21 Oct 2015
Do you have one of the beaut 1700mm FMS birds (P51, P47, F4U), but retracts that are horribly unreliable electrically, or simply just don't work electrically?
While there are guys who have had nil issues with these retracts, there are many of us who have had no end of frustration, not to mention damaged planes, and seems to be related to bad batches of the black resin micro switch controller board.
Having bought a bunch of FMS retracts for my 1700mm FMS birds and other planes as well thinking FMS upgrades = quality, I'd spent too much money on more unreliability, there had to be a way to make these pathetic useles retracts work reliably...

Thanks again to those who helped out.
Brandon and Lou for their never ending contribution to our community.
wefinance for his great suggestion.

Here's our work-around fix:

I searched the hell out of my shed to find my old LX P40 retract controller, the LX controller seems to operate on overcurrent to find the end point travel limit on retracts, as opposed to using micro switches, so the LX type controller will allow power to go to the retract motor which will run until it reaches travel limit, for a split second the current draw will rise and the controller detects this as travel limit and subsequently cut power to the retract motor. I really like this method because if the retracts binds part way through travel the controller will immediately cut power, rather than straining the motor until the over current protection...Continue Reading

Just clowning around with my olde faithful P51

FMS P-51 1400mm 580kv 05072015 (8 min 40 sec)

Here's a 4 part video series of the eventual delivery of the OzKopter.

It seems like a millenium ago when Stu (cr2o3 on RC Groups) had posted a simple question as to whether it would be possible to build a reasonable quality quad on a very tight budget.
Stu is a Vietnam Veteran and is rather restricted in mobility, so to be able to pursue his (all of our!) passion of flight, he was considering an alternative to fixed wing RC flight and multirotors offered a lot more convenience given Stu's restricted lifestyle.
From that post was bourne a generous international donation collective, which was started by Gary (Tarro on RCG)... and Gary started in spectacular style by basing the quad on the Naza-M FC... and, well, the perfect choice & quality build is testiment in this video. The Ground Station was built by Doc with more donations, which complimented the quad mounted donated GoPro.
This quad, dubbed the OzKopter, was sent to Stu's residence from Gary in USA. I drove to Stu to help him with his first flight but my knowledge is very limited with multirotors, let alone a decent FC such as the Naza... so I brought the OzKopter home with me and took it to the Doc, who is well versed in Naza FC's, and Doc kindly tweaked the beast and instructed me on the flight controls.
I then drove back to Stu armed with knowledge that I could then guide Stu to fly the OzKopter... and the end result could not have been better- OzKopter flew perfectly at Stu's control.

And the desired result...Continue Reading

P 51 Red Tail FMS 1700mm sepia pc (8 min 0 sec)

Setup:

FMS 1700mm P51
FMS 360kv motor upgrade
Mild 0.5mm prop pitch mod
6S 5000mah lipo

Futaba 9C
FrSky rcTx with 5dbi antenna
FrSky rcRx with antenna extention

Sony SuperHad CCD camera
Home made Pan&Tilt
ImmersionRC 25mw vTx

Fatshark 922 goggles or HeadPlay HD HMD
ArkBird antenna tracker
Boscam diversity vRx
7 turn helical antenna (RHCP)
Blue Beam Airscrew antenna (RHCP)
ImmersionRC TrackR2 headtracker
vTx has since been relocated as low as possible into the underside vent with great results.
And of course, retract mod

Back with more mods May 2017

Tacon 110 295kv [max 68 apms/ 2000 watts]
Ramosa VarioProp 18.6x10 four blade [test results 70 amps/ 2040 watts]
8 cell (2 x 4S 5000mah)
Ally Mustang parabolic spinner
Full cockpit canopy

Stock sequencer went totally stupid today, only once but thankfully it was during ground tests, so a replacement will be in order.

Next will be a full livery repaint & Callie magic
RAAF 3 Sqn... 'nuff said for now

FMS 1700mm P 51 canopy test flights 01052017 (7 min 43 sec)

...Continue Reading

Have you dreamed of flying one of your favourite planes from the cockpit?
Take one of these FMS 1700mm P-51...

