Remote Control (RC) Planes | Page 2 | FerrariChat

Remote Control (RC) Planes

Discussion in 'Other Off Topic Forum' started by rob lay, Aug 12, 2005.

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  1. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 24, 2003
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    A few months ago, I drilled a .60 engine sport plane (that did about 80 with a pipe) into the runway. The biggest piece was the size od a pack of smokes! I was teaching a guy with a buddy cord between the two radios. I made a REALLY close fast pass and the guy jumped back about six feet causing my thumb to jam the elevator down!
     
  2. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    #27 rob lay, Aug 28, 2005
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Spent about 4 hours at the field today. Pretty crowded being a weekend, but still got the final electronics hooked up, ran through two tanks of gas on the stand, instructors took up for maiden flight and trim settings, and then I flew twice with the instructor. This Nexstar is much faster than the other two trainers I had been on. It flies really well, we removed the airbrakes and light sensor flight controls. We had a 6 mph wind into us and I had a couple problems turning into the flight line with the wind. The plane just wanted to sail into us and I got nervous when I knew close to the flight line. I witnessed two really nice planes with experienced pilots go down. One hit the trees and destroyed the other got out of control landing and just flipped over breaking off the engine.

    Here are pics of breaking the engine in, setting trim before maiden flight, the maiden flight, and then the base.
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  3. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
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    Pat Pasqualini
    Looks like a blast Rob. I was figuring you for more of the Heli type. Good for you for taking on this hooby. Do you have future plans for what you want to be flying?
     
  4. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Heli doesn't interest me at all. I think more difficult to learn and I don't like the way they fly. Watching the AMA video and they were doing all this crazy stuff that a real heli can't do. I don't know if I'm just a purest, but I want my planes to look and fly like the real things. None of this airplane aerobatic hovering off the ground stuff. I want to taxi, takeoff, fly, and land as realistic to a real plane as possible.

    I think the popular advice for my 2nd plane is Sig 4. I'm going to hobby shop Thursday to maybe buy a better controller and a few accessories. I doubt I'll buy another plane quite yet, I haven't even solo'd yet!
     
  5. Enzo

    Enzo F1 Rookie

    Feb 14, 2002
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    I know what you mean about how crazy the heli's are. I'm not into that either. I was building a Hughes 500 scale heli went my first daught came on the scene and have not seen the heli since. I wanted to go completely scale and even throw some floats (to land on the water at the cabin). I tried some of the 3d flying on the sim and about all I could muster was to hover upside down and do some flips. Too much money wrapped into those to be taking that big of a chance.
     
  6. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Hey Rob, that's a beautiful field! IM me and I will send you a few sets of my crystals that will guarantee you to be glitch free. Poor crystal cuts can 'drift into other channels (There is only a 20KHz spacing between channels) causing Interference. Also, when you lean out your engine, you should use a decent temp gun and lean it out just under the engines max temp spec (NOT BY EAR!).

    Question: Do you ave your ailerons and rudder mixed together?
     
  7. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Right now I'm running channel 46 and it seems to be one not too many other local members have. Not sure how easy to change out crystals in the controller and receiver. The cheap kit receiver I have has removable channels, not sure about the receiver, I'm sure it does. The local hobby store has a big sell on the Futaba 6 for like $140, so I think I'm going to buy that this week.

    I don't know what you mean. As far as I know they are independent if that's what you mean.
     
  8. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    If you would like a JR 4 Ch radio, I'll mail one to you. It should be an upgrade from the radio you described. As for the mixing, some flyers use a Y patch wire that allows to couple the ailerons and rudder. This will allow you not to worry about your left thumb on the stick for the rudder. It does take away your ability to 'crab' the plane on a cross-wind landing.
     
  9. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Most flyers (unlike surface users, i.e.: cars, boats) will not change out their TX crystal, as they adhere to the FCC rules, but will use the same radio for multiple receivers, thus just buying a new RX crystal for the new receiver module.

