basslord1124 RC flight and Flitetest journey/diary - Perkyplanes & RC

[Wildthing]

Make sure you have the proper centering ring in the prop and always a good idea to check the balance (with centering ring) after getting chipped and really even when they are new no matter the brand.

 

[basslord1124]

Man, I seem to be experiencing lipo carelessness here recently.

When it comes to lipos, I try to be very careful. I most always charge my lipos at 1C, put em at storage level when I am done with them, etc. But in the past few weeks, I've had some mishaps.

1st one was a Zippy 3S 1000Mah that suffered some damage when I crashed my Tiny Trainer. Ended up picking up a small dent towards the front of the pack. Thread is here:

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/dented-my-first-lipo.58564/

This happened right before vacation.

And then last night, I shorted out my 2S 800 I was going to use in my Tiny Trainer. I disconnected the battery by removing the charger leads from the charger and then the charger leads ended up touching and sparking, possibly more than once. That thread is here:

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/shorted-out-my-first-lipo.58737/

I think that has me a little more concerned than the dented battery. I thought about being extra careful and just discharging them and pitching both. BUT I thought about turning it into a learning experience and documenting and sharing my experience with lipos that have had some abuse. Even if it may be minor compared to the abuse that others have had. I do indeed have some of that lipo fear/paranoia that gets instilled into us RC guys/gals. Some of it (at least from what I pick up from others) is really overboard.

So going back to what I said above, I try and be careful with lipos. And I plan to be extra careful with these 2 batteries. Right now they are in a separate ventilated ammo can that I am keeping outside close to concrete and brick. When I charge them, I will do it close to brick/concrete as well and not in my home. I will check them for puffyness, swelling, and heat and monitor cell voltages for any strangeness. Gosh, it's like having 2 crazy toddlers. And speaking of which, I plan to keep these safely away from our 17 month old baby girl.

So, I will possibly put this experience on my youtube channel to help educate others. They could very well burst into flames in the next charging cycle OR I could very well get a long healthy life out of them. Folks here on the forum may feel with 100% certainty these batteries will be fine and that I'm freaking out with my lipo paranoia. Regardless what happens, they will be watched very closely, in a safe manner, and disposed of if anything strange happens.

 

[FDS]

Always unplug the XT60 and balance leads first, since they are fully enclosed. Never pull the charger banana plugs out with anything plugged in.
That pack will be fine, a small short won’t kill them. If it balanced up OK after then I wouldn’t worry about it. Just continue regular battery monitoring and watch out for one cell being more discharged than the other over time, as well as shorter duration. Both are a sign of stress and that’s when I look to retire the pack.
If in doubt just dispose of it, the small packs are cheap enough.

 

[basslord1124]

Had a nice relaxing flight with the Tiny Trainer this morning. Video will be coming soon.

 

[basslord1124]

Got the video up for the Aviation Museum in Lexington, KY that we visited. Lots of cool airplanes, engines, jet fighters, on display. Get to see a little bit of my wife, her parents, and our daughter Sadie in the video.

 

[basslord1124]

The relaxing FT Tiny Trainer flight video is up:

Some firsts on this one.

-First time that I can recall doing any sort of early morning flight
-First time getting dew/moisture in the air on an RC plane of any kind.
-First time chatting during a flight on a video.

From what I can tell, it dried and looks fine. I don't think the camera I was using (Polaroid Cube) shows it too well, but she got pretty wet just from flying.

I've got some more video footage of the Tiny Trainer where I kicked her up to high rates and attempted to be a little crazy. Ended in being brought down kinda quickly. But it was some thick grass and no damage was done. I'll probably get that video up as well.

Next steps for Tiny Trainer is to officially replace the nose (last one was heavily dented), give it some color, and call it an official part of my hangar. Debating on if I should also build a sport wing with ailerons too. I can fly 4 channel, just thought about really keeping this for training purposes PLUS I like some relaxing 3 channel flight sometimes.

Now what next? I've got a Bloody Baron and Profile Plane that needs a maiden (both my parts of the Build-ruary Challenge here on the forums). Also got a Spitfire and Bushwacker still in the shrinkwrap. There's also a Storch that needs its upgrades finished, a 7 foot foamboard glider that needs some finishing touches, a speedy FT Mini Scout to finish up, and a cheap foam glider project that I want to do as well (mentioned earlier in the thread).

I won't even bring up the balsa models that i've got that also need some work. Speaking of balsa, thinking that maybe here within the next couple weeks of picking up a kit or 2 from our RC Clubs Fly-In. Sometimes they will have stuff for sale at our yearly fly-ins. But thought about getting a kit for my father-in-law and I to put together.

