FMS 1400mm T-28 Maiden

[seaviper]

Maidened the FMS 1400mm T-28 today. Outstanding! She required no trims and flew beautifully. I did notice a tendency to balloon with flaps though. Used about 10 degrees of flaps for takeoff and landed with the same in a slight headwind. Greased her on. I must say that she touched down a half a second or so before I thought she would though.

Total flight time at mixed throttle was about 5 minutes on the Admiral 4s 3600 pack. Used 1825 mah. We have a grass field and the T-28 handled it nicely. I did remove the lower gear doors before the flight. My thinking was that they might get grabbed by the grass.

I glued the tail on rather than use the screws as directed. The little plastic inserts, long skinny screws, and the fact that some wires were rubbing one of the screws for the vertical stab made me decide to go ahead and glue it. I used Gorilla glue white.

Anyway, I can't say enough good stuff about this bird. I purchased this plane to keep current between jet flights. It is perfect for that.

FMS 1400mm T-28 V4 stock
Taranis X9D Plus, X8R rx, FLVSS lipo sensor, variometer, airspeed, batt temp, esc temp, rpm
Admiral 4s 3600 (as recommended by mrc)

[seaviper]

Here are a few photos of the build. All went fine except for two issues.

1.The two screws holding the vertical stab proved to be an issue. Those little plastic inserts in the fuse itself must have had some kind of rubber cement or something in there. Anyway, the plastic insert in the rear gave way and started to spin in the foam. I extracted it and plugged the hole. Then I glued on the tail with Gorilla glue white. This stuff works great. This is my first foam airplane and I had no idea what to use. An internet search yielded no help as there are as many ideas on glue as there are people. But this stuff works for me.

2.When I mounted the wing for the first time I felt something was binding. It turns out that those connectors in each wing that connect the servo and light wires to the ribbon connector were pressing into the bottom of the fuselage foam. I measured and cut out two notches for those. Also the cheap tape on these two connectors didn't really stick to anything. So I re-mounted them with 3M permanent mounting tape.

The radio rx, lipo sensor, antennas, and esc were all mounted with velcro. I also replaced the big velcro on the battery tray with two smaller pieces, one at each end. The included battery straps are perfect for the 4s 3600 recommended.

The photo of the radio installation does not show the flight position of the battery. I fly mine with the battery even with the forward end of the battery plate. CG as per instructions.
Needs no trim.

Anyway I hope this helps somebody in the future. I think this bird is gonna get a LOT of flying time. It flies more like a heavier bird. You can feel how light it is though when you dump the flaps.
That being said, it arrives rather heavy when touching down. It actually lands more like some of the heavier wing-loaded birds I flew in the past. I think this is due to the aerodynamics more than the weight. This birds flight characteristics make it a perfect jet lead-in for someone wanting to get into edf.

[AkumaZeto]

Nice review and tips. The t28 always flies so nice and floaty . I just ordered my ver 4 yesterday. my 1450 arc model finally bit the dust.

[weedsnager]

I agree this plane is outstanding. I have versions 3 and 4.
This is one plane that doesn't need a stabilizer, it's flies like it already has a stabilizer built in.

[Ron1950]

you know I never could get the tail screws to tighten the way I would have like it to... it moves ever so slightly but I have 40 or more flights and seems ok...guess I should have glued tail down but didn't think of it lol now I am just too lazy to do it....my biggest problem is the nose gear bending even on great landings as we have a grass field...
btw check the white plastic that holds the mains in as I had to reglue both of mine..they were held in by about 6 beads of foam on each gear

[seaviper]

Yeah I had nothing but smooth landings last Sunday but the nose wheel collapsed on two out of three landings. No damage other than a cracked nose door. Nose doors off for now. We have a very nice grass field as well. I glued those white plastic things on the struts with gorilla glue.
We'll see how it holds up. Got 4 flights on mine so far.

[AkumaZeto]

What cg are you using. There seems to be some confusion in the new v4 manual.

[Ron1950]

go inverted and see if it needs a lot of down elevator to stay level... mine flys the same inverted as straight and level with 4s 4000ma battery even with the opening to the front of the battery compartment

[seaviper]

What cg are you using. There seems to be some confusion in the new v4 manual.

I mount my battery with the end of it even with the end of that wooden plate. Works for me.

After last week, I had some pretty good sun damage to the cockpit. So I ordered a new one and modified it for two pilots.
Also picked up a plane cover should I need it.

[AkumaZeto]

IS that a 3000? Could you get the cg from it for me please? I balanced mine from the high root right at the Fuse at 85mm and I am still heavy.

[seaviper]

It's a 3600. I just went out and measured it. As far as I can tell it's pretty close to 90mm at the root. See the photo.
BUT I just added that other pilot. So I don't know what effect that will have until I go fly again. But it shouldn't make too big of a change.


If there is any other help you need let me know.

[seaviper]

After giving it some thought, I will probably move my battery forward 5mm or so since I added that other pilot. I will be flying either today or tomorrow. So I will report back with some more precise info on the CG.

[AkumaZeto]

can you take a picture of where you are measuring from. Root is the angled part of wing correct.

[seaviper]

Here you go. The yellow pointer is pointing at the correct CG of 85mm. Mine is back at the black line due to the extra pilot. I will move battery fwd a bit to compensate.

EDIT: after two test flights I did not need to move CG. My CG is on that black line in the photo and the ship requires no trim.

[seaviper]

I am looking at both manuals and I see where you get confused. I don't think it's that critical. I will fly mine this afternoon if possible and report back to you. Somewhere between that yellow pointer in the picture and that little black line should be fine. You can fine tune it. Too nose heavy and landings are faster. Err on nose heavy and move it back one flight at a time until you are happy.

[AkumaZeto]

Maidened mine and the nose retract did not want to come down. Plane flew amazing though. I landed it like a boss on the mains but as expected the last few feet when it slowed resulted in it tipping and scuffing the prop. But this plane flies AWESOME!

[AkumaZeto]

I have a extra fms 003 retract from my p51 and I am thinking of using that for the nose retract.

[seaviper]

Hey man nice job! I flew mine twice today and verified that the CG is on that little black line in the photo above. No trim.

My nose gear was fine until it took a bump on a pot hole in the runway. Now it collapses so easy. I landed it on the mains ever so slowly today and the nose gear still collapsed. Looks like she is grounded until I can get a new gear. The prop, however, is just fine. It's pretty tough.

Congrats on the maiden voyage! This plane is an excellent trainer for jets as well. I maidened my T-45 today. Outstanding. Although takeoff is more exciting, landing the T-45 is very similar to the T-28.

[AkumaZeto]

http://www.hobbysquawk.com/forum/rc-airplanes/propeller-airplanes/48370-fms-t28-v4-front-retract-install-lets-get-pumped

[seaviper]

I think I found the problem with the nose gear. It might be fixable with a small adjustment of the little piece that travels down the screw jack. I think it retracts too far. I plan on disassembling it and trying to adjust it a few turns out so it will hold the gear down. I'll post photos tomorrow.