Hi JPEE,

Things have basically returned to normal for us - we finished cleaning up all the branches and loose shingles. The trash pickup for the storm debris is next Tuesday so it will be nice to see it all go. Have to watch when your driving around not to get too close to the side of the road as all the tree debris sometimes can get close to the curb and if your not careful you'll scrape your car when driving past it. Ouch! Also, the schools have been closed the entire week. I told my son he got a hurricane fall break. :) They start back on Tuesday.

I like your PVC plane work stand - its nice and tall so the rudder clears the floor. I see your toy hauler is about ready - planes hung and ready for flight. I really like working with PVC piping as its easy to cut and glue together and is strong to support any kind of model. When I lived in Ohio I had built a portable PVC stand similar to yours to help put together my 40 size nitro at the field as I couldn't fit it in my car with the wing on.

With the cooler weather coming I have been wanting to get out flying again - unfortunately my fleet is not really flight ready now. So yesterday I made my first RC-related purchase in a long time...got a new charger and a new set of blades for my Fusion 50. (figured I could splurge a little bit!)

My current charger is a simple little 50 watt with an internal power supply that plugs into a 120 outlet. Takes almost 2 hours to charge a single 6S 5000 lipo - ugh! It's taken care of my charging needs but I have been needing to upgrade it. Plus the power supply you helped me make a few years back is still working so time to put it to use again. I had a Powerlab 6 for a short while and it was a nice charger but I had to sell it - so I decided to stay with the same company (Revolectrix) and try one of their different chargers but with similar features: a GT 1200. Revolectrix Plus I got a nice deal as it was on sale, so win-win.

The blades I picked up I have been wanting to try for some time: Rail 556 blades. The Switch blades I had for the past few years on the Fusion were really nice but I had to sell them with the Goblin 570 as a package this past spring.

I plan to pick up 2 more lipo's so I can get more flying time this upcoming season. Weird talking about our seasons starting in the fall. lol

That's about it for now. Of course we will be watching TS Maria churning in the Caribbean right now and see what she decides to do. And our closing is still scheduled for Nov/Dec timeframe. Have a good weekend,

Mark

Hello Mark,

We don't want any scrapes on your Stang do we....pay attention to the that debris on the side of the road!
Thanks for the kudos on the flight stand. I have about run out of time, I have the new parts for the P-51 but not the time, so this will give me project to do while waiting for my fly friends to arrive in old AZ. When we get rain or more wind than we can fly in a guy needs to have some inside bench projects to take on. I also will be removing my 700 from the 500MD Hughes so I can brush in the flat black paint on the interior of the FG shell. Then when she fly's by the interior will match the 700 and all will kinda go away from the more scale look. I also while doing to beta flights tests on the reworked 600 I need to remove the all of the temp zip ties and firmly put away all of its electronics and I want to remove a servos blades and put wire armor over all of the wires like the rest of my heli's to protect the wires from rubs no to mention they frame looks so much more complete and sweet.

I must admit I have never heard of the that charger brand. After I read if spec sheet of 1200 watts. Ah…I forgotten that you made a power supply, what from the server power supplies right? That will give you 24 volts to really get that 40 amps from your new charger. I looked up it’s spec’s and yes she will run on 24 volt +. My iCharger lets me ONLY charge with my parallel charging board 6 ea. 6S packs at 30 amps.

Output battery charge current: Adjustable range 25mA to 40A, limited by 60A input current*

Output battery discharge current: Internal discharge 25mA to 8A, 80W max, Regenerative discharge 25mA to 40A, 1200W max**

Continuous max output power: 600W @ +12VDC input, 1200W @ +24VDC



Your new charger exceeds that by 10 amps! WOW you dog you :-) and that it will take 8S even better. A word from a senior citizen…..get a quality parallel board. The cheap ones have a foam rubber backing. The better ones have a hard case on the board to protect when in use. Look at HK and then here at Buddy RC Safe 40A ParaBoard V3 - XH with EC5 and they are rated for the 40 amps you will use at some point.

