Here are a few planes that I am planning on building form plans. Someday...

The first planes are the Spitfire, Mosquito IV and the U-2. Since I am having problems printing them around here, I am going to send them to Hemikiller's plan service (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...=plan+printing)....Continue Reading

A couple of years ago in the days of the free section, s_mack at smartieparts gave me a SmartieParts 9x programming board when trying to get back into the hobby and start a youth R/C program. Now that things have been looking up a bit and i received a Taranis for my birthday thanks to a deal from Wayne at Aloft hobbies, it is time to pass on the favor.

Shout Out to two of the great (among several) suppliers in our hobby: s_mack at smartiparts and Rotozuk (Wayne) at Aloft Hobbies.

Thanks,
Guys!!!

The member has already been picked and the new R/C'er is rikimontano. I have been answering quite a lot of his questions and have directed him to several of the good links to the er9x and OpenTX community. Please take a moment to give him a hand if he needs help.

Now that I received a Taranis for my birthday all of my other daily driver radios have been sitting unused. Time for them to go in order to feed the dual FPV and EDF hungers.

The first one on the block is my 9xr. It has a lipo and includes a FrSky DJT module and an X8R receiver. Probably shouldn't have used the phone camera for these...

Well, I'm trying to set up a new work area and have discovered that I'm buried in boxes, kits, planes, and vehicles that I haven't touched in years or don't really use much any more. It is really bad because I have a lot of stuff that has been used in youth programs in the past, but will most likely not be used much in the future.

Trade time...

EDIT: Added some more pictures of stuff....Continue Reading

Well, when I got my used Art-Tech 1300mm AT-6 several months ago I burnt up the stock sound system. It was my fault because i believed the wire color code (red +, black -) and rewired it; big mistake, as I found from reading the forums afterwards. I finally found a good deal on a used Mr RC Sound v2 unit (thanks Brandon!) and it arrived today.

Since this is a new adventure for me, I thought I would document the experience. I haven't hooked it up to power yet because I haven't found any good diagrams yet. MrRCFlying has a lost of good videos on the systems, though. And, I found the video that goes with the unit I bought:

Brandon Moon's Mr. RCSound modifications (0 min 0 sec)

Here's a picture of what I have so far, the voltage regulator will be arriving soon:

A few weeks ago I purchased a 9x that had been the victim of a reversed battery. As a long time electronics instructor i figured it would be an easy fix. i was going to paint this one, replace the gimbals with Aurora's. in stall a FrSky DHT and Temeterez board. Before I received it, though, I discovered the Tiranis. Since my original 9x was working just fine with the DHT and SmartieParts board, I put the broken one aside.

Due to another member's questions, I decided to investigate the board and i found a heat fractured 7805 regulator, just like the threads described. I haven't done the fix yet, but here are some links to the repair, including a nice YouTube video:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1484825
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1251633
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1506836

Repairing a Turnigy 9X after battery reversal (14 min 5 sec)

I have really been amiss with updating our activities. So much of what we do is based on the great deals in the RCG classified - a lot of you have helped make an impact on the youth in these programs. i will write about the details of what we did in a little bit, but here are some pictures of the school year and summer programs.

We used micro helis during the school year because of the weather and darkness. In the summer we flew Scouts. mCX2, Hubsan X4's, MJX 100, and Vp11's. We built Flite-Test FT Flyers and the youth developed their flying skills on ClearViewSE simulator on laptops with simulator cables and an assigned tx, a Slow Stick , and a Parkzone Champ. They flew using DX5e, DX4e, and LP4DSM tx.

...Continue Reading

For several reasons I have been trying to remember/figure out how I came up with the plans for my first delta foam build about three years ago. There were not a whole lot of plans then and foam building was just gaining traction. As far as I can tell, I used plans and ideas from the following threads. Based on my reading and research, I moved the motor mount towards the back, made a triangular shaped upper fuselage area, and increased the size to fit a 20"x30" DTF foam sheet:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...9#post23288485

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16298...Continue Reading

Being into photography and videography, I am always looking at ways of combining RC stuff with imaging. Lately, it has been a need to video flights. For example, when my Formosa wing came off in flight and gently rotated to the ground I wished I had it on video. After looking around at products and builds, I remembered that I am a modeler, LOL, and decided to try something on my own.

