evdreamer

Mark,

There was only one bad snow storm awhile back and a few small ones. I have fun driving my dad's truck in the snow when the roads are empty. Yeah, it will be nice when spring comes along.

I hope everyone at your house is feeling better.

Glenn,

That would be cool if you could fly at the plane field again and hopefully the plane people will be nice.

Did your snow storm cause a lot of damage?


I have been pretty busy with school and I was glued to netflix during my spring break! I finally listed my Furion 6 and Velocity 50 for sale. I put all my batteries back on the charger for a storage charge and I noticed one cell is dead in my Furion 6 battery. I have been having fun programming in Java. I can finally communicate between a server and my program which is pretty cool. I also learned how to design filter circuits, so I updated by balancer circuit to filter out noise and unclean DC from a charger. Once I learn how to properly design circuits with transistors and FETs I will try to make another prototype of my balancer.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick,

I'm glad that school is interesting and you're having fun building your projects! I can well imagine that with your studies and working when you can that Easter break was absolutely the time to catch up on your net flicks. A guy needs some R and R from time to time.
Sorry to hear about losing a cell in that battery pack, that it is a real disappointment to hear. My buddy here took a pack like that pulled off the bad cells and made it made it a 4S. He is extremely just like you are knowledgeable in computers electronics and such.

At this very moment I am in the shop working on my trying to stabilize my cameras. I have come to find out after hours of experimentation and flights that the camera gimbal is improperly designed and is flimsy and shutters in flight giving me Jell-O. I did a test without the gimbal and mounted both the go Pro and a Panasonic camera and took pretty close to perfect video. But I just hate the rolling horizon which was what the Gimble was to take away and remain level to the eye when you watched the video.

PS, Mark I did not see the Space X mission, I did not hear or see anything on the News either.


Take care.A

evdreamer

John,

That is cool you have made progress to make your videos turn out better.

I had an interesting day today. My car died in the middle of a busy intersection. Luckily I had enough momentum to get mostly out of the intersection. I finally had enough with this unreliable car, so car shopping has begun. Here is my first attempt at a GUI. I already had the program working with a command prompt, but I wanted to try something new. I have only been working on it for two days so far. It has been fun and frustrating. The hardest part is trying to get the layout like I want.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Nick, so good to hear from you! Well you have been busy I'd say. I don't know what the acronym GUI stands for but I see a program that looks like turbo tax or an automated self progressing spread sheet, the layout is friendly and looks clear and easy to use.
Really sorry to hear about the car troubles. I would suppose your looking for a compact car or truck with all wheel drive for the snow and that gets good mileage, right?
I sent you and email a moment ago with my newest flight test for my Hexa with my homemade stabilizer mount. In the video that is RAW footage and has NOT been stabilzed by You Tube. As you will see I have nailed it. No more jello, nothing, just crisp clear video. I had to take off my gimbal and at 69.00 it was crap. Oh it worked and moved as it should but it is so flimsy it "brought in vibrations" to the video. Like your projects I have no idea how many flights and how many hours I have in this but it is done and clear. Now I am waiting for some clear skies to go fly here where they have a mountain climb by my house. The hill is called Rocky Peak and it is 2 miles from the house at a City outdoor park.


Getting a bit board with my Heli's (not my quad and hex) I just ordered a 1400mm foamy P-51 B plane. It has everything, retracts included. Change is good some times.

Great hearing from you as always.

evdreamer

John,

The acronym GUI stands for Graphic User Interface. I created the program because the place I invest through doesn't show how individual funds affect a portfolio. They just show what each fund has done for the day. I wanted to know how much the portfolio changed at the closing and what the YTD performance is.

I have been looking at the Toyota Yaris. I like small hatchback cars and it gets decent city MPG. I don't need AWD, since I can borrow my dad's truck when I need to. The plow trucks are pretty good here, so there is usually just one day that there is snow on the streets.

I never received that email.

Have fun with the new plane. I really like foamy planes. They are much easier to repair after a crash compared to a balsa wood one.

