Vic,

You hit the nail on the head again.... I've said this tons of time on the forum,, "Family is First" in my book and always will be.. The MOST important thing in my life.
Dave

Dave

Good lookin bunch you got there

Winter weather in Indiana usually sucks rains most of the time and windy. This weekend we had a break in rain with snow flurries so we grabbed the foamie planes and we flew 5 packs before it was rain again. Still no heli flying lately so ill wait til spring.

Kyle,

Thanks for the compliment on the family, I'm blessed with 2 great kids and a wonderful wife.

Weather here sucks too, haven't had an outside flight in at least 2 1/2 weeks. Hasn't been cold, just rainy, windy and spitting snow once in awhile.

Liz got me a RB-36H Peacemaker model for Christmas. I had a couple others, so I'll have plenty of things to tinker with now that I've retired. I've always loved putting models together, it's kinda relaxing for me.

Dave

Vic,

Lake effect snow,, Lol! Some don't realize what that is, but when I lived in Gary, about 1 mile south of Lake Michigan. The worst snow fall I can remember was 32 inches OVER NIGHT, you couldn't even see the neighbors house next door. Now that's a snow fall.

Dave

Well...if you grew up on the south or west side of any of the great lakes you know what it is. Even Chicago don't get the snow that west michigan gets. They get snow, but not like in a lake effect area.

Great pic of the Family Dave! I got to spend the weekend with my Brother, (he lives in Wisconsin now) and his girlfriend, her son, and my parents. We got a chance to go to a church gym and play some soccer. My Brother and I are soccer stars from the past so we thought we'd put a hurting on the to boys. My son is 11 and Sam is 13. They killed us. I was wore out in 15 minutes! It was a fun early Christmas!

Lake effect snow can be amazing. The worst I've been in was 30" over night.

Blessings,

Jay

Good you got out this weekend and had some fun. I guess you old folk got some shool'in eh?

I went out to the son's place Sat, got to hang out with Princess Leia....always a good time. She's about 19mo now. I don't know how something so cute can all sudden smell so BAD....LMAO I don't change "butt bags".

Jim,

My T-28 is a ParkZone. While the plane is not huge, I do not fly it at my local park due to trees and light poles. I tried twice but had to keep her up high to avoid stationary objects! LOL . However, if you've got some soccer fields to fly over that would be nice. I fly at one place that has 5 soccer fields and we really have room for the 28's and Corsairs to breath. Here is a view of my 28 at that soccer field, perhaps this will give you and idea of the size and the room I used. Forgive the poor video on a cloudy day, this was my noob days.

JPEE

PS: My Apprentice arrive today. I hope tomorrow to start checking it over. The EBAY disclosure said the Radio and a servo were bad so we'll see..


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1MywZc6VKI[/youtube]

Mr. Dave aka CHOPPERSRULE

The Lord has blessed you with a wonderful and loving family. It appears from the smiles on everyones faces that happyness and good hearts are there on the inside too. Plus 1 on good kin folk and the love and happyness they provide us, I am wich-ah on that.

Looking at those keen models took me back. Oh man did I love building my models, mostly hot rod. Do you remember "fuzzy fur" I think it was called. We'd put glue on the what to be upolstered areas on the cars interiors and shack on the fuzzy fur and what stuck......... stuck! Then we tip the model over and shake off the rest and re-use it, ring a bell? Also seeing the name Revell....WOW that name and their glues as well as Testors Glue were big then. Memories and more memories. My LHS stocks and sells 100's of model cars, trains, planes and heli's, it is incredible the inventory they carry.

Take care and remember, wings up and wheels down.... JPEE

Jay,

Thanks, you know me, family first. You must be turning into a softy, letting the boys kick you butt. LMAO !.. Goes with time. You're still a young puppy. The important thing is that you played with the boys and had fun.. "FAMILY' bottom line.

In Indianapolis, I call what we have, as "Sissy Snow" Lol! I've been here for about 35 years, and the biggest, we had over night was 8 inches. ROTFF ! Back in 1978 or so, they did have a "freak" snow and had about 30 inches. God, what a panic that was...

Got Bless ya Jay, and tell Rhonda I said Hi!

Dave

The Family says," Hi Choppers!"

I have to say that I was proud at how I held up but was even my proud at how my son and Sam played against up! No more arm chair quarterbacking my boy when he plays, LOL.

Vic,
"Butt bags" LMAO!

