| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
...at marriage. Not! I've been missing having an RC helicopter since the motors burnt out in mine. I'm trying this guy out. It is cheaper to replace than repair. The drone is fun, but not the same. The other is my previous heli.  20180101_231838 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Should be here in a week or so. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Good luck and high flying! | ||
| Rick_a |
Thanks. I tried to take the drone out for some practice as the controls are the same and they use similar stabilization methods...but the battery finally but the dust. The heli has a few batteries I can use in that as well. | ||
| Aesquire |
Cool, unfortunately, while I have flown human carrying aircraft since 1975, I utterly suck at RC. I admire those good at it. !! Control line, I loved, kites, I keep 2 in my car. I suppose I could blame poor eyesight but I wore glasses before the ongoing cyborg conversion, so I have to admit lack of talent. I also am poor at third person games & jumping puzzles. My toy drone flights inevitably end with a walk to retrieve the crashed... At least in real skydiving I only had to walk back from the impact site.  | ||
| 86129squids |
Definitely a popcorn-worthy thread! I even have good ole Jiffy Pop ready at hand!  | ||
| Rick_a |
RC taught me how to drive real cars. The first time in the driver's seat of a HMMWV had everyone fearing for their life, though I was fully in control of being sideways through dirt mountain roads with no guard rails and sheer dropoffs. The lead vehicle was trying to (literally) dust me in the straights and I could only see through the corners  But I digress. I like the little guys in aircraft because I can fly them indoors or outdoors in small spaces and they tend to wreck a lot better. I might let the kid take the drone. The thing only cost me $10. I was afraid it was a scam otherwise I would've bought a few. The things are normally $40. The thing doesn't have GPS or altitude hold, doesn't takeoff or land on it's own, and doesn't come back at the touch of a button, but that stuff ruins the experience. Crazy how much fun a few ten dollars can buy in these things. With the small helis, they advance so fast that they get obsoleted quickly and it's usually more cost effective to aquire another craft for spares than to purchase parts separately. | ||
| Rick_a |
My little heli came in. Looks nice (on the right).  20211224_174232 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Unfortunately my GF admits that she got me something similar for Christmas (after I told her specifically not to) so I am a horrible person for buying what I want instead of accepting her gift (which I have not received) that she put so much effort into.  Its maiden flight was good. Flew it around the exterior of the house, landed it on the trampoline, did some circles and pirouettes around the yard. Tried to land it in grass, but the skids got entangled in the grass and it could not take off. Side drafts make the tail rotor react in a bit of a twitch. Downdrafts will bring it down quickly, so some quick throttle work is required. It needs some rudder trimming, as it wants to make a slow spin on its own, but I was too busy flying around to bother. I like it alot. It is quiet, docile, powerful enough for outdoor flight, easy to control, and has a really good run time (around fifteen minutes). | ||
| Rick_a |
So after a total of two flights my mini chopper had the tail rotor motor fail. It no longer flies. My GF got me a 2CH jet that is a lot of fun and can even be coaxed into doing loops, but requires a lot of room.  I'm getting this little fella next.  It's a 4CH mini and looks like a lot of fun ..if it doesn't break right off the bat. | ||
| 86129squids |
Dammit man, you're getting to be worse than Fin Jennifer Garner, lookin' at my butt and MY wallet. Stop it! | ||
| Rick_a |
Meh. They're all inexpensive. This is the 2CH F-22. It takes some getting used to. My step son had something similar sold under the Air Hogs brand that was good for a lot of fun and laughs. | ||
| Rick_a |
This is my mini drone. It was on a $10 closeout at the time of purchase. I should've bought a few more. I got the camera version because it has more powerful motors and higher performance than the non camera version. I've had it for years and have yet to record any video footage. It can be flown surprisingly fast set at high rates and even does flips when set into "stunt mode." It's so small that keeping proper orientation can be difficult. It has a longer range than I can properly see it. | ||
