Macdad's flight progress

[macdad]

Yeah man, just take your time! I am glad to hear you are starting to fly again.

Our field was flooded with the rains last week. However, it has drained quickly. Sounds like we are back open for business, so this guy is going flying in about 30 minutes!

Then, I have to come home and do some work for my job Gotta pay the bills somehow.

[Larryu]

Originally Posted by macdad

Yeah man, just take your time! I am glad to hear you are starting to fly again.

I pulled out my old V911 and let my daughters boy friend fly it and it was surprisingly a lot of fun made me start looking at a V922 for those hot summer days like today. Flying is Flying it's all fun.

[/QUOTE]Our field was flooded with the rains last week. However, it has drained quickly. Sounds like we are back open for business, so this guy is going flying in about 30 minutes![/QUOTE]
Hope everything is dry have fun.

[/QUOTE]Then, I have to come home and do some work for my job Gotta pay the bills somehow.[/QUOTE]
Man I Hate it when that happens.

O'well the quotes did work out quite right

[MariaFan]

Originally Posted by Larryu

I pulled out my old V911 and let my daughters boy friend fly it and it was surprisingly a lot of fun made me start looking at a V922 for those hot summer days like today. Flying is Flying it's all fun.

Hope everything is dry have fun.

Man I Hate it when that happens.

O'well the quotes did work out quite right

Fixed that for ya.
Just needed to remove the slash / before the word Quote at the beginning of each quote.

I'll send you a bill. I needs my money. 60% FMLA barely pays the bills.

[macdad]

Originally Posted by Larryu

I pulled out my old V911 and let my daughters boy friend fly it and it was surprisingly a lot of fun made me start looking at a V922 for those hot summer days like today. Flying is Flying it's all fun.

Hope everything is dry have fun.

Man I Hate it when that happens.

O'well the quotes did work out quite right

I have looked at the V922 before. If my house was just a little bit bigger, I would definitely buy one. I just don't know how good they do outside. It would be nice to have a small CP heli that I could just fly out the back door or across the road.

Originally Posted by MariaFan

Fixed that for ya.
Just needed to remove the slash / before the word Quote at the beginning of each quote.

I'll send you a bill. I needs my money. 60% FMLA barely pays the bills.

I'll pass I am sure it is tough on only 60%. I know we couldn't survive on that. Not at the current state of my finances, although I am really working on improving that situation.

I only worked about 3-4 hours. I just couldn't take any more on a Sunday. I may work a bit late tomorrow afternoon, but I think I have enough done for now. We have a review with my boss's boss, and my boss is a bit nervous. His boss is a VP and a bit intense! I will try to keep him out of trouble.

I did get to the field for bit of flying today. It was an absolutely beautiful morning! I only did 4 flights, but I had a good time!

Protos 380 - 2
766 - 2

I noticed that I have a bit of slop in my swashplate for the protos. I think I am going to have to take it apart and add some locktite. I have read several reports of them coming apart in mid-flight. I don't want to take any chances.

Have a great remainder of the day, guys!

[Larryu]

Haven’t heard from you guess you didn’t get out any last weekend, I think I heard you had some nasty weather. Have you seen anything on the new Frsky radio? What I’ve read is it’s a Horus X10 that is lighter and does away with the GPS and 6 axis gyro and adds a lipo battery and has the CNC gimbals for $320-330. Sounds like a winner to me, glad I held off on the X12, I’m not sure what you would do with GPS and a gyro on the radio anyway.

[macdad]

I ran out for a very short while yesterday. I only got 2 flights on the 380.

I attempted to rebuild my Quad. Potentially fried the VTX, but finally got it flying. Then, a club mate says, update the firmware on the ESCs, and I will help you tune it on Wednesday. Bad idea. I now have only 2 of 4 working escs. You know, the whole open source thing keeps things pretty cheap, but it seems to create a lot of opportunities for errors etc. There are dozens of posts about my same issue. Now, I have to buy another tool to program the escs individually. Hopefully that works... This was an extreme waste of money and time... Pretty freakin' frustrated and tired.

Then, I get a call from my boss that there was an error in one of my items, so he wants to meet and review tomorrow at 7:30am. I have about had it! They want me to do the work, but they tell others in the organization to not share any information with me. We all work for the same company, but different divisions. It is amazing that we make any money at all...

Sorry, but I am at my wits end right now on multiple fronts. Didn't mean to puke all over the thread!

The heli thing is Awesome though! Aside from my family, it is the only thing going well right now.

The radio sounds like a nice compromise on price and features. I wonder how long it will take to release?

[MariaFan]

It is impossible to puke on your own thread.

I got the Blade Rescue Tandem in the air the other day. Love it.
I wish I could find a few more.

[macdad]

Originally Posted by MariaFan

It is impossible to puke on your own thread.

