It's been a minute since my last update:

RIP...my much-loved Freewing DH-112 Venom bit the dust. I was doing a too aggressive loop, too fast, and pancaked her on the ground...not much left
Also my F-35 spiraled in for unknown reasons, it never flew well for me.

I'm really loving flying my Freewing F-16 using 6S-4500 SMC Lipos...fast and very forgiving at the same time. High alpha landings are a thing of beauty. I bought a second ARF and am painting it all white so I can put on a livery of my choice, either Ft. Worth Gunfighter version or Thunderbird livery.

The Freewing Avanti S just keeps flying great...it flies wherever you put it. Landings are always smooth and predictable. Aerobatics are spectacular, well, as good as I can do them anyway.

My Freewing F-15 is getting a motor upgrade to FMS powerhouse and hoping to get that done this holiday season. It needs a bit more oomph! Such a beauty in the air.

My Freewing F-86 keeps on flying beautifully also. It sounds so jet-like in the air and handles like a pussycat. Been using the SMC 6S-4500 lipos to save some weight and up the performance a bit. It has an upgraded 2100 kv FMS motor in it.

The Eflight F-4 is still flying even though there are cracks on the top of both wings that have packing tape on them. It's been flying over a year like that. I have to concentrate on landing very softly every time so that I don't push thru the wings. I do have a spare set of wings WHEN it eventually happens.

I still...Continue Reading

It's been over a year since my last update...

My newest plane is a Freewing F-16C, 6 Cell 70mm edf. I haven't gotten to maiden it yet because I want to wait until I get access to a concrete runway (see below). It's the Arctic Camo version and it looks great...its the version 2. I have put a Gooniac afterburner system in it and it looks great (on the ground at least). Can't wait to fly it.

My Eflite F-4 is still in one piece and it's still my favorite EDF. It's fast, it's stable (no gyro), and it's tons of fun. After getting the flaps tuned with the elevator, it lands like it's on rails.

The Freewing F-35 has put me through some trials and tribulations. I had trouble controlling it, so twitchy...and fast...and difficult to see. It had one hard landing and wrinkled the nose a bit but it's all back together and thanks to a FrSky S6R stabilizing receiver, it's now a joy to fly.

The Freewing F-15 is still doing well but it has not been flown much lately since the Corona Covid-19 virus outbreak. Why, you ask? Well our NASA flying site has shut down and the only field that I can fly is at a grass runway field the the F-15 and most of my other planes too are not grass friendly.
The F-15 is 90 mm but is just too heavy for grass takeoffs.

The only plane that has done well on the grass field is my Freewing DH-112 Venom...it's a 90mm edf that takes off in just a few feet so it does well in grass. I tried my Freewing F-86 in the grass and lost a main gear (just pulled out of...Continue Reading

Well June was very, very good to me...to paraphrase a SNL routine.

I got 2 new jets this month:

1. Freewing 70mm 6 Cell F-35 Lightning (stock outrunner power), painted bright white around wings and on tail surfaces and nose cone for high vis.

2. Freewing 90mm 6 Cell F-15C Eagle (stock outrunner power), I painted red trim around wing tips and nose cone for higher visibility.

Should maiden them both at the end of the month so will report when done.

The Eflite F-4 is an awesome 80mm 6 Cell flyer once you program in some up elevator when you deploy flaps! Otherwise it heads for the deck. Got it all working well now on my new FrSky X12S transmitter. The Freewing F-86 is still humming along with the 2000kv inrunner motor upgrade I did last month. The Freewing Venom is flying great but its' starting to "flap" the wings a bit with wear. Will have to reinforce wing rods soon.

More later, Ciao!

Two new aircraft since my last blog:

1. The new E-flite 80mm 6S F-4 Phantom II


The new E-flite F-4 is well put together and is manufactured by FMS. It has the FMS 2000kv inrunner motor that I have in my Freewing F-86 and it is powerful and efficient on 6S batteries. It handles the wind well and lands like a dream. The full flying tail makes this edf very aerobatic. It has retractable gear, flaps, and lights. I use my own FrSky 8 channel receiver in it along with my FrSky voltage sensor so that I can get voltage telemetry on my Taranis X9D+ radio. It's my new favorite EDF!

