Mack66

JD,

I looked for the infamous crash on youtube, but all I found was a flycam thingy. Was there a video of the crash? Nice view of your active though. Looks sweet. Love all the trees (plank catchers).

RAIN? Did you say RAIN????? Send some this way please.

No flying for me today. Had to mow de grass. Or at least that's what I set out to do this morning. Ended up edging and cleaning out the flower beds and around the trees. The battery on my John Deere LA125 was DOA. Gosh it only lasted 5 years, Batman! Soooo, did everything else, pulled the battery, and had lunch/shower. Then went to Lowes and bought a new one. New battery is now installed and the Deere (nothing runs like a Deere) is good to go. Tomorrow morning I'll finish the job. Then hopefully I'll fly tomorrow afternoon.

I did replace the tail rotor case on my Sceadu so should be ready. Still need to figure out why my mixture went lean on me the other day. Probably just trash in the fuel line, filter or something like that. I'll go over it at the field.

Still very hot and humid here. Free saunas all around if y'all wanna come on down here. I'll just send you out to weed a garden and I guarantee you'll be soaking wet in 30 minutes or less. God bless Houston.

Fly often and prosper!

Mack

matty_p80

would you believe it! not back five minutes and they're already messing us around! been put on nights up until Sunday morning then onto days again Tuesday!

anyway the arrival of my new baby has eased the nause a lot!! am going to attempt to post some piccies but my internet is soooooooooooo c**p at the moment don't know if it'll work!

Mack i got the camera from STR hobby(cough from Hong Kong cough),it was about $40 i believe! the only thing i'm a little disappointed with is there are only two positions for the camera to face: straight down or 45°! it does do video or stills (@ 25 fps) and has a 2Gb internal memory!

alright peeps, good to hear everyone is getting out there! i've got to get myself sorted for work this evening

P L C & M-H

Matty )

rcmiket

"The Christen Eagle did not fly due to a bad ESC from Castle. We reved it up on the runway and smoke rolled out of it. Whats up with ESC lately. Issac had a bad one on his Fusion this week."

Been a rash of that lately here as well. CC is very good a replacing defective equipment glad it was on the ground. Here's a few pictures of the Seahawk. Works progressing but at slow rate. Lighting is in and the mechanics fitted but still need to be buttoned up.
Mike

flyachopper1

G'day all,
Finally we have some decent flying weather here. It is still hot, but, the winds have calmed and the storms have diminished to once in a while. Mack, sorry we cannot send you some of the rain. Henrys pond is higher than it's ever been since he bought the property. Some of the trees at the North end are surrounded by water. The fishing has gone real good though. The Gerogia game wardens came out yesterday to restock some bass and walleye fry. They dumped a large tank truck full of each into the pond. They do this as a free service for landowners that maintain good habitat for fish. Nice to have a personal supply. The only requirements besides maintaining a proper habitat is that others get to fish the pond occasionaly. Ol' Henry has plenty of buddies to cover that and he doesn't have to open it up to the public. He gets a tax break for maintaining the pond too. See, there are some states that have some sense in their statutes.

Got off track here. Meant to talk about flying. I took the 600 out this morning early to run some fuel through it and it flew perfectly up until something siezed in the motor. I managed to auto it in gently enough so that no other damage was done. It was not more than twenty feet off the ground and had just enough forward speed to allow a good bit of rotor speed to build up before it came to Earth. It appears the main bearing just behind the counteweight on the crankshaft has seized. I will break the motor down tonight to investigate. I am not a bit upset. That motor has a lot of hard running on it and a lot of that has been in very hot weather. My fingers have been a little itchy lately to get inside a nitro motor anyway. I have a lot of fun working those little motors over. I plan to freshen up everything in the process. New bearings, piston and ring, cylinder sleeve, clean and tweak the carb, new backplate gasket and all the wee o rings.

