RC planes/jets/heli

This is the next one I won't be able to resist. Can't wait til it's available!

Ultra Micro ICON A5 BNF with AS3X® Technology by ParkZone - YouTube

 

That does look nice, and from the vid flies better than it's underpowered bigger-brother.
Sadly it shares the inflated price of all Parkzone planes...

The nano was your first RC heli of any kind? No coax or FP ones first just a sim? Which one?
After a bunch of stick time on FP Blade MSR and 120SRs I feel like I'm about ready to try a CP, but got sidetracked with RC planes.

I've been in Houston since last weekend, and last Sunday morning visited Bayou City Flyers > Home ( DNN 4.4.0 ) at Scobee park. Impressive facilities: HUGE paved runway, AC'd clubhouse, covered workbenches, dedicated heli area, large paved control line circle (talked with some friendly and very experienced CL pilots and watched them zip around in precise patterns. Neat but don't think it's for me) and a large area for gliders. Must be an AMA member and pay $50/yr but get discounts at a few local hobby stores.
Will also check out Northwest Houston Radio Control Club - News Exchanged a few emails with the Pres, nice guy but they don't have a paved runway so that's a big minus for my smaller-wheeled planes.

 

Yes the nano was my 1st heli. I did have a sim before. I have Phoenix. The Nano offered the ability to crash and be able to be picked up and fly again. If they do break something the parts are usually real cheap. My 130x is a little more maintenance to keep it in the air but again for the money no one will beat it.

I also stick to the smaller helis so I'm able to fly in my backyard as compared to going to a field to fly

 

Occasionally fly a Slow Stik from the neighborhood park. Strap a small Nikon under it sometimes......

Nice sunset with Palos Verdes peninsula and Catalina Island.
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I occasionally throw it (Slow Stik) off the boat......

Me flying in the first pic.
In the second pic you can see the planes shadow.

The plane does about 20 kts flat out, like the boat.
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With a rubber band holding the trigger down, I get a pic every second or two. It's interesting to see what you get. In this shot, a boats wake as seen from above...
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Landing can be difficult. I basically setup with the boat at idle and facing into the wind. Then it's a one shot deal for the most part. Fly at yourself, flare and chop the power, grab the plane. While the Slow Stik is very docile and stable, it can be tricky. Usually a little turbulence behind the boat.
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Cool photos Lou... and technique!!

 

good stuff Lou!
Have you ever tried out FPV? A buddy at my field in WI let me look through his goggles while he did the flying, and it's truly an immersive experience. I figure on taking the plunge maybe next year or the year after, when HD goggles and even better, cheaper cameras & transmission equipment is out.

Flying an RC plane from a boat is awesome.
I'm looking forward to flying the PBY again once it gets unpacked next month and I can go out with my FIL on his little fishing boat on Lake Livingston down here in TX.
Still kicking myself for not trying a carrier landing on the top deck of the moving houseboat in KY last June...

RC PBY Catalina on the Green River Lake in Kentucky [720p] - YouTube

Our house near Houston has a number of smaller, man-made "lakes" within walking/biking distance that are too small for the Cat but would be perfect for the micro Icon that Nathan posted. Just have to hope it doesnt crash in the middle or else I'll be going for a swim!

 

Nah, you don't have to swim. Trust me, just get a jet ski and it makes things much easier.

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I have a co-worker who always thinks he is better than he is and gets into trouble flying. He's lost one SuperCub completely and has been up in a treee or searching in swamps more times than I can remember.

Last week, we took a lunch break to the elementry school. I ask if he wants my help, he says no. He does a good takeoff and circles around a few times, so I start getting the Spitfire ready. Next thing I know he's 1/2 mile away and stalling behind a tree line. He hands me the transmitter as the plane drops below the tree line. I add full power, hoping it will re-appear. No luck after 10 seconds so I turn off the throttle.

He looks for it while I fly my plane. He has no luck because we didn't actually see where it landed, and the brush is so high.

Next day, I get the idea to put the camera on my old SuperCub and try to spot it from the air. This isn't a telemetry system, so I have to land to see the footage. I gave it low odds, and it was raining, so he was pretty depressed. Well, would you believe it shows up in the camera frame? It's fairly close to a house so we have a reference point to get it. After battling ticks and cuts from bushes, we find it. I think he gets more excited recovering the thing than flying it.
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heh, the Fairfield Lakes commission would love that!
I'm actually thinking of how I can fab a trawling structure onto my RC Bismarck. Put the big girl to use on a peaceful mission

Nice recon job!!!



Today I drove over to Bomberfield USA's 25th annual B-17 day and got my first taste of Giant Scale RC planes.
Our Facility

Was a bit of a somber event since BB Weber, the field owner, club benefactor, and builder/flyer of giants like the B-29 and Tu95 hanging in his workshop, passed away last weekend from leukemia.

Nevertheless an impressive array of planes, pilots and spectators braved soggy, overcast and 15g30 conditions to celebrate what BB loved: big RC planes.

Highlights for me included a HUGE BAE Hawk gas turbine jet (45lbs of thrust) that made numerous impressive flights, the same pilot's BIG F4U Corsair with a 250cc Moki 5 cylinder radial (too quiet with scale exhaust headers, sounded INCREDIBLE), grossly and gloriously overpowered 50% Cub doing low level aerobatics no Cub should ever do, sweet electric P-61 Black Widow, awesome F-15 Eagle (single gas turbine) numerous 4-engined B-17s dropping dummy bombs and competing for best bomber, RC Tank with IR "guns" duking it out in a scale layout of a western european WWII battleground, and most of all a nice chat with Sam Snyder. 18 of Sam's scratchbuilt model planes reside in various museums around the country, including the Air&Space. He brought his stunning, newly completed Focke Wulf 189 which took 1950 hours to build and features custom machined landing gear and wheels, rotating tail gun mount, and scale interior. Unfortunately the right gear collapsed on his maiden's landing yesterday, but the only damage is a scratched wing tip and slightly ground-down gear door. Easy for Sam to fix!