A new heli guy joined my club and wants to go flying with me. It should be fun once my semester is over.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Been awhile...sorry about that! Time seems like it's flying by, they say the older you get, the faster it flies by...starting to believe it!

Not a whole lot new to tell you guys about, really...same old. The weather is slowly getting better (Nick, that last storm ended up pooping out, we got nothing but rain ), yet I have felt "the bug"yet to fly anything, unfortunately.

I may sell the Trex 500, but I'll keep the 450 Pro, and of course, the MCPX, both of which are easier to find a place to fly. I have not heard from Mike, or anyone at MHA about the plane field possibilities or plans.

JPEE,

Hope you enjoy the new plane...sounds like a nice change of pace, and a bit more relaxing.

Mark,

Sorry about the bug...hope everyone is feeling better, I hate being sick...right now, I either have a cold coming on, or allergies, hard to tell...hope it's the latter...[&o]

Nick,

Nice work on the GUI, I know that takes a bit of doing...congrats...

Hard to go wrong with a Toyota, the Yaris sounds like a logical choice, certainly easy on the fuel bill! Be sure to let us know what ya end up getting...I know you won't miss the old Impala much!

Take care guys,

Glenn

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Hope everyone is alright with that last snow of the season this past week!

Been a very busy month, this month of April. With the Florida summer usually starting in May all the airshow and fair activities are done in late March and April. So we got to see the big Sun N Fun airshow last weekend which was an absolute blast and did 2 different fairs the other 2 weekends. My son has had a terrific past 3 weekends. The airshow was really great as they had lots of static displayed aircraft...JPEE, they had several different variations of the famed P-51. I think our next step is to hit the Disney and Seaworld parks before the tourist season hits in full swing (not to mention the heat )...so that will probably be the next few weeks. My poor heli has been getting totally neglected. []

BTW JPEE, the 1400mm P-51 your getting...would that be by FMS? Reason I'm asking is I've been looking at the 1400 Zero kit they offer. Guess I'm also needing something other than my heli as well so I can feel you on that front.

Nick,

Good luck on the car hunt. At least your car made it through the worst of the winter. My starter died on me a few weeks ago but luckily I was able to push it down hill and hit the clutch to get it started so I could drive it home and change it out. Gotta love those manual transmissions.

Glenn,

Sorry to hear about you considering selling your 500...at least the 450 and mcpx will serve you well with the available flying sites.

Mark

evdreamer

Glenn,

Well I bought a white 2012 3-door Yaris today! I was averaging about 30MPG coming home, so that will be nice. The rear seats fold down so I will have plenty of room for the heli and the hatch will make it easier to get it out. I played baseball will the car dealer in middle school, so that was nice to see him again.

I went flying on Saturday morning. It was 30-40 degrees out. It was nice to fly again, but it was cold. I don't know if the links shrunk or if the VBar didn't like the cold, but it was pulling hard left aileron during to first 30 seconds and then normal afterwards. That sure made for some interesting take offs.

Mark,

It sounds like you and your son are enjoying the flying events.

Nick

JPEE

Nick,
Congratulations on the car! You must be loving it.................. at 30 MPG's.... yea howdy that is nice. Just don't spill any nitro in there son[X(]


Mark,
I am sending you an email about the plane which is made by FMS. Boy you and family are "styling" hitting all of the fun places. It must be great to see the wee ones eyes bulge and get excited at the Parks.


Glenn,
It is always good to hear from you and "that" your doing well to boot.


Me:
Well I went to the field yesterday with 2 ea packs for the 500-700. I flew one pack each and was board. I think this is the right time for me to get into planes and as they say "diversify" a bit. At this point in my life and doubt I can get any better than I am with my helis..... which is passable at best. But with that said, there is NO ONE in my age bracket (65+3 mo) that can fly as high, as far away, and do 3D like me at the field, I still hold that title. But then again I see everything slipping away just a teensy bit as the years pass. Ain't say-in I am old or anything but I am just not 21 anymore lol. I am not about to dumb thumb that 700 into the mother earth! So planes will be a change for me and I am not selling anything, just changing it up a bit, for a bit.

