Matt's RC- F4, F-18 70mm EDF overview (10 min 32 sec)

So fixing the slop out of the mains was easy, unscrew add generous amount of 5 minute epoxy and reattach. I put a little weight on the wheels so they would dry at an outward angle giving the best possible ground handling since they are pretty close together.
The front gear being the worst of the bunch, being sloppy in all directions, I cut a new support out of scrap birch plywood and epoxied it the foam behind and to the clear plastic plate it sits on after scratching it up a bit with sandpaper.

Feels good now! Have to see how it holds up on maiden. I'm planning that to be off a short grass soccer field so without help, this would have been hand launch only for sure.

Exceed's new 70mm F-18. It's big! Much bigger in size than my F-4 Phantom even though both have 70mm power plants.
Just got the plane, it's partially assembled, the main bits. Landing gear is brutal, I have an idea though to fix it, some epoxy in the mains and I'm going to cut a wood block to keep the nose gear in place. Right now 2 out of 3 gears are alarmingly wobbly. This new plane has pockets for full retract operation and the ARF non retract version has an afterthought for legs.
Other than that, she's beautiful! I think she needs a pilot or two!

Playing around with the DX7 I mixed Aux1 (RX) aka. Flap (TX) with the elevator.
Oddly I had to mix 107% for the aux1/flap channel to equal the same travel as the elevator channel side but it is exact now, going up or down.
Travel on the inside of the elevators (beside the rudder) is about 3cm trailing off to probably less than 1cm at the ends where the control surface gets narrow.
Ailerons are set at a healthy 1.5cm across the aileron up and down.
I think this will work well, I'll program in an 80% low rate next for an in air option.

EDIT: To clarify, right elevator is on the elevator channel, the left elevator is on the aux1/flap channel.
When I use a Y-harness that came with the airframe kit they worked like ailerons. So I ditched the Y-harness ran each elevator separately.

So the motor and fan is in the F-4 and did some testing with the e-flite power meter.

Using a 2800kv motor from HobbyKing and a 6 bladed 70mm fan.
Using a Turnigy Plush 60amp ESC
Using a fresh Zippy Flightmax 4S 2800mah 30C lipo.

Turnigy Plush set to HIGH timing:

Watts peak/settled: 621w/603w
Amps peak/settled: 43A/41A

Turnigy Plush set to MIDDLE timing:

Watts peak/settled: 571w/540w
Amps peak/settled: 39A/37A


Didn't bother trying the soft timing, I think I can guess the results and not going to use soft timing.

Findings = Definitely worth getting a bigger ESC rather than the 40amp recommended for this fan set-up. Bigger ESC with high timing will squeak out a bit more power.

Also, this fan bolted together and runs smoothly through the RPM range! No balancing IMO... shocking for a $5 fan and $20 motor. Thank you HK!!

Pictured below, HK 70mm 6 blade fan, Airfield 70mm 5 blade fan (nitroplanes)

Pulled the canopy apart and painted it with acrylic paint in about 15 minutes. Thought the way it came was super bland with a worried looking ninja in the cockpit. Turned out good for how little effort it took. Painted on an instrument panel too.

Also did a test fit with my Zippy 4S 2800mah 30C lipos that just came in the mail. They are too long, I'll have to trim some foam. Wonder if I'll be a bit nose heavy, the RTF version comes with 4S 2200mah. Might have to add tail weight.

I bought a Spektrum DX7 yesterday!!! Future planes will have retracts and flaps, possibly thrust vectoring. People like expo, I should give that a whirl, especially with jets... Also, finally I'll be able to use one transmitter with all my planes... plus about 15 more!
Now to figure out how the hell to use it... lol

Got the airframe only F-4 Phantom 70mm from Nitroplanes in the sky grey Navy scheme. Looks like it will be fun!!
It shipped fine other than the mangled nose cone shoved in the box, I straightened it out the best I could by hand, and will try a hair dryer to do the rest. I'll probably order a few more as these look very thin and fragile.
Put the wings on with supplied epoxy, will drip in some thin CA between the cracks to reinforce it. I went easy on the epoxy as I didn't want it smooshing out of the cracks.

Time to pick out a power system and servos!!

Took another Cessna flight yesterday. First time I went up a couple months ago I took the controls for about 15 mins, this time my friend Ken rented the plane so he was at the sticks and I was a passenger. But, this let me take some video!

Cessna Flight #2 (14 min 41 sec)

Just my 3 planes I'm flying regularly at the moment.

The Parkzone Corsair, just will love this thing until it can fly no more.

Parkzone P-51 ultra micro, fun in front of my house.

