in this series I'll post things that have detoured/distracted or otherwise threw
me off course from my inital project(s),
..whatever that was...?

dunno if anyone caught these,
they appear Really Well Made,,
i bought one of ea. Kv,
neatly wound, plenty of room for more copper too..
$8.00 & a cpl for shipping...

Brother Hobby Motor Clearance

Several weeks back i scored this adorable little cul-de-sac flyer off the (RCG) Classifieds
(Thanks Phil! she's a Beaut.)

While i didn't initially intend to 'go' on her, i found myself commenting in the Sale thread
(yea, i'm one of 'those' guys, or can be apparently..) anyway one thing lead to another...

In hindsight i think i'm still looking for something i can fly in the small-ish parking lot
area of my Apt. complex, as it seems the only way i'll get any stick time in, is if i can just
grab.n.go...

...the mags had rotted on this blue wonder,
i posted it in Electric Motor Design and Construction awhile back but got little interest or comment,,
and i didnt recognize anyone over in that neighborhood anymore,,

ive a fondness for em, great little 3D foamie motors, even rewound a couple yrs ago...
thought i'd take a stab at it...

basically the motor was locked-up tight,
so i made a 6-point wooden JIG, that would poke thru the Bell cooling holes, and Into the stator/tube assembly,
and using a green aluminum tube (from salvaged copier parts)
to allow for some clearance, else the bearing tube wouldve 'bottom-out' against the vice jaws...
actually the TUBE was just the Perfect Diameter to push against the magnets (and/or thus the Bell...)
whilst the Jig pushed against the stator from the top/front,

in the end i didnt actually glue the pegs into the ply base (as i mayve needed to utilize only 3 of the 6
if/when things didnt align accurately...) fortunately this allowed some wiggle-room which is basically what i did,
re-clamped a cpl times, tried to keep it straight, repositioned it,, tappa-tappa w/a light hammer,,
was about to give up when i WIGGLED the cr*ap out of it, then removed it from the vice and it came out.
i think i just got lucky maybe.

I initially hoped i could just re-mag it and move on,
after seeing how locked up it was i feared destroying it during this process,,
again, got lucky,, as it came out fairly intact as far as the Stator...Continue Reading

Evader

a cpl weeks back i stumbled into TraderTalk, and heard where TheDon had mentioned this bird,
which i found Quite Attractive,

becoming a little enamored i searched around, collected some pics, found a review,
some more older classified listings, a Discussion thread, and I learned from a few sites which
still had her listed as a discontunued item,, the review included a not-quite thumbnail sized 2-view
which i opened in a watered-down version of Photoshop and preceeded to try and
mock (Muck?) up some sort of 'plan' drawing, which i then printed out to an 18" span multi-page PDF,
which was kinda what i was shooting for actually, BUT,, it sure seems LITTLE now that im lookin at it,,

i never got around to posting this, but,,
whilst furloughed and trying to pick up the place, i found this little gem in the bedroom closet,
bought off the RCG Classifieds, had to be over 9 yrs ago,,,

even then i guess i was interested in micro flight,
I initially had some issues with the Display Stand / Charger which i beleive were corrected, either way i found other
means of charging the little single cell lipos instead,, I picked up a cpl more 1S 70mah lipos off ebay, ordered a spare wing/tail section
off the classifieds, whilst she meanwhile, (other than puttering her across the carpet a cpl times)
sat idly for another...Several weeks,,

Tonight i finally tossed her out there (eventually you HAVE to right?)
I gotta say this thing's kind of a Blast in almost zero wind, a little challenging wether its just its size, the simple RET
control config., and/or maybe flying by the streetlamp lights, and over pavement (it has GEAR epoxied onto it)
so you might as well attempt some touch.n.goes right? lol

I went partially thru (3) cells, it was basically Dark by time i was getting a little comfortable with her,
first time ive rolled off the ground in over 30 yrs, T&G's kinda Failed, and while a tailgragger might've
turned on the pavement, she wouldnt do it for me tonight...
does kinda have a weird habit of randomly cutting out,,
was Fun, could maybe use some tweaking, but she'll definitely take some shots, seems to like the trees
(or thats me maybe.?) lol

hope to spend...Continue Reading

Tiny 3D

i started this project a cpl weeks back now, as a diversion from another project ive gotten over my head on,,
its based on ChaosMurphy's thread about fellow Cincinnatian 'Dynomike's' Tiny 3D (2007), whos indoor flight video really Sells It!
not that i can fly like that, but,, it also feeds my closet-micro-flight enthusiast need (more on that later...)
yea, been on my bucket-list THAT long lol

shes close, i think? im a little anxious about that beer-cooler foam wing tho (it was already available and close to the right size..),
and the weight, i always overbuild... it IS little.

started this mnths ago,
took tons of pics, more on it when ive a moment, ..or get back to it?

