Originally Posted by Yaniel

what did you think of the yak, diggs? i saw it flying around in some of the flight pass videos

I can tell I am going to like it a lot. I chose the wrong front servo for it. It just doesn't have the throw in the ailerons I would like. And as my battery starts to get low, I notice it decreases. I am going to put in something a bit stronger and see how it does then. On a fresh pack, it did great. The lack of wing drop during hard rudder turn is impressive and it knifes well too. Hover is very stable and it's going to be a winner once I work out the one small issue.

I received my precut .9# EPP kit yesterday. I can't wait to see how that turns out. I hope I can keep it ultra lite. Shooting for the 5oz range on that one, but need to determine which servos to use. I will put a 1500kv blue wonder on this one. Have been using the 1200kv, but want to try to stick with 2S packs. Again, thanks for the link!

My best plane indoors at the moment is my 36" Gene Bond Yak 54. Slow floaty and stable. It can't handle the outdoors very well, but in the Gym it rocked. Shame I don't get to fly it indoors more often. I think the Yak 55 might take over that top spot once I get it dialed in.

Originally Posted by rpstar

Diggs, be sure to post if you start building the full-fuselage Edge from RCM&E magazine. I've been looking for a full-fuselage EPP 3d plane. I've considered the e-foamies ones as well as making an EPP version of the "Big Nasty" in the scratchbuilt forums. I need to get this magazine you mentioned and check that one out also. I'd want to scale it down though. Decisions....

Love the podcast. Keep it up.

Thanks for Listening! WHEN I finally start that project, I will do a build thread on it. I can't release the plans since they are owned by RCM&E mag. But I will document the build process. Now that my indoor projects can be put aside for a while, I am going to focus on SEFF planes. I have a ton of Ritewings and the Edge that I would like to get done prior to SEFF. That is going to be a challenge to complete any of them due to the detailed build. But I will keep you updated.

Diggs

glad you enjoyed it, i'm sure this will make it even more popular for leadfeather. he designed a heck of a plane.

Join James and Chris as they chat with Bill Sanford about his A123-powered Align (yes, Align!) helicopters. We talk about the pros and cons of A123 cells, how to charge them, and how Bill actually managed to kill a few of them.

Stuff We Talked About
Baldwin Controls Zip charge terminator
Zip Charging Discussion (RCG thread)
Tanic Packs Mastech HY5020 charge cord
Hyperion A123 battery connector bars
Battery bar assembly tips
Trex 600 / A123 Discussion (HeliFreak thread)

Perry Swap Meet(South-Eastern Model Show) was great!

Diggs, you have got to plan on coming next year!

Got about 40indoor flights! Had all three chargers constantly charging. I would fly out all three packs, go look around while packs are charging, come back about 45min later fly out all the packs and do it again!

Here is the video of my demo flight Friday -

Yak54 Demo at SE Model Show (Perry Swap Meet) (2 min 11 sec)

Obviously they did not have any, but I did talk to 2Dog about the RaptorGS, and picked up another 2s 450mah 28C pack for my indoor Yak.

Also managed to pick up a NIB SSX that had a some minor wing damage(due to shipping) to the wing(Should not take but about an hour to fix) for $25! The went by the Millennium RC booth, and grabbed an X-fuse kit for it!

All in all had a great time!

Nice flying bro!!! That GP Yak is a monster. Nathan, Prez of the RAMS club has one and does some really great stuff with it at the indoor event in eden. It does great snap rolls indoors too. Lot of authority on all the surfaces and seems well balanced. If only it were EPP

Diggs

WOW nice.

Originally Posted by Diggs

Nice flying bro!!! That GP Yak is a monster. Nathan, Prez of the RAMS club has one and does some really great stuff with it at the indoor event in eden. It does great snap rolls indoors too. Lot of authority on all the surfaces and seems well balanced. If only it were EPP

Diggs

Thanks man! It really is a great flying airplane! One of the few planes I have found that is really a joy to build. Comes with little foam jigs to set the fuse pieces in while gluing to keep everything nice and square. Everything is pre-hinged!

Heck, get one and lay the parts out on a sheet of EPP, then trace, and cut out an EPP version!

Pre-hinged.... Awww Yeah. I seem to suck at making hinges. It is my downfall so far on most of my foamies. I am going to get some Welders and blenderm and try that next. Found a thread from Tram and it seems to work very well.

