RC planes/jets/heli

Mostly hobbyking batteries, plus a few stock hobbyzone ones. Maybe I'm going too cheap. The drop in output is very slow at first, but some planes really need a full 4.2V/cell. Other slow flyer stuff works fine on old batteries to a point. Could be my cheap chargers too. I do let them cool at least an hour before charge, and don't over discharge, so that's not the problem.

 

It was a pretty chilly 45F and breezy (5g15) day but had some really fun flights at Bong RC field yesterday.
Uploaded some video of the X-Wing, Stinger EDF and P-38.

RC X-Wing, Stinger EDF, and JPower P-38 at Richard Bong RC Field WI [HD] - YouTube

Also put a couple more batteries through Petie the P-51. He's still merrily plodding along waiting for a new 820kV motor to replace his 500kVer like an early Mustang wishing for swap from an Allison to a Merlin....

 

Nobody out flying huh? What is it winter time in Perth already?

Got tired of not having enough hanger space for all my planes, laying them on the roof of the 308, tripping over them etc so drilled a little hole in the forward skid of the Stinger jet and drove a nail into the wall. Can't believe it took me this long to think of this.... makes a pretty cool wall hanging!
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Winter means i CAN fly! Haha, winds drop down compared to summer.

I've been trying to get my Vampire back in the air, soldered up a new 85amp ESC got it all ready to be balanced with the 10 blade 70mm fan.

Today I just ordered the limited edition vampire, only 500 up for sale! Nice new camo paint, upgraded retracts and new ESC.

This one I'll keep stock It's a great plane right out of the box IMO.

Limited Edition Durafly D.H.100 Vampire EDF Jet w/retracts 1100mm (PNF)

 

I got an email from HK about that one this morning, and am currently fighting the urge to click "buy".... a lot of plane for under $150 shipped!
Says it comes with a 45A ESC, sounds fairly low. What prompted you to put in a 85A'er?
What's your process for balancing an EDF fan?
What size (4S, how many mAh and C?) battery are you running, and what kind of flight times?
Lot of questions I know
The shark's teeth on the new Vamp are very cool, but with the blue underbody vis might not be quite as good as the silver one...

 

85amp because the CS 10 blade EDF sucks amps due to more blades but better sound!

4S 2650MAH.

I'm actually taking a guess that 85A is okay here, should be pretty close though as I've used the stock motor forgot the KV.

the 45A esc that comes with it is more than enough for the stock 5 blade EDF mine didn't even get warm.

Flight time for me is 5 mins + 1 min extra for landing attempts as I'm not used to the gliding I'll try spoilerons which have been recommend.

I fly rather close to a busy highway so I'm sticking to what I know, when I get out in the country I'll see how long I can keep it up.

It's a floater, it just wants to float so with scale flying and a bit of gliding I reckon over 6mins.

Balancing the EDF I'll use the glue method, add a little drop of fast drying glue as close to the center shaft until it spins and stops dead center.

Not sure how the blue belly side paint will go against the sky! Silver is a lot easier IMO.



BTW looks like you can balance using a cell phone! Bit late for my brain cells right now perhaps you might understand something out of it.

How to dynamically balance EDF unit with a cell phone - RC Groups

 

Be careful hanging stuff in the garage without restraining it. I've put planes down, opened a garage door, then opened a people door, and had enough air movement to flip the plane. No damage as it was on the floor, but a fall from that height could be damaging.

 

Flew the CS10 vamp today, now it's in a tree...

I'll go back tomorrow hoping it's okay tonight, probably gonna say bye bye to the battery though.

Sounded AMAZING! Very jet like, got 4mins out of the 2650mah 4s and another 2mins trying to get it out of the tree before it was too low.

 

Good news everyone!

After 12hrs I managed to negotiate with the tree to release my plane, I think it had more to do with my 9m of rope and a sock full of sand tied to the end!

It's in one piece, I'm staying away from trees from now on!

 

Whew!
Glad to hear the recovery was a success. I've had two run-ins with trees this year already, but luckily neither got trapped and damage was minor. Maybe it's because I hugged a tree once? Have to do that again, doesn't hurt

How does the 10-blade fan feel in the air compared to the stock one (5er?)?

