Started building the Mandrake from a Jeremy Collins plan found on Outerzone.
Build the fuselage around a carbon 10mm tube which I will cut away partly , at the battery and rx tray, and leave the rest in for strength .
Up till now easy to build, just formed a 1.5mm balsa tube for the mid section of the fuselage over a 90mm dia drain pipe. I will put that on tomorrow.
The cone shaped front and rear part I will do in strips of 2mm balsa to leave a bit more space for sanding.
Shall I put a UC to it or not ??

More to follow!

Greetz

Here's an index to my blog posts. Click the link to directly open a blog post.

Building & debugging OpenTX
#1: Step-by-step guide to building (custom) OpenTX firmware under Ubuntu Linux
#2: Exploring and debugging OpenTX with Qt Creator IDE under Ubuntu Linux
#3: Step-by-step guide to building (custom) OpenTX firmware under 64-bit Windows 10
#4: Exploring and debugging OpenTX with Qt Creator IDE under 64-bit Windows 10

Native MAVLink & MAVLink telemetry with OpenTX
#5: Native MAVLink telemetry with RadioMaster TX16S (w/o having to use Mav2PT converter)
#6: Modified Yaapu telemetry widget to support OlliW MavSDK/native MAVLink on OpenTX

RadioMaster TX16S modifications
#7: RadioMaster TX16S tray modification
#8: RadioMaster TX16S stick pot dial modification
#9: RadioMaster TX16S DFU button modification

DIY electronics
#10: USB2PPM Interface for controlling a remote device from PC

Is the E-flite T-28 Trojan Still The Best Foamy? I do my best to answer that during the Unboxing & Preliminary Review of this upgraded RC Plane legend.

Still The Best Foamy? E-flite T-28 Trojan 1.1M BNF Basic Unboxing & Preliminary Review (10 min 0 sec)

E-flite Trojan Review Notes:

Pros:
- The option of using 3S or 4S power
- A proven and legendary airframe
- SAFE/AS3X Receiver with the BNF Basic version
- Stronger nose wheel
- Carbon fiber added to the horizontal stab
- Very quick RC Airplane build time
- Easy radio setup with recommended radios
- ESC works well with Spektrum Smart packs & lets you know if your flight packs are not charged enough to fly

Cons:
- Color is a con for me, but may be a Pro for some due to increased visibility.
- No retracts, but this price point for a BNF, does imply that.
- The air gap in the canopy is a con for me, but should not be the end of the world.

E-flite T-28 Trojan 1.1m BNF Basic Links:
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/2OyvCzW
- Hobbyzone: https://bit.ly/3kFbuYB

The links in this description are affiliate links. They give me a small commission on sales which helps support the channel and keep it independent: https://www.amazon.com/shop/gblyndensrc or visit https://www.gblynden.com/.

4S 2200 Spektrum Smart Battery:
- Amazon: https://amzn.to/3sWHiex
- Hobbyzone: https://bit.ly/30kHBUg

Hello all,

Just wanted to take a quick minute and share that we are starting to work on a pair of Ed Kazmerski's Simla Kits from Home and Hobby Solutions. Will be doing a video build log with video and pictures during the construction. Here is a brief introduction. Follow me on youtube for more updates.

The R/C plane project reveal! Ed Kazmerski’s SIMLA. Kit from Home and Hobby Solutions. (1 min 6 sec)

Thank you for your time,

Matthew Prachar

Model: Art Hobby Sky 2m electric glider
Location: Urban park
Date: December 12, 2020

Transmitter 1: QX7 ACCESS, R9 external module, ACCESS protocol, 20dBm power, VAS Longshot antenna, vertically polarized
Transmitter 2: QX7 legacy, Ghost external module, GHST protocol, 20dBm power, DIY crosshair antenna, circularly polarized, other antenna deactivated

Receiver 1: R9 MX with DIY monopole with 2 ground plane radials, vertically polarized
Receiver 2: Ghost Atto with standard FrSky replacement monopole, vertically polarized

Transmitter and receiver 1 (R9) were used to control the model. Transmitter and receiver 2 (Ghost) were used to log data only.

