What Did You Fly Today

[tonyturley]

Dual maiden voyages early today. First was my Mini Scout, my first foray into FT territory. I used a bunch of retro gear I've had on my shelves or bin boxes: a Feigao 12x22mm inrunner that I've had for around 20 years but never used, running in a GWS LPS-A gearbox with an Aeronaut 6.3x3 SF prop, a pair of unbranded 5g servos, an FMA Tetra AM RX, and a Hitec Focus 3 SS TX. Only concession to modern was a 2S high rate 300mAh lipo. Plenty of power at a flying weight of 148g, this plane is definitely a relaxed, calm weather flyer.

Next up was my Cox Cessna 182 converted to electric power. This 40 year old model was given to me by a couple of friends a few weeks ago, completely to my surprise. Never assembled or flown, they carried it through move after move for decades before deciding I should have it. I removed the engine and installed an E-flite Park 370, turning a Gemfan 7x3.5 SF prop on a 3S 800 lipo. Smooth and stable flight, but much faster than I expected. Even throttled back it made my usual flying site seem a lot smaller. I think I must have been holding my breath while I flew it, because I kind of let out a big sigh when it rolled out in front of me.

 

[Mr Man]

Dual maiden voyages early today. First was my Mini Scout, my first foray into FT territory. I used a bunch of retro gear I've had on my shelves or bin boxes: a Feigao 12x22mm inrunner that I've had for around 20 years but never used, running in a GWS LPS-A gearbox with an Aeronaut 6.3x3 SF prop, a pair of unbranded 5g servos, an FMA Tetra AM RX, and a Hitec Focus 3 SS TX. Only concession to modern was a 2S high rate 300mAh lipo. Plenty of power at a flying weight of 148g, this plane is definitely a relaxed, calm weather flyer.

Next up was my Cox Cessna 182 converted to electric power. This 40 year old model was given to me by a couple of friends a few weeks ago, completely to my surprise. Never assembled or flown, they carried it through move after move for decades before deciding I should have it. I removed the engine and installed an E-flite Park 370, turning a Gemfan 7x3.5 SF prop on a 3S 800 lipo. Smooth and stable flight, but much faster than I expected. Even throttled back it made my usual flying site seem a lot smaller. I think I must have been holding my breath while I flew it, because I kind of let out a big sigh when it rolled out in front of me.

View attachment 258733
View attachment 258734

Nice! That Cessna looks SWEET!!

 

[bisco]

they both look great. nice ob on the mini scout, i love the details!

 

[LitterBug]

Had Nano Goblins 4 and 2 (L/R) up in pretty gusty conditions. My maden for #4. 18MPH+ Gusts. could hover above the treeline. You can see the trees blowing in the background of this video of a 104" Gasser flying at the field. Wind didn't touch it

Can't catch a break getting the used RMRC Recruit maidened. Winglet this time...

 

[LitterBug]

Had a VERY successful LOS day, 6 for 6 no crashes. FINALLY got the RMRC Recruit maidened. Did a maiden Hover test of the ZMO but did not transition to winged flight.

Bad day fpv. Took the Googles and Gimbal Pod for the Stratosurfer. Was mostly working fine in preflight testing except I could not get the gimbal out of headtracking into forward locked mode. At some point with all the button pushing, the goggles went into a blue screen. rebooted goggles, now it gave the boot screen, but went black.... >sigh<... gotta debug it before next time out. With all these flying, I am going to focus on my FT/other foamboard planes and getting ready for FliteFest.

 

[CRASH 22]

I guess because it was really windy,
And Father’s Day
I was the only person at my club flying today out of 106 members
So I flew a .46 nitro plane
It handles the wind really well

 

[CRASH 22]

View attachment IMG_4506.jpeg

 

[LitterBug]

Oh dear.... what have I gone and done now???

 

[Mr Man]

View attachment 258833

Oh dear.... what have I gone and done now???

Spent some money? 🤣

 

[Houndpup Rc]

View attachment 258833

Oh dear.... what have I gone and done now???

Spent some money? 🤣

Well spent IMO😂👍

 

[LitterBug]

Well spent IMO😂👍

No money spent. Required OTJ training and I am allowed to cR@s#. Had to fix it, set it up, etc.... too.

 

[L Edge]

View attachment 258833

Oh dear.... what have I gone and done now???

How soon can we see you mowing the grass?

If you get a larger version chopper, you can also remove a light dusting of snow from your driveway and sidewalk.

 

[LitterBug]

How soon can we see you mowing the grass?

If you get a larger version chopper, you can also remove a light dusting of snow from your driveway and sidewalk.

Today actually! There was a "brief" mowing sound involved and no inversion. I would classify it as more of an unplanned landing since there were no broken parts. Just a dislocated anti-rotation pin on the collective.

Still working on radio setup and leveling the servos. It had a bit of drift to the left, and I have that mostly zeroed out. I flew better today after figuring out I had yaw backwards yesterday.

Fortunately don't need snow removal this time of the year. Maybe I'll be up to a M7 by winter....

 

[L Edge]

View attachment 258833

Oh dear.... what have I gone and done now???

Here is a picture of the first heli my son and I flew in 1983 when there were no gyros and fancy radios.