| Rick_a |
It came in early. It sure is cute   20220103_122303 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Rick_a |
Had my first flight with the T-28. Even in heavy winds it flew like a champ. I had it in intermediate mode which has stabilization in the roll axis only. Expert mode has no stabilization, and I wasn't ready for that. Beginner is stabilized and limited in roll and pitch. In intermediate it allows for loops, but only rolls with blip of a stunt button (which I forgot about). Despite only having experience with micro helis and drones and 2 channel toy planes I flew this pretty well...until the battery went flat and I ran it into a barbed wire fence trying to get it down. No damage was incurred. It felt like those countless hours of game simulator flying finally paid off  In the spirit of fun-ness the girlfriend's kids are getting their own 2CH flier.  And my kid will be getting this 3CH Predator  Hopefully I won't be spending all of my free time plucking these aircraft from trees | ||
| 86129squids |
Dammit man! I've got a nice, wiiide open soccer field (2-4 games at once if need be) very close to me here. Pearson Springs Park... where I used to skateboard to with Loki about twice a day, way back in the day. Seen lotsa kites and RC action there. After D'Ogee's passing I've been thinking a lot about lure coursing for dogs. In a very real way, that sport is kinda like that of an RC enthusiast. Fun, expensive, needs lots of wide open land. Hmmm... found THIS, which explains the sport! And, Lure Coursing 101! | ||
| Rick_a |
That's pretty cool. A former coworker has a champion frisbee dog. The new flying wing is cool. One of her kids tried to fly it into space and lost it over a tree line. He threw me the controller and I managed to get it back. The other kid hit a tree, but otherwise did really well. I flew all my RC's but the troublesome heli. My mini drone I crashed a couple times, but for one instance I blame the "stunt mode" for doing a flip that lost like ten feet of altitude. I'm using a bigger battery from the heli so I guess the weight makes a difference. I'm getting a refund for the heli, but they're not available for under $100 in mode 2 anymore. They used to be $40. I guess I'll be fixing it after all.  (Message edited by Rick_a on January 13, 2022) | ||
| 86129squids |
When you get to watch how dang FAST some of these dogs are... man, it's simply awesome! When I had Loki, in his prime, DAYUM but he could burn it on about any other dog, except mini-greyhounds, whippets and the like. If a dog was actually faster, he knew how to shrink a radius and catch them on their return circle! FUN times. Still missing my D'Ogee. I had had the thought, YEARS ago, of using a fast, well-outfitted RC car/ATV of some sort to replace the "rabbit/pulley" system in lure coursing. Maybe you and I could share notes here! The problems with the cable/pulley setup are many... gotta wonder if there isn't a better way. Hmmm...  | ||
| Rick_a |
Yeah. Any name brand 1/10th scale RC stadium truck or buggy would probably work well. I wish I had found this earlier. They can still be had for $35 shipped. Probably would have got a few of them. | ||
| Rick_a |
The F-22 is gone. A strong gust took it away. It's in the woods out here, somewhere. It's a shame. It was a lot of fun and the flight times were really good. One rogue wind gust is all it took.  The J-11 is a little sketchy in the wind, but is manageable. It can at least be pointed down before it takes off like a kite. It is a little underpowered for gusty conditions, but with some drama manages to survive. It actually turns on a dime pointed into the wind...but swings a large arc going the other direction. The T-28 is a champ in the wind. It just cuts the flight times short having to throttle up hard against the wind. I've been practicing aerobatics. A mistimed roll coming out of a loop had it death spiral into the ground, but it came out completely unscathed, amazingly. Hopefully I'll have the heli back up soon. | ||
| Rick_a |
