matty_p80

thanks guys!

already had it whizzing around the living room (even though i was threatened with death if i did so!!) and it is not a large area at all [3m X 3.5m with furniture in]!!

you know what JD? i'm beginning to think it's my Tx! i've developed a technique so there is absolutely no possible movement when i plug the teeeny LiPo in so that the gyro and everything can sort itself out - and i still get get a drifting from the yaw channel! the trim doesn't even cancel it out either!

i've been fiddling also with the control arms as it doesn't hover like you see on the vids! every time i take my hand off the right stick it starts to fish bowl like my old Air hogs Reflex used to!

s'pose i'd best go to bed as it's 0100 hrs here and we're up early tomorrow to take the sprog to see some wild animals!

happy everything

Matty )}}}}}]@>

dooleyje

Hey Matty. When you [power up the MSR you can not move the heli until it sets and binds. Otherwise it will drift a bit. The one I tried Friday night had a slight drift. I ahve noticed that as the power runs down the gyro also begins to fade. True on the MXR and the MSR. I am so used to flying the tail on helis I tend to just let it go sometimes. It should lock in pretty good though./ I do not think your transmitter is the cause unless the pot in the rudder stick is going bonkers. Go to Horizon web page and see which transmitter part number were gigiving problems and there is also a test for it.

Jay, go to www.heliproz.com and look at the Trex250 pricing. With motor and ESC $179, combo with motor ESC and 3 servos= $218 and the super combo with everything and gyro/servo combo is less than $340. The Aline gyro is pretty decent set up for it. PM me and you can also get 10% off.

Jim

cajungirl

Hey y'all,
Rolled into Montgomery at about 9 last night and took a room at the Hilton. Wowsers, what a nice place. Got myself a big ol' room with a huge bed, crawled in it and slept like somebody that had just drove a buncha miles. Got off the bed at 8:30 this mornin' and had a real nice breakfast of two eggs, a slice of ham, side of grits (with butter of course) and a big ol' glass of milk. I'm feelin' like a new girl now. I'm gonna snoop around Montgomery a little and then hit the road for Albany. I hope to roll in there at a decent hour tonight. It's a sunny day here and kinda cool. 'Sposed to be around 65 today. Shoot, I might even get Jessica out for a short romp. There's a nice big grassy spot in front of the hotel. Time's a factor so I'll play it by ear. I've already used Google Earth to find some parks close to where I'll be staying in Albany. I love Google Earth. You can actually go ground level and see 'xactly what places are like and find some with flyin' spots. It's kinda funny how since I've got hooked on these little whirrin' gizmos how I add flyin' plans to my travels. I get excited about gettin' there and thinkin' about gettin' the heli out. Love it, love it!!

Mr. Mack,
It's so good to see you back. I surely do like your southern sense of humor (i.e. "may your heli bind and not you"). You make me giggle. Thanks for that.

JD,
I checked out that site for the 250. Neat little birds. Now, I wouldn't mind at all havin' one of those myself. With Christmas comin' up I might just have to start hintin' about how much one of those would be kinda nice to give a heli girl. Wouldn't take up much room in the car while travellin' at all. I'm sure I could find a spot right next to Jessica in the back seat.

Matty,
I'm so glad to hear you got your ittty bitty heli. Hope you don't get yourself into too much trouble now. Just enough to make some funny memories. I'm bettin' that lady that loves ya enough to let one in the house will understand 'bout needin' to fly it. Bet the "sproglet" will have fun watchin' you bounce it off the ceilin' too. You're a lucky chap theah mistah!

Jay is on the road toward Nebraska. When I talked with him this mornin' he was hangin' out in Garden City, Kansas visitin' some old business friends for awhile today and plans to hit the road late this afternoon. We both got lucky waitin' an extra day for the weather to clear ('sides an extra day together). We've both had good weather for travellin'. Don't know for sure what Jay is gonna get into in Nebraska. They had a blizzard in the North Platte area and got over a foot of snow. It's warmin' up there now and should be meltin' fast. He said he drove through some sloppy stuff in Kansas but it's clear and mostly wet. He said his car, trailer and Harley are real dirty from it but can all be washed up once he's home.

Uh oh, I'm doin' that yikkety yak thang again. Sorry.

K, gotta git ta gittin' here. I'll let y'all know how things go.

Bye now,

Donica

dooleyje

Donica you and Jay stay safe on the road.

I have been attempting an upgrade on my new computer to Win 7. Not going so good. Lots of problems with drivers and programs that was furnished with the computer that is not compatible with Win7 and received the blue screen of death several times. Always set a retore point anytime you are changing things on your computer. I have been at it for 2 days now. Expect to spend hours and hours if you want to upgrade. I did find that I hand several programs that were loaded from the factory at Gateway that was not compatible even with the Vista. So be prepared for some uninstalling and web search for new drivers.

I really think you will like the 250. You can tame it down or soup it up. Oh.. by the way, You do not need the pilot in training sign anymore, Miss pilot!!