Keep your head down and fly under the radar! Glad your all safe and we pray that the next to storms have little to effect on you.

JohnAh…I forgotten that you made a power supply, what from the server power supplies right? That will give you 24 volts to really get that 40 amps from your new charger. I looked up it’s spec’s and yes she will run on 24 volt +. My iCharger lets me charge with my parallel charging board 6 ea. 6S packs at 30 amps.

Output battery charge current: Adjustable range 25mA to 40A, limited by 60A input current*

Output battery discharge current: Internal discharge 25mA to 8A, 80W max, Regenerative discharge 25mA to 40A, 1200W max**

Continuous max output power: 600W @ +12VDC input, 1200W @ +24VDC



Your new charger exceeds that by 10 amps! WOW you dog you J and that it will take 8S even better. A word from a senior citizen…..get a quality parallel board. The cheap ones have a foam rubber backing. The better ones have a hard case on the board to protect when in use. Look at HK and then here at Buddy RC Safe 40A ParaBoard V3 - XH with EC5 and they are rated for the 40 amps you will use at some point.

Keep your head down and fly under the radar! Glad your all safe and we pray that the next to storms have little to effect on you.

John

Hi guys,

JPEE,

I certainly hope your able to find some time to put those new parts on your P-51. As you said, if the weather calls for an inside-day that will be a perfect time. Did you get the chance to paint the inside of the fuse yet? I think it's a good idea to clean up the wiring and cover them in the wire armor to protect them, probably lots of areas in a scale fuse for rubbing/chafing.

I did receive the charger and blades but have not found any time to do anything with them yet - may try tomorrow to hook everything up and test it out. Also picked up 2 gens ace lipo's from HF classifieds - every place always seems sold out so took a chance with some used one's. I'll see how they turn out in the long run.

Wanted to show you a few signs that I found while driving around that got bent out of shape by Irma a few weeks ago. Those are some powerful winds to twist the metal that way!

Mark

Hello Mark,

I have set all RC stuff aside and don't expect to do anything in that area until I get to AZ. I need to pull the 700 out of the MD500 and while out put in the new motor on the 700 so hopefully I can fly with one success rather than two with a low scale head speed. Then while the 700 is out go ahead and do the flat black inside the fuselage and then glue in the black netting over both side windows in the canopy and just leave the nose clear. This heavy black netting allows air to come through the fuselage and keep the ESC and motor cool but is just enough of a blind you really cannot see the 700 from the sides is it flies by and sign the fuse. Same with the wiring on the 600 and The P 51 all done and easy.

Hi JPEE,

You have been quite busy with helping your daughter clean up her old house so to get her deposit back and with the furniture assembly - time for a well deserved break!

Glad that you finished with the finishing touches on the 700. I'm sure the netting you used conceals the innards of the electric heli so all you see is the scale features of the fuse.

Also wanted to ask since you've had the 700 for some time any major preventative work you've done to the heli - ie. bearing replacement, damper replacement, gear replacements, etc? My reason for asking is with my Fusion 50 getting close to 2 years I have been considering doing a semi teardown to check and replace things if needed (mainly bearings and dampers). Of course I don't have the option to replace gears or shafts so will have to clean them up and reinstall.

I did finish up getting my new lipo's connectors swapped and got to test out my new charger. It is nice and easily does a charge in less than 15 minutes without even getting warm. No problems with the power supplies either - best little server DIY project ever! I did an easy hover in my front yard yesterday just to dust off some of the heli reflexes. :)

Have a good weekend!

Mark

Hello Mark how's it going?

Mark,

That is good there wasn't too much damage after the storm. It could have been more like Texas.

That is good you are enjoying the new charger.

John,

That is cool Judy is going to Spain. I would like to visit Europe some day. The farthest I have gone is to Canada.

That is good to hear you are enjoying time with the family.

