dooleyje

I get THOSE folks all the time. Yep, sure enough 3 sec into the flight and a blade flys off. Who gets the blame.? ME of course. I will not help a person like that and the store owners knows not to challenge me on it...... I simply walk off from them and bid them luck. I also will not take the blame for the lack of flying skills they may or may not have and I ALWAYS test fly on their dime, not mine or the store. Mike, I know runs into folks like that. Harsh??? Maybe a little but You were just giving him hard love... You may want to cool a little and call him up to see if he has opened his eyes yet. I always give rules to my help and establish it up front such as " You need to do everything I say" in order to receive help from me. If you are willing to learn I will be willing to bend over backwards to help you.
Jim

Mack66

Jay,

You did the right thing. He has the wrong attitude to be a heli pilot, and you don't need to be around him.

Speaking of trusting others to build things right, my friend Ronnie had a spare Tail housing assembly for a Sceadu left over from his Sceadu days. Brand new parts, and already assembled. Well, this last crash took out mine so I didn't need those parts. All I would have to do is attach it to the tail rotor shaft and I would be done. I looked at it and it seemed okay, but...well one of the tiny scews that hold the blade holder together wasn't quite landed...[X(]

I decided to disassemble it. It's only time, right?

Good thing I did. Thrust bearings on both sides were installed backwards, and not a drop of grease to be found anywhere. People make mistakes. They may even mean well, but they still make mistakes.

Soooo, no I wouldn't accept someone else's partial build and would completely disassemble it and rebuild. Doesn't take much to knock these babies outta the sky, and they certainly can maim and kill so it ain't worth it.

Mack

chris6414

My Feedback: (10)

Concur Jay. The ole Horse to water thing. I have a rather confident full scale pilot that has a buddy chord but just won't get on it with me. The RC part he now gets after a few mild crashes just hovering. He does listen, but some just have to learn the hard way first. Unfortunately, I have found that in this hobby you really have to be immersed in it to get the most out of your skill building and aircraft and to find other with that sort of dedication is difficult. It can be a challenge to convey the dedication you need to excell just to the solo, basic stuff. Most are very busy and often don't get out a few times a week to practice and yet get very frustrated when they can't master the hover or FF after a set time. I can only afford one hobby and this is it so I am very dedicated to stay involved and always inspecting and flying as often as possible. Even if it is just a tank of touch and gos. I actually just traded my big Ergo .60 for a pair of Traxxas trucks to start my youngest in RC. He loves it and a plane will be next I am sure. For now though we have fun tearing up the yard and neighborhood. Luckily some fellow plank guys have trucks as well so we all get out after work some nights and tear up the neighborhood. Take care all and keep em flying.

Chris

dooleyje

Hey Chris,,, SO GOOD to hear from you. Sometimes you just have to walk away. I try to not burn any bridges if I can but some folks just HAVE to be isolated. At the store I attempt to have the customer do it them selves with me standing by for free,, or $30 and hour, $60 and hour if they watch, and $90 an hour if they have to tell me how to do it.[>:] All in all, I found that if I set the rules up front they listen and do like I ask. Mack hit on the head,,, you simply do not know the state the preassmbled items are in.. I had one 2 days ago that had the thrust races in wrong.. The larger ID race in inside and the smaller ID on the blade side of the grip...You think your sre correct???? better check. I even had a "Far eastern"heli that had the thrust bearings but no races, Cust said he purchased it that way............yeah right!!! How about the one I had 3 weeks ago that had all the correct bearings in the head... all on one side He couldn't figure why it was vibrating so hard.. The whole shop got a kick out of that one.

Dog gone it I could not go flying today due to HONEY DO but I will take 5 helis and 2 planks tomorrow. Hope it doean't rain.

