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

[basslord1124]

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 .

Yeah I totally understand I need to get out of the pattern of thinking. Honestly I have indeed flown in front of others and the only semi-bad thing I ever heard was one of our club members say sarcastically "can you do that again?". It dawned on me right then that I had my plane in high rates and it was dancing all over the sky, hard to control. I had control shortly after.

Honestly the hobby store owner needs to work on his sales tactics. He shouldn't be tearing you down for what you are doing, but actually trying to sell you on the stuff he has and how it's better (even if you have no interest in it).

We have another guy at the field who does FT planes but I think it was of a phase for him. He flies them on occasion but now he seems more interested in DIY drones.

 

[Hai-Lee]

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

I have found that most who turn up their noses at FB planes do so from ignorance. Once they actually fly them their attitude changes rapidly, (assuming of course that the plane theu get to try actually flies well).

Have fun!

 

[mayan]

Honestly the hobby store owner needs to work on his sales tactics. He shouldn't be tearing you down for what you are doing, but actually trying to sell you on the stuff he has and how it's better (even if you have no interest in it).

At some point I tried explaining that too him, being someone that worked in sales for a long time, but he didn't listen. And then something else happened and I remembered my mom saying "you can't change people only influence them." I tried pointing him in the direction I thought was right but when he didn't care to listen I stopped caring about talking.

 

[Wildthing]

Don't worry about what others think, be proud of what you have. Heck if you crash you laugh and walk away and you are maybe out $20.00, they crash (and they do) they are out thousands of dollars and mega hours worth of work.

 

[basslord1124]

Don't worry about what others think, be proud of what you have. Heck if you crash you laugh and walk away and you are maybe out $20.00, they crash (and they do) they are out thousands of dollars and mega hours worth of work.

Agreed!

And actually there was one guy there that I sort of heard about his life story from his buddy. Basically his friends were trying to help him get into the hobby. He acquired a few planes as he started (pretty sure they were all balsa). He had a real bad crash that was a total loss. As a result, he hasn't flown since. And his friends are trying to ease his mind and get him back into it slowly. I told him to go pick up some foamies and beat those around and see if that'd help.

 

[mayan]

Agreed!

And actually there was one guy there that I sort of heard about his life story from his buddy. Basically his friends were trying to help him get into the hobby. He acquired a few planes as he started (pretty sure they were all balsa). He had a real bad crash that was a total loss. As a result, he hasn't flown since. And his friends are trying to ease his mind and get him back into it slowly. I told him to go pick up some foamies and beat those around and see if that'd help.

You see buddy, these foamies just might help someone and it was you who recommended they try go that route.

 

[Wildthing]

I not only get bored with a plane and like something different but I know I will screw up sooner or later and crash so that is my main reason to stick with the foamies.

 

[FDS]

@basslord1124 Lets gift that guy who crashed a Tiny Trainer, with the powerpack and servos, I would put money into that. Then you can help get someone in the air and showcase our sort of flying.
I don’t like flying in front of others much either.

 

[mayan]

@basslord1124 Lets gift that guy who crashed a Tiny Trainer, with the powerpack and servos, I would put money into that. Then you can help get someone in the air and showcase our sort of flying.
I don’t like flying in front of others much either.

It’s different when flying for others or flying with others.

 

[basslord1124]

Well got a new video up... this one in regards to my lipo mishaps:

I personally am thinking and hoping that these batteries are ok as I've seen batteries undergo much more abuse than mine. All those years of reading people's responses on the forums (RCG and here mainly) and even folks at my RC field, some of them have this sort of "those lipos are super dangerous and can blow up" mentality. And they'd recommend disposal if the slightest thing happened. So that fear and paranoia was passed on to me. I honestly think too that lipo battery technology has come along way and that they are better now than what they used to be. I have an older lipo that seems to have gotten puffy and it was rarely used. Anything newer that I have, doesn't have any puffiness at all.

Working on the TT and painting. Just got the fuse to finish and that's it. I did remove the weights and I'm going to start shifting things around a little to get it to balance a little better. I hope to do it to where I can easily go between a 2S and a 3S battery.

This is our weather over the next 5 days...I'd prefer a little calmer with the winds:

We've been kinda going through somewhat of a spring pattern even though it's the middle of June.

Oh yeah, something else I did recently. Figured to plan ahead a little bit. I may make a couple more backup ones. One of them is definitely going into the Simple Cub as its pod is pretty crumpled.

 

[basslord1124]

Sorry, this is another loooooooooooooong one...........

