XK A430 No2 Maiden Flight ( 2nd - 430A ) (8 min 23 sec)

Yes , got me another ( 2nd ) XK A430 .
Set it up very carefully for the maiden .
Trimmed the rates back to soften the controls .

Went out this morning to only sort out the stabilized mode .

Why = It was cheap ! Less than $100 Aus bananas with free shipping . Seller is in Sydney and has a few more .

Wow , a different animal compared to my first A430 .

A) Rates for stabilized mode ( 6G ) want to be 100% , expo ? I went 20% for now . It's like it's on rails when set up !
B) This one seems to have attitude hold , does my first one have attitude hold ???
C) Seem like completely different animals .

Anyways , one to fly and one for under the bed !

A430 - A real little rocket , reminds me of a Pylon racer !
Correctly set up , I like it ( enough to buy a 2nd one )

Cheetah Glider (10 min 3 sec)

Must be almost 2 years ago I converted this one . And never did a video ! Maybe because the maiden was as windy as all and shortly after launching it the wind gusted the Cheetah into a tree !

I have a telescopic pole about 5 meters long and I had to go home and get it so I could knock the Cheetah out of the tree .

It does not like a lot of wind , being all mild mannered and all .

With a Zippy 350 in the rear battery compartment CG looks to be good . Flight time looks to be good .

TX RC system - Is from my Joyways Crash Invader ( pictured ) It's mode 1 and very iffy !
But in the Cheetah glider it works ok . There was no way I could fly the Invader ( crash invader ) with that Tx .
So some changes were made ( new Rx / brushed ESC ) and it flies .

So I had a Tx and Rx needing to be used in something , so the Cheetah RC glider came to exist .
So there we go , it works . Some tweaking still needed .

A) Fit the battery better .
B) Improve the motor cooling more

Micro Tundra with Stunt Flaps (6 min 28 sec)

So I did the mixing a little while ago and finally got to test fly the MT with Stunt Flaps :

Stung Flaps

The flaps are mixed to the elevator , rates are dropped to about 30% for the mixed flaps . Flaps move in the opposite direction to the elevator .
What I am after is increased lift when the MT is on it's back . I am trying to tune out the attraction to terrible firmness that the flat (?) bottom wing has .
And it looks to have worked a treat , more than enough authority to keep the MT on it's back .
Just need a very nice wind free morning / day to fly the MT on it's back .

Yeah , the 3D printed one .
I completely messed up the all moving elevator because I put the control horn in the wrong place .
Bad ju ju with a all moving elevator .

it's taken me this long to get around to designing and printing a replacement .

Previously : My launches were all over the place because if my fopar . Seemed to glide ok ( seemed to ) .

So hopefully with the control horn in the correct place , I can have consistent launches . ( Well , one can hope )

Just need for Hobbyking to pull out the proverbial finger and get STUFF in stock .

Banggood.com is having some really good prices right now on some micro planes .

Volantex Sports Cub 500 $70
Eachine Mini F4U $80
E0717 1030mm Wingspan $36

Might be worth a look if you were waiting for a sale .

Here it's windy and a bit wet , really looking forward to trying out the stunt flaps on the Micro Tundra ..
Should be interesting , will it go on it's back ?

MT tweaks (0 min 11 sec)

A) Increased rates for ailerons and elevator
B) Mixing the flaps to the elevator , just like with a control line stunt plane . ( This mix will be on a switch )

> A good thing or a bad thing ?

Micro Tundra tip stalls (6 min 5 sec)

So looks like the MT was tip stalling on me ..
Lesson = Fly faster or use those flaps ..

MT Inverted - Oh dear ! .... We have a problem . Inverted the MT is attracted to terrible firmness ! I just dont have enough down elevator to keep the MT off the ground . I mean , I did try ! I flew inverted , and I had my stick pushed all the way forward . And I was loosing altitude .
I pulled out before loosing to much height .

I think the TT is spoiling me !

If I want to put the MT on it's back , Im going to have to tweak the elevator some I thinks .

UMX TT inverted again (5 min 4 sec)

Hehehehe , only my 2nd circuit upside down .

The TT really wants more power inverted . I tried to fly SLOW inverted , but it was a bit of a fail .
As soon as I applied more power , there was little issue ..
I think I needed at least 75% throttle and that's with the 2 blade .
With the factory prop and 2s , you might need 100% ..

I have seen some HOT TT's , TT's that seem to have an abundance of power . Does the TT support 3s ? Wonder what's going on there ?
Anyways , I will try and become a little more proficient in the inverted arts !

So I got me a USB microscope ( a cheap one ) , so that I could take imagery of knife edges .
I have jewellers eyepieces that let me see the edge in detail , but how to share such ?
A USB microscope !

