Hey JPEE,
Yes, my son is enjoying 'his' new radio! I hooked up the rudder/front landing gear and motor so he can taxi the plane around. I also did the aerilons just to have something more for him to mess with. I'll do the elevators last so he doesn't accidently get airborne. lol We will be heading out this weekend for our first outing.
My new tail blades came in today - I got a pair of Switch and 2 KBDD ones. I am going to first try out the green KBDD ones to see how they hold and look in the air. They are made of a strong plastic verses the carbon fiber of the Switch and other KBDD blades so I'll see how they do. With the stretch I have to use the 105's so ground clearance can get iffy although the heli has a forward stance which puts the tail high in the air when sitting on the ground. But as I found out a hard landing will have them contact the ground.
Motion has my stuff coming in later this week - I hope they come in by the weekend so I can get the Raptor going. I don't know if Phil has the versions with retracts or if they are belly landers - the version with retracts won't have any issues as the landing gear gives plenty of ground clearance. It's the belly landing that causes the issues.
Its a shame Airtronics has D/C'd your radio but I'm sure it'll hold up for a very long time. Interesting you mentioned the DX9 as I have been going back and forth between the DX9 and the DX8 Gen 2. Most of the DX9's I've seen for sale (used) seem to go for around $350'ish - which seems to be the starting price for the DX8 Gen 2 if bought brand new. I still have lots of info to sift through. For now though, my DX7 will do just fine for my initial flights with my F16, so I'm in no hurry to upgrade. It's just something I'm going to have to face so its nice to catch up on all the tech improvements over the years.
As an aside, I've been kicking around the idea of starting up a second model railroad project to do with my son. Our first was done using HO scale and on a 4X8 sheet of plywood covered with a foam board. It was a great project and my son had lots of fun with it, only problem - it was just too darn big. That 4X8 sheet took up a lot of space in a bedroom.
So my idea is to use N scale. Before my son was born I had set up an N scale layout in the spare bedroom - had it go along the walls and it stuck out 3 feet or so. When we found out we were having a child I took it all down and boxed it all up and there its been ever since, boxed up for 11 years. I've taken a look at it a few times through the years and now I feel my son is old enough for it. Plus he learned a lot from the HO set. Good thing is I have a lot of the track, rolling stock, and locomotives, plus a DCC power unit, so not much start up costs.
I guess its a way for me to pass on a sense of legacy. My grandfather had a O gauge setup in his basement and I remember being in awe seeing that thing as a child. Then my dad would bring home European HO trains from his overseas work assignments for me. And now with my son interested in trains, kinda nice to be able to pass that along.
Well, take care and have a good week!
Mark