RockyBoy's Workbench, Builds, Designs, Hangar Queens and Failures

[rockyboy]

*** Super helpful forum threads ***

Balsa Kit Manufacturers - Let me help you find the perfect kit!	So you want to build your first Balsa Plane? by @Joker 53150
How to Design DTFB Planes by @nerdnic	FT Style CAD Templates by @localfiend
Making Drawings and Skins with Inkscape by @JimCR120	Rasterize Skin Index of amazing plane skins!
Which Transmitter Should You Buy? by @JimCR120	Sample OpenTX / Taranis Setups for Planes and Quads

Word clouds generated using RC Pilot Log app data (2015-2020) and AWS Quicksight​

*** Now on to the project pile... ****

Here's my listing of Projects in Progress, ToDo list, and Already Done That archive. I find this type of listing essential when I want to update an old project with new info, remember what all I have hidden in the workshop, to plan my next project, and to avoid accidentally buying a second kit of one I already have. It's also fun to have a log of how I've progressed and what I've been up to. Helps keep the motivation up when a maiden flight comes home in a bag.

The Workshop Fridge​ ​

The State of the Beard​ ​

What's on Deck

Micro Bird of Time from J&H Aerospace​

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Willy Nillies Skylark 250 Twin a little kit bashing of the great Skylark 250 kit into a twin engine classic!​

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Works In Progress target = 2

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Paper Tiger a 1969 designed 60" pattern trainer from the club auction for $60 - a little bit of competition for this one - haven't found any online info about this design yet but the kit is... different. The plans aren't printed at full scale, and in the box are pre-printed full size cardboard templates for parts that were intended to be used as the actual fuselage & wing skins! The carboard is in pretty rough shape so I'm skinning with balsa instead.​

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RC Field Weather Station with HAM radio based internet connectivity ​

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Monster Focke-Wulf FW-42 another Team Rockyboy effort and with a 106" (or 2.7m or 2700mm or 8'-8") wingspan it is by far the biggest build I've attempted Just need to balance and figure out battery installation before the maiden flight!​

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Ready for Maiden Flight target < 2

Psyborg's Caudron was gifted to me at Flite Fest to finish up. Will maiden the same day as the Monster FW-42. Possibly the next time I get to Flite Fest?​

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Scratch & Kit Build Pile (Clutter behind the bench) target = n+1

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Grouped loosely by manufacturer or project type, these are all kits I have hidden somewhere in the workshop. Yes, I recognize I might have a balsa addiction but I refuse to consider this a problem until I run out of storage space! ​

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--** Balsa 'Crunchies' Kits **--

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FlyBaby Biplane by Stevens Aeromodel​

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Windward by Marks Models a slope and thermal glider​

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1951 Flying Wing recently reviewed by Terry Dunn and kitted by RetroRC.com​

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Aeromaster Too the updated 1968 version of the classic 1966 biplane that adds an extended swept back wing option!​

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Hurricane 69 free flight short kit from the 40's - also not on outerzone, need to scan them​

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Vagabond short kit of the 1945 design, kitted by Klarich​

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Larkey by Scientific Model Airplane co 1942 - also not on outerzone, need to scan and send them in​

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Megow Model's Rangershort kit and plans - the original 1940 design that's bigger than this Outerzone version - need to send these in!​

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SoLong 50" old timer designed in 1941 - short kit only, no plans - printed set ordered from AeroFred​

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Carl Goldberg Sailplane 78" short kit by Klarich Custom Kits​

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Willy Nillie's Eaglet cause it is so cool!​

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Bridi Tercel 50.5" grenade launched glider - no kidding, that's exactly what's printed on the box! I hadn't heard that term before, but upon some research it was another name for the "javelin launch" or overhand throw as opposed to a discuss launch glider.​

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Babe e'Moth picked up at the club auction for only $10! This is the smaller size companion to the one I already have.​

