ransom

Hi everyone,

I'm new to rc flight and have bought myself a mini piper. I've bought the following equipment for it..

Speed 300 6v Motor
15 amp speed controller
jr micro receiver
jr micro servos
7 cell 300mah 8.4 battery pack (recommended by local hobby shop)

Question is: Is the 7 cell battery pack actually right for this plane? graupner recommends a 6 cell 1000mah 7.2 pack... which i couldn't get..

Also will the 8.4v battery pack burn out the 6v motor?

Thanks to anyone who helps.

MUSIC PUBLISHER

I will try and help a bit....I had the same plane...but I bought mine as a whole kit..the kit version comes with a special 6 cell 1000mah pack...designed to be light in weight yet powerful enought to give 20-30 minute flights..your 7 cell pack may be to heavy and at only 300mah..will not give long flight times...you will find that in genral that is a very.light plane..and can act very "squirelly in flight"..do not try and fly it in winds more then 6 mph,,ecspecially if your new to this hobby...your gonna also find that it does break very easily..its also not very easy to do rolling takeoffs with...better to hand launch it...you may also want to add some doweling right under the r/l wings thru the fusealge..and rubberband down the wing...the bolt on wing nut that holds the wing down..breaks away very easily..I also did not like how the servo horns glued directly into the rudder/stabilizer...

MUSIC PUBLISHER

oh..and make sure you find a place with ALOT OF ROOM to fly..this specific plane has a very small wingspan..thus it does not glide very well with the power off or cutback...this means your gonna have to keep the throttle control up most of the time..in my opinion,,the mini piper is not a good 1st plane to learn on..one good thing is the wing assembly itself is very heavy duty..so theres no need to tape it up for added strength..in fact..the wing will probably be the last thing that you break on it...the fron of the nose..were the motor is recieves the brunt of the damage in crashes..this will knock the motor lose/out of alignment..and if you have to glue the nose back on..make sure you do so at the factory preset angle..{I believe somewhat pointed downwards and to the left}..g.gl..and keep me posted on your results...

ransom

hey rumme,

Thanks for the replies.. the 7 cell battery packs seems quite lite compared to another 6 cell battery pack i had for a firebird commander.. but like u said 300mah probably wont give long flight times. would you suggest i get another battery pack for it?

I've read in this forum about the bolt on wing nut (probably posted by you)... i might wait till i crash it before i go putting dowels through the fuselage..

Thanks for the flying tips.. im starting to think i might just leave it sitting inside.. looks good after painting it.. wouldnt wanna smash up my beauitful paint job!

another thing you might be able to fill me in on.. battery chargers.. i bought a swallow digital charger.. what charge current would i charge a 300mah battery pack on? 0.2A?

MUSIC PUBLISHER

I personally would take back the 300mah battery..your not gonna get much flight time out of it..the battery designed for that plane is the 1000 mah nimh 6 cell..I can tell ya now..if your a 1st time flyer..and you have it all painted up pretty..your gonna be upset when you crash it..LOL...and chances are good you will do that on your 1st flight attempts..I went with the RTF t-hawk..from ..readytoflyfun.com..as my 1st plane..and I recommend it to any newbies..it the best value around flies great and tuff as nails..and its a pusher plane..so when you crash it..you wont damage the motor/propleerl..just the opoosite of the mini piper..I can honestly say if I had purchased the mini piper as my 1st plane..I would have never continued with this hobby..to frustrating//for a trainer that is...G.L....ohh...and your gonna have to dowel the fusealge for the rubberband/wing modification..that single nut assembly for the wing is so weak its amazing....

Go-n-up

A few comments:

Hobby Lobby sells a 7.2V, low RPM Speed 300 which is direct drive and recommended for the Mini Piper. They also sell a 6V Speed 300 which is for geared drive application only. I assume you have the dirct drive version.

Weight is critical for best results with the Mini Piper. This means sub-micro servos and receiver (not the larger micro size) and a lightweight ESC (a 15 amp ESC is much too big/heavy for a direct drive Speed 300 which only needs a 5 amp ESC). An ounce or two on overall weight can make a world of difference in performance.

When I had the Speed 300 in mine I used GWS Pico servos and a GWS R4-P receiver. I powered it with 1200 mAh 2S1P Li-Po batteries which weigh just under 2 oz (compared to the 4 oz 1000 mAh Ni-MH that Hobby Lobby recommends).

I disagree about the need for dowels and rubber bands since the wing hold-down screw has proven itself to me and to the other fellows I fly with. But, hey, if you feel better with rubber bands, that's OK, too. No downside I can see, but then I see no downside to the stock hold-down, either.