During the test flight, I held transmitter 1 in my hands to control the model. Transmitter 2 rested on my flight bag on the ground in an upright position. The antennas on both transmitters were directional. However, I only tracked the model with the transmitter in my hands. This put the Ghost system at a possible disadvantage. Still, the link quality shows comparable performance. In fact, this result with Ghost is by the far the best I've obtained with any 2.4GHz system I've tested in a similar manner.

I created an interface to control a remote device (e.g. a drone) from the PC via a radio link and I call the project USB2PPM.

The USB2PPM circuit gets the signal from PC over USB connection and converts it to Pulse-Position-Modulation (PPM) to be input e.g. over a trainer jack into a remote control transmitter.





USB2PPM uses standard trainer port signal. Back in 2003, I did a similar project PC-to-R/C Interface V2.0, but it was much bigger than the current version and used RS-232 serial port that is deprecated today.

...Continue Reading

Note: This is still being edited.

Here is some info on OS FS-61 four stroke glow engines:

The FS-61 is the second .60-size Four Stroke in OS's lineup. It makes more power than the original RC Nitro Four Stroke, the OS FS-60 (which had open rockers, btw).
It came before the 'Surpass' line of engines. It may tag the nickname of 'Pre-Surpass' (though this is not necessary as OS didn't create other .61 Four Strokes).

The FS-61 may not have modern hp/weight numbers but is still very useful. It has nice details in engineering that new engines may be missing--like Bronze Valve Cups and Brass Bushings on the Conrod. This may provide longer life as well as allow possible repair options not doable on plain aluminum surfaces.

The FS-61 is designed to work without exhaust back pressure. Though it does come with the option (see 'Exhausts'). I think it sounds great with just a pipe, my preference btw.

Be sure not to lose the Woodruff Key with its Propeller Drive Washer. I either place my key in a parts bag with the engine or snug the slim Prop Washer/Nut to help prevent the Drive Washer from backing off.

Storage
After the engine is run out of fuel, it is is stored with oil throughout. I prefer 3-in1 oil. It is placed in a plastic bag, then in a box, and within an airtight container to prevent rust, water, and storm damage.

Be careful to prevent condensation on parts if taking out of cold storage spaces, such as a basement or a garage in northern climates.
You can do this by...Continue Reading

If you followed my blog post #5 about native MAVLink telemetry with RadioMaster TX16S, you are aware that we can use the TX16S top USB-C port in MAVLink routing mode to connect to a ground control station, such as Mission Planner or QGroundControl. To recap, I add the connection image from my blog post #5:



Without the modification to the radio hardware, as explained in this post, there is one caveat when using the top USB-C port connected to ground control station. This has to do with the specialty of the internal STM32 microcontroller, as used in most OpenTX radios, and the schematic wiring used. Namely, the main microcontroller of TX16S boots in Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) mode when the USB cable is connected while the radio is powered-up and thus will NOT boot and run the normal OpenTX firmware. You will get a black screen when powering up in DFU mode and no functionality from the radio.

This behavior stems from otherwise a very nice feature of the STM32 microcontroller in the radio that allows it to be flashed without external programming device, even if no bootloader is yet programmed. (This is also the reason, why most OpenTX radios cannot be bricked by user doing something wrong while flashing.) Unfortunately, STM32 DFU paired with the electrical schematic in most OpenTX radios, where the BOOT0 pin hard-wired to VBUS, results in the before mentioned behavior of radio not booting in this situation. The solution is either to disconnect the USB cable from ground...Continue Reading

As a long time Futaba tray transmitter user, I was used to having additional controls on my sticks, e.g. to control a camera gimbal. After making a jump to OpenTX, got myself TX16S and made a tray modification (see my blog post #7). Nevertheless, I was still missing my old beloved stick controls.