Jim

marg2

Jim ,Flyshopper,donica, matt: gang glad to see you all together isn this forum, Hope you remember me Mariano,let my hely on the garage for a year + to train with planes, well that done is time to heli practice, had been cheching all the part to meke sure of non loose screws etc , then my radio radio went bad finally horizon fixed, actually replaced my specktrum dx6i for a new one no charge, well sunday decided to do a engine test and my cluchk broke, so is a 2 day way didi find out tha the heli wants to go backwars with throtle up maybe my servo nedd to b reverse, will find out friday nigth, glad to see you all
will keep you posted
Ps just in sace helimax kinetic 50 nitro
have a good one
Mariano

Mack66

Hello All!

Well, the Phoenix (Sceadu) has almost risen. Everything is together almost. Still have to wire up the RX and governor. Brand new Hitec HS-6965HB on the rudder, and the repaired HS-6965HB that was on the rudder has been relocated to drive the throttle. Muffler will go on second last, followed by the main blades.

I decided to order #3 X 5/8" servo screws from JR Hobby Hardware (JR was recommended by Barracuda Hockey a few months ago). The good news is that these larger diameter screws work for the Hirobo-sized servo tray holes. There is however bad news. They are advertised as having 5/64" hex sockets, but seem to in fact be 2mm. I know there is not much difference, but it does make the difference between stripping the socket and not. If you use 5/64" drivers, you will strip the socket (which is exactly what we are trying to avoid with the Phillips head screws!!!). Even then the sockets are not very deep and the material is in my opinion marginally soft. Once I switched to 2mm, I did manage to mount one servo using these screws without mishap. The first attempt ended with sockets nearly stripped to the point where I'm sure I'll have to drill them out or take vise grips to them to remove the servo. So now I have two servos mounted with the new screws, and two mounted with the stock Hirobo Phillips screws.

Do not interpret this as anything bad about JR!!! Man they were quick. Placed the order on the internet, and the screws showed up in the mail at $1.88 for shipping. It costs that much to mail a CD! Haha. Very pleased with the professional response. Guess I should give them a call and give them a heads up on the 2mm thing. Also would be good if they could find a supplier with higher quality/stronger material. I know every Hirobo pilot at our field would be ordering these things from them if they could hold up to our abuse!

Just received word that our field will be shut down Wed-Thu to allow our farmer to cut hay in the non-maintained part of the property so I guess I can take my time finishing this project up. Just as well takes a while to charge that brand new 3600 mAh battery pack anyway.

Mack

flyachopper1

Top of the day all,
Rain and more rain. It is a wet day here in Okie City and looks to be that way for a few days. The weekend looks to be iffy for flying. Not fair to Dear Donica. Her long hours here do not allow for much flying time in the evenings after work as it gets dark. I have taken the 500s over to the hospital a couple of times during her lunch break and we have flown a bit out in a lot behind the maintenance garage. Not a huge place but free of obstacles and people. She has done some good flying there, but time restricts how much. It is fun to spend that time with her though.

Not much Harley riding here either due to the weather. There are breaks in the storms but we fear that we will get out on the bike and get caught. We did take it out for awhile yesterday evening and got caught in a shower getting soaked. Actually felt kind of good but made us scramble for the hotel and dry togs.

My friend JD,
Tried your suggestion and there is good news on the new flyer. I had one more conversation with him, met with him over coffee, took one of the 500s to show him a complete heli and use it as a teaching tool to make him see how many parts must work together to create a properly working system. The conversation went very well, we both kept our composure (became good friends actually) and he is now convinced to do the tear down. He had a great bit of fun playing with my TX and running all the controls to see how they actually work on a heli. We got some long looks from others in the coffee shop as we sat there with a heli on the table making all the blades and such flop about (motor unplugged of course) having some good laughs and fun. I have made promise to help him as much as I can. He has a good set of small tools already from working on RC cars so he is well equipped. He is a sheriffs deputy here and that accounts for his class A personality tendencies. He even admitted to this. He is a very intelligent man though and that has taken over to calm him. I think this is going to be a very rewarding experience for the both of us. Once I know him better I will mention our thread here and perhaps we will have a new member soon. Are you all ready to take on another freshman member? One who perhaps, at times, may be a bit stubborn but can be talked to and will listen in the end? I will await your thoughts on this before I get him on here.