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Lazy Bee by Clancy Aviation - the 40" wingspan kit, although I might extend it to the 48" wingspan length anyway, needs research​

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Speedy Bee by Clancy Aviation that I just couldn't pass up​

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Fly Baby kitted by Davey Systems and designed in 1969 qualifying for VRCS Nostalgia Concours​

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Leisure Playboy for the nostalgia factor - the Playboy design first came out in 1939 and was kitted by Cleveland Models in the 1940's. The Leisure kit I have is a scaled version of those designs and was first produced by Leisure in 1981, which fits into the Nostalgia classification and open category for VCRS​

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Turbo Bee by Clancy Aviation 'cause that's just what happens when I browse the classifieds in a moment of boredom​

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Stick 600 by Radical RC. Someone on the forum suggest one as a beginner kit, I wasn't sure if the instructions would be good for a noob builder. I must have blacked out for a moment because a few minutes later I received an email receipt for ordering one! No idea how that happened! ​

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Curtis Helldiver by Pat Trittle from Manzano Laser works received in 2019 TCCSS! ​

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Fokker D.VIII from plans and partially cut parts from an estate sale at AMA Expo East. The plans say they were designed in 1942 and the box looks like it contains most of the ribs cut out, and the landing gear wire bent, and a bunch of other random balsa pieces that might be helpful too. Qualifies for VCRS Pioneer category!​

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Fokker D.VII kitted by Dare/Brodak cause I need to see what all the fuss over Pat Tritle designs is about.​

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Retro e'Moth by RetroRC - I had my eye on this for nearly a year before it came back in stock Jan17.​

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Bristol M1 kit by Balsa USA from a guy on RC Groups. Should be a fun WW1 scale project!​

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Nomad kitted by House of Balsa for a nice powered glider. Designed by Ted Strader in 1961 which qualifies for VCRS Classic Concurs​

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Dandy Sport by Mountain Models looks like a fun lazy flyer​

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Firestorm by Mountain Models planning this to be my first go at installing retracts​

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EVA Bipe by Mountain Models cause I love the EVA Sport and really want to try another coloring scheme on it​

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Round2It Glider by Mountain Models - I don't have any glider experience yet, but it looks fun!​

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Lucky ACE as an Ugly Stick style kit from Mountain Models that will replace my Easy Stick ARF. Thinking I'll bash it into a semi-scale Pfalz E1​

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Droplet an unusual looking indoor model from Mountain Models.​

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4 Charlie by Stevens Aero cause it's a beautiful elegant design that Bill says is a dream to fly - he said so at AMA East ​

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Dystraction by Steve's Aeromodel a really cool looking discontinued park sized pattern plane.​

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e-spresso micro pattern kit by Steve's Aeromodel from the club auction​

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FREDe 600 by Steven's Aeromodel for some big slow flying balsa action.​

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Gym Ripper by Steven's Aeromodel - gorgeous design from one of the early Balsa Builder Subscription.​

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Ricci Tri-plane by Steven's Aeromodel - lovely gift in the 2015 Crash Cast Secret Santa gift exchange.​

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LiddleRod by Stevens Aeromodel - a lovely birthday present from the family.​

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1909 Demoiselle by Steven's Aeromodel - another lovely birthday present from the family. Really love the look of this model!​

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Edge 540 by Guillow's that followed me home from the club's holiday party!​

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P-40 Warhawk by Guillow's kit from the collection of Michael 'Crash' Hancock. I built a similar one back in the 80's and remember it didn't fly well at all, so this just might be built as a display model.​

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--** Foamies Kits **--

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FT SkyFx P-40 arrived smushed, trying to get it returned/replaced.​

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FT P-40 "Rasterized" I have a printed FliteSkinz, and Stephen is working on another skins set for a North Africa campaign desert cammo that I think I'll build at the same time. ​

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FT Goblin with modified stabilizers for streamer combat - foam is cut, ready for assembly​

