Following an unscheduled landing, my favorite "go-to" profile plane (Value Hobby Sabre 35) became splinters. I eased my sorrow by ordering two new Sabre 35 kits. Four days later, and a couple of mods, my sorrow is gone!

Vg's and SFG's are the mods, came to like them on other airframes, figured it was worth a try on the Sabre.


UPDATE: Fly's amazingly well, the VG's and SFG's really lock it in, ultra stable and crazy balanced post stall.

Picked up a PA Addiction ARF from the LHS on Saturday, ready to maiden on Sunday. My kind of weekend!

AUW 629 Grams with EMAX ESO8MDII (4), 1800 3S, Thrust 20 Motor, 30A Cobra ESC, 12 x 4 Xoar, Carbon Spinner. This weight includes about 24g of dead weight in the nose, was tail heavy! Super Engineering in this kit, super light and surprisingly rigid.

Now, if the charger would just hurry up!

Classic QQ 3D Yak 54 -73", E-Power and ready for maiden.

Picked up a veteran airframe from fellow RCG member, sat on the project line for a while and is now re-born and ready for maiden. I am hopeful this E powered conversion performs as well as the fuelies did. Tips the scale a 13.9 lbs.

EF 160, Castle 120 HV, Castle HV Connectors,10S 5000mAH, APC 19 x 8W Propeller.

Cant wait for next weekend!

Had an urge for an EDF for some winter thrashing, 14 Blade, 8" thrust tube, 2900kv, 4s, afterburner LED and modified for twin rudder. Surprisingly light, hope to Maiden this weekend.

Found a good deal on a Skywalker at LHS, felt like a good winter project to try FPV. In the beginning stages of airframe and tinkering with possible mod's.

Vid-Boscam 800mw
Telemetry- 915 500mw
Brains-Pixhawk
Control- stock SPKT 2.4 (see how it goes)
Ground Station- DIY

The Tech One Swift is completed; tuned on the bench and CG to within Spec, now time to maiden.

Started the Techone Swift-Build today and made good progress, should be complete tomorrow. Good quality kit for the most part IMO and a simple build. I have been contmplating SFG's and Wheel pants (if for no other reason than that I like them) and made a couple of 10 minute "unscientific" mod's that I will incorporate into the Swift. Yes, I know its a cheap profile foamie!

If they work, great! If they dont, simple to remove.....................

Been practicing 3d(aerobatics anyway) every opportunity with the Tech One Venus and Apollo and really like these aircraft. Decided to expand the fleet again as I lost a couple of birds in mishaps. A few easy projects: Techone Swift, Bipe NZ and a Flycat EDF.
.

Update: Bipe met an untimely demise, never really got to know it.

Built a Tech One Venus this winter- Its been a blast and has turned out to be the only bird I choose to fly lately. The challenge of 3D and Precision Flight is addicting.

To get a little more flying opportunity ( My Yard ) I just ordered a Tech One Mini Apollo in hopes of being able to get some stick time in after work with out having to travel to the field.

The Tech One kits seem to be first class and a relatively good value.

Fabricated some leading edge "cuffs", wondering if they would be worth a shot? I like the look and they should add stiffness for the wing toss launch but would they provide any aerodynamic benefit or just add weight/drag?

While working on the last details ( Final Gluing/CG/Quanum Telemetry) of the F-22 Raptor with VT Mod for it's maiden, I decided to do a quick scratch build to get some practice with EDF ELEVON aircraft. It is also too windy for my fleet.

Comith the F-117 EDF scratch build; my first scratch build. It will be of simple construction and have no rudder. All parts will be recycled from previous heli's or planes. The only $$ will be the foam board( I say that now).

So far it has been pretty simple to construct, the difficult part will be providing sufficient intake and proper exhaust for the EDF. I think I have a simple solution........

Fan: 64MM Ducted Fan
Motor: 4200KV
LiPo: 3S 1800mAh/2100mAh
ESC: 35A Heli or 65A Airplane, TBD. I know what you are thinking!
Servo: (2) 9G E-Flite or Exi's, TBD.
RX: Orange 4CH
Airframe: Black Foam Board from *******'s Arts & Crafts

This hobby is addicting!