I tend to get myself neck deep in projects but can't find the time (and sometimes the money) to devote to them. I blame the women (father-in-law and myself both agree that our women require a lot) AND my personality of putting others needs first. Having a wild, crazy, and wonderful 17 month old baby daughter takes time too. I do hope to get a maiden out of most of the foamies I've mentioned though this year.

I did order some small pieces of gear. An SQ11 mini action cam (looks like my Polaroid cam) to attach to some of my planes. I'll use this for now, and may dabble with official FPV later this year. Also ordered a 40A ESC for my new hot rodded mini Scout.

Well I've yacked enough on this one. Feels like it's been a while since I posted anything good and juicy on here. Oh well, but yeah...that's it for this one. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day holiday!

 

[mayan]

I say build the TT 4 channel it's fun and you should exprience that . Other than that some moiste wont ruin your plane let it dry out and you'll be fine. Love you two last videos, keep enjoying. Looking forward for more stuff from you.

 

[basslord1124]

I say build the TT 4 channel it's fun and you should exprience that . Other than that some moiste wont ruin your plane let it dry out and you'll be fine. Love you two last videos, keep enjoying. Looking forward for more stuff from you.

I may give 4 channel a try with the TT. And yeah, I don't think the moisture has done any major issues to it that I can tell.

Things have been been kinda grinding to a halt here not just in RC ways. One of these things is that my wife has been experiencing some bad abdominal pain here within the past week. It took 2 different late night trips back and forth from the ER before they believe they finally found the cause. She was diagnosed with PCOS many years ago (before we ever got together/married) and basically that's what's been causing her severe pain this time around. In the past the pain was tolerable but this time it has been much worse. She will be seeing a doctor tomorrow on this latest episode and she is kinda thinking it may lead to possible surgery. So we shall see what happens. Despite her having this issue, we are extremely lucky and blessed we successfully had our baby daughter back in late 2017. We had been trying to have kids for 7 years.

On to the RC world, while things have been going pretty good for the TT (going to rebuild it's nose and then begin the color process), I thought I might start back on some other planes that been hanging around. One of these has been the oh so wonderful FT Simple Cub. Well, any issue I have faced with it has totally been my own. Not getting the rates programmed right the first time, overcontrolling, not getting the CG correct, trashing the original motor, etc. The airframe is definitely beat up but totally still flyable. I found myself rushing on it today b/c I wanted to see success with it and it was a great day to fly. Amidst rushing it, I started really looking at things with it and came to the conclusion that it's not ready for another round of flight yet. So time to halt on it too. Lets step back and do like the name says...lets keep it simple. And lets keep it light. I was originally going with a 9" prop, 1100KV motor, 30A ESC, and 1600Mah 3S. After toying with it after that a little bit, I found the 2200 3S balanced better.

And to bring things up to speed...NOW, she has a new Racestar 1000KV motor that I actually think is a tad lighter than the original HeadsUp Hobby 1100KV motor. ESC has not changed, although I am really thinking of just ditching my soldered motor bullet connectors in exchange for direct soldered wiring. I am almost thinking I may do this on all my smaller models from now on. Prop has now stepped down to an 8" prop. Another thing that I am going to do is get the balance set up with a smaller battery. Using my trusty old 1000Mah 3S. Perhaps once I get that taken care of and do a little bit of airframe repairs/reinforcement I will be ready for the FT Simple Cub's next round of flight. From the brief experiences I have had so far, I know she is capable of flying and I don't see any strange flight issues yet.

Another plane that I had worked on recently is the FT Bloody Baron. Just gotta get rates programmed into it and get it balanced and that's basically it. Not sure about others, but I find that a good chunk of my FT planes after I first build em end up being pretty tail heavy. This usually ends up in battery being pushed fully forward and sometimes weights even being added.

Well that is all for this post (it's definitely long enough). Hope everyone out there has a good week!

 

[mayan]

Hey @basslord1124 hope you wife gets better soon and that all will be fine without a surgery. As for RC I find that when I rush I mess up so try to take it slow just a tip.

 

[basslord1124]

Thanks a bunch @mayan , I'll know here in a few hours what the doctor says about my wife. My mother-in-law went with her to the appt. Yeah, I know what you mean about rushing. It happens especially to me on nice days when it's perfect to go fly. I think, well "all the plane needs this, this, and this...I can throw those together pretty quick and get it up in the air"...and that's when I can sometimes run into trouble. The TT went pretty smooth, but the Cub has been a little problematic so it's best I slow down with it until I get all the issues sorted out.

 

[basslord1124]

New video is up. Another flight of the FT Tiny Trainer...

 

[basslord1124]

Hey couple questions for those who have seen the video...

