darthdrk

Ok guys Im ready for a contest. I want to see what youve done with those Darth fuselages alot of you guys have obtained. Ill make this contest an RCuniverse exclusive Darth LMH fuselage contest. Post a pic in this thread and the forum members will vote or comment who has the best looking fuselages. Ill tell you what, Ill let the members pick three winners and each winner will lets say win a Fuselage of their choice. Ill let this run for 2 weeks Say from now Sept 13 until Sept 27. Were gonna have to probably keep this thread alive so it dont get pushed to far in the rear. Ill be away from my computer for several days next week so go ahead and post. I should be up and running with production once again by the end of the contest. Hmmm mabey three winners is quite a bit much but we'll see what the participation level will be. So, pass the word to LMH friends who may frequent the other forums and let them know . I would like to do something like this about twice a year. Ill see how this goes. ive seen some really neat detailing jobs so the competition should be good. I will not be voting but everyone else can. So, Lets go on and have some fun.

PS: You Hughes 300 canopy guys are included also.

skyhawknut

My Feedback: (3)

O.K. - Heres mine! Mounted to a corona.

gmaster

as always your fuses are awesome.. you should have a contest (drawing) to win one for those of us who dont have one yet

darthdrk

That may be a good idea but how would you set up a contest like that ? A raffle ? What would be your plan?

gmaster

i guess by doing a drawing.. start a thread.. set a final date.. (say for example around thanksgiving) everyone that posts a reply is entered.. everyone gets assigned a number depending on when they reply to the thread.. (numerical order) after the final date.. you find an online random number generator (http://www.randomizer.org/form.htm is one I tested that allows you to pick the number range) set the number range to however many people replied to be in the drawing.. then after using the random number generator.. whatever random number wins.. you would be the only person that confirms the number so its integrity is in your hands

just a thought.. either way.. i still say your fuses rock

skyhawknut

My Feedback: (3)

I can see why Darth would do it this way. It keeps it fair and it gets exposure for himself and his product. The more good models that people see, maybe it will lead to more of his products being sold. This helps everyone by producing an affordable product that people can enjoy. I think darths idea is great. No one else has nice scale fuses for Corona, and we can all benifit. If he holds a draw no attention is drawn to his product and he gives away product with really no exposure. Maybe he can give away two instead of 3. One to the nicest scale fuse and one to the nicest stock. But remember he is giving away product in the hopes of gaining business through exposure, and what better way to do it?

gmaster

there are 2 different ways here to draw attention for return business and future customers..the BEST form of advertisement is word of mouth bar none.. the 2nd best way of advertisement is any advertisement with the words FREE or Giveaway in the title..thats why business put advertisements in newspapers 'buy 2 get one free" and thats why many states have lottos and bingos which draw HUGE crowds... I am not dissing this thread and I hope you didnt think that I was.. What I basically mentioned was why not only offer a free fuselage to those who have already purchased one and mounted it to their corona... but to offer a drawing to those who do not have a fuselage yet.. what better way to show who has interest in these (vs those who have them already.. usually people only buy 1 canopy).. you would get more people involved in a thread/drawing for people who own or dont own them then you will with having owners show theirs and offering one of them one in a contest.. the cost of building one fuse over advertisement that would draw in hundreds would be a one sided teeter totter... that is my opinion..

darthdrk

There has been alot of intrest shown for the bodies I produce. Thats not really a problem. Most of the LMH fliers dont know about the Heli bodies. We here in the forums are only a small percentage of fliers. Ive sold alot of these bodies even overseas. I like to see more of what people have done with and to them. Just about all the pics Ive seen have been some really good detailing. For all the pics that I have seen posted in the forums, Im sure that will not equal 2 percent of whats been sold. Alot of people have bought two bodies at a time. There are alot of people who have expressed the desire to buy a body but not until they can fly without crashing as much. Im working on changing some of my designs basically to allow for easy replacement of body parts if they were to get damaged. The Bell 222 body is a good body that if parts of the fuselage gets damaged it would be easy to replace a specific part instead of buying a whole body. Im working on the Hughes 500 to allow for the E or D version. Ill see what happens in the future.

gmaster

darthdrk.. i for one am one of those people that doesnt want to purchase one until I am more confident in FFF... i dunno how this thread got changed to a debate.. i didnt even state anything except would you offer a drawing for those who do not have one.. and you asked how would you do such a thing.. and i replied.. thats it..

