A friend sent me this one, all I can say is WOW!  Where do I get this?  The original article is here if you want to read about it.  The video can be seen here.  Basically this guy has taken a pretty inexpensive EPP flyer (about 30 bucks) and customized it with a fully movable camera that transmits to a VR headset.  This way he get an in cockit view of the plane as well as the ability to look around.  Watch the video, this is about the coolest thing I have ever seen!

 

I recently had the opportunity to fly in a full scale heli.  This is the Robinson R22 helicopter that a neighbor owns.  You can buy your own at http://www.controller.com/listings/forsale/list.asp?catid=5&man=ROBINSON&mdlgrp=R22 if you have a couple hundred thousand laying around.  I was surprised how stable and smooth this little copter was, the pilot was ex-military and an active flight trainer so he showed me a lot of very impressive maneuvers.  I would suggest giving this a try sometime.

 
 

After frying my tail motor I decided to do some research into ways to help protect the motor from the higher voltages output with a three cell lipo.  I found the following to be a good solution.  What this solution does is limit the voltage to the tail motor to around 9V so that it does not overheat itself and eventually burn out.  This certainly wont make it last forever but it will prolong your motor life a lot.  You can get tail motors pretty cheap from BPHobbies (http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=V019752&pid=NESKV003) that one is for the E-Sky but it works just fine on your Blade CP.

 

NOTE: Doing this incorrectly will FRY your 4 in 1 unit be carefull!

 

1) Disconnect your main rotor motor wire, use a multi meter to check which wire on the tail is positive (if you bought it second hand they may be reversed i.e. red may be negative, be sure to check this!!)

2) Buy a 9.1V 5W Zener Diode (http://www.futurlec.com/cgi-bin/search/qty_price.cgi?part_no=1N5346B)

3) Buy a 2.2 Ohm 1/2W - 1W Resistor (http://www.futurlec.com part number R0022R12W)

4) De-solder the positive wire from the motor.

5) Solder the Anode side of the Diode (the end without the silver line) to the negative post of the motor.

6) Solder the Cathode side of the Diode (the end with the silver line) and one end of the resistor to the positive post of the motor.

7) Solder the red motor wire to the other end of the resistor.

Here is the completed tail mod

I decided recently to get more into scale flying so I bought a PC-9. 

This plane is pretty impressive in its quality the foam parts fit together nicely and there were very few holes or chips in the foam itself.  I only wish it was EPP but I don't plan to crash it (ya right).  I got it last night and decided to do this one up right.  I actually painted it.  (For those of you who don't get the joke; I like to fly more than build most of my planes are white and stickerless).  The first night (4 hours) I was able to paint the body, wings and rudder, assemble the ailerons and attach the main wing, cockpit, and cowl.  Mount the motor and get the general electrics in place.   If I would have used the included stickers it would have probably taken less than 2 hours to get it 100% together.  I just decided to wait on the paint.  Tonight I plan to rig the elevator and rudder and start setting the CG for a flight (i hope) this weekend.  I will keep you all posted.

Configuration:

Stock Motor
Pixie 20 ESC
JR600 Reciever
JR241 Servos(3)
3-Cell Thunderpower Lipo
APC 8x6E Prop with Spinner
Weight: 16.1oz ( a lot less than the 22-25 they say on the site)

--G

Check out my parkzone F27 Mod.

Why?  Well I was bored one Saturday at the hobby shop and ran across the wing replacement for the F27 stryker by parkzone.  Having all the electrics at home I decided to get one and try to strap on a motor and fly it.  Not much to the wing and it didn't come with anything other than the nose replacement.  So off to the Internet I went to look at some pictures so I could add the ailerons and the vertical stabilizers.  Once I found some reasonable pictures I opened up Corel draw and designed them to print on a cutting template.  That was actually the hard part; once I had the foam ready I simply CA's them on and started to put on the electronics.  Next I went on to the motor mount.  The original design calls for a top strap mounted direct drive motor, and I wanted a stick mount.  I epoxied two 1/4 inch plywood together in a block that is 2x1 inches and then epoxied on a 3/8 stick making sure that the final motor alignment was similar to the stock configuration.  I covered the wings with some shelf paper i found at home depot, it looks like brushed aluminum; very fancy.

All-in-all it was about an hour to get this plane flight ready.  The last part was really to figure out what prop would have enough power to fly this.  The overall weight of the plane was 13.5 oz.  I usually use an equation that states you need 1.5 times the weight in thrust; so I needed around 21oz of thrust.  I opened up my box-o-props and with a thrust stand started to test them out.  The problem was that it only has a 8.5 inch clearance between the vertical stabs.  What I ended up with was a GWS 8x6 (orange) prop gave me plenty thrust to spare.

Here is what I have on this plane for others who want to try it out:

 

E-flite Park 370 Outrunner

Thunderpower 3Cell 1300mah

GWS 8/6 Prop

Castle Creations thunderbird 18 ESC

JR601 Receiver

Prop saver
Two HS-55 Servos
 

I would really suggest trying one of these it really is an awesome tracking and speedy plane.  Moving up from 3D foamies it really makes a huge difference in experience to have such an aerodynamic plane.

 

 

In stepping through my video (first flight) guess what I found.  My alerions were setup backwards!!!  Well I guess I learned that lesson the hard way.  So now I have rebuilt the front end and am ready to give it a try again.  Look here soon for another video (weather permitting).

Well pretty much the entire front was toast.  I had to rebuild it with some extra foam, gorilla glue and epoxy.  I had to totally rebuild the motor mount.  I originally crafted one from some of the parts that came with the kit, i would not suggest this.  Look in the gallery for a shot of the new mount.

Well i finally got out there to "fly" my e-flite ultimate.  I seem to have something very wrong with the setup in that the plane really pulled to the right.  I hope my next flight is more productive.  Check out my awesome recoveries.  I cant believe I kept it up that long.  There is a new video in the now playing section.

Here are my favorites links to RC sites around the internet.  Some sites are for building, shopping, plans, simulators and other things we need to create our toys.

 

http://www.3dxhobbies.com - Here is where you can order foam for your lite planes and boats.
http://redshangarone.com - Here is where you can order plans for the flying boat and other accessories.
http://www.rc-sim.de/dl_engine/index.php?subcat=52 - downloads for simulators
http://www.redrockethobbies.com/ - a site for almost everything
http://www.flyingbaer.de/ - Many FMS and other simulator files
http://www.rc-sim.de/index_en.htm - RC SIM, many files you need.
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html - FMS Free Simulator

http://www.charlesriverrc.org/articles/tools/brengmancutter.htm - Hot Wire foam cutter plans

http://www.skyhooks.ca/ - Micro RC Flyers
http://www.customcdr.com/ - Custom made brushless motors

My 3D Flyer Project

 

Well I finally decided to learn to fly.  I friend of mine and I decided to try and build a flying boat but due to shipping issues I ended up buying a E-Flite Ultimate bi-plane 3D flyer.  So what is a 3D flyer?  It is a plane made of foam that is extemely light (12 oz) with a pretty powerfull engine on it.  With this combo it is possible to fly in any direction and even indoors, if you are good enough.  I will be uploading some pictures of my progress.  Currently I have it assembled and I put on a brushless motor.  It should fly pretty well, I am still using a simulator to practice before I crash it into the ground.