FMS 1700mm P51 28082016 (7 min 8 sec)

FMS 1700mm P 51 11092016 (3 min 31 sec)

...Continue Reading

Dave Upton put together an instructional video to fly FPV
Intro and 8 part video, part 8 includes a beautiful flight along the Oregan coastline, complete with a fuel-out deadstick crash landing on final heh heh

Intro:
http://www.youtube.com/user/INCABRC

Part 1:

INCAB-RC Videolink Installation part 1 (9 min 5 sec)

Part 2:

INCAB-RC Videolink Installation part 2 (7 min 23 sec)

...Continue Reading

Project Cyclops RPV was founded in approx mid-1980's by Mr Carl Berry.
He came up with an extraordinary way to fly Remote Piloted Vehicle by using something like a Sega arcade gaming console and converted it to a cockpit complete with joystick, throttle control, even rudder foot bar, all linked to the respective pots of a standard RC controller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...v=fL8rIUkXAco#!

Mr Carl Berry passed away November 2002 at the age of 59.
His son is currently keeping this project alive.
His YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/projectc...?feature=watch

Yum... simply... YUM!

P-47 Razorback - Moki 400 Radial (3 min 24 sec)

Something difference, scale fpv, head tracking on Hobbyking's old all fibreglass tricopter.
She's heavy but with 2 x 3S 2200 parallel she performs quite "scale" and achieves consistant 7-8 minute flights.
Takes a bit of getting used to head tracking on something that can fly sideways lol

C3 Tricopter Maiden 18032017 (5 min 1 sec)

...Continue Reading

Just some pics to give an idea how to do the ep conversion.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/folding-...en_us_products

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-...ner-motor.html

Pan & Tilt setups

I've had a lot of peeps asking how I set up my P&T's, here's a handful of the many...

I use hot glue a lot, but please be aware I do not use the cheap art/hobby hot melt glue gun.
I use Bosch hot glue gun and genuine Bosch hot glue sticks.
Bosch hot glue not only is hotter, but it literally adheres better and is very resilient to hot summer sun.
The quality is night and day.

The Hitec servos are modded to rotate 180 degrees.
The difference in quality between the Henge type 260 degree servos is very obvious in the goggles, the cheap Henge servo steps with slow head tracker movements, where-as the Hitec servos are very smooth, no matter how slow the tracker movement registered.

ARC/ Thunder Tiger 1500mm Jupiter

~ Runcam Swift mini CCD cam, stock supplied camera bracket used for tilt.
~ Hitec HS5055MG tilt servo
~ Hitec HS225MG pan servo

ANZAC Day 2018 "Jupiter in Motion" to classical piano [scale fpv] (4 min 43 sec)

Hobbyking 1/8 electric Buggy

I needed something that was as sturdy a set up as possible while ground pounding. I bought the pan setup from ServoCity. Works very well.

~ SN555 cam, aircraft control horns used for tilt brackets mounted on ally plate.
~ Hitec MG pan servo
~ Hitec MG tilt servo

Boobs n buggy! XB Trailblazer (14 min 46 sec)

...Continue Reading

fwiw use a fibreglassing consolidating roller, like the one in the attached pic, an ally/alloy, they make life so much easier and you can roll out the excess resin with ease so not only will the end result be lighter, but it will actually be stronger
Weight WILL increase very quickly if too much resin is used, f'glass does get heavy if you aren't conscious of the fact
that said, this SSS can actually do with a bit more weight up fwd

i'm certainly not about to try and tell anyone how to suck eggs lol but here's a quick basic way to epoxy fibreglass, pretty much the same principal for repairing a boat...
~first give the epo foam you wish to f'glass a light sanding. this is important for two reasons... most epo finishes these days have a smooth wax like finish- epoxy wont stick to that at all, and you do want it to stick, you dont want the foam structure underneath to be able to move around so unless you are wrapping the foam but rather just repairing a spot, Polix is correct, it will peel off eventually. Also it will help the resin bind to the foam by having a mechanical key with the resultant scratching from the sanding. Sand until all the shine has been removed.
~then, preferably with the lightest epoxy fibreglassing cloth you can get, cut out the cloth to exact size patches for the work you wish to do, and when they are all cut out, number them with a marking pen so you know which order & where they need to be applied to the airframe
One layer will protect the...Continue Reading

Not my video, but I would luuurrrve to fly formation such as this

Star Sky 2012 (3 min 24 sec)

Aimed at semi scale fpv, I maidened this morning and couldn't be happier.
I'm in love!

