I admit it.

I was a bit spooked to send up the rebuilt Sparrow after its masterful repairing at the hand of its builder; see my previous blog if you wish.

Original plans called for the reinstallation of a simple sport radio, but the elevator interfered with the newly rebuilt and extended rudder. On top of that, the pushrods were flexing excessively. In went a Hitec Optima receiver bound to a Hitec Flash 8 radio. I programmed both surfaces with as much throw as I could manage and tossed in a bit of exponential as well.

When it took off from the runway at the Coachella Valley Radio Control Club, it did so with sheer beauty. Plenty of power, but by no means is it a speed demon. It's much like flying a powered glider and I'm looking forward to taking it up again soon. It landed like a glider, too. I didn't think Anakin wanted to come down!

A visit to the field the next day came complete with what I thought were free models on the free stuff table, a table which netted me about 20 nine-gram servos and some servoless retract mechanisms a couple of weeks prior. Instead, these newest additions to the hangar were very low cost, sold by a friend of mine. Thirty bucks for the pair of old ParkZone models in the photo below. That little J-3 Cub, identical to the second R/C plane I ever owned and wore out, is in outstanding condition other than a bit of fading. It's since been cleaned up and some minor repairs have been made. It's almost like new and while the...Continue Reading

Whenever I see Buzz Waltz's incredible work, it's little wonder that he used to work closely with Soar Birdy and Big Birdy designer and champion R/C pilot, Joe Bridi. They still stay in touch, in fact.

When Buzz first gave me what he called The Sparrow, I was speechless. I'd seen this three-channel beauty fly and its resemblance to a Fokker Eindecker makes it that much more spectacular in the air.

Of course, when young Anakin Skywalker is in the cockpit ready for the big Boonta Eve Classic Podrace, how can I lose?

This was a model he banged out on his workbench one day and was later very tempted to produce it as a kit. It never made it to the kit stage, so I now own the one and only example with extra rudder area added to prevent the steering problem which may have resulted in a crash and less the semicircular decorative panels on either side of the motor. I have them; Buzz simply forgot to add them before he recovered the fuselage.

I haven't yet flown it. Buzz added an additional balsa bulkhead in front of the Anakin bust which may have to come out before I can fit a 1300mAh 3S battery. I have to remove the motor and drill out the hole in the firewall through which the motor shaft retainer passes.

The original Tower Pro 9g servos flew that model well and still work well, but they're very basic and I don't know how well they'll hold up to the extra rudder area. I have two brand new Tower Pro 9g metal-geared analogs which I will swap in once I get some...Continue Reading

...and revisit a damaged model at a later date. Works every time.

After doing precisely that regarding the damaged little Harbor Freight P-51, the damage isn't all that bad. The canopy suffered a couple of wrinkles and the underside of the cowl area is little more than a "scraped chin," easily repaired. I thought for sure that I had destroyed the model. It hit asphalt, but I might have been able to pull back the elevator far enough to avoid little bits of EPO scattered all over.

Instead, I do believe I can fix it.

First things first and that will be the removal of the wing spar and restoring the dihedral. Once I attach a new prop and collet, I'll try again.

I was going to take it apart last night and now I'm glad I didn't.

As for the crash damaged homebuilt "Sparrow," I'm told that I should have it back by Saturday, repaired and with additional rudder area. I also have a bit more info on the glider in the photo below.

It was built by a gentleman named Arlo Larson, an engineer whose most recent work includes the development of both fiberglass and carbon fiber blades for wind turbines. My friend Buzz who gave it to me never flew it; he saw it cleaned up and flown for the first time this past Saturday. I solved the sticky folding prop blade problem easily enough by hogging out the mounting holes with a hobby knife.

I also have two gliders by Mr. Larson, one of which is an incomplete "Bird of Time." I can say with confidence that Mr. Larson is a top notch builder! A canopy for that multicolored model is being whittled out by Buzz.

What goes up must come down.

The little Harbor Freight P-51 project went up for a test flight last week and it didn't end too well.

It acted tail heavy even though it wasn't and kept rolling on the ailerons. One thing for sure is that adding the carbon fiber spar to the wing took out a lot of dihedral. My guess is that's what caused it to crash.

Interestingly, it remained in one piece for the most part. The cowl is a loss and I'm not sure from whence it came. It might be an E-flite part.

It's battered and beaten, but I'm thinking of removing the spar, restoring the dihedral and giving it another whirl just for laughs. I mean, what could happen?