We have F4U Corsair warbird. It's the kid's, but I look to forward to seeing it zoom around.  20220216_123105 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr The Corsair is supposed to be the best of these at low speeds. The wing chord is relatively short compared to my T-28, and it has smaller aileron and rudder surfaces. These little birds are impressive in flight. The new baby heli is back in action.  20220217_075801 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr It was the tail motor after all. I ordered a tail assembly as replacing the motor requires soldering tiny wires. Hopefully it lasts longer than thirty minutes this time around. The girlfriend's new plane on the left and her kid's on the right.  20220216_202416 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Fun to fly in no wind conditions. Any wind results in much drama... ...which is how I eventually lost this one.  20220105_160055 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr My kid's 3CH plane in the left is a good cruiser but isn't happy in the wind. Mine on the right doesn't care about the wind, I've found, but it pretty much only flies satisfactorily at full throttle.  20220217_092938 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Finally there's the venerable ten dollar camera stunt drone. What a great buy. A survivor. Has needed nothing more than a battery after years of use.  20220217_084807 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr (Message edited by Rick_a on February 17, 2022) | ||
| Rick_a |
The other day was a bit drama filled in my world of RC. There were 30mph wind gusts and I tried to fly the J-11. After a few attempts I was managing to keep it flying semi-controllably. With some confidence I took the T-28 out. It did pretty well, but I still managed to get it stuck in a tree. After an hour of climbing, shaking, and throwing things at the tree, I got frustrated and used the shotgun to take down the offending branches. Some heavy bird loads did the trick. All but the base of the tree is dry, dying, and falling apart...so it was no great loss. The next day was ideal with little/no wind. I decided to take the T-28 from "intermediate" (full throttle and pitch control, restricted roll authority, gyro stabilized) into "expert" mode (unstabilized, unrestricted four channel flight). The roll axis is very responsive and I managed to loose two props in the yard and chop a wing a quarter way through after hitting a wire fence. It's none the worse after some patch up work with glue and tape, but it's still a bummer. My confidence level with that thing went from high to none quick. I'm going to keep at it until I get it. | ||
| Rick_a |
Another thing I did is to move the helicopter swashplate linkages to the alternate set of longer control arms. It had trouble in even light winds and it goes like a champ, now. I'm not sure why it didn't just come that way. | ||
| Aesquire |
Cool beans! I was out with my kite flying buddy last week, and winds were too light to fly in town, so we drove up on the plateau East of Dansville and had fun with the 2.2 meter kite. I have a 1.3 meter version that because it uses the same weight material, needs a strong wind to fly, is scary fast & twitchy, MUCH harder to fly. Not a hard puller, the 2.2 will yank you off your feet if you don't hop. My 4.2 meter hauls the canoe ok in strong, windsurfing conditions, but I'm looking at an 8 meter for lower wind use... I keep threatening to Just get a 23 meter kite and see if I can get the canoe to fly. I have the Fluxx 1.3 & 2.2 and a Hydra 420. I recommend the 2.2 for fun flying, and shop around. https://www.invento-hq.com/items/Trainer-Kites.asp x | ||
| Rick_a |
I have one of these Exceed 1/16th nitro buggies. I'd estimate that it goes 25+ plus with a tuned pipe.  I like that it's fast enough to be fun, but not powerful enough to destroy it's own driveline components (though the diffs have to be greased regularly or they eat themselves). I fixed all the things that break, and it's fun...so I have reservations selling it. I also have this little guy. The original ESC, receiver, and motor fried so I did a brushless conversion.  Now it rips out axles and I can't get it to run in a straight line as it's always spinning tires. I'm considering selling both to get this.  It's brushless and goes almost forty miles an hour out of the box. I get bored of the electrics so I'm not too sure  | ||
| Rick_a |
Holy crap, man...that would be epic | ||
| Rick_a |
I have decided to go the route above. Looking at reviews, as long as it's the Version 2, it's good to go. Aside from people obviously smashing the things into immovable objects at high speeds it has favorable reviews. The steering knuckles break with some regularity, so some alloy ones are on the way. The shocks are sometimes under or overfilled, the alignment can be off a bit, and the differentials are rarely lubed properly. All easy fixes. They put it on sale so I got it. It's getting boated over, so it'll be a minute. My kid had this quadcopter that disappeared under his mom's care.  I found the non camera version of mine at an incredible value. $22 shipped is pretty good these days.  I ordered a prop for my T-28. Not sure if I'll continue my 4CH unrestricted flight training  | ||
