FERNDALE AIR FORCE

And speaking of video, I wish I had some of this evenings games. The kid's and their Mom got home as I was setting up for my second flight of the Vapor for the evening. My plan was to cruise around then finish op the repairs on my last good minium cessna body. And give that a flight. That didn't happen. Instead we created a new game . The kids, seeing that I was otherwise occupied, decided to try to knock me down . So I did what any good red-blooded Uncle that was piloting a Vapor would do. I called in my attack plane to defend me ;D ;D ;D.

After several pull up short harriers and fly offs, and a couple of calls close enough that I ducked (danger close), I drove off the barbarian hordes . And this is where the new game was discovered. The kids had noted that my attack runs were low enough that they could potentially catch the plane. And the game of airplane "tag" suddenly appeared. My nephew is still trying to knock me down and his sister takes off after the plane . After being told to stop pushing me and watching his sister, my nephew took off his new Spidey shoes and was in full chase mode.

My neice got me trapped once and got to launch the plane, then went to help her mom. My nephew was a bit more tenacious, to put it mildly. we played chase the airplane for 3 batteries (he got me 3 times). On the third battery his Dad got home. We played a short round, until the old battery gave up. Then I wanted a break. So, being the ever enabling Uncle, I gave my nephew the AeroAce X-twin jet to play with, with his Dad. Mars flew the jet for a bit, I guess it helps when you have been trying to fly, and suceeding most of the time, since you were 2 1/2 because he was doing pretty well. Then Dad wanted a turn, and about that time the charger beeped that a Vapor battery was ready to go.

So then we had the fast 2 channel plane flying around being chased by the slower Vapor until my Buddy saw what I was doing. At which point we started dog fighting ;D ;D. I had maneuverability and he had speed. Good fun. I asked my nephew if he thought his Dad and I would be crazy enough to try to crash each other. His response was yes. In a no nonsense way.

Have I mentioned how much fun micro-planes can be recently?

Tim

Garrett1234567

Tim, that is so funny. My 5 year old son and i play tag with my modded mcx. He'll chase it around untill he touches it, then i chase him around. Its really fun, just make sure they know how fragile these micro's are


I just noticed m last post was removed, whats up with that. all i said was i had a nib starscream for sale because tornado siad he couldnt find any aero aces.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Tornado, I do not know what to tell you. If you can get an X-twin jet, that is the best designed flyer since the Bipe. As for the silverlit vs spinmaster battle, in my opinion as a writer on the plane, silverlit lost millions of Pounds due to spinmaster's poor plan to supply the market.


Tim

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

Tornado,
I think WalMart has been trying to steer away from lipo powered toys
for a while now. All the Targets and Toys R Us stores around here have
aeroace planes, but like you, our Walmart hasnt had an AA plane in quite
some time, seems most folks have had this problem as well. AeroAces
sre still out there, just gotta find a new place to buy them...Toys R Us is
always a good starting place to look.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2338267
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3123842
http://www.toysrus.com/family/index....d=2290621&pg=1

Nick

tornado875

Does anyone have a good AA landing gear mod that a 13 year old can get parts for?


the line under this one is a lie
the line above this one is true

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

Tornado,
an easy/cheap set of landing gear would be to find the biggest paper clip you can, or any metal
wire for that matter, and just bend it into the shape you want. Wheels could be used from anything,
small toy cars usually have a decent wheel you could use. For more options though, check out the
aeroace mods thread at the very top of this forum, there will be a few links for landing gear. This
site might be helpfull to http://www.aatoolbox.no-ip.org/ or
http://www.eflightwiki.com/eflightwi...irhogs_AeroAce

a bit of tape or any type of glue should hold the landing gear in place just fine.

Nick

trroadster

Steal the wheels from a hot wheels car. Use either the original axles or straight pins. You can use half an plastic coffee stirrer slit end to end to mount the wheels onto the fuselage. If you want to do takeoffs etc add a foam or balsa spacer between the fuselage and the "axle" to increase the angle of attack of the wing. If you don't you'll have an od looking car...

