OT - RC Airplanes

[mixer911]

Yea, I had thought of that. I don't really intend to do much distance though (for now, at least), and would likely fly it over in Columbia and not at Smyrna so I wouldn't be around as many houses, or people to harm if it goes down. Also why I'm going over to the "dark side" and doing electric, so there's much less chance of a power failure. I'll mount the camera on the wing slightly to the side so it won't be picking up as much of the prop.

I can always transfer equipment over later, this plane needs a power source anyhow, may as well give electric a try

"darkside" ehh.... Nitro is the darkside, remember how your lights work, its electric, boogie woogie woogie :idea:

Being a techie, i think once you cross the line, you will like it. Its fun to configure new setups.

 

[rcmike]

Yeah, I'd throw the stuff on there then. I would be afraid to fly it very far in Smyrna too with all the houses around. I did like flying my mini ultra stick with the camera but wish it was just a little bigger because the weight was a little much for it.

I just got back from Bill Bennett field. There were some planes flying but nothing really very interesting going on there so I came back to the hotel. Pretty sad, I'm in Vegas and go to an RC field. Actually I'm waiting for my wife to get done with her convention stuff so we can do something. I would really like to go to the Grand Canyon but I don't know if we will have time. Might take one of the helicopter rides if it isn't too expensive.

 

[ZachB]

Definitely hit up the Top of the World restaurant at Stratosphere if you haven't been there. It's expensive, but it's cool to see the entire city, especially at night. The helicopter rides aren't that bad - look for people selling them at sidewalk or store shops (even Walgreens has people selling them). You should be able to find good deals.

 

[rcmike]

I think I just saw two of the Thunderbirds flying over Nellis AFB. Two white jets with smoke systems anyway. Wish I had some good binoculars.

 

[ZachB]

"darkside" ehh.... Nitro is the darkside, remember how your lights work, its electric, boogie woogie woogie :idea:

Being a techie, i think once you cross the line, you will like it. Its fun to configure new setups.

I love the sound of the glow engines. The whine the electric produces irritates me, actually. Except on the helis. Those just sound awesome due to the blades changing pitch, etc. Electric is definitely more convenient though. Less vibration ... which is why I am going to give it a shot on this plane. :wildone:

That looks like a nice motor. I found an 80 amp speed controller on RCU .. think that would work?
http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=699575 (link is slow, someone barfed on the RCU servers it seems)

Batteries. .. looks like I will need to order Lipos .. and some fireproof lipo bags. Where did you get yours, Rick? I don't want to burn my house down.

 

[NeveSSL]

Definitely hit up the Top of the World restaurant at Stratosphere if you haven't been there. It's expensive, but it's cool to see the entire city, especially at night. ...

And its actually at the same height as the helicopters! Very cool experience. But warning: It revolves. I just about got sick to begin with... lol. Its a really neat experience, though. You can literally see the end of the city all the way around since Vegas is in the middle of nowhere. Really neat.

Brandon

 

[rcmike]

I finally broke down and ordered me a Dragon OSD because I got tired of waiting for the RVOSD. I guess I will sell one of them if I ever get the RVOSD back. I really like the RVOSD but the range video support is about the worst I have ever experienced.

 

[mixer911]

I love the sound of the glow engines. The whine the electric produces irritates me, actually. Except on the helis. Those just sound awesome due to the blades changing pitch, etc. Electric is definitely more convenient though. Less vibration ... which is why I am going to give it a shot on this plane. :wildone:

That looks like a nice motor. I found an 80 amp speed controller on RCU .. think that would work?
http://www.rcuniverse.com/market/item.cfm?itemId=699575 (link is slow, someone barfed on the RCU servers it seems)

Batteries. .. looks like I will need to order Lipos .. and some fireproof lipo bags. Where did you get yours, Rick? I don't want to burn my house down.

I know what you mean about the sound of glow engines, it is hard to not like that, but the hassle is what I don't like about them. I would really like a Turbine jet ducted fan motor, but i think its out of my price range . The funy thing is I think the oppsite of nitro heli's, they sound like a bunch of weed eaters, until they change blade pitch. with the advancement in lipos any glow plane can be converted to electric now.

You will see with the larger electric motors and props your going to not have as much whine and more blade slap like the heli's, not as much, but some.

When it comes to electric controllers, I will only use Castle Creations. Just my opinion. Their service is second to none and the are very reliable. when that is the main piece of equipment controlling the battery voltage and my throtle, I like to have a good piece of equipment. I don't trust a lot of the other controllers. I have seen to many of them burn up.

