Hi all! Looks like I'm overdue for an update on this thing.

I live in central Florida, so its RC season all year around!

A new RC recreation center has opened near me. This place is HUGE! There is a lake for boating, an onroad oval track for 1/10 scale and smaller, and an "All Purpose" field that can be used for planes.

I think you all know I used to have onroad racers many many years ago. The bug has re-bitten and my brother and I just have to try the new track. Unfortunately, we sold all the rc cars to get into boats.

Ebay to the rescue! We have both purchased brushless 1/10 scale racers. Mine is 4WD and bro's is 2 WD. We re-kindled our old racing team name " Team Alienaters" and prepped our cars accordingly.

We tested our cars on the street in front of our house with a 2S lipo battery. The speed was underwhelming and left us wanting more. Switching to a 3S LiPo nearly knocked us right out of our socks! WOW! What a HUGE difference with only a minimal change.

We are currently awaiting a day that we are both off work to take them to the track. I'll do my best to get some live action shots and vids.

Attached are some photos of the 2 cars. The Black and yellow one is mine and the green and white one is my Bro's.

Here is a link to a video of test run at the track

1/10 Exceed Mad Speed Drift King on road (12 min 46 sec)

...Continue Reading

Hi everybody! Its been almost a year since I updated this thing. SHEESH!~

A lot has been happening around the house. As most of you know, my brother and I are currently into
R/C sailing yachts. (primarily Solings)

We needed some year round front yard decorations and decided to use a nautical theme.

One of my previous blogs showed you an "Alien" themed front yard display. This was made from grocery store containers and did NOT hold up too well in the BLISTERING HOT summer temps here in Florida.

During a visit to a local curio shop, we found some unpainted concrete statues. We purchased a mermaid, turtle, and rabbit.
After giving them a custom paint job, they got a healthy coating of UV resistant sealer and out they went to the front garden.
We drew, cut and stained a Gallien ship, under full sail, and mounted it to the wall of the house.

We attached a custom cut and stained dolphin to hang below it. The dolphin was given the house numbers.


Once I got the woodworking bug biting me, (LOL) I designed and built a sail box for our Soling sails. This has greatly reduced the loading and unloading time for trips to the lake. Transporting the hulls in their stands is alot safer and easier too.

Please enjoy the photos. More updates to come.

Thanks....Team Alienaters R/C...Continue Reading

Hi everybody! I have really been busy with several projects since my last post.

Its Spring time and that means... OUTDOOR PROJECTS

My brother and I created a nice rock garden in the front yard and needed some garden statues to put in it. Most of the neighbors have the usual things like gnomes, mushrooms, fairies, and wildlife like rabbits, turtles, flamingos, alligators, etc.

Team Alienaters has always been a bit different in all we do and this time would be no exception. We decided to do an ALIEN theme. (big surprise)

We gathered all the alien workers together and asked them to contact the home world and send us some ships. Wouldn't you know it, one of them partied too much before leaving the home world and CRASHED into the wall of the house.
Trying to make lemonade from lemons, we turned the crashed ship into a name plate. LOL

Another ship arrived and landed safely and the first thing the little guys did was put up some habitats.

OK....I know what you are thinking. Aliens didn't really come to our house.(yet) We made these ships and shelters ourselves using our model building experience and some ordinary stuff laying around the house. RIGHT!

Check out the video below and you will see how we did it.

Making a UFO Garden (4 min 41 sec)

The next project was the "Back Yard" (ominous music) We wanted a water feature and wanted to do some light raking and cleaning.

Once we started, the backyard turned into an...Continue Reading

Wow! Can't believe it has been so long since an update. Good news! The hole in our wall has been repaired and we did some upgrades.

I have always believed that God does not give us more than we can handle. (just seems that way sometimes)
We were blessed with a free sliding glass door assembly from a neighbor who was remodeling. Finding siding ,that matches the original, proved to be a challenge though. We found a place that sells the siding, but it is unfinished and would need to be painted.

During the time we were using to find a solution, the mobile park management gave us a note telling us we had 2 weeks to get the plywood down and the door installed or they would begin legal action to start eviction proceedings.

Since we had spent all our money on Christmas, bills, and temporary repairs, the budget was empty.

Times like this you stress out and the obvious solution evades your thoughts. Our mobile home has "add on" rooms. (outside the original home but under the same roof line) The sunroom has been converted to a bedroom, but 2 of the walls have the same external siding as the home. Since this wall is currently an "indoor" wall, The thought occurred to take the siding from that wall and put up sheetrock in its place. Fortunately, the siding is already painted the same color as the other outside walls. The other 2 areas are a laundry room and a screen porch. The laundry room shares the wall in the bedroom where the siding was...Continue Reading

Hello everyone!

