How about an 'official' RC Aircraft (or any kind of craft) thread

[mikester]

I see these pop up and have posted a few of my own but I had a really great maiden flight with my new F-86 today and I wanted to share.






Here's my Habu 2:



And here is a link to my Habu 2's video today - 98mph groundspeed via GPS telemetry sensor



Here is my old original Habu - the Habu 2 has the same power system - I crashed this on a few weeks ago being stupid stall turns too low.

[mikester]

Got an A-10 too...





And an F-35...






The videos are from my iphone 5 so not that great but could be worse.

[motion]

Sick nice!!!

[Flieger]

Impressive!

[mikester]

Oh, and a disclaimer - these are 'almost ready to fly' aircraft so while I did assemble them - the finish and the look I'm barely responsible for. I have built many planes from kits over my 30 years of modeling but my free time is taken up with coaching, cub scout leadering, goofing off with friends and flying. I have a Cessna on the building board but I've decided to go electric with it half way through (instead of a huge 4-stroke engine) and need to redo a bunch of stuff now. That one is next though and will likely start getting some 'modeling priority' while I fly the bunch I have.

the Habus have been a bit of an engineering experiment for me of late. I've been trying to get mine to break 100mph (again, groundspeed) on a 4S lipo (mainly because I just don't want to buy a 5S).

I keep it at 4S because the airframe is best suited to that at most. The 5S I would need to handle the amp draw would be too heavy. In fact I was so close today to 100 I'm thinking of seeing if I can find a lower capacity battery - it'll be a shorter flight time but if I can shave off 100 grams and then swap the 3300kvm (kvm means 1000s rpms per volt) to a 3400kvm motor I have (in the F-35 right now) - I'll break 100 and probably go over a bit.

[look 171]

OMG Mike, I knew you were into RC planes when I spoke you last, I thought they were the small propeller model airplanes. Oh man, these are serious and very very cool. They aren't toys.

[Jeff Higgins]

Wow, this takes me back - like 20 years or so. Here are a couple of pics of my last R/C airplane, a Goldberg Ultimate Bipe. Balsa and light ply kit, covered in Ultrakote. Power is an O.S. 1.08.

[slodave]

Here's my glider, though I've not been active for a while. Full downlink to a laptop and video screen (has HUD), GPS, the works...



This is the early set up. Last iteration included a smaller GPS antenna (red square) and custom antennas that I made to get precise frequencies and best range.






Notice the altitude. That would be MSL.


Link to my old thread on the glider.
My RC glider now has wirless video... With a 2 mile range

Mikster has some pix of his planes on the last page.

[HHI944]

I've gotta break my rc airboat out soon.....I went airboat because I crash planes.....only problem is turn stability without a skeg of some sort and the friggin gators always get really interested...

[slodave]

BTW, all that stuff connected to my glider is what helped make the current drone popularity popular. I did a lot of R&D with a company that has helped pave the way.

[petrolhead611]

The money you guys seem to spend on model planes would probably buy you a share in a real one, and EAA running costs aren't so high in the US. Just sayin'

[mikester]

I do models for different reasons than I fly real aircraft.

I don't fly full size as often as I would like but it isn't because of the models.

[cstreit]

You aren't helping Mikester.

I used to fly them extensively about 15 years ago and got out. Always wanted to fly a ducted fan but back then it was way to expensive. Now with electric the costs have gone down and in 15 years my income has gone up. Add to that instead of living an hour away from an RC grass field, I live 3 minutes from a paved RC runway.

I'm resisting the urge and you aren't helping!

[mikester]

Was out flying the F-86 and Habu 2 again today and the guy who has been doing some design work for one of the manufacturers was there test flying a couple of prototypes. I got pictures of this Mirage and it's pretty sweet. It's smaller than the F-86 but uses a similar power system.

[mikester]

Whiskey tango foxtrot.

I don't know why the BB does this...

[cstreit]

So.. I'm really thinking about getting back into this. I haven't touched the sticks in about 12 years but always wanted a ducted fan, with today's electrics I think I can. Now I know I need to work back into my reflexes. In my heyday I was competing and writing for a local rc air magazine so I'm no noob.

But tech has changed so much since I quit. So what's the simplest way for me to get back in to a high wing trainer. I don't have a huge amount of time for local shopping, prefer a good kit or configurable solution online.

Suggestions?

[crustychief]

My 1/4 scale super cub on a low flyby I crabbed it in and added power to hold that attitude down the runway. Fun!

[HHI944]

Originally Posted by cstreit

So.. I'm really thinking about getting back into this. I haven't touched the sticks in about 12 years but always wanted a ducted fan, with today's electrics I think I can. Now I know I need to work back into my reflexes. In my heyday I was competing and writing for a local rc air magazine so I'm no noob.

But tech has changed so much since I quit. So what's the simplest way for me to get back in to a high wing trainer. I don't have a huge amount of time for local shopping, prefer a good kit or configurable solution online.

Suggestions?

There's a flyzone brand starter that converts from high to low wing and it's RTF
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCKWW&P=0

I've got the flyzone tidewater....it's a nice little kit

[cstreit]

What about radios, receivers, etc... All my stuff is old nitro. I still have about 8 planes in the attic including a quarter scale cub....

Do you still have a radio and receiver with a crystal? Register your frequency at the field?

[crustychief]

With 2.4 ghz there is no need for a pin box. Think of it as a kind of Bluetooth. The radio gear is still about 250 for a decent one though.