With Lipo bags I use liposack that hobby-lobby sells, it is $23. Cheap, considering what a fire would do. I have done a lot of research on them and they seem to be the safest. DO NOT get hobbyking ones. They are cheap, like $2 or something like that, and they will burn up.

if you are really parinoid there is a lipolocker lol....

 

[ZachB]

Yea, nitro helis definitely sound like bees or weedwackers. The electric ones sound awesome. I agree on the hassle of glow. It's a pain worrying about idle, valve clearance, carbs gumming up, etc. Maybe if the trial goes well with the 120, then I'll convert a few more over. Definitely easier.

The Castle ESC is like $160 bucks vs. $37 for one Brandon found at Hobby King. Definitely a big difference there ....

I am truly paranoid about the Lipos. They worry me.

 

[ZachB]

I finally broke down and ordered me a Dragon OSD because I got tired of waiting for the RVOSD. I guess I will sell one of them if I ever get the RVOSD back. I really like the RVOSD but the range video support is about the worst I have ever experienced.

Sorry to hear of the issues man. Their customer service must really suck. Are there large differences between the two?

 

[rcmike]

Yeah, the customer service is very bad. I understand that I messed it up and really I think I would feel better about them if they would just tell me they won't fix it or whatever. Not responding to e-mails and ignoring me on their own forum is really distasteful to me.

The RVOSD has where you can use IR sensors to level the plane where the DOSD doesn't. On my plane I really don't think it will be an issue due to the self leveling characteristics of it. I think I could put the Copilot on it though if I wanted leveling. One thing I really like about the DOSD is that it has Google Earth mapping and you can tell where you have been on your CPU. Besides that, I don't think there is much difference. I like the way the display looks on the RVOSD slightly better but not enough to sway me either way.

 

[ZachB]

Yea that's definitely rude and uncalled for. It takes just a few minutes to reply to someone. Have you tried calling?

Sounds like there's not that big of a difference between the two so that's a good thing.

 

[mixer911]

Yea, nitro helis definitely sound like bees or weedwackers. The electric ones sound awesome. I agree on the hassle of glow. It's a pain worrying about idle, valve clearance, carbs gumming up, etc. Maybe if the trial goes well with the 120, then I'll convert a few more over. Definitely easier.

The Castle ESC is like $160 bucks vs. $37 for one Brandon found at Hobby King. Definitely a big difference there ....

I am truly paranoid about the Lipos. They worry me.

The castle controllers are pricey. I have not tried the hobby king ones, so can't speak for those. I have thought about trying their smaller controllers, but the larger ones would be more of a risk. Never know, they could be great controllers. Mike any input on these?

Don't be scared of lipos. They are much safer now that there are good chargers out for them. Just watch the voltage and keep them balanced.

 

[NeveSSL]

Lipos are kind of like diving... there's nothing to be afraid of, you just need to respect it and mind your p's and q's.

Brandon

 

[rcmike]

Should get my DOSD today. The more I read about it, the more I think I will like it better. They have a program where you can set waypoints in Google Earth by just clicking on where you want to go and it will fly there. I hope it isn't raining on Sat. so I can try it out some.:bounce3:

We got back yesterday from Vegas. Had a pretty good time but didn't get to do a whole lot since my wife had meeting and had to go eat with vendors and such most of the time. On Wednesday, I went to Hoover Dam with my parents. They are there for a different convention. My father and I took a dam helicopter ride and I got to sit up front with the dam pilot. We had a good dam time but it was pretty short.

 

[NeveSSL]

Glad you had a good time in Vegas.

Your DOSD sounds like it could be really neat. I like the idea of point and click flying.

Brandon

 

[NeveSSL]

Double post.

 

[Pickupman66]

Hey guys, I dont fly, but ran across this video. Incredible.
http://www.wimp.com/mphplane/

OH and I saw on the news that the blue angels are going to be at the Smyrna airshow in 2011.

 

[rcmike]

It's the Thunderbirds that are coming, not the Blue Angels.

I found a program where you can hook up some kind of modem into the DOSD and have it show you real time on Google Earth where your plane is. Very cool, but first I need to just figure out how to hook this thing up. :fun2: I may need some of you guys computer expertise to figure some of the advanced features out.

 

[Pickupman66]

Sorry, my bad about the Thunderbirds. I know it was one of those teams. blue angels were last time with T-birds before that. we lived in Lavergne when the Thunderbirds were here and they flew over our house NON stop.

now in Wincester, my Wife says they are making sonic boom's DAILY around our house.