FT Old Speedster - Build

by FliteTest | November 20, 2013 | (39) Posted in How To

FTScratchBuild-Advanced
[video='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJH6Da7in8']

Here it is! The build video for the FT Old Speedster. If you are firmiliar with the FT Old Fogey this one will be a breeze. 

The polyhedral wing design allows the plane to self right itself in the air. 

Remember, it is hip to be square. Always double check your angles!

Here, Josh assembles the control horn for the rudder. If you ever need extra control horns, they are available in the store!

Right before the attachment of thepower pod.

Last but never least, WHEEL PANTS! These are included in the kit but are also available seperately if you would like to add them to your existing planes. Check them out in the store!

Click here for the seperate Wheel Pants build video

For recommended electronics, click here

FREE Build Plans:
FT Old Speedster [ FULL SIZE ]
FT Old Speedster [ TILED ]

Chat it up on the forums!

COMMENTS

RoyBro on November 21, 2013
Josh, you always do such nice build videos. And nice camera work Alex.

Who knew that a Swedish friend could be replaced by a square of foam board? ;)

(kidding David)
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Kael87 on November 21, 2013
I saw something intersting behind Josh :-)
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Hell2Go on November 21, 2013
Maybe he's going to do a pusher jet swappable, or maybe an EDF swappable series (Hint to Josh!) Wouldnt' that be cool!?!
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RICHGCOOP on November 24, 2013
Well I have mine done. It was fun to build.

RICHGCOOP
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jamiedco on November 22, 2013
s that a foam board viggen in the back round
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Nathan_116 on November 23, 2013
lets hope, I think a swappable edf series is long past due, especially with all of the requests.

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Mizzster D Double-a on November 24, 2013
can you keep the PDF in just one page for printing cost please!
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cbarnes0061 on November 21, 2013
Looks real nice might have to build one. How do you think it would react if you put ailerons on it.
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1959 cutter on November 22, 2013
with my glider,I found the polydihedral prevented the wing from rolling(left/right) in a satisfying manner is the best way to describe it.
the tail is better at controlling the attitude of this configuration.
if you made a dihedral or straight flat wing with 0 dihedral,it would work better with ailerons.
sorry to ramble
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Hell2Go on November 22, 2013
Build one and try it with ailerons and let us know what happens!
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jerimiah85 on November 23, 2013
Not the best plane from flitetest. Kinda disappointed in this model. Wings fold no matter what. A spar is a must to fly this one. :( high hopes ....... Gone.
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1959 cutter on November 22, 2013
I just ordered a batch of full size plans from a blueprint shop for six of your different plans,and now you release this?
Iguess I will end up tiling this one!
GREAT VIDEO!
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uberjay on November 21, 2013
Hey guys... thanks for the plans, but the links above are swapped - ie. the tiled plans link links to the full size and vice-versa.
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sailorJohn on November 21, 2013
He's right!
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uberjay on November 21, 2013
Shhh... don't tell my wife ;-).
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RoyBro on November 21, 2013
She wouldn't believe it anyway. ;)
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uberjay on November 21, 2013
LOL... too true!
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liveyourdreamsRC on November 21, 2013
Wow, the test flight at night with the overhead lights is amazing! You should do some more shoots with them, maybe another night fly episode of some sort. Anyway, another great build Bixler!
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sailorJohn on November 21, 2013
Appreciated the tips in the build, the lights make a neat flying site, buts what's that horrible white stuff. 62 degrees!
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calipso on November 24, 2013
Anyone know of an indoor flying location in central Texas? The old Fogey is done and the speedster is almost there. The only problem is the weather... not fit for man, let alone airplanes. I hate cold and wet, and the wind is terrible
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Hell2Go on November 24, 2013
Try living in Buffalo NY... talk about cold and wet... I 'm already bored with flying the simulator while waiting for good weather... BTW, Love the Fogey and Speedster.
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calipso on November 24, 2013
I think adding a piece of flat carbon in the fold of the main center section of the wing will correct any folding wing issues folks are having. Keep in mind that these are SLOW FLYERS and they like slow and gentle. Loops and pulling out of a dive is really going to load the wing.
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Paulshort on November 24, 2013
Hi there my name is Paul and i would like to suggest a form of dlg even if it is a flying wing like the alula or do a slope soarer.
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
I think my Speedster is a SIX clinder.
[URL=http://s750.photobucket.com/user/RICHGCOOP/media/RC%20%20PLANES/DSCF3066.jpg.html][IMG]http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx141/RICHGCOOP/RC%20%20PLANES/DSCF3066.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