Like i said.. I followed when you first started doing prototypes to having multiple fuselages.. I for one have been following it since the beginning.. not only here but on the 'other' rc group forums..

with that said.. lets get this thread back on track.. someone post THEIR pic of one of Darthdrks fuselages.. i know there are numerous ones out there.. the best one that I have seen so far is the one that is painted up like a news chopper.. that is the one I would vote for..

SF34

My Feedback: (24)

I think my wife is getting me one of Darth's fuses for my B-day, so hopefully I will be able to post a pic here soon!

T.W.

Like hs748, I also decide what I want for my birthday and then "drop hints" until my wife comes-up with a great idea for the present - do we all do this I wonder

And like so many other LMH fliers here, I daren't fit a Darth fuz until I'm sure I won't re-kit it on it's first flight . . . . but they are so good-looking that my LMH will get to wear one (or two) eventually. Maybe Christmas would be about right. Hmmmmm, there's a thought. Good luck with the competition

Tony

gmaster

sweet... you guys are going to have great b-days... hs748.. how many more days/weeks left of flight time up there in Canada?

this is hte best fuse I have seen yet.. im sure there are others just as good or better but this is one we have seen..

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/tm.asp?m=635095

here is a pic of it to remind some of you guys.. its tree_top_chop-RCU's

SF34

My Feedback: (24)

Gmaster,


The flying season is almost at an end here. It is starting to get near the freezing point overnight. Snow will be here within a few weeks.

I checked into renting a gym at one of the schools here, and I think it was about $30 for the day, so I will do that a number of times over the winter!

I need to find myself a winter project. I think I may build a fixed wing trainer, as my wife says she wouldn't mind learning to fly next spring.

Later,

Jarrett

Rob Schaffer

Continuing with the News Chopper theme,... I have started working on my Jetranger Fuse in the Philadelphia Chopper 10 Scheme. Using Clear Avery Labels for some of the decals, and a lot of patience, it is turning out great. The front removes so I can access the battery pack.

Thanks again Darth,....

gmaster

Rob.. again.. looks great.. cant wait to see it all done..

Rob Schaffer

Updated photo. Here is the finished product, mounted and detailed. The Gyro-cam on the front is made of a foam ball and balsa, canopy antenna, exhaust pipes as well. See my other thread about mounting Darth's Fuselage, to get more information.

Thanks for the comments guys.

tree_top_chop

My Feedback: (1)

Here's a few more pics of my Darth fuse. When you buy one, it doesn't hurt to pick up a couple extra tailboom sections. It's easier to make up those spares at the same time you do the fuse vs. after you smack it a few times

I also started using the new CBP 2100 NIMH cells (8) with the stock pinion. They are 4 oz. lighter than NiCd's and will get your scaler's flight time back up if you're heavy from paint.

Think we all owe Darth a big 'ole THANK YOU for doing all the work and laying out all the $$$$'s to make this product for us.

Rob Schaffer

Very nice! What motor are you running with those 2100's? and how are your flight times now? I was looking at switching over to NiMh, but don't you lose some of the "punch" that you get from NiCad?

