I recently bought the newly released Hobbico Flyzone Seawind Select Scale model airplane.

http://www.flyzoneplanes.com/airplan...054/index.html

It is the new generation (to me anyway) style of ARF that does not require any glue or epoxy. Everything snaps, or screws together.

The plane has all the servo's and ESC and lighting wires loose inside the cabin and it is a bit of a spaghetti mess, lol... So the first order of business was to tidy it all up. With the rear seat in place it looks pretty clean and organized.

I am using my FLYSKY FS-i10 radio system in this model. I used the 10-channel Rx and also connected the voltage sensor for the on-board battery pack.

The installed lighting system is cool, but it is flawed. Because it has nav lights, strobe lights, and landing lights that ALL are on always. The landing lights effectively blot out the other lights by its brightness. They should have set them up so that the landing lights only turned on when the gear or flaps were extended. Not a deal breaker by any means, but it could have been thought out a little better.

So I got it all set up, and took some photos and then decided I didn't like having so many stripes all over the aircraft. And the "Seawind" script on either side of the fuselage had been applied crooked. So I removed the script and about half of the stripes. Looks better to me, but then I know everyone has their own opinion.

I still want to paint the instrument panel cover. As it...Continue Reading

Tower Hobbies recently chopped $40 off the price of this little micro Beaver and so the selling price is now $100. With my SSC membership I got another $15 knocked off so this little plane only cost $85 delivered.

I did some detail painting on it and now it is ready for its maiden.

My newest r/c aircraft is the Ugly Stik foamy from Durafly aka Hobby King. What intrigued me about this model was the faux glow engine. It looked very authentic in the promo photos.

Being a long time model airplane engine enthusiast I wanted to see one for myself. Hobby King had a 1/2 Off Sale for a week and so I got the Ugly Stik at half price.

Well, the fake engine is pretty sweet looking. Even in person, from just a few feet away it is indistinguishable from a genuine glow engine.

The 'kit' is absurdly easy to assemble. All appendages simply use screws to attach them.

The wood Durafly propeller is one of the most beautifully finished props I have seen. The glossy clear coating is truly stunning.

I embellished mine slightly with the sharks teeth and eye.

I got my custom graphics stickers I created, from Callie. Put them on the quad and now the livery is complete.

Threw some paint on my Yuneec Q500 Typhoon quadcopter. And some APC props too,

SOME OBSERVATIONS

I have installed firmware update V1.1 to the Scout and GCS update V1.0.3 to my tablet.

A new feature that I learned about is the ability to connect the GCS to the Scout and then turn on the F12E transmitter and see the video feed from the iLook+ camera. I just tried it and it is very cool. I still have not flown with GCS however.

So I did a flight today using the F12E, after the V1.1 update, in my backyard. Although I have had my Scout since November and have probably 30 (mostly short) flights on it I have never switched to a GPS mode, ever. So in manual mode I noticed not much difference at all. It still wants to wander around my backyard and I still have to constantly be flying it, making control adjustments. I don't consider that a bad thing, just mentioning that nothing seems to have changed there. The props start up evenly, but at a much too high RPM in my opinion. Oh well...

So today I switched into GPS mode for the very first time. I was prepared to immediately switch back out if anything went awry. I have a small area to fly between a house, garage, block walls, and neighbors monster trees. To my delight, it held very well. I would not call it 'rock solid', but certainly it is decent.

I also did some battery checking. Last weekend while flying over water, the Scout almost took a dunk. Because the battery is a 10C, and just does not have enough 'oomph' when needed. I made a rapid circling descent from around 50' and at 20' tried to...Continue Reading

Here are my three quadcopter's that each can carry a camera and film video or take still photos.

Walkera Scout X4. Yuneec Q500 Typhoon. Quanum Nova.

I just was made aware of this from LA City Councilmember Mitchell Englander:


This week, together with my colleague Councilmember Tom La Bonge, we introduced a motion requesting the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the Board of Police Commissioners, the City Attorney, the City Administrative Officer (CAO), and the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) report to the Public Safety Committee with policy guidelines for the operation of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), also known as Drones, within the City of Los Angeles and provide recommendations on how to strictly enforce the operation of drones to designated areas or remote controlled airfields.

The operation of drones have been increasing greatly within the City of Los Angeles. These UAS are either gas or electric driven and controlled by a signal sending device that is in the possession of the operator.

These UAS are susceptible to the same conditions and could encounter the same problems that any aircraft, flying over the City of Los Angeles, would experience. Since the size of the drone is usually small and used as a recreational tool, the UAS currently can be flown anywhere in the City at a relatively low altitude. Because of its size, its ability to fly low and its low noise signature, drones can currently be flown in areas and virtually be undetected by citizens on the ground.

The operator also has ability of controlling the aircraft and losing visual contact with the aircraft which would put the safety of...Continue Reading

I have a Flyzone DH2 Beaver foamie. Nice model. I placed a GoPro Hero2 on the underside and then shot some video of my local flying field. It came out quite nice, actually.

Apollo XI Field, Sepulveda Basin, GoPro on Flyzone Beaver (6 min 19 sec)

I have a Blade MQX mini quad and an Estes micro quad. I had been wanted a larger, camera capable quad like a DJI Phantom but the cost was out of my range.

Along comes Hobby King with their new Quanum Nova. I liked what I saw and so I ordered one. I have flown it 10 times now and I think it is pretty awesome.

I have mounted a GoPro camera on it and taken some video. I also wanted to be able to mount my Sony AS-10 camera and so I rigged up a mount using a Klinker clamp and some GoPro fittings.

Hansen Dam Lake - Quanum Nova - Sony AS 10 (5 min 52 sec)

Quanum Nova GoPro 3+ SE Aliso Canyon Park (5 min 40 sec)

...Continue Reading

I love the old "Air Knocker". Has always had a soft spot in my airplane favorites list.

