FT What Did You Do RC Today : Caution Offtopic At All Times

JennyC6

Elite member
YES! SNOW DAY SCHENANIGANZ!

Need to replace a faulty servo... but it sure will do donuts!
almost as tailhappy as my Scorpion XXL was! Hahaha.

2WD on half-bald Proline Badlands is pretty sad on ice and snow it must be said. Though if I had a lrge flat concrete pad covered in that stuff I could have had a lot of fun practicing my dorifuto skills.
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member
2wd on snow is never any fun. Back when I had mostly cars I had a selection of stadium trucks and trying to get them to behave on anything looser than hardish dirt was a nightmare. The few times I tried snow it was just hell. It probably also had something to do with my lack of driving ability, carpet and clay was all I was good at driving on really...

The Mad Crusher looked like it was having fun though. I've been sorta resisting the temptation to buy something like it at least until all my planes are flyable.

YES! SNOW DAY SCHENANIGANZ!

Need to replace a faulty servo... but it sure will do donuts!

If it's still spinning around with a better servo, try moving the propeller lower and add 2-3 degrees down thrust. Adding a keel down the middle will work on deeper snow. That should fix the issues.
 

mrjdstewart

Legendary member

looks like my sunday with the new 2-WD. :LOL:

in tucson we have a thing called "caliche" which is basically when the dirt gets turned to concrete from being baked in the sun. it is one of the reasons we have the "bone yard" for all the old military planes, the ground is soooo hard you can park a B-52 on the dirt and it wont sink.

so, at the field our whole area is caliche covered with loose, blown over sand. this makes things very loose. very similar to the snow and ice. if i turned my steering all the way to 1 and was good with the throttle it was one constant drift. if i messed up 1 little bit it was all over the place and then i didn't have the steering to get me back out. gonna try and find some diff tires and adjust the suspension to see if we can improve. it might also be my crappy driving so we will have to work on that as well.

laters,

me :cool:
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
2wd on snow is never any fun. Back when I had mostly cars I had a selection of stadium trucks and trying to get them to behave on anything looser than hardish dirt was a nightmare. The few times I tried snow it was just hell. It probably also had something to do with my lack of driving ability, carpet and clay was all I was good at driving on really...

The Mad Crusher looked like it was having fun though. I've been sorta resisting the temptation to buy something like it at least until all my planes are flyable.



If it's still spinning around with a better servo, try moving the propeller lower and add 2-3 degrees down thrust. Adding a keel down the middle will work on deeper snow. That should fix the issues.
I LOVE 2wd rwd in the snow. Really wish I had my 96 truck tonight. Doing 4wd burnouts is boring, add traction control and ASR that can't both be turned off really sux.

Already have down thrust. I am swapping out the servo, and when I do, It will be recieving a BDFish setup that I can add a rudder to. Also moving the battery to the center....
 

JennyC6

Elite member
2wd on snow is never any fun. Back when I had mostly cars I had a selection of stadium trucks and trying to get them to behave on anything looser than hardish dirt was a nightmare. The few times I tried snow it was just hell. It probably also had something to do with my lack of driving ability, carpet and clay was all I was good at driving on really...
Yeah I didn't even consider fuelling up my RC10GT. That thing is an absolute animal. I have some virgin Proline Trenchers on the back but even that wouldn't be much help given it can spin the tires on dry pavement without much issue. I prolly would have stuck it out a little longer iwth the Scorpion if the FPV system had been working, but alas, I can't find the charger for my goggles and they're totally dead.
The Mad Crusher looked like it was having fun though. I've been sorta resisting the temptation to buy something like it at least until all my planes are flyable.
Oh man that thing couldn't have been happier. I had the PERFECT amount of grip for it. Just enough slide for drifts and donuts but enough grip that if I wanted to scoot all I had to do was point and squirt. If it hadn't gone failsafe on me I probably would have run for an hour or more; my fingers weren't even cold everything was just perfection!

I had half a mind to fire up my NTC3 until I first walked outside and saw how deep it was. If I had rally tires the NTC3 would have been a hoot, but the Protoform VTA tires on it have such shallow and unaggressive tread on them that they might as well be slicks in snow. It wouldn't have done much better than the Scorpion XXL did. And that's the only other 4WD I have in my collection that's operable right now.



looks like my sunday with the new 2-WD. :LOL:
Heh heh heh yeah the Scorp was just hopeless.
in tucson we have a thing called "caliche" which is basically when the dirt gets turned to concrete from being baked in the sun. it is one of the reasons we have the "bone yard" for all the old military planes, the ground is soooo hard you can park a B-52 on the dirt and it wont sink.

so, at the field our whole area is caliche covered with loose, blown over sand. this makes things very loose. very similar to the snow and ice. if i turned my steering all the way to 1 and was good with the throttle it was one constant drift. if i messed up 1 little bit it was all over the place and then i didn't have the steering to get me back out. gonna try and find some diff tires and adjust the suspension to see if we can improve. it might also be my crappy driving so we will have to work on that as well.

laters,

me :cool:
Used to live out there myself but I was only 5 when I moved away so I don't remember much. That does sound like a LOT of fun with an RC car though!
 

Phin G

Elite member
I finally got out to fly my drone and a plane i call scrappy. He was made up of spare cut offs i didnt have any expectations for it and it flew well until the prop exploded. I was doing a dive and a late pull up and it flew straight into an oak tree. Ripped the wing off and bent the vertical stabiliser. I have gutted it. This is the aftermath. 84BF1BEA-CA5F-4F32-A361-B8DCC6C7984C.jpeg 8FCC6D3B-76BC-41F2-8C28-744371BE646C.jpeg 3880EFDE-028C-4DB0-BC89-5B6A95180A33.jpeg
 

JennyC6

Elite member

Did a little science. People tell me you can't start a nitro engine when it's cold, so I left one outside all night and started it when it was measuring just 14 degrees Freedom on the cylinder head. And of course it started right up as soon as fuel hit the plug, ran like clockwork.