I took the injured 600 back to the house and went back out with the 500 and the faithful old 450. Both flew very well and the wind had dropped to nothing by then. So, it was a good morning of flittering about. It will be warm this evening when Dear Donica gets home, but we plan on another session then. All three chargers are set up on the picnic table under a shade tree pushing electrons into the packs. Those should be more than ready by the time my Cajun beauty needs them. I am thinking I will spend most ot this evenings session relaxing, watching her fly and quaffing some of the Sam Adams Boston Lager Henry came home with yesterday. He brought me a case of it in appreciation for letting him do his running about in my truck. He loves styling around in that truck. Says it is a chick magnet, but the chicks have been waaaaaayyyyy too young for him and he'd likely give himself a heart attack. He has had fun with it all though. Donica is working on another mix of maneuvers she has been trying to perfect so I will give her plenty of room for that. Another of her mixes that looks very cool on the sim. I cannot give it away. I must let her "do the tellin" once she has it working. If I had her natural talent and imagination years ago when I was learning to fly there is no telling what I would be doing with a heli by now. It is like having my own little show to watch constantly. She still cannot quite land on the side of a building yet but is still trying. I hear lots of "oh pishwahs" during her simming.

Mike, 100% agreement with your attitude towards time with the grandkids. Fishing just makes it even better. Have a good trip me firend. Luck with the fishing. Did a bit of snooping on the net on that part of Illinois. Looks like a nice area for sportsmen. Be fun to visit it someday. Would be a nice motorcycle trip. The Seahawk is a beauty. I want to find an AS350 fuse for the new 700 that allows cabin space like that for detailing. Any leads would be welcome.

Matty mate, very envious of the latest addition to your 'herd'. Do not need to tell you about all the good times coming with that one.

Jd me friend, you just keep getting yourself busier in the RC world. You do not seem to have any trouble replacing the music with your other love. Do you still make any music? Donica and I still listen to your CDs. Wish I could stop by and offer aid with the construction. That is another line of work I enjoy as long as it's not ten hours a day six days a week. Done that and it was enough. Careful with the old bones there mate. Searching You Tube was unsucessful for me also.

Must go check on the charging packs to be sure the heat has not gotten past the safe zone and shut down the chargers, and, do a little fishing with the old Colonel. All these responsibilities of late. Life is tough these days but I am getting through it. Yes, a block of cheese please.

Later me friends, be well and happy.

dooleyje

OOOPS the video in under RCFLYER1234 of you tube.. look under "all" and you should be able to see it in slow mo and reg speed.. Issac was flying the Outrage 550, also a bun of pictures of the fly-in

Jim

Mack66

Awesome. Foamie turned to dust. Literally. Was there even a scratch on the main blades?

Mack

dooleyje

Yes the blades were ruined, Took chunks out of them. The foamie's battery was smoking having been cut in half. And both motors on the twin airplane were mangled so I guess the blades took a hit from the motors. The look on my bosses face when the airplane went POOF!! was pricless.

No flying for me this week. I have been sick and I need to finish the building. Jay I have not touched a instrument in over a year. Other than singing I have not made music. I am enjoying OFF the road for now.

The upgrade for the MCPX is a go. Issac has his working great and i tell you the power is awsome. I just received all my components yesterday. The parts are a GWS GW/GM9T3 pinion, A Helimax Novus CP brushless upgrade that combine an esc with a motor, The last thing to get is a Steveconverter from..... Steve Coverters. If any one wants to upgrade hollar and I will email the directions.

Jim

flyachopper1

Do not know what I am doing wrong but when I search you tube for RCFLYER1234 all I get is a video of some kid that has built a Mustang. How about just posting the link?

dooleyje

Yes that was the kid who made the video.. Go to the right side and click on "ALL" to see the other videos he made.
http://www.youtube.com/user/RcFlyers.../3/o-Ns4xTNvyc

Jim

Mack66

Yesterday was another day at the Rat Club. 98F and 8-12mph winds when I arrived. Got out the Sceadu, and went through the fuel system to find the cause of suddenly running lean. Didn't really find anything but replaced the clunk line and part of the exhaust pressure line that looked like it had some external wear due to rubbing on the frame. Rechecked my work on the tail rotor case replacement and everything looked fine. By the time I was ready to fly, wind gusts had increased somewhat, but went out anyway.

