Tiger

My Feedback: (7)

Bravo! Very well said!

Hangtime

My Feedback: (19)

Should retire my 1/4 and 1/5 scale gas models because they might 'explode'? I haven't seen anybody detonate a Ziroli Skyraider lately on the flight line, but I suppose it could happen. I'd probably happily go back to rubber power, but a contest motor for a 1/4 scale mustang might be a mite hard to get from Tower. (can you picture the winder??) And gawd save us all from the price of an electric power system for an IMAC contender.

Today.

Course, 5 years from now I expect the picture won't have changed too much. It'll still be 'recognizable' (if homeland security don't pull our collective plugs). I'll still be flyin gas, contest rubber motors for 1/4 scale won't be at tower and an electric power system for 1/4 scale aerobatics will still cost 4 times as much as a Zenoah G-62 and it'll probably still be at least an hour being charged (by a vehicle engine supporting a field battery) before I can fly it again.

But, I expect by then Li-Po Rx and Tx packs will be 'main streamed', and Nicad might be gone from the scene (tree hugger legislation) and NiMH will be doing what Nicads did 'back in the day'. Who knows.. I'll have fun watching what develops, but I'll certainly not be in the 'mad rush' to embrace nuclear fission powered Rx packs any more than I was in a mad rush to endorse NiMH.

Here's a novel thought.. the hobby, and the majority of modelers it's made up of are by nature 'inclusionary' rather than 'visionary'. We'll welcome anything that makes what we want to fly, fly better, or longer, or stronger, or further. Most of us are willing to accept there's more than one way to get to the results we want, and are interested in both their own route to satisfaction and in the divergent routes others take to get there.

However, for the most part I've found most modelers (myself included) to be a mite conservative in regards to the silly little things like whats powering the servo's and Rx in that 5,000 dollar giant scale investment. Other's are a mite put off by lil things like insane pricetags for the goodies to play out there on the bleeding edge. Even a larger percentage of us have no desire to re-learn how to do what we already know how to do when the stuff we're happy with works just fine for what it was intended to do.

Then there's some that just slap the blinders on and shout down any approach to happiness behind the sticks that doesn't include their particular flavor of the week in the mix.

IMHO, it's them folks that 'have issues' that always seem to 'propagate issues'.. rather than just enjoying the hobby and whatever technology it is that makes 'em happy, they have just got to hang somebody as a luddite for prefering to do what they can't see as being 'the right thing to do'.

Is winter over yet? gawd; I GOTTA get away from this keyboard and go fly something! (the old fashioned way.. with a smile, and enthusiasm unquenched by some framitz that didn't do what the rocket scientists said it would do)

Cheers!

Pilotsmoe

yeah, if there is a short

arx_n_sparx

I guess that in the coming years, I will become a Luddite, and shun the "new technology" when my LiPos become outdated. This will happen because I have all of the equipment/chargers/etc. FOR the LiPos, instead of the new technology. I can understand the point of view that it is "new tech/rocket science/whatever"....

I'm restarting fresh in the hobby after a 15 yr lay-off, so I'm grabbing the latest technology simply because it offers more P/W. I can understand the point of view that says "new and untested" - I'm willing to try it, that's all. I guess the most important thing is that I've done serious homework on LiPo care/maintenance, and understand the issues involved. Yes, it has its downfalls, and I'm sure someone will come up with the "better mousetrap" before my LiPos become "old technology". NiCads still deliver the punch, but I really don't see a future for them, other than sitting in a museum (this is what Grandpa used to use to go R/C flying...)

I don't think that there is much we "new tech" guys can say to the old-timers to convince them that we've found a better mousetrap, until the day they go shopping for a set of new NiCads and are told "Sorry, Gramps; those have been discontinued..."

Just my $.02 worth

Brad

Flying Geezer

My Feedback: (14)

Shucks, I'm still using those old fashioned internal combustion reciprocating piston engines. Not much different than Henry Ford used. But ,I'm staying out of the battery fray. Everybody to their own choice. It's a free country, (sort of).

The Flying Geezer

ChuckAuger

My Feedback: (12)

Yeah, that's why fire extinguishers are common sights amongst gas modelers with common sense (I have gas powered models, and a fire extinguisher). If they never exploded, there would really be no need for an extinguisher.

Ya'll have fun!

clownie

I have waded in and loved it. First with my Radical Edge 540, saving a couple ounces on a plane that is now 8 ounces AUW. There I prefer the 1320 or 1500 Lipoly cells hovering at 6A. This Spring i setup a VIP pylon plane with an Aveox 27/13/4, and a 2100 3s pack drawing 14A peak. It is faster than its NiMH cousin, and weighs 16 Ounces instead of 17 making takeoffs easier.
Early on I took a small Lipoly 2s pack and plugged it into the 3s jack of my cheapo charger. When I walked by hours later was surprised to see it looked like a bag of microwave popcorn. Now I use different connectors for different cell counts, and I charge in a metal box I bought at target. I also transport in a latched metal box. I always load my batteries a couple Cs lower than their specs, when the new 10C cells come out I will try them at 8C. When you use the cells conservatively, the performance last longer per flight and per life of battery.

mschilling

Has anyone noticed that NiMH batteries have increased in capacity over the last few months/years and the price is dropping? Where will that lead?