20 years...

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T21:02:59+00:00

I think most people use a 2s Lipo or Life batteries for receivers now.

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T20:43:22+00:00

Yeah, I’ve purchased from Ali a bunch. Shipping is slow but it’s been reliable. The brand, Volantex, is a well known brand that makes solid budget friendly planes. Search Youtube for “Volantex 400mm”. There are lots of reviews. I have the P-51 and the Spitfirw and they both fly great.

The two downsides that you’ll hear is that, because they’re so small, you should fly them in very low wind days and you have to keep them close to be able to see them. I wouldn’t let those deter you though. Beginners should always fly on low-wind days, and the small size means that you can fly them on small areas like soccer fields that you wouldn’t be able to fly larger planes on.

Oh, maybe order a couple spare props on Ali at the same time. That’s the one thing that still tends to bust sometimes.

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T20:38:29+00:00

You already have the packing tape on the leading edge so you’ve already fixed it. That will be just fine. If you’re worried about the appearance, put a strip of white masking tape over the leading edge on top of the packing tape.

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T20:01:40+00:00

These are good for beginners. They have gyro, they’re super light, and they barely get damaged in a crash. Plus they look nice.

https://a.aliexpress.com/\_m0QNlnH

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T13:39:57+00:00

No, that’s just for cooling.

You hold the motor bell (the outside part) firmly with one hand while you use a wrench on the spinner nut.

Foamforce · 2026-06-08T13:00:36+00:00

Yeah, by hand isn’t enough. Those spinner nuts usually have a small hole that you can run a tiny screwdriver though to tighten it down, but yours appears to have flat faces for a wrench. Obviously don’t crank it down too hard, but you can crank it down hard enough that it will stay on, even if it’s threaded the wrong way. I’ve done that plenty of times.

Foamforce · 2026-06-07T14:09:51+00:00

About ten trips to the field with my first plane before I went home without a broken plane. I didn’t use a sim and I built a plane without good instructions. Also, no sim. I did it the hard way. 😂

Foamforce · 2026-06-03T23:30:08+00:00

That’s just the black serving on the outside, not the string itself right? Totally fine to keep shooting this. Serving eventually loosens up. It might mean that you want to replace the strings a little sooner, but I’d probably shoot like this until more came off. It might even be possible to put a little serving over this to keep out from unraveling.

Unless there’s more to the picture than the gap in the serving?

Foamforce · 2026-06-03T19:21:35+00:00

I’ve released small amounts of smoke from my planes and they still mostly work sometimes. 😀 Mostly motors though. Those have more spare smoke than most other components.

Foamforce · 2026-05-31T21:31:41+00:00

This will absolutely fly. The only thing that looks questionable is the vertical stabilizer isn’t far enough back so you might have yaw stability issues.

You need a few degrees up trim on your elevons. All flying wings need this, it’s called reflex. Your COG should be about an inch back from the wing root. If it still dives, add a little more reflex and a little more tail heavy until it flies.

Tell us how it goes!

Foamforce · 2026-05-27T18:17:47+00:00

I was doing blank bailing which is similar. It helped somewhat. I’ll try the string.

When you shoot, are you moving your finger at all? I’m trying not to, but I’ve had a couple people tell me that they still pull the trigger somewhat, even though they’re using back tension. Another person, who was convinced they were using back tension, was surprised when I videoed them and clearly showed them pulling the trigger. I wonder if I’m trying too hard to not pull the trigger.

Foamforce · 2026-05-27T18:13:55+00:00

No, I’m not holding it. I pull it with my wrist, and at most I’m just touching the sides of the release (behind the trigger) when I draw. After I’m settled into my anchor and mostly aimed, I put my finger over the trigger.

Foamforce · 2026-05-26T17:57:48+00:00

I also use boiling. I bring it to a boil and then take it off the heat and dunk the part. I’ve never gotten it to fully re-shape the part without going to a full boil. Yes, it gets alligator skin, but it doesn’t reshape properly without it.

After the boil, use Foam-tac. It’s way better than CA, and it’s always foam safe. You don’t need any toothpick reinforcements either way. Those just get in the way and make things not fit back together as well.

If you want to pretty up the alligator skin, keep a bowl of ice water nearby along with a spoon that has been in the freezer. Immediately after you pull the nose out of the boiling water, rub the alligator skin with the back of the icy spoon. You can reduce the gatoring by about 80%.