Matty,
We are having Donicas TX repaired. Got the list of damages and estimate of costs in an e mail yesterday and it is worth fixing. We have gotten a spare TX for this kind of situation in the future and it is already at her parents home waiting for us.

Mack,
We use the Futaba 10C(H) radios. Good equipment. I have been a Futaba user for a lot of years.

Chris and Marge,
Very good to hear from you both and to know you still read our thread. Please pop in more.

Must go for now and take Donicas favorite stethescope to her. She zoomed out of here this morning running a bit late and left it on the table. I know she feels as if something is missing from her day without it so I will drop in with it for her. A good excuse to see her and some other friends at the hospital. I look forward to the big hug I will get.

Later me friends.

dooleyje

Hey everybody,, I had a good day flying the other day but flew other folks helis. I was helping a customer set up his Gaui and Trex500 for Flybarless. The flybarless portion was flawless on both but we ran into a problem on both the helis. About 2 mins into the flight the helis would loose motor power. Both have Castle 75 ESC's. Luckally I had the ESC set for soft cutoff and simply auto them down. We called Castle and they did not know and ask that we send them a print out of the flight data. The motor in the 500 is the stock Align and the motor for the Gaui is a Scorpion. We veryfied the motor programing and the Castle people suggested maybe a lower timing. I checked all the batteries on a battery stress machine at the store and they were fine. Castle suggested that we use a seperate bec on anything 500 and above.. I personaly do that but the customer is using the internal becs. More as the story unfolds. I am a bit stumped.

Mack, as a note,, anytime JR is going to be metric and yep the plastic on the Hirobo frames are like steel and will lock up on a screw fast. That stuff is super tuff. On my machines a drilled thwm out a little. Does any of your group burm Powermaster fuel by VP?. They are out of Texas.

Jay I am glad you got back in touch with the guy and I try to extend the olive branch and not burn any bridges. You are a better person for it and we can all learn by your leadership... Of course invite the guy to join us. He can learn by our mistakes Tell Donica I said Hey!!

It is cold and rainy here today suppose to be a high at about 59. It was like 94 yesterday. Looks like a good reading up day and a great day to bust out the nitros and charge the flight box and flight packs and change the glow plugs. I am itching to bust some nitro.

Jim

matty_p80

hi folks from sunny Spain (if a little windy)

well, not yet got out to fly yet! have tried to get back in touch with the Spanish fella, Manolo, who contacted me through here but seems to not be logging on anymore!!

unfortunately i'm having to relay some bad news! the infamous online hobby store from Hong Kong (with the same initials funnily enough), have now had an order of mine for well over a month! it took me to contact them after three weeks, to find out they were waiting on confirmation from me of my C/C, although they hadn't actually sent the e-mail informing ME of this fact but had taken the money from my account!!!! so i immediately sent a digital photo of the card and they still haven't sent my order yet! although the order is reading paid and printed, they still haven't sent it!

as usual Jimbo you are soooooo right, in that you should buy from your LHS whenever possible as you can talk with someone face to face if there's something amiss!! that's $101 they have had of my money and i have absolutely nothing to show from it apart from the transcripts from the online chats!!!

glad everyone is getting their stuff done

big Matty hugs to all

M.

Mack66

The Phoenix has risen!

Today, Greg and I went out to the Rat Club and worked on getting her final setup done. I had spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the swashplate level at midpoint, max pitch and min pitch at home. But I didn't like what the endpoints were, and neither did Greg. Soooo, we reset everything and started over. Mechanically, we were good, but beyond that, not. Once we got the thing adjusted to what felt like common sense, Greg took it out and we both worked on adjustments dynamically. Idle up 1, full pitch up with cyclic centered. Look at trajectory and adjust accordingly. Repeat. When trajectory is vertical, invert and repeat. Sounds simple, but when other issues like stalling, high speed air/fuel mix etc. are annoyingly wrong, it interferes with the process. Nevertheless, we worked through all the issues, including the governor and got her running smoothly.