GTX SlotCar

Wow, it's been a while since I've been on here. Time flies
I got so busy with superskids that I didn't even fly my AA's last year. I'll have to change that this year.

Anyway, I made landing gear from pins and buttons, and a little CA glue.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4726381

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4727483

Teenage Pilot 14

You could try the wheels and axle from a hot wheels car. It's worked in the past. Or, like Gary said, the ever-popular small buttons worke well. The problem I've always seen with landing gear is that it adds weight and drag and that cuts down flight time. Also, the only time it's useful is when you have a very, very smooth surface (gym floor, hardwood floor, bowling alley, etc.). Anytime you don't have that available you end up with useless dead weight/drag.

Yesterday I was trying to take off by taxiing the plane on the icy crust on the snow without LG and it actually worked a few times. With extended wings it would have worked better I guess.

Teenage Pilot 14

While I'm here, I might as well ask a question which has very, very little to do with the Ace at all, but plenty to do with lipos and you micro people are some of the best around for that kind of thing. So yesterday I was driving a 1/18 scale car that I got recently and I was using a 3S lipo to power it. That was the battery that I've been using since the day after I got a few weeks ago. Well, after a few minutes of nice, easy driving the car completely stopped like the batt had died instantly. I checked it out and found a puffed-up $46 lipo in my batt tray. It was only one cell that was puffed though. Well, it was kind of warm but no warmer than it usually is after a run. I put it in a big metal pot with a cover for about an hour. No explosion. I looked at it and found that the cell was no longer puffy and it was completely cooled off so I put it back in it's pot, left the lead sticking out and plugged it into the charger for about 0.5 seconds. It didn't blow up. I left it charging a little longer then and it started getting a little warmer and the cell started to puff up again. After I unplugged it it gradually deflated. It still powered the car just fine after this. Also, the foil that contains the rest of the cell seems stretched out and floppy.

Now, does anyone know what's happening? Sould I get rid of it or what? Only one cell is damaged so I can most likely save the other 2 and perhaps get a new, matching cell and rebuild the pack. And, uh, sorry about the completely off-topic post. If anyone wants I can put it somewhere else....

GTX SlotCar

As I recall, the parts weighted about 1.5 grams. I didn't notice any difference in flight times, but I suppose it could have lost 15 seconds or so. The pins have no real drag at any speed and the buttons are narrow. At the speed of an AA you don't notice any drag. I had to mount the landing gear forward of the CG so the nose wouldn't tip over before take-off. This eliminated some to the porpoise effect while giving it throttle, but didn't seem to matter for climb rate. It was actually more enjoyable to fly than my other AAs. It took off fine from a driveway which wasn't very smooth and it wasn't swept, so there was dirt on it. I think the larger diameter of the buttons made it roll easier than small 'hot wheels' wheels. Getting it to track true on the ground was the hardest part. The buttons rested on the pin heads on one side, and I glued bits of wire insulation on the other.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

TP, the cell is shorted[]. And yes, it is dangerous.[>:][>:] Great thinking on the pot though. Now we have 2 separate and different issues, 1. discarding the battery, and what caused the imbalance. Discarding requires going to your appropriate site. As for charging, I assume you are balance charging.

Tim

Garrett1234567

Hey guys, i got a new bird the other day. Exceed Rc F 18 tiger meet, 64mm edf, 1300 11.1. I know its off topic but this is where i got my start and i like to let everyone know what im flying. Heres a video of my very first flight. Id never flown an edf jet on sim either. Let me tell you its a knee knocking flight. I just wasnt used to the sheer speed. Id say 60-80 mph, maybe more. Tim i recomend an edf be added to your hanger. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb54JR8kXAQ

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Vapor vid

http://www.badiusownersclub.com/vide...0Vapor%202.wmv

Tim

ahaacobbler

I was recently reminded of a post I put up maybe a year ago. I still have some 50 mAh lipos if you need something like that for lighter weight AA or other mods. I can ship them out for $5 a piece.

ahaacobbler

Sorry for the off topic post. I don't know a better place to find people with good electrical knowledge and experience with lithium batteries, plus I figured this thread could maybe use a post right about now.