I went to Arkansas with some friends last month. One of them has a family lake house that we stayed in. I went water skiing and wake boarding for the first time. I was able to get up which was really fun. I have never been there before. It was cool seeing all the scenery and curvy roads. I wish I brought my motorcycle:D.

Nick

Hi Nick,

What a nice vacation spot - a lake house! I bet you had a very nice time. I've never been water skiing but with all the lakes in central Florida I see the boats pulling wake boarders all the time. I pull over sometimes to watch them do flips over the boats wake - some of them have skill as they don't wipe out, others not so. lol
Next time bring your bike to try out some of those curvy roads!

JPEE,

I almost forgot that your wife is in/went to Spain! I'm sure she is having a very nice time. Is that why your keeping yourself so busy?!

I took a look at the Mavic that you mentioned - looks like the best part of that package is the ability to fold up into a neat rectangular shape for transporting. Very easy for carrying along with you on your ATV trips. Yeah, not cheap but what the heck - if you can afford it why not! :)

I remember you mentioning the greaser tool for packing bearings. Seems like the history for your 700 proves its use - your bearings are still going after 6 years!

I did start work on doing a partial tear down of my Fusion - after doing some flights on Sunday of course. lol I did discover a bad main shaft bearing so will replace that. I also will soak the one-way in automatic transmission fluid to relube it. And will replace the dampers for the head and re-grease the thrust bearings when I get that apart. At least I'll feel better when its all done knowing that everything is in good shape when I next take her out.

Also forgot to mention, they put up drywall and finished mudding it. And I found a really nice area to fly right in my backyard, so to speak. They have cleared an area behind our new subdivision to build more homes but for now its just an open area. So now I can fly and visit my house - all in one trip!

Mark

Hello Nick,
It sounds like you had a great road trip with your friends. Do you recall the name of the city or town that you visited? I went to a town to visit a friend of mine there and it was just the craziest name you've ever heard of, it was called Flippin! Yes you heard me right Flippin............. it is located just south of Bull Shoal White River Park, and east of Bentonville which is a little above Fayetteville a more famous city. Stayed there for a week at my friends house and his beautiful country and myself being a hasty individual I darn near put a down payment on a house that was up a couple of acres from my friends just to have for a summer house. After being there a week in dealing with the bugs in the mosquitoes in the mice not to mention the long drive we came home without purchasing anything. You are absolutely right, the curvy roads and the scenery are spectaculur. Perhaps the next time if you get the opportunity to go back you can take your dad's truck for a few days with your motorcycle in the bed and once they are ride around!

Hello Mark, yes the little woman is in Spain having a great time. She has already been to Barcelona, Valencia, Seville is where she's at now and then departing for Madrid. We did have a scare while they were in Barcelona there is a faction of the people that are trying to break away from the Spanish government. When my Judy and her nephew are in the bus seeing the sights the protesters surrounded the bus and others laid down on the ground in front of the bus stopping it! One guy climbed up on the front of the bus in trying to break off the windshield wiper and it was a pretty wild group outside. The bus driver said you can all stay in the bus or you can get out and walk the rest of the way, I assume back to the hotel. At first everybody opted to stay inside and stick together and then later decided to go out and one large group so they could defend themselves if necessary. The protesters let them come through telling them you should be standing with us. Short of that the trip is been a wonderful, the food has been excellent along with the whines.
Thank you for taking the time to look at the Mavic. You are absolutely right and that the best part of the package is how small it compresses and folds up. There's no denying that the 4K camera does a super job to. The problem I have been faced with is that there is nowhere were I can go put my hands on one in real time. There are tons of deals online but they're all bundles and when you look at the pictures you really can't see clearly what you're getting in the package. And if you read it where it says, what's in the box it's very vague. So I'm looking for other avenues where I might be able to go and actually see one. I don't know if you had the opportunity to look at the GoPro Karma?
Does the GoPro Hero6 Camera Make the Karma a Perfect Filming Drone? - The Drive

Your new house looks like it's really coming along nicely. Your helicopter looks pretty doggone nice too! What a gift, going out to check on your new home as it progresses along and a place to fly, man you must be living right.