    If you have yet to become a member, join www.rcuniverse.com. Awesome chat board!
     
  10. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Don't know why, but they say most in this club use the Futaba or Hi-tech? radios. I think they said the JR's are good, but aren't compatible with Futaba or Hi-tech. Because I'm so new there is much information flying around and most is going over my head. :)
     
  11. JonBrent

    JonBrent Formula Junior

    Nov 10, 2003
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    Futaba transmitters cannot talk to JR receivers (and Airtronics I think), and visa versa.

    But, regular Futaba Servos will work just fine in JR receivers, and visa versa, with just a little plastic trimming. I don't know about those new fangled 'digital servos' though.
     
  12. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Man, I'm trying to stay away from the technical stuff right now and just concentrate on my flying, I wish I really understood these little engines and servos though.

    So the controller sends a signal to the receiver which activates the servo? Is the servo what turns the electric signal into physical movement?

    I could really use a 101 lesson on these engines. Mine is .46 or something, my instructor had a 1.6 engine and another guy had a "twin". Of course I called the twin "flat". :D

    How about rotary engines, maybe I could expense with my RX race team if rotary powered planes. :)
     
  13. NY550

    NY550 Formula Junior

    Aug 8, 2005
    310
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    i think hobby-lobby.com is the best to buy plane kits
     
  14. GoFerrari28

    GoFerrari28 Formula 3

    Jun 16, 2004
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    Rob: It takes time but the engines are pretty easy to learn. You should read the instruction manual and the construction diagram to see how the parts all go together. It is your typical 2 stroke engine that uses the larger fuel mixture needle to adjust the mixture, but it also has a small set screw that allows you to set the idle fuel mixture as well. There are various glow plugs on the market, with the Fox brand being the most common but I use the OS plugs for both my 2 and 4 stroke engines. OS actually does make a small rotary engine but it is pretty expensive.
    As for the radio, get a JR 663 or the Airtronics or Futaba equivalent that has multi model memory and will also allow you to expand when you decide to get a plane with retracts and/or flaps. They also allow you to digitally adjust the servo travel and servo movement rates from the transmitter so you dont have to continually fool around with the pushrods trying to make very minor adjustments. Again, I reccomend the Hitec flight packs, but if you do go to a larger plane, upgrade to a larger capacity receiver battery. The weight increase is minor compared to the benefit.

    I'll post a pic of my fleet later tonight.
     
  15. BT

    BT F1 World Champ
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    I never did the planes because of my love for crashing. I have run boats for about 6 years and cars for about 3 years. The boats are by far the most run time for the maintenance required, and also the most fun for me in Florida. I have used JR and Futaba radios and servos, the Futaba seems to be more available locally, though the JR was pretty durable. I did not like the sensitivity of the JR, seems like the futaba is a little more forgiving of overreaction. Anyway, the sound and smell of R/C nitro is addicting as I'm sure you are now aware of.
    If the planes get frustrating due to maintenance / crash repair I recommend trying the Dumas Hot Shot sprint (ABS) 1/8 scale tunnel hull boats with an outboard 3.5 CC motor from Thunder tiger. I flip and flood the motor with lake water probably about 15 times on an average day and repairs usually are limited to a new flex drive shaft for about $4. Good times. Hope you enjoy your new hobby.
    :)
    BT
     
  16. JonBrent

    JonBrent Formula Junior

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    Yep, exactly right. I agree with the suggestions to get a radio with the setup and mixing functions done electronically - it is worth it during the setup and they don't cost too much nowdays. Only wait till your second or third plane, so you know what you like.

    After several radios, I finally bought a JR 783 from http://www.horizonhobby.com/ and a couple of receivers sized for each plane. It's overkill for a 4 channel trainer, as it's intended for a 6 channel glider setup. They make nice radios though.
     
  17. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    My God do I love this question!!!!

