I ordered the H56 for my brother :
My bro is a little RC challenged in the sense that , if it's too hard = Dont do it !

I keep telling him he needs to learn the basics before he takes up $1000+ Camera drone ..
Hes wanted a 4k drone for a while and finally got one ..
Last time out he fried the drone putting it down in long grass ( $100 quad ) , and that was because he was Noob .

But to date he has refused to fly another quad insisting he will be fine with a more expensive one

Anyhow ! ( Thats sort of the background )
So today the JJRC H56 Taichi came ..
I charged up the battery in the H56 , put in 3xAAA alkaline's in the remote and did a quick test flight in the living room ..

As it flies out of the box it is DULL with a capital everything ( DULL )
It is lethargic to the max ...
Ok ....
1) It has a very good altitude hold ( important for my Bro as he is throttle Noob to the max )
2) It has auto take of - and it lifts off the ground to about 2 to 3 feet inside the house ..
3) There is a landing button
4) There are a bunch of other buttons for headless mode and such - but thats not important .

Whats important is - This quad is slow , it flies in slow motion ....
And for some one lacking the basic instinctive RC transmitter skills that the more experienced take for granted ...
Well , Noobs probably need to think more , rather than fly more .
So the result often is a run away model ( model is ahead of the pilot ) that...Continue Reading

Looks to be a very affordable FPV camera ...

Was sent for review ...
Took a while to be shipped as it was not in stock ...
But is here now ..

I ordered a Digital recorder that should record directly from the camera .. That will be interesting ..
So in the next few days I will see where I can plug and play this FPV camera ... ( Quads )

Weather is hot again , and with lots more heat on the way ....
Hmmmmm - That long hot summer !

Anyhow , being trapped behind air-conditioning !
I did the pod and boom for the R3 .
Really thinking of doing a removable wing , so that maybe I can upgrade the wing in the future (?)
I will think about it ..
Next I will do the Rud / Elevator - Then install the 5g servos and hook up the flight surfaces ...
Then start thinking about the wing ..

Pod / boom ...

3mm depron laminated together , then cut and sanded to shape .
Also covered in laminating film ...
Came out rather nicely ...

Ok , so I have DIY plans for a 1.5 meter DLG now
I actually got on Hobbyking and purchased a WING ( Spare Wing ) for a Bixler 2 ( 1.5 meter )
And plan to build a DLG around the wing ... ( Should be interesting )
The wings set me back $22 ozzi bananas ... ( $16 Green Backs )

Kind of looking forward to seeing just how heavy these wings are , might be on the portly side as far as wings go .
Might need a cookie cutter to remove the gristle / so to speak !

Projects / projects !

I took the Elf out for some trim flights ( Chucks )
Initially when I got out there I was wondering about my elevator , so I gave it some up trim ( Just to be safe )
Better for the Elf to climb on being spear chucked rather than nosing into the ground ..

It did climb on launch .
So I halved the trim input .. Still climbed ..
So I went back to my initial setting ( Of the building board settings ) and it glided straight and true !

Off the Building board !

CG looks to be spot on , as are the control surfaces ...

Elevator is set to 50% Rates ( Half full travel capability ) as well as 50% Expo , and so far this seems to be just about perfect .
The rudder has full travel but was initially set to have 50% expo ...
After the elevator was returned to its starting point I reduced Expo in the rudder to 20% and then further reduced it to No Expo at all .
No expo seems to work just fine with the shortened servo control arms .


Glides ....

So my Elf came in at some 93 grams flying weight !
I guess thats good .
I did give the Elf a very gentle launch once as I did not want to walk 50 meters to retrieve it , which was a mistake .
As soon as I let go a breeze rolled in and started tossing the Elf about ..
I had little to no rudder authority but at least the elevator remained effective and I was able to avoid impacting terrafirma ( I managed a gentle landing )
Lesson learned , dont soft launch the Elf as it is so darned light . One must...Continue Reading

Wow ! 93 grams / 150 grams and 199 grams ... ( Flying weights )
The elf weighs less than half that of the Techone DLG 1000

From a weight perspective , I think I have things covered .

So , I got around to connecting the servos to the control surfaces ..
After shrinking the heat shrink tube I got a little liberal with the cyno ...

Anyhow , looks like I am good to go !
Only one thing remains to do and that is glue in the launch peg ..
Oh , and I should check the weight !

I just checked

Oh dear ! ok , it's not under 90 grams ( no no no )

93 grams wet ( flying weight with launch peg )
I guess - Now I have to go and glide it !