Jim

matty_p80

hey guys!

was at my bros. yesterday in Swindon! our mum was there as she normally stays the w/e with him if they travel up to him (the ol' girl's getting on a bit now and doesn't travel quite as easily as she used to )! it was a b/day get together for me but with a bit of a halloween theme to it!

my brother and his finance have a humungous conservatory (for the UK) which i was whizzing me lil' birdy around in (looked like one of the promotional vids ). got my bro. to take the sticks for a bit but didn't really have enough time to get him up and flying but he was starting to get the feel for it! you never know, i might get work before chrimbo and be able to get him the RTF version!!!

flying in our house isn't going to happen as Jules has re-itterated that 'she doesn't want that annoying buzzy thing flying around!' but she did pay me a humungous compliment (for her anyway) as she said it looked like i had good control of it at me bros. place [didn't spoil it by saying it is an absolute blast to fly and pretty easy[sm=wink_smile.gif] ]

Donica, i know exactly what you mean! when i was small i used to look at a reasonably deep puddle and say, "i could swim in that!" now i can't go past an open area and not think, "mmmm, i could fly in there!" ha ha ha!

Jim, i have a technique to stop any unwanted movement when plugging in the battery: i plug the tiny single cell in with the lead off to the right of the heli and hold it until the solid blue light comes on and then wait a few more seconds for everything to get sorted, then fit it inside the battery holder! i even make sure the Tx is at least 2 feet away also!!

big woo hoo to everyone and a hey diddle diddle nonny noo!!

Matty )}}}}]@>

Mack66

OK Halloween is over. My 3-1/2 year old grandson had a ball last night. He was so cute dressed up as Buzz Litghtyear. The neighbor ladies loved him and couldn't give him enough candy. They would crouch down with their big bowl of candy and tell him to take all he wanted! Hahaha!

Went out flying this afternoon and the weather was glorious. Not a cloud in the sky, 73 deg F, slight breeze. Unfortunately the Phoenix augered in on the second flight . Somehow it got away from me out of a hover. I turned it around to come back but it was getting dangerously close to the pits so decided to fly away from there and land. It was too far away to get orientation right and ended up eating some dirt. Estimated damage is wood main blades gone, spindle (feathering shaft) bent, main shaft bent, tail boom bent, and broken flexible tail pipe. I see one bent ball link but that can be straightened. Oh yeah the flybar is toast of course, but theoretically I could straighten that (again). Threw some dirt all over itself but my canned air blew all that off.

All in all not too bad of a crash, thank goodness. Didn't fracture the frame of (God forbid) the servo tray.

Will I ever learn? Pretty sure I was fatigued and should have parked it a minute earlier when I was having trouble with orientation appearing to reverse on me. When hovering, a full tank of fuel keeps me in the air for about 20 minutes. I think that's probably longer than I should be flying as a newbie.

Oooooh well. I'll have her fixed in no time as soon as my parts supplier and I can get together. Probably a crash kit will cover my needs.

Donica,

Hope you arrived safe in Albany. I know you'll find somewhere fun to fly. Don't do like me and stay focused. Are you still herding new nurses? Sounds like fun. I like nurses! My sister-in-law has been an RN for over 40 years now, and she still loves it.

Jay,

Stay away from Nebraska. It snows up there and gets very cold! Albany is probably warmer.

Matty,

I would never give MY brother the controls of any of my helicopters. When I was 11 years old I got a hand crank heli (that would actually hover) for Christmas and he irreparably wrecked it on me in five minutes. Never forgave him for that! Haha.

Jim,

Why on earth are you upgrading to Windows 7? Was there something wrong with the version you had? Tsk tsk. I heard that Win 7 was a bear of an upgrade for XP and Vista users. I'm sitting tight until I can develop a strong list of reasons why I must upgrade and not a moment sooner. If I do, I'll do it on the system I built myself that doesn't have OEM components with proprietary drivers etc. I wish you luck. Let us know how it all turns out.

Well, I guess I'd better get on the sim and figure out what the heck I did wron this time. Practice practice practice!

Stay away from the dirt!

Mack

dooleyje

Win 7 was suppose to be just a run the disk from a Vista unit. It wants you to install all upgrades. In my attempt to load service pack 2 it killed my startup because I got the blue death screen in the middle of the install. In my attempt to revert back to restore I can get windows to install but I get the blue screen sometimes when attempting to use internet. I am trying now to retore from the safe mode with command prompt to see if I can get back to an earlier restore date. It all started with the Vista not liking my 2.4 mouse and keyboard and would go to blue screen from time to time. Removed the mouse and keyboard and the blue screen went away and the Win7 upgrade went all the way through to the finish without a blue screen shutdown. Wow getting close however the install says it was not successfull. No reason noted so I went back to Win compatibility program and found I needed some upgrades possibly, therefor I attempted to load the service pack 2 upgrade and it tanked the system. Now I am back to square 3.

Reason for the upgrade? I needed to be able to run Fireware and some other programs for my new job. Vista would not allow it. XP will run the programs and Win7 is suppose to.

Luckily my lap top is on XP and it runs the programs fine.

As always we try to enrichen our lives in all we do but sometimes we have to go through hard knocks to get there. Besides, if it wasn't hard who would want to attempt things such as flying helicopters.

Sorry about the crash. I can usually straighten the flybar out. You may want to put some bright colors on the tail and out side the skids on one side to help you see if it is coming or going. You will notice that the pros do that.

Back to the computer,

Jim

Mack66

Jim,

Let's face it people like us are gluttons for punishment. In your case though you pretty much have to get away from Vista for your JOB. This sounds like W.O.R.K. Eeeuw. Thank God I'm retired.

You'll get the upgrade done sooner or later. Maybe we should send Bill G. a letter of thanks for the extra entertainment value.