I am trying to string up an array of LEDs powered by a battery. The specs on the battery say it is rated at 20 Amps, 40 Amps max continuous, and 60 Amps max. This is a LiFePo4 battery with charge controller, so I guess that is the reason for 20, 40, 60. The battery has a max voltage of about 28V and continuous voltage of 27V.

The LEDs say that they are rated at 30 mA max continuous, 75 mA peak at 3.2 - 3.8 volts. I am not sure what reverse voltage of 5-6 volts even means.

So anyway, I was told that I maybe need a shunt resitor and zener diode to get the current and voltage down to what I need for the LEDs. I have no idea how to build those parts into a circuit. Could somebody please explain this to me - maybe a diagram with component ratings? I know that V=IR, but I don't know how that applies to the circuit in question. I would like to be able to string 20 to 50 leds in paralell onto this if possible, if not I could maybe repeat the circuit several times as I add LEDs.

I appreciate any help that anyone can give.

Thanks a lot,
Cobbler

redmoon

This wheel modification works real well. Plus with the added power of jet engines that I put on it has know problem taking off from the ground even on ruff surfaces. Plus the added fun of landing it is a plus.

redmoon

Yeah...I just posted one with pictures. All you need is a firm piece of wire (like from a fishing lure), coffee straw, small piece of wood, some wheels off an old hot wheel car and some supper glue. Simply bend one end of the wire. Place a wheel on then a piece of coffee straw. Now place the other coffee straw piece on and the other wheel. cut a small notch on the wood and place the axel in then glue it to the bottom of the plane making sure the you do not block the charging port. Let er dry and you in business.

Redmoon

trroadster

Hello again boys and girls. The depron bandit has been squirreled away in his workshop and it's time for show and tell...

The C-119 flys very scale like and resonates quite loudly. Kinda like the original. The super connie took some time to trim but now is an excellent flyer. The CF-100 is untried (maiden tomorrow). The 737 is a remake of one that flew ok on AA bipe guts until it had a wingtip chewed off by a larger plane. I resurrected it to try JetScream fans...WOW...up in the rafters at the lowest throttle setting. (I,m thinking of calling it "Dogpatch Air" for obvious reasons.

The A-26 was a slingshot glider that I modded with Minium motor gearboxes and the brick from an MCX heli (2x esc) Maiden tomorrow.

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Very Nice TR. Good stuff.

Tim

Garrett1234567

you guys have to see this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIhlD...eature=related i preordered mine today and you can bind it to the mcx tx

FERNDALE AIR FORCE

Garreett, I ordered mine a while back. Parkzone doesn't recommend using the MCX controller. I ended up buying a module for my HiTec radio.

Tim

Aircraftfreak15

has any one seen the new F-18 airhogs has came out with?
if so how dose it fly?

rdf430

Hey ya: I thought I was the only one to pull apart a MCX and put the brick in somthing else I used a air hog and put full flying stabs and used the stock motors with direct drive, do you have isues with the Gyro on the brick or do you know how to inhibit the gyro I flew this plane last night in my yard, it is a little under powered using the MCX brick (2xspeed controlers) I used the Vapor brick the first attempt and it worked better. did not make sence to me, the gyro is roll sensitive, mounted the way you have it but you can still have the rudder stick to control yaw, I found that as the plane had any rolling movement, the speed controllers would try to correct the Yaw of the airplane and I basicaly got a redused power setting. hope this makes sence to you, I will post some pics and may be a video.

I am puttin a vid on youtube as i type this if you search youtube with my user name rdf430 it will show my only two vids on there the orange plane is the one I am talking about

micro_builder

My Feedback: (1)

TR, thats quite a nice little fleet you've got there. Nice work, glad to see the AAs are still being used in custom builds

Nice work on the AA Jet/mCX conversion, rdf430. This is where my mCX RX is currently residing, my micro HLG.
Its a bit heavier than the Vapor RX due to the gyro and other extra components, but the servos work the same and
thats all I needed.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone seen or heard from Neurotex? I havent heard from him since the begining of January...



Nick