As to the Mini Piper for a first-time plane, not a good idea. It is a pretty hot little flyer, even in stock form. You need to stay on your toes all the time it is in the air because it is fast and it doesn't self correct like most trainers. It's much better to build a little time learning to fly on a more stable airplane. Then, you'll be able to wring out the little Mini Piper and you will throughly enjoy it.

Go-n-up

Alliot

Ransom> Some tips:

1-Fly only on a calm day when there is a little or no wind.


2-Keep the plane high enough so that when you make mistakes you have enough altitude to recover. Besides that, keep the wing level all times. If you get in trouble, cut off the motor and neutralize the stick. Then, you'll be fine.


3-Be gentle with the stick; the mini piper tends to stall when you pull up the elevator. If stall speed is imminent, drop down the nose slightly and add power so that the plane gets enough airspeed.


4- You have to hand launch the mini piper.

5- You need airspeed on landing.

6-Use a Lithium battery for longer flights. Mine stays up in the air for 35 minutes with Thunder Power 2C 1350 mah.


Good luck

digsy

I'm gonna disagree with most people here - but as usual YMMV.

I found the mini piper to be a good plane for me as a beginner. I fly in a space the size of 2 soccer fields and surrounded by high trees.

I never had a problem with the landing speed - the only mistakes I made were trying to land from bad angles (Landing towards trees is baaadd!)

I've found it to be strong and resistant to crashing. Some well placed tape can beef things up considerably - around the nose and along the bottom of the fuse are good places. The wing is thick and crash resistant as it is - so I'd probably leave that alone.

I'd try and get a smaller volt battery - I get 22 minute flights from a 650mah 7.2volt battery. www.cheapbatterypacks.com has them for a very low price - $15-$20 I think. I'd stay away from Lithium batteries - these can be dangerous when damaged and are best left to experts.

You'll have plenty of power with that size of battery and the motor wont be in danger of burning out.

As for not correcting itself, my pretty much rights itself once it gets through a turn. Just add a little up elevator as you turn and you'll be fine.

Reinforcing the wing with dowels isnt necessary - I don lots of loops and never have a problem.

As someone else said, the only thing to watch for is the weight - try and keep it under 11 ounces.

Definitely avoid wind for your first flights (although she will handle some wind pretty well - much better than a slowstick).

FMS has a version on www.rc-sim.de that you can download and practice on.

ransom

Hey Everyone.

thanks for the reply's and advice.. will let you know how i go after i actually finish putting it together.

Ransom

metzb1

My Feedback: (1)

I first purchased a Graupner Tipsy and after two disappointing flights, I thought I would never learn. I then bought a mini piper and had a great flight! I used a Graupner Speed 280 motor and a 7 cell NiMH AAA pack from the Tipsy. It worked great and gave me about 20 minutes of flight time.

The nose of mine does seem to be the most vulnerable spot on the plane. It gets chewed up pretty quickly, as I land in dirt or on grass without landing gear. I added a stip of clear 2" packing tape to the bottom of mine and to the leading edge of the wing and it's held up pretty well since then.

I have to agree that the plane can be flown in wind, but it's a handfull since it's so small and light. Keep it high and land in to the wind...and keep your fingers crossed.

I later added an Astroflight 010 brushless running 8 KAN 650mAh NiMH batteries and the plane really moves now :-)

It's amazing to see the Piper pull straight up! It's really too much for a plane like this, but I get about the same flight times with many times the speed. It comes in handy when goofing off or getting out of a jam. I ran too fast the other day. It was windy and I was coming around in a flight path I was not used to and put it in to pine tree (bad depth perception!) doing about 30 miles/hour (guessing). The plane was stuck in the tree and in about 5 pieces. I climbed the tree, got it out, took it home and glued it back together in about 15 mintues. it was ready to go again!

Hobby Lobby has these on sale for $39 right now. I would highly recommend this plane to anyone who enjoys flying, even a beginner. Good luck!

Brian

MUSIC PUBLISHER

well I jsut purchased and assembled the mini piper ..this is my 2nd one..the 1st one was a complete disaster.... in this 2nd version..I put a brushless himax 2812-1080 in it..and upgraded to an 8cell nimh { a bit more weight..but I hoped it would make the plane more stable in flight} and went to a 9x5 prop..flew today for the 1st time..and the plane is still a handfull..very unstable and squirrely..I think my sky-scooter pro2 has spoiled me with its stable controlled flight characteristics...planes like the piper,,that seem to have their own will irregardless of the flyers inputs...are not fun IMO...I have the C.G setup 2 inches back from the leading edge of wing..is this correct??