Hey, way to go Newbie & Family! 100 post on this thread!!!!

In the Sooner State, we dress in layers for winter flying. Recently we had temp around 38degrees F, with 15 to 25 mph winds, that made for wind chill of ummmm 15 degrees F-ish?? Sure enough, there were a half dozen of us out there. One family crew even brought out a portable catylyst heater to warm our hands on,,,, Made for some interesting flying,,,,Oh and a set of jersey gloves with the finger tips (index and thumb only) work wonders for keepin the digits workin. Still though , most of us only stayed up under 8 minutes,,,but in that cold it felt like much longer. Where theres a will, theres a way...


Oh and Wurzburg in 85 was particularly brutal during Reforger.

3d ID, Rock of the Marne.

man that's brutal... It's 40 F here in CA, and I can barely stand it.

Hey -- I am having a hard time getting my fingers to deal with the dang sticks. Any pointers? thumb, or Thumb and index?
This is all on the FMS sim, mind you. I got pretty good on the keyboard, but with the radio.... feels like 2 left hands.
It's trip though. No more like driving a car. 4 real axes. you actually noodle with the throttle? Preposterous. AND us the rudder?? Impossible. Yay, learning curve, here I come!

CHeers all

after a couple hours of flying, I find that damn, it's fun. I wonder about how differently the SuperStar will handle - amd using the "Basic Trainer" in FMS... There is a SS model, but it's for v 8 which is missing some planes my *son* likes.

So the reversing (plane coming at me) is something else. The less I think, the better I do - and I copiously make use of "stick toward lower wing". What screws me up frequently is when I do turn using rudder and want to level the plane out with the ailerons. But my error rate is dropping. I figure I am up a loss of oh, 10,000 virtual dollars by now (full speed crashing the plane). Thank goodness for the sim. How'd people ever do it on their own?!

Getting the hang of the spring-iness of the sticks - still feels a little weird though. Might at some point open the thing to adjust.

Really glad to have got a computer radio - not that I am using if for multiple planes etc - but simply a clicker for trim, and the ability to store that setting. I just KNOW i'd mess up the regular analog trim between flights.

I am so far favoring the thum and index - much more control. Still working on breaking the habit of not throwing the sticks wildly, but to apply constant pressure/contact as needed. I got new respect for people doing tricks, and 3d, and flying planes fast. I thought my hand-eye coordination was OK, but a turbine fighter jet is something else (on the sim - not sure about real life )

Oh and trying a heli - dang. Looks like fun but man, *that's* a difficult thing to fly.

Anywho - just sharing. It's raining here anyway so I don't expect to get airborn for real until spring. By then I want to be comfortable landing where I *want* to (not 300 feet up wind), landing the thing with dead stick, inverted flight and VERY few crashes between outings.

Too bad the sim doesn't let me dial in a breeze - that would make for more realistic Bay Area simulation

Ta-ta.

an update - at this point probably talking to myself...

finally assembled my superstar. the kit was well done. everything went together smoothly with just a few drops of CA. Of course, only later do I reread an article that tells me I should use epoxy for the aileron servo tray as it hold up to lateral forces better than CA. I'll keep an eye on those joints after I get airborne.

temporary budget concerns have me holding on paying up club dues and getting a charger. Am of half-a-mind to start with a $30 quick charger, maybe get a second pack. Thinking I'll have to upgrade eventually, but really no need to go pro just yet. Someone said folks are using cell-phone chargers??? Never heard of that.

The sims are still an enjoyable past-time. I found SSS, a slope soaring sim, and I am already thinking of that second plane, sheesh. Slope looks very cool, and here on the No Cal coast, there's slopes (and wind) aplenty.

So by mid-end Feb I expect to finally be a club member and hit them up for an instructor. The only guy I found over email was really busy with, you know, work, and wasn't flying much. See how 2006 is looking for him.

Veeery slowly, but surely, I am getting there...

SO Sven, it sounds like your interface cord, from Dennis is working Well ?? dennis@ www.rc-circuits.com Mine is working ,really good too...I think, I`m going to get a 2`nd one .His interface cords, are, fool-proof, just plug, and play .Need 1 for the nephews, and 1 more for me.You can dial wind, in to the FMS ,just look in the menu. UNDER SIMULATION, at the top of the Screen.You can import planes too,I don`t know if you know that, or not.

Hey Dave -

say - those screenshots - they arent from the FMS, are they?!
FMS8 lets me dial in wind, yes - but I have never got hhat thing to work right:

For one, the controls, when moved quickly, act erratically - I lose control of the plan. Plus, the wind is odd. The plane is what - 5 lbs? (The superstar) - and when I dial wind of 1m/s (that should be like 2.2mph) it feels as if I am flying in a much stronger wind - ie, take offs get blown sideways despite rudder, etc.

So I've stuck to FMS7...

hey all,

here the latest.

As a good novice, I seem to be reading and understanding the warnings from experienced fliers, and still make the mistakes they warn against.

I wanted to do just a short hop, get a feel for trim/balance. Note to self: if people on the boards talking about the SS taking off after 35ish feet, anything under won't cut it. Like, 10 feet is not enough to clear a 4" cement barrier (parking lot).
The gear got caught and the plane spun before getting airborne. broken prop, bent motor shaft, slightly torn attachment holes on the elevator.
So I fixed this up, and added a home-made tailwheel. The tw is a little hokey because a) the wire is a bit thin, and b) what a pain to install. Sure, I could have looked for a tw assembly, but I am in this to build, and to learn right?
Anywho - seems to help a lot for navigating on the ground at low throttle. MUCH better than just the tail dragging.

During testing the servo throws, I had the plane one, ESC was hot, and noticed I had the radio on the wrong plane. So I cycled thru the choices and hit one where the throttle was reversed. The untetherd plane shot forward and connected with the garage wall. The article in the AMA mag RE saftey (practise it because it not a matter of IF, but WHEN stupid/bad things happen) got new meaning.

Now i have the second prop on, and patched up the firewall where the battery tried to come through.

Then i noticed if the receiver is close to the ESC, I get a good amount of twitching in the servos - oddly, just putting the Rx on its side seems to take care of that interference.

Am now a paying member of an RC club close to home, and look forward to actually getting to the field.

Oh: I sunk $47 into a 3600mAh NiMH pack from Cheapbatterypacks.com. quick delivery, looks solid. No gear to actually test RE output etc.
Also got the AccuFlite Elite charger from Hobbico - pretty sweet. Battery memories, 12V/AC in, charge 2 packs independently, works for MiCd/NiMH and LiPos.

Cheers -