There is nothing like having a master pilot assist you as you learn. He flew the heli, and made ME make the adjustments. Only way to learn. I had to sort out the governor, which I did. We discovered that there were throttle issues because the servo ball bolt was interfering with the battery tray. Greg cut out the offending plastic while I studied the governor. Once he adjusted the throttle and we isolated a few other setup issues in the transmitter, we calibrated the governor and she was good to go!

Unfortunately, while I was studying the governor, Greg decided to fly and ended up crashing whilst attempting to do four piroflips in a row in midair. It was quite windy, which may not have helped but he says he came out of the maneuver and lost orientation. Damage is not too bad, but broke the right frame on his SDX, and you know what that means...haha.

All in all a great day for me, but not so much for Greg but that's all in what we do. Trying to learn new stuff does not come without risk.

You know, I am so lucky to have a Greg as a friend. How many master pilots do you know who will spend four hours with you helping to sort your issues out with your helicopter? Anytime he tells me to do anything I say, "Yes Sir! Right away Sir!". It is important to be a good apprentice if you want to learn. And boy I have learned a lot from this guy. He's the same age as me, but possesses 30 years of experience in this hobby, which I do not. I'm all ears.

Jay,

Glad to hear you've resolved the issues with your new pilot. Hook him up with us! He'll fit right in.

Jim,

What size drill do you use to open up the holes? I figured that these new servo screws were just a tad undersized which ends up giving about the same effect. I'm gonna have Greg use them on his heli this next time using the 2mm driver and see what he things. I think there's hope. I'm not giving up. Phillip's heads are not the best for servos as far as these ape-hands are concerned.

Matty,

I hear ya, lad. Mail order is last choice. In these parts, it's hard to find and LHS that carries what I flies, but if I switched to something like T-Rex, I can see where I'd be in the LHS more often! Hard for you whilst you are tromping around Europe, eh?

Get out there and fly, me friends!

Mack

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Had an AWESOME time at Dalton Southern Scale Challenge. It was crazy staying with this years scale nats champ, and having last years spotting for me.

LOTS of pictures and videos to get sorted and posted, I'll get started on that when I get home tomorrow night.

If you're into scale helis, this is better than IRCHA

dooleyje

Mack, I think I used a 2mm or possibly 1.5. I simply eyeballed the main screw shaft to match the drill less the screw part.

Andy, I wanted to go but could not get anyone to work in my place due to a co-workers' death in his family. I look forward to your pictures though.

Nothing going on much for the last couple of days. Tomorrow we plan to resume our ESC investigation with the troubled Trex500's,, if the rain holds off. Mack I see is finally receiving some rain in Texas. We have had a few sprinkles but nothing to keep us away from the flying field so far. Nice over cast in the 70's Whew Nice,,,,,

I have ordered another Beastx fbl system. It is small and I plan to use it on by Bell222. I sold a spare 3G to my bud Rob for his 450. I am slowly changeiing all of my helis over as I can. I will keep My EVO stock and change my VIBE. I just can't bare making an EVO FBL. That would be like taking a peanut butter sandwich to a steak dinner.

Jim

Mack66

JD,

Yes we did get a bit of rain, and we're not complaining a bit. But...I was weeding one of my gardens this morning (my favorite pastime, hehe) and found that only the top 1/2 inch of soil had any moisture in it. Farther down it was dry dry dry. We need lots more rain. At least the fires are pretty much out. Finally.

I thought about converting my EVO too. And then I was done thinking about it! I have wondered though if the cost of a crash with versus without were much different. I would think the risk of damaging the flybarless electronics would have a higher price tag than one with a flybar. Dunno. Thoughts?

