I've had the Ultrix for about a month now and admittedly it's the one I always fly first to get me "warmed up". I've thought if I'm going to do a FPV plane this would be the flyer. I saw a few Ultrix FPV builds so far and it looks like a lot of fun. So here goes my version of the UMX Ultrix FPV v1.0

Step one: Cut the nose off... ok this was difficult for me at first. I typically don't like to mod something that flies so nice. I could have just mounted the camera on the top but I want the "unobstructed" view.

The camera in this position is vulnerable to damage so I made a rubber bumper. Looks super crude! I will try a 3D printed version!...Continue Reading

I can't believe it's been 10 years since my last blog entry here on RCG but here goes my "incident report" of the Hadron's first flight...

Kamikaze RC Airfield, Coquitlam, BC Canada

The Hadron is a medium sized wing. Around 30" wide so it's usually hand launched. I had flown the F27B Stryker a while back and got used to launching them unpowered for safety reasons. The Hadron is a little different and I guess has to be launched full power with finger slicing propeller blades spinning away. I got ready and went through my preflight: 3S 2200 freshly charged and secured, correct propeller, check the CG, control surfaces working, low rates, SAFE, and AS3X all active. I will hand launch unpowered over grass in calm conditions.

This is when I wished someone was taking a video

On the count of three I gave it a firm and steady overhand throw. It sailed nicely for a few feet as I got my hands back on the TX. I punched it and watched as it shot straight up for about 10 feet and then pitch straight down and lawn dart wide open throttle. Crunch!

After I recovered emotionally from the shock, I taped all the pieces back together and got someone to hand launch it for me. I had it WOT with my hands ready on the sticks. It flew magnificently. In retrospect, I think all the stabilization caused the crazy flight behaviour. Post flight someone noticed that in all my flight modes SAFE was activated...

I got the poor Hadron back to the bench and repaired the...Continue Reading

I picked up the new Parkzone Spitfire. What a great scale warbird! it's the new Corsair F4U. Flies great and looks awesome in the air. They didn't have the retracts available at my LHS where I bought this. They should be in by next week. It will really add to the scale looks of this plane.

I just wanted to post this on my blog (if you haven't seen it in the build thread). I am absolutely digging the Quadcopter. I've never flown one of these before but was interested after seeing this one in particular on YouTube. I went ahead and picked one up. Added to that a GoPro Herocam and I was in business for some cool aerial photography.

Here's my first video:

I just recently picked up the Reactor Biplane from Electrifly. I was waiting until I got a little better at landing and takeoff before I flew a wood plane. So after a season of foam I felt it was time.

I've been flying for over year now. I started late last winter. I was waiting to see if there was going to be a race season for RC trucks. But the city decided to shut down Riverside, our local RC off road track. It was a load of fun racing the nitro trucks. But eventually we didn't get our lease renewed after just a few seasons and the track was shut down permanently. What a shame. So I was looking for something new. I wanted to get away from all that dirt anyway, I figured the sky is way cleaner! So I started looking around at some planes...

I got started with the Aerobird Swift. What a handful! I thought tip stalling was a natural aerodynamic occurrence at any time during flight! Not to mention under powered. etc. etc. I remember to my horror trying to fix it's innards! Later on (maybe 6 planes later) I resurrected the Swift one and hopped it up with a 3500 brushless in-runner and 3S LiPo. The thing actually wasn't so bad to fly with a little power.

My next plane was the 2 channel SuperCub with ACT: Anti Crash Technology. After enough crashing with the Aerobird I took a deep breath and a step back. No ailerons for me. Not just yet. I can't believe it was just a brushed motor running on NiMH's. It had just enough power to get you airborne with a little lift. Not enough to get you in trouble. I have since modified this trainer plane by putting on ailerons and going brushless + LiPo.

It wasn't too much longer that I wanted to try flying a plane that had the ailerons. I pretty much mastered the ROG takeoffs and some half decent landings with the Super Cub. Now it was time for the Parkzone Corsair F4U. This is one of my favorite planes to fly! I got the RTF version which included a DX5 radio. And started to get the feel for such responsive plane compared to the Super Cub.

ParkZone F4U Corsair (2 min 26 sec)

After the Corsair I knew I wanted something a little faster, so I picked up the Stryker. That was a whole new experience for me. It was fast.