The min wax does add weight, but it’s minim, when looking a weight you need to look at dry weight. Of corse surface area is a factor. But most 1.5 m planes will be less than an ounce overall.it also makes for a smother more aerodynamic surface. It also helps in making the foam slightly more rigid . I believe the pros out weigh the cons.
I've found that Varathane Ultimate Spar Urethane water based w/UV protection works even better than Minwax Polycrylic for protecting foam planes. Use the same foam brush.
Upgrading the prop is great advice. I use fishing scales and and amp meter to measure static thrust per amp, and can usually increase power and efficiency of ARFs by at least 50% with a premium prop.
An added comment with #2. Moving the control linkages to the extremes on a plane that has a factory gyro (Horizon Hobby) may cause the gyro to over correct due to being tuned for a specific control linkage settings. On #8, larger tires, you are not a fan of Dubro? Or are they too heavy for the size? #9 Look into the DIY Goop hinge. I have yet to have one let go (outside of crashing). Fantastic video, as always. Love the tons of info you are putting out there.
@@TailHeavyProductions Dubro makes a "Super Lite XL" wheel. 6" foam wheel 2.5oz. I tried to look up the two mentioned in the video, however they don't list weights on the website.
I used to fiberglass GWS warbirds with Minwax before airbrushing them. When you do it right and squeegee most of it off, it won't add much weight. It also makes the foam planes stronger. This was years ago GWS is no longer around. I miss their ARF foam kits. We used to build some super fast ones with direct drive inrunner motors and small high-pitch props. They were screamers making a buzzing sound.
I've still got my GWS Spitfire with a 400 sized brushless motor. Light as a feather - and that's what made them fly so well! Love it. Alfa warbirds from Europe were the ones we used to mod more for speed.
My latest model (scratchbuilt) only weighs 4 .oz and draws about 1.3 amps on a 2S pack. It flies slowly because it's a biplane and it also flies for a 20 minutes on a 450 Mah battery. Low pitched props are a decent choice for slow planes you want to stooge around for long periods.
Good Morning, thanks’ for that great Video! I´m from Germany and I always be very excited about your videos! You are so right with your comments about the propellers! Almost, when I bought a foamy I change the propeller and sometimes also the motor for example at the PREMIER AIRCRAFT CESSNA 170 SUPER I changed the motor from 540kV to 380kV and the 16x6 propeller to an 17x10. This modification almost doubles the flighttime without an excessively loss of power.
It’s a quite heavy scale flyer with terrible wheels. I swapped mine out to Dubro 5 inch inflatables, and really enjoyed it for nice scale flying. My SE also had enough power and throw to hover and do quite a few maneuvers, like knife edges, flat spins, and tumbles.
@@leytonsimons8638 theres a reason the newest version is 6S, and has upgraded features. The original 4S was a great scale flyer, if thats all you wanted to do, fly scale.
Tip: Propellers can be like a transmission: Low gear or high gear for low or high speed. Pitch and diameter can be varied - low pitch for low gear and high pitch for high gear.
Well, if you want the absolutely most incredible 3D performance from your Piper Cub, feel free to give it a mighty 5S setup, 60° of control surface angle and put the CG backwards as far as you want. You can do that, I did something similar as well to my trainer plane. Now it's got 4S instead of 3S, 450 Watts instead of 170 and 2.5 times the old control surface travel. I don't regret that but I had to replace every single component because they weren't able to withstand the new demands and I also had to add a lot of CFRP rods because the foam was to weak. Now it is really very heavy and it's lost all it's initial features (those were boring, to be fair). However, it didn't trade those very well as it still isn't really great in the aerobatics I force it to go through. Long story short: Think twice how much you want to 'upgrade' your planes, as they were built the way they are for a reason. Small upgrades usually won't hurt but if you are about to push too hard, remember that you can ruin your plane in countless ways and consider buing something that was actually built to fit your demands instead.
8:04, the aircraft's flaps are acting as aelerons... I've been trying to figure out how to set that up on my DX6e transmitter for years. I've always wanted more roll authority in a hover, and bringing the "aeleron" control surfaces into the propwash seems like the way to do it. The flaps are in a perfect spot for this, but I don't know how to program them to work as flaperons in unison with preexisting aelerons. Could you guys do a video on how to program that?
I like most of these recommendations. However, almost all of my batteries are XT60 and most EFlite planes are EC3, so I have at least that connector in most of my planes. It’s when the battery is Deans and I have to go to EC3 to EC5 like in my Yak-130 that things get dicey.
Not the usual scream fest of belly-laughs I've come to expect from the likes of THRC, but some practical and valuable advice in any case. Respectfully suggest you tell people to buy an RC wattmeter to make sure any new prop won't overburden the electronic speed controller before it gets smoked in the air.
Unfortunately I have to disagree with your explanation of surface travel vs resolution. For the application you want to find the maximum throw required. You will setup your linkage geometry from that. You want an appropriate size servo arm to control horn as they relate to eachother. That appropriate size is determined by the full deflection of the surface (for the application) so that the pushrod is parallel to the stab or wing. This gives the most torque and mechanical advantage where it’s needed most. That needs to be obtained with FULL servo travel. 150% in most radios end points. THAT is how you get your full servo resolution. The resolution comes from the full range of motion. Do NOT do as your instructed and setup bad geometry mechanically then dumb it down in the radio with a reduction in end point travel. That is 100% the wrong way to achieve what you said you are looking for. The rule of thumb is to have the same servo arm length as the control horn length from the hinge. So if you have a 1/2” thick surface, the hinge will be 1/4” from the top of the control surface. You add that 1/4” to the control horn length. So if you have a 3/4” tall horn, that is a full 1” from pushrod hole to hinge. So your servo arm should be 1” also. That’s ball park. You adjust from there to get the pushrod parallel to the stab or wing. There are lots of video out there for that.
You're not wrong which is why we added the fine print. It's just our way of doing it - presented in a take it or leave it form. We've done it for the full 17 years we've been in the hobby without consequence. Whoops...just jinxed it.
@@TailHeavyProductionsjust because it works doesn’t mean it’s the best or correct way. I’m not trying to give you crap but when so many people follow you and you give out information I’d just like to see it be correct information (of which you are usually 100% right on point) Doing it the way you suggest does give maximum throw but also gives the worst mechanical advantage and the worst resolution so much so that expo is almost a requirement.
Imagine a plane that weighs 1kg. Let's say a prop swap will give you 2 kg thrust. Sounds like a rocketship right? What if that thrust comes at the cost of prop pitch speed? What if that 2 kg thrust only provides a pitch speed of 40 mph but the stall speed of the plane is 50 mph? This means the plane can ONLY HOVER! Basically it is not a plane at all anymore but a weird thrust vectoring helicopter type aircraft. Thrust is great but some people like to fly lazy circuits at 1/3 power and changing a prop just to maximize thrust is not what everybody wants. HH knows most people don't want to 3d high wing trainer/scale planes and this is a reason why not all planes come with a prop designed for max 3d performance. Kinda like how a Toyota Corolla is geared to maybe go 160 mph but that tall gear ratio is meant for cruise efficiency not top speed.
@@m-e-m-e-yReally? He's got a point and your answer simply suggests that you haven't got a clue of how propellers work but want to make his point look stupid by using an ad hominem. Great job, that is exactly the way that uneducated people hold mankind back...
6:02 - I've replaced deteriorating original tires on 1300mm PA-18 with 15cm balloons because question if I want flying monster truck can be answered only with "yes".
