flyachopper1

Hello all,
Still frying eggs on the sidewalks here in Phoenix. 110 expected today and over 100 for the following days on into the horizon of the month. It cools at night but the pavements and everything else are still radiating heat like fire brick. We took a walk yesterday evening and it felt like our feet were bacon.

On the bright side, there are two brand new 500s sitting in the hotel room as of this morning and I am about to lay out the parts from one of them so we can begin the build tonight. I am betting that within three days both of them will be ready for testing and tweaking. Now if only we can stand the outdoors long enough to accomplish that. It does not look like Okie City is going to be any cooler. I guess we will have to be patient until we get back to Louisiana. There it should be in the cool 80s and 90s.

According to the tracking the 600s are soon to be delivered and the 700s are on their way to Ames' address in Nebraska. We will be swimming in helis and fun soon.

I am out the door shortly to find indoor storage to rent for the trailer so I can get it and the bike out of the heat. The inside of the trailer gets hot enough to double as a pizza oven sitting out in the sun. The hotel desk attendant steered me to a place that rents by the day and has space available. It is only two miles from the hotel and an easy drive on the back streets. I don't much like the truck sitting out in the heat either but I have no choice on that. The AC in it has so far done a good job.

No more to report now. I best get some running done.

Later me friends.

dooleyje

Hey Jay,,, IT'S A DRY HEAT [8D]. I have been working on my 600 and changing a few things up. With the digital servos and flybarless stuff I am afraid the Align bec will not have enough current to handle the draw. On the larger helis I like to use external becsand battery to have a secondary power system for the receiver pack in case the esc goes bonkers and i can still autorotate the heli down. Something I read from Castles web site kinda spooked me about the 10amp unit they offer...5 amps only!!!! even though it is rated @ 10 amps (peak). Most modern 550's, some 500's and above are going draw 6.5 amps or more. I stumbled across a brown out situation while setting up my 600. Activating all the servos in something such as a piro flip and the receiver would give a power out notation..The DX8 DMX will connect with no delay but it was a real eye opening and I can see first hand what could be mistaken for a loss of radio signal. I have ordered the Castle 20 amp pro. Think about it the next time you build your next one.. I saw on a web page where a guy used a plastic 1/32 scale kit to install an MCPX heli in it. Really cool.

I have a jet I have to build tonight so I will go for now,

Jim

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Hehe ya, a number of those GI Joe Hughes 500's were converted to 30 nitro power, I imagine if you could find one today an electric conversion would be pretty simple and look good.

rcmiket

I wish it was a dry heat here it's just hot and humid. I can't wait for winter.
Mike

cajungirl

HAY HI Y'ALL,
Been so long since I got to yak it up with all you good folks. Been keepin' up though readin' the thread. My work here has kept me so dang busy. I'm puttin' in 10 hour days. I'm not teachin' here this time. I'm back to bein' a workin' nursie for awhile. The hospital here does a lot of different kinds of surgeries and I'm assigned to three of the surgeons as their OR assistant. Very busy and intense but I'm gettin' a ton of real good experience. Got to help remove a tumor from a 24 year old womans brainstem this mornin'. Never done that before and it was scary but fascinatin'. It had her in bad shape with some paralysis and tremors but she'll now recover 100%.

I was more or less worn out last night by the time I got home from work yesterday and I walked into a heli shop in the hotel room. There was a grinning Irishman sittin' there with a big spread of heli parts in front of him. He was real antsy to get to gittin' on turnin' those parts into an assemblage that would look like a heli and fly like one. I took up a chair next to him and scooted up to the table. He must have noticed the tiredness in my eyes. He put his arm 'round me and suggested I take a shower and revive some first. Sounded real good to me. By the time I'd finished cleanin' up and changin' outta the scrubs and into some loose and comfy sweats he'd snuck out and brought back a nice burrito dinner for us. There's a real good little Hispanic place just a block away. I dove into the dinner and after that we began puttin' 500 parts together. "Bout 15 minutes into it I was feelin' the excitement of buldin' again and we were on a roll. As of this mornin' one of the new 500s was a little over half done and lookin' good. Jay's workin' on it some today while I'm at the job so it should be further along.