...well i guess i took a little vacation from R/C for awhile,
not sure how or why that happened but it appears my last blog here was on Oct 3, 2011,
and from the looks of it, i was a Blog-Hog! lol

in hindsight it was a fun way of documenting my builds, their progress, and inviting
interaction, and illiciting help and comradery from fellow members.

At the moment, as i'm reviewing my dust-covered fleet, it is an invaluable resource,
particularly in matching what (battery) packs went with which plane.
I feel like ive forgotten almost everything about e-flight, lol
but i also couldnt help noticing just how helpful and encouraging other members have been.
so along the way i hope to maybe run into some ya's again, and/or maybe make some new aquaintances.
(mostly in the power systems, and foamies sections)

...between a recent increased workload, and my Fathers passing (last week) i havent been too active or focused on R/C lately,,

I did however do some mending and modifications to My Amos Moses.
Namely she got a new nose-job, increased wing area, i re-hinged the ailerons, and added Landing Gear, including a steerable tailwheel! yeah!

Since (re)learning to fly, ive never really had a plane w/gear.

I tried to rush out Sat. and (re)maiden her in the Apt complex parking lot,, woe, was That a failure.
Adding about 3/4" (~19mm) to the leading edge had thrown the CG considerably off, and this plane is kinda short-coupled anyway,
and blacktop is Not very forgiving,,,
..so i added a longer battery attaching velcro strip to allow me some more adjustment.

Went out again tonight just before dark, and after a little bit of fussing and adjusting, got her airborn, and commenced to start negotiating the ground.
I gotta tell ya, adding the pavement to the mix adds a whole new dimension to the flight envelope, and before long (I admit) i was fairly having a Blast with her until a finally threw a wheel and called it quits. ...Continue Reading

My Fav little foamie has taken a beating over the years,,,
it had gotten to where the entire Mtr/Mnt was just kinda flopping around in any ol' direction (it was originally only a taped-in tube mount to begin with) still flew fine, but,,
even tho i have fairly definite plans of building another duplicate Flash soon... i wanted to correct all that 'slop'.

When any one bird has given this much faithful service over the years, And remained (basically) Intact, well,, you owe to Her Right!?


DSCN1409.MOV (0 min 17 sec)

Rx xtals, for display,, trade, sale,?

I'm initiating this is in anticipation of upgrading my HBZ Supercub, and ultimately adding Floats to her as well.
...soon as my workbench and approximately 2.5 projects are cleared off.
In the meantime, i want to do a little research, make some notes, collect some links, and (hopefully) answere some questions.

I'm tentatively proposing to:
1.) Go Brushless, whether outrunner or inrunner w/the stock gearbox,, [not sure why, but the inrunner idea kinda appeals to me?]
2.) swap out the components for 'hobby-grade' gear,
3.) add Ailerons, (likely using 2 servos + Y-harness)
4.) add CF spar, and dihedral brace,,
5.) heatshrink some thin CF rod to the wingstruts. or (possibly?) fabricate entirely new struts?
6.) check and re-install the landing gear (which i have Never used) and find some Large wheels for using off the grass, rough turf etc.
7.) add a (balsa) wood TE wingsaddle brace.

...this will be the 4th of these ive built now, all have flown fairly successfully.

