Electric RC planes?

Drunkskunk said:
Video it!
One guy hit a duck. He quacked up and cracked up.
Click to expand...

BWAHAHAHA WINNAAAAGH!!! i would have PISSED my self laughing at that...then plucked the duck gutted it and roasted it for dinner :mrgreen:

KiM

EDIT: Luke...the talk about shooting the planes reminded me of this last night-->

[youtube]dDil4F8yJ7s[/youtube]
 
That was awesome that he managed to shoot it right through the engine. :)

Good use for a nitro powered chopper. :)
 
some of the local boys in pitt meadows have a pilot fly a foam plane while they pump it full of pellets. last i heard they had taken it to a rather interesting extreme of "shielding" the vitals and using a rosin back relased as a marker . the point was the boys with the pellet guns had to take out the plane before it could get to the target to drop the bag.

i managed to watch a few times as my shop is there and it was amazing how many shots the little foamy could take before it would come apart. you could see it jinking and lurching as it took hits and the guy flying was trying to get out of the line of fire. must have been rather fun as i hear they still do it frequently.
 
liveforphysics said:
That was awesome that he managed to shoot it right through the engine. :)

Good use for a nitro powered chopper. :)
Click to expand...

I have had 3 'nitro' helis THEY ROCK man, was back in the late 80s though lol DAMN the helis and especially the gyros of todays rc choppers are SO SO more technically advanced. We used training tables in the 80s to learn to hover , today its PC Based sims, took me near 8 weeks to hover on the table took me 8 hours to fly circuits on a sim in 16 i was doing most 3d manoeuvres years of training and HUGE dollars if a sim wasnt available...damn im so getting another RC Heli when i finished my build Trex 700 For AJ!

time to dust of Realflight...

KiM
 
Toshi said:
thoughts from the peanut gallery?
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I was advised to get a cheap RC car and practice and practice figures of 8 until it became second nature.
There is little time to think when flying models.. even slow ones will be travelling at least 15 mph (iirc).
Definitely check out the local model club and talk to people there and get their advice - check
whether they fly mode1 or mode2 before you start to learn. Nothing more amusing handing the
a mode 1 transmitter to a mode 2 pilot :) in a state of panic..

On choice of model - go for a high dihedral model - almost a free flight with inter feared RC :)
I flew vintage electric some time ago - very satisfying - my first two models became heavier and
heavier as they were repaired. The final model I built was a Junior 60, it could fly itself and I just put in
slight corrective turns :), great memories

have fun!
 
Toshi said:
i know that recumpence is into RC helis (?) bigtime, but is anyone else? i'm thinking of getting a RC plane. i have no gear, and frankly i don't know any better so i think a ready to fly (RTF) kit would be the ticket for me. which one should i get? i imagine i should be looking for something with LiPo batteries, but is a brushed motor ok?

one that i'm particularly curious about is the Hobby Zone Super Cub LP RTF (LP = LiPo, RTF is as above). it runs $180 at hobbyzone.com with everything needed in the box.

http://secure.hobbyzone.com/search/HBZ7300.html

it has at least one very positive review: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1068138 as well as others that are nearly as positive but carp about the inexpensive radio and brushed motor.

thoughts from the peanut gallery?

sclpfsplash2.jpg

(it has an optional float kit that might be fun once landings are dialed in.)
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An update from way back when: I initially ordered a WingDragon HL but it turned out to be backordered through at least March if not later. Thus I switched my order to a Super Cub LP RTF as per the original post, and it was delivered promptly. I still haven't done anything with it save for charging the batteries and modifying the battery box to accept my Zippy packs as well as the OEM LiPos since there's abundant snow on the ground… Some day I'll get it up in the air, just not anytime soon!
 
Toshi said:
Thus I switched my order to a Super Cub =
Click to expand...

My father was ~1/2 way through building a 1/4 scale model of a Super Cub when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer...died before finishing it :-( it was freakin HUUUUGE plane too, he sold what he had made to a fellow modeller at the club so it would be finished..

KiM
 
Uh oh, RC is addictive. You've been warned :twisted:

That cub looks fine for a trainer. You simply must log some time on a sim or have a proficient pilot train you or you are in for a long frustrating learning experience. I just purchased the phoenix sim (http://www.phoenix-sim.com) for keeping my thumbs nimble and it is great!

I fly small electrics, gliders(slope, Dynamic Soaring and thermal) and heli's. Also I've gotten pretty heavy into FPV (First Person View) flying. I have a full VR setup with a Pan/Tilt Head-tracking camera and goggles.

Some of my FPV videos...
http://www.vimeo.com/user437541/videos

World Record DS flight. Go ahead and youtube a bunch of DS videos, it will rock your socks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaQB16ZaNI4
 
img0262hy.jpg


I finally "flew" the plane this afternoon. In reality I just kind of swum it around the sky, 10% in control, 50% left to chance, and 40% due to the strength of the wind. Weather Underground claims it was only 7 mph today but it sure felt like more on the skin and in how much the plane was blown around. During gusts I couldn't even turn into the wind, and on my final, longest attempt the plane ended up sailing a solid 500+ feet downwind towards a somewhat concerned-looking dogwalker.