Notice no paddles on yours, and to set the blades at 5 degrees, 2 crescent wrenches were used where one was on the blade holder and the other on the blade and you twisted the pair to set your angle. Then you did your tracking and angling back and forth until you got both right to fly. Some pilots broke the blades so often from crashes that they took venetian wooded blinds, glued 2 together, sanded them, balanced them and they actually flew. Heli's are expensive!!!!!.

Since the shipping box contains no flying instructions and no internet available, no clubs in the areas had anybody doing it, it was brace yourself and power up. Yaw was the toughest for every time you incremented the throttle either way, the tail moved either one way or the other.
Once you solved that, you had to go thru 3 stages(like a FC) hovering, transition where you moved slowly from spot to spot, and then accelerate into and return from forward flight.

As time progressed and more pilots got into flying them, mechanical gyros appeared and the task of yaw reduced until no yaw problems came about with electronic gyros. Then Head holding entered and now it offers a new type of flying for the youngster's.

2 things left is to learn how to auto(will save you the crash and big dollars) and mowing the grass. With the new computerize heli, the graph setup is easy. Look what we had to do to go invert;

2 ways to do that is roll your chopper upside down( make sure blade angle is zero at that point ) or do a loop and flip that gear/invert switch at the top of the loop and the blade angle has to be zero. Then descend down and mow your grass. Gee, you can do that now in summer.

@LitterBug: suggest you take videos of your flights so you can build a library to look at when your old and gray and show your progress.

 

[bisco]

I bought a nice big copter back in the 80's. could never get it to do anything but tip over. the guy from the hobby shop had no problem flying it, and I wound up giving it away

 

[Mr NCT]

Hot an humid here today but that's no excuse! I've flown: Black Hawk, MM Skymaster V3, a new Scout and the MM DR1. The soy beans are getting high enough to be a pain if I don't land close.

 

[LitterBug]

StratoSurfer, RMRC Recruit (prop testing), NanoGoblin #2. STUPID crazy humid here today. Forcast is for stupid crazy heat this week and next.

 

[LitterBug]

Here is a picture of the first heli my son and I flew in 1983 when there were no gyros and fancy radios.

View attachment 258900
Notice no paddles on yours, and to set the blades at 5 degrees, 2 crescent wrenches were used where one was on the blade holder and the other on the blade and you twisted the pair to set your angle. Then you did your tracking and angling back and forth until you got both right to fly. Some pilots broke the blades so often from crashes that they took venetian wooded blinds, glued 2 together, sanded them, balanced them and they actually flew. Heli's are expensive!!!!!.

Since the shipping box contains no flying instructions and no internet available, no clubs in the areas had anybody doing it, it was brace yourself and power up. Yaw was the toughest for every time you incremented the throttle either way, the tail moved either one way or the other.
Once you solved that, you had to go thru 3 stages(like a FC) hovering, transition where you moved slowly from spot to spot, and then accelerate into and return from forward flight.

As time progressed and more pilots got into flying them, mechanical gyros appeared and the task of yaw reduced until no yaw problems came about with electronic gyros. Then Head holding entered and now it offers a new type of flying for the youngster's.

2 things left is to learn how to auto(will save you the crash and big dollars) and mowing the grass. With the new computerize heli, the graph setup is easy. Look what we had to do to go invert;

View attachment 258905

2 ways to do that is roll your chopper upside down( make sure blade angle is zero at that point ) or do a loop and flip that gear/invert switch at the top of the loop and the blade angle has to be zero. Then descend down and mow your grass. Gee, you can do that now in summer.

@LitterBug: suggest you take videos of your flights so you can build a library to look at when your old and gray and show your progress.

We had a neighbor back in the late 70's who would use our driveway to practice. All he really did was hover, mostly in ground effect. Not sure if he flew it anywhere else. He flew RC planes too. No stabilization or return to home. He lost at least one when it flew away.

My dad talked about getting into the hobby. But we were more into computers/electronics. That turned into a good career for me, paid for my hobbies, and has now circled back around into a job in the R/C world.

Helis are fine. Have to fly them to learn everything about them. I will never be a 3D angry mosquito pilot. Frankly, some of those pilots scare the bajeebees out of me.

 

[tomlogan1]

Guy at out field was flying a pretty large gas (nito)? helicopter inverted with the blade about 3 inches off the runway. Probably farther than that, but I didn't want to get any closer.

 

[MadMonkey]

He flew RC planes too. No stabilization or return to home. He lost at least one when it flew away.

Years ago I was at the field when a guy took off with a nice Ultimate. This was when there were still some holdouts flying on 72mhz.

A little while later he starts yelling WHO'S ON 14??

We look over and his plane is spiraling down out of control. He keeps screaming WHO'S ON 14 over and over, getting louder and louder and his voice getting higher and higher until it cracked right about the time the plane disappeared from view and into the ground. Then once more with the saddest look and probably tears in his eyes he spun around to the peanut gallery and yelled WHOOOOO'S ON FOURTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN 🥺

I felt bad for laughing so hard because he probably loved that plane. But I managed to hold it until he was gone.

Nobody else was on 14.

Now any time someone loses link at the field I yell WHO'S ON 14 lol

I'm a bad person 💀