Video of the local skate park in Laurel MD:

Laurel Skate Park - DJI Phantom 3 (4 min 0 sec)

Aerial of Baltimore Inner Harbor, Camden Yards and M&T stadium. Taken with DJI Phantom 3.

Baltimore Aerial Phantom 3 (2 min 25 sec)

Video of paddle boats and canoes on Centennial Lake in Maryland. Video taken with DJI Phantom 3.

Centennial Lake Paddleboats and Canoes - Phantom3 (1 min 54 sec)

Taken with my Phantom 2 an GoPro Hero 3

FEI Charlottesville VA (3 min 7 sec)

Shot with my DJI Phantom 3

DJI Phantom 3 Laurel Lake and Ducks (1 min 16 sec)

Eden Park, Union Terminal (The Hall of Justice!), Music Hall and the riverfront.

Cincinnati Aerial Quadcopter Video (3 min 55 sec)

http://cchobbyfun.com/?p=163

Got some video of the surprisingly wild looking Patapsco State Park in Maryland:

Aerial Video of Patapsco Valley State Park (4 min 6 sec)

Its just off of Route 40, halfway between Laurel and Baltimore. You go in there and you wouldn't even know there are major cities 20 minutes away. No cell phone reception and all. I still need to go back and get some more video of the viaducts and another small waterfall.

http://cchobbyfun.com/?p=151

I finished up three jet projects. A kit bash F-16XL, a kit bash F-15 and an Exceed F-18. The F-16XL was made from a F-16 fuselage I got on clearance from Hobby-Lobby. I made the wings from bluecore and built the tail. I painted the whole thing the Dutch F-16 Demo team colors. Its done as a pusher prop.

The F-15 is a mix from a crahsed GWS-15 and an E-Flite F-15 fuselage. I scratchbuilt the elevators and rudders. Had to do the Starscream paint scheme again. Starscream lives! It'ls a pusher as well.

The F-18 is a 70mm EDF from Nitro Planes. On the second flight the foam hinge ripped and she crashed . The damage wasn't to bad and I repaired it. But she doesn't have her movie star good looks anymore ....Continue Reading

I’ve been working on the Morningstar and I’ve got the first stab at plans done. I’m going to cut it out tomorrow and see how it looks. One thing is for sure, it’ll be a hell of a lot easier than the Dralthi.

I’m still shooting to have the Dralthi and the Morningstar up in the air at the same time.

I made some changes to my Firefox. I had been having problems with it in dives not being able to pull out. So I made the flight controls about an inch bigger. Worked out great! I also did a more high visibility paint scheme. Black on the bottom and gray on top. It’s pretty easy to keep orientation now.

Firefox (MIG-31) RC Pusher Prop Jet by rcprofileplanes.com (2 min 3 sec)

The kit is now available at rcprofileplanes.com.

Here's a video of the Dralthi in flight. I was almost scared that overnight it wouldn't fly. I still need to work on the center-line balance. It doesn't want to turn right because the battery is on the left part of the disc. I need to add a little more counterweight on the right. Surprisingly,it will do a loop.

Wing Commander Dralthi Success!! by rcprofileplanes.com (4 min 13 sec)

I was going to paint this one up but the motor mount is too flimsy and I don't trust it. I'm going to redesign it with a stick mount for the motor. In a puller configuration, gluing the wood mount is just not strong enough. I'm going to incorporate some other design changes, re-cut it and paint that one. I think I can work out a way to mount the lasers again, even with the with the motor in the middle. I'm also going to have to take some liberties with the vertical stabilizers and make them a little bigger. Trying to keep them scale meant that they are very thing and don't hold up to the landings very well.

See more at http://rcprofileplanes.com

Posted on September 10, 2011

It flew! Of course, I don’t have the video right now… Started out with a so so flight that was tail heavy. Then the motor pulled off (not properly secured) and gashed the left half of the saucer. At that point I almost abandoned the whole project. However, I patched it up put in a bigger heavier battery and slid the CG forward. By the time I hung out with the wife and kids it was dusk. I took the plane out but didn’t take the camera. I guess I didn’t have a lot of faith. Sure enough it flew. It needed a lot of nose down trim (CG still off) and it is not for a beginner. But it did fly!

