What did you fly today?

[davegee]

Sorry to see that, but not uncommon. Since you already have a DX7, suggest you use the Spektrum RX as well. The new AR637T/8370T/10360T Plus recievers have served me well. Not a huge fan of Horizon Hobby aircraft anymore (Freewing/FlightLine/FMS Fan Boy), but their RX's IMO are great, but a little expensive (not as expensive as losing an aircraft and battery though).

Since I converted everything to one of those RX's with Plus, my signal reception has been nothing short of spectacular. 0 frame losses (unheard off) and of course 0 holds (the demon of signal loss). Use their satellite RX's as well in all EDF's so I have 4 antennae's oriented in every possible directional plane (forward and backward of an antennae is it's blind spot). And the Plus upgrade has made landings incredibly easy. On prop planes I don't add a satellite, as it seems RX interference is greater with the EDF's and the prop motor and ESC are usually up front allowing the 2 antennae from the RX to go back and be clear of the battery (another big RX signal interferer) and ESC. I used to battle with frame losses and holds (even with Spektrum's older RX's) and lost a couple where I had the antennae too close to either the battery, carbon fiber tubes or ESC and it's cables. No issues anymore.

Every plane you have will have a slightly different issue with RX reception, based upon antennae placement, carbon fiber tubes, ESC and cable interference and battery placement. So you cannot compare one to another, which will only tell you if you have a problem with the TX signal. Hey, look at Chris Wolfes (RC Geek) loss of his new huge gasser T-28 he's been building, an IX 20 TX and using the wrong older "park flyer" RX from spektrum he had laying around. Saving a hundred bucks on a RX he destroyed thousands in an aircraft he spent 4 months building, all in a matter of seconds. If it can happen to him, we have no chance! In the past I had a hell of a time getting a decent signal with an older AR636 Spektrum gyro RX in my B-24's, getting more than 150 frame losses per flight and sometimes several holds . Since going to a newer AR637T with a satellite, problems solved. One of my first EDF's was a Stinger 90. At that time, I had no knowledge of "signal Interference" and placed the RX (an AR636) in the easiest place I could find and ran the single antennae along the fuse over a carbon fiber tube next to the battery. My older TX had no call outs on frame losses or holds, so completely unaware of impending disaster even after doing a range check. After maybe 40 successful flights, on the downwind leg getting read to land, it just kept going, never to be seen by me again. Ended up out in the Everglades eaten by gators and pythons (that's a long story on how I know). After, got another and sat with a knowledgeable RC guy and he showed me that my antennae placement was the worse possible solution I could have come up. Since then, I've found that your RX location and especially the antennae orientation is the single biggest issue on building out a new aircraft. Do it right, you're OK, wrong and it's gone!

I'm sure there are other excellent RX's out there, but I can vouch for the new Spektrum Plus RX's. The gyro capabilities are incredible and the included telemetry of in-flight pack voltage callouts/warnings have unfortunately exposed the only flaw left-My poor flying skills!

Bummer! But I know you'll make the corrections you feel necessary and be up and flying again in no time!!

Hang in there!

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

A woopsy sorta morn.. took 2 thismorning.. u may notice only one above in the pic mmm ,u say.. well put up my al37 first.. beautiful take off,, turn right with ailerons,, na nothing tried up down , back off throttle nothing.. oh boy here we go.. at this point it was getting small.. the trim was perfect, it was slowly climbing,, and straight level wings.... only thing i could think, off and on tx.. didnot help... so needless to say after about 1and a half minuts,, it was in the low cloud all i could c was a black dot heading east,, that was it gone ,never to b seen again,, by me anyway.. expected that it woul roll and then fall.. it did not.. so after my Exteme dissapointment.. and hopeing no damage done.... i looked at the pitts do i dont i... i did after lotsa checking... flew well,, go figure...... i tried to replicate what i did.. to no avail... after preflighting the al 37 i unpluged batt and turnd off trans 4 couple adjustment.. pluged in and turnd on trans ,hit full throttle all good,, then turned to so at the end, no idea really.. mayb my dynam detrum finally let me, down need to replace, all rx in remaing planes,, i fly my f4 phantom on dx7,, but hav only 1 rx, 4 that.. all ln all it can b tuff b safe hav fun

Sorry to see that, but not uncommon. Since you already have a DX7, suggest you use the Spektrum RX as well. The new AR637T/8370T/10360T Plus recievers have served me well. Not a huge fan of Horizon Hobby aircraft anymore (Freewing/FlightLine/FMS Fan Boy), but their RX's IMO are great, but a little expensive (not as expensive as losing an aircraft and battery though).