Well this has been a super extremely slow week in terms of RC...mainly b/c of our wonderful weather pattern which can be seen from my previous post. It has been a week of semi-heavy winds 10+ mph and pretty big chances of pop up thunderstorms. One day we had a decent group of thunderstorms roll through that brought up to wind gusts of 60mph for some areas! Despite this, we haven't seen a lot of damage or anything luckily.

I'm kinda glad for this as it gave me some time to reflect. It was that plus seeing some Facebook RC plane group posts (general RC plane, not FT related) that sort of made me realize some things about this hobby and myself.

Something that has been heavy on my RC plane hobbyist mind is wanting to start diving into balsa kits. Particularly start my journey into larger scale gas powered balsa models. I hoped to make this a more long term journey/project and something I could do together with my father-in-law. I had posted a thread about this late last year and had been updating it. Here's the link:

https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/thinking-ahead-balsa-in-the-future.55765/

Call it big pipe dream if you will. Or it may very well happen. I don't know. And this is a common thing with me honestly...my anxiety, wants, and desires in this hobby far exceed what I am physically able to do. I have limitations like keeping my wife happy, being there for my 18 month old daughter, time, and money. I feel my wife/daughter are pretty well covered (at least I haven't heard any major complaints yet) so that leaves time and money. Money is a limitation now b/c I am the only one with an income while my wife cares for our daughter. Wife is attending school for a type of job that will allow her to work from home, so by this time next year, she'll hopefully have her own income again. Next is time, and basically wife/baby take time and it doesn't always leave me with a lot of time for other stuff.

So what I am getting to here is, I am going to try and slow down with my wants and desires and just go for what naturally falls in my life as far as the hobby is concerned. I have quite a few unfinished FT/foamboard projects that need to get finished up, out of the basement, and be up in the skies. So rather than trying to accumulate more and more, I want to try and focus on the projects I have right in front of me. Here's my list of projects:

1) FT Bloody Baron
2) Foamboard profile plane
3) Updated faster FT Mini Scout
4) FT Tiny Trainer...pretty much flyable, BUT perhaps I should try the sport/aileron wing??
5) FT Simple Cub
6) FT Spitfire speedbuild (still in package)
7) FT Bushwacker speedbuild (still in package)
8) FT Simple Storch...flew as 4 channel for a while, BUT adding flaps and more powerful motor
9) Electric Balsa 40 size trainer...still going through a sanding/recovering job
10) Balsa DHC2 beaver (40 size)...needs more electronics
11) Balsa Mini Funtana... needs electronics
12) Foamboard Galaxy Glider...need to finish up linkages and test electronics
13) FT Mini Corsair and FT Mini Mustang speedbuild kits...originally given to my father-in-law as gifts. He barely touched them and then he gave them to me. They are partially built.
14) FT Seaduck...it's fine...it just needs flown more
15) FT3D ...airframe only, need electronics
16) Dynam Piper Cub...need to finish up electronics
17) Delta Dragon pusher...given to me free from a club member, needs all electronics updated
18) Nitro balsa 40 size P51....really all it needs is a receiver and all the needed glow accessories (fuel, plug, starter, etc). I had been pondering converting it to electric though.

I think that's all. Look more like a collector than a flyer. I kind of feel sad looking at that list and how big it is, and knowing that some things won't require much to get airborne.

So, I come up with a few ideas:
1) For most of the FT/foamboard planes: Devote a week (or 2 if needed) to finish each one up and tie up any loose ends. So all's that left is to charge up a battery and go fly them. Ex: So 1 week do the Bloody Baron, next week do the Profile Plane, etc.
2) I still would like to try a balsa kit, BUT I'm thinking more small scale now. Start with a small kit and use it for practice before I devote a lot of time on a big kit. I kinda fear a big kit would be too time consuming for what I am capable of at the moment. Perhaps later I can revisit the big scale stuff.
3) There is a club member who physically is unable to build/fly anymore and he told me I am welcome to buy any of his stuff (and apparently he has a lot). I figure over time I'll put back a little bit each time and save up to around $100 or so, and go buy a few things off of him. Might get a small kit or two if he has it or just see what he has. I do wanna help him, at least a little bit, to unload some of his stuff that he is unable to use.

So probably after I buy stuff off the club member, I will probably hold off on buying anymore planes until I fix/repair the ones that I have. Only exception is if someone has a freebie or something that is super cheap to get rid of.

So I suppose in the end what I am getting to is this: lets quit accumulating, building/fixing, and wasting time. Fix up what ya got and go FLY!!! It's the perfect time of year to go fly with warm sunny days...just hope the weather is better next week.

Been slow on videos too, hopefully get more videos up soon.

 

[Wildthing]

That is quite the list
I would do the easy ones or almost complete ones first that way when the opportunity arises you have a squadron ready to fly. Save the hard ones for winter.

