Mini Q

[Konrad]

Jeremy,
Was this Aloft Hobbie's contribution to the ISR's "workers fund"? If so this "Q" almost came home with me. I choose the Aeroic Gremlin as it looked to be a much better thought out model. BTW; Thanks for working the base "B" lights all day.

Aeroic Gremlin, build (Aeroic donation to the 2019 ISR)

The Northern California Slope Soaring (NCSS) International Slope Race (ISR) for 2019 is in the history books. This is a great open Man on Man (MoM) racing format. A big draw for me was that the NCSS awards prizes to the workers not the pilots. The pilots get trophies and bragging right. But it...

forum.alofthobbies.com

One of the issues I noticed with that model, was that I saw no real fiber bridging the fuselage center, to act as a carry though spar. That former would only last a few seconds the way I fly. Have you looked into laying up some carbon tow, laminated to both sides of that former spreading out under the top wing skin? I also recall the root ribs look like they weren't fully seated (bonded) to the structure.

I have to admit that every time I visit Aloft Hobbies I almost pick up one of these for my fleet.

All the best,
Konrad

P.S.
Thanks need to be given to Aloft for supporting the ISR.

 

[Diceman]

Yup, that is where I got it from. ?

I have thought about trying to make some type of spar, but I decided just to fly it as is. We shall see.
Jeremy

 

[Konrad]

Sorry, I have no set up values for you. I think Wayne did get one to fly at Sunset. Maybe he can post his findings?
I think he posted the OEM set up values on the first page of this thread.

 

[Wayne]

For throws, just go with what looks right. No surprises with this plane.. Get all the roll input you can get, and moderate on the pitch. You should be good and can fine tune to your tastes. I did not find the elevator to be super touchy.

 

[Gliderfan]

Hi,
Just new in this Forum, I am living in Switzerland and will receive 3 Mini Q Kits this week.
I am planning to power one of them, as Aeronaut’s smallest prop size is 7x4 I calculated the following setup on www.ecalc.ch which should do great with similar thrust and runtime as the recommended with the 6x4, but at much lower rpm:

- Motor XRotor 2205-2300 (2300 kv, less kv to compensate the larger prop)
- Lipo 2s 1200mAh, 35C
- ESC YGE 35 LVT (which has full telemetry!!)
- Prop 7x4 Aeronaut Folding Prop

-> 114 Watt at only 12900 rpm, thrust 615 gramms
(factory recommended with 2650 kv is 109 Watt at 16077 rpm, thrust 595 gramms, both setups use about 16 Amps peak)

Any comments on the setup idea?

Has anyone the fuselage diameter for determining the spinner size? To find a matching spinner is the last challenge...

 

[Glenn Beer]

ICARE has a spinner.

Hi,
Just new in this Forum, I am living in Switzerland and will receive 3 Mini Q Kits this week.
I am planning to power one of them, as Aeronaut’s smallest prop size is 7x4 I calculated the following setup on www.ecalc.ch which should do great with similar thrust and runtime as the recommended with the 6x4, but at much lower rpm:

- Motor XRotor 2205-2300 (2300 kv, less kv to compensate the larger prop)
- Lipo 2s 1200mAh, 35C
- ESC YGE 35 LVT (which has full telemetry!!)
- Prop 7x4 Aeronaut Folding Prop

-> 114 Watt at only 12900 rpm, thrust 615 gramms
(factory recommended with 2650 kv is 109 Watt at 16077 rpm, thrust 595 gramms, both setups use about 16 Amps peak)

Any comments on the setup idea?

Has anyone the fuselage diameter for determining the spinner size? To find a matching spinner is the last challenge...

 

[Wayne]

We have spinners here for a better price.

BB Precision Aluminum Spinners for Folding Props

High Quality European Spinners for 8mm blade widths.

alofthobbies.com

 

[Glenn Beer]

You may need a 5mm collet to fit it to the typical 2205 size quad motor.

We have spinners here for a better price.

BB Precision Aluminum Spinners for Folding Props

High Quality European Spinners for 8mm blade widths.

alofthobbies.com

 

[Wayne]

Here you go:

BB Spinner Collets

Allows you to change the diameter on the BB spinner to fit different motor shaft sizes.Will not work with the 50mm spinner.

alofthobbies.com

 

[Diceman]

The Mini Q come with supplied wood servo frames that fit the KST X08's perfectly! This plane was so easy to build.

 

[Wayne]

Yep, they go together in a night. Should have more of these very soon.