Some servos were in the letter box today ..

So it was time to move a little further forward with the elf .
I used double sided tape to work out where I could place the servos .
Then I had to try and squeeze in the 4ch FS2A Rx from banggood .

I soldered the servo pins to the Rx and then bound it to my Q x7 .
Then I had to solder up a battery extension ...

CG looks ok .. with the lay out pictured ...
Rx is bound , servos are working , and everything looks to fit under the hood ! ( Canopy in place )

I have not done the control rods as yet ( servo connections ) , I think I have done enough for today ..
On the morrow I should hopefully have the Elf up and running ..
Sharp eyes may pick up the change from metal wing screws to nylon ( Since I had them )

Moving forward !

3mm Depron wing ...

Time to start a 1 meter DIY DLG for HLG ....

This will be = Ripit 3 ( A loose dimensional copy of the Raven 990 )
Control inputs will be R/E ( Rudder / Elevator )



I can't fold depron to save my life ! After 3 attempts the results were seriously terrible ..
So I decided to use slightly more traditional methods ...

1) I cut out the wing panels from 3mm Depron
2) Glued a balsa leading edge to the base panel /s
3) Spar is the same size balsa as on the LE
4) Then I glued in the top depron panel to the LE first
5) Then I glued the spar and the panels together on the floor with a lot of books holding things in place and flat / straight ..
6) Once the wing was dry I then glued the tips
7) With the wing glued I then did the sanding
8) Once sanded the wing was laminated with 10Thou laminating film

I still need to glass the centre of the wing ...
Not sure yet how I will do the wing mount , as I have not decided on the boom just yet ..
I have two carbon rods , one is 12 grams and the other is 20 grams ..
The wing as pictured is a hair under 52 grams ( Why do I think its heavy ? )

Anyhow , with this build I was starting with the wing !

( Ripit 3 )

Ripit R2.8

Video uploading ...
Finally did not Rip the wing ( off the fuse )
I used some foam safe cyno as it soaks into the foam , should distribute load better ( launch load ) .
That thick wing was maybe a mistake ..
The R2.8 does not like to push thru a breeze at all .
In the video you can hear the breeze pick up and the R2.8 simply can not fly forward , but rather side slips !
Makes tuning tricky when the wind pushes the R2.8 around ..
But after the cam battery gave out I put in more of a neutral Elevator setting and the trim looks to be better .

Video

Ripit Revision 2 8 (5 min 38 sec)

Weather bites hard again ! ( Rain / Wind )
So I guess I should start some projects ...





Ordered some stuff :

The wing will become a DLG / slope ( wing ) ... ( Should be a relatively cheap DLG project )

The J3 , well thats more of a indoor flyer , it will get a V911 board .. ( Be interesting )
Don't think it will handle the great outdoors , but as a hall flyer ? ( might be crazy good fun )
Just need a hall to fly it in (?) , living room might be a little small for it ...

Also I should start on making some 1 meter depron wings for a DIY 1 meter DLG ...
Been doing some experiments .. But the time might be good to be serious .

Ripit Revision 2.8



Took the R2.8 to the park for peg launching ..
I did mix in some right rudder ( not needed )

CG looks to be too far back ..
On launch the R2.8 tends to go down / forward / level out with no input ..
Then once it slows down it tries to lift the nose . ( Glide ) This be with a slight amount of down elevator ..
So there I was pondering how I would move the CG forward when Murphy interceded in my dilemma .

15 minutes into parking the R2.8 ...
Well I got a little energetic , and I ripped the wing off ..
So there went the R2.8 fuse flying into the air like a arrow from a bow !
Thankfully I had done some mods to distribute crash load more evenly and there was no crash damage , well apart from the relatively cleanly separated wing .

Hmmmm , thanks Murph ! Now I can correct that CG issue ...

Ripit Revision 2.8

The Rip is back ..
Back with a new Rudder / vertical fin
Back with a new wing
Back with a new servo

Was / is windy today , really too much for the R 2.8 ..
Sometimes when a big gust rolled in the Rip was like a discarded tissue and I was barely able to maintain control .
I went out today a total of 3 times ..
The first time I broke the Rip , and repairs and mods were needed ..
The balsa board that holds everything needed to be trimmed , this changed the way stress was distributed thru the nose ..
Same problem the 2nd time out , only I broke it worse because of that load distribution ..
More repairs and tweaks and VIOLA , 3rd times the charm ...

Rip glides , turns and behaves relatively well given the windy conditions .