I could not find readily available commercial solution for TX16S, so went the road of customization. Here's the final result:



The trickiest part is to get a hollow shaft into the existing sticks, as they are from solid material with a M4 thread:



I disassembled the TX16S hall sticks and very carefully in a lathe I was able to drill 2.0 mm through-holes into the stick pins:

...Continue Reading

Yep Les Amis,
YACINE devient mon Coach officiel ! lol. Cette vidéo devait źtre, au départ, une review relax et assez courte .. et bien c'est raté, désolé ! 4 sujets vont źtre abordés, le sujet principal c'est le test, comme promis, de la nouvelle enceinte nomade PA01 de chez BOMAKER. Puissante, autonome et trčs polyvalente, cette mini sono mobile sera trčs efficace dans différentes activités, animation, karaoké, coaching etc... Le son et la puissance sont au rendez vous et les possibilités nombreuses. En bref, un produit intéressant ą un tarif plutōt raisonnable. 3 autres sujets seront abordés, un concours dans la vidéo, un live en prévision et un petit débat sur le nouveau pack DJI FPV avant de le recevoir pour des tests sur le terrain... Bon Film et merci ą tous pour votre soutien .

Bomaker PA01 Enceinte Bluetooth Karaoke Nomade - Review Test Démo - DJI FPV, on en parle ? (54 min 21 sec)

NOTATAZ : 18/20 La puissance nomade, défi FPV !

Pack DJI FPV COMBO en précommande 1072€ avec ces coupon BGAFF10OFF ou BGCuponation10 ou BGhoney2110 : http://bit.ly/307Ww3Z
MASQUE DJI V2 en précommande 490€ (coupon BGfpv30 ) : http://bit.ly/307Aqi6

- Enceinte BOMAKER (AMAZON.FR) : https://amzn.to/3dQ8yXI
- Site BOMAKER sur Amazon : https://amzn.to/3c41HYl

Qu'est ce que BANGGOOD EXPRESS : https://www.banggood.com/custlink/mGGYSnO6NH

- TABLEAU DES PROMOS ET COUPONS BANGGOOD 2020 RC et ACCESSOIRES (remis ą jour quotidiennement, en utilisant ces liens,...Continue Reading

Yep Les Amis,
Jusqu'ą 30mn de vol, c'est ENORME !!! Nous testons aujourd'hui le Crocodile Baby de chez GEPRC. Encore un 4 pouces Mid/Long Range qui ą fait son entrée il y a quelques mois dans cette catégorie. Et bien, sans faire de jeu de mot, il va en croquer plus d'un je pense ! lol. Proposé dans toutes les versions possibles, analogique, numérique ou HD (Tarsier), ą un tarif trčs raisonnable, ce petit engin est trčs polyvalent. Il se défend plutōt bien en Freestyle pour un 4 pouces et il bat tous les records d'autonomie avec 25 ą 30mn de vol avec une batterie Li ion de bonne qualité (lien ci-dessus VTC6). Bien tuné d'origine et livré dans une boite remplie d'accessoires importants, c'est le petit engin parfait pour se faire la main, avec, des vols sécurisés (GPS) et un excellent temps de vol mźme avec une Lipo 850mAh (10mn). En bref, peut źtre pas le meilleur de la catégorie mais certainement le plus polyvalent dans tous les domaines et le mieux fourni... Bon Film et merci ą tous pour votre soutien .

GEPRC Crocodile Baby - Review Test Démo - 4 pouces LongTime / Freestyle (37 min 22 sec)

NOTATAZ : 18.5/20 Fiable et bien équipé !!!

Pack DJI FPV COMBO en précommande 1072€ avec ces coupon BGAFF10OFF ou BGCuponation10 ou BGhoney2110 : http://bit.ly/307Ww3Z
MASQUE DJI V2 en précommande 490€ (coupon BGfpv30 ) : http://bit.ly/307Aqi6

Coupon Valable sur toutes les version du CroCodile Baby : BGAFF10OFF
- GEPRC Crocodile Baby analogique Ratel : ...Continue Reading

Being previously a long time Futaba tray radio user and being accustomed to controlling sticks by pinching, I put my TX16S into a tray.

AHLtec offers two tray options for TX16S: a fiberglass and a carbon. I picked the carbon version for optics. And as I was planning to use spatially slightly separated DragonLink, instead of the internal radio MULTI-module, the vicinity to large electrically conductive carbon surfaces was less of a concern for me.



The AHLtec tray comes as a kit and needs to be assembled. It fits TX16S perfectly, the build quality of the carbon parts is excellent. I had to file a bit the mounting holes in the metal braces in order for them to perfectly fit and not damage the thread of the screws during assembly.