1) does the camera mic really suck that bad to you all? Are you able to understand when I talk? I will admit, sometimes my mind can get a little bit ahead of my mouth and I might stumble on my words or they may run together. I'm generally a quiet person in real life so I suppose it's understandable that I get excited about things I wanna talk about.
2) And on the subject, do you like the videos where I am chatting while flying?
3) Which plane do you think I should tackle next...profile plane or Bloody Baron? Both of which don't require a whole lot to start getting airborne. You can see more about each in my Build-ruary challenge thread:

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/ftfc19-build-ruary-by-basslord1124.57300/

 

[basslord1124]

Oh yeah something I have begun to do is add color to the Trainer. Painting and doing color designs for RC planes is kind of a new thing for me, and I dont claim to be very creative in that dept. But I'm giving it a whirl... Here is the start of the wing, still gotta add orange to the other side.

 

[daxian]

hi ...sound is good ,enjoyed the narration ,flight was good ...well done !!
nice to see a little color work on the trainer, all of mine get covered with hk wing tape for color and water resistance..most of my flights are early morning ...so if its not the dew on the grass its wet from all the rain lol..

 

[basslord1124]

Thanks for the feedback @daxian . I was kinda worried about the sound quality.

Ya know, I'm starting to think I may end up doing more of my flying in the morning. It tends to be about the only time during the day I get some free time.

 

[basslord1124]

Wife is doing a lot better and the pain gradually went away over time. The doctor she went to is a new doctor to her (she likes him pretty good) but he's treating this as a normal case of her PCOS acting up even though the pain was worse. He's going to see if she encounters the same level of pain with her next period. He didn't see anything alarming at this point.

Well unfortunately I didn't make it out to our RC fly-in this year. With my wife being ill and staying at her parents during most of the week and then paying a visit to my mom (whom we hadn't seen in a while), the only day left to go to the fly-in was Sunday. Our fly-in went from Fri-Sun. And on Sunday, I had been away from home so much that I wanted to spend more time at home and get some work done. This makes the 2nd year I didn't make the fly-in...last yeah I couldn't b/c of our new daughter. I'm hoping to make it to next year's. Really, a majority of our club members are retired so, I get the feeling they have more free time than what I do.

Well seeing as how I did not make it to the RC club's fly-in and look at any balsa kits for sale, I have decided to start saving a little bit to buy a kit. I'm going to browse here soon to see which kit I want to get. Thinking seriously of a Sig kit...perhaps a high wing trainer (Kadet, etc) just b/c it'd be less chance of a crash lol. OR I may go for one of their low wing models. I thought it'd be a cool thing for my father-in-law and I to get into, but he actually said he's done some before and hated them. He's never done RC planes, BUT he has built tons of models in his life.

On another note, I'm seriously thinking of going to Flitefest Ohio next year. Have not been to any of the FF yet and Ohio would be the better/closer one for me to attend.

 

[basslord1124]

Something else I want to share here and is a problem with myself that I wonder if I can change.... This will probably be a long one too.

So wife had some evening plans last night and left me the evening to myself. So I grabbed my FT Seaduck and RC goodies and headed out to our RC field. A place I have rarely been to this year and would like to start changing that...especially since the weather is getting better. Got out there and it was basically me, 2 other guys, and the RCSaylors. The Saylors were doing some filming on one side of the field and the other 2 guys were on the other side. To not disrupt the Saylors in their filming (for their Youtube channel), I chose the side with the other guys. These guys had about a 6 foot balsa gas model they were flying. Just watched em fly and chit chatted for a while.

For some reason, when it comes to the gas model balsa guys (which I do want to venture down that avenue at some point), I just feel a little intimidated. Which honestly, these guys were not the intimidating type...they were both very cool and calm and super friendly. Didn't pick up a single bad vibe from them. Shoot, one of the guys offered to hand me his transmitter and said I could fly his balsa gasser if I wanted. I passed just b/c I really don't really want to fly someone else's plane. I might've flown it if it was already airborne and high enough. During our chats it was off topic stuff at times but when it came down to planes it was balsa talk, trading/buying planes that cost anywhere from $400-$1500, etc. Kinda hard to relate to that when I'm making planes out of foamboard, BBQ skewers, hot glue, tape, etc. I dunno, it's just weird. PLUS, I definitely do not have that kind of money to throw down on an airplane.

Funny thing though that happened, at one point Nate Saylor came over to our side and chatted early in the evening. He was asking about us flying and I told him I just got there and might fly a little later . Well "nosey" Nate (I mean that in a joking fun way lol) was telling me "I see you got a plane in your car....that looks like the FT Seaduck?" So I was like "yup that's it". I was actually going to work on my aileron linkages and throws first before putting the Duck back in the air. This brief interaction with them made me wonder if perhaps I should've stayed over on the Saylor's side since he was showing interest in what I had and knew what it was. And in turn, made me feel a little more comfortable to fly.