Had a kick-ass time yesterday at Bong field. A bunch of other RC Pilots had the same idea so we had good fun practicing formation flying with 3 Mustangs, "heritage" flights with F-16, my P-38 and a DC3 (all electric), Reno-style races with fast EDFs, plus the successful maiden of the latest addition to my WWII warbird fleet: 1.5M PBY Catalina.
After first taking her off from the grass to confirm cg and trims were good plunked her in the pond. With differential engine thrust she handled the rather stiff breeze very well (much better than another guy's single-engine Icon, which weather-vaned horribly) and fairly LEPT out of the water. Landings were tricky due to the wind but I did well on 4 out of 6. Worst one (bounced high, then stalled to submarine the nose) only resulted in a few ounces of water in the fuse, but it's nicely designed to keep the electronics dry so absolutely no problem.
Low power (3S 2200mAh gives 7+ minutes), BIG wing and light airframe made her feel like a glider, but plenty of power on tap when desired.
Really looking forward to bringing this one along on a week-long houseboat vacation in KY with my parents and brother's family next month!
For ~$150 ($10 less for the blue&yellow version) it's a lot plane/boat.

On the drive home stopped by the Southern Wisconsin Veteran's Cemetery to pay my respects to those who gave all in defense of Freedom.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

You have too much fun! I'm all work and no play, and the weather is PERFECT for flying funny how winter brings that on..

CS10 felt the same, slow/scale fast enough to me I don't really like speed but WOT passes sound great

Parkzone have just released a FW-190 and they got the landing correct compared to the short versions others have done.

But I think I have enough planes now...

Love that catalina BTW great plane

 

Flew my Tiger 2 for the first time after totaling it last year.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiTRlUf4te8]Rubber Ducky Flies Again - YouTube[/ame]

 

good looking plane Dave!


Today I got to fulfill a long-held dream of flying an RC plane from a moving vehicle. Of course my daydreams had consisted of riding in a car and flying alongside, and what we did today was fly the PBY from a houseboat moving ~7mph, but it was very cool nonetheless!
Drove the boat out to the middle of Green River Lake in KY, then had my brother firewall the 72' boat's throttle from the "flying" bridge. With a 5-10mph headwind I was able to slow the Cat down to almost the boat's speed, which tempted me to try landing her on the top deck.... but I wimped out (today....) and set her down behind the boat after 6 minutes of circuits. Tough to judge where exactly the water level is from 10' above it!
Great location for flying a float plane. Except for a few rainstorms and one fishing tourny the water has been glassy and winds very calm.
So far have gone through 6 batteries, with only one crash when I tip stalled her about 150yrds out. Luckily she bobbed back with her right side up and I was able to taxi back. Otherwise it would have been fun maneuvering the 72' recovery vehicle to retrieve her.
Looking forward to 3 more days of flying her off of and over the lake, quite a thrill!
When I get home will edit up the on-board video it came out great.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

If you're a PBY (or bluegrass music) fan here's a monster 17 minute compilation video from the PBY/Houseboat adventure last week.
Over 7 days flew a total of 15 battery packs for about 1.5hrs in the air, entirely over water. Some of the best flying conditions in the most beautiful location I'm ever likely to experience...

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

TOC:
Day 1: tail cam at sunset over Holmes Bend Marina (our home base) 0:17
Day 2: tail cam with houseboat tied up in a cove. Tip stall crash 2:40
Day 3: tail cam flying around moving houseboat (7mph + 5-10mph headwind) 6:40
Day 4: tail cam facing backwards (not shown in video. 4 hours of editing was enough for me....)
Day 5: tail cam flying in front of the GR Dam. Absolutely perfect flying conditions! 10:20
Day 6: nose cam briefly chasing a Jetskier and low level flying around houseboat 13:51

Not shown is the final day's dawn flight with a light fog over the lake and the sun coming up over the hills.
Messed up and didn't start the keychain cam recording so not only missed some incredible nature but also my first barrel roll with the PBY

 

The B-17 thread brought this to mind. Interestingly, it seems to be a German build.

With a wingspan of 19' and weight of ~200lbs - it is quite the RC model

LiveLeak.com - Boeing B-17 rc model, maiden flight

 

That thing is incredible.

