iflyatcae

Hey guys,

Guess what lightflightrc has... the cheapo brushless!!!! $27

iflyatcae

oops. its a different one. on balsa products it says it just uses less current. this one is the bp 12, the one eveyone else has is the 21. still cool.

AgCat1982

For those who do not know where P-Calc is, here is the link.

[link=http://brantuas.com/ezcalc/dma1.asp]P-Calc[/link]

I put Butch back in there. He was gone too. I think I tried that motor, Haze, but, I'll look again.

AgCat1982

Haze, they don't list one that size.

Loubud

Stix,
No 540's tha you can find? Doesn't matter. It flys stock or it doesn't.

AgCat1982

I am wrong again. Did you say it is a 540 motor? That they have. I was looking for 580.

Loubud

Still lookin? I guess the either it flys or it doesn't isn't going over big.

AgCat1982

You didn't answer, Haze. Is it a 540? I am sure it will fly, tho. Just my guess. Why would they put it there. May be underpowered, but, fly.

Loubud

Hi Stix,
It's a 540. manufacturers try to keep the cost down by using cheaper parts when possible. China does it a lot.

AgCat1982

Won't work. Too many different type of 540 motors by that company. Amps all the way from 15 to 90 with same prop and battery! Has to do with the windings.

Loubud

I figure it's a bit like the S500 but on the low end of the performance. Say 8.4 volts.

AgCat1982

Hey, Haze. Why don't you put up a purple hazey patch for your avatar?

I think I have the hard wood problem figured out. There's a piece of equipment I have to get from the shop.

Diggidy

I thought this was interesting

Newbie Rules


THE RULES:

1- THERE IS NO CRASH-PROOF PLANE. Some are tougher than others, but every plane will break if you hit something fast enough or "wrong".

2- THERE ISN"T A PERFECT BEGINNERS PLANE. There are many good trainers out there in various price ranges. They all have good and bad points, advocates and detractors. Your job is to find the best one for YOU.

3- YOU WILL CRASH LEARNING TO FLY, IT WILL BREAK, AND YOU'LL HAVE TO REPAIR IT. Period. Deal with it.

4- THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES THAT YOU CAN OR WILL LEARN HOW TO FLY A R/C PLANE. It's like learning to ride a bike- without training wheels. Most people can with practice and patience.

5- THIS HOBBY IS NOT CHEAP. Warning: you may throw some (or all) of your money right out out the window.

6- DO YOUR RESEARCH HERE, the best source of knowledge on the net. Get the plane that you think will provide YOU the best chance of success, follow the instructions, and then do the Fly- Crash- Repair routine over and over till you finally "get it".

7- IT'S NOT THE PLANE'S FAULT. Every plane on the market will fly if it's built right, the CG is right, it's trimmed right, and it's not flown into anything.

8- THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A SLOWFLYER THAT WILL HANDLE WIND. Get real.

9- YOU THINK WE GO THROUGH ALL THIS FOR THE FUN OF IT? You're darn right we do!!!


NEWBIES RULES FOR HELICOPTERS

1- GETTING INTO HELICOPTERS REQUIRES A MAJOR EXPENSE. We’re not talking about a $120 2-channel trainer that comes with everything in a box. We’re talking about spending enough to put a down payment on a nice car just to get an entry-level copter going. If you get one, forget sending the kids to college.

2- LEARNING TO “FLY” HELICOPTERS IS HARD (VERY HARD). How hard? Take a beach ball and hold it between your hands. Have a buddy put a Wiffle ball in top. Keep the Wiffle ball on top of the beach ball for 15 minutes straight, while walking around. That’s just practice for the Real Test. The Real Test is to do the above with a remote-controlled beach ball.

3- HELICOPTERS DON’T “FLY”. They have no wings, etc. They have a big propeller sticking out the top. Basically, they go from place to place by “hanging on the prop”. This is “Really Advanced Flying” for plane guys, but “Ultra Basic Flying” for chopper guys.

4- HELICOPTERS REQUIRE CONSTANT TUNING. They won’t “fly” well unless they’re balanced. Changing ANYTHING on it (ie, the battery) will unbalance it and it will require re-balancing.

5- THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CRASH-PROOF HELICOPTER. They are very light, powerful, and flimsy. The first thing you must learn is to “hover”, or hang on the prop without the torque-roll. This usually takes hours and hours of practice. In the meantime, you are crashing, repairing, replacing parts, and generally beating the poor thing to a pulp.

6- MOST CRASHES COST MONEY. See above. When you crash, there’s a 99% chance something will break. Those “somethings” cost a lot of money. To get an idea, while doing the Real Test above, you have to give your buddy $2-$30 (his choice) every time the Wiffle ball falls off.

7- YOU WILL NEED TRAINING GEAR. This is extra wide landing gear you attach to your normal landing gear. They reduce the chance of crashing while learning from 99% down to 95%. (NOTE: after removing the training gear the chopper will act completely different and you’ll have to relearn how to fly all over again.)

8- THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A RTF HELICOPTER. They are way too complicated to be put together by Swiss watchmakers, much less any foreign workers. The only way the manufacturers can sell these contraptions at a reasonable cost is to let you do it. Lotza luck…
Excluding Brents of course

9- MOST BEGINNERS START OFF WITH A MICRO HELICOPTER because they only cost an arm and a leg instead of your first-born male. They justify this by saying that they can learn to fly in the livingroom all the time, like when it's bad outside. They imagine themselves learning to hover in it's vast expanse, and later doing beautiful takeoffs and landings back and forth between the dining room table and coffee table.
Her perception is much closer to reality: a totally out-of-control flying miniature buzz saw that's loose in a confined space that contains her precious furniture, glass, knick kacks, children, pets, and lamps!

10- YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED A NUT. Only you will consider it a Big Deal that you can Hover. Nobody will be impressed until you can do Forward Flight, which takes many, many more hours of practice, crashes, repairs, parts replacement, and hiking until you eventually learn the next two steps: Stopping and Turning. However, you won't be considered a GOD, revered among us radio control mortals until you can finally fly Inverted (otherwise know as "showing off"). Flying Inverted serves absolutely no useful purpose, but it does atract weird chicks in droves.

AgCat1982

Hi diggidy, did you post over in the other forum for alex hershner? If that kid is real and not a troll, then this stuff needs to be hammered into his head.

I do have one comment. I have flown my Slow Stick in 12 mph winds! It's not easy. You mostly hover while diving right and left and to get back if blown backward you have to hover to a high altitude and dive forward. But, it can be done. That, I believe, is the limit, tho.

AgCat1982

Hey Captain, I just found more information about the watts per pound rule. It is 50-60 watts per pound for general sports flying planes, mild aerobatics. For gliders they say it can be as low as 30 watts per pound. I kinda thought it would be something like that because gliders can fly so slow and don't need as much power to keep them air born.

I am having problems with my batteries that I bought for the Sabre. I tested the plane by bypassing the ESC and connecting direct to the motor thru my watt meter. With my 1500 11.1v Li-Po I got 10 amps. However, with the 10 cell 12.5 v NiMH pack I only got 7.5 amps. Doesn't make any since unless just bad battery, maybe one bad cell. It charges completely to around 14.x volts and I am putting in and removing 980 mAh when cycling the pack. So it may not be the ESC that's holding back the motor. I may put together my 4cell Li-Po and try it direct connect. If it does the job, I may just use a servo activated switch to turn on the motor, fly a little, and then turn it off. I am not sure the ESC could even handle the 4cell pack. Fully charged it is around 16v!

Here is a link to a lot of information in faq form about electric power for planes.

[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/pages/efaq/efaq.htm#design1]Electric FAQ's[/link]

Have you got the Sabre back in flying condition?

afineman

Diggidy


Nice post.

Patly sunny , winds 4-6 Mph temp 38, and the AB with skis.

Film at 11

RayRay

Hi Dan,


Wow! Those rules really sum it up but I don't completely agree with #8. [8D]

Tailwind

AgCat1982

Winds low, 40 degs, cloudy and damp. Out I go with the PT-17 and the Decath! No film at 11'

Loubud

Temp 52 winds, sorta. Heli, ready for the first hover. No pics, movies or tapes.

afineman

Hey all

I didn't fly as well today [] ( I must be in a bad patch )

I had my Ultimate, Formosa, and the Corsair.
Howard the AB with skis, and Kyle had the Slow Stick I bought him for Xmas

The video below is us screwing around trying to figure out how to use Howard's new skis.

I was at the controls in the last scene where the crash happened.

I crashed the Ultimate, bad CG, lost it behind a snow bank then heard SMACK, I broke the CF rod that holds the motor mount, can be fixed.

My Corsair, I belly landed in the snow, then SMOKE started to pour out, the BP 18A ESC got wet and went up in flames.

Howard didn't break anything today (i'm starting to get a complex )

Kyle whacked the same phone pole I did, no damage, the CF rod on the leading edge worked well.


http://users.adelphia.net/~afineman/

And a photo of the skis

Later all

Loubud

Hollywood,
Now this was a good video. Had some great landings and takeoffs. Certainly worthy of showing. Even the crash was good as we know the wings are cheap.
Thanks.

Heli notes. Spent all morning trying to get this thing to hover or something! Geez. Finally figured it out. Had the aileron control bass akwards and had a servo or two in the wrong spot on the rx. Fixed it and waited for the tx bat to charge and I went back out. Wind is at 10 knots sustained with some pretty good gusts. Doessn't bother Tailwind, doesn't bother me. I light it up, HOVER for a very short time and start to drift towards a rose bush and decide to shut it down. I had the tx programmed for different throttle settins and accidently hit a high note. That with the gust of wind tossed the heli up and back at me. I'm fine, thanks for asking. Heli broke a small pushrod clip so all in all a good day.

AgCat1982

Way to go, Hollywood! First time I've seen a glider cutting donuts in a parking lot! Really enjoyed the vid. You had a better day than I. Light conditions were bad and I let the Decath get too far away. Couldn't see which way it was going and every turn I made to try to get re oriented had me going away from me! I gave up, cut the throttle and the rest is history. So is the Decath! Photo later.

iflyatcae

Lou,

Get us some pics man. I wanna see that beauty.

Brent,

Nice video, wish it would snow here, just ice and cold.[]

iflyatcae

Sticks,

sorry to hear about the decath

TerryE

My Feedback: (12)

Hollywood - great videos. thanks
The AB on skis is classic. Now, combine that with Shell's rocket assist and Howards v12 and you
have the ultimate Badius

Haze - Glad that the flight was mostly good. Breaking a pushrod is cheap compared to what it could have been.
The fact you recovered from the high throttle with so little damage shows you will do fine wi the heli
Good Work!

Sticks - Sorry 'bout the plane - what kind of radio did you have? Did you just get out of range or what [X(]