2. A new Hubsan drone, the Zino

What's new about this drone is the 3-axis 4K capable camera and gimbal. It takes ultra smooth video and decent photos while giving you 20 minutes of flight time. It was a pre-order that took TOO LONG to get and was an immature product when I got it. The firmware and software were still in their infancy but has gotten steadily better. It has Return to Home on low voltage or signal loss, it has follow me mode, it flies waypoints, it has a panorama flight mode, and a line fly flight mode. It also uses my iPad Mini 2 as a FPV monitor. It is rock solid out to 1 kilometer but it is too early to know how much further it can reach. It's a fine camera platform now, if you don't have the money for a DJI product

Sadly, my Freewing 64mm A-10 edf got shot down earlier this month. I was flying it for the third time that morning and it was flying great. I did an uncharacteristic upside down pass down the runway about 10 feet off the ground when BAM! the right rudder just came unglued but still stayed connected to the servo and it immediately went nose down and made the best foamie crash I've ever had. Foam pieces went flying everywhere! If you have to say goodbye to an old plane, this is how to do it...in a blaze of glory. I will miss it but I'm now into 80mm and bigger edf planes so it will probably initiate an upgrade Don't tell the wife.

Thanks for the video Jeff!
Flight starts about 3:36 to about 6:00
https://youtu.be/XjWovZD06r8?t=3m35s

Got a new plane for my birthday...90mm with 6 cell 5000 lipo (same as Freewing F-86).

JSCRCC has a successful Warbird event. I flew at least 6 sorties that day. Here are a few pics of my planes at the event.

Also Fitz took a nice video of my Freewing F-86.

Freewing 80 mm F-86 at Johnson Space Center (5 min 36 sec)

Also looking forward to visiting Cecil in Ft Worth for Benbrook Warbirds mid month.

Mike Laible's and my F-86, we flew formation, loosely, and it was a blast!

Been a while since the last update...here goes...

1. Found a kit version of my beloved Durafly Sea Vixen and put all the electronics and motor from old one and it takes to the skies again...it's a touch-n-go machine!

2. My old Venom (Starmax) 4 cell 70mm F-86 finally got retired. It had been through an upgrade to 5 cell and was just tired and old even though it still flew, it was too much trouble to get the motor/fan in and out so it is now gone.

3. Good News! I just got a new Freewing 80mm F-86 and I LOVE it. Although it doesn't have air brakes, it is better in every other way over the Venom. It's just a bit bigger, it's faster, and it's easier to work on. The build quality is much better also.

4. Got a Hubsan H501SS quad that I really like...has GPS, return to home, circle me, and follow me functions and it gets almost 20 minutes of flight time in a 2S lipo.

5. Got a Blade Theory W flying wing that is just a real hoot! I got it thinking I would get into FPV wing racing but the camera just shakes too much for good FPV for me. So I just took off the FPV gear and put a 4 cell 1300 lipo in there and this thing screams and is so much fun. It has been clocked from 100 to 120mph unofficially. it's a real head turner at the field.

Looking forward to summer when the winds die down and flying time is more abundant!

Take care,
Russ

P.S. Added a Freewing 90mm DH-112 Venom edf....my first 90mm plane...can't wait to get her into the air!

There is an addition and a deletion to report...

The Sea Vixen died a tragic death this last month, losing signal and crashing to pieces at our Annual JSC Warbird Event. No explanation for it...it just kept going straight when I tried to turn on final and ended up spiraling down. It was the first time a Taranis equipped plane crashed due to a signal problem. ???

I added a Freewing 64mm F9F Panther this month. It's the same one that I had 6 years ago that lost signal at Tom Bass Field and caused me to give up Spektrum radios...still glad about that decision!

Also added some video of the Freewing A-10 that flew earlier in the month.