I know its been a while since I updated this blog. There have been a few new developments since last I posted.
I'm sure the title has you wondering WTH?

The story begins with a tired, overworked brother who was still half asleep when he drove to get the mail.
Returning to the house, he didn't like the angle he was pulling into the carport. He pushed the brake with his bare foot and the foot
slipped off the brake pedal and onto the accelerator!

Our house is a mobile home with stairs that lead up to the entrance door. His pickup truck , a Ford F150, rode up the stairs with the drivers side front wheel.
The resulting impact took out the door, the window, and 3/4 of the wall leading into the kitchen. (What a disaster!)

Fortunately no one got hurt and the truck only got some minor cosmetic damage.
This happened just a week ago. No expensive R/C gifts coming this year.

We have temporarily patched the hole by re-studding the area and using plywood sheets.
What terrible timing...just before Christmas. Sheesh!

As if that wasn't bad enough, 2 weeks prior to the crash, my adult daughter left her fiancé and moved back home with me.
Some of you may remember seeing her in some the previous r/c videos I have posted.

Well, they say these things come in 3's.....
Yup, number 3 happened in between the other 2. My mother was hospitalized with what appeared to be a heart condition.

She spent a grooling week in the hospital while...Continue Reading

The long awaited moment has arrived. My brother's Soling has made the trip from North Carolina to Florida! She is a beauty! A bit of a "fixer-upper, but we like a challenge! In true Team Alienater fashion, the repair process has begun. I am looking forward to having another Soling to race.

A little bit of bartering got us this new arrival. A big thanks to a fellow skipper named Barry Sellick for transporting the sailboat for us. Thank you also goes to Haxsawsnavy (aka) Cap'n Hax, for making a trade with us.

I have a video below. This will introduce the new lady to all of you.

Enjoy

Steve Soling 2 (4 min 31 sec)

Hi everyone...

When I started trying sailboats, I had hoped to eventually work my way up to the big boats. Once I found the local club's pond, I learned that they run Micro Magics, DF 65's, SOLING's 1 meter, and EC-12's.
Micro Magic is to small and very pricey.
DF-65's are too specific.
Soling 1 meter seemed to fit the bill nicely.
EC-12's are too large. Hard to transport.

A stroke of luck produced a used Soling for sale at the LHS. The price was a "steal". $125.00 w/ all rigging and radio system and batteries.
I had to pull the trigger!

OK... I admit that she wasn't in sail ready condition. The keel had a large crack where it meets the hull. The jib rigging was all wrong, and the backstay had no bowsie. The numbers on the sails were too large and blocky and were disforming the sail.

The good news is that there is no structural damage. Also, the rigging hardware is superb. The previous owner put a lot of money into the rigging.

After a general cleaning, a quick epoxy repair for the keel, and some readjustment of jib rigging, she has come a long way. There weren't any battens on the main or the jib sail, so I made some and attached them.

She sails like a dream. I'll get a video posted sometime soon.

Until then, enjoy some photos below.

We (Team Alienaters) like the Soling so much we have another one on the way.

Yup...we struck the deal of the century with our second one. We traded a 1/18th scale brushless truggy and $25.00 cash for it! (NO LIE) Our good friend Haxsaw even got us free transport from NC. It is currently on its way. Looking forward to another project yacht!

God bless Team Alienaters

Hi all,

Its been a little while since I did an update, so here goes!

I recently bought a used 1 meter sailboat from my local hobby shop. She is a bit of a mystery ship. The hull looks like a EC-12 but has the dimensions of a Soling.
The sails, mast, and booms are from a Soling. Noone here on RCG has been able to identify this yacht. I am aware she won't be in any sanctioned races, but she makes a GREAT practice boat for the 1 meter size. We have decided to name her "Cosmic Ripples"

In other hobby news, I recently sold all our 1/10 scale brushless trucks. We are concentrating on boats right now. We still have some stock 1/10 trucks to play with and possibly use for pulling trailers.

The Foam board racing boat we recently rescued, after riding through Hurricane Matthew on a lake, is still on the repair bench. The bad steering servo has been replaced. A new equipment board has been fashioned and the transom has been reinforced.

The 18" Westward sailboat is waiting for a new sail winch.

The catamaran called FUSION recently capsized in heavy wind and was waterlogged from being upside down during the retrieval process. The sail servo was water damaged and the replacement servo has arrived. She is still waiting for the replacement to be installed. LESSON: Do not attempt to sail a small catamaran in 10-15 mph winds...doesn't work too well)

As you can see, a great deal of our fleet is dry docked right now. This is most annoying when you live in a state with no cold weather! We generally sail year round. People who live in snow areas have an excuse to spend a lot of workshop time in the winter months. We don't.

