FlyingWings - Mini V Trainer

The Mini V is a 65% scaled down version of our best selling V-Trainer.  At 27 inches (690mm) wingspan its perfect for the back of the car for the crafty flight at lunchtime or for the suitcase for your holidays.  The tiny brushless outrunner provides plenty of power for outdoors and indoors in a larger sports hall.  Its very very stable and would make an ideal mini trainer, its also incredibly tough - www.flyingwings.co.uk

Being totally new to flying and after spending a few weeks on the simulator getting to know how a plane reacts when you push around those little stick things on the transmitter I was starting to get a bit impatient and wanted a real live plane in the air....and I didn’t want to be buddied up forever.

My brother was already a flyer and we had many discussions about where I should start and what plane I should get.  With money being a little restrictive I wanted something in the “budget” category that would stand up to a few knocks and not cost much to repair when the (inevitable) crashes occured.....and one other thing, I needed to be able to fly it indoor and outdoor.

We looked around at a few things but kept coming back to the ‘V Trainer’ from flyingwings.co.uk, and because of the criteria for indoor flight, the ‘Mini V’ was the one I opted for.

Neither my brother or any of his flying friends had much experience of flying V Tails so this created a bit of interest in the plane and we placed the order and waited in anticipation for it’s arrival.

Being keen to get it built and in the air I never took any time to do a build log, and with my brothers assistance we (ok, he) quickly got the plane together.  This involved hinging the elevons, glueing the V-Tail parts together and to the fuselage,  sticking the ply brackets and motor mounts in place, wiring up the electrics and inserting a battery with only a few cut outs required for servos etc.....a couple of hours work, even with this total noob involved.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t kind (winters in Northern Scotalnd can be like that!!!) so outdoor flying opportunities were slim, meaning that I faced the task of learning to fly (for the first time) in an indoor environment...a large basketball sized hall environment.

A few test flights by my brother to get the plane set-up, some quick instructions and feedback on how the plane reacted and away I went....more than a little nervous, which as it turns out, I had no need to be.

Ok, so it took me a few attempts to get the plane to stay away from the walls and I suffered a few bumps, but the plane took it all in it’s stride...pick it up, launch it and try again.  Within 30 minutes I was managing circuits of the hall.

A few flying nights under my belt and I was starting to get a little cocky, increasing the speed and testing my limits (I was nowhere near the planes limits at this point) and with increased speed and cockiness comes bigger harder crashes.....and the first breakage.  Nothing more than a crack in the foam where I had made the cutout for the battery so a quick glue up and away again in 5 minutes.

Crash, break, glue, crash break glue....2 or 3 times a night, but the plane performance didn’t seem to suffer and on and on it went.  Now that I was a little more confident others were flying alongside me and that brought the mid air collisions with planes like the Yak, Hornet and Bongo.  The Mini V is a far sturdier plane than all of these and it tended to take the least damage in such encounters...even though it’s mid mounted pusher did’nt do any carving.  In fact, as others props flew and planes crashed the Mini V could generally be brought back under control and if not when it hit the ground it tended to bounce instead of crunch.

Getting the plane outdoors was like having a ball and chain removed, no longer was I constantly reacting to the next wall, basketball ring and/or other flyer and I had a whole sky to play in.  Granted, the Mini V doesn’t like wind....any wind really....and it doesn’t have the power to cope with much more than a gentle breeze, but when that breeze is just right you can throw it up and hang it forever.  I have managed over an hour in the air on a single battery (500mah 2 cell 15c) where I would fly it down the field, hang it in the wind bringing it back, turn it around and do it all over again.  This plane is ultra stable and even with a gusty breeze you don’t have to fight it to keep it up there.

The extra space outdoors allowed me to start testing the planes limits, aswell as my own, and it wasn’t long before I was working out how to get it to loop and roll.....things it shouldn’t be able to do by all accounts and just how much it is capable of surprises the more experienced flyers at IRCF.

Get it up high, nose dive it and then pull it up at the last moments and watch as the wings fold to near breaking point...and these are weakened wings that have had a couple of cracks and more than a few chips and chunks taken out and glued back.

After a few months of flying this thing, crashing it, throwing basketballs at it (see video) and basically abusing it more than any plane should ever be abused...it has me beat...nearly.  I am going to claim a small victory for managing to break a prop mid air while diving, loop[ing and rolling...but over the piece the plane wins hands down.

It’s super easy to fly...I learned with it INDOOR...but it is indestructible.  That’s not to say you won’t break it from time to time, of course you will, but it’s design and construction is so simple that it takes no more than a squirt of glue to get you sorted and back in the air.  The design also seems to protect the electrics....I’’ve had flat out wall impacts which would have killed the motors, receivers and maybe even the odd servo and things on any other plane, but not in this one.  It acts like a large shock absorber and aside from twice having to soulder a wire when the plane spilled it’s guts I have had to change or repair NOTHING on the electrical side.

I now have a MiniMag for outdoor flying to take me to the next level, but I am tethered to my brother via the buddy lead on that for now.  I’ve also pretty much outgrown the Mini V, outdoors, but I like the idea so much that I have just purchased the bigger V2 Trainer from FlyingWings.co.uk with the Aileron Conversion and I’m very much looking forward to getting it in the air and seeing how it compares to it’s baby brother.

In conclusion, if you are new to flying, are flying indoor, don’t want to spend big to get you in the air and want repair bills that amount to no more than a tube of UHU Por and some CA then the Mini V should be high on your list of options.

The plane has even survived a battering by basketballs (see video below) with little more than a crack to the fuselage and a broken wing.  A bit of glue and I was back in the air again in no time at all.