I have never really worried much about not having any 'Afterburners' on jets that the full scale version does have it, but I had bought a few of the various Afterburner 'kits' that have been around over the years. eg RC Lander, done as a ring of LEDs to go on the very exhaust of the jet.
These had numerous fitting issues and downsides so I never actually used any.....

When RCgeek started selling some, and with the 'new' idea of using LEDs on the actual EDF motor, it began to seem a more useful idea.
But the cost to get those to Australia is a LOT!! Too much for even one jet, let alone a bunch of them!
So I decided to make up my own version.

4stripes from RCG also 'reminded' me of the idea to make my own, based on that 'on the motor' idea, and it raised my enthusiasm to actually do something!

A single 10W LED makes it easier to do than using many smaller LED's.....

If you only switch the LED On... and Off.... then the driving circuit is extremely simple.
If you want it to Flicker at the On/Off transition region then that gets notably more complex compared to just On/Off, but is still not that hard to implement.

Then there is a third option/possibility, where you have 'unlimited' control of the colours and timings - though what variations and true needs of these possibilities are there? This would be done with the use of a microprocesser unit, such as an Aduino Nano etc. Very small and very cheap.

I decided that my criteria is to at least have '...Continue Reading

I resisted a long time, but finally decided I should get one..... the FRsky Horus X10s.
This is a quite big move upwards in 'luxury' of RC Transmitters - versus its functionality is probably not a lot greater than a much cheaper Taranis X9D (or X9D+). So I would say you are not buying one of these to get more functionality - though just a bit more - but in my case because of a few extra useful things it has.

1) Large color screen - just a lot more information possible, and looks way better than a monochrome smaller screen too! Plus it can be seen better in outdoors/sunlight too!

2) Two extra Trim Switches (T5 and T6), which can be used to great use in extra functions per aircraft. You just have two more Inputs to control things, or add adjustability to things.

3) Triple antennas - two internal - and you can even NOT use the external one. This means no 'sticking out bit', LOL. And that can make it nicer to put down or store etc.
It still has an external bay, which to me seems best used for a Long Range TX/RX system - for long range FPV. And.... it came as a package with the L9/L9R TX/RX system anyway. Perfect....

4) Super quality gimbals. Well, I had changed my X9D to M9's anyway, but these are even better again.

5) Looks modern and pretty cool ! LOL. The 'old' type TX cases are looking a bit dated now, but you would not buy a Horus JUST for that!

6) No battery hatch/cover - a fixed internal battery. I saw that as a positive, as you can open the back easily if you...Continue Reading