Take care.John

Hi JPEE,

I hope you are alright with all the fires I've been reading about in CA. Stay safe out there!

Mark

Hello Mark, thanks for your post of inquiry. I'm the one it's always checking on you with the hurricanes and now it becomes my turn. We are 80 miles away from the fires so we are in no danger. As you will see by the terrain the fire would have to sweep through the city which isn't going to happen to reach me. It is horrific, as of this morning lives 11 have been lost and a score of homes.
I'm trying to show you to maps that show Disneyland which is threatened to be closed because of the smoke and then how far I am from both but cant get the pic's to stick?

JPEE,

Thank you for the map of your area, I couldn't quite remember where you were in relation to the fires. Still devastating to watch. Are you getting any smoke your way (I have heard that is a secondary problem with all the fires)? I saw yesterday the forecast is still calling for no rain. I hope you guys get some relief soon.

That was a scary story about your wife in Spain and in the middle of a protest. I hope she is home and safe with you now.

Have you made any decisions concerning your mobile quad idea?

Our house is moving right along now. They painted both the outside and the inside this past week and finished putting in the tile floors. Next week they are going to do the brick paver driveway and the cabinets get installed. Cabinets are a major point as it marks just 6 weeks until the house is finished - pending no delays due to weather or such. I'll be taking a drive up there tomorrow morning to check on the progress and to also get some flying in!

I finished my maintenance on the Fusion 50 and only had to replace 3 main shaft bearings. All the other bearings were in good shape and the gears were also in good shape. So now I know everything is smooth, clean, and lubed and ready to go for another few years. :) Tomorrow I'll be taking her out to make sure everything is fine.

Mark

Hello Mark,

We directly are not getting any smoke but.... we can see it as it travels up the coast from the area of Los Angeles Airport, Santa Monica and on up to Malibu which we have a coastal range between my house and the beach so we could at the time certainly see the smoke and it made for, regretfully said, beautiful red sunsets. Every time we watch the news and see the devastation there and in Northern California where complete developments are turned to ash it looks like Nagasaki or Hiroshima and I don't say that lightly. Clearly, our wishes and prayers are for anybody that lives in any of the fire areas............. Thank you for your thoughts and yes Judy got home safely last Sunday and had a wonderful time in Spain but they are having civil unrest................ So glad to hear your house is moving along and there are no delays and it's turning out just as you dreamed it would. You and your wife should be proud to have a new house at your young age. You guys will be so happy, congratulations................ Mobile Done idea............ I dropped the hammer yesterday and ordered the new DJI Mavic Pro with one extra battery and the Kantana hand-grip that the helicopter fits into to become a steady cam. I will include some pictures at the bottom of this mail. After weeks and weeks of research here's the bottom line I bought the DJI Mavic from DroneNerds in Florida, no sales tax which was pretty huge, free shipping, and a name and a face so to speak to on the telephone versus buying from DJI direct. Also they are the largest repair center for numerous drone companies as well as DJI in the United States and parts retailer. There is a great guy there named Jeff and he's easy to reach, kudos to drone nerds.................... For me it will be pretty much like my other quad and hexa just fly and have the fail safe return to home will be about the extent of what I'm going to use it for. All the setting up of pre-flight plans, areal fences, the follow me mode with me in the RZR as we drive up a Hill or in a Canyon I am not interested in. That technology still has issues as well as even with the avoidance system of hitting trees or mountains or what have you and guys have lost their drones....no thank you. As I said, I spent weeks and weeks of reading and doing my due diligence. Just the point that I'll be able to look at the controller and see where I'm flying and while looking at my phone or tablet screen is huge for me. Not interested flying off 2 or 3 miles. Anyway that's against federal law now, not to let the drone go out your eyesight. So that's my report when I get it I'll do some update posting.
Just click on the attachment for larger viewing.