 

[Diceman]

OMG!! The Mini Q flew awesome today! I finally got it tuned a lot better and now it rips! The winds at Coyotwe were 22-25 mph today and the Mini Q was on fire, it flew similar to my Gizmo. Not quite as fast, but it is a ripper. Really fun plane, handles well and my landings were awesome. You just have to slow it down on the backside and it lands slow and easy. I had to turn the elevator down to 25% and expo to 40% to get the elavator to stop being so sensitive. Now that I have it flies great! Ill have to measure how much reflex I have it it now, but it is close to 3mm, might be more 2.5mm because it was such a windy day.
Only thing left is to make it stronger. Chip had a good idea to cut the canopy in half and glue on the back piece of the canopy to make the wing more rigid, then turn the front portion into the actual canopy since you do not need that big or an area.

 

[Konrad]

Damn, that is good news!

Every time I'm at Aloft Hobbies I almost come home with one. This report is going to make it just that much more difficult to leave one on the shelf!

On the the need to make her stronger, has any part of the structure failed. I too noticed that there appears to be inadequate structure across the fuselage opening tying the top of the wing to each other. That wooden bulkhead look inadequate and the poorly bonded to the wing root structure.

Is this the area that concerns you, or have other areas of concerned opened up?

All the best,
Konrad

 

[Wayne]

It is that big opening and the sort of poor wood bracing they attempted to fix it with. I like the small canopy idea, or the carbon patch as pictured earlier in this thread. Either of those fixes should be great.

Hard to argue with the price, that is for sure. We should be getting another shipment of these soon.

 

[Diceman]

Konrad,
Nothing has failed, no. Just trying to get ahead of any issues with the no spar situation.

Do you have different colors to choose from Wayne? Do you have any left in stock?
Thanks.

 

[Konrad]

As of last week I only saw one and is was puke green. That might explain why it is still on the shelves. But even at that it has been difficult to leave it!

 

[Diceman]

So I did a quick strengthening to the wing and it worked great. I just added pieces of bamboo skewers across the gap and it made it a lot stronger. Time to try out the DSability!
LOL

 

[Konrad]

OMG!! The Mini Q flew awesome today! I finally got it tuned a lot better and now it rips! The winds at Coyotwe were 22-25 mph today and the Mini Q was on fire, it flew similar to my Gizmo. Not quite as fast, but it is a ripper. Really fun plane, handles well and my landings were awesome. You just have to slow it down on the backside and it lands slow and easy. I had to turn the elevator down to 25% and expo to 40% to get the elavator to stop being so sensitive. Now that I have it flies great! Ill have to measure how much reflex I have it it now, but it is close to 3mm, might be more 2.5mm because it was such a windy day.
Only thing left is to make it stronger. Chip had a good idea to cut the canopy in half and glue on the back piece of the canopy to make the wing more rigid, then turn the front portion into the actual canopy since you do not need that big or an area.

With the statement that it is similar to the Gizmo, I wonder if it is possible to get the OEM to make her a top drive. This would keep the linkage out of the weeds when landing. Eliminate or minimize the linkage fairings and allow for tighter linkage when paired with an IDS system.

Not knowing the current state of molded model manufacture I don't see where a top drive would need any new molds.

 

[Konrad]

For the slope version I wonder what problem I would have with equipment installation if adding a LE spreader. I’d want to try this, to keep the wings from trying to crush the fuselage as a result of my landings.
I’d tie this spreader to the root rib and upper and lower skins. If one biased this spreader up or down one might still be able to fit a power battery.

I too have great concerns with the lack of a substantial carry through structure. I’d like to look into a carbon bridge made of tow laminated on both sides of that bulkhead. I’d then spread that tow over as much of the top wing skin as I possible could adjacent to the root rib.

Carbon Tow - 50K Filament

Carbon tow in affordable lengths, another great convenience item which Aloft Hobbies is happy to share with our customers. Now you can buy the small amounts needed for your own personal hobby needs. We use carbon tow to strengthen wings and fuses, and just about anything. Glue a little in on the...

alofthobbies.com

From what I’ve seen there is a lot of potential in this airframe. With a bit more focus from the OEM it could become a fantastic model! As I see it is is in the same class of product that we associate RCRCM models.

All the best,
Konrad

 

[Diceman]

The front red line would be to far forward for me, I want to be able to get the battery out. LOL. But yea, you get the idea. The curved one I do not think would be as strong as a straight one. Just my 2 cents.