Kicked into ST-1 and the governor kicked in. Flew the tail off it, just doing lazy eights, but very aggressively. I had to in order to have enough ground speed when I came about into the wind! Turning downwind was like getting shot outta a slingshot! Things seemed fine so parked it and took her back to the bench for a double check on the tail rotor to make sure nothing had worked loose.

Meanwhile, Ronnie was flying his SDX, and Joel had arrived with his giant scale yak. Greg was working on getting his backup SDX running again, and in the process broke a clutch shoe, so he spent most of his afternoon replacing that plus a few other odds and ends.

I put out my anemometer when I noticed that winds had picked up more speed. We were now averaging around 9mph and gusting to 23mph! I went on out again and once more flew the tail off the Sceadu. This time there was turbulence when flying into the wind to the point it was starting to toss her around. I held on though and finally decided to call it a day with just under about a quarter tank left. As I descended, I noticed the engine starting to lean out on me (just like they sound when they're running low on fuel). Kicked back to Normal, and landed. Spooled down and up a couple times, but always ended up lean. Must be a blockage somewhere. When drawing fuel off the tank, I also ran some fuel back and forth into and out of the engine.

Going back out today I'll see if that made a difference. Might be contamination upstream of the main jet. May have to open up the needle, flush it, then retune. Hope that works.

Calm outside right now, but I know that will change once again soon. Guess I'd better get my act together and get on out there.

Hope y'all get out and fly this weekend.

Mack

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend.

I get my kitchen pass for a day at the field tomorrow. District V VP is supposed to come to our club meeting tomorrow morning as well.

dooleyje

Happy 4th everyone,, No passes for me I have to work. I even took a trex450 Pro repair home. I am replacing the main shaft and spindle and a tooth is out on the main gear so that will be replaced.

I am going to try to upgrade My tiny Mcpx to brushless but a problem has shown it's ugly face. Aparently some of the boards are not compatable with the set up and will shut down at about 1/2 throttle or 100% throttle with no control. Mine is an original heli that came in when Issac got his so we will see. If anyone wants to upgrade, hold off till we see what the problem is.

Gotta go an cut the grass.... Nothing runs like a Deere until you get a Cub Cadet!!!

Jim

Mack66

JD,

I'll stick with my LA125 Deere thankyouverymuch! But I already mowed de lawn, so out to the Rat Club I went this afternoon!

Only 102F and almost calm today. Which meant we were basically in a sauna all afternoon. Well once in a while a breeze would pass through, just enough to keep you on your toes. But the breeze was a welcome temporary relief from the heat, so we couldn't decide how much cheese we would need for our whines.

Anyway, Greg was fighting with a misbehaving governor, I was fighting my lean mixture problem, and Joel was becoming increasingly frustrated with testing a fuel that he agreed to test for a local LHS. Meanwhile, Ronnie was having a great day relaxing and flying his SDX, watching the rest of us deal with our issues.

No problem, we started cannibalizing his spare SDX. Greg went for his governor, and I went for his fuel tank. The governor solved Greg's problem, and for some strange reason, swapping his fuel tank with mine "seemed" to solve my problem. But then I started opening up the high speed needle to get richer mix. We checked over my tank and could find absolutely nothing wrong with it. Soooo, I swapped back to my tank, and miracles upon miracles you got it the problem went away, and I leaned my high speed back out (at least part way so far). One other thing I noticed was that the resistance to me blowing on the pressure hose coming from the muffler had decreased significantly since the first time I checked it out. My theory is that the orifice on the muffler pressure support nozzle was partially blocked, and by constant fiddling mercifully the orifice had been cleared. We'll see.

