A couple of weekends ago, I took my Stampede 4x4 VXL out to chase my son's Ruckus around the local softball field. His Ruckus is outfitted with a Titan 12T motor and XL5 ESC and speed toned down to make it slower to his request. His Ruckus is slower but certainly kick my Stampede's butt when it comes to ramming each other.

Chasing a Ruckus with my Stampede 4x4 (5 min 9 sec)

A couple of online friends and I met up for some RC fun over the holiday weekend. We ran our cars (Stampede 4x4, Stampede 2wd, some buggy?) in this gravel lot outside of a water treatment facility. It stunk... The mud is NASTY!

I mounted a #11 HD key fob cam to the Supercub and the Stampede for some footage. I also stuck the same key-fob cam onto my baseball cap for some footage. The cam quality is crappy with major vignetting on the side. Then it got dirty from the water while driving. So the quality isn't very good. But all in all, we had a blast driving around and hanging out.

My still clean Stampede 4x4


A brand new Stampede 2wd


Our toys.
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Gave my son (7) an Electrix Ruckus rc monster truck. He absolutely loves it. Here, we were driving around after a rain storm in Chicago. Unfortunately, I didn't waterproof his truck good enough so it shorted out the ESC. We lost the fwd controls. So now it only goes backwards. I'm waiting on an XL-5 ESC and a Titan 12T motor to put in his truck.

Stampede 4x4 and Ruckus (4 min 10 sec)

On the aircrafts side, I haven't flown anything since the crash of my P-40. I did pick up a Sky Angel Rare Bear to replace the P-40. Got the electronics wired up and installed. I need to finish assembling the plane and balance it. Then it'll be ready to be maiden. But it's tough finding time to go fly it recently...

I took my P40 out for a remaiden today. I spent a ton of time ripping everything out, and rebuilding her from scratch. I had high hopes bc I really love the P40. Tossed her up and she went to nose dive immediately. I was confused. I took her way up high to trim and noticed that she's stuttering at anything less than 80% throttle. I'm running 3S 30C 1000mah battery on GWS 8040 prop, stock motor and ESC. Furthermore, she wants to dive hard. I can't let off the ele otherwise she'll lawn-dart. It was difficult to keep her in the air.

I went in for a right hand bank and yank at about 50ft high, and she just plummeted to the ground. I'm not sure what happened bc it happened so fast. At the crash site deep in the thick bush and weed, I recovered the wreckage, but her pilot was MIA. I think he's dead.

I'm bummed. I don't want to spend any more time fixing and tweaking it, hoping that it'll fly right. I've got the T-45 that flies like a dream and a couple other EDF kits to build. I think I'm done with this P40.

I wanted to get my son (a week shy of 7yrs old) involved in RCs. I wanted him to have something to play with while I'm flying the rc planes at the fields. So after some research, I ended buying a Traxxas Stampede 4x4 VXL monter truck. I took it out last nite to see what this thing can do...

The Stampede is a BLAST to thrash around. Who am I kidding?!?! Sorry son, this sucker is MINE!!! Muahahahaha!!! LOL just kidding.

Anyways, here's a video. No music bc I was going to use Youtube's AudioSwap, but it's not working. Kept saying in progress for 12 hours now. So kinda turn on your iTunes or play some thrashy tunes in your head while watching this video.

Traxxas Stampede 4x4 VXL Maiden (6 min 36 sec)

I've been itching to fly my Airfield 800mm P-40 in the air. So spent some time building it this week. Took her out to maiden this morning and it go so well.

Here's the video

Airfield 800mm P-40 Maiden (2 min 27 sec)

First off, with the 2S 30C 1000mah Sky Lipo, she kept lawn-darting like there's not enough power. After the 3 failed attempt, I was pissed off and irritated. So I put in the 3S 30C 1000mah Sky Lipo. I know that I shouldn't fly a 3S with the stock prop. But at that point, I didn't care. I just wanted to get her flying. And she flew. The elevator at 20% EXPO was super twitchy. At WOT, she really moves, but I didn't have her at WOT for more than a few seconds bc it'll burn up the motor.

At this point, I have to open her up to see what's been damaged with all the nose-diving I did this morning. The motor felt loose from the mount. I've got a GWS 8x4 prop that I'm going to try with the 3S. I'm going to rip out the rudder servo and control rod to lighten her up a bit. Anyone know how to pin the rudder? Drop me a reply please. I need help with that. I would really like to fly with the 3S instead of the 2S next time. But there's some work to be done on her before re-maidening...

In the previous video, I had horrible landings with my JPower 50mm T-45 EDF jet. Warped the horizontal stabilizer twice, and broke off its tip once. After getting them repaired, the guys in the 50mm Jpower jet thread helped me set up flaperons to help slow this bird down for landings. It worked great! I'm super happy that I was able to put in 3 flights with great landings. Thank you so much RCG guys!!!