A) My Whetstone grinder / knife sharpener edge

Whetstone Grinder edge ( A better look ) (1 min 20 sec)

B) Guided knife sharpener / 180 grit diamond cut edge

180 grit diamond cut edge (0 min 16 sec)

...Continue Reading

Tech 1000 DLG and the sink hole (12 min 8 sec)

It has been over a year since I flew the tech 1000 DLG .
At the time I was wondering why it flew so fast and why it come down so fast . Ok @ 199 grams it's heavy for a 1 meter DLG .
Some investigation showed that the angle of attack of the wing to centre line was in the negative .
This would explain why the T1000 was flying fast and why I had problems slowing it down .
It looks to me , like this is how the model was intended to be . Now in a situation such as - A slope ! With lots of lift .. This could be ideal !
But as a pure DLG , me ( Me ) thinks not . I will say here and now that the T1000 is probably an excellent slope glider .

Anyways , I put in some positive angle of attack . But over a year later ! And I finally get a chance to test it out .

A) Still tends to fall out of the sky ( 199 grams )
B) Took some effort to re tune .
C) Might need to tweak that CG , getting the T1000 to cruise is not easy . CG might be to far forward ?
D) T1000 will most likely never be a good DLG
E) But hey ! It glides much slower now . Just no hang time !
F) At 93 grams , my Elf is half as heavy .
G) Oh - the pain ! It's been such a long time since I did DLG and it hurt like a SOB . My whole body was a Ouchie ! This was a few days ago and it still hurts .
Do we hate getting old ?

UMX TT Lucky lucky lucky (4 min 42 sec)

So lucky to bring the UMX TT home in one piece .
Had wind N rain for a week , nothing like NSW , but put a crimp on RC .

This morning was the first decent morning in a week .
Those inverted skills were sorely lacking , showcased by the slight breeze that got stronger higher up .
There be downsides to light floaty planes .

Anyways , I made the mistake of trying to correct rather than just pull the plug when inverted and as a result Came very close to terrible firmness !
One meter or possibly less to kitting the TT .

30mm EDF Tales

Printed out a Test Stand mount for the EDF unit . And then thrust tested most of my fans .
The best = 2 4 blade fans .. Each averaging around twenty five grams of thrust at around three point two amps .
That's really bad ! ( Thrust )
And they are reaching peak RPM and then some on the test stand as I am using mains power ( less voltage sag under load )

Looks like the fans need far more design work ( to work ) ...

30mm EDF DIY 3D printer project (1 min 59 sec)

As in , the proof is in the pudding !

So here we are :
A) Still too close to peak RPM
B) Ready to do some thrust "test stand" tests
C) Print out a mount for the test stand ( still to do )
D) Design a mount
E) Look for a model ( plane )

30mm EDF project ( 3D Printed DIY project )

a) The body , bush-league !
b) make it as light and fragile as possible
c) when issues crop up fix them


I have just printed out my 4th 30mm EDF body ..
THe first one was as minimal as possible and almost right away things were NQR !
The body was soft , and the front of the tube was warping into a oval shape .
Revision 2 , I put a beefed up rim on the front of the tube , now it was stronger and stiffer . Butt ---- Not good enough
Revision 3 , I extended the mounting tabs and added a rib 90 degrees from the mounting tabs . This helped a lot !
Revision 4 , There was still a little softness because of my minimalistic approach . So I took the R3 and added a ring around the body . This has made the tube / body so much stiffer / stronger . I did this as I noticed just a little warping ( going oval again on the intake ) . R4 is easily 100% stiffer / stronger if not more .

I printed out more fans today . Looks like the 4 blade is a winner !
To date I have printed 12 fans looking for that one design that works . And I might be narrowing it down .
Looks like I might need to find something micro for this EDF ..

I have for the moment given up on all the designs ( fans ) except the 4 blade .
Yesterday I printed out like 9 fans ( 4 blade ) and I am making progress .
Yes , last night ( I was printing till midnight ) I got a serious increase in thrust + the motor loaded up enough not to run past peak RPM ( 31,000 ) .
Amps sat on about 3.2A , but I could feel the pulses at full bore that come with reaching peak RPM but it held full throttle .

The last fan printed will hopefully drop me bellow 30,000 rpm , and maybe produce more thrust . Enough I hope to power a Micro EDF of some description . Also I will have to design/print a new EDF body .. They need to be stronger to resist warping ( minimum print for weight ) . So far I have printed 3 , the first one being as minimal as possible ( light weight ) , and then each print after that addressing strength issues . Design wise I might be up to R5 ( revision 5 ) and after I test this last fan , I will see about a new fan body .

Well I started with a funky 18 blade fan and I kept making it bigger with more pitch ..

Just not getting thrust and my motor is ESC limited to 31,000 rpm , after that it just runs rough and or locks up .

So I have to load up the motor before it hits 30 something thousand ..

And thats where I am at .

Trying to make a fan that loads up the motor ( 1106 )

I have gone to a 6 blade fan , then did a 12 blade fan , also did a 8 blade design and am currently printing out a 4 blade fan .