More updates in following weeks. Hoping to get most of the fleet seaworthy again in a week or two.

You can see the 1 meter boat in my thread called "What do I have" in the sailboats forum.
I'll post some random stage pics here too.

Hi everyone! As you know, Team Alienaters recently moved to a new location. That is, we moved to a new house. The past 2 months have been spent renovating and repairing the new place. We bought a "fixer-upper".

Most of the inside work is finished and the hobby room was the lowest priority. It is now finished and ready to be put to use! YIPPEE!

The photos below will show the before and after shots. Since boats are the main item for our team at this time, they get the prime real estate.
"There be boats on the walls Cap'n!"...Continue Reading

Good news all! The Simply Stellar has been successfully retrieved from the hurricane stricken lake. She actually faired very well. After several days of drying out she is ready for some electrical testing. The cause of the stranding was determined as a broken battery holder for the receiver. No power to the receiver or servo will definitely stop you dead in your tracks!

I have added some photos of the damage here. There is a more video of the rescue and the damage on the Simply Stellar build thread in Dock Talk. The only structural damage was the transom. A new transom is being fabricated as we speak. The battery pack is toast and the receiver too. too much corrosion at the connectors and too much time in water.

We have a new radio system for her. My brother got an ESC without a BEC and no reverse. (trying to save money) and that forced me to use an old battery holder that had fatigued plastic. The plastic cracked under the pressure of the high speed bumps and we lost control.
You will see the holder in the photos. Water pump, drive motor and steering servo have not been tested yet.

She will rise again!

We will keep you updated the best we can.

Lets give the Stellar a big Hoorah! for her seaworthiness through a major hurricane! Anyone still doubting foamboard as a RC boat construction material? hee hee I didn't think so.......Continue Reading

Hi everyone!
WOW! ITS BEEN A CRAZY TIME HERE IN CENTRAL FLORIDA.

First team Alienaters moves the homestead location and then we get a hurricane bearing down on us. Little time for hobbies.

Getting back to the hobby stuff... The Stellar got its upgraded ESC and water pump installed. We tested her in the lake at the new homestead.
She died pretty far from a shore and we didn't have any retrieval methods that would work.

We were prohibited from swimming in the lake and the only boats were locked up. The Stellar had to ride out the hurricane on the lake! She is still out there at this time.

We are hoping to save her tomorrow. We will give an update on how well she rode out the storm. Stay tuned for more updates!

Hey everyone!

My last blog entry chronicled the unpredictable things that happen with an AM radio. We have now upgraded the Stellar to 2.4 Ghz and no more interference at the lake! Yippee!

We proceeded with the running tests of the Stellar after installing the brass prop. She did GREAT (for about 30 seconds).

The small 1/18th scale brushless motor we put in her, couldn't handle the bigger prop and the motor got COOKED! Yup...how do you like your BL motor? medium well? or well done?

The boat literally just stopped dead in its tracks while at half throttle testing. I broke the oldest rule in the book...your prop diameter should not exceed the diameter of the motor can. Ooops!

We have since upgraded the Stellar with a 1/10th scale motor and ESC.
We are also now capable of running 3S instead of just 2S.

The Stellar's new run was nothing short of AMAZING! You can the video at youtube or wait for the posting in the build thread. We have designed and fabricated trim tabs and turn fins and will be adding them soon.

OK....I decided to add the video here. PLEASE don't give any spoilers in the Stellar build thread. You can comment here on this blog if you like. Thank you.

stellar test 2 (4 min 26 sec)

I was so excited about the brass prop arriving for the Simply Stellar foam board racing boat today! I installed the prop, loaded up the car and headed to the lake. I had tested all the functions at home and found everything working properly.
I get to the lake and do a pre-launch check before taking her to the water. (As usual) When I turned on the radio the rudder turns hard to one side and the throttle refused to work. Thinking I may have attached a depleted battery pack, I changed out the battery. Turned on the system again the same thing happens. OK....so now I am thinking the antenna for the receiver must be buried too deep in the hull. I pull the antenna wire out and lay it across the table. Turn it on again and things are a little better. I now get throttle control ( at half speed ), and the rudder has somewhat straightened. A little more tinkering and I get a "somewhat" normal response. I decide it is good enough to test the new prop.

I put her in the lake and she starts going in reverse (slowly). No problem...a little trim adjustment should fix that. I start to go and notice that the throttle response is very sluggish and slow. The minute I return the throttle back to off, we get reverse again.