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Nifty Norman one of Laine's Planes great designs (the 49" EPP one), and a gift from friends who were able to attend FFO2018 when I wasn't. Thanks @wilmracer and @willsonman ! ​

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Paper Airplane by Sawn Craft - Planning on some airbrush / marker practice on this one to make it look like a folded sheet of school paper with doodles on it.​

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FT Legacy from the Edgewater Airpark kickstarter campaign​

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FT Storch picked up at Flite Fest East 17.​

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FT SE-5 cause there was a sale and I have poor impulse control.​

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[rockyboy]

--** Restorations & Conversions (Hanging from the rafters) **--

These are airframes I've picked up from swap meets or the trash can at the field, and absolutely want to rebuild, refit, and restore them to flying condition.​

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Gentle Lady glider by Carl Goldberg. Picked up from friend at swap meet - built & covered, but has some hangar rash - needs vertical stabilizer replaced / rebuilt.​

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Gee Bee R3 fantasy racer inspired by the Gee Bee golden age pylon planes. I have a fuselage and right wing panel from a 60" wingspan ARF I picked up for $20. Need to get a set of Giant Scale R3 plans scaled down to match the parts I have and then build the rest of the plane. Going to be an interesting project and lots of new skills for me doing the wheel pants and struts!​

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--** Plans in Tubes **--

BeeLiner by Clancy Aviation for a really fun looking quad motor!​

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Macchi M.16 designed by Peter Rake from the plans published in the February 2019 Flying Scale Models magazine​

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Ansaldo A1 Balilla from plans by Cleveland Model Airplane Plans for the Ansaldo SVA 5. The Balilla is a beautiful plane, but not a common kit - I've only found a 1/10 scale 37" kit designed by Peter Rake and sold through Manzano Laser Works. I'm building it a little bigger in 1/8 scale with a 46" wing span - bigger does fly better after all. While the full scale A1 is based on the SVA 5 with a larger lower wing and all new truss design, the plans from Cleveland model are just enlarged versions of 11" wing span rubber powered model plans - so the outline is the important part.​

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Taube from Balsa USA 40 sized plans​

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Howard Pete from a set of plans that I need to look at again to check the lineage​

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1929 Vellie Monocoupe plans from Flyline Models. The plans are for a free flight design, and I'm not sure if I want to stay true to that or go for a mini-RC setup.​

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Great Planes PT-40 I built one of these from a kit in the mid 80's as my first radio control airplane (stepping up from free flight and control line). I'll be doing an electric this time instead of the OS 42.​

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Ford Flivver at 1/5 scale​

I picked up a big roll of plans from an estate sale in July 2019 and did a quick 1st pass at sorting them all out.

120 Sized motors​

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Sablatnig KE-1 1995 scale WW1 mid wing monoplane​

Starduster Too 72" biplane​

Stinger mid wing monoplane​

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25 Sized Motors​

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Terrier 58"ws 25 motor low wing sport​

Gypsy Moth de Havilind biplane 40ish ws​

Cool Cat low wing sport​

Bucker Jungmeister biplane​

Simple T-Craft high wing trainer​

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15 Sized Motors​

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Bernard Type 74c1 low wing golden era monoplane with bubble cowl​

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1/2A Cox .049 Pylon Racers​

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GLH​

GLH II but plan is 1/2 size​

Undertaker​

Quick Trick​

Mach None (long skinny plan)​

Pacer 1974​

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Peter Rake Electric Plans circa 2000 - 2006​

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Spad XIII biplane 2004​

FE8 mid pusher engine twin boom biplane 2006​

Huntington H.12 mid wing monoplane golden era look​

Waco SRE biplane​

1913 Ponnier mid wing German monoplane​

Sopwith Dolphin biplane abt 37" ws​

Tiger Moth biplane 39" ws​

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Other Electric Designs​

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1916 Sopwith Bee biplane abt 27"ws (close to this plan, but bigger)​