Re coloring the heli, I was just thinking the same thing this morning while out on my morning walk. I've heard of people painting the right skid red (Red for Right). I'm gonna do something. Since I'm still using the training gear I can easily paint it. The struts are black plastic, but the skids are aluminum, so should be paintable.

Thanks for the good idea!

Mack

dooleyje

I would go to your LHS and get a sheet of dayglow orange monocote trim and just stick it on the heli where you want it. That way you canpeel it off or refresh it when you want to.

Yep now the blue screen of death is bad memory. I am going through eash DDR to see what is bad if any or it could be a bad bios input from one of the upgrades. I wrotw Gateway as it is still under warranty. The simulator works and it is not reseting as bad as it did.

Jim

flyachopper1

Hey me flying friends,
I am back in good old Nebr. and kicking back for a day moping about being away from my cajun lady. The trip was a good one and the weather cooperated fine. Drove through some sloppy stuff in Kansas and Nebr. but no big deal. Got the car, trailer and Harley washed and dried earlier today. Right now it is cloudy and kind of drizzly here in North Platte. It is supposed to clear up and be warm later today and tomorrow so I will likely be allowed to ride and fly some. I spent about an hour today laying out T Rex 500 parts on the bench and getting my plan sorted out in my two brain cells for that build. It has been sitting around long enough now and needs to be brought to life. I inventoried and everything is there. Now I just need Donica and you guys to keep bugging me to get it done.

Although tough to leave my southern beauty after such a nice long period together it was a good feeling to know her heli was back to good condition. She got into Albany last evening with plenty of time to settle in and get some rest. Spoke with her this morning as she was heading for work and she was in her usual cheerful mood. She is excited to be in a city she has never been in and even more excited to find a spot to fly. It still amazes me how much of a road warrior she is. She can put down enough miles in a day that most would not even consider.

I caught her 'not so suttle hint' in her last post and we are giving consideration to one T Rex 250 if not two. We have also discussed moving up to Spektrum radios. The Futaba stuff is real nice and have served me well for years, but the Spektrum gear seems to be more state of the art and compatible with more things. Seems like one can get a more advanced system from Spektrum for a little less money than Futaba. There are some real nice Futaba systems available but they are a bit pricey in comparison and the Spektrums appear to be more trouble free. Another area that seems to be troublesome for Futaba is servos. I have read a lot about flaws in the newer Futaba digital servos. Mechanically they are tough as nails but seem to have some problems electronically. I began buying HiTek servos a while back and have had zero problems with any of those. The ones on Donicas heli all survived the crash 100% as have the ones on my T Rex 450. Another change I made a while back that has worked out real well are the ceramic bearings. Those things are real tough and operate a lot smoother than the steel ones ever did. I spent extra money to get Timkens for my T Rex but had to go through a bearing supply company here in North Platte and wait weeks to get them. I bought the Boca ceramics for Donicas Copt. X, got them is three days and they seem to be as good as the Timkens. The only real difference in the Timkens that I like is that the seals are removable so they can be cleaned and repacked. I use a light weight white silicone grease that is available for fishing reels. I was told by Timken not to use petroleum lubes on the ceramics. They said those would work for awhile but would permeate the balls after time and kind of gel up creating resistance at start up when the bearings are cold. They said the silicone lubes also soak into the ceramic material but don not stiffen up when cool.

JD,
I agree. We need to make a newer sign for Donica now that she is becoming a bit more than a trainee. I hope you get your 'puter to behave soon. I am not at all familiar with the new Windows 7 and am still learning all that Vista can do. I identify with your frustrations. When I was still operating the flying service I got to love the business applications in XP and when I switched to Vista I ran into some compatibility problems with my book keeping and tax programs. After struggling along for a month or so I finally took everything to a computer professional here and paid them to sort it out. It all works fine now. When he tried to explain to me what he did it all began to sound like a foreign language. I told him I was very grateful for his expertise, that I was too much of a computer idiot to understand it all and handed him the check. I can run the programs, but upgrading them got me into trouble. The folks that create these platforms are from another planet and don't realize that the people buying their products need something that just installs and runs. Cannot be helped I guess and those guys that sit in a room full of screens and blinking lights are real handy for doing the technical stuff. When I switched from Win 98 to XP I was determined to figure it all out myself. I finally, after months of installing, uninstalling, searching Microslops sites for drivers, etc. got it all sorted out. I did the tarzan yell thing at the end and beat my chest, but had spent an enormous amount of time getting it all working. I did not have that kind of time with the switch to Vista. The pro got it done in one day and I was off and running. Now I am willing to fork over a few bucks to avoid the stress. They kind of have us all over a barrel in that they keep changing to programs we all need so that they are not comaptible with the older paltforms. That is the business end of it I guess. They need cash flow just like the rest of us.

Matty me mate,
I am quite jealous of your new little flyer. Nice to have one to fly when one cannot get out with the bigger bird isn't it? Even if you are not allowed to tear up the living room you will find it is real easy to find places to sneak off to for some whipping about. I tried my best to talk dear Donica into letting me abscond with her little 520 this trip and bring it home with me. Well, that did not happen. I got the familiar one eybrow up look with a hand on a hip stance that I know is the very last word on the current subject of conversation. As you know, that is when one begins talking about something new. I guess I will have to come up with a small bird of my own.