I felt very uneasy about doing any further testing in fear of losing control. I bring her back to shore and pack-up to go home.
As I am pondering what could have happened to change things so radically from the test at home, it occurred to me...Continue Reading

Hi everyone,

I have had the good fortune to have my brother move in and live with me. He and I used to live together long ago and we started a RC racing team. Now that we are together again, the team has been brought back to life!
During our separation, I started making foam board RC boats. My brother is now interested in doing the same. Since he is into the fast moving stuff, he wanted a "go fasty" boat. (That is RC slang for a fast electric boat)
I got him started with plans originally designed for a 6' offshore racer. The plans were scaled down to make a 3' version. Bro has learned the many challenges of a "scratch built" boat. I am very proud to help him learn the ropes. He is a good student and the build has progressed at a rather accelerated pace.
We are currently waiting for the hardware package to arrive and have focused our energies on finishing and float testing. Below are some photos of the progress so far. I am posting a select few pics from each stage of the process so as not to have too many pics for a blog.
We will start a build thread in either Dock Talk or Fast Electrics at a later time. The build thread will have all the photos and more details about the build.
Please enjoy the pics and feel free to comment or give advice....Continue Reading

Here are some photos of some of our collection of rc vehicles.

I am wondering where to store them all??!!!

" I have a very serious problem..." (from "The little Mermaid")

What a problem to have! ...Continue Reading

Wow! I can't believe it has been so long since I updated my blog.

A lot of things have happened in the time behind.

My brother recently moved in with me. He came up from south Florida.
We have resurrected our old RC racing team name of Team Alienaters.

My brother has always been an offroad truck guy in regards to rc. He recently acquired several trucks and we have been upgrading them to brushless.

I introduced him to rc boats and we started a foam board project for a rc pontoon boat with an Alien theme. He is now a boat person too! we run power boats and sailboats.

I don't have any pictures to post this time. You can see pictures and videos of our latest creations in the Boats section inside Dock Talk.

That's all for now. Just a quick hello to let ya know I am still here.

God bless.

Hey everyone. I am resurrecting the Chameleon project and have gotten some volunteer workers to help out. They seem to think my design is evil and genious. (who am I to argue?) LOL
They took a good look at the project at hand and have decided to team up with Wall-E to get this thing working right!

See my build thread in Dock Talk for details. Soooooo....I'll just get a bunch of BANANNAS! while you check out the new additions....Continue Reading

Hi all. Wall-E wanted to end his vacation with some hang gliding, but all the hang gliders were in use. He came back to work early and I decided it would be a good opportunity to test the lifting power of my V686 quadcopter.
Its not hang gliding, but Wall-E had fun anyway!

I had to do the testing indoors because it was raining outside. It took 3 tries, but I finally got him off the ground. I knew that lifting a heavy load would shorten the flight time, but I wasn't prepared for how much. Seems "Murphy" was working overtime also. The batteries in my camera died shortly in the successful flight.
I didn't have any replacement batteries for the camera and my smart phone needed charging also.

I did get a short clip of Wall-E flying. I am surprised at the lifting power of this small but mighty quad. In boating news, the Chameleon had her maiden lake run
after the new modifications to her front floats. She ran well but slow. See my thread in Dock Talk for a video and more details.

Wall E quad ride (2 min 31 sec)

Hi all. Here is a video I shot of my new quad flying at night. I made this vid to show how it looks all lit up.

SS Night Fly (3 min 20 sec)

Hello everyone... This blog is going to be a small rant. I apologize up front if this offends anyone.

3 weeks ago I finally got a new car. I have needed one for so many years. My job requires me to use my personal vehicle to drive to people's homes so I can measure for new flooring. I am required to park on the edge of the street in front of my client's homes. 5 days ago I came out of a measure to my car and found I could not open the drivers door. There was a HUGE dent in the fender directly in front of the drivers door. No note, no car, no way of knowing who did this.
I informed the owner of the house I did the measure in, of what had happened and he told me it was the guy who lives across the street.
I called the police and had to wait 45 minutes for them to show up. A police report was done and the hitter still had not returned home.

The officer returned to the suspects house the next morning and verified he was the one who had done the damage. I only had the car for three weeks! The officer told me that the man is 89 years old and can barely walk and has trouble seeing and hearing. I am wondering how a person with all those problems could still be allowed to drive ???

The officer charged the man with felony hit and run since he did not leave a note and fled the scene of the accident. The man calls me directly and can't stop apologizing. He asks me to NOT go through his insurance. He wants to pay me direct. He then tells me that he has had 2...Continue Reading