By the way JD, Jay took your suggestion and changed the order on the gyros to include the better servos.

Breaks over so I gotta go back to my duties. Got a knee to rebuild yet today.

I'll do my best to be back soon and visit.

Please be safe, healthy and happy.

Donica

dooleyje

WOW assist in surgery... screwdriver, pitch guage, locktite. You keep eating those burritos and you will need a bit of red!!![X(]

Jim

matty_p80

hey peeps!!

just a quickie as i'm home again for a couple of weeks with the family!

getting on slowly with the Apache (softly, softly catch de monkey) but also something else caught my eye on YouTube! it's made by a Korean company (or rather the components are) and i have a sudden hankerin' to make a working replica of the Scorpion Gunship from the film Avatar!! with the bits from this company it is a very real possibility, just have to get plenty of blades for my craft knife!!!

it is hissing with rain on a semi-permanent basis here so no flying except indoors with the mCPx

Jay and Donica, glad you're back up and running! we've always said that the building is as much fun as the flying!!

all have fun and be good

gotta go as my beautiful wife has just put dinner on the table for us

Matty \___,__/\____
~~~~/~'~~~~~\/~~~~

cajungirl

Heloooo everybody,
It was my only day off this week and we spent it well. Started out this mornin' on the Harley for awhile before it got real hot. We rode around till 'bout 10 and then had an early lunch (brunch?) at a real cool little diner we found out in the East end of the city.

Then we bellied up to the table in the hotel and there's now one finished 500. It's a beauty, all shiny and new, lookin' like it's ready to take on the air. Jay hopes to get out early tomorrow and do some of the tweakin'. Tomorrow evenin' we'll toss all the parts for the second one out on the table and start the buildin' all over again. Hoowee, won't be long now and we'll both have a workin' heli again. Accordin' to the tracking the 600s should show up tomorrow. The new Hyper 50 motors for them showed up yesterday. whew, more buildin'. Good thing we enjoy that so much and can work as a team. Sure will be nice to have a 'herd' again. Called Ames this afternoon and there's two 700s at his house in Nebraska waitin' for us. I work here in Phoenix till the 26th and then have five days vacation. We'll be goin' to Nebraska from here and spend a few days before headin' to Okie City. Two weeks there and I hope to get back to Baton Rouge. By then we should have the 600s done and can start on the 700s.

Ooohh JD, you get to build a jet???? That sounds like a buncha fun. Do you get to test it when it's done?

Matty, I'm so glad you've got time with the family. I know it's hard to work apart from them. I can remember when Jay and I were apart a lot 'cause of work and how lonely it can be even around lots of other people. Give the ladies a big ol' hug from us please. Bet the 'sproglet' is growin' on ya. Turnin' into a lady real fast.

The settlement with the insurance co. is now signed and sealed. The attorney in Albany tells us he's received the check for his services ($1500) and our payment should show up in the bank account by tomorrow afternoon. We ended up with $2890 for replacement of the trailer, all the helis paid for, $962 for replacement of the generator on the trailer, $644 for the lost spare heli parts and field kits, $416 for repairs to the truck frame and hitch, $1500 for the hours we claimed building the helis and $3575 for the time and materials spent modifying the trailer. We kept the claim for the hours on the helis and trailer conservative. We never kept track of them and didn't wanna be too greedy. Altogether that drunk kid cost his insurance $15,633. I surely am glad he didn't cost anyone or himself injury or life and I hope he's learned from it all.

Now we can pay down the credit card. It's lookin' kinda worn lately. Needs some body work and a paint job. We'll get a list of spare parts figgered out soon, get them ordered and sent to my folks address. My momma tells me that daddy was so inspired by Jay and I gettin' married that he's been talkin' 'bout she and him renewing their vows in a small ceremony. They've decided to do that and will get it set up for when Jay and I can be there. So, we'll be visitin' them during the next trip to Baton Rouge. Cooooooollllllll beans. Get to see my folks renew their marraige and gather up a buncha heli parts too. Ahhhhhhh, life is so good.