I got a call from my grandson yesterday. My daughter told my he is taken with planes, free sim's on the computer, and one on his tablet. About two years ago I took them both (grandsons) to the big city field and they thought it was ok at best. But this guy of 11 3/4 years old has made purchases online and bought little cheapo planes that crash and of course there are no parts for. So again my daughter told me about this and I said......... when he calls me and asks for help I'll be there, but he has to want it and own so to speak. I checked with the senior plane boys yesterday and they told me to get him a Bixler because they are cheap, hang in the air forever and are near un-crash-able. Funny thing is, I have had a new Bixler in the box for three-four months sitting up on the shelf which I was gonna make a night flier out it for this new summer..... if it ever arrives. Now the wee one will get it as his first new plane and we'll build it together on a Saturday. I am more excited than he is I think

Take care fellas

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Nick,

congrats on the new Yaris...got any pics yet?! You have to be nuts O to be flying in 30-40 degree weather, definitely shows your devotion even though your Vbar was objecting! I'd like to keep my flying to a nice balmy 75 degrees.

JPEE,

Absolutely a pleasure to experience your unpacking as you explored through it...that was quite a stretch to get it out of the box. It looks like you got the ARF kit and I heard MotionRC is a decent place to do business with.

One thing I read many guys do before putting it together is to take a part (rudder or stabilizer) with them to a local Home Depot or Lowes and have them mix up a sample size of the colors of thier plane...they recommend you have the paint dept scan the color from the part several times to get a good match. This way you will have matched paint on hand to do touch ups when needed. They say a simple foam brush will do the job of dabbing on the paint to an affected area.

I plan on getting the kit version of their 1400 Zero, already have the 580kv version of their motor, 70A Turnigy Dlux ESC, 4S Nanotech lipo, and servo's...just need the plane now! Wanting to get it from a new vendor that is just starting out - Diamond Hobby, so patiently waiting on them to get it from thier China distibutor. At least this way I know I'll get the latest version. One cool thing about FMS is they listen to the problems described by others in the threads and make changes to thier planes to fix them. A nice thing to see in the hobby.

Can't wait for you to power up those retracts and get them to open up. I think that is the nicest feature of the 1400 planes...the flaps and retracts.

Have fun with the build,

Mark

JPEE

Hello Mark,

Yes I thought it was kinda funny to make a Maiden opening lol. As I was I am sure you were impressed with the careful packing they did, quite impressive, ain't no Hobby King for sure. What a brilliant idea to get a paint sample now...... before you need it. Water base acrylic is just the ticket too! A tip I'll lend, if you need to smooth out or fill something you use light weight spackle. It come in a small tub a big bigger than a pudding cup. It is whipped and very light and has a kinda of lacquer base and dries in a few minutes. See this link.. [link=http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&cId=SEARCH&productId=3033259&cm_mmc=SCE_gps-_-gps-_-gps-_-DAP%201/2-Pint%20Fast%20'n%20Final%20Lightweight%20Spackling %20Compound&CAWELAID=1023563937]Spackle[/link] I have used in crown and base moldings work when I had my business, it is great stuff and will not effect your CG.


Nick, yes we want to see you and the car............... picture pictures!


JPEE

evdreamer

Guys,

Here is a pic of my new car. It has been a lot of fun to drive. I am still getting used to where everything is located. The semester is finally wrapping down. I have been finishing some last minute homework. I took my first final on Wednesday and I have three more next week. I am extremely happy that I won't have to take anymore physics classes besides one physics lab, but that should be easy. Next semester I get to take all electronic classes. Those will pretty much finish up all my core electronic classes, so I will be able to take pretty much any electronic elective I want.

John,

I don't fly my nitro heli anymore, so I don't have to worry about spilling nitro in my car.

