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I'm not sure things have ever been better in some departments..

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I'm not sure things have ever been better in some departments..

Old 01-29-2014, 09:08 PM
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MJD
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Default I'm not sure things have ever been better in some departments..

I dropped by the LHS today finally and picked up a pair of HS35 Hitec servos. I would have nabbed four but they only had two. They're tiny.. and they have metal-karbonite gears, so I hope they may do fine in a 1/8A or 1/4A model and I intend to try them out. Puttering around in the workshop today I assembled a 2 channel micro flight pack, a Lemon Rx (so far one works perfectly in an .010 model), and a 2S 120mAh Lipo pack. 20.9 grams, add what, about 2g for a micro 5V regulator and you get 22.9 grams. Add two more servos for 4 channel (wing mount one per aileron, they're only 0.3" thick), and total is about 31.9 grams = 1-1/8 ounces. To me it's mind boggling the RC technology that you can pick off the shelf - affordably - these days. I think it's great.

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Old 01-29-2014, 09:39 PM
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combatpigg
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The ultimate would be seeing a .010 powered RC model able to hover and do KE loops.
Old 01-30-2014, 07:32 AM
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MJD

I found the antenna wire on the lemon Rx's to be a very small gauge stranded wire. I was worried that it would stress crack where it was attached to the Rx board, so I cut a round toothpick (tested several before I found one that didn't crack when bent) to length so it extended about 1/3 of the way out each antenna wire when laid across the bottom of the Rx board. I also dipped it in thin CA to harden it up a bit. I laid it across the bottom of the board and used small diameter heat shrink tubing to cover each antenna and toothpick from the end of the antenna to the board edge. On the bottom of the board, I ran a small bead of hot glue the full length of the toothpick to stick it down.

As long as the toothpick doesn't get whacked on landing, it should add a lot of structural integrity to the antenna attachment points.

I don't have a means of taking a picture, so you'll just have to guess what it looks like. I initially thought about a bamboo skewer, but it was just too bulky.
Old 01-30-2014, 05:31 PM
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You're right, and I have reinforced the antenna on the one in use right now. Apart from that, I don't have much to complain about with them. That pin block almost doubles the weight of the Rx. Not sure what my next .010 effort will be, either a tiny bipe or a micro Pizzazz/Twist kind of thing. Just to be a fanatic and for fun, I think I'll hard wire the servos to the bare board Rx.
Old 01-30-2014, 06:35 PM
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How about a .010 powered Pizza Box Flyer..?
10" x 10" or so.
Build it like the Vapor.
You will not need throttle, just keep banging the sticks to keep the speed down.
Old 01-30-2014, 07:07 PM
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Truth is, I'm not a big fan of aircraft of that type. I'd like a little bipe or sport aerobatic mid wing. Years ago I started what I figured at the time would end up being a tiny .010 powered Hot Kanary. I still have the fuse somewhere.

But wouldn't a micro Cassutt Racer be cool?
Old 02-01-2014, 08:17 PM
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My fantasy is still to do a tiny diesel powered plane-using a Bambi, AE 0.1 or one of the Valentine engines. The TD 010 has so much power there isn't much of a challenge there-and there are plenty of 010 designs out there. At the moment I'm leaning towards a Tom Prukner 'Japp' -published in AM in the mid 60s for an 010 and the Webra Picco pulse unit. I built a CO2 FF version several decades ago which flew well on a Telco, so with the modern gear............the little 'Pomilio' (a Vic Smeed design) shown attached is about 22" span and flew like a dream on the VA Bambi, but structurally is not suited for R/C without a complete fuselage redesign. I reckon for 2-ch work I could get the airborne R/C weight down to 10-15g............with an orange Rx, 2g servos and a Lipo

ChrisM
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Old 02-01-2014, 08:57 PM
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I have a 22" span Tomboy half framed up, which will undoubtedly turn out to be too small for the .010 but should be fun. I think it needs OT floats.
Old 02-01-2014, 10:29 PM
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Would that be the Tom Thumb?.....which Vic actually did design for the Bambi-or have you just scaled down the full sized Tomboy? I know Mountain Models do a nice little electric version for indoor-which I'm tempted to get. Sadly I don't have the Pomilio any more-lost it when the roof box on the car blew open Feb last year and strewed the contents over the Wellington motorway. Amongst all the wreckage-and unbeknownst to me at the time-was the Pomilio fuselage along with the Bambi. I got some of the items back-but lost quite a few-mainly tail units.

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Old 02-02-2014, 07:55 AM
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It is my own scaled down version, using a set of full plans I found somewhere online in CAD format. Soon as I get my laser cutter going - still on the learning curve - I'll carve out the ribs and get it finished, fuse is framed up already.