My best to both you Mark and Nick

Hi JPEE,

Well, congrats on the purchase of your new DJI Mavic Pro - and for helping to support our Florida economy a little bit! :) You did really good with the free shipping and no sales tax - those always seem to bump the overall price up, nice to find a company that omits them for customers spending over a certain amount. Bet you'll be trying it out to get accustomed before taking it to the desert with you. The handheld unit seems a nice bonus equipment and you did a great deal of research so you got exactly what you were looking for.

Glad your not being directly affected by the fires. I see they are making slow progress in containing the majority of fires in the affected regions, so that is good news. I cannot imagine the appearance of the land, as you said - looks like a nuclear bomb went off.

Temps have begun to slowly drop - we are finally getting into the low 70's at night but highs still creep into the 90's during the day. But flying weather in the mornings is nice again and not too humid.

I did finish my Fusion maintenance and did a few test hovers in the front yard last week. Glad I did the test hovers as I quickly discovered a mistake I made during my reassembly. Apparently I installed the lower bearing block upside down and so during the second test hover the bearing fell out. You can imagine my surprise when it made this shrieking sound and began shaking violently. Got her down as quickly as possible and when I did a look over...yep, no bearing! I looked around the yard but no go, so I figured it got shot out and was never to be seen again.

I replaced the bearing, installed the block correctly this time, and did a few more test hovers with no issues. I have taken her out for some flights a few mornings this past week and have had no problems. Can't say the same for my flying as its been a while. I really had to concentrate on my orientations and lots of times I was correcting in wrong direction, so had to 'relearn' the basics. I also had to calm myself down - its not fun flying when your nerves are on edge.

This morning flights though were much better. I was very calm and feel most of my confidence was back. I was able to do most of the things I was able to do last year, but I was keeping things higher just in case. I also noticed much of my loops, flips, rolls, inverted, and some backwards flights were much smoother. I was able to do my upright flying in both CW/CCW directions and found I wasn't correcting in the wrong direction as much. Funny how some days things just 'click'.

After my time flying I stopped by our house to see how its progressing. They have been very busy and moving quickly. The concrete sidewalk and brick paver driveway were finished. The garage door was installed along with the cabinets in the kitchen. The bathroom vanities were installed and the interior had been painted. The tile flooring had been laid and today they started on the carpets. They are really shooting for a move in date around Turkey Day!

Have a good weekend!

Mark

Hello Mark,

Thanks for your current post. So good to hear all of your good news. Your flying in the mornings and your Fusion is back up in the air despite a little set back lol of your main bearing falling out! Phil had almost the same thing happen with a used 600 he bought. He was flying and heard the screech and noted that the lower main bearing had come UP and out of the bearing block and it was on the main shaft. If it can happen in this hobby then it does, a honest slip up or just Murphy's Law you got through it. Your moves will come back, though I cannot fly as well as you, look at my time off every year, 7 mo per year! Mark, when I get back out there I have to take it slow and I work the 500 to death before I take up something big and expensive. It all comes back in time, trust me :-)

Your new home is moving right along and you wife must be so excited too. I like the exterior colors and design and architecture. I like the covered front porch for guests so they don't get stuck in the rain. The garage looks pretty good size too and I assume the laundry is out there and that there's a door into the kitchen? Very nice indeed, I have said this before but it bears repeating....congratulations!

