Lots of snow this weekend, with more on the way. I spent the weekend shoveling - it left me pretty sore. The roof of our neighborhood supermarket collapsed from the weight as well.

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I have rather tentatively dipped my toes into the turbine jet pool. I purchased and assembled this Boomerang Nano. It is the smallest of the Boomerang line of sport jets. It is powered by a Jet Central SuperBee turbine that puts out 14 lbs of thrust. The trailing link retracts are from Digitec in the Netherlands. The receiver is a Spektrum 9100 powered by a pair of 1100 mah A123 packs.

The learning curve on this was huge for me. This is my first non-electric airplane and turbines come with a lot of pieces and bits that make them work. The Nano's fuselage is also small and it was a challenge getting everything packed in there. This was also my first time setting up pneumatic retracts.

The maiden flight was yesterday. I had another fellow with a lot more time on turbines and the Boomerang airframes do the flying for me. I was still nervous as hell though. The plane flew well but the CG needs some adjustment as the plane was pitch sensitive.

Running the turbine is a real thrill. The sound and smell and power is a real kick in the shorts. On the downside, they are kind high-maintenance in terms of the support gear that you have to haul along to the field and it can be kinda messy when you get kerosense on you.

I plan to do the next 10 flights or so on the buddy box until I am completely comfortable with it. Too much time and money in this one to be reckless. :cool:

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OK - I'll open myself up to abuse by inviting you to caption my halloween costume photo :D :


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Please see the attached flyer and be sure to attend PGRC's (Upper Marlboro, MD) giant scale and warbird events September 19 and 20. These are really great events at a great club and should not be missed.


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The Prince George's Radio Control Club (PGRC) of Upper Marlboro, MD is having their annual electric fly-in this coming Saturday. It is always a great event at a fantastic flying site.

Club info here:

http://www.pgrcclub.com/


Directions to the club:

http://www.pgrcclub.com/directions_to_PGRC_field.htm


Hope to see you there.

Steve

Here is the highlight video from my fun flight in the SNJ with www.warbirdadventures.com in Kissimmee, FL. i am not sure what I did wrong in moviemaker, but I lost all my nifty transitions and text screens.

Steve's AT 6 flight (9 min 41 sec)

Here is a bit of information about a plane I am having a lot of fun with right now. This is the Fantrainer EDF from Nitroplanes. It is a super flying airplane. It comes from fly-models in China. Typical of planes from Nitro, it is cheap, but has a few engineering issues to overcome. The main gear is located too far forward, the polyester resin airframe is rather heavy, it could use flaps, and there is no room to put the inlet ring on the fan. Once you get past these hurdles and get it in the air, you will be rewarded with a great flying airplane that looks very good and rather unique. I started out flying it with the landing gear. I was flying off pavement and was having a really hard time getting it down on the pavement and stopped because the plane lands rather fast on account of the heavy weight, fairly clean airframe, and wing loading. Well, I eventually ripped the gear off on a bad landing. I decided to leave the gear off the plane and just slide it off its belly in the grass. :D It works very well and the plane is faster as a result of the reduced weight and drag. Other guys put on bigger wheels and are landing on the grass. This is working well also.

My set-up is:

Wemotec Midi pro
Medusa 36-60-1600 v2 motor
Suppo 80HV ESC
7s 4000mah 25C Zippy-H batteries
Spektrum AR-7000 receiver
Dimension Engineering Delight LED lighting system.

For the $105 or so I spent on this airframe (20% off sale), I am pleased with it and having a whole lot of fun.

Thread here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=992741

Nitroplanes Fantrainer (2 min 8 sec)

http://www.vimeo.com/3997611

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Even Pravda can see that we are going commie. That is not good.

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0/

What were you people thinking last election? You got your "change", let's hope the nation can survive it. It will take a long time to unravel this mess.

Dang I am excited. My wife just booked me for a 1 hour aerobatics flight in an AT-6 when we go to Florida in July. I will probably get the video package to remember it by. Hopefully I won't blow chunks. :eek: It would suck to have that captured on video.

I haven't flown a full scale plane in about 15 years, so this is going to be pretty interesting.

http://www.warbirdadventures.com/home

We are proud to announce the birth of our second son. He was 6 lbs 8 oz. Momma and baby are both doing well. He has a hearty appetite. Big brother said he is very excited to hug his new baby brother (or did he say bug his new baby bother?).

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Over the course of this winter I put a home theater into our downstairs family room. The room itself is nothing fancy. It serves the combined roles of my son's playroom, my airplane hangar, and now our home theater. The nice thing is you can't see all the toys and other clutter in the dark. :) The whole process was pretty time consuming, but only because I had no idea what I was doing and learned by trial and error and reading a lot of forums. I have no experience with this sort of project and I have limited carpentry-type skills. My wife and I went to a friend's house to watch the superbowl a couple years ago in his home theater, and I managed to talk my wife into the idea during the course of the game. ;) I did all of the work myself (except the speaker wire fishes) and did it all as cheaply as I could.