...Continue Reading

The 1st drive in the city was awful. The radio has had growing pains, as it has been driven farther. It 1st started dropping out when near a phone tower. In the city, phone towers are a lot more common & the radio was all over the place. Never had this problem with the higher power 900Mhz radios. The lower power 900Mhz radio is no match for phone towers. It's surprising how frequency hopping made no difference. There's not enough room in the remote for an XBee.

There are other single chip radios besides the MRF49XA/SI4421. Antenna placement is not the best. They're bundled with a lot of other wires. Another idea is creating a phone app to make the spectrum analyzer portable enough to find out what is jamming it.


In the apartment, the spectrum analyzer shows it neatly divided into 9 channels as programmed. It's hard to believe anything could jam out all 9 channels. There are still a few blips when it's off.


Lions aren't very enthused about creating another phone app for test & measurement. Goog has clamped down more & more over the years on what apps are allowed to do. Out of a growing desire to have more control than Goog allows, there's a growing desire to fabricate a portable confuser out of a single board confuser, bare LCD panel, bare keyboard & touchpad. The single board confuser would be standalone inside a brick. The keyboard & monitor would be in a separate clamshell, either connected by wireless to the confuser or some kind of dock, but it wouldn't be transported in 1 piece like a laptop. It would be a 2 piece laptop.

Hello Everyone,

This is Catherine from QS company.

This is Traxxas ID Charge Lead Set 2S 3S 4S Adapters 3 Adapter Connector.
High-quality charge leads for use with Traxxas ID equipped batteries and chargers. Allows you to charge ID plug equipped batteries with a standard Traxxas style charge lead..Set of 3 leads for use with 2S, 3S and 4S batteries..High-quality silicone wire..

Any question,Please feel free to contact me. Thank you!

Best Regards,
Catherine
Best Regards,
Catherine Chen
QS Dongguan QS Electronic Tech Co.,Ltd

www.qsrccn-hobbies.com www.qiangshui.en.alibaba.com

M 86 134 80010457 P 86 (0) 769 84750417 Skype chenmin19911 Email [email protected]

Hehehehehe Believe it or not !

Yeah , thats a hotgucam .

Short Story Time .

I got me these ELE cams a long time ago when they were like all the rage ! The all black cam suffered a LCD fail , as in it simply stopped working . But the cam recorded video just fine , I just had no LCD image .
Recently the other ELE cam has started corrupting video ..
Its a dull - windy Saturday afternoon - so what to do ?

I know , I will butcher the corrupted cam for it's LCD screen and also to see how the cam is ass-embled
Having removed the LCD screen from the corrupting cam I did a LCD swap ..
Black cam now has a working LCD screen , but .......

Was the original LCD screen faulty ?
So I plugged it into the now some what FUBAR ELE cam to see if the screen worked ...

Oh yeah , it worked ! What a terrible dilemma , the FUBAR cam might actually still function ( ok it was corrupting video ) . But it is a dull Saturday afternoon , so what else to do ? Yeah , just got to Frankenstein it back together with some hot glue .
Actually , I only had some 4 spare cams .. I could have just tossed the corrupting cam in the rubbish bin and swapped in one of the parked cams . But that would simply have meant I was still bored !

Radiolink T8FB FHSS 8CH Mode2 Transmitter Bluetooth Version with R8EF 8CH Receiver - Review Part 3

Get One Here: Radiolink T8FB FHSS 8CH Bluetooth Version with R8EF 8CH Receiver (Amazon)
https://amzn.to/2Zrp7lk

Get One Here: Radiolink T8FB FHSS 8CH Bluetooth Version with R8EF 8CH Receiver (AliExpress)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3297...2b7411e4j2nr8m

Here is a link to the Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ-g20pYROw

Get One Here: Radiolink T8S FHSS 8CH Mode2 Bluetooth Version (Amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/Radiolink-Con.../dp/B07WR9Y1HG

Get One Here: Radiolink T8S FHSS 8CH Mode2 Bluetooth Version (AliExpress)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3305...bfd911e4UuAAQf

Radiolink T8S FHSS 8CH Transmitter Bluetooth & Receiver - Review Part 1 Test Flight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23HShdin0uc

Radiolink T8S FHSS 8CH Mode2 RC Transmitter Bluetooth with Receiver - Review Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGmzcHQm37s

Banggood GCRC
https://www.banggood.com/custlink/GmDmQ1nVkO

You can help support us by using our affiliate links to the products above. A small commission (At No Cost To You) helps us buy more items to review.