Since I converted everything to one of those RX's with Plus, my signal reception has been nothing short of spectacular. 0 frame losses (unheard off) and of course 0 holds (the demon of signal loss). Use their satellite RX's as well in all EDF's so I have 4 antennae's oriented in every possible directional plane (forward and backward of an antennae is it's blind spot). And the Plus upgrade has made landings incredibly easy. On prop planes I don't add a satellite, as it seems RX interference is greater with the EDF's and the prop motor and ESC are usually up front allowing the 2 antennae from the RX to go back and be clear of the battery (another big RX signal interferer) and ESC. I used to battle with frame losses and holds (even with Spektrum's older RX's) and lost a couple where I had the antennae too close to either the battery, carbon fiber tubes or ESC and it's cables. No issues anymore.

Every plane you have will have a slightly different issue with RX reception, based upon antennae placement, carbon fiber tubes, ESC and cable interference and battery placement. So you cannot compare one to another, which will only tell you if you have a problem with the TX signal. Hey, look at Chris Wolfes (RC Geek) loss of his new huge gasser T-28 he's been building, an IX 20 TX and using the wrong older "park flyer" RX from spektrum he had laying around. Saving a hundred bucks on a RX he destroyed thousands in an aircraft he spent 4 months building, all in a matter of seconds. If it can happen to him, we have no chance! In the past I had a hell of a time getting a decent signal with an older AR636 Spektrum gyro RX in my B-24's, getting more than 150 frame losses per flight and sometimes several holds . Since going to a newer AR637T with a satellite, problems solved. One of my first EDF's was a Stinger 90. At that time, I had no knowledge of "signal Interference" and placed the RX (an AR636) in the easiest place I could find and ran the single antennae along the fuse over a carbon fiber tube next to the battery. My older TX had no call outs on frame losses or holds, so completely unaware of impending disaster even after doing a range check. After maybe 40 successful flights, on the downwind leg getting read to land, it just kept going, never to be seen by me again. Ended up out in the Everglades eaten by gators and pythons (that's a long story on how I know). After, got another and sat with a knowledgeable RC guy and he showed me that my antennae placement was the worse possible solution I could have come up. Since then, I've found that your RX location and especially the antennae orientation is the single biggest issue on building out a new aircraft. Do it right, you're OK, wrong and it's gone!

I'm sure there are other excellent RX's out there, but I can vouch for the new Spektrum Plus RX's. The gyro capabilities are incredible and the included telemetry of in-flight pack voltage callouts/warnings have unfortunately exposed the only flaw left-My poor flying skills!

[Elbee]

f4u ausie,

Wow, what a thing to have happen.

I cannot imagine, just got up and flew off into the sunrise.

Sounds a bit like a girl I once liked in high school. but I digress.

I hope someone finds your AL37 and can return it.

I fly Futaba, so I have no clue about other Rx's.

Chat with Hugh Wiedman, I think he knows as much or more than anyone about these things.

Best, Steve

[f4u ausie]

Sorry guys,, the next thing.. the spectrum rx r drug money here. So next thought, is lemon,, do they work well no signal drop etc ?.. way cheaper option

[f4u ausie]

A woopsy sorta morn.. took 2 thismorning.. u may notice only one above in the pic mmm ,u say.. well put up my al37 first.. beautiful take off,, turn right with ailerons,, na nothing tried up down , back off throttle nothing.. oh boy here we go.. at this point it was getting small.. the trim was perfect, it was slowly climbing,, and straight level wings.... only thing i could think, off and on tx.. didnot help... so needless to say after about 1and a half minuts,, it was in the low cloud all i could c was a black dot heading east,, that was it gone ,never to b seen again,, by me anyway.. expected that it woul roll and then fall.. it did not.. so after my Exteme dissapointment.. and hopeing no damage done.... i looked at the pitts do i dont i... i did after lotsa checking... flew well,, go figure...... i tried to replicate what i did.. to no avail... after preflighting the al 37 i unpluged batt and turnd off trans 4 couple adjustment.. pluged in and turnd on trans ,hit full throttle all good,, then turned to so at the end, no idea really.. mayb my dynam detrum finally let me, down need to replace, all rx in remaing planes,, i fly my f4 phantom on dx7,, but hav only 1 rx, 4 that.. all ln all it can b tuff b safe hav fun

[f4u ausie]

[davegee]

Hi F4UAusie: very cool you joined me on a Corsair flight on the Other side of the world, to boot! Your field looks good for the rc flying, wish we had something like what you have!

