In part two of my series on Sketchup we look at customizing Sketchup to add some extra tools that are useful in designing RC aircraft.

Check it out here:

http://www.vintauri.com/sketchup-for...zing-sketchup/

Sketchup for RC Part 2 - Customizing Sketchup (13 min 33 sec)

Steve

I have been using sketchup for a few years to work on designs to cut out on my CNC machine. I have had a number of people ask me about how they can learn to do the same. I felt it would be best to have something I can have people go look at instead of trying to explain it each time. So I'm starting a series of tutorials on how I use Sketchup in designing RC aircraft. There are many ways to go about it but the method I use works for me and perhaps it will work for others so I'm sharing the information online.

You can check out my first installment on my website here: http://www.vintauri.com/sketchup-for...n-to-sketchup/

My plan is to add a lesson at least once a week to get things going and work through the first simple design.

I am also creating a video to go with each write up so check those out as well. Here is the first one:

Sketchup for RC - Introduction to Sketchup (24 min 39 sec)

I hope this helps people have some fun designing their own aircraft. It's great to see something you created on your own take flight and even more fun to see others enjoying it as well.

Feel free to ask questions or leave comments for me here. We are all learning and I hope to learn something from others in this process as well!

Steve

I started this event at my club a few years ago and it has grown to be one of the best electric events in the country. It has attracted companies such as Great Planes, Castle Creations, Sig, and more. It takes work almost year round to make this 3 day event happen and while it's hard work it's a labor of love.

We're in the home stretch now with just 3 weeks to go. The field is shaping up with a new fence line and the grass has recently been rolled and the mat stretched.

T-shirts are on order as well as trophies and some special extras. The food is being planned for a great weekend of fun and friends.

All that is left is for the pilots to come.

I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.

Check it out and get signed up to have some fun in southern Minnesota.

http://www.watts2012.net

I love this hobby and I'm always looking for new ways to enjoy it. This spring I finally got some flying boats ready for some lake flying. With SEFF coming up and a new pond there I wanted something ready to go so off we went to the local pond to test the out.

You can read more tips and how it went with the planes on my blog here: http://www.vintauri.com/rc-floatplane-flying/

Steve
http://www.vintauri.com

I had the chance to check out E-fest 2012 this year and had a blast. I had some extra duties along with attending but I'll go into that later. Want to hear more about it check out my website post about E-fest and think about attending next year yourself.

http://www.vintauri.com/e-fest-2012/

Steve

I finally made myself sit down and learn a little about CAD design and CNC machines. A friend has a CNC machine and has invited me to use it. Check out my work from this past week here:

http://www.vintauri.com/i-design-a-p...ogle-sketchup/

Vintauri RC - Depron Yak 54 Testing (3 min 34 sec)

Steve
www.vintauri.com

I traveled down to Iowa this past weekend for the Expo in the UNI dome indoor RC fly in. I had a great time and posted an event report on my website.

http://www.vintauri.com/rc-expo-in-the-uni-dome/

Here is the video highlights as well.

Vintauri RC - 2012 Expo in the UNI Dome (8 min 27 sec)

Steve
www.vintauri.com

During the black friday sales this year I picked up a few extras like the Mini DV camera from HobbyPartz. I like playing with onboard footage so I thought for the price i'd give it a try and see how it works. The camera is billed as another "Spy" camera and at $20 or less you can't expect too much but this one does alright. It does come with a variety of mounts and an AC usb adaptor so the extras included are nice.

Check out my full review and video here:

http://www.vintauri.com/mini-dv-ultr...camera-review/

HobbyPartz Ultra Mini DV Video Camera Review (12 min 25 sec)

A friend of mine is working on a redesign of the Herr Cub for Sig. We did some flight testing at the Metrodome and it's looking good.

Sig / Herr Cub (3 min 21 sec)

I belong to the MARCEE club in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Each year we are lucky to secure some indoor flying dates in the Metrodome. This past friday I went there and had some fun. I took some video of our day and have it posted on Youtube here:

Vintauri RC - MARCEE Indoor RC flying at the Metrodome (4 min 27 sec)

It's great fun and I hope we are able to keep this going for future years.