Nearly complete just some fine tuning and testing remains on the LX F-22 Raptor V3 Build With Vectored Thrust Mod.

Some of the testing in action: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1796997

Still working on final assembly, the VT system is operating well and should be a fun mod. I got side tracked with the cramped battery compartment and stopped the final assembly to get a nice compartment prepared. I basically totally gutted it all and will rebuild it to custom fit the 2200 mAh and 3000mAh lipos, servo slower, orange rx, orange rx remote, LED controller, Quanuam Telemetry and the rat nest of wires. Rare earth magnets will attach the cover. Just figuring it along the way.

I did manage to somehow render the green LED NAV light inop after I painfully installed it in the wing tip. It just stopped working and I cannot find the problem. All other LED's work fine. I will leave it for now and maybe replace it after a few flights.

Pics to follow after the mess is reduced.

The retract system servo slower arrived and I picked up some items from the LHS; more suitable control rods for the VT system and rubber tires. The rubber tires are a massive step up from stock, maybe they will help with ground control and landing impacts????

I hope to get some work done on it next week and post some photos, it sure is getting close to completion.

Gotta get ready for the holidays.

Final fitted the VT servos and routed the servo wires; now its almost time for full-on final assembly..well almost.

Added cheater holes in the gear well by heating drill bits with a torch and gently pushed them through the foam. I wanted round cheaters and this seemed to be a good way. I may add a couple more.

Ordered a servo slower and I will add this to the retract circuit in hopes of adding durability to the gear system. I will also try to figure a way to prevent the gear from bending. I' ve got a few ideas from threads.....................

Made a little more progress with the VT Mod today after work. Programmed the DX6i, mixed the AUX(Flap)channel with the elevator, dry fitted the servos and linkage and tested and centered all servos.

Settings:

Wing Format: Elevon

Reverse: Aileron

Rate High= All Channels 100% Expo=Inhibit

Rate Low= Aileron 75% Expo 25%
Rate Low= Elevator 100% Expo 12%

Mix 1 Elevator-Flap
Mix 1 D= 100% U=100%
Mix 1 Switch= Mix1
Mix 1 Trim= Act

With only 6 channels on the Dx6i I had to use a Y splitter for the VT servos(Flap Channel) and use an inline reverser for one of the VT servos. On the bench everything works great.


RX- Orange 6ch
RX Remote- Orange Micro RX

Next step: Hard mount the VT servos route/fit all wiring and final airframe assembly.

Managed to complete the F22's NAV lights today, they work well. I needed some additional length to reach the wing tips so I had to splice in a some additional wire. Two red strobes(one top and one underneath), two landing lights, and red/green wing tippers. All works great and ended up being a very clean install.

All that remains now is to fit and wire the VT servos, mix the channels and final assembly.

On a side note the Quanum Volatage Telemetry arrived, on the bench it works flawlessly. I can see the Quanum being a handy addition to the flight bag, and the potential for it to pay for its self.

Pictures to follow.

Mounted the the VT nozzels w/ control horns. The VT nozzels have exactly 3/4" range both up and down. I beleive I can get a little more with some minor tweaking; not sure if additional range is needed or not at this point.

Additionally, installed some of the NAV lights; two white landing lights and two red rotating(flashing) becon lights. The two forward facing landing lights are just under the intakes and one becon is top center behind cockpit and one red becon is at rear "bottom" center of airframe. The red and green NAV lights at wing tips will be work for later.

I got carried away with the polarized canopy and ended up without transparency, I like it though!

This F22 is coming together nicely!

NAV light kit arrived, I now have to figure a good way to install the wiring. I am considering using a hot rod to melt some small diameter tunnels through the wings and vertical stabilizers to get the LED's in the right location?? I may trial on some spare foam.

Began working on the F22 Modifications:

1. Vectored Thrust
2. Retract Tuning
3. Polarized Look Canopy
4. Cheater Holes
5. Upgraded ESC/SBEC
6. NAV/Strobe Lights

Just about all the parts for the MODS have been delivered except a few items.

Here are a few progress photos: