I built this crate to move 2 built planes overseas.
Dimensions: 48"x24"x18"
Materials: 1x1 furring strips, 4x8, 1x4 ply, brads, glue and screws.

Its ok to leave comments or share crates you have made.

Questions about trimming come up a lot. I have used this method with great success.

Just some pics of my 48" EF Extra 300.
Specs:
Motor.........2814T/820
ESC..........Airboss 45
Servos......DS-11AMB, DS13 on elevator
Batteries...Gens Ace 4S2500
Rx..............AR8000 w/TM1000
Prop..........12x6, APC
AUW..........3Lbs 5oz (53oz or 1.5Kg)...Continue Reading

Now, Big Brown Truck is the best delivery
For R/C planes, motors, servos and plug-in receptacles
And you, sir, do not have a pair of testicles
If you prefer flying on a PC

Hey, Big Brown Truck is cheap and dependable
And for over 100 years, they are quite indispensable
delivering to my home, they are commendable
FedEx kiss my posterior, whow

Big Brown Truck,I see you pull up
Let's have a party, let's have a party
I love you, Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Proceed to party, proceed to party

Now, I really love how packages are easy to track
But I really hate when a package gets a crack
'Cause when the contents fall out the inside of my pack
Well, that, my friends, is quite yucky

But I have to admit that the ladies get smitten
Admirin' how sharply my name and address is written
On you with a label when I get to hittin'
On them to help me get lucky

Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Let's have a party, let's have a party
I love you, Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Proceed to party, proceed to party

Now, I've never seen you in blue or in yellow
But only you, brown, will do for this fellow
'Cause you are the Abbot to my Costello
And you are the fruit to my loom

Big Brown Truck, you're more than just delivery
You're more than amazing, you're more than the stuff you bring to me
And believe me that I am not speaking the least bit facetiously
When I look at you and say

Big Brown Truck, you're not just a truck
(No, no, no, God, no)
You're my, you're my
(Friend?)
Friend
(Friend, friend, friend, life long)
Thank you for being my friend

Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Let's have a party, let's have a party
I love you, Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Proceed to party, proceed to party

Big Brown Truck, I see you pull up
Let's have a party, let's have a party
Big Brown Truck, let's have a party
Proceed to party

adapted from Toby Keith's Red Solo cup by me, Copyright 2012

I just maidened my first quad, a Hoverthings VC-550. I won this frame last month at HHAEFI and figured now was a good time to try out a quad. Previous to winning this frame I heard about Open Pilot on ATTF (episode 200B) and it sounded like a good way to go.

The timing for everything was perfect; I hear about Open Pilot, I win a frame, CC Boards become available and I am able to get one. I already had an RX and batteries on hand so all that was needed was motors, ESCs and props, and I was able to buy these from a friend for $90.00. To make everything go together gracefully I also got a power distribution board for DIY Drones. So, my total direct investment in this project is a little over $200.00.

Everything went together pretty easily, then it was time to set up the radio and CC board. I followed the instructions in the Getting Started video at the Open Pilot website as well as Mats 101 guide. Between the two I got everything set up for a good first quad flight and maiden. The maiden went ok. The quad took off a lot faster than I had expected it to and as you will see in the video, I had it going up and down before I put it down a little hard. No damage though and from then on out everything worked pretty much the way I expected it to. The only thing I'd recommend doing different is to use the stock throttle curve and not the one in Mats 101 unless you have a heavy setup. Using the stock throttle curve this thing flies very steady. I'll have to get new video showing it.

...Continue Reading

I got this plane for free a few years ago after a friend of mine crashed it. He was doing low inverted passes and crashed it upside down which messed up the motor box, cowl and canopy. He was going to throw it away but offered it to me instead. I kept it and promised that one day I would get around to rebuilding it.
Here is what I have so far....Continue Reading

Battery tray to make it easier to install batteries, especially ones that to go way up in the cowl to get a good CG. It also provides a method to consistantly place the battery at the right CG....Continue Reading

Had a case of the dumb thumbs and smacked my Slick down hard on the landing gear which folded them back and destroyed the landing gear plate.
Luckily I had spare parts from the 2 motor box repairs I have made in the past. With them I was able replace all the destroyed pieces....Continue Reading

For small, low power (less than 15 Amps) aircraft, like foamies, I like the JSTs.