Darth: Thank you as well. I am actually surprized that more people haven't posted their images. They have to be out there somewhere.

tree_top_chop

My Feedback: (1)

It added about 2 minutes to my flight time and I'm doing about 9 minutes in FF and 8 minutes just hovering. Motor is a Mega 16/15/3 on a Jeti controller. You gotta use 8 cells instead of 7 and use the stock pinion. It doesn't climb out as well because the volts will drop faster under load than NiCd. But for general flying around who cares. It's not like I do very many full throttle climb-outs anyway. They're cheaper than NiCd, lighter, fly longer. The only downside is they take longer to charge. I'm pretty happy with them. Your chopper looks good, should be alot lighter than mine (I base painted it in white, etc..). I've gone back and forth between scale and pod-n-boom and like the scale look the best. It's much more fun to fly because it at least looks a little like a helicopter. The scale body has 10X the wow factor for people watching, too. The only things I've managed to tear up on it is boom covers and the thin piece around the rotor shaft on the top.

EDIT: 2 quick things. Don't waste too much time detailing, you'll just whack it up flying and they all look good from 15'+ away and that's all that matters. Also, I think more people aren't showing up because of the chang-over to the new format. It's kinda odd and hard to find your way around. I didn't come back to the sight for weeks because I couldn't figure anything out. And now I see my post count is 2 and I'm a new member Not sure what I was before - but I've been with the site for almost a year I think.

darthdrk

Hey guys the heli bodies with upper cowlings and tailboom covers, all those parts are replacable as well as the bodies. Seeing that if you already bought a body, I'll sell replacement parts pretty cheap.

Your right about the postings, Im surprised not more people posted their detailed bodies. I may have to extend this a while longer, mabey another few weeks.

Another workings in the works, Im trying to see if I can get my supplies cheaper. If I can, I'll pass it down the line to the buyers. Im trying to keep and get the prices down a little lower.

skyhawknut

My Feedback: (3)

Rob,
I'm using 8 hrsc 2600's with an atomic force motor. With the body I get 9 min hovering. They have as much punch as nicads.

tree_top_chop

My Feedback: (1)

Ya, there's other options out there. You can go with more MAH (3300's), more voltage and MAH (2600's) or lighter with high discharge (NiMh 2100's for cheap, or Sanyo's kick-butt 1950's). Then there's Li-Po's. I just can't bring myself to lipoly just yet. There's just too many things out there to buy!
My NiCd's just became more useful again. I picked up a couple powersupplies and with my cheap old Tekin's @ 6+ Amps I flew back to back so much I shut down the ESC from heat. First time ever doing that. Weight is a big deal on a Corona, there's a point when you go too far and it kills the flight time. There's also some flight loss when adding a scale body due to it's width. The LMH makes alot of it's lift close to the mainshaft, where other heli's make almost all their lift in the last 30% of the main blades. That and weight is why you get such great times without a canopy vs. with a canopy. A Apache type body is probably the best all around for duration with scale on a Corona. That's just my opion, no facts. Seems to me the Corona is about 1 minute lost per ounce added.
For me, though, as long as I'm getting over 5:30 in a flight I feel like I got to "fly". Anything less feels like I just got to start and then had to quit for some reason. My 4-stroke nitro heli does nearly 20 minutes at a time. It's ridiculous, I can't finish a full tank. My last flight is usually half a tank so I can empty the header tank too. My "perfect" flight time seems to be around 7:30-8 minutes. That's long enough to enjoy it and still have some spare if I didn't get off to a good start or just wanted to do the final approach over again.

But, for me, any lost flight time is worth it because those 5:30-6 minutes are much more enjoyable with the fuse vs. 7 minutes without. No contest there. Everytime I lift off I get a silly grin on my face and it stays there the whole time!

davidjacob

My Feedback: (1)

Hey Rob,

little off topic, but are you in phila? I am in bensalem and was looking for anyone in the area that has a LMH , I have glow right now but would love to see a lmh fly . please let me know if your local and If it would be possible to meet somewhere so i can see that bird in action

Thanks
Dave

batjac

My Feedback: (1)

Okay,

Here's my Darth fuselage. I started painting my Darth Jet Ranger as a local newscopter here in Portland, until all the copycats on this board beat me to it...

But, even if I had to start over, I doubt that anyone who watched TV in the 80's will fail to recognize this one. Especially when they see who's flying it.

batjac

My Feedback: (1)

And a last one.