The Mavic arrived on Friday and I opened her up and looked everything over for shipping damages....NONE were found she was sound as a dollar. I took Saturday to read "everything" and watch "again" several of the best YT videos on first setup. I had to update the software in the TX and batteries, yes the batteries, more in a sec. The harder part to figure out was how to update the Firmware in the heli. I has an on board computer with a fan and huge heat sink. DJI has put some big-time equipment in this puppy. The batteries also have a brain in them. For instance, if you have a fully charged battery and leave it sit for 10 days IT will turn it self on, on the shelf or in the heli and suck itself down to storage mode........I am not lying here my friend...for real! So you have to be mindful you ravage these pack or leave them charged sitting because when they start their discharge they get real warm!!!!! Can you say FIRE. I don't know hot hot they will and It won't happen to me, charge-um, flyum.....that's my motto. The winds here for day have been huge but I managed to maiden in the back yard to about 20 ft in Beginner mode and get 30 seconds of video for a beta test...unbelievable! This puppy was worth the bucks. Oh, the batteries (3) can take up to 2.3-3 hours for a charge with the DJI charger. I did my hunting and found this charger for $40.00 that has the DJI cord caps and will charge my flown batteries 1.14 min as well as my TX, my phone. Check out the photo. We are loading and will be at the other place next Sunday so I'll get a chance to let her out a bit. I am not ashamed or embarrassed to say that I am flying in "beginners" mode either, there's no rush. I have read so many stories of guys crashing, or having their Mavic fly off.......never to be found! I don't expect to use all of that autonomous stuff to be honest, that's where the guys are losing them but I did fly by the screen and liked it.

Enough said, JPEE out

Hi JPEE,

Happy Halloween's Eve!

We have almost finished with carving our pumpkins this year - still have 1 left. The weather took a very nice turn - had a cold front move in so this year will have nice cool temps for Halloween night tomorrow. Plus this gives our pumpkins a chance to last longer outside. Last year the weather was still very warm and so most of the pumpkins barely made it to November before rotting. Yuk!

I bet your having a blast with your new Mavic. I have to admit I was quite surprised with the batts - guess I was expecting your typical lipo. But it looks like they went a completely different route. Not only does it provide the user with a 'smart' lipo that has the capability of monitoring itself, but does it also limit the choices of lipo providers? Seems a very specific type. At least you found a charger that will do the lipo's in much less time then the DJI one.

No problems with flying in beginners mode. At least that way you get used to it and won't have to worry about a fly-away - that would be one expensive mistake!

With the weather this past week being very nice I've taken out my Fusion and my old Zero.

Had to do some work on the retracts for the Zero as they needed some tightening and had to replace the prop spinner as the nut got stripped. I also rediscovered my Great Planes prop balancer and balanced the Zero's 3 blades and spinner - it really made a difference. Guess either the props and/or spinner were really out of balance. I also put 4 small fishing weights in the very back of the tail section to try and help with nose-overs on landings. It didn't mess with the CofG during flights and the tail stays down during the after landing run outs. Nice success!

Mark

Hello Mark,

Hope your entire family had a great Halloween last night!

We watched our Dodgers play ball and what a game...........

I have not unboxed the Mavic yet. We are still unpacking and getting set up in both our AZ fifth Wheel and my RC shop in Toy Box. We have not flown anything with only 3 days under our belt since arriving. That said, after we go fly once or twice I bring it out and share and shock my buddy. They have these racing drones with FPV so I understand and he brought FPV cameras to stick on all of our Quads, that the day I'll pull out my surprise! Yes the batteries are proprietary for this quad but......that they are made by DJI and are not some knock offs is ensuring when you have that kind of $$ in the air. Briefly the last time I flew it home over my yard it sent me a red flag that I was within 5 miles of an airport (true). It sent me a vibrating and red flag on my screen when I got to close to my hedge and telephone pole. This unit has so many adjustments like that, that I need to to adjust like return to home when I need to plug in how high it will climb (normal is 60 ft) if the battery gets to low,, if the link is lost between the TX and copter, or if I flip the toggle to return to home. So I have much to do yet. I'll stay in beginner mode until I have the those and the shutter speed and ISO frame rates and so all tweaked in.