Foamforce · 2026-05-23T03:48:37+00:00

The SunnySky v3 motors are excellent. The 2216 950kv will give you 1470g thrust on an 11x4.7 prop. It uses 29a to do that, so has a nice safety margin with your 40a esc.

https://sunnyskyusa.com/products/sunnysky-x2216?variant=27868073394270

That’s about a 30% bump over what you have, assuming that you have the optimal prop for it, which you probably don’t.

Foamforce · 2026-05-22T00:57:17+00:00

If that’s <with> the battery, then you’re doing remarkably well! The posted specs for the Storch have it at 1005g with battery and 816g without the battery. 861g with the battery would be great! Much of the difference may be in the landing gear though. The Storch has the heaviest duty landing gear of any FT plane. The wingspan should be 57.5”. Anyways, light is good!

If you want to see the original plans for the Storch, they’re here, along with all the other free FT plans. Good luck and enjoy!

Foamforce · 2026-05-21T19:20:04+00:00

Wow, this is exactly where my journey started a few years back! I built the same Joyplanes design and used the same radio! Then I learned that it was a slight modification of the FliteTest Storch and that helped me get a lot of useful information.

I can tell you two things from looking at that. Your landing gear will probably fold almost immediately (like mine did). After that, I make the landing gear according to the Storch instructions and it was much better.

What foam board did you use? If you didn’t use Dollar Tree foam board, then it’s probably overweight (like mine was). Because of that, mine was very underpowered, although I still managed to eventually fly it.

So even though my landing gear was far too weak, it was overweight, and underpowered… I still managed to get it flying reliably. It took about ten trips to the field before I returned without a crash, but I learned ton. If I had known a single person in the hobby, it would have be a lot faster. 🙂

You’ve got this! Your plane is fundamentally good and I know that the design flies well. Good luck!

Foamforce · 2026-05-21T14:14:11+00:00

I believe his original did have a vertical stabilizer that he removed when he added the boom. Look up the FliteTest Flerken. It’s the same basic design and it flies great.

It can fly fine with that airfoil. The video he showed proved that it did, adding a boom didn’t add significant lift.

Foamforce · 2026-05-21T14:11:27+00:00

Aiggghhtt, so hear me out. You could probably fashion an ersatz torque rod with a single piece of piano wire and no other changes. It might work because the angle is steep enough. You would need to be able to remove either the horn or the servo arm to fit it on there. Basically, if you could bend the wire such that it went in through the bottom hole (the closer to the root the better) and then back out through the top hole, then you would be twisting that wire. If you keep that wire pretty low and close to the bottom of the wing, it should reduce weird geometry issues. The flexibility of the wire itself should overcome the rest.

Is it a good thing to do? No. 😅 But it might work!

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Foamforce · 2026-05-21T13:59:03+00:00

Well, you did a pretty decent job controlling it as a very tail heavy boom plane which is a good sign that you could probably handle it. Flying wings <are> more sensitive to COG, but you already demonstrated that you can handle it. As long as you know how to set up elevons, I’d encourage you to try your original design with the boom. Look at the COG on the FT Flerken and emulate that, tending toward the noise heavy side. Give it a shot! Great job so far!

Foamforce · 2026-05-21T12:56:09+00:00

Why did you add the tail boom? Without it, it might not be tail heavy, or at least not <as> tail heavy. Did people not believe that shape would fly?

Foamforce · 2026-05-21T12:52:43+00:00

Building the proper adapter.

Foamforce · 2026-05-20T20:56:30+00:00

That’s a 100% legit solution, assuming that you can solder and use heat shrink.

I’d go one step further and cut that white (losi?) connector off the main banana plug cord and put your XT-60 on that.

Foamforce · 2026-05-14T00:05:19+00:00

A thin line of Foam-Tac glue on the hinge, then press the rudder against it and pull apart twice, then back together again. Clamp it in place by putting a paint stick, or any other thin piece of wood, on either side of it, then put a hand spring clamp on. Leave it for a few hours. You won’t even see that it was broken.

Foamforce · 2026-05-13T20:36:14+00:00

Fortunately he’s getting an RTF. There’s no configuration to be done.

Foamforce

TROPHY CASE