Hawker Fury Mk1 biplane 36" upper 31" lower ws (close to this plan, but bigger)​

DH Venom Mk 4 twin boom pusher wingtip tanks WW2 36"​

--** Other Projects & Design Ideas I'll get to Someday**--

Polikarpov I-153 Chaika early WW2 biplane - it's got great golden age proportions and that cool gull wing look. Flying Scale Models printed a set of plans for the I-152 in the May 2018 issue that could be a good jumping off place for this.​

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Staaken Z-1 Flitzer by Pat Trittle - as a true 1/4 scale plane it qualifies for the big bird meets at less than a 5' wingspan ​

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Polikarpov PO-2 the more I learn about the Russian Night Witches the more I really want to do a nicely detailed version of their biplane bomber​

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Combat Tiny Canard for my first attempt at a coroplast plane. I had so much fun with @Hai-Lee's Tiny Trainer Canard design in the combats at FFE17!​

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Speedy Bee conversion from balsa to DTFB I started for the 2020 FTFC Classic to Modern challenge but have put to the side until the foam board inspiration strikes me again​

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[rockyboy]

The Active Flying Hanger

Here are the build logs for the various planes & RC electronics I've built from kit, scratch, plans, restored, or modified ARF's that are still with me in working order. Most recent projects at top of each section.

Balsa Outdoor Aircraft:

Polikarpov I-16 Rata cut by Manzano Laser Works from 2018 TCCSS ​

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Northern Pike 3D printed 36" forward swept wing designed by our own @localfiend​

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Gentle Lady 250 from Willy Nillies - lovely birthday present from the family, lit for night flying​

Lazy Bee by Clancy Designs - one of the new laser cut kits from April 2020 all setup for night flying!​

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Quaker an 84" slow flier I picked up at the club auction in 2019 that I think was built from the 1975 Dave Mathis version of the original 1936 Quaker free flight design (lot of date dropping in there).​

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Willy Nillies GLH 250 for club pylon racing - she flies like a Cuda but nearly silent! My first doculam covering job too - love that stuff!​

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Willy Nillie's Falcon 250 Twin cause it looked like a really cool kit-bashing project!​

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ACE RC Guppy powered glider from plans - I had an extra ACE wing all ready to go from the All Star build, just needed a fuselage!​

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Barnstormer Biplane bashed together from a couple Willy Nillie's kits!​

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Barnstormer 250 by Willy Nillies - a new kit cutter on the scene in 2019!​

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ACE All Star Bipe for some vintage 1972 ACE foam wing biplane goodness!​

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Gee Bee Dreamer 40 biplane kit from the club auction. VRCS Nostalgia class 1972​

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Whatchamacallit from the hanger of our departed friend Crash Hancock, I finished the build of a great flying balsa wing​

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Mini-Telemaster built as part of a kit-bashing group with my local RC club, built as a Super-STOL. VCRS Nostalgia class 1968.​

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26" Balsa Cuda by Laine's Planes - fast forward swept wing​

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EVA Sport from Mountain Models for the FT2016 Winter Balsa Build Along.​

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Mini Drake flying boat by Zeke's Parkflyers - flys really well off dewy grass too​

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DIY Foamies & DTFB Outdoor Aircraft:

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Bloody P-40 XL for streamer combat​

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FT Simple Scout w/ Floats I smashed up my first one in streamer combat, had to make another!​

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Mini Focke-Wulf FW-42 for the Flite Test Forum 2018 WWII Challenge - still have a pair of these in flying condition​

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26" EPP Cuda by Laine's Planes - with a screamer motor! Loudest electric at the field by far!​

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FPVWRA Spec Race Wing setup for FPV of course - flies on rails.​

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Indoor (or very calm air) 1S Aircraft:

Pacemaker by Steven's Aeromodel for the 2017 FT Forum Fall Balsa Build​

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microMAX 103 by Steven's Aeromodel - a nicely designed and zoomy little balsa indoor flyer​

