Its been a while since I've blogged anything, but I think I need to blog this project. I did alot of looking around the internet for a simple way to make a battery box, with the purpose of RC use. There are alot of threads, forms, and videos, that showed me alot, but I wanted something really simple.

At first, being influenced by the info I found on line, my plan was alot more complex, with switches, fuses, volt readers, etc. But after really thinking about it I found that I dont need all that stuff to get what I wanted.

So, here it goes:

I used the same plano tool box that I had my old charger in. Its not big so it limited my battery capacity, which is good because who wants to carry a 100 pound box to the field. With 35ah 12v batteries I was able to keep the weight down to a little over 50 pounds. Still heavy, but no crazy.

Choosing the batteries came with a little help from my friends on the Walk-era and Beyond thread here on RCG, and knowing how much space i have in the tool box.

This project should allow me to get a few extra flights in with my big lipos, or fly all day with the smaller lipos. And, living in the tropics where power outages are common, I can run a fan and a tv to keep me entertained and cool when the power is out.

Besides the old tool box, i bought:

Two 35ah 12v batteries. (I got the cheap ones $130 for the pair).

Battery Tender Jr. (To maintain charge when the power is on)

400w Inverter (bestek)

10 awg cable (1 meter, more...Continue Reading

ok boys and girls, our lesson for today is...

Getting Some Tail.

Ok, i'm getting back into my 'school teacher' mode now that summer break is over. I just want to share another one of my '3D flying lessons' here with you guys. It is geared to more advanced pilots, but beginners can do it too.

If you have not see or read my '3D flight plan' blog you might want to start there, and come back to these excersizes later. Here is the link

www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1682648

Getting some tail is every young mans dream. It may take some a longer time to achieve, but once the techiniques are mastered, he can get some good tail action whenever he wants. Now go wash your dirty minds cause the tail im refering to is the rudder of your heli. Your so naughty...

What im talking about is piroettes and quick, accurate control of the rudder. We've all seen the vids of the pros doing piro flips, piro rolls, piro tic tocs, and just about every transition or skill that they do has the rudder whipping around looking almost out of contorl. Ofcourse as the noobs that we are, if that heli is not tail in our thumbs start shaking and palms get sweaty. So here are the excercises that i plan to focus on for awhile to gain control of my tail, and get some good 'tail' action going.

Before getting into these excersizes you should be comfortable hovering in all orientations, upright at least.

These excersizes are not only another orientation builder. The main purpose of...Continue Reading

After a little over a year of rc heli flying, It time to share some of what I've learned on the actual 'flying' side of things. For any new pilots, with dreams of doing 3D someday, this might be helpfull.

As a teacher, i'm always analizing ways to explain things to people better and easy to understand. I found that, now that i'm the 'go to' heli guy at the field, i'm also teaching other heli pilots how to do things.

I've been takeing mental notes of what i've done, and in what order, to get to where my flight skills are at. Also planing what i need to practice now, to get closer to where i want my skills to be. I think its time to share this plan here. It will help the newbies, and also to remind myself, and keep me on track.

(these are 'real life' along with 'sim' excercies)

First step - Get a SIM. Before i even got my first 6ch cp heli, i managed to find and download a free sim (fms) on a hp mini, and used the keys on the keyboard to get an idea of what i was getting myself into. By the time i took my first v400 out of the box, i was comfortable with what the stick controls would do.

Basic Hover - My first 11 flights with a real cp heli was spent in a low hover. Most of which were in my livingroom, so they were low. Never more than 5 - 6 feet up, always at eye level or below, and always tail in. Once comfortable with getting off the ground, holding position, and landing safely, I started the side to side and forward backward tail in patterns. (on the sim,...Continue Reading

This is a much needed upgrade for this delicate beginners cp heli. I got the sheet of 2mm think carbon fiber from rcfoam.com. I did this project over 3 days, but total time spent measuring, drilling, cutting, and fileing was only about one hour.

Link to cf sheet
http://www.rcfoam.com/product_info.p...f817010d2c8568

Link to cutting tool bit
http://www.wowhobbies.com/utp-u33di5...ttingdisk.aspx

:ALWAYS WEAR A PROTECTIVE MASK WHEN WORKING WITH CARBON FIBER:...Continue Reading

This is a little how to on makeing a cf boom, and mounting a brushless motor to the stock fin of the Walkera V400D02.

I got my 8mm x 1000mm carbon fiber tube from rcfoam.com. I thought i could get three booms out of that length, but it got bent in shipping, and cracked right in the center, so i was only able to get two booms out of it. It was not long enough for three booms anyway, but i could have used it for something...

I used only basic tools that I have, (old drill, some file bits, and a cutting bit). I should invest in a good dremell tool, but would rather spend my money on upgrades.

Link to cf tube
http://www.rcfoam.com/product_info.p...f817010d2c8568

Link to cutting tool bit
http://www.wowhobbies.com/utp-u33di5...ttingdisk.aspx

:ALWAYS WEAR A PROTECTIVE MASK WHEN WORKING WITH CARBON FIBER:...Continue Reading

Simple installation of a StayPro HD mini cam into one of my V400 canopies.

You may want to add some electrical tape around edges, and along the seem to reinforce the canopy.

