The leaves on the trees outside my window were dancing ever so slightly on their branches when I looked out the window at around 5pm today. Running to the other side of my house that looks in to my backyard I quickly observed the laces on the umbrella of our patio set. The thin plastic material laces were gently being lifted by the wind from the south, but not enough to actually signify any amount of registered wind to a person who doesn’t fly ultra micro airplanes. It was time to fly.

I grabbed my go-to ultra micro, the UMX Beast and made sure all my eight hyperion 1s 180mah packs were ready to go flying with me and the Beast. A quick voltage test on my iCharger confirmed that each cell was at 4.15v and topped up.

Arriving at my cornfield where I fly almost 100% of the time, I was greeted by a lovely young lady walking her dog. She smiled with a smile so nice that it was enough to warm a man’s heart on the coldest of days.

I launched the Beast in the air and it felt like there was a slight 3km/h breeze affecting the Beast. At lower altitudes the 60 foot monster pines that surround my field stopped the wind, but as I gained altitude the wind effects became a tad more drastic. For the first pack the woman’s puppy dog followed the Beast around the field, barking and jumping like crazy, having a great time just being a dog. I didn’t feel alarmed as it seemed that even though that this dog was quick and full of energy, he also seemed a bit timid of the Beast so I didn’t...Continue Reading

So we were questioning a forum member called 'notsogood' how he goes his name. I figured it went something like this:

Hey all it's been a while since I've posted a blog post but here goes. It's been pretty windy and rainy lately here so that means no UMX Beast flights. She stays in the box until it's dry and calm again, which I'm thinking may not be until next Spring how this weather is going lately.

Anyways I've been flying my Super Cub and 24" DS Wing lately. Here is a video I put together with some Super Cub bush pilot crosswind landings. The winds are about 20km/h constant with 40km/h gusts.

Nothing special, just having some fun

Super Cub Crosswind Bush PIlot Landings [HD] (7 min 15 sec)

Here's a video of me losing control of my Super Cub with onboard HD video. Got her up to about 1000 feet and .. wait... my sticks aren't controlling it anymore!

It gets interesting around 2:30 when I start climbing.

Super Cub Flight LOST CONTROL - [HD] (9 min 9 sec)

Today I decided to fly my cub after flying 8 packs through my UMX Beast. What came out of it is pretty much flying a Super Cub like I stole it. Here's the resulting on-board cam.

I took her up to about 1000 feet or close to it, then I did some high altitude and high speed 100km/h+ dives followed by some loops, low altitude high speed flybys/ground buzzing. Very scary seeing the plane that small and high up there

Here it is on my channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/binarycl.../0/Q9as2OMq2xs
Make sure to subscribe for more cool videos and how-to's/tips coming soon!

Super Cub Flight High Up and Aerobatics [HD] - Sept 20, 2011 (12 min 31 sec)

Be sure to set 720P and full screen

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I figured you Beast lovers need to know immediately:

I just called Horizon Hobby on the phone to ask them if the Beast is being discontinued and they said:


"Yes, unfortunately we will not be getting anymore of the UMX Beast in stock. The owner of the Beast recently passed away and we're not sure what the future holds."


This is sad. What do?!?!? Let the hoarding begin? Maybe they're coming out with a special edition in remembrance of Bryan? sigh.

I think we should start a petition letting Horizon that continuing the Beast is the right thing to do to remember him.

EDIT: I called back and got a different customer service rep and asked the same question just to be sure. Yes, he confirmed, they have been official told the UMX Beast is discontinued. I asked him about replacement parts and he said since it's a pretty popular plane, he can see them carrying the parts for some time but he's unsure for how long. I asked him if they'll be bringing out a new version to remember Bryan, and he said it's entirely possible but he wouldn't know since they aren't told about new products until they almost hit the shelves.

I've been playing this awesome WWII simulator/game called Wings of Prey. It's for PC and available on Steam. You simply just can't get any better these days - this game is to die for.

Check out this real game play mission replay I just finished. In the game I play in the cockpit at all times, but during replays I show the best angles to capture all the action for you guys.

It's so real when played in simulator mode, that you even have to trim your plane out or it'll handle like crap.

Put it in 720p and full screen for the full effect if your connection can handle it.

Wings of Prey Gameplay HD - IL-2s vs 109s (8 min 17 sec)

If you have been following my blog, you'll know that I'm a new flyer to the world of RC and I've been trying to perfect pattern flying on the UMX Beast.

You will also recall that one maneuver that has been bugging me is the Cuban-8.

A few posts ago I said that setting my throws/expos low was the ticket to getting a smoother Cuban-8. Well, that is half true. Even though I've been able to properly hold a nice loop and make any corrections during the 5/8 half of the loop, I've been struggling with the last 3/8 section where you are supposed to hold inverted, then flip right-side-up and travel down the 45 degree angle. I just couldn't get the timing correct and would end up over correcting the last turn to fly level, or I'd under correct and fly in to the ground.