Must quit yammering on here and go mount an attack on some 500 parts. Ames called a bit ago and chewed my posterior about not seeing me for so long and bribed me to come over with one of Debis pot roast dinners. Oh yessss, cannot miss that.

Later me buckos. The best of the day to you all.

dooleyje

Well I am advancing!!! I had to remove all the hardware one at a time and run test and also removed each of the DDR2 boards one at a time til I got a clean test. All the hardware is fine except one of the DDR2 boards. As soon as it was plugged in and test run I got a hardware error and memory error. Man what a pain be sometimes just as with repairing helicopters you have to figure what is good and not what's wrong. In Telecommunications I would instruct the techies to tear the system down to bare box and start loading each card and each power supply till you get a falure. That was the hardest thing to tech. As Jay says it is sometimes helpful to get a second set of eyes to look at it. If it does not load the Win7 this time I will let the Geek Squad do it. Dawg I hate to spend heli money on other stuff!!!!!

Jay put the 500 together, Hey Jay, Hey Jay knock the dust of that thang!!! Trust me, you want to fly the 500. Sooooo much better than the 450.

Back to the computer and off to the store to buy a new DDR2.


Jim

dooleyje

Finally, I have the desktop up and running. I found a deal at Office Max for a 2g set of memory for only $34. I bought 2 and loaded the computer up to 4G. The Win 7 is reported as not needing the amount of memory as Vista but hey it is super fast now. I will attempt to load Win 7 again some other time. I am tired and I have a beer and some buffalo wings and fries and I am hitting the shower and recliner.

Talk to you all later,

Me

Mack66

Jay,

Parts on a bench do not fly well, last I checked and that was this afternoon as I repaired my Sceadu, again. Get that Big Boy together and ready to go, man. What are you thinking???

Jim,

High 5's. Glad to see your puter is back online. I used to be a nut about computers. I've had one or more since early 1980. But lately I've gotten lazy and tend not to fiddle with them as much as opposed to just use them for all their useful purposes. I used to manage a business on mine and found that change was not good. Always use the same thing the same way and concentrate on the business. Anywho, glad your troubles are over.

Today I took the broken Phoenix back out to the field and met my tutor/mentor/pusher who brought me a crash kit and other bits I needed to get back in the air. Spent all afternoon on the bench in the pits at the club doing that while others flew. It was 73 degrees, sunny and just a hint of a breeze. It was a beautiful day, the company pleasant, and the weather divine. Got the tail boom, mainshaft, spindle and blades back on, ready for preflight. Still need to work on setup I'm sure the blades won't track as I had to replace two ball links on the head and the wood blades are sure to be off a bit. Still have to center the tail rotor servo since I had to replace the tail boom. I did all this with minimal help from my mentor. Guess I'm learning! Remember I am a newbie, even if I'm an oldie. Haha.

Tomorrow I go back out and finish up so I can get back to whupping up the air!

Mack

dooleyje

Thanks Mack, I did a lot of technical support work in my younger days and I too get a bit lazy when repairing things. But this time I had to see what was wrong with the machine. Seems I had a broken machine from the factory. I had to delete several programs and remove a lazer bus that was not needed and not working. My computer had a TV tuner in it and a lazer remote control. I don't use it so I removed it. Now I have a healthy machine and the Win 7 is now loaded and working. Super fast with the extra memory. I have addressed this with the suppliers and will sent the items back for replacement. I suspect that I will be providing support for this product so I needed to know what I was talking about. Now that the smoked cleared the upgrade was not bad and went smooth after I fixed the machine. It took 2.5 hours to upgrade. Bring a book or in my case I used my laptop. If anyone wants to upgrade to Win7 give me a hollar.

Glad you have the heli back together. I still need to fix my EVO but I can wait till after the holidays.

Mack to help you with your setups in the future do as I do and write down the link measurements and tail servo mount postion from the frame. I also write down all the radio settings. Makes it easy to get it back together.

Jay, I agree that you and Donica would benefit with going to Spectrum VS Futaba. Futaba prices are way way to high now. All the good plug and play stuff is based on DMS2 so with Futaba you are missing out. I still use my Futaba 9C super but I have a DMS Spectrum module in it so it is compatable with DMS receivers. I use the Futaba on my EVO so I can have a gov channel.