I had the opportunity to buy a used E-Flite Aeronca 15e a few weeks ago. It sat unattended in my hangar for a few weeks until I had a chance to go through it this past week.

It needed a couple of small repairs to the covering, and the faux exhaust stacks replaced, and a strut brace re-glued.

Since I did not feel like buying an entire roll of covering to make the needed repairs I simply used clear packing tape to patch over the tears in the covering.

For the exhaust stacks, I glued in a couple of pieces of plywood, that I had drilled a 1/4 hole into and painted the surrounding area black. I next cut off a couple of 1" lengths of brass tube and glued them into place. Lastly I mixed up some paint to resemble oxidized steel exhaust pipes, and painted the brass tubes with it.

I also changed the connector on the ESC from a Dean's to an XT60.

I expect to fly her next week at the Basin....Continue Reading

I got a Tidewater this week, assembled it, and flew it's maiden flight this morning.

It's a sweet, gentle flying airplane that cruises slow and smooth at 1/3 throttle. It's really a pleasure to fly.

It goes on the water very nicely, easy to steer and tracks very straight when accelerating for take off.

Some issues I had with the model were the pushrod connectors using 2mm Phillips head screws. I could not get a good purchase on them to really tighten down on them. So I swapped them out for hex head screws.

Another issue is the paint trim. It looks great, but it does not stick on the foam very well. I had a piece of masking tape over some painted trim, for about 2 minutes and when I peeled back the tape it pulled the paint off with it.

Lastly, I use a Ernst airplane cradle with foam strips on the support arms. Just setting up the plane while in this cradle, the paint on the foam part of the fuselage hull rubbed off.

So all in all it's a pretty decently made model but the paint is very fragile.

It sure flies nice though!

I walked around and took some snap shot photos of some of the model aircraft there this morning. B-17's were growing on trees! I was particularly lusting after the Freewing F-86 Sabre and a SebArt Miss Wind.

I met "X-Plane" Tony there and also saw a lot of old friends. It was a good morning. ...Continue Reading

The body comes clear and requires that you paint it. I painted mine in four colors over four days and added stickers on the fifth day.

I bought my Traxxas Summit for $479 and at the time I thought that was outrageous. Now look at the price. Yikes!

oops, my bad! I just looked at my order history and discovered it was actually $569 back in Feb 2010, minus a $60 coupon so I paid $509.

It has been a while since I played with a fast electric model boat. Used to do it years ago, but then got more interested in scale working boats.

But recently I saw a few Revolt boats at a local pond and I was smitten with the way it looks. I decided I wanted one for myself.

I did not care for the dull finish of raw aluminum, as all of the hardware parts were. So I polished it all up. I replaced all the stock screws, and used some anodized aluminum washers to set off the satin stainless steel machine screws I installed. It turned out pretty well.

Other things I have done to it are install a ball bearing thrust washer on the motors output shaft, and install an oak wood support under the stuffing box. I dressed, sharpened, and lightly polished the prop. And I removed a few of the less desirable decals.

The Aquacraft Revolt 30 comes in four different liveries. Three of them are race boat style and one is civilian style. I chose the civilian style livery. I think it looks like a Day Cruiser type scheme.

I intend to build a more sturdy wood boat stand for it. The included ABS stand is too small, thin, and very flimsy for my liking....Continue Reading

Would you care for a Death cigarette with your Death Wish coffee?

I have never seen the ISS fly over before. So I decided to give it a try. I sat down in a chair and looked toward the northwest. I watched a few airplanes fly by (I live very near Van Nuys airport) and looked at a few faint stars and wondered what the space station might look like.

Off in the distance, in the northwest, I spotted an airplane with its landing light on. Nothing unusual there as I see that often with planes coming into VNY at night. But this one had no other lights. No flashing strobes, no red or green. And it was moving pretty fast. I thought it must be an airplane. I thought this for a minute or two. Then I thought to myself, "wait a minute, that must be the ISS!"

I could not believe how bright it was. And how fast it was moving, once I realized it was up in orbit.

I snapped some photos with my 300mm lens. All I saw with my eyeglasses on was a bright round dot. Once I brought the images into my computer and saw them at 100% I was thrilled to see the ISS with its outer solar panels. Very awesome!

Most of the pic's turned out too blurry but a few came out decent enough.

I was at a local scale fly in recently and one of my friends had a vintage Jemco PT-19 there. He built it many years ago and it has over 240 flights logged!

I remarked that I had the same kit, partially constructed, and that it had been sitting dormant since about 1975 or so. Seeing his on the flight line got my interest up again.

Today I went fishing in my garage. I pulled down a few boxes from the rafters. The Jemco PT-19 kit is in an enclosed box and all the parts and bits are in excellent condition. However, the fuselage was laying in an open box and has a thick coating of dust on it. So do all the pieces of balsa wood, plans, and other bits that were in the open boxes.

I totally forgot about having a Jemco P-39. It is also partially constructed.

The reason is that back in the mid-70's I really did not have any place to build, and especially to sand wood. So these boxes got put up into storage, and I just kept hauling them with me whenever I moved to a new home.

I also became a strong proponent of ARF airplanes.

I think I will probably finish these models some time this year. ...Continue Reading

I was going to get this Jenny ready to fly again. It has been hanging up in my workshop for a couple of years.

I was removing the battery from the cowl, when the fuselage crumbled.

The Lil' Rascal, on the other hand, is the same vintage but made from balsa wood and it is still fit as a fiddle.

The guys paying $300 and up for those foam airplanes being sold today are really going to hate it in a couple of years.

Balsa planes last forever.