After my 3rd battery, 4 older folks stopped by to ask questions about my jet and stuff. A cop, who drove by previously when I was flying and he didn't bat an eyelid, pulled up this time and kicked me out of the park citing it's a wildlife sanctuary and that Homeland Security will have an issue with me flying an RC jet there and that they'd confiscate my jets, and equipment, etc... I'm not sure why he was fine with me flying before when it was just me and my fiance, but is not ok now... I didn't need any trouble, so I politely thanked him for letting me know and packed up my stuff, went home. Bummer bc I has having a good time too.

Here's some snaps and a compilation video of my flights this evening.




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Last Sat or was it Sun, it was a calm Chicago day (rare!) I re-maiden my SkyAngel T-45 50mm EDF jet. I was flying at 70-75% throttle to trim it to level flight.

Specs on my T-45 are:

-stock motor
-6-bladed fan (static balanced)
-3S 1000mah 30C Sky Lipo

The last landing cartwheeled the jet, and bent the right horizontal stabilizer, ending my T-45 flights for the day. Luckily I had my light-build Stryker with me. =)

T-45 Flights (4 min 7 sec)

It's been a few weeks, but in that time, I went on vacation and got engaged to my gf. W00t!

Anyways, here's a video of my lightweight build of the Stryker wing. Since I'm a new pilot still learning, I opted to build a lightweight one instead of the normal Stryker. Even though mine is supposed to be lightweight, the only difference is in the motor mount, motor and prop that I used. So it's not that lightweight. But still, it is slow enough for me to learn on.

I'm using 2712-17 motor, stick mount, GWS 8x4 prop and 2S 1000mah Sky Lipo battery.

Lightweight Stryker Flights (5 min 7 sec)

I ordered it a week ago from NitroPlanes. It arrived today double boxed and in great condition! This is my 2nd plane thru them. No muss, no fuss, no delays! Good job NitroPlanes!

Box in good shape.


All the pieces are there without any damage.


Just test fitting it together for a photo shoot.
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Today was a cold, rainy, crappy Chicago day. I spent most of it building my Stryker. Being a new pilot, I decided to build a Light Stryker bc a fast one, even stock, is probably too fast for me to handle right now.

I used a 2712-17 BL motor, a stick mount, 25A BL ESC, a 8x4 prop, and powering it are 2S 20C 1000mah Sky Lipo batteries. Peak amp from my Turnigy Watt Meter is 9.44Ah. I had to mess with the servo connection and reversing one of the servo to make the Elevon mix work properly with my Dx6i Tx. In the end, the Stryker ended up to be 372 grams. Not so light weight...

Hopefully, the power system is able to keep this puppy in the air. If not, I have some 3S 30C 1000mah batteries and a 7x3.5 prop to power it. We'll see when I go maiden it tomorrow (if the weather improves).

Here are some pics of my build.

Test fiting the electronics


Testing out the system with the 3S battery


Starting to come together.
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Last week, I ordered some parts (from BH) for a broken F-22 FIY jet that someone gave me. It's been 6 days and the order status still showing shipping 2-3 days. I posted in their RCG forum asking for a status. I emailed them asking for a status. Nothing but silence. I've going to give it 10 days and then file a complaint with Paypal and hopefully get my money back. Isn't taking someone's money without delivering the promised products stealing and is against the law?

My brother loaned me his Syma S008 helicopter for a quick review. Boy, that's one hard to control heli!! Take a look!

Syma S008 RC Heli Impressions (5 min 22 sec)

Recently, I went to the Weak Signals RC Expo in Toledo, OH. There, I ran into Nitroplanes. They had the new Syma S108G and S109G helicopters for $25 each. Now that's a stupidly cheap price for these heli's. I've been looking around for the S109G Apache online and you just can't touch it for less than $40 shipped (from a US seller). So my brother and I snatched up their last 2 S109G's and an S108G Cobra for himself too. As we walked around the show, quite a few people came up to us asking where to find these new Symas. They are popular!!!

Anyways, it's been a while since I did a video impression of a heli so here's one for the S109G Apache. Overall, I like it. It is not as fast as the S108G Cobra though. But still fun to fly. It is also looks very scale, and super stable in the air. Highly recommended!

Syma S109G Apache RC heli impressions (5 min 8 sec)

I took a break from messing around with RC planes and helis for a nite to play with my new Nintendo 3DS that arrived yesterday.



Here are my first impressions of it.

I played with the 3DS for quite a while last nite. I’m very impressed with its technology and presentation. The 3D works great! Some people think that 3D means popping out of the screen like at some of the Disney rides, notably A Bug’s Life in Disney World Magic Kingdom. This 3D is like Avatar’s 3D. The 3D takes the 2D and add depth to it. Looking at the 3DS screen, it feels like you’re not just looking at a gaming screen, but you’re peering into an animated diorama. It immediately sucks you into the game.

Some people have issues seeing the 3D effects or they get headaches. Luckily, I don’t have them. However, I did notice that after 30 minutes of staring at the 3D screen, my eyes felt like they are crossed. It’s a weird feeling. I wonder if they were really crossed. The ‘sweet spot’ for 3D varies from person to person. There’s more vertical range than horizontal range. If you’re out of the sweet spot, the picture is all blurry. Luckily, the 3DS has a slider that you can use to adjust the depth of vision or turn off the 3D totally. Speaking of which, one of the parental control is to lock out 3D effects if you don’t want your kids to see 3D. That’s what I heard but I haven’t verified.

