Piaget Video

Got some video of my Piaget this morning, despite it being on/off breezy. I really can't say enough about this plane. This is with the new aileron push rods put in (think it really helped, but have to get the longer horn in next). Also, not sure if it was the wind or not, but I'm pretty sure the Corona SC Rx was gliching on me, mostly when the radio was pointed right at the plane. That really sucks. I've had it with single conversion Rx's. At least with this radio on ch 30, it sure has problems for me.

Refit Typhoon 3D with new Outrunner

Well, it was too windy to fly today, so I spent the day fixing planes. I REALLY needed to change the aileron push rods on the Piaget (they were flexing and not pushing in a straight line). So I did that, and I also was not real happy with the reception on the GWS 4ch SC Rx on the piaget, so I swapped it out to try the synthetic Corona 4ch SC I got. It worked pretty well from what I can see, and has good range. Flew it for just a second, but it was doing 15-20mph gusts, so really was NOT fun with this piaget. Really freaked me out.

3D Foam flying

I ordered some new lipo's from Hobby City in Hong Kong. This is my third order from them, and they seem to have pretty good stuff. The chargers, lipos and motors are all much cheaper and seem to be ok quality. I've been wanting to try to get into the 3D foamie flying. SloFly.com is a great site and resource for free plans and doing 3mm EPP foam home built. There are also a lot of people that even do plan cuts for you, routinely. The foam seems very inexpensive, once you get use to how to build and work with the carbon fiber rods and all the best components. I gather it takes a little experience to get it all just right and the weight down to a reasonable level (sub-7oz planes are routine fully flight capable with battery and everything).

New T-28 Trojan

I got a Park Zone T-28 Trojan PNP version for Christmas. It was a scratch and dent special from Air Land Hobbies. It had a slightly crushed canopy and the trailing edge of the wing had been compressed pretty hard, but I got it all repaired pretty well, and it looks great!

I love the way it flies (once I got the CoG worked out and pushed the battery forward better). With the CoG right at 2.25" back from the leading edge of the wing out 1" from the fuse, it flies SUPER. I love how it looks in the air and it glides in nice. It is no where near as knife edge sharp as my Typhoon 3D is, but it glides better, and I love how it looks in the air. It is also SUPER quiet with the 1100 KV outrunner motor. I suspect the corsair flies similar, and I would love to have one of those PNP versions too.

Hitec Rx

Well, I keep having problems with my Hitec Mini 6s single conversion Rx. The gliching happens in multiple planes, different ESC's and all different locations (even way out in the desert where there should be no interferrance). I'm pretty sure it is bad (or maybe the ch 30 crystal is bad???). Anyway, I'm going to replace it with a Neutron 6s dual conversion. I love how they work. I've had too many cases of near crashes or partial crashes (grin) with this Mini 6s. The latest was trying it in my Typhoon. And when those control surfaces go full rail glitch...wow...hard to recover from. I'm sick of it. I don't think it has anything to do with single conversion, but I'm done. It just isn't worth monkeying with. I'm going dual conversion and have had absolutely ZERO problems with two different neutron 6s Rx.

Easy Star Video at Cascade, ID

I took some on board video from my EZ* on the ATC2K. Merry Christmas!

Winter Video

Motor Problems

Well, I think I finally figured out what was wrong with my EZ* (which is currently at 26.5 oz flight weight with 2200mAh). It has been glitching and motor cutting out (along with the whole servos and everything). It was very intermittent and happened for only brief periods of time, but it was getting worse and when it made all the controls go unresponsive, it was very bad. So, I swapped ESC's out to the new Turnigy 40A Sentry ESC I have for putting into my Typhoon...no difference. Swapped my Hitec Mini 6s out for the Neutron 6s dual conversion from my Typhoon (which has NOT been having any problems in the same flying area). That "seemed" liked it fixed it (at least no glitches in the quick test flight), but the motor also suddenly quit working too. Glided it in and checked it, and the motor was boiling hot. And the foam around it was melting, so now, it is very loose and sloppy in the mount. Pulled it all out and started looking, and one of the wires had melted through the insulation and it looked like it was shorting out to the case of the motor. It was also very rough on the motor shaft spin, so I put a little 3-in-1 oil in it. Seems a lot better now. On top of all of that, I have been running my prop blade backwards. It was pushing correctly, but I didn't have the right leading edge going the way I needed. Hope that hasn't been contributing to it getting super hot and not doing a super great job pushing (seemed like it should have a little more thrust).

Aerial Video Footage

Got my first aerial video footage with my ATC2K helmet cam from Oregon Scientific. Spent some time and edited the footage down to about half of what was there originally. I need to learn to fly smoother when taking video, because the erratic motion of large control surface movements really makes it tough to watch. It would be cool to find a way to integrate the on screen display with current, heading, GPS, altitude, speed and temp all into this on just the helmet cam, even without transmitting full FPV, but I guess that will have to wait.

I'm still having problems with the glitches, and I'm wondering if it is the BEC on the ESC not able to handle the current (it is only rated at 2A at 5v). I have a new 40A ESC that I'm going to use for my new out runner motor on my Typhoon, but not using right now that I may put on (it has 3A capability). If that doesn't fix it, then I'll have to start swapping out the receiver and stuff. I'm going to try it one component at a time.

Aileron Easy Star Modificaiton

Put some pictures up below of my aileron mod to my easy star. I put carbon fiber rods in the foam to help give it more stiffness. Also, just used simple packing tape for the hinges after cutting 45-degree slices out of the bottom of each mating surface. Then, used Hitec HS-55 micro servos in the wing. Had to use some extensions for the cords (should have probably put it in closer and might have been able to avoid having to use extensions). I only had 24" ones right now, but I think 6" ones would be just fine. I'll swap them out when I get the chance.

Typhoon 3D

Maidened my Park Zone Typhoon 3D yesterday (the original, not the Typhoon 2) that I got for $65 on close out from AirLand Hobbies. Holy !@$#, that was a handful. None of the surfaces were right, despite "looking" lined up ok. Thing jumped off the deck like I was use to from the simulator, but then it was pitching, rolling and diving. Even with lower rates it was full time panic, while I tried to gain some altitude and get the trims set.