Stay tuned since this might be interesting.

I didn't mention the model in the photo on my last blog because I hadn't yet flown it.

This, I must say, was among the most pleasant surprises I had in a long time.

This was one of four models given to me by a friend who had a kit manufacturing company at one time. The proliferation of ARF and RTF models, while expanding the hobby as a whole, hurt his business.

Anyway, two models were complete and this was one of the two complete models. The other was a three-channel airplane of his own design called "The Sparrow." I'd seen this model fly and I now own it. Unfortunately, the servo arm for the rudder broke in flight. I'd never seen one fail! Damage is done, but fixable since it crashed in thick grass. We're getting together soon to assess and repair the damage. It's just too cool not to. It strongly resembles a Fokker Eindecker with a toy bust of Anakin Skywalker in his podracer goggles at the controls.

As for this powered glider with a brushed Jeti ESC and motor, an ancient ArtTech 1300mAh 3S li-po and an even more ancient three-channel Hitec 72MHz AM receiver, I dragged it into the house to investigate the possibility of a brushless upgrade.

Cleanup began right away and while I had a hunch the glider was in good shape, I didn't know just how good. Revealed beneath the dust was a nearly new, magnificently constructed model lacking only a canopy. No scratches on the wing and almost none underneath the fuselage beyond what one would...Continue Reading

...and it's so far, so good!

The rebirth of the Harbor Freight P-51 is coming along nice with all of the painting completed except for the anti-glare panel atop the nose. According to Greg Kenny, director of education at the Palm Springs Air Museum, the paint shop painted that panel of their real Bunny with Oak Green #212 from Poly-Fiber aircraft paints. Photos for the upcoming Callie Graphics decals won't happen for another couple of weeks while Bunny makes the air show rounds. I'm going to see if I can find a suitable military flat acrylic at the hobby shop.

I'm very happy regarding the "re-maiden" of the Adagio 280! That poor little model had been languishing in a hot garage for heaven knows how long and then incorrectly repaired. Getting the micro bind plug was easy; getting a new canopy and wing spar, not so easy since the model is out of production. The spar came from Amazon Prime and the canopy from Graves RC in Orlando, Florida. The binding plug was ordered by Rise Up HobbyTown in Palm Desert, California.

Today was its first flight in years and it didn't disappoint! All I need to do is add a bit more low rate rudder throw.

In the last couple of months, I've done pretty well regarding the acquisition of castoff models.

In my last blog, I mentioned how I had received a couple of small foam P-51 Mustangs from Jimmy Dixon, a fun user here on RCG who goes by the handle "jdixon."

Of the two, one is flying again and the other is undergoing a major refinishing job. The latter is the one which will be representing Bunny, the Tuskegee Airmen tribute at the Palm Springs Air Museum. A link to that flying exhibit is in my previous blog entry.

A friend of mine who, sadly, is in poor health, gave me some models of his own design. He used to design and manufacture kits. A beautiful little one-off model wound up crashing due to a failed servo arm, but it's repairable. I haven't heard back from him regarding a visit so that we can fix it and I hope and pray he's ok. It'll be a real privilege to learn some wood modeling skills with the help of a master. The other models are gliders, both powered and unpowered. My goal is to get the big 2m unpowered bird ready for the big glider tow event my club holds every December. The powered models are total "old school" with brushed motors and old 72MHz receivers.

Finally, please see two of the three models I scored at the club when one of our seasonal visitors announced that he was giving away some old models. Two are shown below, cleaned up and ready. The E-flite Mini Ultra Stick is back in flying condition, but it'll need a...Continue Reading

Not long ago, I put out some feelers in the classifieds for a Harbor Freight P-51. I'd always wanted to convert one to brushless power, but even with a famed Harbor Freight discount coupon, the $100 price tag was a bit much, especially since all I wanted was the airframe.

Enter RCG user Jimmy Dixon, aka "jdixon" who had not one, but two Mustangs up for grabs.

The first was a complete Ares P-51 less its motor and props. My local HobbyTown franchise was unable to get the parts, so I found them on Amazon. Pictures to follow; it's untouched cosmetically. It is one of the sweetest flying small models I've ever flown and should anything happen to it, I'll buy a new one right away.

That second P-51 was a well used Harbor Freight version, complete with a handful of spare parts and a complete if damaged airframe.