Airfield "Skytrainer" cessna 182. Cool bird, surprising how well it goes. Electronics need help. I changed the rudder/ nose wheel servo after second flight. Elevator servo is next as I distrust what it came with. No elevator = no more airplane, but I do think the airframe is a winner. I'm happy I stumbled upon this gift. (and I'm training other new pilots like myself with this and the micro P-51D)

My tail wheel reversed on me after maxing my rudder throw, maybe that was the cause, maybe not... but anyway it takes 2 minutes to reverse back to normal.
Just undo the 4 screws with a small phillips screwdriver, than reverse back to normal position, and then re-fasten the screws.

Whola!

Recorded from a small digital camera, not a video camera. So no zoom, grainy, generally crappy quality unfortunately. Will do a good flight with a good camera soon.

Test vid. parkzone corsair (4 min 4 sec)

Bought an E-flite Power Meter yesterday to test different props. I bought a Master Airscrew 10 x 7 3 blade prop also, but need to ream the center hole out to make it fit. Will be doing that with my dad's drill press. I also soldered on EC3 connectors onto the E-Flite meter to use with my parkzone corsair. The meter doesn't come with any connectors, just bare wire.

So bench testing with stock Parkzone props and 11.1v 2200mAH 3S 20C battery;

PZ 9 x 7.5 3 blade: 22.1 Amps / 261.2 Watts @WOT

PZ 9.5 x 7.5 2 blade: 18.7 Amps / 227.8 Watts @WOT

Definitely more flight time with the 2 blade, being very quiet in comparison. I still like the noise produced with the 3 blade though, motor gets a high pitched whine WOT with the 3 blade using up more power.

(More battery and prop test data in the comments of this entry)

Stripped my left aileron servo belly landing into some melting snow (the stock PKZ1081 SV80). Snow got jammed up into the servo arm and when I touched the aileron controls.... kckckckccccc... strip. Woopsy-daisy.
I installed JR Sport SM22 Hi-Speed Sub Micro servos to replace the stockers. Works good!
Installation was easy, very straight forward, fits into the stock spot in the wings. New servos are a little smaller and lighter than the SV80s.
I've run about 6 battery packs since install and have no complaints, I think the new servos are a little quicker responding actually.

Added some exhaust looking stickers I drew in Corel Draw 12 to my corsair. I just printed on photopaper and then used packing tape to fasten it to my bird. Might look a little cheesy but looks great in the air.
Also painted the flap lines in with gray acrylic paint.

A few months ago I got a Parkzone F4U corsair, my next logical step in RC.
The corsair has exceeded my expectations in fly-ablilty, durability, and performance. I've been enjoying it all winter long in its stock form. I do plan on doing some mods though... more on that later I suppose.

Buy a simulator!!!
Seriously, the easiest and cheapest way to learn is to get a simulator!!! Not a ducted fan jet!!! Be patient. It's amazing how much you really suck when you just start.... just sayin...

After I creamed my Sky Fly 2, I wised up thanks to joining forums like this on the internet, and bought FSone Flight Simulator by hangar 9.
I practiced all the planes in it, and then started with the easiest bird, the Parkzone Slo-V, and bought it in real life. No need to replicate the Sky-Fly fiasco. Plus I would lose support with my fiance for my new hobby if I crashed and burned another 100 clams into the ground within minutes.
So the slo-v we go!

Parkzone Slo-V stock 6 cell battery (7 min 17 sec)

What a great trainer. Such a slow and forgiving plane, and on high rates it will turn inside of even the most agile bird in the air.
It is however a funny looking thing, but definitely serves it's purpose. for you first time flyers, don't over look this plane because it doesn't represent a scale aircraft. Baby steps...

Hello there, if you are looking at this page apparently you've clicked onto my name, well "Ispintechno", my name is Matt. I'm a Canadian from London Ontario, recently gotten bitten by the RC Airplane bug.
Last year I thought how awesome it would be to get into RC, I've been the kind of guy/kid to frequent car shows, motorcycle shows, air shows, as things that go zoom in general have been at the front of my mind since I've been 4 years old. I even competed in motocross racing for a few years when I was a teenager. Speed has always been in my blood, and I intend to graduate to some rediculously fast RC planes as my skills and experience improve.

Aside from traveling in big jetplanes, I've never been in a small aircraft, unless you count the time I sat in an F-15 many years at an airshow. But that's gonna change, going this spring to do my first real flight in a Cessna 182, looking forward to taking the helm!

First airplane. Sky Fly 2. Boy what a mistake. I don't think of it so much as my first RC airplane, more of my first powered lawn dart. I totally wrecked that in a hurry.