Sleep is startin' to sneak into my eyes so I best go and let it take over for the night. Gotta be sharp in the mornin' to help with surgery on a guy that was hurt in a fall off his garage. We'll be repairin' his lower spine. Sad he got hurt, but I have to admit I'm excited 'bout gettin' to help on this one. My very first spine job. I surely do love my work.

Please be safe, healthy and happy,

Donica

dooleyje

Hey Matty!!!!

Donica, the jet was a pretty cool build. It was an A6 Intruder ducked fan. All I did was provide an assembly service. I earned a coll $100 that I used on my first set of batteries for my Trex600.

The 600 is complete. I am going with 8 cells and I orderd 2 4 cell 4000mah batteries. I will run them in series. I will be running a govenor on this bird via Castle. The 6 cell setup would have require a 16-17 t pinion to get the head speed I waas looking for at a cost of duration and high current draw on the ESC. The 8 cell setup allowed me to go with a more manageble 14t for 2100-2200rpm or a 13t in the 2000 rpm range. This will also keep the amps draw down on the ESC. I mentioned before about the high crrent servos and systems and the possible brown out they can cause. I borrowed an amp meter and measured all my helis. The highest reading I could get was a burst of 2.3 amps and mostly in the 1.4-1.5 draw range on all my big birds. So all of my 5-7 amp becs are all safe and way below the max current. The highest load was on my TrexESP with 3 Align 610 cyclic servos, 3g flybarless system with a Futaba 251BL tail servo via an Align 6.5 amp BEC on 2 cell receiver lipo battery. I still had more than half the bec capacity. It was interesting to see just what my systems do.

Jim

matty_p80

see if this comes out!?!

(if it does) like father like daughter!! ha ha!

Matty

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Awesome pics!

matty_p80

thanks 'Cuda!

my wife took these at a local event where they turned up with the Wasp and Lynx (Navy of course!!) and i was very proud to see she took after her Daddy and was straight into playing with the switches on the overhead console! ha ha!

Matty

Mack66

The apple didn't fall too far from the tree! Sooo cute! She needs an RC heli!!!

Mack

Mack66

JD,

It doesn't get any better than that. $100 to build an aircraft? Wow! Having fun and getting paid fer it. Don't get any better than that!

Donica and Jay,

You now have an RC aircraft assembly line working. Incredible. I'd love to get started building mine, but it will just have to wait. Hope someone will pay me $100 to build mine. Heh.

All,

I can see everyone is keeping busy in here. For us, it's pretty slow. Had mackerel for dinner yesterday (with potatoes of course). Everything is with potato(e)s here. It's part of their history. There were times here in the past when salt herring and boiled potatoes was eaten on a good day (like pay day). We're talkin' coal miners and fishermen. The song 16 Tons is a lot closer to the truth than most people realize.

Overcast and cool today. Will continue with some rain until Sat Sun when the sun is supposed to "come out". We'll see...

Must go. Got to start planning our escape from here...

Mack

dooleyje

Mack: Hey,,, I easy but not cheap!!!! Actually I tried to set the price high enough that they would not want me to do it. Works somtimes!!! !100 bucks for 4.5 hours of labor is cheap for a person with 48 years of airplane building under their belt. You want the best or the REST?
Are you still up NAUTH? in the COOL?

Matty,,, man she has grown!!!!!

Cuda, you got the Vibe built?

My 600 is ready for a test flight. I finally got the connectors on my batteries.. A chore with #8 wire:@] All the flybarless junk is doing it's thing. The Castle stuff is ESCing and the blades are
blade-un, The Scorpion is singing nicely and the GOV is Goving. The batteries are charged andIi am ready to go.

Jim

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Well building for a review is more tedious than just putting a heli together. Photographing, taking notes etc is time consuming.

The airframe is done and the servos should go in today. I have an eye towards test flying on Sunday. My roommate ordered one when he saw mine and he blew right through putting his together so I imagine they will probably both fly this weekend. I was told a set of Spin Blades 600mm were on the way but I havent gotten them yet so its either Rotortech 610s or the guy at the field that has one already is raving about Edge 623's and Edge paddles.