Anyway, everything is now working properly except the pilot. We're down to thumbs being the only operating faults now.

We all had FUN, which is the whole purpose of this hobby in the first place, so mission accomplished.

Must admit, the shower when I got home sure felt good!

Tomorrow friends arrive, and Monday, family comes for BBQ. Hope you all have a great 4th.

Mack

flyachopper1

Thanks JD, You got me clear of another "DUH" moment. Got to see the video.

In the middle of a movie right now. I'll write more later.

flyachopper1

Best of the day fellow flying Americans,
The best to our friends across the pond also, of course. It is the time of expressing our patriotism and love of our country. Donica and I wish to express our thanks and gratitude to all that have and are preserving our freedom and way of life. Many thanks and admiration to our friends overseas that have contributed just as much to the cause. Our dear old country may have its troubles right now, but, it is still our dear old country and the best of them all. We all need to have the resolve to stick it out and work to return to the way of life that is only possible from our collective efforts.

Attended the city of Albany fireworks display Friday evening and it was spectacular. Mingled with the throng of fine folks and made a bunch of new friends. We could hardly walk more that ten paces and someone would greet us, offer us a cold drink or some fine munchies. Although it was quite hot and muggy the pleasantries made it a very comfortable time. The city had installed some of those misters along the walkways that are a frame of pipes that form a gate and water is misted into the openings. As you walk through you catch a cool mist and it is amazing how well those work. I estimate there were a dozen or so of those. Good thinking on someones part.

yesterday we took our 500s out by the pond and flew as long as we and the motors could take. Heat is becoming a factor here with temps hovering towards the nineties and above. Winds have been mostly calm and that has made for some fine flying. Have a new motor and parts to rebuild the old one on order for the 600. Donicas is still in good shape and she has given me permission to fly it if I want (such a generous and kind one). With my 700 waiting for a decision on a scale fuse and my 600 waiting for a motor I am limited to my 500 and 450. I still have the tiny 250 in flying condition, but, I just cannot seem to get much of a liking going for that little buzzer. It is fun to mess around with at times but for the type of flying I enjoy it is not well suited. This is the first time I can remember Donica having a bigger 'herd' than I and it is a kind of backwards thrill to think about it. We were joshing about that some this morning and she did a bit of a good humored strut and a "Uh huh uh huh. Cracked me up. The strut was worth it to see.

Donica came home from work Friday with a couple of stars and stripes streamers she bought from a sidewalk vendor downtown. I think they are meant to be flown like pennants. They are about three inches wide and around four feet long. She wants to tie them to the helis someway and fly them around. We will work on that tomorrow morning. Should be fun and hopefully we won't get them tangled in any moving parts.

Donica wishes me to send all of you a "hidee doodles" and a smile. She has been absorbed in her continuing studies of late and quite busy. Another week of that and she will have some free time. Our flying sessions and holiday activities have been her only breaks.

Henry has dogs and burgers on the grill and is calling us to dine.

Later me friends.

one thumb

How Do All,

Home I am and really tired, wound 3.5k miles on the little Cougar and glad I took that and not the bike.
Had a really fine time all over and am including a pic of the Jim guy and the old Swede.
Have a lot of reading to catch up on, sorry I wasn't able to visit more of Y'all.
Karl

one thumb

Try again pic wise!

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I can't remember the last time I got "hidee doodles"

rcmiket

Happy 4th.
Mike

rcheliguy2

I have a quick question(its very simple)

Is the Walkera 4#6 good?

Chopper Chuck

Ah, Independence Day. That sounds very relevant to helis! Have a happy one!