Today in my practice I decided that my roll to go right-side-up was causing me the grief. I figured if I have more roll speed I'd be able to have more time to get right-side-up and plan my last turn to take my plane level.

Therefore I put Ailerons in high rates at 100%/40% expo and left the other two in low rates. I have slightly adjusted my low rate elevator and rudder since last post as well.

These are the settings I am using and seem to work well:

Aileron: 100%, expo 40%
Elevator: 60%, expo: 10%
Rudder: 60%, INH

Yes, sometimes more is less - as in more throw, less headache because corrections/rolls can be complete quicker giving you more time to plan your next move/turn.

I may tweak the expo on the ailerons still, but so far so good. I don't want them to be super touchy so I can make slow adjustments, but I do need them to have close to maximum throw when I need it.

With these settings I am able to perform slow cuban-8s close to the ground with almost total control in the sim. I'll post a sim video a bit later after supper.

Fly high guys.

Here is my lame attempt at trying to fly pattern with the UMX Beast in RealFlight G4.5. This is truly much harder than it looks with this UMX Beast model which is really squirrelly, even with the throws turned down.

Enjoy

realflight_beast_pattern_sept2_2011 (1 min 48 sec)

Well I've been bit by the pattern bug. Sure, I can fly maneuvers at WOT and they could pass as the maneuver I was attempting, but I really never had amazing control to make it look like butter - especially with anything less than WOT.

So every session I've been trying like hell to perfect a few simple patterns.

1. Take off
2. Level Flight out
3. Half Cuban-8
4. Level flight back
5. Stall Turn


The Cuban-8 seemed easy at first. But then I noticed something. I was flying it at WOT and it really didn't look smooth at all. The plane was yawing in the loop from wind/setup issues, I wasn't coming out of the half cuban-8 at the same altitude as I ended, etc, etc, etc.

What seemed to be a rather simple maneuver has really made me crazy trying to get it to look smooth in all directions.

To make this look more smooth, it has really come down to three main things for me when practicing on the UMX Beast:

1. Use of rudder in the loop.
2. Flying on very low rates to get the ultra fine control for these precise maneuvers.
3. Throttle management.

Most people and beginners like me know how to use the rudder but use it sparingly, because let's face it: Rudder controls on the throttle stick just feels odd when compared to real rudder pedals. In a real plane, rudder pedals are almost instinct because you can feel the plane and your foot almost wants to press on the pedal to correct the yaw without even thinking about it. We know how it works and usually apply it to some turns here...Continue Reading

Check out my new comic that I made, inspired by a recent thread

My Rage Comic

It was extremely windy, so there wasn't much aerobatics, but it was fun floating around

T-28 August 20th 2011 (6 min 13 sec)

UM T-28 August 20th 2011, 2nd Flight (5 min 38 sec)

...Continue Reading

Enjoy Here's my first Super Cub LP #11 camera video.

SuperCub LP Flight August 20 (7 min 21 sec)

Second flight of the day:

Super Cub LP Flight 2 August 20 (9 min 26 sec)

...Continue Reading

I received my #11 camera yesterday but haven't had a lot of time to play around with it. I will mount it to my hat tomorrow and do a few videos and hope they turn out well I'll try NOT to make a video where you are just looking at sky and trees and fly close enough to make it look cool

I'll also mount it to my cub and get some cool aerial videos tomorrow

This is my first blog entry. I hope to fill this blog with some cool videos and great tips/info in the future. I'm waiting on my 818 #11 camera to arrive and when it does then it's time to record lots of good stuff

I've been in to RC my entire life but only recently got in to RC airplanes. My son sold his railroad tracks and got a few hundred dollars so we took a trip to the hobby shop and picked up some good ole' fashion rockets and.. a champ Well he wanted the corsair, but the LHS guy made him put it back and told us we needed the champ. Thank god he set us straight right from the beginning

After a few flights with the champ, I was hooked. For the week or so I basically let him fly all the time, and I get a few flights in here and there. As his attention with the champ decayed, I took more opportunities to fly the champ. The more I flew it the more I decided I really wanted to master this thing. I wanted to get good enough to fly it in front of the house instead of in the park. I started flying more regularly, at least 5-6 flights a day on it. Eventually I mastered it and wanted more!

I found rcgroups.com and read everything I could about rc airplanes. I wanted to find out what the next good step up would be. The good people on rcgroups.com recommended the UM T-28. I decided to take a trip out to the LHS and behold, they had the UM T-28. I decided to pick it up and boy I'm glad I did. The UM T-28 was my toy now, not my boy's :P The first few flights...Continue Reading