Oh, 1 week to do the Baron, should be only a few hours

 

[basslord1124]

That is quite the list
I would do the easy ones or almost complete ones first that way when the opportunity arises you have a squadron ready to fly. Save the hard ones for winter.

Oh, 1 week to do the Baron, should be only a few hours

Lol it is a pretty impressive list. Actually I forgot the FT Baby Blender too lol.

Good suggestions, I like!

FT Bloody Baron is actually extremely close. Basically find a good battery location for CG (shift things around if needed), program in my rates/expo, put a prop on, and go! It'll need paint too but I save that for after the maiden.

 

[basslord1124]

New video... Just me showing the durability of FT airplanes using my FT Simple Cub as an example.

Heard someone (think it was in RC groups) talk about how the ones they flew and built didn't survive some simple abuse or something like that. So it sort of inspired me for that video. Really of anything, my motor didn't survive the abuse... The plane did fine.

 

[basslord1124]

Well I did manage to maiden the FT Bloody Baron today. Overall it went very well even with a few mishaps...one involved crashing into a tree. Got 30 min of video footage to go through and edit, so video to come soon. Probably going to make 2 videos out of it. Only damage really was 2 broken props (they were cheapo Gemfan props). Overall it was a good and fun time...just hot!

Be back soon with video footage.

 

[basslord1124]

Here is my full flight experience (well edited to some degree) of the FT Bloody Baron. There was a total of 3 flights on one battery...the first 2 flights were short with very minor crashes, 3rd of course was the longer flight.

 

[basslord1124]

Well I attempted to give my FT Simple Cub another try. Got all the issues worked out...replacement motor, redone power pod/firewall, rechecked balance/CG (more nose down this time), etc.

Got the battery charged and managed to get her airborne. This time I pulled off a good solid 5 minute flight. I consider the flight to be "ok" mainly b/c I think the occasional bit of wind made it a struggle at times. The winds weren't too bad, just a little bit of a nuisance. I pulled off a real nice loop. At the end of the loop I hear a small (what I would call) "clunk" sound come from the plane. Right as I hear that, she slowly glided back to down to earth despite my attempts to keep her up. No damage as it was pretty tall grass. This is what I discovered as I found the plane:

I can only guess that the prop was off balance or perhaps I needed to use one of those sizing rings. I really don't remember the prop feeling loose on the shaft or anything. I am also not sure if this was the prop that was in the original Cub maiden flight and crash or not (it is the same size). It also makes me wonder if vibrations are more easily felt on plastic since I started doing plastic firewalls and that caused it to come loose. I'm pondering doing some bench tests to find out.

I've got video of the flight so that'll be coming soon.

 

[Wildthing]

Well I attempted to give my FT Simple Cub another try. Got all the issues worked out...replacement motor, redone power pod/firewall, rechecked balance/CG (more nose down this time), etc.

Got the battery charged and managed to get her airborne. This time I pulled off a good solid 5 minute flight. I consider the flight to be "ok" mainly b/c I think the occasional bit of wind made it a struggle at times. The winds weren't too bad, just a little bit of a nuisance. I pulled off a real nice loop. At the end of the loop I hear a small (what I would call) "clunk" sound come from the plane. Right as I hear that, she slowly glided back to down to earth despite my attempts to keep her up. No damage as it was pretty tall grass. This is what I discovered as I found the plane:



I can only guess that the prop was off balance or perhaps I needed to use one of those sizing rings. I really don't remember the prop feeling loose on the shaft or anything. I am also not sure if this was the prop that was in the original Cub maiden flight and crash or not (it is the same size). It also makes me wonder if vibrations are more easily felt on plastic since I started doing plastic firewalls and that caused it to come loose. I'm pondering doing some bench tests to find out.

I've got video of the flight so that'll be coming soon.

90% of the props will require a ring for centering, I think the small quad motors and props are usually a pre sized deal and don't need them.

Usually you can hear a unbalanced prop, it is noisier by far depending how far out of balance it is. For your motor mount screws pick up some blue loc-tite and just a tiny dab is all it will take and they won't come loose then.

 

[mayan]

90% of the props will require a ring for centering, I think the small quad motors and props are usually a pre sized deal and don't need them.

Usually you can hear a unbalanced prop, it is noisier by far depending how far out of balance it is. For your motor mount screws pick up some blue loc-tite and just a tiny dab is all it will take and they won't come loose then.

I hear you all talking about loctite a lot and I figure it’s like super glue 3 second glue. Can your later remove it?

 

[FDS]

You cannot easily remove RED loctite, you want BLUE for stuff like motor bolts. Put it on the threads with a cocktail stick.
Red is for stuff you never want to separate ever again!