Also got my Kaos 40 ground tested. That Magnum 52 4-cycle runs so nice on 20% car fuel...
 

Wildthing

Legendary member

Did a little science. People tell me you can't start a nitro engine when it's cold, so I left one outside all night and started it when it was measuring just 14 degrees Freedom on the cylinder head. And of course it started right up as soon as fuel hit the plug, ran like clockwork.


Also got my Kaos 40 ground tested. That Magnum 52 4-cycle runs so nice on 20% car fuel...
Guys at the club will run them in winter, some will bring a blow dryer just to warm it up a bit to make it easier on the engine but otherwise no problem other then freezing off your knackers :)
 

JennyC6

Elite member
Guys at the club will run them in winter, some will bring a blow dryer just to warm it up a bit to make it easier on the engine but otherwise no problem other then freezing off your knackers :)
yeah my thumbs freeze out long before the engines themselves do. And hell the cold, dense air means they make more power, are less likely to overheat, and gives the airfoils better bite to boot.

Unrelated fun fact: Both engines featured in the post you replied to have flown above Edgewater.
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
yeah my thumbs freeze out long before the engines themselves do. And hell the cold, dense air means they make more power, are less likely to overheat, and gives the airfoils better bite to boot.

Unrelated fun fact: Both engines featured in the post you replied to have flown above Edgewater.
You can also use the blow dryer to warm up your thumbs :D :D
 

speedbirdted

Legendary member

Did a little science. People tell me you can't start a nitro engine when it's cold, so I left one outside all night and started it when it was measuring just 14 degrees Freedom on the cylinder head. And of course it started right up as soon as fuel hit the plug, ran like clockwork.


Also got my Kaos 40 ground tested. That Magnum 52 4-cycle runs so nice on 20% car fuel...
Yeah, they run just fine in the cold. Only problem I really have is the glow plugs sometimes take a bit more juice to get hot enough to start. Yesterday it was 2 degrees but more importantly 0 mph wind so I figured it was worth a shot.

PXL_20210220_232232381.jpg


If you wait a few days after you get a significant snowfall sometimes what can happen is the top inch or so of snow becomes pretty much solid and wheels will work fine on it. Even my LA racer on its standard 3" wheels worked perfectly, though sometimes if you landed a little hard they'd punch straight through the ice layer and quickly bring everything to a dead stop. I actually had to re-trim the plane quite a bit, since I last flew it when the temps were well into the double digits and it wanted to climb a lot more, down to I'm guessing denser air letting the airfoils and engine work a bit better...

Also: Tuning engines is a massive pain when it's cold. I wonder what the wind chill is behind a propeller going at full blast? Even gloves were thoroughly defeated...
 
Snow racers debut went really good except for the super hard and lumpy surface, we had above freezing temps yesterday so everything melted but today everything was a icy crust layer. It definitely took a toll on the rear foam float.


View attachment 193484 View attachment 193485
That really is a good looking creature. Tough snow conditions for sure, but still a lot better than what I tried to run on! I feel I have to take what I can get, where I am. I love the way it runs, hope you get another chance to run it in better snow. Love the stepped sponsons too.
Listen - spoiler alert - my next year's craft is going to look similar to that. Not copying you! But the general hull style is perfect, like the RC speed record boats. Thanks for the video!

Oh hey, for all the beating my boat took, the edges where I imbedded split bamboo held up perfectly. I'm delighted with the performance of those edges. What's your plan for the stern hull? Maybe the easiest way is to give it a flattening where it's chewed up and rounded, then get two strips of bamboo on the running edges. If you needed that simple V I guess for me I'd flatten it down and glue another piece of foam on it and reshape it, then one bamboo piece.

But you already have a plan equal or better. :D
 

OliverW

Legendary member
I made a little franken plane today. Took a 54" balsa cub wing and drew up the least fitting fuselage i could think of. It resulted in this ugly beast! It flew for 3 minutes, but it was of me wrestling it since it was gusty out, and the plane was a tail heavy beast! I thought it wasn't going to come back, but it last second floated in for a greaser of a landing. The CG was 1/4 of the wing on that flight and now it is on the leading edge lol. Hope to remaiden it again tomorrow it's name is "Scraps"
20210223_152642.jpg
 

Wildthing

Legendary member
That really is a good looking creature. Tough snow conditions for sure, but still a lot better than what I tried to run on! I feel I have to take what I can get, where I am. I love the way it runs, hope you get another chance to run it in better snow. Love the stepped sponsons too.
Listen - spoiler alert - my next year's craft is going to look similar to that. Not copying you! But the general hull style is perfect, like the RC speed record boats. Thanks for the video!

Oh hey, for all the beating my boat took, the edges where I imbedded split bamboo held up perfectly. I'm delighted with the performance of those edges. What's your plan for the stern hull? Maybe the easiest way is to give it a flattening where it's chewed up and rounded, then get two strips of bamboo on the running edges. If you needed that simple V I guess for me I'd flatten it down and glue another piece of foam on it and reshape it, then one bamboo piece.

But you already have a plan equal or better. :D
Hey copy all you want , I don't care that is what this hobby is about, share your ideas and skills and learn from others which only helps the hobby as a whole.

That ice hard rough snow just acted like a cheese grater , I may just use some thick plastic that you use in binders and glue that to the hulls.