That is cool your grandson is getting into planes.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick,

You cannot beat a white car! My wife's Mustang was white my diesel truck is white my Camry was white we just like white cars because they don't show the dirt and they are cooler, Not that you have the summers there that we have in sunny California lol. But this little statistic will knock your shoes off, more white automobiles are ticketed than red blue green or any other color automobile, look it up it's pretty incredible I would've never thought!
Yeah, now that you mention it I do vaguely remember you saying you sold the Nitro. That aside I'll bet you love getting that 40 miles per gallon which will really stretch a part-time workingman's and college students dollar right the very end.

I've started doing something differently now after flying. I'm bringing my batteries home and putting them into storage mode. I am doing this for two reasons, the first is.....when I go back to charge and go fly they charge faster and they arealready balanced. Two, that it's better for the battery to lay in state at the storage rate and balanced until I need them them rather than leaving perhaps a bit to discharged or have a low cell lower than others stored that way.

Take care and congratulaton again Nick :-)

evdreamer

John,

The main reason I chose white was because it is cooler in the summer and there wasn't too many choices in color. It doesn't help that the interior is black, but the AC works pretty good. I didn't know that fact about white cars.

It looks like you and your grandson have started building the plane.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Nick,

Your car looks great, congrats on the purchase. Have you gotten used to where all the gadgets and gizmo's are at yet?

Sounds like your happy to never have to set foot in another physics class again.

Mark

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Looks like RCU is starting to behave again as I was able to log on today with no issues.

Just an update...got my FMS plane yesterday, a Zero of course. Let the build begin!

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

Yeah, I am used to where everything is at now in my car. My radio has more features than I would ever use. My radio has bluetooth, so I synced my phone to the radio. Now I can receive calls and speak through my speakers by pressing a button. I am technically ignorant when it comes to phone technology, so it took me a day to figure how to do that.

Have fun with the plane build.

I went flying a couple of weeks ago. The weather was perfect. It was windy, so I had the field to myself. I am finally starting to get back in my groove. I can now auto from my left which was always hard for me. Now I can auto into the wind no matter what direction it is blowing from. I started doing moves while in throttle hold like Bobby Watts does. That is pretty cool to see. There is going to be a helicopter day at a local air and space museum on the 18th. There are going to be RC Heli demos and real helicopters flying in. I am scheduled to work, but they want me to come out and fly. So I am going to try and get someone to cover my shift.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick,

That is great news you are nailing down the doo-dads in the new car. I'll bet you had a nice day flying all alone unfettered too. I have seen the senior pilots do stunts on their way down and there is NO forgiveness there my friend. You have to be good at what your doing, no forgiveness at all, I know you can do it! I hope you get the time off work to attend the fly show, you need a break from time to time, I am pulling for you in that regard. I got some from free time and got my Bixler 3/4 together for me and my grandson to start flying. It has been years and years since I put together a plane. This is a good "primer if you will" so I can get to the build on my P-51.

John

evdreamer

Guys,

I just got back from flying at the museum. More people were watching the full size helis, but it was fun to hang out with the RC helis guys. I got a couple of flights in. I almost hit a full size heli. Some one told the pilot to come in for a landing nice and low right over our flying area. I was flying by the museum, so I couldn't see the heli coming in. It was super quiet too. One second I was flying, then the next the heli was right in my flying space and everyone was yelling full size heli. Luckily I pushed full elevator down right away and was on the ground before anything bad happened. There were four full size helis. Two were police choppers and the other two were private. I got a good look at all of them on the ground. They had a chicken wing contest inside, so I got to eat some good food. Then I walked around and saw all the planes on display. It has been a long time since I have been inside the museum. They had some really large old school bombers and some fighter jets. My favorite was the SR-71.

I have been working on my computer program a lot lately. I converted all the data to a database and made it easier to use. I recently added a graph function. I am still learning to to make it look better.

Nick

123Cat

Any CP Pro flyers out there ,

I was wondering about the parts availability

evdreamer

I think everyone here got rid of their CP Pro's. I used to fly one a long time ago. I think most of the parts from the CP Pro2 should fit. Those should be easy to get from Horizon Hobby.