Based on some other builds I read about, I started sourcing hard hats, but couldn't find them below about $15 shipped. As a strong believer in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (means I hang around in the Goodwill stores a lot) I have a few skateboarding helmets lying around that were only around $3. I also have a couple of small camcorders.

My idea was to simply cut the correct size slot in the front of the helmet and mount the camera in it. Then attach a sight to help keep the camera lined up on the "target" or plane. As the build progressed, it became clear that just sitting the camera in the slot wouldn't work well and a tray would be better. The trick is to make it so the tray holds the camera securely and in a repeatable location with damaging it. Making it so that reviewing the video is easy is also important.

As of now, the tray and camera is mounted. I also learned that the helmets are made of real good anti-abrasion material when it took off all the sand from my sanding block. never had that happen before.

Next steps are to mount a sight and start shooting some video. After that, I am planning to get/make an inexpensive pan/tilt mount and make a prettier V2.

Build log pictures are in the 2nd post...

This will be my first build log, so I am kind of excited. There won't be anything ground breaking because I'm choosing between two full fuselage Edge 540's that have really good build logs and history. Either billwhit's (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1411612) or demonGTIs 46" (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=767157.)

The plans are printed and its time to choose. If anybody is looking, do you have any suggestions or ideas? Would WaterDog's Big Nasty (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404993) be better? Or Snice's Sbach (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...ight=full+fuse.) Then there's Prime_8's mini Extra (https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show....php?t=1324834.)

Note to self; paying for postage online is good, printing label and paying at the post office is bad. Seems like I forget this every few years. Two days in a row I have waited in line at the PO and had to leave to get to work. Ended up late to work AND customers have to wait longer for their package. Plus, I just got home and have to PM once again that I didn't ship. Aaaargh.

The idea was that I would save the $5 to put money in PP. I ran down the balance even though someone had just made a payment and didn't want to either wait three days for a transfer or spend the money for a Green Dot card. The false economy ended up costing more in time, gas and brownie points at work. AND the packages are still not mailed.

Pay, print, hand to the mail lady out front - sweet. PO line - sour.

Any thoughts on this?

I found out on Friday that I will have a group of about 20 kids grades 4-8 that I will be doing robotics and RC with. My 4-H robotics club will be starting up soon, also. So, I really need to get confident with some new planes to go with my ARF indoor/outdoor fleet. I will mainly only have access to a big room, maybe a school cafeteria. I am trying to get some bigger, cool looking, slow flying planes. Some easy/trainer and some crazy/3D.

DR RC's Edge 300 made the cut and so did Tony65z55's Blu-Baby. Another addition is leadfeather's 3D Delta. I think I am going to do a Lil' Ripper by WaterDog and a Nasty by 3DMON for the outdoor stuff (might try them in a gym.) The kids will like building some of them for the Spring weather. They may even brave the NJ cold, LOL (I am from Minnesta so, winter here is a joke.)

One of the good things is that the Lil Ripper and Nasty will help me get 3D skills before I have to show them in a few weeks. I hope one or both will give my poor workhorse Formosa a little rest from pattern practice.

I've finished a 3D delta (about to maiden) and am cutting out the Nasty. I am thinking of scaling it down from 38" wingspan, but I might make two - one big, one small. I got distracted from the Lil Ripper because i just came across mihahonduras' Super Sportster. I have always wanted one of those, but never manage to get the kit in my budget. As soon as I get the wing spars in a couple of planes i am making for a young man in...Continue Reading

Another member on RCG helped me out with a shipping situation and i wanted to send him something extra along with the original plane. Looking at his posts he seems to like Deltas and he has made a couple of comments about learning 3D. Since I am trying to find some durable aircraft to use in my programs that will do 3D I looked at some I had picked for that. Some of my favorites are the Nasty and the Lil' Ripper.