Later,

Jim

cajungirl

Hidee hoooo y'all,
I come here tonight feelin' all warm and fuzzy and like I belong to a real special buncha people. This might get kinda long but I gotta tell y'all about today. It's official. I've now flown in four states. I got my Jessica out after work today and went to a small park 'bout a mile from the hotel here in Albany and flew out three packs. There was no one around so I had the place to myself. I used the first battery just practicin' basics. I swear, she hovers smoother than ever since the rebuild. Those new fangly bearing thangs Jay put in are smoother and I had to get used to just a teeny bit less throttle. First time I lifted off she kinda jumped real quick. I got scairt some and landed right away. Thought maybe I was too anxious. I took some breaths and started over. By golly, she jumped up fast again. That time I just kept her up and went ahead with my practicin'. I found out during that the heli was responding to the throttle different and the sound she was makin' is kinda different too. Sounds like the power comes on faster. By the time I used up the first battery I was used to the difference. The second session went real good. I spent a coupla minutes practicin' hovering 'bout a foot off the ground and movin' around at that height. That's kinda scary 'cause the ground is so close. From there I spent 'bout four minutes whippin' around in some fast forward loopin' and swoopin'. That's ,so far, my favorite kinda stuff. I love seein' the heli fly like a big graceful bird. I forgot to accurately time the second battery so I landed, sat down at a little table for a break and a few sips of my cappucino. I hadn't realized some of the old rubbery feelin' in my legs 'till I took that break. I'm gettin' to where I enjoy that feelin'. I stuck in the third battery and got ready to go for it again. Just as I sat the heli down and stepped back a family with five kids showed up to have a picnic dinner. Those kids swarmed out of that car like clowns at a circus goin' in all directions. They ranged in age from 12 down to 3.Two boys and three girls. Of course once they spotted my heli sittin' there they came arunnin', made a circle around me and the heli askin' a hundred questions all at once. Of course the usual one of "does it really fly" came out several times. I walked over and unplugged the battery so nothing would happen accidently. Then I started doin' my best to answer some of their questions. Their folks were trying to get them to leave me alone and I just told them I didn't mind at all that they were curious. Once things calmed down some I sat down with their parents and chatted for awhile. They were just as curious as the kids 'bout the heli so I had the spotlight for awhile. I explained to them all that I would be tickled to fly for them some but they had to stay back at a safe distance as the heli can be seriously dangerous close up. They all agreed so I got ready to fly out the third battery. I now had an audience and was a nervous wreck. Didn't want to look like too much of a tyro in front of them. I was standin' and breathing to relax when I noticed someone next to me. I looked down and the second youngest was standin' right next to me hangin' on to my coat tail. She is a little dark haired 4 yr. old dolly with big brown eyes. Looks like her momma. She had a real serious look on her face mixed with the cutest little grin. She asked if she could stay wtih me and I couldn't resist. I told her to stay close and keep her eye on the heli. She stood right there the whole time I flew and was awed by the heli. She would ooh and clap her hands once in a while when I did something she liked. Nothin' like a fan to make what you're doin' a lot of fun. I think I did a purty good job of showin' off for that family and they all seemed to enjoy watchin'. That little dark haired dolly stuck to my side the whole time I was there. I stayed around for about half an hour after finishin' flyin' and had a real pleasant time with those people. I had two more batteries with me but I decided to pack in for the day and give my eyes, hands and legs a rest. Come time to go the little girl crawled up on the bench next to me, kissed me on the cheek, giggled and hugged the wind out of me. Hooey, I coulda took that one home with me real easy. All in all, that whole family was a really cool buncha people, lots of fun to be around and I left feelin' good. I'm happy they showed up and I'm happy too that I got to fly again without crashin'. I guess y'all can tell I'm lovin' bein' in this hobby and all the things it makes possible.

Got a movie (western called "Once Upon a Texas Train", 'sposed to be funny) and a coupla beers so I'll give y'all a break from my yakkityin'.

Thanks again for lettin' me be one of ya. Please stay healthy and happy.

Lovin' life and you too,

Donica

matty_p80

hey guys!

donica, nice job! i think you have another vocation in life: well, you know how (like at any prominent public event) the big manufacturers use 'dolly birds' dressed in the company's logos (and usually not much else) to go around the events to promote their product? usually those, so called 'representatives' haven't a scooby about what it is exactly they're advertising! you could offer your services to the likes of "Spektrum" where you could do the job of the Dolly Bird AND demonstrate their products!! ha ha ha! i would defintely be more inclined to part with my money if an attractive woman who knew what she was talking about was trying to sell me something!!!!

Jay! you procrastinator, you!!! get the big bird built! if'n you don't i might be inclined to come over there and build it for you!! i'm having a blast with my new lil' bird (have to wait for 'er in doors to go out of the house) flying it around my living room! have got the hover down pat. but it seems i have to trim it differently with each battery i plug in it!!?? am concentrating on the nice sllooooow cruise by, which is turning out to be quite tricky as this little thing is like my last m/cycle (Suzuki Bandit 1200S) - she jus' wanna go fast, real fast!!!!

Jimbo! are you having any probs. getting bits? i have come across a site here that has some Sceadu bits, so give us a shout if you need anything! i personally wouldn't try anything like what you're doing with the 'fuser, mainly as my wife would be looking over my shoulder and tutting, expressing an opinion that i'm breaking whatever it is i'm trying to fix!! so Matty doesn't do those sort of jobs now and the nice computer geek at the store can sort it out!!!

Mack! good to hear you having some field time! it is absolutely turning out to be a GB winter here - teeming down with rain - YUK![sm=drowning.gif]

hopefully, the guy who organises the indoor fly-in in the town is better soon and i can start playing properly indoors with my lil'un!!

be well all, and keep those digits supple

Matty )}}}}]@>

dooleyje

Donica now you have to come to NC and fly here 11. Stage fright is something we all get or have had so don't sweat it. A few years ago a local airport would put on an airshow and back in those days heli flying was not new in the hobby but it did not have a lot of exposure. They would ask me every year to do a flying demo. I had an Minature Aircraft FAI machine that had a .60 motor in it. I would fly the FAI contest schedule program that also included a 360 degree auto rotation to a spot landing on a 1 meter target. All the while the anouincer is calling the stunts and discribing what I was going to do. I did it to music from Top gun. That was in front of about 40,000 folks each day. You do get butterflies before the show (hoping I don't screw up) but when I started the motor and began I was in another zone as I am sure you were.