I figure I'll go flybarless someday when I go for a newer aircraft after I become a worthy pilot. Right now I have to learn to stay outta the dirt... [X(]

Mack

dooleyje

Mack, the cost of a fbl crash may be cheaper due to the simple head design with low parts count. The electronics would be fine and no worse than your current gyro. The Evo has some very nice places to install the stuff. I just can't bring myself to modify such a super flying machine unless I install a scale fuselage to get rid of the flybar.

Jim

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

For your viewing pleasure
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9n7UL0gkzA[/youtube]

cajungirl

Well now, hi theah whirly heads,
I'm on a break at work havin' a nice grilled chicken and cheese sandwich my dedicated Irishman brought me. I have two hours before I assist in a surgery. We're gonna fix up a ladys right lung from a fall she took off a balcony. Her rib poked a hole in it and we're gonna stitch it up and get it workin' proper again. Anywho, Jay and I are gonna go out behind the maintenance garage here and do some flittin' with the 500s. It's been real nice here and what flyin' I get to do has been tons of fun. Today we're gonna have a little audience as three of the nursies I work with are gonna come watch. Hope I don't make a klutz of myself.

Wowsers 'Cuda,
Those scale helis are really kewllll! Now, that's my kind of flyin'. No crazy flippin' and floppin'. Please, no insult meant for those that like the 3D. Just not my style. I do enjoy watchin' Jay do it. It's got to be kinda rare even for him lately. We have so much fun with the sport flyin'. 'Specially when we get to do it together and make our helis dance 'round each other. Watchin' the scales fly makes me want one real bad. Shoot, far as I'm concerned, all my helis could be scales.

Good news came today in the ol' inbox. My TX is all fixed like new and on it's way to us here. Should be here tomorrow. They even put all the programming back in for us and it shoud be ready to go out of the box. 'Course, we'll check all that before flying with it. Lookin' forward to flyin' double again. The bill only came to $77. Not a bad punishment for my lack of care at the field.

Well, done with the eatin' now and we're heading out for the little spot to fly for a bit. Jay says "hello".

Always good to chit chat with y'all.

Please be safe, healthy and happy,

Donica

dooleyje

Donica, I know your glad to have the transmitter back. Hopefully they loaded the latest firmware as they usually do.. Do you know if your 10c can handle the S-bus system? If so that opens a who new world of connectivity.

Andy, really nice video.

Jim

Mack66

Andy,

Sweet! Maybe someday when I grow up I can be trusted with a scale model too!

Mack

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Here's the full article with more pics and video
http://www.rcheliresource.com/event-...ter-challenge/

Mack66

Outstanding!

flyachopper1

Best of the rest of the day friends,
Had some cool, comfy days here. Some light occasional rains but not enough to ruin the day. Only one more day here and we are off to one of my favorite places. Donica has a week off before starting her next gig in Baton Rouge so we are going to head for her parents in Farmerville. It will be good to see them again and lounge on the boat with her dad.

It will also be good to have a space and time to do some real flying. Donica has her TX back now and all checked out so we can again fly double. Futaba did a good job on it and the programming was spot on. She used it yesterday and it worked perfectly.

JD,
We opted to delay the S Bus software for now. That requires a lot of equipment changes on the helis such as cables, receivers, servo hubs, etc. We are sticking with what we have for now until we get back to "normal" with our heli collection and get the 700 scale finished. For our style of flying we do not need all the extra control factors and we wish to start converting our helis to flybarless as our next project once all the present building is done. It is a fascinating system upgrade though and worth looking into later. Looks like something we should consider on the scale project as it would open up a lot of possibilities for adding some nifty functions and accessories. We are considering going all out on the 700 scale and making it as realistic as possible with functioning interior and exterior lighting, a separate servo for a grapple on the underneath side for possibly lifting payloads. We are even looking into a pilots point of view camera system that will do video and stills. We would like to end up with a baby version of the old full scale "Black Beauty" that will do much of what it would do. I am digging out old photos of the interior of that one with the idea of detailing the scale interior to match.