Thanks for that tip about landings with no flaps. I must admit I never had to or even tried a no flap landing with my Corsair, but I’m glad to hear that you had no problems with your plane in executing no flap landings.

Keep up the great flying, buddy!

cheers

davegee

[f4u ausie]

Grate shots again Dave.. after checking over my Corsair I disabled the flaps... One sero had the jitters.. anyways 4 flights this morning. .. same 4 me this Saturday morning.. no wind clear sky (picture perfect).. needed heaps of right aileron trim... Flaps need some adjustment I'm sure.... It's been a while.. it's not as locked in as when new.. that's to be expected after so much time in the air.. but looks awesome in the air as always... And lots of fun fun fun.. hopefully order new something in next 2 weeks.. thinking the new90 fms Avanti oh it lands great without flaps.. just don't look as cool

[davegee]

I took my Flightline 1.6m Corsair and E Flite 1.5m P-51D up for some flights this morning. Beautiful morning, very little wind and brilliant sunshine. I hadn't flown the Corsair for a while, but it was time. Tested it on the bench at home last night and it was ready to go. It didn't disappoint and I had three great flights on it. I wouldn't say it is "easy" to fly necessarily, but I've got dozens of flights on it over the past 4+ years and it is pretty much a "hand in glove" comfort feeling when I take it up. Just a really solid, scale performer, in my opinion. BTW, this is a replica of a plane flown by the top ace in the Corsair aircraft of all time, Lt. Robert M. "Killer Bob" Hanson, USMCR, who scored 25 kills until he himself was killed on a mission in the South Pacific in early 1944. He was awarded the MOH and promoted to captain, posthumously.

My other airplane is one of two P-51Ds I have from E Flite. Today's airplane was called The Hun Hunter from Texas, flown by double ace Captain Henry "Baby" Brown, USAAF. He eventually had to execute a forced landing in enemy territory, was captured and remained a POW for the rest of the war. But up to that point he had scored 14.2 aerial and about 14 ground kills of German aircraft. This plane is another favorite of mine, although maybe not quite as easy to fly as I find my other fighters like P-47s and the Corsair.

[shortround91]

Today was double Raptor day, tossed the 70 around and started some maneuvers with the 90 finally. 2 great flying jets starting on a new scheme on the 70 now can’t wait till she’s finished up

[Grossman56]

"So get the lead out" as they used to say on the radio before playing Led Zeppelin
It's funny, this one needed no lead to hit the CG, my other one need like 4 oz right up front to hit it. Used the same battery in both cases. I swear some of the rear fuse sections were slightly heavier than others. As for the power, I usually begin my landing descent at 25% but get a little throttle happy and maybe roll it down a bit too far. Last landing I dumped full flaps as well just to see how much it would slow down, wow, big difference. I have them set so that full flap matches the real Spitfire but haven't really used them as she's such a floaty bird. All my other warbirds get full flaps when landing so I guess I'm going to have to get back in the fighter pilot discipline with this one. Thanks for the response!!

Grossman56

[paulrkytek]

Got out to the field around 10:00 and it was perfect. no clouds temp creeping up through the 60's and no wind!
Took the Spitty out to make up for last Mondays gear issues and she flew great. On the landing approach, she does this sudden drop, similar to when you have your hand out the car window. I'm thinking she may be a tad nose heavy, any thoughts?? I usually fly with the 4500s all the way forward, maybe I'll try easing them back a 1/4 inch.
Anyway, she came home in great shape.



That's her in the middle with Jeff Deines, our club president flying.

Grossman56

Done that once on a nice dead calm day, just a bit too slow and plopped down from 18 inches but got away with it Now I just make sure I have a little power on to create enough lift and speed to keep it flying all the way in to touchdown. I would not alter the cg backwards but just land under power on 2 then throttle back and watch the rear gently settle down. You were lulled into a false sense of security by the beautiful conditions I fly n 4500mah 720 gm packs with additional lead at the front to gt cg. Original recommendations for the model was for 840gm packs. no lead to get cg

[f4u ausie]

Got out to the field around 10:00 and it was perfect. no clouds temp creeping up through the 60's and no wind!
Took the Spitty out to make up for last Mondays gear issues and she flew great. On the landing approach, she does this sudden drop, similar to when you have your hand out the car window. I'm thinking she may be a tad nose heavy, any thoughts?? I usually fly with the 4500s all the way forward, maybe I'll try easing them back a 1/4 inch.
Anyway, she came home in great shape.



That's her in the middle with Jeff Deines, our club president flying.