I started cutting out The Nasty and I realized it was bigger than I wanted to use at 38" wingspan. Back to searching and I discovered leadfeather's 3D Delta. A Delta that is also good at 3D and durable. Perfect. https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...highlight=plan

For me, it is simpler to just cut two kits whenever I am cutting. That way i have a template for the future or a backup. In this case I figured I'd build one for me and one for him. I was trying to get it done before the PO closed on Saturday. It's amazing how the clock spins when you are trying to meet a deadline and it sure set a speed record over the last 24 hours.

Have to take my daughter to her 4-H club and then I'll do some sanding, hinging and servo fitting. A little box rebuilding and it will be done.

A night flying video:
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...&postcount=352

Everything is boxed and going to the PO with a couple of other packages tomorrow.

It's kind of funny. Every day I write a blog entry in my head and never get around to putting it into the cloud. I thought it would help collect my thoughts if I made a blog post about my efforts to find the right planes to use with groups of youth and adults. So, here some of the planes I am investigating (I'll update titles later:...Continue Reading

Well, the summer S.T.E.M. camp that I write curriculum for and facilitate the the teachers is over for another year. Even though I try to develop at least one other teacher I was "forced" into running the RC plane activities again.

We put a lot of flight time in the gym with the Syma 107, but the Vapor and Ember let us down a bit. Seemed like they would keep bending a shaft in spite of the prop savers. They also fly kind of poorly at first. Most likely because of all of the use they got over the last year.

Wile we did simulator and indoor stuff, there was more time outside. The brushless Slow Stick got a lot of them their first stick time and survived quite a few cartwheels. I also gained respect for it when the motor popped off once and it floated to the ground like a helicopter.

The UM Cub did a lot better this year. Last year it was blown all over the place and was almost unflyable. This year it was able to give them some flight time when the wind was too much for the Slow Stick. I was able to give them an unplanned demonstration of wind/lift weight. We walked out to the field and the wind steadily increased. I didn't want to disappoint them, so I thought I would take it for a circuit. In my haste I didn't have them toss up some grass to check wind direction. We got to the football field and I quickly identified the safety line for them. Put it down, checked controls and hit the throttle right as a crosswind gust struck. I set the...Continue Reading

I started out in R/C with my dad in the early '60s with DCRC (AMA 10897.) We flew control-line before that at Carter Baron Ampitheater in Silver Spring, MD before that. There was a long gap and then I started back in the hobby off and on 20 years ago.

Fast forward to two years ago when I started using R/C with my students and youth groups I work with. I currently conduct different S.T.E.M. programs and use a lot of NASA, AOPA, AMA and NAR materials. R/C is a natural fit.

I use Syma 107 micro helis and Embers and Night Vapors for indoor. UM Cub, Slow Stick, and CloudFly outside. We use RcPowers gliders with DollarTree foam for building and trimming skills. I am building up my pattern skills with a Formosa and I use that for demo purposes. I just finished a GWS Corsair and my mini-telemaster is covered and waiting on motor installation. The Ace mini Pacer electric conversion has sat uncovered for almost 10 years and I sand it a little more ever so often. I've cut the parts for a scratch built Jr. Falcon and have a slew of RCPowers and other foamies. My Walkera Dragonfly has been gathering dust as I learn to fly with my Walkera V3700D.

I usually have the kids practice on RealFlight and FMS with a JR Max6 or Esky tx before transitioning to actual flying. Buddy boxing started with my getting to a safe altitude and hovering next them because there were cable issues. I now use a wireless buddy box that makes life a lot easier.

Well, that is a quick overview and a way for me to get past the "blank piece of paper" stage. Next post I'll talk about the "new" Parkzone Extra 300 I'm going to pick up in the next few days and exactly how many times you can bounce a Formosa off the ground.

Thanks for reading.