    Many flyers swap out Hitec and Futaba receivers and crystals. The receiver is one thing (using a hitec receiver with a Futaba radio), but placing a Futaba crystal in a Hitec receiver is a BIG TECHNICAL NO-NO that NOBODY ever pays attention to! Here is the fact that you can tell your buds at the field that came from a crystal designer AND by somebody that looks at the differences in crystals on very expensive HP scopes:

    Futaba and Hitec has different load capacitances in their respective crystals. Since the oscillator circuit in the radio is tuned to talk to their respective receives, it tunes the right through the crystal to the receiver. The differences in the load cap's between the crystals CAN and DOES promote 'Glitches' or 'Hits'. It's a BAD practice!

    With that said, one can use Futaba, Hitec, JR or Airtronics radios and have prefect transmission of the channel frequencies. Bias is OK, but it should be for the right reasons.

    As for the crystals, after you get your first Glitch in the air, try one of my crystals. Why are we (Performance Devices) so good?....We are probably the only brand that gets the crystals closest to the actual frequency.

    In a 72.130MHz crystal (Ch 17), we see +/- 2ppm as an average (or 72.1302MHz). This is what the Military requires (At a minimum) for most components (and there are applications that hit -10ppm over 5 years over Mil temp ranges!). Being so damn close to the crystal frequency, we guarantee glitch-free operation. Most other crystal brands we have tested have a hard time getting as close as we do (And we see some real garbage out there!). How do you get so close? The crystals are lapped to near the exact frequency.

    After the lapping, they are close, but not perfect (Maybe at 72.135MHz). The crystals are then etched. After a timed etch bath, the crystals are around 72.1330675Mhz). What we do after the etch bath is hand etch. This is where a technician paints the etching fluids on the crystal and peridoically checks the frequency against an HP frequency scope. Once we get around 2ppm, the crystal is completed. Once assembled in a carrier, we five days, we do the added step of aging the crystals over temperature. Many 'cheap' crystal manufacturers will not do this. The aging picks out the infant mortality.

    Is that enough techno-babble?
     
  18. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Hey, I need to look at your website more. Do you have several white papers out that I can publish to our club website, I'm sure they would appreciate.
     
  19. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Yes, right here! http://www.performancedevices.com/reliability_study.htm . It's not what you would expect for a silly crystal!
     
  20. JonBrent

    JonBrent Formula Junior

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    Thanks Peter, that's good info. Do match your crystals for JR receivers?
     
  21. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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  22. JonBrent

    JonBrent Formula Junior

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    Thanks Peter, I should have checked your site first :)

    (and proofread my previous post too)
     
  23. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    I just sold my old race cars, so I guess that gives me a little money for the new hobby! :)

    Bought a Futaba 6 Channel, 2 radio case, and the fancy tote with all the cool accessories. $400!!! OK, my official spending on this hobby is now up to $850 and I haven't even totaled a plane yet!!!

    You know, it would be so much easier if I had a little trailer to keep my planes safe. :D;):D
     
  24. PeterS

    PeterS Five Time F1 World Champ
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    Knock on wood! :)
     
  25. mfennell70

    mfennell70 Formula Junior

    Nov 3, 2003
    620
    Middletown, NJ
    I got hit by a car while on my bicycle last spring and spent all summer in a back brace so I got back into RC planes for a while. You can get a GWS Slow Stick electric parkflyer for $300 or so with everything you need. It's the most amazing thing. 14oz or so. 48" wingspan. Flies at a slow jog for up to 40 minutes and you can fly it anywhere. I got my exercise by walking to a local park where you could never fly a 'gas' plane. Or I'd just walk to the end of my driveway and fly in the cul de sac. Later I bought a foam pattern plane that, right out of the box, had performance similar to the 60 powered sport plane I had as a kid.

    Plantraco in Canada is now selling an indoor plane for $239 that weighs 4 GRAMS. That was not a typo. Fly in a 12X12 room.
     

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