Nick

Scotts CP

Has anybody here seen [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ElGt6iAYw]this[/link] yet? I thought it was pretty cool stuff..

Scott

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi Nick,

That sounded like a very close call with that full scale...glad you were able to react and get your heli to the ground quickly and safely. The event must have been great to have 4 full scale heli's plus lots of static displays. The SR71 is one of my favorites too. It was the only plane that flew every sortie given with no losses due to enemy fire.

If you haven't seen [link=http://www.econrates.com/reality/schul.html]This[/link] article it is a terrific recollection by a SR71 flight crew and a good read.

JPEE,

Hope things are getting better for you and I wish you well.

Mark

JPEE

Hey Nick,

Good deal on your programming, it looks great. As you said once you get the line bars on both sides it will done. Wow that you darned near took out a real helicopter sounds pretty scary. That's seems to be the norm anymore at air shows, it has just gone nuts at air shows to be honest. You see on TV that at nearly every air show someone goes down! Glad you met other RC Pilots and overall had a nice day. You know they built the SR71 right here where I live, about 30-40 miles away.
I have had my grandson flying twice now. He has 6 packs under his belt and on this day this was his thrid pack making the total of 6 in his life time. After I lifted the 450 Quadcopter I left the radio with him and I made a short video of him flying it. He loved it. Soon we will buddy box the Bixler I built for him. He seems to really be hungery for it too which really helps. Here is a short 35 seconds of his flight.

I am getting caught up other matters and hope to build my P-51B soon, next week perhaps.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkDQtmci8gU&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

Hi Mark and thank you. As I said above that SR71 was built buy Lockeed Martin I believe and the Skunk Works ( a top secret area here) is where testing was and Area 51 too!That's the best of my recollection. It is a shame..... they moth balled that puppy and it's life was so short but it was FAST!

Scott, great great video man!

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hey JPEE,

Your grandson did a terrific job, that thing looked as stable as ever. I really do love your open spaces you have available out there. I bet he can't wait to take the Bixler up.

I saw a recent show on Discovery about secret spy aircraft and they had a bit on the SR-71 and the U2...believe it or not they mentioned the U2 was doing missions in Afganistan due to its reliability and more importantly, price per flight which seems to be considerably low. It is a shame that the costs of the SR71 eventually cost its end during its era.

Saw that heli video and it was a cool "right place at the right time" kind of thing.

I hit a snag on my Zero build...discovered my battery has one bad cell. I tried to slowly charge it but no avail so I ordered another from HK and will send this one back. Its one of their Nano-techs so I'm hoping this is a one-time fluke.

BTW, I put the PS project on the backburner for the time being as I'm not ready to purchase a charger for it and the present one has its own internal so I'll come to that at a later date. But thanks for all your help so far and getting me to the point I'm at now with it. I'm sure when I have my zero flying for awhile and no other projects going on I'll break out my soldering iron and get to work.

The rest of the build is going very smoothly. The parts fit together very nicely, no modification has been needed. One thing though, be careful how you handle the foam as it will indent rather easily if, for example, you hold the fuse firmly with one hand while repositioning the tight fitting cowl with the other hand. Saw this on mine and luckily my finger dents were at a place that is easily hidden by the canopy. But beware. One other thing for consideration...if you like your plane to have a nice 'new' glossy look then Testers makes a gloss spray that you can spray over your plane when done. It also helps to protect from that bubbling that happens to foam when left in the sun too long. The retracts are the best thing on the plane! They are simply amazing to see work. If you haven't hooked yours up to your receiver/ESC/batt yet give them a try as you won't be disappointed. I also hit the tiny metal worm gear in them with a bit of silicon spray as some guys on the forum mentioned it as they aren't lubed at all. You can see the worm gear when the gear is in the open position. FMS has done an amazing job with their warbirds.

Hope you are able to finish up with your other matters and get some much needed free time.

Mark