RICHGCOOP
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
[URL=http://s750.photobucket.com/user/RICHGCOOP/media/RC%20%20PLANES/DSCF3066.jpg.html][IMG]http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx141/RICHGCOOP/RC%20%20PLANES/th_DSCF3066.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx141/RICHGCOOP/RC%20%20PLANES/DSCF3066.jpg
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
FT SPEEDSTER photo DSCF3067.jpg
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
I all so beefed up my wing.
 photo DSCF3063.jpg
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RICHGCOOP on November 25, 2013
A way to make a templet for painting.
 photo DSCF3065.jpg
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91shadowrider on December 2, 2013
This one is real tricky to dial in. It required an extreme amount of right thrust to get it to fly straight under power. having to make this adjustment hardly makes this one swappable because you would have to readjust the pod each time you swapped it. It glides real nice with the trim about centered until you give it throttle then it rolls bad left unless I add the right thrust in the motor. Anyone else have this problem? I'm thinking about setting the thrust back to center and installing a reverse rotation propeller then reverse the motor rotation backwards to see if this will help the roll to the left problem. It should go to the right or straight if I do this in theory.
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SoarSyd on November 27, 2013
Anybody tell me how to select cut marks from Windows 8?
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Shadow50 on January 20, 2014
For us scratch builders, how much is just a touch of the wing moved over to the left?
I've build my first one and centered the wing. Once I fly it I will see how difficult the left pull is.
A left wing measurement may help. please!
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jmeans on January 1, 2014
N00b question. I recently finished this as my first build. I haven't built or flown a plane since I was a kid. My question is on the expo settings. The plans say 30% expo. Is that just for the throttle or is that for throttle, elevator, and rudder? Hopefully I can get the setting correct and get it out for its first flight soon. I wanted to get it out today, but it is way to windy where I'm at.
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Fety on January 2, 2014
Rudder and Elevators only, I don't know anybody that sets a expo for throttle. and remember NEVER reverse the throttle, especially when you have the prop on inside your house.
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jmeans on January 2, 2014
Great, thanks for the reply. With any luck I can get out of work a little early tomorrow and fly for the first time.
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Scruffy on March 16, 2014
Another one...
 photo IMG_2286_zps6ba34ed6.jpg
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trackrat1833 on January 26, 2014
My plane takes off just fine but then drops the left wing turn and turns left into the ground. Giving it right rudder seems to slow the turn but doesn't bring the left wing up. Should I move the wing right, change the thrust angle, adjust the rudder? Any advice would be appreciated as I am fairly new to RC flying.
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jmeans on February 19, 2014
I don't know if you've found your answer yet, but I think you want to extend the wing to the left. That way you get more lift on your left wing canceling out any thrust issues you have. I'm new to flying as well and thus far this this the only plane I've flown but I haven't had any issues using the blue guide lines on the plans. Best of luck to you.
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Oldmiamicrasher on April 12, 2014
By my plans, downloaded from the site this is what I have:
The total wing w/o tips is 19" long.
From the port side of the fuselage mark (left wing looking from rear of the airplane) to the left joint is about 8-3/4" + or - (This plus or minus shouldn't be for my experience no more than 1/8")
I hope this helps.
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René Houde on November 21, 2015
Hi, I am new to Rc and these are my experiments on the OldSpeedster. (excuse the errors, I speak french).
I built the plane with larger wing span, 40'' in total, and 0.5'' less dihedral than the original on the wing tips. I have a 2212 motor at 1000kv, 3s LiFePo. Flies right off my hand but there was a left tendencie. I first did not glued the wings to try different length of offset to correct the problem. I tried offsetting the thrust angle too; downward and slightly right. I simply used rubber gasket (like those on prop savers) and put it between the firewall and the motor. It gets squeezed as it gets the slack when you adjust the screws. After a few flights (crashes), I finished gluing the wings with a 1.25 left offset wich seemed to me the best. I still got left tendencies but I was able to turn right. Now, i it is maybe a trim issue. I finally crashed after a 2 min flight so I cannot say for sure.
It seemed to me that adjusting the thrust angle makes better results than offsetting the wings when correcting the left turning tendencies. Offsetting the wings when using smaller dihedral seems necessary.
Hope it helps.