Grossman56

Hrb 5000 all forward...4 me flys well.. i had 2 flights yesrerday morn(sunday here) first landing was a bit too slow.. droped a bit last minute.. (not so pretty).. second landing was an absolute greaser,,, bit speed ,and settled in nicely on mains then settled on to tailwheel.... i think most like a little speed on landing🥳

[Grossman56]

Got out to the field around 10:00 and it was perfect. no clouds temp creeping up through the 60's and no wind!
Took the Spitty out to make up for last Mondays gear issues and she flew great. On the landing approach, she does this sudden drop, similar to when you have your hand out the car window. I'm thinking she may be a tad nose heavy, any thoughts?? I usually fly with the 4500s all the way forward, maybe I'll try easing them back a 1/4 inch.
Anyway, she came home in great shape.



That's her in the middle with Jeff Deines, our club president flying.

Grossman56

[davegee]

Entice Someone in your club with a steak and egg, pancakes early breakfast just for them to get up early and snap a few good pictures. Always works for me when someone asks for my help that early. LOL

Good idea!

davegee

[jetfool]

Entice Someone in your club with a steak and egg, pancakes early breakfast just for them to get up early and snap a few good pictures. Always works for me when someone asks for my help that early. LOL

[davegee]

Today I did my first test of dropping relatively scale M40 Para fragmentary bombs as they did from B-25s in WWII Pacific Theater. I have made up five of them, only four chutes at the moment, so I dropped four of them from a scale altitude of abut 300 feet, or about 25 actual feet above the ground, being this is a 1/13 scale aircraft. Again, even with these new bombs that had not been dropped by me before, they all landed within about a 10 foot circle, which would have been enough to play havoc with a ship or Japanese airfield. I don't see a problem at all with just carefully packing the chutes and bombs in the bomb bay, closing the doors, and it is ready for dropping in flight as soon as they are opened. I've never had one hang up in the bomb bay yet.

I'll probably drop at least 5 of these for any scale events I might do in the future, and about 4-6 of the scale printed 500 lb. that use the bomb rack to set up for dropping.

I've been busier than I thought with this stuff, especially since the best weather flying days for the year are rapidly closing. Today was beautiful and I got accomplished what I wanted to. I've had this model less that a month, and have 23 flights on it so far, with 14 of them testing different bomb configurations. I don't know if anyone else has played around with these parachute bombs for the B-25 like I've been doing, probably so, but I have never seen any photos or stories on them, myself.

Bomb Groups like the 345th were converted to low altitude strafing airplanes, and dropping bombs from about 200 feet altitude, sometimes even less. Thus, the parachutes for some of their missions. To be sure, these tactics were Extremely dangerous, and even the plane I'm honoring, Cactus Kitten, lost its crew during one of these raids in Indo China in 1945. This bomb group alone had almost 800 crewmen killed during the war, so that goes to show you the incredible courage these men had in trying to win WWII for the good guys.


I"ll attach a photo taken after today's flight of the scale M40 para frag bombs and somewhat scale sized 6 inch diameter parachutes I used for this test today. These are Estes rocket parachutes. I ordered two more so I can drop 5-6 of these at a time.

I hope to get some decent photos of these bombs dropping once I can coordinate with a friend to be out at the field and help me take some pics as I drop these bombs.

Davegee

[davegee]

Beautiful Fleet, Hugh!!

Davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Got out the other day with the last few aircraft I've converted the Spektrum AS3X gyro RX's to Plus. I've done about 20 now. While that upgrade helped all the EDF's incredibly, didn't expect it would make much of a difference on the prop warbirds. Boy was I wrong! Helps substantially in take-off as it tends to track straighter with only a slight right rudder correction needed. Additionally, the airframe tends to remain level much easier on take-off, preventing it from lifting off early and stalling. In flight, rock solid, but it was before as well. Helps on landing as well, keeping the airframe and the wings perfectly level so you can execute an easy, fairly slow scale 2 point landing. I'm definitely sold on the Plus upgrades!!



Hey, how did that F18 get in there!! It was the last EDF upgraded to test out as my other F18 was getting all the air time!

[davegee]

Weather forecast for northwest Wyoming shows some SNOW coming! Not too much, but looks like changes are indeed coming. Beautiful morning to fly this day, though. I brought my FMS P-47D razorback out to get a couple of flights in. This is my newest jug, and I just now have 40 flights on it. A real pleasure to fly with the mods I've made to all three of my flyable P-47s. I try to fly it as scale as possible, and I love the big V3 Corsair prop which works beautifully for that kind of flying that I do. The FMS jug and the Flightline 1.6m Corsair are my favorite warbird fighters to fly for me.