I have been flying Forward Figure 8's for about a week now.

Today I started trying side in figure 8's. Man that is a whole new challenge.

side in then reverse. other side and reverse.

I think I have a long way to go as far as pattern flying goes.

I expect to have my VNR3D going this week though.

I can't wait.

The VNR3D was my first Heli and I only have three tries at flying it.

Crashed twice in three battery packs. Hopefully the BCX is preparing me a little more.

Updates to come.

ok, so...first flight its a big oops

Scroll down for the pictures.

When the Element was loaded to go to the field the first few times, planes were spread all around on the rear floor and there was a big mess in the back. Getting everything in and out was hard on my back and the planes. When the planes were put up on the folded seats and the windows were open they blew around. Time to design.

The box is made out of blue foam. The bottom is made from 1 1/2" blue insulating foam that had been laying around the shop and the rest is from 1" foam purchased for the box. It required less that half of a 2ft. x 8ft. sheet. Deciding on the dimensions of the box required measuring the car and the planes.

The planes were propped up on scrap lumber and measured to determine how deep the box had to be so that the planes could be supported by the sides and the slots in the sides. The width of the box is wider than the maximum propeller diameter (by a few inches) that might be on any plane in the box combined with clearance for any servos in the wings (for ailerons). The length (the longest dimension) of the box was determined by the space between the wheel wells in the back of the car.

Once the box was assembled the planes were propped up in place again to determine spacing that would allow the maximum number of planes and the least chance of damage when they were loaded and removed. The slots for the wings were cut with a very thin Japanese saw. The other cuts were made with a 1 1/2" putty knife...Continue Reading

Scroll down for the pictures.

A recent building project was Gary Wright’s Mini E3D. The kit was started a few monthss ago and has flown. How was the kit? Just fine except for a few little things involving the fuselage side balsa, the strip wood and a few places that had to be watched to ensure an accurately built framework.

The two fuselage sides were made from very different pieces of balsa. One side was stiff, heavy “C” grain and the other was very light and soft “A” grain. After testing them alongside each other for stiffness, some thin CA was run along the length of the “A” grain piece and hit with accelerator. That stiffened it up considerably. Assembling the fuselage required close attention to keeping it straight and aligned. In spite of that attention it came together a bit off but some soaking in acetone loosened things up and allowed it to be trued. Lesson learned: The stabilizer should be aligned with the wing before the fuselage is finally glued together.

The strip wood was quite curvey but there was enough with the kit and in the backup bins (Thank you, Aerocraft) to overcome what could have been a frustrating experience. Even wood that looked straight when picked soon warped in the summer humidity.

The paper/phenolic tubes that support the aluminum wing connecting tube allowed the wing to be twisted and for the twist to be held long enough to glue in an undesireable warp. Again, acetone loosened things up so the warp could be removed; the situation...Continue Reading

The Pulsar aka Simply the Best is ready to fly. The only damage from its test flight crash was a small dent in the “D” tube of the wing at the center mounting peg, not worth trying to fix. The fuselage has now been faired into a 30mm spinner and painted with a rubbed out finish of red Krylon.

The wing tips were covered (as purchased) with a pretty apple green film that was almost invisible when the plane was up high, reducing the visibility of the plane by the area of the tips. They have now been recovered in the same red as the rest of the wing - seeing it is much easier now.

The motor, a Razor 2500 with a CC 25A ESC/BEC turned a 9 x 6 folding prop for the test flight. Next flight, with a draw of 12.5 amps on the 3S 1320 TP Prolite pack, will be with a Freudenthaler 10 x 7. The radio is a 4 channel Berg controlling the motor and a mixed V-tail.

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Here are some pictures of my model aircraft. I'm excited to get them all in the air again.

New: MaxiR photos (The Esky King/Cool is now sold)...Continue Reading

On my first attempt to enter my log, I have found tribles in my STC.
If this reaches you before I can maiden the bird, may God have mercy on us all. lol

Ok, this site has been a soar spot in my wife's side. The addiction in unreal. It all started when I saw the hydroplane video. I spent weeks looking thru every web page I could find. Guess what I found, you got it, "here". Ok, so it's not the best bird to start flying, but that's ok. I build, I see, I try! It was fun, all 3 of them. The last looks good, maybe heavy, but good. Since I have never been into this hobby before now, I had no equipment to finish and fly it. Funds are always tight, so I had to research building actuators, now that is very cool. The motors, cd roms. This has got to be the most amazing advancement in RC flying I have heard of. The main reason I never considered RC plains, was the cost of a gas motor. Now look what’s happened. I can get in to this. Then I see the radio, ouch.


Ok, onto step 2. If I can't afford the electronics yet, why not look for more planes. So I found the STC and the full fuselage. this looked like it would fly as a chuck and pray, so I put an old cell phone battery on it, took a motor off an rc car, (under speed and power) bought a prop (too small) and had the kids go play with me in the yard. Could I mess this up, well, in short, yes? Was too dark to video, to windy to fly straight and too under powered and under propped to fly well. But by God, it did fly. The kids loved it. It was my first official, self-powered flight.