Link to test video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BahamaHeli?feature=mhum

If you dont mind the 'toe-in' angle of the rear servos, and tight fit between the alieron and elevator servos, you wont need to do this part of the installation. Some guys heat and bend their servo arms, but I dont feel comfortable diong that. So.....

These are very good, and somewhat expensive servos. They make great replacements for the V400D02. Though the installation is easier that the Turnigy MG servos, I did do a little extra to get things just right....Continue Reading

I did'nt like that you had to take off the canopy every time you want to change a battery. It is very time consuming when you really just want to be up in air. With the Metal Tail Boom Support from RTF-Heil, it makes it possible to swap batteries from the rear and not have to touch the canopy.

I also moved the ESC to allow the use of bigger battery packs, but is also better balances the heli as well.

I installed these metal geared servos in my #3 heli. It took me about a hour to work things out, but I'm new to this kind of stuff, so there was alot of trail and error. You will have to reverse the Alie, Elev, and Pitch on you tramsmitter, and turn your reciever around for the gyro to work properly....Continue Reading

Just some pics of my first helis side by side....

Flight Blog #1
Aircraft: DH 9053 Volitation
Time 10:30pm
Location: Grassy area next to local mall
Wind: 5 – 9mph

This was my first time flying the 9053 outside. I thought the winds were tame enough to get a controllable flight. Boy, was I wrong.

At this time I have not done any tail rotor mod, and really wanted to see if the rubber band under the flybar could help this forward flight problem. The heli is pretty much out of the box, except for the flipping of the lower blade grip, and adding the elastic bands under the flybar. For testing purposes, I first tried to fly without the rubber band in place (not restricting the flybar).

Pre-Flight:
Plugged in battery, turned on transmitter, checked sticks and trim tab, turned on heli. I noticed that the tail light did not turn on. Thinking that maybe the rotor motor might not work, I did a quick spool-up and checked the rotor. It works….
No time to investigate the minor lighting problem I prepared for take off.

Flight:
Launching off the sun roof of my car, the Volitation spooled-up nicely. the small vibration that I thought was a bent shaft was solved by loosening the main blades. (I thought that tighter blades would be better in wind but this is not the case - tight blades will cause vibration).

Quickly lifting off to avoid sliding down the windshield, the 9053 would go up, up, up and away. I had no directional control at all. I could not even control the elevation. Where the very calm winds blew, the...Continue Reading

Caution: This mod will drastically change the flight characteristics of your heli. Exercise extreme caution after making this mod. You cannot hold me responsible for any damages caused due to your lack of experience.

With the constant complaint of “blade strikes”, I conducted tests on this heli to find the source and solution to this problem.

Source -
I found that the top blade and flybar would angle to deep on extreme maneuvers, due to wind or “crazy pilot syndrome” causing the flybar to collide with the bottom blades.

Solution -
To solve this problem I had to restrict the movement of the flybar and top blades.

Conclusion - Elastic bands.

(SEE PIC ATTACHMENTS)





...Continue Reading

The following is a list of all the things I have or, have ordered, to start my new r/c helicopter hobby. I plan on flying, fixing, and bloging my experiences to assist the new comers like I am.

The reason I ordered so much inventory at one time is because, living in The Bahamas, I do not have the luxury of a LHS (local hobby store). And ordering the smallest part will take about 4 weeks to get to me. That’s a long time to be grounded.

The parts lists are not only made up of stock replacement parts, but also useful up-grade parts to insure the best performance and extended part life.

New Walkera V400D02 owners, and people interested in getting a V400 heli, can take advantage of my constant research, and goal of making my flying experience a satisfying one.


R/C HELICOPTERS

*1 Double Horse 9053 Volitation Coaxial 3ch Helicopter (Xmas gift from wife)

*1 Walkera V400D02 2.4Ghz Flybarless Series RTF Ready to Fly
Helicopter w/ Auto Stabilizing Gyro/ WK- 2603 Digital Transmitter
(ordered from X-Heli)

*1 Walkera V400D02 with WK- 2603 Transmitter and 2 Stock LiPo Batteries.
(ordered from ThatGuy)

*1 Used Walkera V400D02 (flown once and crashed,
complete except for: one servo and canopy. Tail boom to frame attachment is
broken.) (ordered from ThatGuy)

PARTS INVENTROY

Volitation 9053 parts:

(ordered from X-Heli)
*3 7.4V Battery
*4 Tail Blade
*1 Main Blade Grip Set
*2 Balance...Continue Reading

This is part two of a mod that will simply put you throttle and rudder control on your left stick, and the forward backward movement stays on the right. Like the ‘Big Boys’ do it.

This is not really a mod, but more of a preference. If you are new to rc helis’ and are thinking about moving on to a bigger more advanced heli, or if you are an experienced rc pilot and have a 3ch ‘kick-around’ heli in your collection, this is for you.

The reason I did this to my 9053 Volitation transmitter is because this is my first heli and I’m looking at getting a more advance heli in the near future. By making this change to my controller I will avoid developing “bad thumb habits” while learning to fly. This will also make my transition smoother when I get my 4ch/6ch heli.

This mod will simply put you throttle and rudder control on your left stick, and the forward backward movement stays on the right. Like the ‘Big Boys’ do it.

The only things you should need are a screw driver (philips), pliers, and glue (krayz).

Getting Started... part 1