WOW, I am so interested in the 3 blade and nose cone spinner balancing. I have a great plain too, (1) three prop balances and I don't ever recalling how to that. If you can find a YT video of the process I refer me I can use that for my P-51 4 blade props I am sure. My spinner was caved in from the last crash so I have a new one in the box of parts I ordered before I left. Cool!
Glad your getting in some Zero fly time too, awesome for you! Funny that you speak to your landing gear, yesterday I reinstalled my Jug's landing gear I have removed so easier transportation to AZ. The tail weights is something Phil showed me some years an very important procedure. He said that you take a plane fly at cruse speed and then shut off the power and see how she glides. The other thing was while flying at a lower speed horizontally then do wide open and see if the plain pulls up, stay level, or starts to nose downward show signs of improper balance, elevator no level, tipping to one side shows wing heavy on one side. I use small finish nail. I suspend the plane with a stick under the tail and under the cowling so theirs no bind and the plane can tip left or right to show one wing heaver than the other. So glad you nailed your Zero in and she flies better for you.

Till the next time my friend...JPee

Hey JPEE,

Wanted to give you the youtube vid of the prop balancing that I used:


Heading out to fly my very old and long neglected Spitfire this morning...feel like I'm doing a second maiden! lol

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thank you for the video. Regretfully that is not my type of spinner and prop holder. I have included photos of mine. It's design is totally different from your and I do not see a way to balance the whole shebang. Again I do thank for the link.
🚁

Hi JPEE,

I had to do a bit of improvising with my prop and hub assembly as my Zero has something similar to your P-51. I also was mistaken on which balancer I had - its not the Great Planes. Mine is made by Top Flight. Basically I balanced the prop and hub assembly all together using the method in the video - sanding the heavy blade until all blades stayed stationary.

I did find a short vid of a P-51 prop assembly balancing - this may work for you:

Hey Mark, I can't thank you enough for digging up a video that addresses my prop and nose cone. I never thought to look around and quite honestly I never felt it was that out of balance. But after having all the flight troubles I have had with it I want to go through it and do it to spare this time. I think the real advantage I have this time is the upgrade of the bigger newer motor that they used in their version in there P 50 1B. As I said on a few occasions when I did fly and it was like driving a bus very heavy bus. Well I have three balancers here with me and quite honestly I don't remember which ones I have but I'm sure I can go ahead and fashion something that will work after seeing the video. I know in balancing blades before I have sanded them like you. You can also use clear scotch tape on the back side of the blade in it can't be seen. One of the things my friend Jason does is puts a drop of CA and spreads it real quick and it sticks real well and you can just keep applying layers on the light blade or blades and bring them up to the heaviest one. Thanks again for your post I greatly appreciate it.

Mark,

That is cool you can fly behind your new house.

That is good your halloween weather was nice. It was snowing here. I bet there were a few disappointed kids.

John,

The lake house was near Conway. It was in the hills near one of the largest man made lakes there.

That is good to hear Judy is safe after the incident in Spain.

That is cool you got a mavic. One of my friend's dad let me fly his. It was cool seeing everything through the tablet. I was used to the nimbleness of my whiplash and it took awhile to get used to the mavic since I didn't feel like I was in total control with the cyclic. That is cool to hear about the airport warning with your mavic. I read an article air traffic control is getting overwhelmed with all the requests for air space with drones. There might be an automated system coming to request air space. I think a plane in Canada was also hit with a drone. Luckily the plane was fine.

Last weekend it was finely warm enough to get my motorcycle out. I was a little rusty and almost low sided on a curved exit ramp. I was coming in a little too fast and was in the wrong gear. I applied a little rear brake and the back tire started to slip. I am just glad I didn't grab the front brake. All I could think about was my instructors saying be in the right gear and entry speed before entering a turn and don't grab the front brake in a turn. After that, I had an enjoyable ride.

Nick

Hi guys,

Nick - that sounded like a close call. Good that you could call back on your training to get yourself out of a potentially bad situation. Glad you enjoyed the rest of your ride.

Sorry to hear about the weather - I can't believe you already have snow and it wasn't even November yet. Wow!