The kids liked it so much; I built them some chuckers, with a paper clip nose, 10" wingspan to throw around.


Now onto bigger and better things. Have you seen jetset44's tomcat? Retractable wings too!!. So I have not built it yet, yet.

this has been a great place to show my stuff.
and some stuff of other flyers....Continue Reading

Ok, if you want to see some of the planes i've built just check my gallery.

Photo Gallery

Have fun!

I'm pretty busy these days and RC modelling is not happening at the moment. I hope to have some brand new EDF models flying this summer. 'Til then - happy flying!

Here is my latest video form

thttps://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=488867oday.

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Success at last! Version 2.0 of the Blink flew successfully today - what a relief. Flying conditions were decent, a little chilly but winds were light.

This version has a lengthened fuselage, dihedral, and smaller ailerons with reduced throws. I think the dihedral is a bit too much but it is much more stable than the first version.

I put a bigger canopy decal on this one; I think it makes the whole plane looks smaller and more sporty. Putting on the vinyl detailing has to be the most enjoyable part of the build for me. I made some quick exhaust stack decals that were fun to sketch out.

The wing hold down uses two magnet-to-magnet closures and is much more secure than last time. The wing popped off on landing (it comes in pretty hot) but nothing was damaged this time.

Flight time was just a few minutes since the motor started to "miss" and lose power. After I landed it wouldn't even start up - I finally got bitten by the erratic quality control on these GWS brushed motors. Servos still had power so the speed control is probably fine (Pixie 7). I'll have to open the cowling up and replace the motor with one that is hopefully a little more reliable.

Did some loops and rolls; it was very responsive without being nervous like the last one. Definitely a lot more stable and friendly with the modifications.

Overall I'm very happy that it's a big improvement on the last one in terms of looks, assembly, and flying qualities. The next one will get a brushless motor, a sleeker looking cowling, and some other little tweaks.

-Matt

Plane deemed unflyable. Destroyed in a flash of fury.

Flights to date: 22

Four flights today just after dawn. Almost zero wind. Had a friend try out the sticks on the buddy-link, and I think he's hooked. Didn't time them, but we got plenty of time in the air. Limiting factor today was Tx batteries, believe it or not. Got to remember to charge them as well.

I tried flying with a block of wood that simulates the aerodynamic effect of having an AP camera (Aiptek MPVR) on board. Flew just fine. Had to tape a small weight to the tail to adjust CG. Next step will be to increase AUW to what it'll be with the camera and get familiar with flying that rig before doing it for real.

Dual rates is a real help landing - I'm trying to land as if I didn't have the nicest field anywhere so I can take it when we travel and fly in whatever parks present themselves.

My promise to finish painting that room conflicts with "higher" purposes, or I'd be flying all day.

Dlg

ales

foamies

This is the airplane I won in a raffle. It's the Cap 580 ARF from Great Planes, 46 tp 72 sized. It flies great. The wing loading is a bit high. So it is a bit fast for me, but it handles very nicely. The picture on the left is from the manufacturer's website. The picture on the right is a shot of my model coming in for a landing on its maiden flight. The cowling has not yet been installed, and it is flying off of skiis. The motor is the OS61FX which was previously flying on the Corotoro below. A pitts muffler is used. The radio consists of a futaba R127DF receiver and five 3004 servos. It has flown 4 times so far. More flying tomorrow I hope.

Saturday 3/25/2006
Well I was able to get the S/S in the air today and also put the
ETONIC special on it (SD Cam). Got a couple cool photos.
It was somewhat windy and I put in into a spin into the ground hard.
Broke the elevator and rudder. Fixed the rudder and made another elevator
from blue foam. I have 7 other kits, but why waste the parts.
Broke a couple more props, but due to stupid errors this time.
I'm getting the motor management down pretty good.
The last flight was the worst. One of those pesky light poles reached
out and grabbed my S/S and bent the fuse right behind the motor.
Oh well, I'll cut it off, insert a stick, and be as good as new.
I vow not to use one of my new kits till this thing is absolute junk !!

Here is a MIA Bumble Bee I am willing to sell:

Bumble Bee complete kit...built.
Extra Flybar
Two extra tail booms
Extra set to blade covers
Two G-50 5 grams servos (new)
Three Blue Arrow BA-ST-3.6 3.6 gram servos, one works perfectly the other two could be combined to make one good one, or just buy a gear set. I think one has a stripped gear; the other the pot is loose.
Blue Arrow R3P5-H/T Receiver 5 channel 3.9 grams (no crystal).
One Wattage 5amp brushed ESC.


The frame was modified for a CDR motor, but I bonded on a piece of Carbon Fiber sheet to mount the brushed motor. It is a very clean installation.

Comes complete with the factory box and all manuals.

Kit new is $175.00, I'll take $150.00 shipped for the complete package.