Freewing Twin 64 mm A10 Video (3 min 29 sec)

That's it...happy flying...Russ

Freewing A-10 Warthog 64 mm twin edf - 4S, Retracts
Freewing Rebel 70mm, 4S, retracts, flaps
FMS T-28 1400mm, 4S, 3-blade prop, flaps, retracts, lights
FMS Cessna 187, 1500mm, 3S, flaps, lights
Hobby King Polaris Ultra, water plane, 3S
Hobby King Durafly Sea Vixen, 70mm edf, retracts
Hobby King Das Ugly Stik, 3S
Star max F-86 Sabre, 70mm, retracts, flaps, air brakes

E-flite 350 QX3 quad with gimball
RocHobby X250 racing quad
E-flite Nano...Continue Reading

2015 Operational Aircraft Inventory

WW-II Era Aircraft:
P-51 Mustang - FMS - 1400mm
P-47 Thunderbolt - FMS - 1400mm

Korean War Era Aircraft:
F-86 Sabre - Starmax - 70mm
F9F-2 Panther - RcLander - 70mm EDF
DeHavilland DH-100 Vampire - Durafly - 70mm EDF

Vietnam War Era Aircraft:
T-28 Trojan - Parkzone - 1100mm
T-28 Trojan - FMS - 1400mm
F-4 Phantom - FMS - 70mm EDF

Gulf War Era Aircraft:
A-10 Warthog - Dynam - Twin 64mm EDF

Modern Era Aircraft:
Cessna 182 - FMS - 1410mm

Happy to report that I've been flying instead of blogging lately.

Just finished my maiden of new RC Lander Panther with updated power plant. It's from Hobby King and it has Dr. Mad 10 Blade Fan and a 4000kv brushless motor and an 80 amp ESC coupled with an Admiral 40C 4 cell 4000 lipo.

It flies much better than either of my other two Panthers. One died of electronic failure too young and the other was just retired of old age due to too many hard landings and the wing was cracked in several places as a result. It was glued, spackled, taped and everything else I could think of to keep it together. Even with an inrunner 5S motor and 10 blade fan it would barely keep in the air.

The new Panther has no flaps, no lights and nothing extra on it whatsoever. I'm keeping it light this time. I put the cheater hole cover on in a hybrid fashion to keep some air running in the motor from the bottom.

This Panther is light on it's feet, takes off in a short amount of space, relative to my other Panther and it lands a bit long...you will need plenty of runway for this plane. It accelerates well in the air and doesn't nose up when you cut power, with the cheater hole mod. It's easily my favorite plane now replacing my Starmax F-86 Sabre.

Let's see, it's been a while since updating my Blog.

Planes...lost the Sea Vixen to what I thought was a radio signal loss but I think now it was a battery cable problem. Had the same problem with a new F-86 after only 15 or so flights..it just lost signal and had no control whatsoever, just like the Vixen. The only way I could see that is with a power outage. I'm not the best solder person and both were cramped in the cockpit and it explains both. Both planes had at least 5 seconds of fight before crashing so I think if it were a signal problem that they would have recovered. Both of those planes also had one antenna wire outside of the airframe as an extra measure of security.

Thanks to RCGroups discussions I have found one of the greatest little inventions for RC failsafe...a Scorpion Battery Backup that consists of a 2-cell lipo with a 10 amp BEC built into it. It only comes on when RX power falls below 4.99 volts. It can also be ported from plane to plane easily. It's about the size of a big UBEC so I am replacing all heavy ESC/UBEC combinations with cheaper, lighter models to save weight since the Battery Backup performs that function.

I tested it by unplugging the main battery and the motor shut down but all other flight surfaces continued to work for several minutes...more than enough to get the model to the ground safely.

Here is the link...
http://www.amain.com/product_info.ph...n-Backup-Guard

Now for the other change...I found an awesome new Transmitter...
FrSky Taranis !!!

It is 2.4 ghz and has great frequency hopping/hunting electronics that combine the best of Futaba/JR electronics plus it talks to you! It is also almost infinitely customizable with many switches and rotary knobs and sliders. The RX's are cheap and the TX is only about $180. It has full telemetry built in and had many sensors available for it. Starting Feb 2014, I'm converting my fleet.

http://www.alofthobbies.com/frsky-ta...x8r-combo.html

16 channels and can be expanded to 32 with S-Bus and Smart Port technologies.

My new love is the Sea Vixen...a 1950's to early 60's British jet bomber.