I love to build and even more so in the winter but that means I'm cooped up in my workshop and unable to step outside for the messy steps. Balsa dust can really irritate your lungs and so I felt it would be good to control the dust somehow. So I rigged up a cheap dust collection system using a fan and some furnace filters.

http://www.vintauri.com/?p=83

No more excuses not to have an airplane work stand or cradle. Give your plane a proper resting place while you put it together or work on it.

Check out my DIY here: http://www.vintauri.com/?p=55

So I have been on RCG for almost 8 years and this is my 6000th post. I know there are others out there with far more posts then I but I like to choose my words carefully! Or maybe not hehe. I've started 394 threads well 395 when this one posts. I've also racked up a trader rating of 186 and who knows how many total sales.

The thing I can't count are the number of friends I have made both near me and far away. Some I have never met in person or even talked to on the phone. Others I now consider close friends. I also can't count (nor do I want to) the number if airplanes I have built, flown crashed, repaired or otherwise in that short time.

I hope to continue this trend ( well other then the crashing part). I hope to meet many more people and share many more things RC related or not.

Steve

I picked this up at SEFF. I just need a couple 5s 5000mah lipo packs for it.

My wife finally got tired of me talking about a trailer that when I found a good deal on a used one she told me to just go get it. Lucky for me our tax refund was a little better then we expected.

It's a shadowmaster 5x8 with a torsion axle and twin doors. The inside is done with 3/8 ply instead of just the 1/4 luan that most come with. The tires are fairly new and the spare is mint. It also has a nice box on the tongue for storing the extras such as fuel and flightbox. He had some rope lights wired up to a battery that sat on the inside. So I'm going to expand on that and rig up a deep cycle battery that I can charge from.

I'm doing some research on setups to maximize the space. I'd love to have a bigger trailer but the layout of our lot and garage makes storing and parking anything much bigger a pain.

I need to figure our how to carry both electrics and larger warbirds so whatever layout I come up with will need to be adjustable. I'm thinking of doing some 2x4's with angled PVC rods for the wings on one side. I might do something similar for the fuses on the other side. For the smaller electrics I could just have holes that are closer together. I have a couple months before any major flyin's that I would need more hauling room for so I'm not going to just throw it together.

Steve

Being the resident "Electric Expert" at one of the clubs I frequent I get a lot of requests for help on conversions, builds and "How do I charge this again?" questions.

So he latest is one of the giant scale guys purchased an Airworld 262. It was originally built for Nicads and he wants to upgrade the power system. He also has a second kit that he's debating on how to power. So I brought the plane home and will start looking into the best setup for this plane.

It needs some other work on retracts and some cosmetic details but with a little luck it will be flying in a month or so.

Steve

Somehow one of my club mates convinced me to build a wing for him. Now I love building wings but this one has been quite taxing. Perhaps it's the fact that it's a 12 foot wing for a 1/4 scale skyraider! But I'm finally working through the sheeting and once I get it glassed it's all his.

I'm actually quite proud that I have cleared out the unstarted kits down to this many. I had about twice this much mid summer last year. We'll see just how many I do finish and how many more I obtain this year. But for now they are neatly stacked waiting for me to get going.

Now what I'm not showing just yet are the projects that are mid way and need to get done before I can start on these. That is an entirely differnt story.

Steve

I was at a full scale fly in where the RC club was invited to put on some demonstrations. We had 3 one hour time slots to fly and the rest of the time was open to look around at the full scale planes. It was not too big of a show but hey it had airplanes and people that enjoy airplanes. So it's a good day in my book.

I came across an experimental biplane that looked interesting but the owner was not around to ask any questions. I had not seen this plaque before and found it a bit funny and could be concerning to an uneducated passenger.

Anyway I'm sunburned now but it was for a good cause.

Steve

So my wife decided to throw me a surprise birthday party. She thought inviting 40+ people over to the house was a good idea. I thought she was crazy but she did it anyway. Well luckily not everyone could be there and so the house was only midly overrun with friends and family and lots of kids!

Anyway it was a good time but what was really cool was one of my good friends gave me a gift I could never have asked for. He said he came across these books and magazines and just knew I had to have them. There were a few books about the Staggerwing, Travel Air Co, the Aeronca and the Ryan. Those alone were pretty cool but what was really awesome were the magazines.

There were 2 Model Airplane News dated Feb 1930 and May 1940. Plus there was a copy of Air Trails from May 1939. These are all originals! How cool is that!

Now this is the kind of gift you just don't ask for but is the best out there.

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