Flew over a garden I volunteer at which was at full bloom with a Hobbyzone Champ. Used the HD Keychain Camera #11. If you want a small aircraft for aerial video in tight spaces, it's a pretty good option.

Hobbyzone Champ RC Plane Aerial Video over Temecula Valley Rose Society HD (4 min 18 sec)

I got one of the #11 Keychain cameras. Highly recommend one. Nice picture and they weigh very little. I took a few videos, and got one I really liked. I was surprised to be able to see my high school, which is at least 2 miles away.

Parkzone Stryker Over Harveston, Temecula (Keychain Camera #11) (7 min 58 sec)

Key:
1) b
2) a
3) c
4) b
5) a
6) d
7) b
8) a
9) c
10) a

In my last blog I posted a plane I made from foam plates, using a 40mah lipo and Air Hogs Havoc heli tail motor. It flew, although not very well, and I said I would make a plane that climbed faster, flew slower, and has no wing rock.

That was accomplished with my second plane I built with more care, in this case a biplane with a V-tail. I fixed the problems of the first, with it trimmed to making tighter circles, flying much slower, and no wing rock. The lack of wing rock improved the climb rate.

As a result, though the start was slow, it soon cleared the treetops and was free to go higher and higher unobstructed. Though I started to run after it as it drifted with the wind, I soon stopped because it became evident it wasn't coming back. For at least 4 minutes I watched it climb higher and higher until it just vanished! I bet by the time it landed it had drifted at least a mile with the wind.

Free Flight Biplane using Air Hogs Havoc Heli tail motor (1 min 16 sec)

I wondered if it was possible to make a tiny free flight plain using the tail motor from an Air Hogs Havoc helicopter. To my surprise, with a 1 cell 40 mah LiPo, they give off enough thrust to power a small model.

In about five minutes I threw together an airframe from masking tape and a single foam plate I bought in a pack of 30 from the $1 Store. I taped the wires together, and in it's short indoor test flight it quickly stabilizes and climbs at a good angle. Of course, being overweight, it flies super quick.

I was going to try it out this morning, but it was raining. Looking forward to a true "fly away," as this motor is perfectly content at running at 1.5 volts, and the LiPo starts off fully charged.

I just had to say I picked a Havoc Cyclone yesterday for $10, and it was great. So great, that today I had to bike over and get another for my brother.

These are tons of fun. They require some manual trimming to get them to fly just right (mostly to offset the relatively large torque), but when they are trimmed you can fly them just about anywhere. My brother's is the more powerful one of the two: his can go into vertical climbs very easily. Mine is a little weaker, and prefers to just cruise around, but definitely has enough power. There is about 6-7 minutes quality flight time before it becomes difficult to stay up.

I love how they are easy to fly, but take some time to master how to combine throttle with turning. Namely, high throttle for right turns, low for left (the torque makes this the optimal way to turn). Two in the air is also fun, and we've had a few mid air collisions already. Good for dogfights, but I don't want to risk getting chopped up in an enemy prop!

Durability is impressive. I've had dozens upon dozens of crashes into the wall, but the light weight keeps it from hurting itself. I have only a few very minor dents on the leading edge.

In short, this is an awesome product, especially given the money I spent.

I took a few short clips of it flying around the house as proof that it really does fly nice.

Air Hogs Cyclone Flying (2 min 38 sec)

Obviously, like many of you, I love flying. It was only natural then that on a flight from LA to Seattle then back that I went picture happy and snapped as many pictures as I could from the air. What can I say, it's hard to screw up aerial photos. Here's a collection the shots I took, some great, some not so great. It's a bit of a shame I can only show them compressed like this....Continue Reading

I really like this plane for the obvious reason that I made it. I got another video of it, in which my little brother played camera man. Yep, that's him narrating the scene! I found my plane actually has a lot more power I initially realized. If I try to go vertical, it slowly tail slides and the torque rolls it, but I am unable to recover. Since I was coming in for close flybys for better shots (we only got one and it was a little far), and the park was small, I pushed the plane to the limit in some turns and gave too much elevator, which is basically how I found out how difficult it is to get out of the vertical hover. This led to a couple crashes and minor repairs, but it's a tough bird and was mostly unharmed. I really enjoy flying it; being the not perfect builder I am it has a couple kinks (nothing major), but in my mind it gives the plane a bit of personality, like the unique "feel" of a car. Feedback appreciated.

Plane Flight II (1 min 10 sec)

After many micro RTF, I started getting bored always getting something completely made for me. I thought it was time to move on and make something myself for a change. I have been messing around with planes for over four years now, so I figured I could make something that resembled a plane, and perhaps even flew if I was lucky enough. I managed to do just that with this plane, which can fly surprisingly well! The wing is from a Guilow's Fairchild 24 kit, but the rest is my personal creation. All out weight is kind of on the heavy side. It is just shy of 5 oz with a wingspan of about 24". As such, it's no glider. Cutting the power is a sure way to bring it down, and fast. Otherwise, the small 10 gram brushless gives it more than enough power, and flight time ranges from about 5-7 minutes on a 350 mah battery. It isn't a duration flier, but is good enough for me. Up in the air (no pictures unfortunately, as I've been flying early in the morning solo and can't multitask that way!) it looks very neat, especially in the early morning when just a trickle of light can pass through the wings giving it a ghostly effect. I thought it was going to look like an ugly flying stick... but personally I think it looks cute. But, well, I made it so that's a heck of a bias! In the air, it is quite stable, though it doesn't appreciate the wind too much. Something is up with the way I built it, causing it to yaw to the left with up elevator and to the right with down elevator. Personally I...Continue Reading

