn't check with this one, maybe it doesn't do that.

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

looks like I tried it at 27:38, it goes pretty straight

Did you print in regular A4 paper?

@iforce2d

6 жыл бұрын

yes

@iforce2d

6 жыл бұрын

Use the 'tiled plans' pdf file

@josele21

6 жыл бұрын

iforce2d thank you for your quick reply, I have spare parts of a 5 inch quad and I wanted to build something easy to fly

I built this plane and tried flying it. Result: hard roll into the ground. tried a few times but when I realised my aileron was reversed it was too late. Rebuilding the canopy now 😆

@q-rexxfpv425

7 жыл бұрын

I know the feeling. I did exactly the same...

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!

the problem is yours winglets.. they have to be on the bottom in this wing. i have one, and it's not like your, i think is the problem..

Hi, nice, for you Bonsai is better ? ;)

@iforce2d

7 жыл бұрын

so far, I like bonsai better :)

@onclefly8450

7 жыл бұрын

Thank you ;)

this is my favorit airplane. i have built and crashed 5 of them.

Pdf send karo..

Need

i really want to move to where this video was taken. the government isn't poisening the people there yet. not one chemtrial in the sky. must be nice to breath nonpoisonous air.

try slowing it down. cant understand why people fly foam planes at mack 7 and complain about instability.

@iforce2d

6 жыл бұрын

There is such a thing as stall speed buddy :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_loading

It looks like a handful! Andrew Newton built a hotwired foam variant a while ago, and while it did not seem to suffer the roll instability to the same extent, it kept him on his toes. His build video is at: kzread.info/dash/bejne/oGGlxql8mbSWgM4.html His maiden flight is at: kzread.info/dash/bejne/haGi28iHpN2XlbA.html Both are worth a look. Always enjoy your vids, thanks.