Some games have better 3D than others....Continue Reading

Last nite, the weather web sites were forecasting calm winds at 4-5mph in Chicago. So I grabbed my T-45 EDF jet and my UMT-28 to go fly. It would be the maiden flight for the T-45 and re-maiden for the UMT-28 since I replaced the wings and tail stabilizers.

Got to the flying are and the wind is stiff at 10-12mph, my WAG. It certainly wasn't 4-5mph. And it's cold. I decided not to maiden the T-45.

I went behind a small hill to try and it felt much calmer. It didn't feel as windy on the ground. I decided to fly the UMT-28. While it was relatively calm on the ground, about 100ft up, it was not calm. I think the wind is being kicked up by the hill. It was a handful to fly in the wind. ARGH!!! My little UMT-28 was being tossed around like a small skiff in stormy waters.

Even though I balanced it at home, adding a dime to the nose to balance it, the first throw it went straight vertical, then the wind caught it and took it away from me. I recovered and fought the wind to fly back and managed to gently crash it on the grass. I shifted the battery forward more and it helped, but with throttle, it goes vertical again. After a few more crashes, the last one bent the lower part of the rudder, I called it a nite.

I'm really frustrated right now with the UMT-28. I know it's a great plane, but it seems I can't friggin fly it unless it's dead calm. And those days are few and far in between for Chicago. I got the P-40 (previous blog) to fly when there's some wind. I want to fly. I don't want to stare at the planes on the shelf. So frustrated right now...

My order for the P-40 800mm from Nitroplanes arrived today. Double boxed, no damage at all. Everything was in perfect condition. I ordered extra spinner and props too. Hobbyparts battery order arrived the other day as well. No problems there either. A little slow but everything is there without damage.



From the videos from Nitroplanes on these 800mm P-40's, they had to cut out the grill behind the propeller to get airflow into the electronics. On mine, it's already cut. That's great bc it's one less thing I have to do.
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I've been itching to find something a little bigger to fly when it's a little windy out. I was originally looking at the JPower mini warbirds, but the only place in the US that sell it is BananaHobby. I've read so many horror stories about them. So I didn't order from them. Instead I found a gorgeous 800mm P40 by Airfield on Nitroplanes. I love the looks of the P40 warbird. I know NP, Xheli, and HobbyPartz are all the same outfit. I also read up on them and frankly, their customer service is not what I'd call good either. But since I've ordered from HP twice previously, and my orders came without any issues, that gave NP a leg-up from BH.

So I placed an order the other day for the P40 and some batteries. Yesterday, their customer service emailed to say the batts are out of stock. I told them to ship what's in stock and refund the cost of batts. Their customer service person "Albert" replied within a hour saying no problem and they'll get everything re-adjusted. I saw on my paypal that they reversed the original order charges and only charged for the proper amount without the batts. They also generated a UPS shipping order. I hope they will ship soon. We will see how this order goes. Keep your fingers crossed for me. In the mean time, I placed an order with HP for some 1000mah, 2S Sky Lipos batts for the P40.

Last nite I went out for a session. It was cloudy, foggy, and windy. I flew it anyways, when I shouldn't have. It was very difficult to say the least. There were several crashes, but the hardest crash was a full power dive from a left bank. Not sure what happened, but the plane just lost a lot of altitude very quickly. I couldn't recover and it smacked the ground, HARD. Broke vert stab, broke left wing, right wing, battery connector. So I went home all upset... Then I spent some time editing this video from last week's flight session. It took several hours to edit. Girlfriend was NOT happy.

Anyways, last week, I repaired a broken left wing (the first time it broke) with some glue and tape. Took it out to see how it handled. It was ok. There is a twist in the wing causing it to always roll left. I had to compensate for it with the stick bc the trim isn't doing a good enough of a job. While I was at the field, the up trim on elevator broke. So that's another thing I had to manually compensate. It made flying it rather difficult. Add in a little bit of wind and things were very very interesting. Lots of fun flying the little UM T-28 in-spite of the crashes, which you can see in the video. Anyways, enjoy the video!

UM T-28 Flying, Loops and Crashes (4 min 56 sec)

Meritline's got this Daily Deals specials. About every couple weeks, they put their 3ch micro coaxial helicopters on sale for about $22 shipped. These little ones are fun and easy to fly indoors. Great for cold, rainy, or windy days when I can't fly outdoors.

I already have a Talon Mini (v1) heli and it's a cute little heli. I have a video of it in my blog previously. Today, I made a video impression of the V2 heli. It's a little bit bigger than the V1. It has a trim problem in that it won't stop rotating to the left, even though I'm fully trimmed to the right. So a quick search on RCG said I should flatten the top rotor blade. That works great, but only for a few minutes at a time since the blades will revert back to their preformed shape. I don't know how to make them keep the flat shape... Here's my impression of it.

TeamRC's Hawk Talon Mini V2 RC Helicopter Impressions (6 min 32 sec)