I just found this on another thread. This reminds me of the videos Rick post.... must see! Check this out... incredible!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PmYItnlY5M

Blessings,

Jay

Jay, what a great video! But I have something to share with you. I was born and raised about 2,000 yards from Lockeed Airport. Recognize the name Lockeed? Well the U2 was a staple there. We would hear the engines fire up and we'd run to the door or front porch and see that punk come off the runway and the do a 90 straight up! I can't tell you the amount of times I saw that thing fly. Now I am going back a lot of years but shortly after that era we were planning to get our boomshelters for fear of going to nucular war with Russa. Oh my the good old days.
If you see this link it showes you Cantley Street and it paralles the runway. They now renamed the airport from Lockeed to Burbank Airport, however Lockeed is famous for the planes they made there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.037723&z=15
JPEE

Yeah...we'll see how long you can keep your trap shut when he's playing...LMAO. The term "butt bags" has been around since the early 80's that I can recall.

Merry Christmas to all of you, and have a Happy New Year!

Quick, but to the point.

Right back at'cha guy...you been quiet lately.
JPEE...I really like the way the T-28 handles, and it looks so scale.
Gonna bore you guys to tears and do some thinking out loud. Choppers, you may want to look hard at this one, or anyone using Spektrum. As you all KNOW...I've had my share of radio probs. Now in my Futaba (which still works FINE), the Assan 2.4 hack module took a dump. Where am I now? I got a heli that's 100% and my .40 Uproar that also 100%, radio notta to fly either. The new Assan hack module is gonna cost about $72, I'll be ordering it no later than the 23rd. Well, I've decided that no matter which radio you have, if you're gonna tie all your models to it and it craps, you don't fly till it's fixed. Dave and I agree, it may have been a fluke that the Assan took a dump, I can't find anywhere on the net that they fry. Here's my theory....you guys running DX7, you really ought to pick up a DX6i to have on the side, all programmed incase your DX7 dumps...the odds lean heavy in that direction. Dave, pick up another DX6i when you can afford to so if yours goes to the shop, yer still good. After I get my 7c going again with a new Assan module, later, I'm gonna pick up another 7c, and Assan hack it, then program it, have it off to the side....just in case. My father in law has OLD school stuff, he has a radio for each plane (3 of them). If a radio dies, he still flys...none of us can say that, we stupidly stick all our eggs in one basket and hope for the best, and more often than not, it bites us in the hind end eventually....just my observations.[X(]

THE REAL STORY!

Vic, here is a little story that concures with everything you said and I agree with.

When I bought my Blade 400 and brought it home two days later I found I could not adjust one of my trims with the external trim slide button. I called the LHS and asked if they would make good on new radio, sorry Charlie, I was given the Horizon phone number. They said; send it in we'll fix it free! I said but now I'll have a new heli sitting here I can't fly! Man....thats like giving a kid a train for Christmas with no track! I told a seasoned RC guy about my problem and he said no worries. He had seen this before so he took a Exacto knife and cut the plastic open a little more longer on the radio case to give the switch more travel and wa-la the radio worked.

Then next issue came after I bought my 600 and was told I needed a seven channel radio so I bought my DX7 (that I later found out I was not true lol) Shortly after that my DX6i lost its throttle control. Well this was part of the Horizon recall, but wait! if I send this in how will I fly my toys? Oh yea..........I have the DX7 that I did not need but was HAPPY I had a SECOND radio. So as you say Vic I was saved by my second radio.

Next, my buddies DX6i crapped out too on the Horizon recall and he did not have a back up radio. So I did some experimentation. I took his radio from his CX2 heli and bound it to his T-28 and it worked after some playing around. That meant while he could not fly his Blade 400 he could fly his plane for two weeks while Horizon repaired his radio. Once his radio came back and a few weeks later he bought at T-REX 500 with DX7. So now he and I both program out DX7's to fly everything we own. Then.........and this will kill ya........we rebound each toy to our DX6i's and out DX7's which required a LOT OF WORK. But an issue arose from this we did not expect. YOU CANNOT take the settings from a DX6 or 7 and just plant them in the other radio........no can do. Each radio is unique and requires adjustments on all settings. But, the way we left is was, "if" we have to pick up the DX6i it has that model in it and it just needs some triming and your good to go. The last thing we did and this is food for thought for the masses here, we wrote down all of our settings from both radios on a spreadsheet and emailed them to eachother, why? Lets say his laptop gets stolen from the house! or the hard drive crashes HOLY COW where would you be without al of the your plan and heli settings. So we covered each other with this little insurance plan.

Myself, I have my CX2 radio, a DX5, a DX6i and a DX7 so I am covered

Thats my story and I am sticking to it.........................JPEE

I have had good luck with my DX6i and currently have 2 helis and 1 plank bound to it(at this point my only radio). When I got my father-inlaw(Steve) in to planes he bought a hobbico cessna 182 nice looking plane but no for a fresh noob(he's rock headed). Then we moved to foamies and told him we take the gear from the cessna and put it on foamies and your ready to go. Next we started building scratch foamies Steve then liking his radio(72mhz Tactic) wondered around ebay and picked up 3 more tx's and rx's for around $20 so he has 1 set for each foamie. So Steve has 3 backups to my zero LOL

Oh forgot 1 more thing, Steve has been lookin around at 2.4g radios but like most dont like the price of Rx's. He likes the Assan but would need a good radio to hack it to. Then we found HobbyKing's new gear and it is compatable with the corona 2.4 rx's at $20 each.