dooleyje

The Edges are the bomb here.

Jim

killbucket

I'd forgotten all about my old GIJoe copter...off to Ebay.

dooleyje

Killbucket,,,,,Yeah I have seen them with helis inserted in them. I guess they would be hard to get now. Back in the day helicopter fuselages were hard to find and expensive.. Now there is a size for everyone.

Welcome to the thread,

Jim

matty_p80

hey guys,

very excited, just got August issue of Model Helicopter World and there is a MD500E fuse for the mSR made by MIA for £26.99! suh-weeeet! i'm getting a little bit carried away at the moment, might need to have a cool down and get some of these things finished first before i embark on the next one???

Matty

dooleyje

If it fits the MSRit would probably work for the MCPX. I have a customer who took a CPX3 500 body and put it on the SR120. Looked great. It's ok to be excited

Jim

Mack66

JD,

Yup, still here in Canada. That's the big pink thing over the US, not the little place in CA (Canyada). Haha.

Mack

flyachopper1

Top of the day,
Ooohhh yessss, finally flying again. Both 500s are built, tweaked and flying like new helis ('magine that). We finished the second one day before yesterday and took them both out for testing this morning. There wasn't much tweaking to do thanks to our 'history' with the T Rexes and my partners penchant for being meticulous during a build. We will try to get them out again this evening or at least in the cool of the morning tomorrow. We spent some time last night on the first 600 and again today. It is coming along well and hopefully will be built in a day or two. Thennnnnnn, there is another to start on. Begora, building is fun, but these marathons can be wearisome at times. My old eyes need resting about every hour so I sit back and stare at my Cajun beauty of a partner for a bit. That will make any eyes feel better.

I think we have nearly all the spare parts ordered now and packages are showing up on a regular flow. The carry cases for the 600s came yesterday as did all the batteries for the 500s. We are getting 'rigged' back up quickly. I have a new generator for the trailer now and Henry has all the lights and all the hardware gathered at his place. Soon after getting back to the good ol' Southeast we'll get the trailer into good shape. I am giving some thought to a small air conditioner for the trailer this time. It will be mounted the same as the generator so it can be slid inside, covered and locked. Henery has an idea for a canvas shroud around the AC so it will be airtight from the outside and the shroud will fold in when the AC is slid into the trailer.

We are off on the Harley soon to visit some friends at a lake near here and dip our toes in some cool water. There is supposed to be a boat and some water skis available as well as several grills. Donica is packing some steaks in bags of ice to toss into the saddle bag and take along.

JD, surely do like the Futaba gyros on the 500s this time. Set up was a bunch easier than the Logitechs and performance is the same. Only small adjustments from out of the box for tail wag.

Matty mate, Oh dear me friend. You have a young lady on your hands in the 'sproglet' there. She's grown a ton since the last photo of her we'd seen, and, she is turning into a right beauty. Proper job there me friend.

Time to head for the lake me friends. The best of the day to all of you.

dooleyje

OH BOY glad your back flying. I have the first flight on my 600 ESP. It flew super with the govenor amd Flybarless. This is the first time using the Gov. on an electric heli and man what a difference from a curve. The sound never changes. The flybarless system needed no twiking. If you get the chance to use a Castle ESC. do yourself a favour and set the Gov up, super simple to do and it works.

I am still at work and get off at 6pm. I do not need to go flying so I can finish the shingles on my tractor building. One more row and finish the cap, hang the door and windows, paint (Debs Job). We have been getting rain in the afternoons so it is hard to get her done. Refreashing though!!!

Later, Donica don't wear the new smell off them birds.[>:]

Jim

killbucket

I've been intrigued by the flybarless helis, but have noticed something (I think) in most of the flight vids: they seem to lock into hover quite well, almost to the point of resisting any directional movement.
Is this just an illusion, are they actually more difficult to fly around?