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Diddle Bug Steven's Aeromodel kit - very easy build and slow flyer​

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Little Bug Steven's Aeromodel kit - excellent flyer​

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re-Run Steven's Aeromodel chuck glider to RC conversion - only took 4 trips back home in a bag before I got it flying great ​

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Flying Flea el-cheapo Bangood kit I built for the FT Forums 2015 Scale Building contest - won 1st place in the kit category​

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The RTF/ARF Hangar

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The are RTF's, ARF's, BNF's, or pre-assembled aircraft that are still in my hanger, but I haven't done much with other than paint 'em and fly 'em. My goal is to get this list smaller while getting the lists above this longer. ​

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UMX Radian picked up from RC Groups needing minor repairs and custom paint for orientation. Great travel plane.​

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Mini-Vapor(s) have a pair of these for slow flying indoor fun​

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Multi-rotors:

Tiny Whoover in brilliant hot pink so it doesn't get lost. ​

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FT Gremlin Need to ship it off to Psyborg for tuning help cause quads ain't my forte.​

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Inductrix FPV Plus that I won in a raffle at a club auction.​

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Eachine Wizard 220 Great starter race quad! Swapped in a Runcam Swift and TB Unity TX.​

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Cockroach an Inductrix FPV I've painted the canopy twice, replaced the frame, motors, props, and battery connector so it pretty much counts as a kit build by now, right?​

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FT ElectroHub Tri-copter with an old school' KK2.1 board and 9" props. The design may be dated, but she still handles great​

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The Gear Box: Electronics and Other RC Hobby Related Projects:

Hotwire Cutter and Power Supply After spending $60 on transformers and dimmers to have a variable power supply, it died after just a couple weeks of light use. So I turned to LiPo batteries for power. Starting with a 3s2200 I test each bow/wire combination to see if it gets hot enough to cut foam. I have one bow that likes the 3s, one that works best on a 4s, and when I borrowed a long bow from my buddy Carl I learned his works best with a 6s that is not at full charge. So who needs an adjustable power supply? Not me! ​

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Lowrider CNC Really happy with how it performs! Next up - cutting MDF & light ply with a router and adding a 3 watt laser...​

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FolgerTech 2020 3D printer - I've really enjoyed this one, more than the other 3D printer kits I've built. I've upgraded the hot end and increased the height with new rails & drive screws​

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-- Transmitter Gear --​

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Open-TX Pattern Sequence Caller so my transmitter talks me through the Club Class aerobatic pattern sequence​

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Taranis X9D+ I love this radio! Custom paint job, added switches, replaced knobs & gimbals.​

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Taranis X9D Single Stick Conversion I picked up a cheap Taranis X9D, a hall effect single stick gimbal, and an aluminum enclosure to build a very custom transmitter. The laser cut wood prototype works great.​

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FrSky X-Lite Transmitter w/ MPM Lite radio module bound to my UMX Radian, indoor flyers and multi-rotors. The small size and ease of carrying spare batteries makes it a great choice to haul to indoor venues or on vacation.​

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FrSky QX-7 Transmitter a great radio that I highly recommend. I installed the charging port mod and changed the sticks on it. All my outdoor multi-rotors are bound to this one, but it's used mostly as a buddy box trainer with my main Taranis XD9+​

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Dual Transmitter Case by Radical RC so I can haul my primary transmitter and a buddy box unit in style She's a beauty! ​

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DSM2/DSMX Spektrum Radio Module built several of these for my Taranis before Multi-Modules were a thing.​

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-- Charging --​

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ISDT Q6 Plus Charger is my favorite at the moment. I am up to three of these, and commonly use a 3s/4s parallel charging board on one of them for the lower mAh batteries.​

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Bat-Safe Battery Charging Box If I'm going to walk away from a battery getting juiced up, it goes into this first.​

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Charging Box Inspired by another build on the forum, I put together a 12 amp hour field charging box for cheap.​

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[rockyboy]

The Boneyard

For one reason or another, these planes are no longer with me on the active duty list. Most recent to leave me up top.

