Garden Flying. I just love spring!

Just got back from a little vacation at Clear Lake in California. I had one fairly good flight which I'll put up later, but here's the first flight before I realized that the rudder controls were backwards.

This past weekend, my parents, my girlfriend, and I felt that it was time for a little escape. We visited the "Cape," or Cape Cod to everyone that isn't from Massachusetts . It is a great vacation spot and is truly beautiful.

I am currently in the final stages of leaving for Top Gun. To everyone that is heading south for the event, travel safe and I will see you all down there!

Take Care,
JPG

The E-TOC is now a part of history, and I wanted to take a moment to post a few pictures that are of my Sequence Model and Freestyle Model.

The model I flew in the Sequence Portion of the E-TOC is called the Merlin and is from Northeast Sailplane Products.

The Merlin:
Transmitter:Futaba 14mz
Receiver:Futaba 4-channel FM
Servos:Futaba 3110
ESC:Jeti 4-amp
Motor:Baby Axi
Battery:Electrifly 350 mAh 3-cell battery
RTF Weight: 6.4 oz

The model I flew in the Freestyle is a model that I designed. It has a Reflection design concept, and excells at both variable-pitch and precision freesyle. It is called the Jam II.

The Jam II:
Transmitter: Futaba 14mz
Receiver: Futaba 6-channel FM
Servos: Futaba 3110
ESC: Jeti 12-amp
Motor: Axi 2208-34 VP
VP System: Axi
Battery: Electrifly 640 mAh 3-cell battery
RTF Weight: 9.5 oz

This afternoon I took my little 15 inch flying wing to Rancho San Antonio. Flew there yesterday and it was a blast. This plane is the replacement for the one I lost at RSA in February. Similar design, but flies even better. Anyway, it was kind of crowded today, and I ended up flying where the setting sun was in my eyes a lot. I was doing fine, and doing loops at high altitude -- pretty much above, or to the side of, the sun. Came out of one loop a little sidways and spiralled down -- right into the sun. I got a glimpse of it leveling out, but then I lost it in the glare. The plane went below the edge of the hill and (must have) landed down in the meadow.

No problem, I thought; it should be easy to find. So I went to the edge of the hill and looked down at the meadow. Couldn't see anything, but I was pretty sure about where to search. So I headed down the hill and as I got into the meadow, realized: "Oh, cr#p, this grass is pretty tall". I was hoping that it landed rightside up, so I would see the white top side. Otherwise, the dark bottom side would be hard to see in the diminishing light. Still, I was optimistic.

Well, to make a long story short(er) -- I couldn't find it. I tried using my TX to rev the motor (hoping to hear it), but its a quiet little motor/prop and I heard nothing. I looked until it got too dark and the park was closing. I'm going to head out there in the morning to see if I can find it. Its so frustrating to know the general location, but...Continue Reading

I just read on Jerry Nelson's website the Phil Kraft has died. Before there was Futaba and JR there was Pro-Line and Kraft. Of the two, Kraft was really the epitome of first class equipment for the regular modeler. Phil Kraft was the guiding force behind doing it right. I never got a Kraft radio but I always aspired to own one.

Most modelers, of a certain age, have flown a Kraft design. If not one of his pattern designs then most likely an Ugly Stick or one of the ten million derivatives...

I saw Phil fly at the Lake Charles Nationals in the early '70s. He was not the top dog anymore but everybody paid attention when he was up. (At another Lake Charles Nats I saw Dave Platt fly the first really succesful ducted fan in scale competition.)

My first trip to Toledo was in 1983 (at the Hockey rink). I remember the giant Kraft booth. The "Big Thing" was their new frequency selectable system. I think it was their last Toledo show. Success killed them not in R/C but in computers.

Goodbye Phil - Thanks for Everything

The weather has been getting much better.

I flew my ducted fan Mig-15 and my refurbished 16-year old Porterfield.

Here are a few Items I have been Making at home.

The First picture is of A Carbon Fiber Main Blades set I starting building for the Micron. These set sell for $25.95 USD shipped inside the U.S. If you have a special order that may include more or less pitch, longer or shorter length etc. Let me know, your price then will be $32.50 shipped inside the U.S. Persons over seas must add $8.50 USD to that cost for customs. I have also included a photo of these blades installed on the Micron.

Each set is made by hand from 2 lamintes of 5.6 ounce carbon cloth. Baked to perfection and comes with installation instructions.

Pictures #2 and 3 are of the Canopy and Fin set I have been Vacumolding.
They are molded from .010" thickness white polystyrene plastic. They come untrimmed and unpainted.

Canopy/Fin set are sold @ 12.50 per set shipped in the U.S
Nemesis Full Body Fuselages is also molded from .010" thickness white polystyrene plastic. It also comes untrimmed and unpainted. This sells for 21.95 shipped in the U.S.

Each set of canopy/fin and Nemesis Full Body Kits come with complete instruction on how to trim and apply them to your micron.

Thankyou,

Nem Jr.
Nemesis Products

Multibumm is maidened.
Only a few tosses, but it flew!
Paul and I did some glide tests with slightly different CGs.
From what I have measured afterwards, about 10% static margin seems to be
the most tailheavy (or what should I call it?) CG that handles well.
Glide is straight and nicely stretched.
Elevator response seems ok.