Bummer about your roof box incident.
Old 02-02-2014, 04:56 PM
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Originally Posted by MJD
It is my own scaled down version, using a set of full plans I found somewhere online in CAD format. Soon as I get my laser cutter going - still on the learning curve - I'll carve out the ribs and get it finished, fuse is framed up already.

Bummer about your roof box incident.
Yes-I was not a happy camper-there were no swear words strong enough in the circumstances. Considering it happened about 2pm on a saturday-it wasn't rush hour-but you can't just wander over an 8 lane highway looking for model parts afterwards. And considering the plastic box that flew out shattering on the asphalt and strewing all its contents over several hundred metres (it was windy at the time) held only tail units-and for some unfathomable reason the Pomilio fuselage, 8 or 9 models were out of action due to missing or destroyed components. I reckon I recovered maybe a third of what had been in the box. Still it was a lesson hard learned......cheap roof boxes can be expensive in the long run....!

ChrisM
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Old 02-02-2014, 08:18 PM
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I remember the old days well, when a servo under an ounce was considered very light.
And then when 1/2 ounce servos showed up they cost $50 (or more!) each.
Bill Cannons radios were the only game in town for .020 multi channel proportional planes.
Anything that was anywhere near that light back in the old days was only single channel.
Yup, we have it good!
Dave
Old 02-04-2014, 10:10 PM
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Originally Posted by fritzke
I remember the old days well, when a servo under an ounce was considered very light.
And then when 1/2 ounce servos showed up they cost $50 (or more!) each.
Bill Cannons radios were the only game in town for .020 multi channel proportional planes.
Anything that was anywhere near that light back in the old days was only single channel.
Yup, we have it good!
Dave
I bought my first radio in 1974, a Cox/Sanwa 4 channel AM set. In the frantic RC years to follow I flew various 1/2A models with the same 4xAA pack, half a cigarette pack receiver and 2 standard servos. The common theme was lots of wing.

In the mid 1980's I watched various small models with G mark .030's, TD/Pee Wee .020's struggle to fly with overweight airframes and either heavy gear, or what seemed to be notoriously cranky niche market micro gear. I still have an instinctive fear of any NiCad smaller than a AA, and add NiMh to the same list a decade and a half later. Most problems could probably have been avoided with one of today's quality smart chargers..

And now here I am puttering with small models more frequently again and the shelves are ripe, almost bursting for the picking. Just add money, it all seems to be out there. Well, except for small IC engines hanging in blister cards at the local store.
Old 02-06-2014, 07:36 AM
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OHHH love the idea of small IC engines hanging in blister cards at the local store.. Oh what a world that would be.
Old 02-06-2014, 07:59 AM
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Memories..



I love the perforated tear-off packages.. "uh yeah, gimme 3 of those Babe Bees. No wait, make it four, and I better grab a couple of PeeWees too.".. "okay, that'll be $39.86 with tax".
Old 02-06-2014, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by MJD
"uh yeah, gimme 3 of those Babe Bees. No wait, make it four, and I better grab a couple of PeeWees too.".. "okay, that'll be $39.86 with tax".
Oh man what I wouldn't give to relive those days! I can remember when a Black Widow .049 was around 8 bucks. Back in the early-mid 80's, I bought 2 Pee Wee's new in blister pack for 10.00 during a big sale at an old hobby shop. I keep wishing for another manufacturer to start mass producing engines in the .020 and smaller range. But, unfortunately with todays cost of business and the economy, prices for such engines would most likely cost way more than they would be worth.

Shawn

Last edited by SnApRoLl-; 02-06-2014 at 02:40 PM.
Old 02-06-2014, 07:03 PM
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I can remember buying Cox Pee Wees in the blister pack in the mid 70s for NZ $8.95-at the local (Eclipse Radio and Hobbies) model shop-but in an intermediate package to MJD's one shown above-the one I recall was a lavender blue card-which preceded MJDs multi-coloured one shown on the lower left above. I remember being impressed that they did an R/C version as well.... Just to make life difficult, they had no prop at all appropriate for the PeeWee-and my first run was on a Cox black 6x3 cut down to 4". The shop's stock of Babe Bees were still in the orange tear off packaging colours.
......the cheapest engine I ever bought new retail was the DC Wasp-at NZ $7.95 from the same shop, around '72 or '73.........

ChrisM
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....one of those PeeWees is still sitting on the front of an Ace 'Dick's Dream'..............
Old 02-06-2014, 07:45 PM
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FYI I copied those pictures from Dr. Hepperle's site - where I direct everyone looking for historical Cox info. www.mh-aerotools.de

I wish I still had all of mine in those blister cards! I remember getting a Pee Wee and CG Ranger 30 for my 8th or 9th birthday. Had help building of course and lost it on the first flight.

My most vintage Cox engine is a Thermal Hopper.

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