It won’t do an axial roll and I’m skeptical of loops. It does fly stable though. I’m going to get some video first thing tomorrow morning. I’m stoked!!!!

See more at http://rcprofileplanes.com

Time to revisit the Dralthi and make this thing work! I modified the design (again) to make it a puller instead of a pusher. I did this by widening the middle slot and also widening the entire disc. This puts the motor a few inches farther forward and should help with the CG. This also eliminates the need for the slot on the back for the prop. That was a problem because it weakened the strength of the disc. I'll have to sacrifice the proper location of the twin lasers. They are supposed to mount in the center of the slot but there will be a spinning prop there now. So after I get it flying I'll see a out mounting them at the sides of the slot.

I cut it out on the CNC machine and will try to have it assembled and ready for flight this weekend. I'm in Maryland and pesky natural disasters (earthquak, hurricane, flooding, etc.) keep getting in the way of flying.

This is really just about stubbornness more than anything. It just bugs me that I haven't got this thing to fly yet. Plus I'm holding off on building a Morningstar until the Dralthi is done. My goal is still to have a RC Dralthi vs Morningstar flight and get it on video.

See more at http://rcprofileplanes.com

I modified the Dralthi and got it cut tonight. It will now be a "prop in the slot" bird. I moved the main body carbon fiber forward and cut proper slots for the wing carbon. I also increased the area of the flight surfaces. The vertical stabilizers now have curved slots to allow the flight surfaces to rotate. This removes the need to make angled cuts in the surfaces.

I hope to put it together this weekend and re-maiden. I think the changes will make it a more stable flyer. More pics will be also be posted at http://rcprofileplanes.com

Its wobbly but it's flight. I need to redesign the Dralthi for better roll control. Hope to get it done this week.

RC Wing Commander Dralthi first flight by rcprofileplanes (1 min 17 sec)

More info available at http://rcprofileplanes.com/blog/planes/dralthi-progress

I've been working on a RC version of the old Wing Commander Dralthi. Its a profile pusher prop design and its coming along. The design is making the CG a pain. I've resorted to using clear Plexiglas to keep the wing tips together. I'm hoping to have it up in the air tomorrow.





...Continue Reading

I revised the F-16XL with a new paint scheme. Flys sweet! Video to come soon. It's done in the NASA paint scheme but I like to think of it as a Tron scheme ;-).

This plane is now available as a kit athttp://rcprofileplanes.com/blog/shop/f-16xl

$35

Just finished up my GWS-15 decked out as Starscream. Not the new fancy smancy F-22 Starscream but the old school original! The plane is stock with a 3s 2200 lipo. I test flew it briefly before I painted it and I was pretty pleased with the performance. I hope to maiden it as soon as I get a servo reverser in the mail.

I'm a park flyer and I normally fly wherever I find space. There is soccer/football field about a minute from my house. Its a good size field and normally I fly there. However, lately this field is in heavy use. I have a backup field about the same distance away but it has been overgrown by waist high weeds. I need to see if the city will cut that...

Anyway, there is a flying club about 10 minutes away. I checked it out but it feels so restrictive. You have to fly in a box, you have to fly in front of the line and they have restricitons on low level flying over the runway. Some of the people seem friendly but other seem very stodgy.

I can understand the need for the rules from a safety point of view but after you fly by yourself for years following your own rules it feels weird. I have to admit though that having a dedicated place to fly is appealing. I just need to learn to adjust my flying style.

I signed up for the park flyer program and the people at field said that I could come out and fly. I'm thinking about trying it tomorrow.

I love my Acromaster but I still love the simplicity of flying profile foamies. The F-16XL is a blast to fly. It’s got speed to burn and axial rolls are a blur. I’m a huge Buffalo Sabres fan so the color scheme is great for visibility and shows the team some love. My setup is:

BP-21 Motor
7x5 APC E
3s 11.1v 1200 Vamp power

The other good thing about profile foamies is I don’t have a lot of time or money tied up in them. I can try all sorts of bone headed maneuvers without a lot of fear. The downside is that since I’ve done most of flying on cheap disposable flyer I have horrible flying habits.

I went to my local club a few months ago and watched some more experienced flyers fly. I realized really quickly how my skills were lacking. I have fun flying but I do want to learn to fly better. I figure I can use the F-16 to try maneuvers I may not want to have a first go with on the Acromaster.