[link]http://hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10186&Product_Name=HK-6X_2.4Ghz_6ch_w/_5_Model_Memory_TX_&_RX_%28Mode_2%29_[/link]

JPEE...I know each radio is specific. You would have to bind the back up radio, and physically program it to each model so the model is flyable. Once the settings are programmed into the back up radio, it should be good to go. Switching radios at that point should be as easy as just binding, maybe a little trimming. Dave has the DX6i, now he needs a DX7, Rick has the DX7, he needs the DX6i. Me...I need another 72mHz 7c with a Assan hack in it. By all means...record all settings and put them in a safe place. Having a backup radio makes as much sense as having a spare tire in your vehicle....depending on your view of being down WEEKS for a bad radio.

Yeah...and their OUT of them. You realize, they're glorified E-Sky radios, not much quality, probibily not much of a life expectency either.

Yep I know but
1.) He's stubborn and will get what he wants to no matter what I say
2.) He's cheap

The Tactic tx is working great just non-programmable, If he hasn't bought 1 when I get a Dx7 I'll give him my Dx6i

You need to hang onto that DX6i....BACKUP....remember my DX7 took a dump? I didn't have a backup either.

Hi,

I just started unpacking the Apprentice. I laid it by the T-28 ParkZone for size. The ruler shows the main frameis only about 1" longer than the 28 but oh goodness is the wing much larger!

They said the radio didn't work. So me being stubborn LOL I slapped some batts in there and bound it and flew my CX2 with last night and everything at a cursory view seems to work. Of course I won't know until the APP is done and I check it over for real. I am also to have one bad servo per their detail sheet so thats another check off for my TODO list.

JPEE

Bigger (high) wings= trainer. Good to teach someone how to fly and good for laid back fun flights. You'll get BORED quick...you fly low wings. For now....have fun with it (LOL).

JPEE- What a great video, thanks for posting it for me! The T-28 looks awesome in the air! How do you like the quality of the PZ stuff? What are your flight times with it? I know the Bf109 carries the larger motor than the T28 and yet still has the same 1800 battery. I like the Bf109 over the T28 becuase I've always been a fan of tail draggers. I have found any real negativecomments about park zone yet so I'd really value your honest opinion on it. I'm honestly having a hard time deciding whichpark flyer and what brand to actuall buy. LOL! I Love makking these kinds of decisions!

Radio discussion- I had been flying nothing but Futaba since I got into the hobby 10 years ago. Not ONCE during that time did I have a problem with interference or radio issues itself (except for a broken antenna I did myself). Mind you this was all 72MHZ stuff. Since getiing the B400 about a year and a half ago, I have been using the included DX6i with absotuley no issues on that one either. I used it on the B400 and now on the mCX. Mine wasn't part of the recall issue nor have I had any pots go bad as others have reported. It's seen a lot of use and still keeps on going. That said though, there IS something to be said for having a backup radio. With 10 model memory on most radios today you could easily have just one radio for everything but you certainly do so at a greater risk. The conclusion i came to just yesterday before this discussion came up was that I am selling off my 2 Futaba's (Skysport 4 and my T6XA) since both are on 72MHz and I am getting out of the glow/gas stuff because of our field issue. I will likely pickup another 6Xi or maybe even a 5 on 2.4 GHZ as park flying will be my only gig for quite awhile. Iwish to go all 2.4 from here on out and I don't have any micro RX's for my Futaba stuff. That is NOT to say I was ever dissatisfied with Futaba, they have been totally reliable for me the past 10 years.

If you ask me, the problems we see with radios today I think has more to do with a price point that vendors are looking to sell for than anything. To hit that price point, they use lesser quality materials and workmanship. Let's face it- todays park flyers are, by and large, casual RC'ers who are just looking to have some fun and not take the hobby too seriously (exceptions exist of course). If that casual rc'er had to spend $300 just for a radio well he likely wouldn't get in the hobby at all. Now take a look at the PZ Mustang. It comes COMPLETE with everything and all for just $200. That price point will get people into the hobby and flying. But we all know the reason for the price is because of the radio gear. If you still needed a DX6i for abot $150 on top of that, well most people I'd imagine would pass on it.

Jay- That was also a cool video and yes it was something Rick would post. I hear ya about sports with your boy. My guy skates rings around me on the ice and laughs has he hits me into the boards and I fall on my butt!!! But I remind him that while he may have it over me on the ice, I still set the rules in the house & I can make it VERY uncomfortable for him!! LMAO!!!!

Jim