T-28a Fennec starting with the discontinued T-28 1.1m Eflite kit I turned it into a T-28a Fennec. Donated to club as an aerobatic trainer.​

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Nu-Bee2 designed by Adrian Page with inspiration from Clancy Aviation's Speedy Bee. Sold to fellow club member to make room.​

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SA Cap 232 this kit fell into my hands as an ARC (Almost Ready to Cover)! Sold at swap meet to make room.​

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Ugly 3D swap meet rescue good for aerobatic and 3D trainer. Sold at swap meet to make room.​

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FT Mini Arrow for my first FPV wing. Sold at swap meet.​

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Electra with low weight modern brushless setup for better gliding performance! Gifted to club member ready to step up from a trainer​

Spinster DLG I was lucky enough to get serial number 001 by pre-ordering before FFE17. Death by hangar rash, but will reuse parts.​

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Tiny Canard reconstruction of my Tiny Trainer using plans by Hai-Lee. Flew in combat at FFE17 with streamers. Death by hangar rash.​

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The Italian Job skin design on Sponz' Baby Brit plane. This little Italian Ace was great fun at FF 2016 combat. Retired to hang in honor.​

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Lothar von Richtofen's Baby Baron another excellent skin designed by Rasterize for FF2016 combat. Retired to hang in honor.​

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Das Little Stick a great little 2s flyer. Death by hangar rash.​

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GB90 Caged Micro Quad Only flew it a few times so I took the motors and esc's out to make Willy Nillie Falcon & Skylark Twins!​

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Firefeather fun small field gliding and motoring around, but I am NOT qualified for discuss launch operations. Smashed to little bits ​

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FT Baby Blender I picked up at Flite Fest East 17. Gifted to a teenaged new club member.​

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Wanderer 72 Glider a restored auction pick. VRCS Nostalgia class 1975. Sold at auction to make room.​

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Easy Stick 25 ARF This was my first ARF build. A favorite flyer, especially for windy days. Sold at auction to make room.​

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Bobcat 2m Balsa Glider Estate find - flew OK a couple times. Sold at auction to make room for more building.​

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FT Spitfire Flies beautifully - I know why everyone raves about these! Gifted to a new club member ready to move up from a Tiny Trainer.​

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Elder 60 My first giant scale plane. She was a pussy cat and a joy to watch in the air! I replaced the brittle old Monocoat covering with fabric Oratex and gave her a pretty fresh paint job - my first time using an automotive detail spray gun. She won second place in my club's Giant Scale Fly in for crowd favorite, and then the wings clapped in the air and down she went into a many little pieces on the slopes of Mt. Trashmore. Pilot Snoopy is still missing in hostile territory. ​

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Eluminator by RC Foam Kits. Picked at Flite Fest 2016 for night flying with some trimming help from @HildaFlyer this was rock solid and tons of fun! She met her end in a full speed head on collision with a Bloody Baron in streamer combat at my club. Explosion of foam and battery flying over 40 feet from the crash site! ​

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Parkzone Albatross Did some very interesting crabbing/weather-vaneing in cross winds. Sent home with forum member @foamtest to enjoy ​

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FT Simple Scout w/ Floats Painted to look like my Baby Italian inspired by Maggiore Francesco Baracca's Spad S.VII Great flying airplane, but I plowed it into the ground during streamer combat.​

Wireless Buddy Box to let any DSM2/DSMX transmitter bind up as a student radio. Retired when I got a QX-7 dedicated buddy-box.​

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Caudron C.460 swappable DTFB style for the 2017 Flite Fest International Air Races! Check out @DamoRC, @wilmracer, and @PsyBorg builds of this design! :applause:​