My original goal was to upgrade the HF version and do it up like Bunny, the Tuskegee Airmen tribute P-51 at the Palm Springs Air Museum. That's exactly what I plan to do as work progresses on the model as shown below.

A 1000Kv brushless outrunner and an E-flite stick mount adapter along with a 20A ESC are lined up and ready to go once it's finished. A visit to the air museum is in order once Bunny returns from the Reno Air Races. From there, photos will be on their way to the one and only Callie Soden of Callie Graphics for her peerless custom decals.

In this case, the blog is "Adventures in Jeff's Land" at www.jeffbrock.me.

Jeff and I have been friends for more than forty years. While he doesn't participate in the RC hobby, he does share a keen interest in what I do both here and elsewhere online with product reviews.

Here's a CGI-animated short with an RC theme:

https://eur01.safelinks.protection.o...%3D&reserved=0

Anyway, please enjoy.

27MHz two-channel radio!

Ni-Mh batteries!

Brushed motors with differential thrust!

No control surfaces!

What was I thinking?

During holidays, Harbor Freight often sends out coupons for 25% off regular prices. I thought, heck, why not pick up an example of the infamous Yellow Bee two-channel powered glider?

I did. Yesterday. I returned it today. Unused. When I read some of the threads here and after seeing some videos, I decided I'd rather have my $32 back. There's always their four-channel P-51 for use in a project, but I'm not spending $100 just to throw most of it away.

Besides, I have some other projects, not to mention the 32 clams.

It's alive! ALIVE!

My resurrected Rotor Concept HPQ-1 (aka the LotusRC T380) is finally back among my operational models! The replacement motor endbells and their tendency to pull shafts upward when tightening props were fixed once and for all by Diego, one of the techs at Rise Up Hobbytown. I had mounted the motors facing downward, an interesting feature of this model. I didn't like the looks and it was noisier. The photo shows it connected to Cleanflight while I was tuning the PID settings after I faced them upward.

There's still a hint of wobble while banking, but it flies and quite well! The frame baseplate, battery straps, landing gear, two of the arms and all four motor bases are original. I was able to retain the very nice hard-shelled carrying case as well as the original radio! It works well for this application. I'll soon be adjusting the PID a bit more until I'm totally satisfied, but for now, it's a real joy to see it fly again. Some LED strips might be called for.

Another one back in the hangar! It's a nice feeling.

Tiny Whoop motors, to be precise.

These came from Rise Up Hobbytown and they were going to be used for an online review project. The FC I received from one of my overseas contacts arrived in inoperative condition and I haven't been able to get hold of her since.

Lots of turnover, it would seem.

In the meantime, I was sitting on twenty bucks worth of motors.

I did what anyone else would do, namely get the rest of the parts and build a Tiny Whoop at my leisure! Here's the parts listing:

• Tiny Whoop "Special Sauce" motors; 17500Kv
  
• Inductrix "clone" frame, FrSky BetaFPV FC and three-blade props from Multirotor Mania
  
• Lectron Pro batteries from Rise Up Hobbytown
  
• Crazepony camera/VTX combo from Amazon

Sadly, MRM is all but shutting down, but Brian has assured me that their fine multirotor frames will still be available. As for the camera, it's quite good for only twenty bucks through Amazon Prime. I had to swap the power pins since they were the wrong polarity. Other than that, I now have a terrific little machine which I can use to practice some acro and advanced freestyle.

I never thought I'd ever see that old Flyzone SkyFly 2 fly again, but fly it did.

My choice of motor and prop seem a bit small; it took forever for it to lift off from a grass field. Once airborne, it flew perfectly! I added an ounce of lead weights to the nose to balance it on the recommended CG since both a 1300 3S and a 2200 3S were lighter than the old ni-cad pack which might have prevented it from rolling off. I'll fool with that once I bolt on the big Turnigy Park 400 (or 450) I'd used in its previous flight attempts. The other electronics have been totally changed with the model now sporting a pair of nearly new Ace R/C nine-gram servos, an OrangeRx receiver and a Spektrum DX6i radio.

The only other hitch was upon landing. It glided in beautifully, but it caught a wheel in the grass and it cartwheeled to a stop, breaking the brand new horizontal stab. The part is discontinued from Hobbico, but I ordered a new one from an eBay seller. I'll fix the one that's on it with some CF rods and some foam safe CA and keep it as a spare. It turned out so well that I don't want it to look like a glue bomb after only one flight.