'Cuda,
Thanks for the link to the article. Great viewing and reading. Has us both excited to get started on our own scale bird so we can experience flying one for ourselves. Donica has gone through the videos at least three times and likely will again. I can see she is bitten and has the "bug". No stopping her now. There is definitely some scale builds coming for us.

Well, the build for my recent friend here has gone well. He has been 100% hands on through it all. We have his heli assembled and will do some set up work on it today. No time left to take him out for flying lessons so hopefully we can get him hovering via e mail and phones. He is a very determined person and up for the challenge. I just need to keep him progressing at a pace that will not cause an excess of troubles. I have the feeling he will be a good study though and will progress quickly. His wife is convinced this will just be another of those "things" that will be a flash in the pan and fade away in time. She may be right. I hope not but, if so, I have made a good friend at least.

Time to go and shuttle lunch to my Cajun beauty. I think Gyro sandwiches will be the fare today. I have made some authentic southern sweet tea to surprise her with also. She misses that and mentioned it yesterday.

Be well me friends.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I went last year with my Raptor MD530, after I walked up and down the flight line I wanted to kick it and throw it in the back of the truck with towel over it.

I bought my LAFD Jet Ranger pretty much the way it is (though I am re-working a few things) but the plan is to build my own. Same size but with cheaper to maintain Trex mechanics. I am planning on heading over to the Jacksonville Sheriff air unit and documenting one of their 206B Jet Rangers so I can do the work myself this time. Progess will be posted but I'm sure it will be slow as I have a lot of stuff to get together.

matty_p80

hey guys!

where do i start, oh yeah, at the beginning!

arranged Sat. off so i could go with Manolo to Seville to an RC fun fly at another club only for him to be working! tried not to waste the day and went to the flying strip where there was one other person flying his plank (foamie Multiplex Acro), so i hesitated not and got the mCPx straight out and whizzed the life out of the batteries (x4)! he really did need a stretch of his blades and i'm getting to the point of confidence where i need to bite something and just flip him!!
as i hadn't really flown budgie at all for the past year i gave him a good looking over and found that the so called 'better' ally head had some play at the seesaw (i believe it's the hole through the middle rather than the bearings)! couldn't find the plastic one in my parts box so i could switch it back to the plastic head so decided to continue as it was useable but was very aware! typically, as i started to spool up, the wind picked up from nowhere, not bad but enough to pick the little 450 up and push it around! got to fly him around a bit and got the first video on the camera strapped to his legs but the control just wasn't there so it was restricted to just gentle movements and not great height but did fly out the four packs i'd brought with me to get me used to flying him again (he still hovers pretty darn good!!) !
today i met Manolo at the gas station in Rota at 0800hrs and we went in convoy to Seville to the club out there where they had a w/e fly in going! apparently there were more people yesterday but i wasn't disappointed as there were quite a few different aircraft but not too many so all the flyers got several turns! there were even a couple of delta wing jets that flew together and their last run they did some tandem passes, which looked and sounded incredible!
i will try and post a couple of piccies but Manolo has a 25cc Yak and someone turned up with the big brother to it: same markings but different manufacturer and it was f/g with a 120cc motor in it! the bloke could fly too and was doing some very cool rolling harriers and the like!
as for the HK situation with my order, i'm still no nearer to getting the products that were in stock when ordered and they took the money for when the order went through (nearly two months ago) and i am now on a campaign to put people off of the company just like another mail order company with the initials BH!!
i'm not vindictive or hold a grudge but i feel it is my only avenue as i've tried, repeatedly, their customer service routes just to get stock bullsh*t deflector answers! i'm just left holding myself with no recourse! (as you might have gathered it's ticked me off!!)
sorry had to rant a bit
back to normal Matty
bad news is i got to go back to that work thing tomorrow, it just gets in the way of my flying!!!!

be good peeps

p,l,c and mh

Matty

matty_p80

there is an issue from here for uploading so the piccies will have to wait i'm afraid!!

Matty

Mack66

...uh, just what is a "normal" Matty?

Mack