So here are the specs:

Screen = 120" diagonal DIY painted screen on drywall with a 1x3 poplar frame wrapped in black velvet.

Projector throw distance = approx 15'

Seating distance = approx 14.5'

Projector = Panasonic AX200U 720p 2000 lumen LCD

Receiver = Onkyo SR705 7.1 surround processor. Purchased refurbished @ a great price from www.Shoponkyo.com.

Speakers = polk audio - 7.1 channels

Blu-ray = Sony Playstation 3 w/ IR2BT controller

Remote control = Logitech Harmony 880

Light control = Lutron Maestro IR dimmer

Power = Belkin sine wave UPS/conditioner

TV = Verizon FIOS HD

Chairs = 4 Palliser Rhumba microfiber recliners. We did not want leather since the theater is in the bottom level of our townhouse. This room gets cooler in the winter and leather would not be as comfortable.

I am very happy with the results. It is better than going to the theater. The sound and picture are awesome. I have a refrigerator in the closet that is stocked with beer, sodas and ice cream bars and a bathroom is 12 feet away. We have already had a lot of fun watching TV, movies and photos and home movies on this system.

Could it be better? Sure it could. I learned some things along the way and a bigger budget could always help too. The weakest parts of my current set-up are my DIY screen (has a few flaws in it that are visible in very bright scenes) and an undersized center channel speaker. Also certain compromises had to be made since this is our family room and not a dedicated theater room. It would be better if I could have painted all the walls and ceiling a very dark color instead of just the front wall, but that wouldn't make for a very fun playroom for my son. The room layout is also not ideal from an acoustic standpoint.

Most people won't notice the shortcomings, but of-course I do. It's like the flaws in your airplane's assembly or finish that only you notice.

Anyhow, here are a few photos of the room and my set-up.

Steve

Here is what I have observed about RCGroups:

While it is generally a good place for modelers to exchange honest and open information about the hobby and products, there is a dark under-current running beneath the surface of the forums. The threads are VERY heavily monitored and manipulated by the product manufacturers, their shills, their buddies, and the RCGroups reviewers whose loyalties are purchsed with free product from the manufacturers. These RCGroup members are rarely up-front and honest about their ties to the manufacturers or about what they receive from them. I have come to collectively regard this group as the Manufacturer Mafia. Have you ever noticed that if a product or manufacturer gets mentioned in a thread, no matter where it is on the forum and no matter the context, that a certain RCGroup member will instantly show up - as if from nowhere - to defend the manufacturer? How do they always just happen to stumble across the thread like that - and so quickly? It is not a coincidence. The manufacturers have their shills doing searches all the time for their product and company names. I rather suspect some of the shills are just alternate screen names for the manufacturer/seller themself.

So - how does all this manifest itself?

Even the worst products get rather benign reviews to ensure sales and to ensure RcGroups continues to take in advertising revenue from the manufacturers that count on fluff reviews to move the product. If anyone should dare to voice a negative view of a product in a thread trolled by one of the manufacturers they are quickly pounced on by the manufacturer's shills who will try to make the poster believe there is something wrong with them for saying anything negtive about the product. For example - they will allow a poster to gush endlessly in post-after-post about how great a product is, but if a poster repeats the same negative view of a product more than once, they are acused of dragging the thread "off-topic" If the manufacturer mafia cannot silence the poster by ganging up on them, the poster is further harassed and strong-armed into silence by having their posts reported as 'offensive' or 'off topic' or some other nonsense.

Have you ever encountered the Manufacturer Mafia in a thread on RCGroups? Click the link below to vote:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=899390

:d . . .

Here is the latest edition. It is an Alfa F-86 Sabre EDF. This plane has been around for quite a few years, but I just finally got myself one. I haven't flown it yet, but I have "taxi tested" it across the carpeted floor. :) Next decent day, I'll have to give it a try.

It is powered by a Don's wicked Extreme ourunner motor on 3s, an Alfa 5 blade fan, and a Pentium 40 ESC. It gives 475-500 watts in. Battery is a 25c 2100 mah. The AUW is about 20 oz.

One of the many Alfa Sabre threads can be found here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...7&goto=newpost

EDIT - got to fly this plane a few times yesterday. It flew well. Not quite as fast as I expected. It is a major amp hog on the set-up I have. Batteries and ESC could use some better cooling. I will tweak it and fly it some more. Overall I am pretty happy with it though.

Doppler passes here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1#post10078359

1. keysboatingonline.com
keysboatingonline.com/Acke - [Cached]
Published on: 4/12/2007 Last Visited: 4/12/2007

A lawsuit has been filed against Acker Marine Survey, Co. in Monroe County Circuit Court for professional negligence and breach of contract arising from a marine survey performed by its principal surveyor, Dewey T. Acker. According to records from the Florida Department of State, Acker Marine Survey, Co. is headquartered in Marathon Florida and has two directors - Dewey T. Acker and Suzanne F. Acker.
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I had a horrible experience with this surveyor. Dewey Acker spent only three hours, including launch and sea-trial, surveying a 40' trawler.