On the upside, nothing went horribly wrong mechanics-wise, just a slightly cracked cowl cover, a few tiny "bites" from a wingtip, and dirt here and there. The landing gear did prove to be quite useless on the not-quite-smooth grass field that I picked.

Next time I'll wait for 0 wind on the forecast, will switch off the "anti-crash technology" bit that makes it harder to set the plane down intentionally when it is flying away, and will dial in more control surface movement so that the controls will have a bit more of a fighting chance against what breeze might exist.
 
Remember, take off and land INTO the the wind.

You can land soft as a feather in the wind if you're facing into it, sometimes even land stationary. :)
 
After the episode a few weeks ago about which I posted two posts up I re-epoxied (er, "methylacrylated") the motor mount, and did the same to the tail section after discovering a crack was causing the whole tail to displace, screwing around with the control throws--whoops. I finally made it back outside with the plane yesterday...

... and I finally did it, it being able to fly the thing! (Still can't land reliably :x ) I flew it for two solid batteries-worth of time, probably 25-30 minutes, right turns, left turns, figure eights, fast, slow, upwind, downwind, high, low.

Then I augered it in at when the second battery ran out abruptly, cracking the fuselage's midsection at the level of the battery box clean through and cracking the motor mount again circumferentially in a different place. Oh, and the servo came loose and something in the electronics went awry sufficiently that the plane didn't respond to anything even after putting in a fresh battery.

Thus the plane has now been retired to the dumpster after pulling out the servo, rubber bands, and spare propeller for possible future use. I figured that it had served its purpose and was certainly the worse for wear after yesterday's outing.

In a month or three I plan on getting another plane, both to help me learn how to land :x and for my wife to continue to crash and learn on. Should I just go with the cheapest WingDragon or is there something more durable yet? Ability to accept 3s Lipo is a big plus as I have 1 NiMh pack of that size and three Zippy 20C 3s Lipos sitting around now.
 
I threw out the electronics--not 2.4 GHz, 3 channels, odd proprietary bits (optical sensor for "anti-crash technology" and auxiliary channel for releasing/triggering accessories).

If I don't get another RTF (ideally with a "real"/2.4 GHz/non-proprietary radio) then I'll just get something like a Spektrum DX5e to finish the build on an ARF. Either way it's not going to happen for several months as it's lower down on my priority list than several other pending purchases. 8)
 
Is this where we get to say "I told you so" with regard to getting a trainer first?

:)
 
rscamp said:
Is this where we get to say "I told you so" with regard to getting a trainer first?

:)
Click to expand...
Is the Super Cub not a trainer? It sure is advertised as one. Or are you talking about the computer software?
 
I hear ya. There are better choices though. Generally, (very generally!) something that looks scale isn't the best choice. In addition to being easy to fly, a trainer is robust, easy to repair and has low financial and emotional costs after a crash.
 
I have been flying RC planes for almost 20 years and can tell you electric rc power has really taken off. Thanks to lipoly batteries and brushless motors, electric equals and easily out performs gas power!! Not only is electric rc planes powerful, thanks to their quietness and no emissions, can fly off water or snow equally well. Love flying my rc planes at the local beach as well as flying off snow during our cold long winters. Electric RC planes are powerful enough, you can easily place a small camcorder and do aerial shots. Try http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/index.php
It's a great website!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-U3gy_vMTc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVchUsa0Kc
 

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georgefromvt said:
I have been flying RC planes for almost 20 years and can tell you electric rc power has really taken off.
Click to expand...

Woah. Good pun!

I started in '91 with 1200SCRs...
 
Just wait 'till you all discover FPV. It is highly addictive and somewhat costly.

[youtube]WBwvFjI6z3M[/youtube]
Chasing a seagull

[youtube]jmFaHLhvjl0[/youtube]
Fully instrumented with GPS, power monitoring, speeds, altitude, etc... Also equipped with Pan/Tilt camera linked to head-tracking goggles.

My video pages, lots of neat flying around and other stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/user/g00bd0g
http://www.vimeo.com/user437541

RCgroups FPV forum.

http://www.rcgroups.com/video-piloting-fpv-rpv-469/
 
Toshi said:
thanks for the tips! i had no idea that the AMA existed (well, that one--i'm a member of the American Medical Association already 8) ), and similarly hadn't heard of RC airplane insurance. would the Park Plane category of AMA membership be enough? it seems to fit me to a T:

http://www.theparkpilot.org/

here's a local club that looks interesting (ie, their website exists and isn't awful):

http://www.meroke.com/
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing the link!
 
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