What little flying I have done over the years is gone for now, at least for the next two weeks when I just might get a Air Hogs Havoc because waiting for calm days is getting on my nerves. I took the "good 'ol" "reliable" Shun Da Sky Hawk out to the local park after a quick test at home to make sure it worked. After the walk to the park I turn it on and the control surfaces go nice and smoothly (at least for being the plane it is). I try to turn on the motor, and when I press the button on the plane the motor fires into life until I take it off. The motor dies. I repeat. Same thing keeps happening. I was guessing it would never go, but eventually it went and I decided to give it a toss, and at the worst I would ditch it because the plane was half broken anyways. The plane bobbed around a bit stalling, and gave a sharp turn to the right before crashing. I'm thinking there was just a lot of interference there, and I could not do a range test because I went alone. Needless to say, after so many crashes and this not being the first time the plane has given me these problems I am dubbing this plane retired. After a whopping 9 flights (no seriously, I had it for 3 years and only flew it 9 times, and only 5 or so could even be considered flights unlike the previous one which I counted for good measure) the plane is dead.

I suppose some good came of that. First are bragging rights for me to say that I got the Shun Da Sky Hawk to fly for the entire duration of...Continue Reading

I am so mad right now. Stupid hormones are not helping me feel better. My Aero Ace biplane did not work. I waited for 2 weeks for my mom to finally take me to get it. Today had the chance to go to Target so I went in and bought it. Got the last one on the shelf. As if the world is mocking me; everyone else probably got good ones and I get the defective @#%&. Twice in a row, my first Aero Ace did not work either, the motors burnt out after very little flights. So I bring home my Ace and charge her up for a charge cycle. I gave it full throttle and left it for a while (I did the transmitter spring mod) and timed it. It ran for 8:53 and I was pleased. Waited a little for it to cool down and charged it again. It was windy but I flew anyway and it was fun. I was hovering and moving back slowly. Eventually the battery died so I went back in to cool and recharge.

Then I bring it out again and what's this? The left motor is going slower than the right one. It does not stop doing this. The left motor was a little worse than the first all the time but trim fixed it up. Now it barely spins. *Sigh* another weeks wait to replace it at Target...again!

Ah well, I'll live. I cooled down a little, something nice about knowing others don't care much but they still read this.

After over a year without a flight (and one "attempted" one that ended up in a tree) I flew the Sky Hawk very nicely for about 8.5 minutes. Last time I got about 11 but I did not have to fight the wind like today, hence a lot more time with the throttle. The flight however was calm and mostly without incident. Notice the mostly. No damage, but two close calls. Here is a flight overview:

The handlaunch went well, and even though the plane is underpowered it quickly climbed up to a decent altitude. Too fast actually, it would not stop porpoising. I had to give it full down trim, and it was still stalling from trying to climb. I just had to keep the down elevator pressed sometimes. Anyways, it responded much better than I remember to controls. Up and down was instant and turning was respectable for a plane of this type. When I started, there was no wind but that soon changed. A rather strong wind came up, and flying into it was extremely satisfying because the Sky Hawk would slow down to a walking pace, and I needed full throttle to get into it. Gliding in it was great too, the plane was almost hovering. Gliding was pretty bad on the Hawk though. It is too heavy and could was going very fast compared to how a normal electric glider would. It was weird, the plane climbs decently, until it hits a point where it cannot climb any higher, and that is probably less than 100 feet high.

It felt like a dream, and I think my dad was secretly impressed. I did have a close...Continue Reading

My dad took me to a RocStock event yesterday. It was pretty fun, but the wind picked up at 11 and we had to leave. I flew twice, my Quest Intruder and Estes CC express. (Low power.) The Intruder was on a C6-5, and was spinning to the right on accent, but deployment was at apogee, and decent was fairly good, albeit a little too fast. Second was the CC express on a D12-0 to a D12-5. My dad got a good video of it, and my avatar is currently it lifting up. Very nice flight, straight and high. Deployment was great, and the reusable "wadding" I had bought functioned perfectly. It came down somewhat fast and broke the fin slightly, but at least it did not drift.

Today I did a slight modification to fly my Rock-It on a C engine. Untrustworthy internet simulation predicts 70.6 feet at 30 miles per hour! Another predicts 144.28 feet at 46.93 miles per hour. Slow=good. Somewhere in between I'll assume. Sounds unstable, but fun. I added too much nose weight, it weighs .415 pounds! This may add even more instability. That is why this one flies locally, with my group, don't want some record following me! Can't lose this one!

On a side note, my Shun Da Sky Hawk is fixed! The wing is very strong now, and the rudder has been fixed as well. Something to hold me until I have saved up enough money for a Fling glider.