So , the smaller the EDF , the fewer blade fans you want ?

Anyways , the 6 blade at least makes some thrust . Enough to lift the edf unit and then some .
I know , I should just buy a 30mm unit , but thats not a DIY 3d printer project .
Cant wait to try out the 4 blade fan .

UMX TT inverted at last (4 min 39 sec)

Certainly not many actually watching the video !
So maybe some text .

I have wanted to fly inverted for a long time , I mean ... Who does not want to fly a bit more advanced ?

Loops are easy enough , rolls are ? ( depends on the model / high wing - mid wing - low wing )

But inverted flight , now that's a little more impressive .

To start on has to do it one of a few ways .. One way would be to do half a loop : Yeah , when you get to the top of the loop hold the attitude and fly inverted , also a great way to get some distance between the model and terrible firmness . The other way is a half roll . The half roll can be a little tricky as your model may have a natural tendency once rolled onto it's back to seek out the ground . ( All that lift working against you )

UMX TT - Oh yeah , the TT has a natural attraction to the ground when on it's back . To counter this I need about half of my stick movement ( down elevator - when inverted is up elevator ) to keep the TT from kissing the ground . Depending on how slow I am I may need more to correct any already ground attraction implemented in the roll over .
Also I found a little more power is needed inverted .. So what is enough power when upright is not enough power on it's back ( TT ) . So I spent several mornings trying to find the Emperors Grove . The TT certainly has a grove ( or attitude ) that once achieved actually makes being...Continue Reading

UMX TT inverted (2 min 14 sec)

UMX TT inverted at last (4 min 39 sec)

...Continue Reading

Was it last year I ordered some RadioMaster receivers just to see what they were like .
It kind of dawned on me a little later , where was I going to plug this Rx into ?
So one day I saw this little quad on sale ( less Rx ) and I thought , what the heck !

The Tiny GT8 already has a plug ( male ) for a Rx . The R81 does not come with a plug . So there was a frantic search and I came up with nothing . I then recalled that one of my Micro Rx with inbuilt ESC had some hardware included . So I stole the plug from that other Rx .

There were only two ways the plug could go , the right way and the wrong way . With everything being so MICRO , getting it wrong could be disastrous . ( And a real PITA ) . A few dry runs to make sure everything was right and it was time for the soldering iron .

With the plug installed , it was time to bind the Rx to the Tx .. Protocol being D8 ( FrSky ) . There is a very / very micro bind button on the Rx .
Press the bind button and power you quad . After a few seconds there will be a solid red light . If you dont get a bind . Then you need to frequency offset . I had to +20 to get a bind and then I adjusted it to +30 . I will have to range check and fine tune , but for now its fine . Supposedly this Rx is good for around 1000 meters , yeah that's not line of sight any more . ( A common restriction these days )
I will hopefully park this as soon as possible to see how it goes .
Besides soldering on a plug , this Rx was relatively painless and not overly expensive for a long range Rx .

Tiny GT8 (4 min 13 sec)

Came today LDARC Tiny GT8 .. Got it rather cheap , without battery and receiver .
The receiver I put in is the RadioMaster R81 Sbus Rx ( FrSky D8 ) and it's supposedly a Long Range Rx .

As always everything to do with Micro Quads is a PITA .
Betaflight ... PITA .. Always those USB drivers .
Rx , needed a plug soldered to it ( just a bother )
Rx , that frequency offset thing ( Tune Tx to Rx )

Other than that , I did put the GT8 into Horizon mode . And thats it !

Test Driving the GT8 :

Is it yaw or rudder ? Either way it was soft , which I dont mind .
X and Y forward and to the sides was seriously sensitive .. Going to have to maybe Expo those or set up rates in the Tx .
Otherwise I am very happy with the GT8 ..
Battery was a Zippy 350 ( Fits perfectly ) and the test drive was also to see what sort of run time I get .
3minutes 30 seconds gave me power failure ..
And I wasn't doing anything special .
So if I park it ( FPV ) , then maybe a 2 minute or 2 minutes 30 seconds timer .

Ka Bar mini Dozier AUS8 2nd chance at the rope (10 min 55 sec)

Yep , when a knife fails . I give it a 2nd chance to not fail so badly .
This time around using my whetstone grinder , I put a new edge on the mini Dozier .
I also gave it a few passes on the stropping wheel to remove the high spots on the grind .
In a nutshell , I doubled the edge holding with the rougher finished edge .
When the test was done , a few passes on the leather strop had the edge back .. ( How soft is that steel ? )
Anyways , I really like the ground edge as edge maintenance is rather good . ( Easy )

So original test , after 30 slices the edge began to vanish
After being machine cut / ground the edge was still cutting rope at 90 but failed on the paper slice .
But that fail on paper could be simply the rough edge ...
I think putting a fine finish on this one is a waste of time and hopefully it might be ok around the house as a general purpose light duty cutter .
We will see . Still dont recommend it !