Overview:

. Here's my Shark Racer from HobbyKing. I thought It was a cheap fairly high quality (for hobby King) Racer. So far other than a few small quality issues I got the plane flying a good 90mph.

Review:

. After opening the slightly beaten package I found the plane virtually undamaged. I hear some people have the wing folded or cracked but lucky me it fine. After a quick inspection I found that the wing doesn't fit properly onto the fuselage. There's about a 2mm-3mm gap between them. It's just a quick fix of just dremeling out part of the wing so it fits though. Another issue I found is that the elevetor's included CA hinges are very stiff. Even after working them out they were still stiff. Luckly the plane doesn't need that much throw but I'm pretty sure that servo will breakdown soon. I'll recommend getting higher quality hinges. Furthermore the battery hatch uses this weird wire thing to keep it closed. It's doesn't hold tight enough. I removed it and replaced it with a ply front tab to fit inside the fuselage and triple strength velcro the hold the back. So far it's held great. And last and wort issue is elevator alignment. After the first flight I noticed the elevator slanted slightly toward the left. The elevator was a very snug fit so I know it didn't move in midair. I have no idea how to fix this but so far I'm not noticing it while flying. There are other smaller issues that you'll see in the pictures below.
. I'm using a Sky Lipo...Continue Reading

Overview:

I happened to have one of those 3 channel AR6400 laying around with a slightly messed up motor port. Obviously the best thing to do with it was to make a glider.

Review:

My DLG was inspired by micro_builder's HLG. Mine's made from 1/16 balsa and 1/36 ply. I also have a fiberglass pod that was molded around a lightbulb. It flies ok. The glide times are between 1-2min and the rudder is a little unresponsive. The servo is pushing about 35-40g when moving the control surface so there's not to much more I can do. More comments are welcome if you see and need for improvement.

Pictures:



...Continue Reading

Overview:

I got a Micro P-51 as a gift and decided, let's try making this a hotrod. I'm kind of into speed planes now so I think it'll be a fun build for my weekend.

Review:
I didn't want mine to just perform differently, but also look differently so before I started modding the guts, I removed the top half and started painting both sides to my liking. I decided MoonShine McBeam looked the best. To get ready for my 2s brushless setup I reinforced the leading edges and control surfaces with packing tape so they would warp at higher speeds. I also got a clear canopy from parkflyerplastics.com and now it looks pretty good to my standers. Next I added small magnets to the top half so now I can easily get into my p-51 without having to cut open my P-51 every time.

Now onto the electronics. I used a 6A Castle Creations esc and an AP05 micro brushless motor. You can look at the pictures below to see how I wired it. I didn't have to much problems other than forgetting to set the rx to brushless mode.

Now the P-51 is and absolute blast. I'll get the exact mph next time I fly but i'll guess it goes about 40mph. At least it's got unlimited vertical.


AR6400 2s brushless conversion Steps (use the picture at the bottom of this post for reference:
1. Take the stock micro motor connector and desolder both motor wires
2. Attach orange wire from brushless ESC to the micro motor connector
3. Desolder the battery connector
4. Solder the 1N4001 Diode somwhere in the middle of the...Continue Reading

Overview:
. This is quick build, just about 2-3 hours. I remembered about an old broken ar6400 laying around while doing some work and thought it might be a good idea to try to fix it since the last time I tried was 6 months ago. It was a simple short that was easily fixed.

Setup:

Receiver-AR6400 Micro Receiver
Motor-Parkzone UMX P-51 Brushed Motor
Battery-Turnigy 138mah 3.7v 10c Lipo
Prop-Parkzone 130mm x 70mm UMX Prop


White Wing V1:

. Designing took 2mins since I have wanted to build a micro delta wing ever since I saw Cheese5's flying wing. After 2hrs the plane was finished. Other then I few trimming problems it worked out pretty good. It was one of those planes that was meant to fly. After a few flights in a nearby park, I have come to the conclusion that I will make a V2 and possibly a V3. This V1 flew which is a good start, but it didn't meet my full expectations. It's more of a plane to glide, the acrobatics are limited to inverted and sketchy loops. I think V2 will have bigger elevons.