As for making a depron plane into EPP, the weight of the foam tends to make the plane tail heavy. I might give it a go and use some 6mm 1.3# epp. If it comes out tail heavy, I might shorten it a bit or move the wing back just a touch. My yak 54 needs a big chunky pack now up front for balance, but it was my favorite flyer this weekend at the indoor. It is the Gene Bond 36" yak54.

Diggs

Originally Posted by Diggs

Pre-hinged.... Awww Yeah. I seem to suck at making hinges. It is my downfall so far on most of my foamies. I am going to get some Welders and blenderm and try that next. Found a thread from Tram and it seems to work very well.

As for making a depron plane into EPP, the weight of the foam tends to make the plane tail heavy. I might give it a go and use some 6mm 1.3# epp. If it comes out tail heavy, I might shorten it a bit or move the wing back just a touch. My yak 54 needs a big chunky pack now up front for balance, but it was my favorite flyer this weekend at the indoor. It is the Gene Bond 36" yak54.

Diggs

The 2s 450mah pack on mine, is just forward of the CG. Plenty of room to move the pack forwards to compensate for the tail-heaviness of the EPP.

Edge, sorry for the delay, but I got my servo order right before I went on vacation for a week. No more waiting on the slow boat for me, I will get the hxt's from you every time. Thanks for the quick shipping and great service.

Originally Posted by Court461

Edge, sorry for the delay, but I got my servo order right before I went on vacation for a week. No more waiting on the slow boat for me, I will get the hxt's from you every time. Thanks for the quick shipping and great service.

No problem man! Hope you had a good vacation!

Thanks for the feedback!

PJ
EdgeFoamies.com

Also, I got some HXT500s to test. That is what I am running in my Yak54(in the video on post 1564) and they have worked great! Placing an order for more of them now to sell on the site!

Finished InsideHeli #49 (It's all about A123 batteries!) today. Comments!

=== Align Haters ===
Poor Bill. He bravely enters the fold of Align haters! Actually, I wouldn't say they hate Align (well...maybe James does), it's just that when something gets too popular, it starts to feel rather generic. The only thing to get excited about are the latest upgrades, and I don't think neither Chris nor James are strong proponents of "upgrade fever." Nonetheless, Align rightfully earned it's reputation by really knowing what the average customer wants:
1. durability
2. locally available cheap parts
3. upgrade path

At the time the T-Rex debuted, the only competition was Shogun, which was a fragile beast with a weak tail, a silly-putty shaft, and the price of parts were a crime. Align rightfully won the competition.

However, I think many other brands of helicopters now have superior engineering to Align; they just can't get wedge themselves into the Align-owned marketplace. It gets on my nerves at times. The Protos should be hanging from the ceiling of every store, if you ask me!

=== Headspeed ===
A headspeed of 2900RPM? Sounds reasonable...on a T-Rex 250! Holy crap, just how much "pop" do you need? You must have to change out the main-shaft thrust bearing every month! In any case, I do agree with Bill in that I like to set my gearing and governor so that the motor does bog a little at full pitch. It's just more efficient in the mid-range that way. I'm rarely punching full force anyways.

=== A123 batteries ===
These are also called LiFePO4 batteries. Man...I wish they had the 1100mah packs with the aluminum casing. It would be awesome to have nearly the power density of a LiPo with the durability and speed-charging of a NiCd. They are starting to make these packs in different sizes. Look here for the 450mah cells:
http://e-lectronics.net/cr123-volt-l...ery-p-146.html
For those that want to buy the surplus packs and build your own, there's a great thread on soldering A123 packs:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=599316

=== Wife's Tolerance ===
Okay, I have to feel sorry for your wife, James. It sounds like you wore her down to submission. "What, the brown Santa is here? Again? Whatever....just don't let me see the receipt..." Since my single income is stretched across a house and two kids, I have to be frugal, but my wife is pretty supportive of my hobby. She figures that with the time and money I spend on this hobby, I don't have a prayer of having enough time and money to have an affair! Also, it's not like there are many opportunities to misbehave at the field either (unless FlyLowGirl1 showed up...).

Great show, guys! Time to queue up ATTF 85!

- Jim

Diggs like your new avatar pic
redroste295

PJ, I need some servos... I sent you a PM!