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$9 23 knife at the rope (12 min 4 sec)

Some times , rarely - But some times . You have a win !

This knife has been teasing me for about a year now . And for my birthday I got some winning lottery tickets ( Chump Change ) .
Yeah , the wins were chump change as far as lottery wins go but ... enough money to buy a $9.23 knife that's been calling out to me for around 12 months or so . I mean , who am I not to fall for that siren song

A) For $9.23 it's really well made , no play - everything is tight - I mean nothing to complain about .
B) The factory edge was paper slicing sharp - That was a surprise - especially at the price point of 9 bananas .
C) The grind was ok except that each side was at a different angle - A lot of companies are doing that !
D) I mean , this is a no name budget junk knife right ?

Slicing rope :

Factory edge .......... Well that factory edge gave 80 slices which is almost double what I was expecting !

180 grit Diamond cut edge ....... This is where things got very interesting . Really interesting ! Especially if you like good cheap knives . Cheap and good dont usually go together ! when talking knives ( Until today )

Around 70 slices I noticed the edge was having issue getting through the edge of the paper , I suspected that the edge might be rolling . And the edge had in deed rolled . But the knife kept going and the roll started to diminish . The knife just kept going till the edge failed after 240 slices . 240 slices of rope out of a $9.23 knife . That is crazy .... This knife kicks a lot of more expensive knives to the curb . I cant even begin to rubbish Brand name knife makers enough when a cheap knife outperforms more expensive bragged about knives .

Yeah , buying a knife is like buying a lottery ticket ... Some times you win !

Got a nice 30 min thermal flight with my Heron today and my flying buddy got the same with his Night Radian. He offered me to have a flight and I launched with power off then slowly advanced the throttle but at 3/4 I heard severe vibration so landed. I looked between the spinner and firewall to see the firewall had a large crack that was allowing the prop and motor to flex and vibrate. With full power it’s highly likely the motor and prop would separate from the fuselage and result in an out of control crash. He will be using a new plastic motor mount. Reinforcing the front and rear plastic firewall with a stronger material is recommended. I will be using aluminum sheet.

Top hull and deck ready to go, then more rain!

Hopefully I'll get a window over the weekend to get the last of the color coat down.

Picked up some SprayMax 2k Glamour Coat.
Probably be a while before I get to that, needs to be a consistent 65* so it says.

Looks shorter and fatter than it really is.
.

ZOHD HORIZONTAL STABILIZER MODIFICATION
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics...ring/tailplane
It is convenient in this work to measure incidence, not relative to the chord line as is normal, but to a line parallel to the flow direction which results in zero lift. This line is known as the ‘no-lift line’, and eliminates the no-lift angle from our equations even for cambered aerofoil sections.

HORIZONTAL STABILIZER MODIFICATION ADJUSTMENTS TO SURFACE
AREA, LOCATION, AND INCIDENCE ARE USED TO ACHIEVE NEUTRAL STABILITY.
I DID THIS AT THE FLYING FIELD BY TRIAL AND ERROR TO FIND THE CORRECT HORIZONTAL STABILIZER INCIDENCE, AND CORRECT THE
MODEL'S PITCH CHANGE TENDENCY BETWEEN POWER AND GLIDE.
RESULTS:
TRIM NOW REMAINS VERY CONSTANT IN DIFFERENT FLIGHT MODES. THE THROTTLE IS MORE EFFECTIVELY USED FOR CLIMB, CRUSE, AND GLIDE TO LANDING.
THE MODEL WILL NOW FLY WITH ONE TRIM SETTING.
ADDITIONALLY, AEROBATICS IS IMPROVED AS WELL AS THERMAL
MANEUVERABILITY AND SPOT LANDING.