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250 Clearance Quad quite possibly the cheapest 250 assembled in recent history. Eventually sent to a forum member who was having some struggles getting a quad in the air - last I heard it was ripping around a field in Texas.​

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Little Bogie Flew great in very low wind conditions. Sold to friend in the club​

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HyperBipe by HobbyKing - loved this one!​

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Sopwith Pup Converted to a modern brushless motor. Very slow flyer, a walking pace really, graceful and stately in the air.​

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Hyperion Enigma ARF I got from turbojoe here on the forums. Handled great and lots of fun to fly. Sold at auction.​

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Caudron C.460 prototypes v1, v2, v3, and the final v4 that flew in the race at Flite Fest 2017. They all flew, and for various reasons - mostly dumb thumb errors - they have all been smashed beyond repair and had their guts implanted into something else. Developing a new design requires some sacrifices, as does learning to fly pylon racers. ​

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Das Mini Guinea Pig I used the tail shape and wing scallops from the Baby Baron to convert the Mini Guinea into a WWI inspired warbird!​

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Banana Bugatti Lost in the trees on a very fast maiden flight.​

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Micro FT_Flyer too twitchy to have fun with​

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L-4 Grasshopper Gave to my father in-law who crewed on one in Vietnam - it hangs in his bar and looks pretty.​

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Yak-54 by Art-Tech. It was my 'go-to' flyer for a summer and in spite of continual nose overs on landing, she was still in good flying shape when I sold her at swap meet.​

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Seawind by GreatPlanes / Electrifly - another auction purchase, and a cursed plane. I had it up in the air five times, and had two rough crashes from equipment failure, and two 'stranded in the middle of the pond' experiences for my troubles. For the few brief moments when it did fly it felt very fast and responsive. Sold it at swap meet.​

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NanoQX++ swapped the stock frame out for carbon fiber folding arms, an FPV camera and 7mm motors. Sold at swap meet.​

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NanoGlimpse Recorded video was pretty neat to "document the flight line". Sold at swap meet.​

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AP Rascal Racer (700 mm 27.56in) a speed demon! Fun to rip around with, sold at swap meet.​

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FT Tiny Trainer my first foamy RC build and I put more batteries through this than all my other planes combined in my first year back into RC. Loved this plane - highly recommended for beginners or just relaxing flying. Eventually expired from morning dew.​

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Duet - I did a custom green and yellow warbird style paint job. Eventually gave it to a kid in my RC club​

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FT Mini Speedster really didn't have good luck with this one. After 4 or 5 crashes without covering 50 feet, I scrapped it ​

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Puddle Shark foamy from plans off an RC Groups thread. It hardly flew at all - maybe 75 feet in 4 attempts. ​

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Kittenz Tiny Glider lots of fun to fly with my daughter and got me back into modeling after a 20+ year hiatus.​

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[FlyingMonkey]

Nice list. I may have to put one together myself.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[LitterBug]

Nice to see I am not the only one with a lot in the hanger! I have been tyring so hard not to buy or build anything not already in the hanger, but some how, another one always seems to follow me home, end up in the mailbox, or on the porch. Mine is heavier on the multirotor side, but I do have a decent number of planks that I need to fly.

Cheers!
LitterBug

 

[PsyBorg]

Man that is a very impressive and diverse list of flyable things. I will probably be as bad when I have been actively addicted as long as a lot of you guys have been. I am only two and a half years in and have six flying things and two partial builds.

 

[rockyboy]

Man that is a very impressive and diverse list of flyable things. I will probably be as bad when I have been actively addicted as long as a lot of you guys have been. I am only two and a half years in and have six flying things and two partial builds.

These flying things are like potato chips or tattoos. Can't stop at just one!

 

[PsyBorg]

yeah.. thanks for poking me with the crinkling bag to get me on my way...