With some more power on tap than it presently has, I predict it'll be a really fun flyer for a long time to come.

No chance yet to fly one of them, but I now have two "new" models for relatively little time, effort and money.

The rebuilt Flyzone SkyFly 2 is ready to rock and roll! Weather, repaving of the club's runway and a major two-week tennis tournament which put the kibosh on an alternate field all came together to keep me grounded, but I hope to take it up on Sunday...if it doesn't rain. The very stiff control surfaces may have led to the demise of the original servos. No problem! I had two nearly new 9g analogs which not only fit, the control arms had the same splines. Hinging the elevator and rudder of the new tail section with CA hinges was easy enough to do and it stands ready for its maiden flight. I even found the original nose wheel in the parts stash. I thought I'd lost it.

Also reborn is a Rotor Concept HPQ1, better known as the LotusRC T380. It was my first big quad, I paid way too much for it, it's been a money pit since then, it's been sitting idle since goodness knows when and that same company has the gall to sell it on Amazon for 400 bucks as I write.

That love/hate relationship really began when the motor driving FETs fell off of the FC like so many rotten teeth. I won't bore you all with details, but it eventually wound up with a new FC from Multirotor Mania and ESCs from Armattan. The motor shafts kept pulling out of the endbells whenever I went to tighten the props, so I paid good money (waaay more than I wanted to spend) to have them pressed back in and secured.

The end result? Quite satisfactory! The PID settings needed attention, especially the proportional since it was constantly over-correcting in hover. Really twitchy. After some tweaks via Cleanflight, it's nearly perfect. The really nice thing is that I now have two models which had some money sunken into them placed back in service.

Pictures to follow.

...because man, are they expensive.

Last year, I was given a discarded E-flite UMX F-16. I watched it crash and I later found it in a trash can. The owner gave me the rest of what he had and I rebuilt it with new E-flite parts and Callie Graphics decals. It's absolutely beautiful, it was far less expensive than buying a new one and it flies great.

It still cost a lot of bread for those parts.

I now have another wrecked F-16 which a new pilot thought would make a good first plane...and he stuffed it in within seconds. An employee at the local hobby shop gave it to me last year on their last day of business. They also had the airframe parts, but alas, they're gone.

The electronics work perfectly and I'd like to build a second F-16 in different livery.

Between this wreck and the parts I took off of the first one, I have two good wings, one good vertical stab/rudder, two good left elevons, a nose cone and all of the hardware and pushrods. I'm looking for the individual parts from a crashed model or a complete airframe with burned out electronics.

Anyone out there have one of these critters or some parts collecting dust? Thanks and please let me know. I already have an ad in the classifieds, by the way.

One of my earliest official reviews for RCGroups was for the now discontinued FlyZone SkyFly 2. Had some fun with it, but after one too many crashes and parts replacements due to a lack of power - we're talking brushed motor and Ni-Cd battery, after all - I set it aside.

I tried experimenting with a brushless outrunner which did one heck of a job of waking it up. One problem. It didn't have enough down elevator on its first test flight and wound up in a tree. The wing and tail were totaled and the tail boom broke loose.

Soon after that, I found all of those parts in the clearance bin of the local hobby shop. I still have them in the original packaging.

Since then, the motor I used found its way into a nice little park flyer and the poor hulk has been sitting in the garage. Last month, I had an idea. I was at the Gorilla Bob's booth at the AMA expo and asked for a replacement shaft for one of his motors. He didn't have one, but he was kind enough to mail one to me.

I now have everything I need to attempt to fly this thing once more less a prop, collet and some thicker pushrods for the rudder and elevator. The plastic fuselage at the tail boom is cracked, so I'll use a small hose clamp and possibly some epoxy to fix it in place. I'm also going to mount a couple of rare earth magnets to the canopy to keep it closed, replacing that funky rubber band setup.

OK, so it isn't a free project, but it sure is a darn cheap one! Pix and flight test to follow.

Quadcopters – or drones if you prefer – are becoming more affordable with each passing day.

Such a quad is the very affordable DM95 Visitor from GearBest.com. Here’s a terrific little model for which not only delivers great overall performance, it does so at a budget-friendly price.

Actually, “friendly” is too mild a word. A basic version with a 0.3-megapixel camera is available for US$35.99 while the two-megapixel version I’ll discuss can be had for a mere $7.00 more. Yes, a whopping $42.99 nets a foldable brushed quad with a 2.4GHz radio system, Wi-Fi video/FPV and model control and even barometric altitude hold.