For larger aircraft I really like Anderson Power Poles. I used Deans for a while and didn't like soldering and I didn't like how difficult they could be to pull apart. Power Poles positively click together but are easy to pull apart. They do not require soldering, although you can do that if you like. For R/C modeling purposes there are 3 ratings/sizes which are 15, 30 & 45 amp contacts that all use the same housing. Therefore, they all plug into each other. The only difference between the 15, 30 & 45 amp contacts is the size of the receiving barrel that holds the wire and the 45 amp is a beefier contact. The 45 amp contact is perfect for 10 Ga. wire. I am a little puzzled why Power Poles are rates them way the way they do because you can put many more amps through them than their rating suggest. I have friends that are consistently putting over 100 Amps through these connectors with no problems and while I have not gone as high as 100 amps, I do regularly exceed the Amp rating suggested by Anderson. Why is this possible?
According to an Anderson Engineer in the article Using Power Poles “The actual rating for a 30-amp Powerpole is for a 30° Celsius (54° Fahrenheit) temperature rise at 30 amps (and 110 volts) using 12-gauge wire” and “that 30-amp connectors would not fail in sustained use until over 200 amps.”

The best price I have found for Powerpoles are from Powerwerx.
http://...Continue Reading

Here is the latest addition to the hangar....Continue Reading

After being gone for 5 weeks and finally fixing my Stryker. I was able to get out and go fly with my friends. The Stryker flew well but eventually I did not. While trying to fly it low, slow and inverted I got behind the power curve and dropped it out of the sky. Only the battery hatch came off and it was still flyable so decided to keep flying without the hatches. I figured I'd just keep the top side up and not do any fancy flying. That was a bad idea. The battery ejected about 50 feet up and hit the concrete and the plane just flipped end over end and landed softly upside down. The plane wasn't damaged and the battery.... well it didn't explode and catch on fire. I brought it home and discharged it and it is now recharging in the firesafe. All the cell appear to be fine and I was able to bend the battery back into shape. I think it will be ok....Continue Reading

Liquidity and I went to the Pop Curtis Memorial Fly-In at Hodges Hobbies this past Saturday (14 Apr). We didn't fly but we had a great time watching the guys with bigger planes and more experience show their stuff. Here are the pics....Continue Reading

Well After a few crashes I finally killed the Stryker. The good news is that I have few more brand new fuselages, no damaged electronics and should be up and going again soon. Here are the pics of the carnage.

The best method I've used for getting a plane out of a tree is to use a slingshot, a spool of string and a 2 - 5oz fishing weight. Don't try to shoot your plane down, just get the string over the branch, let the weight fall to the ground, grab both ends of the string and can shake the plane down.
This method has been use to retrieve 5 planes now. Only one was destroyed, but that happened from the plane hitting the tree.

Also, use a pair of leather work gloves because the string will cut up your hands.

I decided to glue my previously deceased Stryker back together. I've also been toying with adding landing gear so I can do touch and goes. The pics below show my first attempt with landing gear. If I like it I will install them permanently. So far I like it a lot. I put the mains pretty much right on the CG and it rotates a little too easy which endangers the prop. The permanent install will locate them a little farther back.

I've been flying this particular Stryker for a few months now and never had a major mishap until today. Add a good gust of wind with pulling out of a downward spin a little too late and you get... BAM! Pieces everywhere!

I can probably glue it all back together, but I think I'd rather just build another.

I got my wife to come out and take some action shots of the Stryker with her new camera. Things went well and she was able to get lots of shots of the underside of the plane as I streaked by. She wanted to get more of the top side. It was getting darker and she had a hard time getting the camera focused as it whizzed by. So I bring it in slow and wag it back and forth so she can get a good view of the top and then.... Whoops! Nose first into the ground! I gathered up all the pieces, re-attached them and was off and flying again. Now I just need to touch up the paint!...Continue Reading

More pics

I finally finished painting my new fuselage. I haven't decided if I will paint over the servos or leave them as is. Here are the pics.

51" Slick colors:

All Ultracote

Red scheme:

True Red HANU866
White HANU870
Blue Pearl HANU845
Cub Yellow HANU884


Yellow Scheme:

Bright yellow HANU872
True red HANU866
Black HANU874
Silver HANU881


Blue Scheme:

Pearl Blue HANU845
Silver HANU881
White HANU870
Black HANU874