It's my new favorite plane! I bought it as a kit and put a Cyclone Power IR550-2800kv-40 4S/5S motor with CP 10 blade fan. It flies well on 4S or 5S but the 5S makes it a screamer! It flies like a dream only exceeded by it's docile landing characteristics.

See video below...it was a gray, rainy day so video is not great...

Durafly DeHavilland Sea Vixen (2 min 46 sec)

The RC Lander Panther has been through trials and tribulations. The original Eflight BL-15 and HET 4 blade fan were adequate but not much low end power and not very fast on high end either.

Soooo...I put in 4S Cyclone Power 3300kv outrunner motor with Changesun 10 blade. It wasn't even enough power to get it off of the ground. So I changed power plant to Cyclone Power IR (inrunner) 550-2800-40 with Cyclone Power 10 blade fan. It's a 4S or 5S setup. On 4S it still wouldn't rotate. But on 5S it became a whole new plane. It lifted off long but good enough and was much faster and more responsive in the air.

In the meantime I also found out that I had balanced it WAY too nose heavy and this further reduced time to lift off !!!

On last flight this last week, I miscalculated wind and landed very heavily and cracked left wing almost in two. There was a crack on both sides of the wing up to the air intake. I used Gorilla Glue and some fiberglass planks to shore up the wing. I also had to glue the nose wheel platform that had loosened in the hard landing as well as the tip tank which came completely off.

Maiden next week.

5/18/13 - Maidened and everything was great. Now that CG is right and using
5S powerplant, it takes off very well in about 3/4 of the space as previously. She is much faster in the air and landings are softer since CG is further back. She does LOOK like she is flying a little tail heavy (nose up attitude) but nothing major and no problems on landing so I think it's about right.

F9F-2 Panther & F-35 Thunderbird
Panther Video link:

RC Lander Panther Flight (Navy Version) (4 min 39 sec)

...Continue Reading

New F9F-2 Panther is built and was test flown this last weekend. The top vent mods from the factory worked great, as did the factory installed electric retracts, lights and flaps. I installed all other servos with HK Turnigy Metal Gear 90's, except just used some old 9 gram servos for flaps.

The maiden was uneventful with just a few clicks of up elevator and a couple of clicks of right aileron and she was straight and level with hands off. The take off and landing were with full flaps. The take off took WAY too long to get off of the ground. The landing was slow, predictable and smooth. No ballooning at all with power down this time! The lights were visible but not great EXCEPT for the afterburner...you could really see that red ring brightly on fast passes and take off!

A flying buddy suggested at the field that smaller main gear wheels would bring the nose up for easier take offs. I replaced them with the next size smaller wheels from stock. We'll see how that works but it looks better already.

Re: Futaba 7C Transmitter

I sent the radio back for warranty work regarding the left pull on rudder when throttling up. The radio was in it's way back to me at the time of this writing. The technician at Futaba said that they replaced the Rudder/Throttle "pot" and rebooted software and it was working properly. I sent it for "expedited processing" which cost's about $40 with guaranteed 2-day turnaround. Best money I ever spent.

The RC Lander Blue Panther nosed in shortly after the video below. It was flying well and about halfway through the battery pack it was going away from me and lost all directional control even though the motor was still running. It was about 20 feet off of the ground and just nosed in and busted to pieces and lost battery. I was using Futaba 7 channel receiver. I blame it on HobbyKing 70 amp opto receiver with HK 5 amp UBEC because this same thing happened once before at about 75 feet in the air and then it "reconnected" and I pulled it out. I had a generic futaba receiver at the time so I put an original Futaba rx in to make sure that it wasn't the problem. I'm going with switched esc's now with at least 5 amps for my bigger foamies.

I just got a new Gray RC Lander and the build is in progress. I got it with electric retracts already built in, flaps already built in, and navigation and afterburner lights built in. It also has air handling mod build in to deter zooming up on landings.

Buddy (thanks Mike!) gave me his E-flite F-86 that was in great shape to make room in his hangar. I will put E-flite Delta-V fan and motor in it. Great...another project.

Saber:

Hobby King F-86 Sabre 70mm (5 min 17 sec)

Panther:

RC Lander Panther F9F-2 (3 min 9 sec)

...Continue Reading