Contents:

Aside from the fully assembled model, the box contains the following:
• Four-channel 2.4GHz transmitter with digital trim tabs, screw-on smartphone holder, stick extensions and neck strap
• Clip-on propeller guards with separate covers which install in the arms when not in use
• Two spare propellers
• 900mAh 3.7V lithium polymer battery with USB charger
• Illustrated instruction manual in both English and Chinese
• Instruction sheet for the app with QR codes for downloading

Required to fly:
• Four AA-cell alkaline batteries for the transmitter

The matte black finish with silver and gold accents do a good job of imitating a more expensive folding quad. The arms swing out and rigidly lock in place but are easily refolded.

Doing a considerably lesser job of imitating an upscale unit is the transmitter. It is, without...Continue Reading

OK, I admit that I was never a fan of "Seinfeld."

The single gag which has had some staying power is that of the 1997 introduction of "Festivus," a secular holiday made popular by the show and which has become a lighthearted, anti-consumerism celebration.

Tomorrow, December 23, Festivus celebrates 20 years. To celebrate twenty years of the airing of grievances, feats of strength and mystery meat for dinner, may I present my nod to the, um, season.

It's a JJRC H67 "Flying Santa" quad with a hastily constructed Festivus pole atop a borrowed LEGO block. It's a combination of a painted drinking straw from Subway, ammo from an airsoft gun, some aluminum acrylic paint and some hot glue. By the way, this is not the same H67 I featured in a recent mini-review. That was was mailed to a friend and I bought this one for myself.

Good old Wikipedia has an article right here.

Seriously though, a very merry Christmas to all of you.

As I’d mentioned at the start of my last mini-review here on the RCGroups.com blogs, the joy of the Christmas season brings out some rather fun, but seasonal, items. That marketing angle is making its way into the hobby market.

Here for your consideration is just such an item, one which also qualifies as one of the strangest flying models I’ve ever reviewed. It’s the JJRC H66 X-Mas Egg quadcopter from GearBest.com, complete with a 720p camera which connects via Wi-Fi to a smartphone. The app also allows control of the model via Wi-Fi.

It’s easy to imagine such a bauble with a fun, secular Easter theme. But Christmas? Eggs?

That got me to thinking how eggs and Christmas are somehow related – and then it hit me.

Eggnog! If ever there were a holiday treat which should be available year-round, eggnog is above and beyond my first choice. I’m kind of kicking myself for not remembering that sooner. Now that I have, let’s crack this open.

Specifications:

• Dimensions (L x W x H): 105 x 105 x 80mm
• Construction: Injection molded plastic body, landing legs and radials; plastic propellers; steel radial springs
• Motors: 7mm coreless
• Battery: Built in 300mAh 3.7V lithium polymer
• Transmitter: 2.4GHz four-channel with various flight modes
• Claimed Range: 30 – 50m
• Claimed Flight Time: Six minutes after 45-minute charging period
• Camera: 0.9 megapixel/720p...Continue Reading

There are so many fun, albeit seasonal, goodies which only seem to appear at Christmastime.

This happens to be one of them, but it’s so much fun that it would be relatively simple to convert it to year-round use. That goodie is the JJRC H67 Flying Santa Claus quadcopter from GearBest.com. Jolly old Saint Nick is represented by a clone of a LEGO mini figure which either stands or sits atop the quad itself.

The real buzz surrounding this little Christmas confection is the fact that it’s based on the Eachine H011 quad, itself a prime candidate for conversion into a Tiny Whoop. Doing a “Claus Conversion” to the H67 is just as easy since its 7mm coreless motors provide the extra oomph needed to fly the roughly 4-gram Santa “brick figure.” The cost is incredibly low as well, coming in at well under twenty bucks ready to fly.

At the time of this writing, a "flash sale" is underway which lowers the cost to only US$13.89 with free shipping to the US via unregistered air mail.

What makes this a Christmas item isn’t so much the removable Santa Claus figure so much as it’s the first RTF quad I’ve ever seen which plays music.

Christmas music. Loud, tinny Christmas music. Two songs, ad nauseum. “Jingle Bells” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” sung by a children’s chorus. There’s no way to switch it off short of desoldering the sound module’s power leads atop the flight control board or installation of a microswitch.

That said, the music adds so...Continue Reading