(About 1000) build pics here: B-17 Aluminum Overcast

A more recent vid of it's "technical acceptance" flight:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iDHEI2RV00&feature=em-subs_digest&list=TLb5m-NBpf9Rw]19 ft. B-17 Flying Fortress - Aluminum Overcast - YouTube[/ame]

 

Your PBY shots are very cool, too! That looks like too much fun.

 

It's been 2 years since I first tried aerial video with a 480 res keychain cam and a non-gyro coax Chinook in the backyard, so with recent the acquisition of a 720p, wide-angle 808 keychain decided to give it another whirl.
It still costs over $1000 to build a proper aerial video platform (i.e. 2-axes gimbal camera mount for GoPro or DSLR, flight controller, motors, frame, props etc), but videos on youtube (and the surprisingly not too terrible footage I took in 2011) inspired me to see what kind of result I could get for under a hundred bucks in hardware.
Equipment:
$43 Syma X1 quad, ready to fly
$44 808 #16 720p Keychain cam w/ wide angle lens
Made a couple fun test flights with her stock then removed the X1's canopy, moved the 1cell 350mAh lipo battery to the top and removed it's mount to make room for a velcro camera mount and she was ready for her first aerial video flights this morning.
Results are very cool! I need to practice panning and turning while maintaining altitude but with some more work (and a slightly overcast day with low winds) it'll give some damn nice footage for a youtube vid.
Flying weight with battery and camera is 80g, about 11g heavier than the stock set-up with Bee body. She has plenty of power to lift and lug around the extra weight.
Anyone else doing FPV or aerial photography?
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Awesome!

Next challenge: Attach fishing lure and line, go goldfishing. Use camera real-time to ensure targeted catch does not overcome maximum full throttle thrust/weight ratio.

 

I've driven in the back of a pickup for 3 miles, flying the Parkzone SuperCub with an on board camera(3 years ago). First time without goggles, and my eyes watered over at 40+mph. Second time used ski goggles, and that was much better. SuperCub is around 25mph, but there must have been a tailwind up high, because the driver of the truck was doing 50mph to catchup at some points. I tried to fly from my house to work once(7 miles), but the headwind was too strong. I think our average ground speed was around 15mph. Too slow for the road, and marginal for going 7 miles with 2200mah battery in SC, so landed early. All on video.

I've also gone upto 2900ft with camera, using binoculars and a spotter. BTW, on colder days at these altitudes I had to heat the camera with thermal pad to keep the battery from getting too cold.

Another time I flew over Ravens football stadium with camera.

Also used parkzone combat modules with camera. It didn't really look that great, as you only see the other plane in camera frame for a tiny fraction of second. Much better filmed from ground.

Your video is better quality. My camera was a $100 Hobby Lobby Flycamone2, not available anymore.

I haven't done any video in a few years.

 

Not while a game was in progress I assume :O

This is why I suspect that FPV will be regulated at some point. For less than $1000 these days you can build or have built a plane and FPV system that could carry 5+ lbs of whatever nastiness you want, MILES away from where it's being controlled. Pretty scary!

Well yesterday and today I packed up my planes for their long trip next week.
Relo company wanted $1800 to build a crate, which my company understandably rejected (I probably should have valued my planes higher...) so $75 in wood and 6 hours of cutting and screwing together = voila, big ass crate.
Even with 5 planes inside the box weighs much more than the aircraft. Probably ~150lbs total.
Next time they take to the skies it'll be over TX instead of WI.
After the photos I did strap down the Mustang and add some more cushioning for the loose planes in the bottom of the crate.
tally ho!
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Awesome. I'd love to see those videos.

 

Looking for something that has collective/throttle, cyclic, tail rotor.

To be flown outside in back yard.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Jon

 

Have you ever flown a collective pitch heli before?

 

Another question would be if you have a Sim or not? You will need one. I started last winter with a Blade Nano CPX and have had a ton of fun and crashes with it. The Nano takes alot of abuse and only 1 part really costs any great amount of money (circuit board). I moved up to a Blade 130x and now I'm in the process of building a trex 250 pro dfc. The blade helis are nice since they are fairly crash resistant and don't cost much to repair.