Matty, No I have a source for parts, I just do not want to spend the cash till after the holidays. I have 4 other helicopters to fly so there is no hurry. Yep the computer upgrade was interesting but I got it done. I am a puter person so working on them is no problem. The trouble I had was fighting a defective hardware and it took some time to find it. The upgrade itself is a piece of cake and you have resources to that will scan you machine and tell you what you need to change,delete,upgrade drivers to be compatible with Win7. After I fixed my machine it upgrade was just a plug and play but bring a good book. The job I am going to start involves the same stuff I went through so it was best to do it myself to see any trouble spots. Besides the upgrade was free.

Jim

Mack66

The Phoenix is back in the air! Hoo-Ray! Yesterday was another beeyootiful day in Texas. A bit windy (5-10mph), with little lulls to tease you from time to time. Temperatures in the mid 70's. Finished the setup and got the tail rotor servo in about the right place. My mentor took it out with me and we made the final adjustments to the servo location had to move it about 1/16" of an inch. Then a couple passes on tracking adjustments. I find making the adjustments easy, but gosh I sure have trouble seeing which blade is the one with the red tape on it. I think it's just experience like so many things on these machines.

Flew three tanks (about 20 minutes per tank) and called it a day. No more adventures for this pilot until hover school is out!

Donica,

Sounds like you had a great time in the park. Nothing like the voices and laughter of children to make your day. Glad to see you're getting more fans, although I'm a little jealous cuz I didn't get to see you fly yet. Hey! Do a video!!! Haha.

Matty,

Sounds like you're having fun with your new super-gnat. Keep the news coming. I know it will continue to rain in jolly old England until Spring, so good thing you've got an "insider" to fly. Surely the missus can't complain about such a tiny thing flitting about the lounge?

Jim,

You didn't tell us that the upgrade was "free". No wonder you went for it. When the day comes for me to do the upgrade, I'll pull War and Peace off the shelf...

I now have enough personal experience with these high power egg beaters to tell you that it is easier to fly through the air than through the dirt. Trust me on this. Haha.

Keep those blades turnin'

Mack

flyachopper1

Hello rotor runners,
It is a fine day in Nebraska. The sun is shining and the temps are climbing fast. 90% of the snow has melted and run off down the ditches. I went out for a fly with the T Rex today and as always it did its job well. Before I knew it I was plugging in the fourth and last LiPo (Left five of the nine with Donica. Will be getting more soon). One thing about being where there is winter is that people don't swarm the parks. I had an entire soccer field to myself the entire time. Now I am at home getting ready to manipulate some 500 parts into their proper places for a couple of hours. I had started this project sometime back so the frame is already done. I surely do miss my assistant builder on this one but I know I can do it. I will have to be happy with her support online and on the phone. Some good news from Ames today. He has given me permission to pull the black beauty out of her hangar anytime I want and use that building for indoor test flying when the weather is not good. It is 40 feet wide and 65 feet long with a 12 foot ceiling. Should be enough to test and do setup on the 500. Just have to be mum about this out and around the airport as the Feds have some unnecessary, uninformed bureaucratic rules against this. Ames owns the shop out there but he leases the hangars from the airport authority so has to adhere (as far as they know) to their red tape stuff. Evenings after 5:30 and nights all those suits have gone home and that will be when I take advantage of that space. Ames is as anxious to see the bigger bird up and flying as the rest of us.

Sounds as if Donica had a great day and that makes mine good too. I know it is repetitive but I am darn proud of her. She has progressed from the excited observer to scared new flyer to independent pilot so fast it is hard to keep up. Over the years I have tried and failed many times to get new flyers to stick with it until they left the ranks of newbie. She has been an easy one. Her mind accepts things so fast and translates it all into reality it can be kind of scary at times. I do not know what I ever did to deserve someone like her spending her time with me but I'll not question that, just accept it.

Matty,
Aha, just as I suspected. Had suspicions you would be doing some stealthy flying when 'er was away. Good job mate. You make we men proud. Donica and I were on the phone together this morning when she was reading your suggestions about being one of the corporate "dollys" and she was very amused. She said she is very complimented by your statements, but is way to modest to wear some of the stuff in public those girls sport around in. She said "besides, those girls are beauties and are hired for their looks. I don't qualify". I just chuckled and told her she needed to look in the mirror more often. Some of those girls are not nearly as cute and she looks better in jeans and a t shirt than they do in tight shorts and tank tops. She thanked me for that and said that she preferred to be accepted for being informed and competent. I told her that those "dollys" could not compare to her there. The conversation went on for awhile longer and included a lot of teasing about how much staring I do when she wears her bikini and of course some of the other things during private moments. She giggled a lot, said I better not dare talk about those on the forum and that my points had gone way up. I best stop now before I lose some.

JD,
You are a lot braver (and aparently more competent) with the computer than I am. You and Ames' wife Debi would get along well. She is another that will take all that on and come out of it with a head full of new knowledge. She is the one who keeps their business up to snuff in that area. You can tell when you walk in the office out there that she is tackling a new set up. You can see it in her face and feel the electricity in the air. Unlike me, she gets real quiet and intense. Myself, if I can't yell and cuss nothing gets done. When she is done with something and has it working she just says "there" and moves on. I have to do the Tarzan thing and sit back to admire my work before moving on. Probably why it takes me so much longer. I am the same way with my helis. At some points I have to sit back and stare, spin something by hand several times and enjoy the 'feel good' part. Donica gets a kick out that and puts up with it very patiently. When we work together on a heli she won't pat herself on the back near enough so I do it for her and she tolerates my Irish enthusiasm. One area though that I have seen impatient excitement in her is when we are setting out to scoot around on the Harley. She is always anxious to get going and loves perching on the back taking in the world. I think another of her latent passions has been exposed.