Of course now I'm dreaming of a giant scale P-38 Lightning to fly at next year's event.... but even if not, I may just join their club. It's ~30 minutes from our house so while 15 minutes further than NW Houston RC Club, that one doesn't have a paved runway, and it's the same distance as Bayou City Flyers at Scobee Field but while not as "modern" BomberField is somehow cooler. Hopefully they pipe big band music through the PA system during normal flying days.

More pics and a few videos here:
2013 9 21 BomberfieldUSA Giant Scale Photos by kedelbach | Photobucket

Just 3 more weeks till my planes can be delivered to our new home, can't wait to fly again!!!!
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oh yeah, can anyone ID these plane?
I thought Sam said the silver one was a Donier but I can't find it online, and the black one was in the big hanger with no info.
thanks!
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1st one I think is a xp 67

McDonnell XP-67 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The O.D. plane is a McDonnel " Moonbat", the silver one is a Dornier DO 11.

 

Thanks, I knew the experts here would have no trouble with those!
Too bad we didn't have good jets to put in the Moonbat back in the early 40's, would have made an interesting match-up against ME262s.
Love the catwalk back to the rear gun on the Dornier!

A buddy from NW Houston RC Club took these great photos on Thursday:
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Nathan - you had a micro Gee Bee didn't you? Still flying it?

This youtube channel continues to put out superb giant-scale plane videos from Europe. Newest is a big Gee Bee with a 160cc 7-cylinder radial.

Turn up the volume!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Y7lRNiRU0[/ame]

Doesn't look so hard to fly

 

This video made me laugh my ass off

LiveLeak.com - Guy blows up RC Jet to mock his friend

 

Happy to report that my RC planes were delivered with to our new house on Friday, and all made the trip unscathed. They're sitting in their crates while I attend to other, less fun household duties but I did walk over to the neighborhood "lake" yesterday morning to give the micro Icon her first taste of water. Perfect sized plane for the relatively tight space. Ran through 2 batteries, with about 10 water landings&take-offs.
The ducks didn't seem that impressed but did get two bike riders stop by to ask questions and chat.
Still have to decide whether to join Bayou City Flyers, NW Houston RC Club (pretty field but grass) or Bomberfield USA as a main club, but in the meantime nice to have a place to fly the Icon only a 5 minute walk away.
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Re the "catwalk" on the DO11. I believe that array is a radio antenna. The germans had some like that early on and into WW2 on their tanks. Please correct me if I am in error.

 

The builder said they are handrails, but could be they were dual-purpose?

Sad to report that this beautiful scratch-built went down last weekend at the B.E.S.T. electric event in New Waverly. Happened the day before I attended to I didn't see it, but from the take-off pic looks to be pretty tail heavy. Such a shame, this was suitable for display in a museum
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I have dug and dug on every source that I have about the DO-11 and I wonder why only several examples display the "handrails". The crew members all have dedicated positions; the nose gunner has a better environment then the pilot and copilot, the fourth member , the waist gunner, has a pretty good and protected position too. If the waist gunner was to travel forward to the cockpit where would he go and visa versa. I can only see that the handrails were used by the crew moving over the airplane while it was parked.Odd.

 

Bob,
On an RC forum (rcgroups dot com) someone corrected me that it isn't actually a DO11 it's a DO 23, maybe that one only flew with a 3 man crew and the co-pilot did double-duty as the waist gunner?

Here's a site with details for this, and other builds by Sam Snyder:
Sam Snyder's Hangar

Maybe if you leave a message in his "logbook" he can shed some light on it? If/when I see him at another event I'll certainly ask.

 

I missed the 2 main days of the big jet event at Bomberfield USA last weekend, but there were still a few pilots there to enjoy perfect flying weather on Sunday.
Dr. Rodriguez brought his big 250+ mph "Bandit" sport jet (turbine alone cost over $8000!) as well as a stunning, never-before flown F4 Phantom in Blue Angels livery.

I'm very happy to tinker with and fly my little electric planes, but damn these things are cool!

Found out the giant Tu95 will be donated to a museum, probably will never fly again.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mHgwwn-Lj0]2013 October: Bomberfield USA Jets and Giants - YouTube[/ame]
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No action in this thread... nobody out flying or at least building??
Today I had a pretty exciting moment when the right motor in my P-38 went out as I was headed towards a crowd of people gathered behind the flight line at my club's annual BBQ/fun fly. Snap rolled almost over, fought her wings back to level and throttled back the left motor, yelled "MOTOR OUT! DEAD STICK!" and glided about 15' above the people heads to a belly landing on the one small dry patch of grass remaining after heavy rains this week. Whew!
The motors had about 50 pretty hard flights and they don't get much airflow so it was only a matter of time I suppose.
Last month I wasn't so lucky when my 1.5m Mustang lost TX signal during an inverted circuit. Probably fixable but with over 75 flights decided to retired her, and since being Mustangless is unacceptable bought 2 Durafly P-51d kits and am bashing them together into a F-82 Twin. Will be about the same wingspan as the Lightning, and should move out pretty good with 11x8 2-bladed props (only option for CR 4-bladed props would cost $150 from Germany for adjustable pitch ones... vs $8 for more efficient 2-bladers painted black).
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