It is tuned as much as I can in the windy conditions , and next up is peg launching ..
I might just do some launch settings for the R 2.8 now , that way if needed tuning the launch settings will be relatively quick ..

So what have I learned ?
I think my tail moment is too long
Dihedral - you need a lot on such a small glider .. ( Think you have too much ? - might not be enough )
The Ripit 2 project has been a learning experience for sure ..
I might have a few more Micro DLG's in me ..
But I would like to DIY a 1 meter DLG next ..
Then maybe a 3ch micro ( Rudder / Elevator / Ailerons )

ANd if you didn'y know , the Ripit is a rip off the Whipit - dimensional'y speaking ( Wing )
FYI Horizon might be doing another production run of the Whipit early 2019 ...
Some local retailers are promising stock April 2019 ..

The back end is done ...

Taking a closer look the Vertical fin ( rudder ) , it is a little warped .. ( hmmmm )
Maybe two more drops of cyno to hold the vertical fin in place ( remembering how dry the Raven was )

I put the wing on without bolts ..
+ Nose cone ( pod ) the weight is 73.2 grams
Can I bring this in under 90 grams ????????????????

Next some servos , a 4ch Micro Rx ( Probably a FS 2A from banggood ) and a battery to get CG ....
Just got to keep that weight down ..



Update : 7.30pm

I have no servos that fit
Just not small enough by maybe 1mm
So I had to order some ...
Oh well , I guess things were going way too smooth !

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...s-got-here-%29 >...Continue Reading

Wow !
Been Ho humming over a Elf for a long time ..
HK has brought back the Raven 1500 and I nearly ( Nearly )
But for the same money , I could have the ELF .
There is a local retailer who advertises the ELF , so I shot off a email and he said he had stock .
So some $$ later and a insufferable drive to pick it up ..

( Insufferable Drive )
Oh my G ! Seriously , some Melbournites cant drive for "S" .
Who the heck does 47kmh in a 70kmh zone with no one in front of them ( well #$^%& do - the self inflicted ones )
The roads have simply become car parks and with an over abundance of idiots , the traffic crawls .
Sometimes for reasons I can not comprehend . To say it stresses me out is an understatement .
2019 = I really despise driving a car .. Every year it gets worse and every year I drive less ..
I bought fuel in November 2018 and I still have half a tank ..

( Back to the Elf )
Wow , this thing is trick / tech / flash / and I dare say not for Noobs !
Building instructions are some what lacking .. ( Non existent )
You are pretty much left to your own devices on this one .
Thankfully the ELF is more assembled now compared to when it came out .
Now you simply glue in the tail surfaces ( Simply ??? ) , pop in your servos / receiver and battery ...
Bolt on the wing and go fly ..

Ok , maybe not that easy !

Virtical fin ( tail surface ) Rudder -
There are no markings / guides / bla bla -...Continue Reading

Something is burning outside ..
A very nice hazy smokey eucalyptus morning ..

I took the 480mm DIY Rc glider out for round 2 .
Since I have had several HOT days to think about what it was doing I have

1) Moved the battery as far forward as possible
2) More down elevator

And it glides in a straight line now
So I walked to the park and tossed it on the hill ( )
The 480 had problems penetrating , for some strange reason that hill seems to push models down towards the ground ( Where is the lift ? )
Might be the trees that line the park ? ( Turbulence ? )
Anyhow , it does glide ..
When I got off the hill , I threw it some more at ground level and it performed rather well
????? Why so bad on the hill ?
At ground level it was really nice , but on the hill it just refused to move forward ..
Oh well ! it does glide ..
But at 480mm , I would call it a waste of time .. Don't think its a worth while project ..
I am trying to track down a 600mm version of these gliders ...
@ 600mm , such a RC conversion might be worth while ..

The 480 still tip stalls , and is very jittery in the turns .. I'd simply call it too small to be practical .


Ripit Rev 2. ?

The wing is done ..
Rudder is done
Servo is done

I actually killed the 4ch FS 2A Rx de soldering it , to re solder the servos ...
So I pulled out another Rx and soldered the pins on ..
This meant soldering plugs / connectors to the sub micro servos ..
This means there is not enough room in the nose cone ..
So I had to cut off some balsa that the Rx and battery attached to .
So now the Rx and battery are floating in the nose ( Not that happy Jan )

Need to install a control rod and then do a canopy stop ( so the canopy does not slide to far rearward )
Install the wing with CG as close as possible ..

Then go play ...