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Scruffy on March 16, 2014
Here is my latest build, I am still waiting for the electronics from lazertoys.. -
 photo IMG_2289_zps0d991315.jpg
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Old Fogey on January 23, 2014
There are alignment lines top center of the wing center section either side of the large hole. Mine measures 1.25 inches more left wing from the side of the fuse to the win tip.
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Oldmiamicrasher on April 12, 2014
I flew my FT Old Speedster yesterday and found a very gentle flight, the corrections made to the airplane construction such as extending the port side wing and the downthrust angle of the motor worked flawlessly.
Wing is kind of flimsy and intents to fold, also the tail surfaces stress the rear of the fuselage to the point of foam fatigue, I have photos but don't know how to post.
I suggest two main improvements:
1.- Reinforce with doublers the rear last 1/3 of the fuselage.
2.- after the wing is installed in the fuselage and glued add three bulkheads one under the leading edge of the wing, one in the center fold and one at the bottom of the trailing edge, all glued to the wing and fuselage to act as reinforcement, weight is not an issue here, as three pieces of foam add no such a terrible weight and will make the structure stronger.
Said that, I had lots of fun, plane flies awesome and slow, giving lots of time to correct in flight to adjust any bad tendencies but was ended by the fuselage fatigue.
I guess this might help someone interested.
Thanks.
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jrvalentin62 on May 5, 2014
Just built mine , but there was no canopy on the plans? does any one have the canopy layout PDF? (Windshield)
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jason51873 on July 24, 2017
Here is one I made:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=47914239472857684784
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Tim k on May 30, 2014
which wing is longer?

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giokat on June 23, 2014
the left one, watch the video ;-)
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Tim k on May 30, 2014
?
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Tim k on May 30, 2014
Hi ... The old speedster is very cool. But i have a Problem with the wing. I do not understand which side from the wing is longer???? The speedster stand in front of me ,is the left wing longer or the right wing?
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Tim k on May 30, 2014
please help me. Thanks

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jim.gilchrest@charter.net on July 11, 2014
I watched the build video and it says to install the power pod, but how do you get the servo leads plugged into the reciever? There is no access?
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giokat on May 30, 2014
Hi guys!
I built an Old Fogey and that's lot of fun. I'm now interested in the Old Speedster...
But the asymmetrical wing annoys me a little....
Instead of extending the wind on one side, has anyone tried to angle the motor a little bit? :-)
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Random_rc on October 27, 2014
How many sheets of foam is this
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j4ck4 on November 9, 2014
Just finished the Old Speedster and the mini Speedster. Great planes Josh, keep them coming.
Jack
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j4ck4 on November 10, 2014
Just a quick question Josh
What are the two strips of poster board for, about 1" wide that are on the plans with the canopy and turtle deck cutouts? Jack
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dgoz33 on November 27, 2014
is this plane can fly with 2S battery ???
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StereotypicalBrit on December 21, 2014
I wonder how it would behave with a 480 motor on it...?
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valleypump on January 28, 2015
I scratch built this plane, and even though I got the wing crooked and a little bit twisted, it flies amazing after making up for that with a little bit of rudder trim. Thanks a lot for all you've done!
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gsawyer on January 16, 2015
Not sure if this is how to add an image: http://s1379.photobucket.com/user/404photos/media/Flite%20Test/Flite_Test_Old_Speedster/IMG_1913_zps3324ad04.jpg
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Caleb73 on March 22, 2015
will the dx5 work with this?
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gsawyer on January 16, 2015
Just completed this build with a few modifications. Just because I didn't want the servos glued into the fuselage, I made a few mounts and added them to the outside. I also added ailerons and some 3D printed landing gear.
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f14tom on June 27, 2015
Hi, Josh, Josh, and Flite Testers,

I am thinking of of putting a larger motor with this plane so that I could use the same power pod for larger planes. I am thinking of using the Emaxx GT2215/09 from the PowerPackC or something equivalent (i.e. Turnigy D3536/6 1250KV, 500W, 102g)? Would the plane flip towards the left or become hard to control with a larger motor?

Thanks for your help!!
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Robert4613 on October 12, 2015
A great project plane! It looks like a great fun flyer! I'll have to try this one out.........once I'm finished with a few of my other projects.
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minimo on June 14, 2016
Can I use a 2cell,Emax 1200KV and a 904 prop with this plane?
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ConstantinCC on May 9, 2017
Hi guys. Just a question. It will fly if I put a 980kv motor? Thanks
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FT Old Speedster - Build