RC planes/jets/heli

I have to agree with you because I experienced the same thing. It was difficult to switch to the limitations of the software and to stifle my artistic side. I had difficulty leaving my mind's graphic vision of how to describe something to change it into rigid mathematical moves to the left, right, back , and forward numerical expressions. I did it but I never liked it BUT it does a marvelous job!

 

I was always a mediocre draftsman, so I welcomed the coming of CAD. In the manual days, I always said that the limit of my ability to draw a straight line was the length of the scale on my drafting machine (typically, 18 inches). When CADAM came along, I could suddenly "draw" a perfectly straight line that was 20,000 inches long!

 

That's what I was trying to say, Jim. You can draw a line 20,000 inches long or .000020 long. I always liked the locating of a point or part by it's " address", X= 122.34, Y =-23.8495, Z=11.987 for example. I may have mentioned it before but when they tried making some sub assemblies or detail parts on CATIA for the 747, it wouldn't fit because of disparity of tolerances. The airplane was " wrong" because it was built to .03 tol. and CATIA based parts were 0.00 or close to it. I had a visit last month to see the 787 production and they are doing things in final assay that simply could not be done in my old days. The tight tolerances and micro control of big equipment is beautiful to see.The 787 is a striking piece of equipment and so far , a great airplane. Too bad that the idiot running the show doesn't have a clue.

 

Sweet! Let's see some video

 

Wow, impressively stable and smooth.
Did you do any image stabilizing in post-production, or is that the "raw" video?
Resolution on FB sucks, but the types of shots you got could only be dreamt of just a few years ago.

 

Looks great Kong!

I got an email today from the AMA that Burt Rutan is (finally) getting into the commercial RC business.

Although I can't imagine the $220,000 goal on Kickstarter will make or break the endeavor I just pledged $169 and will receive #218 of the first 300 sets of RC SpaceShipOne and White Knight that can fly together or separately:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577292483/radical-revolutionary-rutan-now-fly-your-own-space

The 5 minute video on KS is worth watching but here's a teaser
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voW5t3KD4NM[/ame]

 

I'm going to buy a drone, first because it is cool tech/photo gadget to have, and second I would like to use it in business (yes I know that may not be 100% legal).

For those that use these, which is the best for 'program flight path, take video & shots, then come home':

Buy Phantom 3 Professional with Extra Battery | DJI Store

or:

https://store.3drobotics.com/t/solo

Consider my skill level as "drone idiot".

Thanks!

 

Sorry Mark I'm not up on drones/quads.

Yesterday had one of my more dramatic maiden flights, with a notoriously tricky plane to get and keep in the air: twin 64mm EDF SR-71 Blackbird.
Rain started just as I was taking the practice throws and started coming down harder, so landed after just 1 minute.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P40QJBkpbOY[/ame]

She needed ~10 clicks of up elevator to fly level hands off, but otherwise felt great in the air and flared nicely for a gentle belly landing.
Should get ~3:45 flight time out of the 4000mAh 4S battery.
Next time will make sure she's at WOT out of my hand, will have the elev trimmed out already, and hopefully have a little bit of a headwind to throw into.

The owner of a local hobby store also maidened his ~8' wingspan, twin cylinder, FULLY detailed Bearcat. The landing gear alone cost over $1000.
They didn't help though on the second landing, when he bounced, then dropped from ~4' and totally destroyed both sides of the main wings. Looked like all the balsa/plywood spars just separated, maybe bad glue? Damn shame in any case, a beautiful plane.
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Wow, nice save/recovery or whatever you want to call it. Cool plane.

 

Thanks - very lucky the ground dipped down a few feet off the edge of the runway that's for sure!

The Habu is of course one of the most wicked shapes to ever take flight. But also looks like a silhouette in the sky so really need to be aware of it's roll-orientation at all times.

The airframe kit cost ~$150 shipped then I put ~$100 in motors, fans, 60A speed controllers, 2 digital servos plus ~$30 batteries. Occasionally the airframe goes on sale for $100, so will pick up another one or two next time it does.
LX SR71 Blackbird Dual 64mm EDF Jet With Retracts Kit Version - General Hobby

 

Kong - what's the issue(s) with DJI?
I know they're the most popular/heavily marketed and probably overpriced accordingly, but what are some of the pros/cons of your setup?

I know DJI currently sells the only HD video transmission system currently on the market (I believe), the Lightbridge.

This HD headset is about to be released, looks like an affordable alternative to $500++ HD goggle setups and I'm sorely tempted to get on the pre-order list:
the HeadPlay HD FPV Headset w/ 32ch 5.8GHz Receiver

Lightbridge costs ~$1000+ for digital HD signals (from a GoPro, for example) right now but you can get pretty decent analog camera&transmission gear to mate up with a headset or goggles for <$200.

 

I know it says only 400g weight, but that thing looks ungodly strapped to your head. Curious what it's really like to have on.

I'm also curious why no DJI (I have a Phantom, fairly impressed, thinking of springing for the Inspire 2).

 

Full face helmets typically weigh 1600g+ so even with a ~200g battery weight shouldn't be an issue, and really is there ANY FPV rig that makes you look cooler?

 

I think so

Sony HMZ-T3W. Lighter too (negligible though) - but not cheap (used around $500...)
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I have a 3DR Y6 with a GoPro Hero 3 mounted to a Tarot gimbal. I like the flexibility of the Pixhawk autopilot. Programming is wide open. The gimbal is smooth and the Pixhawk can program for "Point of Interest" where the gimbal will keep the camera pointed at a fixed point while you fly the drone. I'll take a photo of the setup tonight and post it. You can also send the GoPro video feed to a FPV monitor on a downlink while its recording.

 

That's some pretty hi tech gear Hal! Love to see some in-air footage.

Last weekend I accepted an invite from a member at Johnson Space Center's RC Club and made the 65mile trek "across town" to Mission Control.

Neat field - on the site of where they did all the radar testing of the modules so that they could know it's orientation during the time it was out of communications during re-entry.

Also very neat club members. One guy leads the simulation department, another is part of the optics group of the James Webb telescope (~10x further reaching than Hubble), another is an ex F-16 pilot.

The RC field is right next to the site where the model rocket club was launching some impressive rocketry into the sky.

Since it was a hike to get to I brought just about the entire hanger
Ended up flying all of them except one: there just wasn't enough of a breeze to confidently hand-launch the SR-71 into.
I shot a bunch of in-air video and fellow Vampire flyer Russ took some nice footage of the Gulf ME-262 i.e. "The Phoenix".

Have to go down again and see the Saturn V right next door.
tally ho!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR4h_AoRO9Y[/ame]

I incurred the wrath of the safety office a few times by flying over the runway.... not as much space as my home field so had to recalibrate the brain :/
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Procured a DJI Phantom today. Excited.