Mack,
Oh yeah! Good to know your Phoenix has "risen from the ashes" (Oh boy. Obvious pun I know). Anyway, you got her going again quickly and it is good to hear. You are right about Albany being warmer not to mention there is a real fine southern lady there too, but my life still has a big part here in Nebraska and I need to be here some. So far the weather has been good to me and it is good to see friends and family again. My sis and I are quite close and even she has told me I should just pack up and go south for good. She suggested I could just move her with me. Her hubby liked that idea too. I told them to get the business sold, retire and let's all get going. For myself, I think this will be the reality someday soon. Don't know if I can get my sis away from her business here though. It is a good one and she loves it.

Must go for now laddies and lass. Ames is flying the black beauty out later today to survey some storm damage for local ranchers and has offered me the copilot seat. No way I am passing on that.

Thank you all for supporting Donica as you have and I promise to keep at the 500 project.

Later me friends.

dooleyje

Hello everyone, I just got in from a show. I have 6 more this week so I will not get to take advantage of the great weather here. Sunny and in the mid 60's no wind. PERFECT!!! Oh well ther will be other days to fly.

Mack good job!! use the sim to get your "sea legs" under you before trying it with actual bird. I fly my sim almost everyday and take it with me on the road. Yeah it was a free upgrade from my new conpaney I aam starting with on Monday. I will be giving support from my home office and earning extra heli cash. I want to fix my EVO and buy a Trex500 this year. I have been buying a 500 for a year now and ended up doing something else. The Trex 500 is a super flying machine and Jay is really going to enjoy it. It flies lioke a big 30-50 size machine and not like the zippy 450's even tough you can set it up as hot as you want.

Jay, I tend to do things myself and like Debbie I can't put it down till I figure it out. That comes from years of having to get a machine or equipment running before day break or get a circuit back up that was broadcasting the football game, you can not give. That is how I learn and I try to pass the knowledge along. Back when I started into RC helicopters there was no forum and anyone to help unless you are luck to have a helicopter guy at the club. Hard Knock university is a great teacher. My helicopter building tends to be a bit slower than most because I like to draw it out. It is relaxing to me. (I agree that Donica is beyond better looking than the the "sillycone hoochey mommas" you see on the screen) or as some call them, Models

Well, time for rations and a beer,

Jim

3deli

hey fellers.im new in helies so be gentle.i have a rapter 30 v2 with a TT39 in it.seems to be running a little warm to me.is this normal?im using 20% coolpower.whats the best way to tune a heli engine?thanks

matty_p80

That will be over to you then Jimbo!!

cajungirl

Hay theah you flittin' flirty flyers,
[sm=red_smile.gif]Y'all are embarassin' me now. And, [sm=biggrin.gif]makin' me feel purty darn good at the same time. Matty, you're an onery one aint ya? I appreciate bein' complimented like that but I just aint the right kind of personality to work that way. I have no disdain for the girls that do but not for me. I love what I already do for a living and really enjoy promoting this hobby as I have been. On a casual and personal level. It would suit me better to show up as a flyer and partiticipate that way. Again though, I thank you for your kindly comments and intentions. I've seen your photo and you aint such a bad lookin' person yourself[sm=wink_smile.gif]. Mr. JD, always the southern gentleman[sm=angel_smile.gif]. Thank you for your kind words. Jay, as always you make me feel purty. You're the one that makes it mean somethin' for me[sm=kiss.gif]. All y'all have made my day and I'm kinda walkin' on air a little here. K, nuff on that.

Didn't get to fly today. Had to work over some 'cause it was a hectic day at the health factory. I have a small bunch to train here (9) and they are a good bunch. But, they are all in the real early stages of their training (still wearin' the pink scrubs) and when things got busy and serious today I had to kind of just let them tag along and observe. We all ran hither and thither filling in where we could. Good experience for them though. Gave them a taste of what this profession can be at times and how rewarding it feels at the end of the day. Mack, I guess that answers your question. Yep, I'm still teachin' and scarin' newbie nursies. Nice to hear people say they love nurses. Makes it feel real. Give your sis in law my admiration and a hug for me.

As happens a lot, my company has signed me up to stay here another week after this one. That happens a lot and is okay. I like it here. A nice southern city and they all talk like me. Seems they surveyed my little group of trainees and they all asked if I could stay longer. There ya go Jay, get your stuff done there and come spend a week in beautiful Georgia with me. [sm=frown.gif]Pleeeeeaaaaassssseeee.