I made two small videos with Paul tossing and flying it.
I don't know how to get videos uploaded on this board or even if it is possible without paying for webspace.
Maybe I can host it on some other domain, we will see.
Well I'm completely newb' for that matter.
Anyway, I'm posting this from a terminal in the University.
So the vids and pics will have to wait until tonight,
since I don't see a way to get them from the memory card into this computer.


Now we are installing electric power to make a first powered flight tomorow.

biber

Hello,

These are two of our models, if you want to watch videos and see the specs and photos please go to:

www.aerofred.com

Regards,

Frederico Lopes

When Paul yesterday said to me, that it was day he would iron the oracover on,
because something has to finished, I thought he was kidding...
Nope, he was not.
He has quite some skills in covering and did a great job on the wing, even though he hates ironing,
while I took the winglets and was close to desperation in the atempt to cover them by myself.
CG of the wing itself (without any batteries and motor) is almost the supposed CG to fly.
Today we have scheduled to maiden it as a glider.
Will weigh about 370g or so, less than half as much as the powered version.
Less chance to damage it during the first flights, as we hope.
Another reason is of course our impatience.

biber

This stereo picture was taken on a flight from the top of Leavitt Peak, the highest mountain near Sonora Pass, CA. For a web page that I put together describing the trip along with other pictures, click HERE.

This page also has one of the few pictures that I have of me launching the old LocalHawk - and keep in mind that all around where I'm launching is nothing but open spaces, and thousands of feet down. Also, the winds were pretty strong every time I've been up there. All in all, it was an exhilarating experience, and I was very glad when I brought it in for a landing.

John

Another build and a sweet flying plane. Carl Goldberg hit the mark and has a great looking and flying plane here. The kit was an ARF, so about 6-8 hours total to wrap it up.

Specs are:
* E-Flite Park 450 Outrunner
* APC 9x6SF,
* Castle Creations Phx-25 ESC
* TP1320 3S Pro-Lites and TP2100 3S Pro-Lites
* HS-55 servos
* Futaba R146iP rcvr
* Futaba 9C xmtr

I ran the numbers on the Watt Meter (TP1320 pack) and here are the details:

15.27 A - Full Throttle
160.7 Watts - Full Throttle

The plane is a blast to fly and I also to all who want to see some videos of the Chipmunk - nothing fancy, so don't get too excited - here you go...
Vid 1 - 36mb
Vid 2 - 66mb
Vid 3 - 36mb
Vid 4 - 13mb
Vid 5 - 8mb
Vid 6 - 22mb

Today I wrapped up the final painting, and finishing touches and it is ready for the air.

Summary of the build:

• GWS Corsair
• .5 oz SIG Ultralight Glass Cloth
• Zpoxy Finishing Resin (Thinned w/ Alcohol)
• Single Servo for Ailerons (prebuilt for duals if necessary)
• Hitec HS-55 Servos (3)
• CC Thunderbird 18 ESC
• BP12 Brushless Motor (shaft cut down and a MPI prop adapter)
• GWS 9050 Prop
• TP 1320 3S Lipo
• Deans Ultra plugs
• Futaba R146ip rcvr
• Futaba 9C xmtr

AUW is around 22.3 oz (so a little fat). I think that the Zpoxy was a bit heavy and that some poly would have lightened it up a bit, next time though. It still has some dents as I'm a bit clumbsy, but the finish is very nice and I am extremely happy. The wife got a kick out of the pilot - looks like he is screaming (she says it's because of the RC pilot, I say it's his attack scream and he is enjoying it )

More build pics can be seen at: Link to more build and paint pics

Jason

My self assigned morning was 2 flights over 2 bridges and bring home a good picture of each. 149 images later included these:

It was a bright day and I thought I wanted to warm up my day by getting my MX400/Trex Hybrid up in challenge before I headed to work and suddenly it went from about 30 foot crashing to the ground. Imazingly, only canopy, rotor blades, skids and the vertical fin were impacted. there is no broken parts I can see in the head area. Oh well, it is time for me to get the new skid upgrade and canopy.

As stupid as it may look, this is my first real attempt at obtaining video footage from a remote control plane. I attached the Multipod to the bottom of my 3d Amos Moses Which I have named "Moe Powah". It is a Depron 35" ws plane that weighs in at 10 oz. with a Park 400 outrunner. Way enough power to put an extra oz. aloft with no problem. I tried to mount it rearward of the CG to get the Multipod away from the engine as far as possible, to reduce the strange wavy lines I had heard about. Did'nt help. At first, I also had the battery too far back so the first few minutes are of my trying to level the plane out. Went ahead and brought it back down. Adjusted the battery and put it back in the air. All of this in a large field I fly in behind where I work. Never stopped recording until I ran out of digital memory. All in all an interesting video... to me at least. The multipod is also way cool. I am currently putting it in the closet until I get the Foam Fly.com Frog built and I am going to put the camera in the cockpit since it is a pusher prop and a nice stable flyer. Enjoy the video ... try not to get sick...
Bo

Tried to upload the video file, too big... will get back later...

I spend a lot of time on the forums and in the irc chat. I contribute when I know the answers, but that isn't often. So why not give a little back? How about some advertising for RCG! Thanks for the shirt Mr. Bourke, and thanks to those lovely ladies at the Toledo Show for the stickers that fit perfectly on my Piccolo!

Too bad I didn't pick up any more stickers because I've still got 3 more planes and a car that needs RCG'd!

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CD-rom powered Mig-29...

...with DIY mechanical elevon-mix


80cm ultimate
...Continue Reading