craab's blog View Details
Posted by craab | Oct 25, 2013 @ 10:56 AM | 14,183 Views
Wow. 10 years sure blows by pretty quick.

I remember when I first found this site - after an extended hiatus from the hobby.

It was around the same time I discovered the GWS Tigermoth, Slowstick, and E-tech Lipos (which were really expensive then - even for a 2 cell 1200 mah pack).

This site has immensely enriched my experience in the hobby - and has answered more questions than I can count. It got me through a rough divorce, and made me friends and flying buddies in real life.

Thanks RC Groups!





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Posted by craab | Feb 06, 2012 @ 09:04 AM | 15,732 Views
Was out flying with some friends on a beautiful Saturday in Virginia Beach. My friend Alan captured these great shots on my second Albatross flight of the day... ...Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Feb 02, 2012 @ 10:04 AM | 15,194 Views
An old friend was in town 2 rainy weekends ago, and we went to check out the collection at the Virginia Beach Aviation Museum. It's a great stop if you are ever in Hampton Roads. Enjoy!...Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Jan 12, 2012 @ 09:11 AM | 16,087 Views
I happened across a small cache of pics of my group of flyers on my work PC today. These are really just for my friends' benefit. I think these are from the fall of 2009....Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Dec 31, 2010 @ 01:13 PM | 16,680 Views
My friend and I decided to get one last session in for 2010. We met at our local spot at 8am. Snow on the ground, no wind - perfect. The snow pack made the whole field a runway/landing strip. A great way to wrap up a year of flying.

video 2010 12 31 09 24 34 (0 min 59 sec)

Posted by craab | Nov 11, 2010 @ 06:09 PM | 19,232 Views
So I bought the Kyosho Airium Spit and 109 for myself last Sunday. Two large boxes were on my doorstep when I got home. I took some pics of the "unboxing" and I'll let them do the talking. These things are REALLY nice.
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Posted by craab | Oct 03, 2010 @ 01:55 PM | 17,493 Views
So we've had a week of rain here in Virginia Beach.
Saturday, Oct. 2 was a break - sunny, mild - great day for flying.
A friend and I took advantage.

I woke up today (Sunday) and the Monsoon is back...
Posted by craab | Sep 25, 2010 @ 05:34 PM | 18,374 Views
The first person I flew with when I moved to Virginia Beach was Rohit.
We flew together most Saturdays for the better part of three years. Ro was a talented pilot, modeler, and a good friend. He was also a family man - and often brought his wife and son out with him. He and his family left in the end of August for Washington state where he will be enrolling in a civilian aviation program. I'll miss him. Here's some pics of Ro I had left in my camera....Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Sep 17, 2010 @ 02:49 PM | 18,190 Views
So my other buddy was shooting with my D-SLR - got some more interesting shots than my previous post. Night flying is ALOT of fun....Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Sep 17, 2010 @ 01:25 PM | 18,754 Views
So I jumped into the night flying with some buddies and ordered a bunch of strip LEDS. I decked out a Slowstick and I am very happy with the results.

Here are some bad initial shots of my buddy Tim launching for me, and a few in-air shots.
Gotta' get a handle on night photography now...
Posted by craab | Jun 08, 2010 @ 05:30 PM | 18,688 Views
So, I had put this project on the backburner in the early spring after getting ripped off on the ESC for it. More about that in my earlier blog post.
I finally pulled it out today and got the paint on her. The weather's here - and I feel the need for speed. Should finish her over the next 3 evenings - in time for a Saturday maiden.

Have a look!...Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Mar 12, 2010 @ 07:50 PM | 18,956 Views
Ok, so after getting ripped off by FlyerDeluxe (like so many of us...) I was still in need of an ESC in the 100 amp range. So I settled on the Scorpion 110 amp from RC Dude Hobbies. I ordered on a Wednesday - got free priority shipping (because the order was over $100) and it showed up at my office today at 11:30am. I'm psyched. After being hosed by a reprobate scofflaw who apparently is hard at it scamming anglers in the greater Chicago area, I'm glad to be moving ahead with my project. The Skunkworks Stryker.
More to come.

The Scorpion ESC came packaged exquisitely - so without further ado, here it is...
Posted by craab | Feb 07, 2010 @ 12:04 PM | 19,106 Views
My buddy Alan posted in our Virginia Beach parkflyers thread yesterday.
He had cabin fever, and was going flying, no matter what. We've had two weekends in a row of crap weather, and I had cabin fever too - so I met him out for a few flights....Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Feb 05, 2010 @ 02:49 PM | 20,222 Views
I'm working on a "black side" Stryker for spring. I wanted something that would really dust the other guys at the field. So, after some research, and ALOT of help from GryphonRCU in the Stryker thread, I settled on the HET Typhoon 2W-30.

Specs here:

I was a little hesitant to order from Hong Kong - I like to buy locally when I can; from Tower and a few others in the U.S. when I can't. My worry was unfounded. the motor came in 7 days, and the tracking from the Hong Kong postal service transferred through to the USPS. No probelms.

Here's a few pics. Enjoy!
Posted by craab | Jan 30, 2010 @ 08:00 AM | 20,071 Views
In the 3 years that I've lived here in VA Beach, I have not seen as much as a flurry. So, I had a hard time buying into the hysteria yesterday over the impending "blizzard".

I live very close to the shore - and even if Hampton Roads saw snow - I figured there'd be nothing here at the beach.
I was wrong. We have about 3 inches - with a pretty wicked sheet of ice underneath. I'm guessing the freezing rain came through first - in the middle of the night. It's supposed to keep going until about 4pm.

I went and took some happy snaps around 7am.

Enjoy! ...Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Mar 01, 2009 @ 11:53 AM | 18,938 Views
I took a little sebatical from the blog. Yesterday, some nasty winter weather blew into Virginia Beach, and I was bored. So, I headed out to the Air and Space museum in Hampton. I've known about it since I moved here, but this was my first trip. It's a $9.50 admission, and there is an IMAX theater there as well. It's a nice display, but a bit small, and the admission seems high to me. Anyway, here's some pics. The weather seems to be getting worse here.
Those of you in the northeast are all probably getting a taste of this!...Continue Reading
Posted by craab | Dec 30, 2008 @ 09:07 PM | 18,944 Views
I'm from Philadelphia, and, as you can tell by my avatar, I'm a big Eagles fan.
As I've mentioned before in my blog, I'm a big sports fan. In case any of you Dallas fans missed it, the Eagles stomped a mudhole (44-6 final) in the Cowboys this past Sunday. Just a little shout out to my Philly fans on the boards.