Pictures:




Video:

White Wing V1 (0 min 40 sec)

White Wing V2:

Review:
. I finished designing and building the V2 plane and the results are great. This wing is more acrobatic than the last and even capable of doing various stunts such as high-alpha. I'm estimating that the speed is about 15-20mph. Overall, it's great for a quick relaxing flight in low wind conditions. I think in my next and final version, i'll replace the...Continue Reading

Overview:
. Here's are all the planes I currently own including links and setups. I'll update when ever I get a new plane or lose a plane.

AirForce:

AXN Floater Jet:

Review:
. Awesome plane. Its flight performance is phenomenal. It is like a glider except jacked up with a super motor. It glides just fine as long as you get a good nose heavy center of gravity. It's also can be a speed glider. I don't know any glider that cost under $100 that can fly so fast. Last time I clocked on radar, it was going about 55mph coming down for a speed pass. Not my fastest plane but it's one of my favorites. There is one small problem for me though; not major but to me, any problem is not good. The noise from the motor is very loud. It's about as loud as your average 70mm edf jet. Probably can't help it though since the motor spins at a high kv with a small prop. I don't know for sure if it's the motor or foam design but when i fly, most On lookers stare at me and it gets creepy when thirty people look at you at once; gets the blood flowing.
. This also isn't a bad FPV platform. It's not great but suitable. I used it but squishing a larger battery in gets a little time consuming and using a larger 2200mah 3s get about 10min depending on how throttle is used. I also made a little velcro FPV backpack so I could install it quickly. It's needed because not all the electronics can fit inside: http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...9/P3190273.jpg

Setup/Links:

AXN...Continue Reading

Overview:
. Since I've started FPV I though " what better way to pass the shipping/Christmas time then by building a plane to mount it one. My plan is to have 3-5 Drafts. In another-words, I build a v1, scrap it, then a v2, scrap it, v3, scrap it, and finial a v4 which than should be perfect in every way.


V1 FPV Mini:

Setup:

Motor - HK C20 Outrunner 2050kv - https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...er_2050kv.html
ESC - Airfield Brushless 20A - http://www.hobbypartz.com/93a847-13-brushlessesc.html
Servos - HS-55 Micro 8g - http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...o-HRC31055S#t2
Battery - HK 11.1v Lipo 1050mah 20C - https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...poly_Pack.html
Receiver - Spektrum 8ch AR8000 - http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...iver-SPMAR8000


Review:
. First thoughts before flight is aw snap it's got epic big throws. On 100% D/R ailerons about 45 degrees. I set my D/R to 55% 75% and 100% but it still is really responsive. I fly on low rates but i'll have to tune it down. After my first flight i felt that it wasn't bad. Surprisingly the small motor could power that 27" plane. It's a little loud but it's mostly from the foam vibrating. I'll try to balance to prop again. I'm guessing that it goes about 30mph but there was a wind of over 15mph so it was sort of hard to tell the normal speed. It was also a bit unstable. I don't know if it was lack of wing area or CG, but i'll have to find out because flying low is a bit hard.

...Continue Reading

I like snakes, do you?

I found a snake on the runway next to my planes when I was about to takeoff, almost ran it over.



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Overview:
. I got the RCPowers f-18v2 to fly last week and it flies great. High Alpha's a bit rocky but hopefully it'll work better with a Kfm-4 airfoil.
. Clocked on a radar gun, I got it to go almost 50mph. That was going up wind though, hopefully next time I fly it, it'll get a faster reading down wind.
. The main difficulty's I had on the maiden it was to little elevator. Even on the top hole, the elevator barley had enough throws to stay up. It was an easy fix though. I added Popsicle sticks the servo horns to make the horn longer. It was enough throws, but I always like things a bit more throwy than "enough to fly", so i added thrust vectoring. Now with spoilerions and up elevator together, I can loop on a dime.
. I also put skids on the bottom because I fly at a place with dry drit ground that can easily chew up depron, even on a good landing. The skids are pretty much Popsicle sticks sticking out the bottom, nothing fancy.


Setup:

Motor-Super Megajet v2 Brushless outrunner
ESC-Exceed RC Brushless 40A ESC
Servos 4x-HS-55
Battery-Sky Lipo 11.1v 1800mah 40c Li-po
Receiver-Ar8000 and Telemetry module with Temp and Voltage sensor.

Hardware:

Prop-Apc 6x4
Foam-Depron
Hinges-Packing Tape
Motor Mount-Laser Cut Plywood
Reinforcement-Carbon Fiber Tubes

F-18:


I like big throws and vectored thrust:


Gutz:
...Continue Reading