Lanyu/ Volantex 1400mm Super Decathlon (also sold by Hobbyking)
G&C 3648/600kv motor
12x8x3 MAS prop
FMS 70 amp esc
Multistar 4S 4000mah yields an easy 15 minutes, 20 mins lands at 3.7v/cell
Hitec micro servos all round
HS1177 CCD camera
Henge 260 degree panning servo
Hitec 5055MG micro tilt servo
Home made P&T
Boscam/Skyzone TS353 5.8ghz 400mw
Spironet antenna (top of main wing above cockpit)
FrSky 2.4 rc with one 60cm antenna extension (tail)
Bigaole basic RTH AP
LCD volt gauge is unknown, bought it ages ago and can't remember where I had originally bought it dammit!
Pocket gps, decased and modded, having issues with it (very slow refresh rate) but intend to fix it later.

Airframe and undercarriage are all stock, only replaced the windscreen and removed the "door" windows.

UPDATE:
I've replaced the camera and P&T...
Runcam Swift Mini
Home made P&T using the bracket that came with the Runcam cam
Hitec HS225MG panning servo (modded for 180 degrees)
Hitec 5055MG tilt servo
I've also added a hacked Mobius HD cam for HD footage

I Love Flying 25042017 (4 min 14 sec)

Decathlon Low level fun 30042017 (6 min 48 sec)

...Continue Reading

Dave, this is brilliant vid footage brought together with awesome editing.
Something I aspire to.
Cheers!

FPV - Team Echelon - In My Dreams (4 min 26 sec)

A real handy thing to know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=4n1ec2w21pA

This guy has achieved in making some awesome fpv footage, yet flies only LOS... from top of buildings to flying from a hat air balloon... very nice piloting skills

No Risk No Fun- crazy horst (7 min 49 sec)

This has to rate as one of the best fpv vid footages I've seen, gorgeous scale fpv.
Truth be told, it was *this* video that lured me into fpv.
Absolutely fantastic work.

FPV Air2Air Hydroplane (4 min 19 sec)

Blohm & Voss BV 138 seaplane- Christian Ramoser
Twinstar fpv chase plane- Chris Koubek, who also filmed and edited.

Details as per vid description:

Configuration for this film:
FPV Twinstar: Flycam1² under wing, FPV-cam on cockpit, pan/tilt via sliders on Tx,10mW downlink to LCD Monitor, recording on Laptop.

BV138 equiped with a pan-tilt helmet camera controlled by a seperate Tx/Rx, and downlink-recording.

The air to air recordings were made on one evening with 3 seperate flights.
The BV inflight cockpit shots were recorded on a separate day with much darker sky.

Some data on the Modell BV-138:

Type: BV138-C1
Built: 2006
Span: 299 cm / 9.8ft
Length: 221 cm / 7.25ft
Hight: 72cm / 2.36ft
Wing area: 1,321 qm / 14.22 sqft
Material: Balsa
Max. el. power: 2,5 kW at 15V (4S)
Endurance: 22min

The fuselage of the model contains a 5 litre water tank.
When in the water, the tank is flooded to achieve a scale water line.
The ballast water is bailed on take off. A bit of the water flowing out can be noticed in the video shortly after take off.

Stumbled onto this vid, a pretty good effort at edf formation flying

FPV aerobatic team (5 min 34 sec)

Vintage RC Video Magazine #5 1986 Table Contents in Description (1 hr 36 min 14 sec)