Acker failed to notice and report serious defects in the vessel that I believe should have been readily apparant to any professional surveyor - provided they were awake and sober while performing the survey. His failure to note these items cost me big money - many thousands of dollars. I would not recommend this surveyor to anyone - ever! What an expensive mistake that was!!

I finished up the E-flite AT-6. It looks pretty good if I may say so. I did not do much customizing so far. I will give it some personal touches down the road a bit. Set-up is:

- E-flite Power 25
- UH Guard 60 ESC with SBEC
- TP 3S2P 4200 15C Prolites
- APC 12x8 prop
- Spektrum AR7000 receiver
- UH 9320MG servos for ailerons, elevator, rudder and flaps
- JR RT88 retract servo for retracts

AUW = 4.9 oz with 2.5 oz of lead in the cowling and a 1 oz. higley hub on the prop.

I decided to try my hand at painting an APC prop. I don't think the grey looks that good on the warbirds. I sprayed it with Krylon Fusion for plastics. It went on pretty easy and I think it looks pretty decent. I need to do a better job of masking next time before I spray the yellow tips. I did have to re-balance it, but that isn't too big a deal. I balance them before I fly them anyhow.

It was kind of a hassle for just one prop, but if you do 3 or 4 at a time, it wouldn't be much more work for what you get.

Normally when spray painting multiple light coats work best, but when painting these props with the Fusion paint, I have found that a single heavy coat actually seems to give a better result. The single heavy coat seems to self-level. Multiple coats end up looking splotchy. This stuff drys quick too, 15-20 mins!

I wanted to see if I would get that cool yellow circle when the prop was spinning, so I ran it up just a bit. See the video below. Yes, the yellow ring is there - though it doesn't show up great on the smaller youtube version. Its not as clearly defined as I think it would be with a 3 or 4 blader, but it is there. It might also look better at higher RPM - or not. We'll see when I fly it.

Painted APC prop (0 min 22 sec)

Steve

UPDATE - after flying the corsair and mustang a bit, i decided that the ring from the yellow prop tips are not visisble in flight - but no matter, the props still look pretty darn good. :)

If you haven't tried Mercury Adhesives yet, you should. They really work as claimed. I gave all my old CA the boot. See Ya! I have no more patience for the clogged bottles and dried up CA.

Here is my HET F-20. This is my first EDF. I kinda struggled a bit with getting it built. I got reasonably comfortable putting traditional planes together but knew nothing about EDFs, and I experienced a bit of a learning curve. Hopefully I got it right and I hope to fly it soon. I will launch it off the bungee launcher shown in my other blog entry. I think if the launch goes OK - everything else will be fine. Fingers crossed. Just in case, i did not waste any time on detailing it :) . I am hoping to get some video to share. The thread for this airplane can be found here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1&goto=newpost


The other picture is the E-flite AT-6 I just recieved. THis one should be a lot of fun to fly. It has really nice scale retracts and flaps. I am looking forward to this one. The thread for this airplane can be found here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...1&goto=newpost

UPDATE 08/08:

Airframe 2.0 is assembled and flying. It fly pretty well and looks good in the air. I had to cut the aileron throws way down to make it manageable. I am pretty sure this is what lead to crash of airframe #1.

09/08:

With a few more flights on the F-20 under my belt, I can say that I am starting to enjoy this airplane an I am happy that I took the time to build another. I have it pretty well dialed in now, and it flies well.

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I completed construction of my PVC bungee launch ramp/pedal release. I followed the basic design shown at http://www.yourzagi.com/launcher/ . A thread can be found here on RC groups at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...9&goto=newpost

It was reasonably inexpensive to build. I think the total parts were about $27.00. I shortened the overall length of the unit to 4' to make transporting easier. It also breaks down into 3 main pieces for transport. I have not been able to test it yet because the folks from aerofoam that make the hosemonster bungees went on vacation and I have no bungee as yet.

I added an extra safety. Since I haven't tried it yet, I don't know how useful it will be. It consists of a cotter pin on a red line tied to the launcher. I am thinking that once I put the ring that is attached to the bungee line onto the post, I will put this cotter pin through the post above it. I will then remove the pin just before moving back to step on the release. I am hoping this will avoid any unintentional/premature launches. We'll see if it works as I hoped.

I built the launcher to launch an EDF jet (an F-20) that I will build once warbirds-RC gets them back in stock. It will be my first EDF plane. I am also thinking I may use the launcher for a couple of my warbirds that I handlaunch now like my Spitfire and my Corsair. While these planes handlaunch OK, I don't always like imposing on fellow flyers to launch them and sometimes people aren't comfortable doing it. I am hoping this simplifies the task.

I am looking forward to my first "cat shot".

Steve

EDIT 08/08:

I have about five launches with the bungee system so far and I am really really happy with it. It works just perfect. Many thanks to the people that posted the build threads and the the hosemonster bungee guys.
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