JPEE,

I hope you find the issue with your 600. That would be very frustrating to bring it all the way out and it not work. As you said you have months to sort it out. How did the jug do?

One good thing about where your at is all the open space to get used to all the functions your new Mavic has. No airports or other obstructions for it to collide or interfere with. Nick had some nice insight into it with his flight.

I'm glad to have helped you with the prop balancing. It really has helped with my 'shaky' planes. lol

Halloween was really great. I got to take my son out and he had lots of fun. We also carved up some pumpkins for the outside display. All in all it was a great night!

The past few days have been disappointing dealing with my Spitfire. This is the 1200mm Spitfire by Dynam that I got several years ago but really never got flying very often. It also had that terrible paint job that I stripped and repainted. I did maiden it but not much more, basically it sat on the shelf. So I decided to finish it up and get it airworthy again. This is when the problems started creeping up...

Friday morning - I was ready to fly but needed to finish some final work on the plane. First problem encountered - missing screws for the wing attachment and then the wing would not sit flush on the fuse. After fiddling with it for an hour decided as a last resort solution - permanently epoxy the wing to the fuse. Not ideal but it worked. Decided to skip flying to give the epoxy a day to cure.

Saturday - lipo's charged, CofG set, all wiring in place. Everything was a go. Took the plane out on a very calm and cloudless sky morning to get a few 'shake down' flights in. Had my son with me so you can imagine getting everything in the Mustang was a tight fit. Decided to leave the heli at home to save a bit on space.

The plane tracked beautifully down the runway - no sharp pull to the left like my Zero habits to. Lifted off at less than half throttle, gear up, no issues. Flying around at half throttle the plane did very well. A bit of a tail heavy tendancy but I could shift the lipo to adjust later. I did a few approaches to get a feel for how the plane flies at slower speeds, again no issues. My last approach I had to wave off and as I was pulling up and giving throttle - the prop flew off the plane!

Seriously, 15 feet up, slow airspeed, and no prop. Stalled and dropped - belly smacking on the ground. The damage doesn't look too bad - a crack in the right wing at the cutout for the retract wheel was all I could find so far. Luckily the retracts were up so that saved them. I still need to go over the plane more thoroughly to make sure everything is fine.

This plane has one of those slip fit prop adapters which is difficult to get a tight enough fit apparently. The motor does have 4 screw holes for a screw-in type adapter but I need to find one that works for this particular motor. Will be checking the RCG to see if anyone has any info.

So anyways, I'm taking my Zero and Fusion out tomorrow morning to get some trusted flying in - at least I know my props won't fly off!! :)

Mark

Hi Nick,


Man your cutting it a bit close my friend! One of the brightest choices in your life was to go to motorcycle school, that really prepared for that glitch you got into. I remember one time where I got in a tizzy and I was ready to hit the brakes and I literally said loud OUT LOUD.......DON'T brake! It was that motorcycle education training school that got me through that like incident just like you. Funny though how my sub conscience made me say it out loud "I guess" to override my conscience. Glad your well and safe is the bottom line.............................Thanks , Judy got home safe and I was worried to be honest. I am still unpacking today 6 days later, getting the cable boxes, computers and electronics bugged out. Yesterday we bought a used carport that we are moving from another site to ours, quite a feat I must say. I did take three hours to fly once, but my silly 600 acted up again and I had to bring her home and reset some of it's VBAR programming. Took it up the street in the wind the next day and did some fig 8s and she is clean now. No Mavic time yet, just to plain busy.
Take care...........
OH, my friend bought me a Mach 5 Racing Drone, it comes with googles or you can use a table monitor. I have not touched it yet, but soon. I have never experienced FPV googles so this should be very interesting!

Hi guys,

We are really coming down to the wire for our house - 10 days left to closing. Have been packing and doing small touch-ups to the rental house. Final walk through will be this Monday and closing the following Monday. Talk about being real anxious of wanting to get this move going!

Mark