jester_s1

No, the CG shouldn't be at the middle of the wing. Most planes will fly stable at 25% of the mean aerodynamic chord, which is 1/4 of the way back from the leading edge on a straight rectangular shaped wing. For tapered or swept designs, there are several MAC calculators online where you input your measurements and get a recommendation. 25% of the MAC is a good place to start and for some planes is the perfect place to leave it. On most though, I prefer 27%-28% to make the plane more neutral handling and keep it from dropping its nose so quickly on landing approaches.

It sounds like you are dealing with a whole lot of unknowns here.It would be in your best interest to get some local help. I know everybody has to start somewhere, but as you can see this hobby can be very frustrating when you don't know the basics. A local experienced pilot could teach you more in 1/2 an hour than you will learn in 3 months of doing this on your own.

technogc

Maiden 2


Again, really good throw, but the nose pitched down and crashed. This time no banking to either, maybe a trim I made helped. Full throttle and full elevator but could not bring the nose up. Decided to scrap the double decker design and go simple. I can secure the battery better, move the wing further back and play with the cg.

I checked to seeing the sign up price for a local club.. £150! Bit steep for a student.

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Which is beginning to make that L150 for your local club sound like not such a bad deal.

With all due respect Technogc trying to design your own aircraft while at the same time trying to learn how to fly with no real time mentor is exceedingly difficult and almost doomed to failure from the start. I have seen this time and time agine for, well for a lot of years now.

Not doubt you would have found that mentor with the club and probably been advised on proper models to use and you would have been happily flying and posting now.

John

jester_s1

Yep, knowledge is the most valuable asset in this hobby, and a club membership gets you that. But you were at least smart enough to use a proven design. You didn't pick the easiest trainer, but it should work. A mentor can be had in other ways than the club though. See if there is a meetup group or an RC enthusiast group on Facebook near you. Plenty of people fly park planes and drones without a club, so knowledgeable people are around.

technogc

Maiden 3


It flew, no rolling no pitching(atleast I think, I threw it off a hill). When I tried to turn it went way too far and dived down (tip stall?). I think the throws might have been too much aswell.

Next I'm using a 2200mah to fly this thing, give it a few seconds to see if it flies level and then try to move. I have a feeling it'll work. We'll see.

jester_s1

A tip stall is when the plane is going slowly and drops a wing as you flare. What you did sounds more like a sideslip. You may be tail heavy which would contribute to your control problems.

technogc

Maiden 4..


It flew! I crashed it about a hundred metres away because the controls were super twitchy even though I set the throws to 70%. I will dial it down to about 40% ailerons and 30% for the elevator. The fuselage is mangled and the battery has a bit of a dent in it.

jester_s1

That's how the home built DIY planes usually wind up. But it's great you are having fun with it. Be careful the next few times you charge your battery. Small damage can make it go off like a Roman candle right there on the kitchen table. Do you use a lipo sack or other method of containing the flames in case that happens?

technogc

I charged it on concrete and had some fire proof trousers ready to hit the battery in case of fire