Chop C

dooleyje

RCheliguy2: Welcome to the thread. The Walkera helis are fine, you just have to watch who you order them from amd expect to pay a premium for the parts because no one in your local area will have parts and in some case won't be thrilled about helping you. Some stores have been known to send used and non-working helis out and you can read some of the nightmares in the threads. Just be careful who you deal with.

Thumb, I am glad you made it back safely.

Happy 4th everyone,

Jim

matty_p80

Hi there my X-Atlantic friends!

hope you all had a very good and enjoyable weekend! the bonus for us is we have to have a 3 day weekend as the 'Mericans are all off! so mine was an enjoyable one too and i did party on Sunday with quite an ecclectic mix: U.S. , S.Americans, Romanians and Brits!!!

Karl you ol' swede you! glad you had an enjoyable trip and you are safe and sound!

for anyone interested, i uploaded another vid on Y**T*** (only took 6 hours!!!!!!!!!)

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYyVGrGPT4A]Matty's Apache as delivered[/link]

got to sort out my camera hand more and stop moving so quickly!! ha ha!

am just out and about waiting for my pet hobby store to open so i can get a few parts for the Apache to aid the build!

by the way, i have yet to secure the ESC and the DSM6200 Rx, so if anyone (Jim, Andy, Mike, Jay, hint, hint!!) could give me some pointers on where would be good and out of the way/optimum positioning, that would be awesome!!!!

big HELLO to everyone

P,L,C & M-H

Matty )

dooleyje

Matty and Mike,, Those are some nice models you have. My Bell222 is finished and I need to post a picture.

Jim

Mack66

OK Rat Club Fans, today was one of those days where everything pretty much went right. Went out a little late mid-afternoon, say around 2:15pm. Ronnie and Greg were already there.

Temp was 98F and winds were calm to 5mph. Humidity was ~20% or so. In summary, it was "sultry".

Greg had just finished flying and was carrying in his SDX. Ronnie flew as I was setting up. Ronnie did some nice loops and a few rolls. Looked good.

Conditions were right, my Sceadu was in great condition and ready to be flown in whatever fashion in which this pilot was capable. I set her up, checked her Rx batteries, filled the tank and set out to fly. The sun was scorching. I could feel the sun scorching the backs of my legs as I took off. I knew this was going to be "the day". It was time.

I flew several fast lazy eights, doing strong pylon turns. And then...I flew my first loop. And then another. Of course I was starting the loop way to my right, so it was difficult to see when I was at the apex. Greg walked out and offered a conference. I landed and discussed what I was doing with Greg. Greg suggested I might want to initiate the loop while the heli was passing in front of me. I thought this was a GREAT idea. Duh. Sooo I threw her into ST1 again and buzzed away. As I came back through, I started the loop base in front of me and sure enough, it was easier and looked smoother. Greg and Ronnie were impressed with how round I made the loop, but I attribute this to hours on the sim getting ready for it.

After this, I was on my way. Flew out that tank, did a low altitude practice auto, then parked it. When my turn came again, I went out and continued to work on the loops and tightened my eights. I already knew my throttle linkage was rubbing on my frame, so decided I needed to clean that up. Bought some stand-off balls from Greg and fixed that problem.

Meanwhile Greg decided that there was something loose in his head (the SDX not Greg) and ended up removing his swashplate, which apparently had worn such that he couldn't get stable backwards flight upsidey down. Once removed we examined the part and sure enough he was right! Never in 1000 years would I have figured that out. Soooo, no more flights for Greg today, cuz he didn't have the replacement part in his car. Ronnie flew once again and worked on his rolls.

I ended the afternoon by going out one more time and enjoyed better throttle performance (hard to believe using a governor but true), practicing more loops and one final low altitude auto.

All in all a great afternoon, in spite of the heat. We had lots of fun. And that's why we do it!

No flying for me tomorrow gots to run errands and go to a birthday party at lunch for my bride. Her birthday is on the 7th, but her friend wanted to meet tomorrow to celebrate. Thursday looks good though.

Mack