| Rick_a |
My kid's RC came out of retirement after purchasing a charger for it. He has one of these:  It actually comes with a respectable 40A ESC and a nice radio. The axles are bushed and looking pretty sloppy. They'll be upgraded with ball bearings. The ESC manufacturer specifically claims that the largest motor it can take is a Traxxas Titan 550 12T, so I may as well get one of those.  The kid was already jels that my incoming car goes nearly 40mph out of the box. His should be 30+ with this motor. The gearbox isn't known for being particularly strong so a brushless is out of the question. His car is getting squeaky and one of the shocks is getting a little soft so some maintenance is in order. I forgot what a joy that is. My old cars are up for sale on the auction block. After one day they nearly cover my new purchase. I had gotten bored of every RC car I've ever had. I hope this one will be the one  | ||
| Rick_a |
One of the girlfriend's kids was mentioning that he'd like an RC car...so one of these was procured for Christmas purposes.  It goes around 20mph and the only complaint is that it's a little bouncy...so some oil filled dampers are also coming. The driveshafts are plastic and I've noticed that metal units are a popular item The car was $50 and the shocks are $30. Them upgrades are a killer. The girlfriend thought the younger kid would be jels so he's getting a smaller scale that goes 15mph. People have claimed that it's the best RC ever...I don't know about that...but everyone thinks it's fun.  Apparently it eats axles and wheels bushings, driveshafts, and differentials very quickly. The car is $40 and the recommended repair parts are...$40. My kids car now has new shocks, the suspension arms and shock mounting points at more favorable positions, full ball bearings, an upgraded motor(which required extensive clearancing), a new ESC (the original was cutting out), the electrics tray was drilled for water drainage, a rear axle was o-ringed to remove some play, and I got a spare battery for it. It now has invested in it what it was worth. It goes pretty well, runs cool, but the battery life is not good. I did my first quadruple loop with the T-28 yesterday and that was pretty cool. The girlfriend hit the ground and a couple trees with her plane.  | ||
| Rick_a |
I have an oval track in the yard. Half gravel, half short grass. Needs jump. My car should be here by June. Theirs should be here any day. My kid's car was used for testing purposes and it is good. His car is also sold under the "Redcat" and "BSD" brands. The latter having this cool body which is apparently unobtainium.  I've been feeling nostalgic with these things. My brother eventually got an RC10 which obsoleted the Scorpion, Grasshopper, and Frog that came before it. They ended up in the scrap bin. This is a nice run through of the RC10's through the years. Associated, Tamiya, and Kyosho are re-releasing a lot of older kits these days. I took the Frog out of my brother's junk box and brought it back to life with a custom Trinity sprint motor I pieced together and a spare Novac ESC back in the day. That thing was fast and fun. I got myself my own RC10T eventually, but it wasn't quite as exciting. It was super stable, predictable, and kinda slow with a "modified" motor. This guy puts a Frog together for nostalgic purposes and it brings back some memories. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Rick All this got me to dig out my old RC10T2. Used to play with it in the evening when I was on the road working on industrial AGVs. At its prime I had over $1500 in it. Went to try it out yesterday and for some reason I have different crystals in the tx/rx… 68 in one 70 in the other. No comms, gotta find one or the other…. Pix will follow Z | ||
| Rick_a |
Cool. The most money I had in anything was a 1/8 nitro monster truck sold under the OFNA brand. I got tired of replacing wheels (they'd explode if landed with a side load. I had about $1k in it and got $800 for it. I didn't want to get into the replacing the whole chassis with alloy parts thing.  Worst comes to worse everyone is using the "DumboRC" TX/RX. I don't know where these names come from. Chinese factories just randomly naming things. It's gotten to where the electronics (motor, esc, transmitter, receiver, servos) have gotten cheap for some pretty good quality stuff and a solid chassis is where all the $$ is. These days the limitation with motor/esc combos is gearboxes. The old school stuff can have explodie drivetrains when powered hard. |