The idea on this one was to kinda help further a co-workers RC aspirations, and where-ever possible utilize his old Aero Voyager parts, including the radio, brushed motor, and proprietary Rx/ESC unit,, this presents some interesting challenges, and from the beginning even, wasnt something i was sure i wanted to fool with. lol

i suppose i shouldve tested everything out first, but didnt initially have the Tx,,
at that point, I was goin for the build regardless, it shouldnt be too hard to swap out components later if i really had to, to make this a reasonably flyable wing,,,

i started another wing (about a week or 2 ago?), based on the 16" KFm4 David wing (here)
this is probably the closest ive come to doing anything 'micro', and im kinda determined to make a flyable wing,, this one really caught my eye,,,

mine is:
22" span, 3mm +6mm depron,
hxt 10g 1800-2000kv? motor
CC TB6 ESC,
(2) DYS 3.7g servos,
blue arrow R3P5 Rx
near completed airframe weight: 89g (currently)

shes actually fairly close to finished now,
just want to add some wingtiplets (which are omitted on the original modedl), maybe do some tweaking,
just wanted to share some thoughts and pics,,, probably in semi-Random order now as its after-the-fact,,,

got a little restless,, started another build (lol)
F-16 semi scale, 19.5 span, 30 long, Profile pusher parkjet,,
8mm EPP for ~2208 class mtr and small 3s,,

i had gleaned over several F-16 threads here on RCG, and actually liked the one presented by Hans Joachim, but even with the 65% plans i couldnt quite achieve the size i wanted, so i basically just took some lo-rez scale F-16 3-views from the plans sub-forum and butchered-em up in photoshop a bit, made some mental calcs, set my printer to 9-page poster, and got lucky,,,

got it all on (1) 12x36" sheet of EPP, and started cutting and gluing,,,
lay it out, cut it out, glue parts together (i used 5-min epoxy)

i started a wing,
i had salvaged some pink FFF that had been in back of my jeep forever now, thinking it was just too warped to be of much use,, but now im thinking i might use the 'bow' to my advantage, if i cut my panels out accordingly, so as to utilize the arc as part of the airfoil,, maybe,,, genious huh?
of course that didnt really happen,
i simply cut it out as best suited efficient use of the foam lol

i sandwiched some 3/32" basswood spars between some fanfold
(3/32: 16x3/16x7/16") and attempted to keep the bottom panels reasonably flat,,
i used an old wing pattern i had found on the internet (maybe from SloperSteves wing designer?) ...i dunno, but it was a 15" half-panel giving me a 30" span, fairly broad corded, and not too steeply swept,,, maybe i just liked the 'look' of it, who knows,,,
should be pretty straight forward, and a quick build, using regular gear i have on hand.

i built this baby almost a month ago now...?
it's totally based on Daves KFm4 Superfly (clone, in Depron) which is itself based on the popular Superfly (EPP delta) to which thread ive posted it,,,
...however at Daves prodding (and my own curiousity) i now intend to try and familiarize myself with her flight characteristics, and then later add the KF steps
which were/are ...integral? to his build, and attempt to recognize and determine a comparative analysis between the two,,, thus ive opened this 'thread' here on my blog as an initiation and place-holder for any later developements.

ive started a build based on the Nico Hobbies mini F-15 parkjet.
I saw Adams first posting back in April 2009, and thought, 'oh cool, i wanna do one too', i followed it awhile, fascinated,, thinking it could be a fun build, well suited to my talent level, maybe? lol
but several posts later it became evident he (they?) were going into 'production' with it,, although i had printed out the plans and made an top-side-view profile 'template' out of luan, i then mustve gone another direction for awhile...

anyway, here, now almost 2 yrs and several computers later, i found the template, plans, and finally tracked down the original thread again and started building....
i havent really planned out a 'build-thread', but,, i sometimes enjoy documenting some of the progress (or lack of) along the way anyhow,,, ,, , , , , ,

this will be my build log of the Mig3 in depron (or mixed-medium) which is being graciously taught online here by Hans.

Progress: (currently limited basically to pre~preparation) ...basically stalled, pending the (slowly) nearing completion of my Mirage 2000.
ive printed out the Plans, which seem accurately rendered,,
ive ordered and received 6mm depron, and acquired some (~6mm) FFF,
ive begun viewing the tutorial build videos, and attempt to monitor the lead thread postings, and peruse participants build logs.

..although i feel its very much to my benefit to have the foresight of the others endeavors at my disposal to aid my build, and (hopefully) prevent any obvious mistakes or trouble-some areas, i must find a way (and workspace) to actively work on Both projects. I am NOT a multi-tasker lol
I fully hope to at least cut out the templates, if not also the parts soon, as the deadline is quickly approaching.