In the end, I didn't end up doing anything there other than just chatting which I don't have a problem just sitting down and shooting the breeze sometimes. So despite not flying, I still enjoyed myself. Honestly, I'm kinda backward in the hobby (and in the Flitetest way of doing things) in that I like to fly alone. On some level, it's kinda therapeutic and just calm and relaxing. I also tend to have those fears of being judged, made fun of, etc. if people are watching and I crash. BUT I know crashes happen and shoot I have shared crashes on youtube for the whole world to see.

So anyways, hope that makes sense for those reading.

Videos have been a little slow going as of recent. Trainer is almost painted and planning on getting the Duck in the air soon.

 

[mayan]

Something else I want to share here and is a problem with myself that I wonder if I can change.... This will probably be a long one too.

So wife had some evening plans last night and left me the evening to myself. So I grabbed my FT Seaduck and RC goodies and headed out to our RC field. A place I have rarely been to this year and would like to start changing that...especially since the weather is getting better. Got out there and it was basically me, 2 other guys, and the RCSaylors. The Saylors were doing some filming on one side of the field and the other 2 guys were on the other side. To not disrupt the Saylors in their filming (for their Youtube channel), I chose the side with the other guys. These guys had about a 6 foot balsa gas model they were flying. Just watched em fly and chit chatted for a while.

For some reason, when it comes to the gas model balsa guys (which I do want to venture down that avenue at some point), I just feel a little intimidated. Which honestly, these guys were not the intimidating type...they were both very cool and calm and super friendly. Didn't pick up a single bad vibe from them. Shoot, one of the guys offered to hand me his transmitter and said I could fly his balsa gasser if I wanted. I passed just b/c I really don't really want to fly someone else's plane. I might've flown it if it was already airborne and high enough. During our chats it was off topic stuff at times but when it came down to planes it was balsa talk, trading/buying planes that cost anywhere from $400-$1500, etc. Kinda hard to relate to that when I'm making planes out of foamboard, BBQ skewers, hot glue, tape, etc. I dunno, it's just weird. PLUS, I definitely do not have that kind of money to throw down on an airplane.

Funny thing though that happened, at one point Nate Saylor came over to our side and chatted early in the evening. He was asking about us flying and I told him I just got there and might fly a little later . Well "nosey" Nate (I mean that in a joking fun way lol) was telling me "I see you got a plane in your car....that looks like the FT Seaduck?" So I was like "yup that's it". I was actually going to work on my aileron linkages and throws first before putting the Duck back in the air. This brief interaction with them made me wonder if perhaps I should've stayed over on the Saylor's side since he was showing interest in what I had and knew what it was. And in turn, made me feel a little more comfortable to fly.

In the end, I didn't end up doing anything there other than just chatting which I don't have a problem just sitting down and shooting the breeze sometimes. So despite not flying, I still enjoyed myself. Honestly, I'm kinda backward in the hobby (and in the Flitetest way of doing things) in that I like to fly alone. On some level, it's kinda therapeutic and just calm and relaxing. I also tend to have those fears of being judged, made fun of, etc. if people are watching and I crash. BUT I know crashes happen and shoot I have shared crashes on youtube for the whole world to see.

So anyways, hope that makes sense for those reading.

Videos have been a little slow going as of recent. Trainer is almost painted and planning on getting the Duck in the air soon.

I read through it all and I have to say that you don't need to feel that way. I have this store I go to when I am SOS on parts and the owner, put in nice words is a bitch (the nicest I could find). He tries to keep putting me down for flying FB planes, at first I have to admit it bothered me and hurt some, but then it hit me. Why? Why do I need to feel that way? Am I enjoying what I am doing, and I much rather crash a FB plane than a balasa plane. So now I just ingore what others think, and go have a good time .

 

[Hai-Lee]

I read through it all and I have to say that you don't need to feel that way. I have this store I go to when I am SOS on parts and the owner, put in nice words is a bitch (the nicest I could find). He tries to keep putting me down for flying FB planes, at first I have to admit it bothered me and hurt some, but then it hit me. Why? Why do I need to feel that way? Am I enjoying what I am doing, and I much rather crash a FB plane than a balasa plane. So now I just ingore what others think, and go have a good time .

The story here was similar until I gave him, (The shop owner), a number of FB creations on consignment!
Now I have a large order to fill for FB models for his shop. The only trouble is the time it takes to make them!

Have fun!

 

[mayan]

The story here was similar until I gave him, (The shop owner), a number of FB creations on consignment!
Now I have a large order to fill for FB models for his shop. The only trouble is the time it takes to make them!

Have fun!

I should gift him a plane or two maybe that will make him choose his wordings better .