I was faithful to my mentors teachings tonight and began a complete inspection of my heli. I've gotten through lookin' at the rotors, main rotor head, tail assembly, checked the belt, made sure all the servos are at 90 degrees and even measured some of the pitch angles all by myself. That pitchy angly guagey thang Jay gave me is a cool tool. The main rotors are runnin' a perfect +12/-12 and goin' to 0 at center stick. The tail rotor moves real smooth and goes to 0 too. I'm takin' a cheeseburger and beer break right now, gettin' ready to switch packs on the charger and will get some more of it done before bed time. I plan to take the heli to work with me tomorrow and finish inspecting what I don't get to tonight during my lunch break. It's 'sposed to be a real nice day and my plan is to have my lunch outside the hospital. There's a quiet little park like area off to the side of the main building that used to be a smoking area. It's got some tables that sit under nice oak trees and is a quiet little hideout. I bought myself a neat lighted magnifying glass yesterday and that's comin' in real handy for inspectin' the heli. So far I haven't found anything goin' bad. I did find one plug on the receiver that wiggled when I touched it (rudder). I gave it a little push and it clicked right back into place. If nothin' turns up I'll do my best to get her out for flyin' tomorrow after work. I'm headin' back to the same little park hopin' to meet more cool folks and even better, to see my little dark haired fan again. By the way, her name is Donita (Donnie). Her momma is Hispanic (Margarite) and a beauty with an intelligent calmness about her. Her daddy (Theo) is of German heritage, very manly, handsome, soft spoken with and air of strength about him. He works as a mechanical engineer specializing in turbines for power plants. He was fascinated with and understood the heli completely. Had his nose stuck right into it a lot and explained some of the way all the parts interacted in some kind of furrin' language. He even took his pen out of his pocket and used it as a pointer. I nodded and smiled a lot but I'm 'fraid I didn't fathom some of it. did learn a coula things though. He told me he was real happy to meet a lady that liked mechanical stuff. The other two girls (Elena and Robin) favor their mom too and the oldest (12)(Elena) is gonna be a knockout real soon. The two boys (Theo Jr. and Carl) are chips off dads block and the oldest of them (9)(Theo Jr.) is gonna be another braniac like his daddy. I could tell the kids had been taught respect for adults, their mom and dad the whole family seemed to be very happy. It was a pure pleasure to see a large family so comfortable with each other and gettin' along so good. Kinda reminded me of my family.

Well, better finish my burger and MGD so I can get more done on the looky looin'.

See y'all soon. Remember, I'm a big fan of y'all too. Please be healthy and happy.

Donica

dooleyje

3Deli, Hey welcome to the group. First thing is to asnwer a few questions for me and I will help you tune that .39 in.

1. Is the fuel 20% heli fuel? or regular fuel for airplanes. either is fine. I do know that the 15% (green coolpower) airplane fuel is the same as the 15% helicopter. Some people put an ounce of Klotzs oil to a gallon. In your case use 15% for now and save the cost of 20%.Later on as you progress you will want to go to 30% heli fuel for 3D.

2. Does the heli smoke a lot while hovering? It should

3. How do you think it is running hot?

4. Does the motor have a ding ding ding sound as it winds down? Too lean on the idle adjustment

5. Does it idle fine and not sag at idle but sags as you climb out? needle walve too lean. Any sagging is an indication of a lean motor. Low power would be too rich. You have to get a balance. Make sure you do not have a line clunk uncovering or an air leak in your tank fuel lin system. At the muffler make sure the pressure nipple is not blocked or leaking around the edges. Make sure you muffler is not losening at the motor and use 2 lock nuts on the screws. I do not us and sealer such as RED high temp RTV sealer tends to make a muffler go loose and pieces sometines will get in the motor. I like to use the metal gasket that comes with the muffler or motor. Actually makes a better seal. Never use soft gasket material.

6. Understand how the needle valve and idle screw works. The idle screw actually runs the motor at idle to up to about half throttle. A Webra motor is different as it uses the idle screw to over 3/4 throttle.

7.Does the motor die suddenly while hoverin? Way too lean in the idle screw.

The idle screw is most inportant on a heli and tranistion the fuel as the heli comes up on throttle. I use a temp guage to get my final tune. I want to hold an idle for a few minutes and then blast off full throttle and make a circuit around the field and then land and check the temp at the head and backplate I want able 195-210F. Under 190 would tell me that the heli is running rich.

Let us know what you see and hear and we will figure it out for you.

Jim

flyachopper1

Hello all,
There have been some real nice days here in Nebraska. 70s and near 80 today. Very little wind and bright sunshine. I have taken advantage of it all by riding along in the black beauty with Ames a lot (nah-I did not take the controls-yeah sure I didn't-after all, I am not licensed anymore), flying the heck out of the T Rex and wearing out the tires on the Harley. There has only been two things missing from all this. No Cajun beauty to go along and I am not in the beautiful South. Things here required attention though.

I have been spending some time in the evenings on the 500 too. Last night I progressed to the point of assembling the electronics into the frame and the main rotor head is done and ready to go into place. The tail boom and belt are in place waiting the tail rotor assy. It won't be long now and I think I will be able to claim that it has been test flown and in the tweaking stages. I am already loving the size of that bird. It has been a while since I worked on any of my larger nitro birds and I am enjoying handling some larger parts for a change. Haven't needed the big old lighted magnifier stuck between my face and my work much at all on this one. I am looking forward to flying this beast a lot. I will set it up for mostly sport flying to start and move everything over to 3D status after flying it for awhile. I have not yet found an aluminum travel case for it. If anyone knows of a good deal on one please let me know.

Spoke with dear Donica a bit earlier and she is doing just fine. She is really enjoying the people she is working with in Albany and seems to like that city a lot. She hasn't gotten to fly these last couple of days as her job has been keeping her till the dark hours. She has Sunday off and plans to tear up some air. Says "hidee doo" to all of you.

Must go as Ames is going up in the black beauty again today and insists I go along. OK,jeez, if I have to I guess I will.

Later me buckos.