 

[rockyboy]

You're welcome! I think I've mentioned before that I'm a filthy enabler

 

[JimCR120]

Dude! After the move (mine) we should have a flight fest at your place and you could supply all the planes:black_eyed:.

Nice post with links. I'll have to make some links like that on the thread I started the other day about my humble fleet.

 

[rockyboy]

That would be awesome!

The sad thing is we would all have to drive at least 45 minutes east, west, or south to a legal place to fly - and 60 minutes to the north

 

[SlingShot]

Nice stuff! I might be available to exercise one of your planes once in a while

I'm on the verge of busting a move and producing a couple of new ones.

 

[ItMightFly]

Hey RockyBoy, I happen to own 2 ugly sticks. I learned that it likes a bit of throttle on landing. I usually tend to see it start to stall, then add a bit of power to it. Most of the time it works, otherwise I just get the timing all off, and have to jimmy the landing gear back on. Happy flying!

 

[rockyboy]

Thanks - I love my Das Little Stick foam board model, but that Value Hobby EasyStick is just driving me nuts trying to get a decent takeoff. Once I epoxy the gear to the fuselage for the third time and switch my elevator servo out for a much faster one, I'll give it another go - I'm hoping that part of the problem has been delayed control surface movement.

Well, honestly I'm grasping at a straw here, but if I try it a third time without changing anything and expect different results, I'd be exhibiting classic symptoms of some mental problems... :black_eyed:


EDIT:

The root cause turned out to be the battery hatch magnets didn't hold the hatch closed and it would flap open once it picked up airspeed, which in turn caused a loss of lift and crash. Once I taped the darn hatch closed it flew perfectly! It now has a servo control horn latch and is a very solid flyer.

 

[PsyBorg]

Or you could just been around me too long and I rubbed off on ya hehe

 

[SheppO]

Very impressive dude ... SheppO (formerly Kittenz)

 

[rockyboy]

Very impressive dude ... SheppO (formerly Kittenz)

Hey - long time no see! It was your Tiny Trainer Glider plans I built with my daughter a couple years back that really got me back into the hobby.

 

[mogplus8]

Hi Rockyboy,
Stumbled across your efforts in the Aloft Taranis single stick forum a while back. At the time I had a new Quanum stick, and you mentioned you'd tried one but found one of the axes didn't work. At the time I hadn't tried mine. Well, I have now, and out of two Quanum sticks, none of the axes work. I have tried connecting a multimeter (set on 20k) across the output wires of the sticks, and not one of them changes the resistance. I thought I must be doing something wrong so I tried another stick I have, and it works perfectly. So I think my methodology is okay. I've since read that reversing the polarity on hall effect sensors can damage them, and 5v can also damage them. So maybe I fried one stick already (put it in a box and hooked it up to an Arduino 5v output. Comparisons with bulls in china shops spring to mind...) but I still have one pristine one.
At the time you mentioned you tried reversing the sensors. I've searched the forums but I can't find anything about how to do it. Could you please point me in the direction of some instructions or information about it? Maybe reversing all six of them might do something...
Thanks,
Ian

 

[mogplus8]

Belay that last message. I've now learned that if I connect my Quanum stick to an Arduino and do an analogRead, it all works. Sort of. So it looks like, for some reason, the Hall effect sensors don't work the same way as pots, or something, because the multimeter wasn't able to read any difference when the stick was moved.

I have also found that the stick movement values aren't that wide (around 400 for one of the axes, closer to 800 for another) for the raw alanogRead. so having 1024 resolution (or more) is of questionable value. I've tried adjusting the magnet position by rotating the small black ring next to the sensor, but have not managed to improve anything. If anything I usually make it worse. Still playing with it though. The stick I have installed in my transmitter box however still doesn't work at all, but I suspect dud soldering somewhere to be the culprit. Of the other three linear post I have installed in the box, only one works. So it looks like it will all have to come out again and all the wiring up will have to be redone. <sigh>
Cheers, Ian