I got the Blade Rescue Tandem in the air the other day. Love it.
I wish I could find a few more.

Glad to hear you are flying, Mariafan! It is quite exhilarating!

I may try to go out to the field tomorrow to hang with the guys. It is quad only night, and my quad is not flyable. However, I may pick their brains. Most importantly, I will get out and clear my head a bit. That is, if I can get out of work in time.

[macdad]

Well guys, I don't know if I am gonna have time to fly this weekend or not. We are going to the Ohio State Fair today. Tomorrow is a party for my wife's uncle. I am not sure if I will be attending that party or not (for a few reasons).

I did hit the sim last night. I haven't been simming as much, but I do still feel like I am making small gains in my flying this season. I have given in and decided to start working on tic tocs as well. I figured all the cool kids are doing it, I should learn how to do it as well. My pirouetting stuff is coming along nicely. Inverted funnels are becoming more natural as well. I still can't do a rolling circuit to save my life, but it is starting to look better.

All in all, I am happy with my current skill set, especially considering that I am not working hard to improve things.

[macdad]

Well, I was able to sneak out for about 3 hours this morning. I flew the X3 and the Assault 700. They were both whining that they haven't had enough attention!

Total flighs:

X3 - 2
Assault 700 - 2

I tell you what, that 700 is set up a little hotter than my 766. It was ripping pretty freakin' good this morning! It also helps that I don't care for it as much as the 766 I was whipping it around pretty good. Did a lot of piro flips as well as inverted funnels, and the normal sport stuff. All that said, it was all well within my control at all times!

I worked on some good controlled flips with the X3 for a couple minutes each flight. I am really trying to improve my collective control when flipping. The goal is to hold it in place as it flips and rolls. I see some improvement.

Just working on the little things to make my flying that much better and controlled. Great day of flying. Wish I had more time!

[Larryu]

I’m getting into the time of year that it’s just too darn hot out to fly, unless I can get to the field at 7-8 and I’m not a morning person. I was going to go this morning and woke up and it was raining. I did get on the sim for about 45 minutes today. I lost a lot of flying time because of the kidney stones and now it’s too hot, good news is I’m stone free the doc said at my follow up. Glad you we’re able to sneak out and fly a little today Macdad, Mariafan you been able to get any flying any?

[macdad]

Originally Posted by Larryu

I’m getting into the time of year that it’s just too darn hot out to fly, unless I can get to the field at 7-8 and I’m not a morning person. I was going to go this morning and woke up and it was raining. I did get on the sim for about 45 minutes today. I lost a lot of flying time because of the kidney stones and now it’s too hot, good news is I’m stone free the doc said at my follow up. Glad you we’re able to sneak out and fly a little today Macdad, Mariafan you been able to get any flying any?

That is great news! Hopefully you stay that way Larry! I can understand about it being too hot. There is a reason that I live in Ohio! I couldn't handle the summer heat in Florida.

Good that you got some sim time in too. It really helps me stay fresh when I can't get out. I enjoy it almost as much too!

[MariaFan]

Larry,

Glad to hear about no kidney stones. That has to be a relief.

I've been playing around with the tandem inside. Mainly getting it to fly without a lot of trim. It always wanted to go forward, so I ended up trimming about 5/16" off the 4 blades on the rear so the heli wouldn't have the tendency to tilt forward. Problem solved!!

I have noticed this heli has the same type of TBE (toilet bowl effect) as the mCX V1 and V2. This makes sense because it uses the same blades, shafts and fly-bars as the mCX (and probably the same basic SW in the control board). But, as long as I don't slam the sticks, this isn't a big deal.

Flying this little thing just further reinforces the idea of building my own Chinook style tandem. I know the Twinn Trexx is due to be released soon, but since the heart surgery I certainly won't have the $1,500 to buy one for quite some time.

The methods that Blade used to achieve elevator, aileron and rudder control is straightforward. The swash has a single moving arm that is 90° to a pair of mounts. This would be easy to duplicate in a Trex 450 DFC style head.

[macdad]

Sounds like you might have a project there, Mariafan! If you decide to make something like that, please do share your progress with us.

Also, I want to thank you again for the recommendations on the soldering station. That thing is really nice and does everything that I ask it to do! It has worked splendidly with my quad build.

[Larryu]

Unfortunately I make stones every 2-3 years; this one was just a lot bigger. The Doc wants to run some test to find out why I’m making them, so we’ll see if that tells us anything.
MariaFan you can be the next Highspeed1964, as long as you don’t lose interest and don’t complete your project that would have been really cool if he would have finished his Huey, I know I couldn’t have done what he did.
Macdad a good soldering station does make a world of difference, which one did you get? I have a digital Hakko clone that I’ve had for a good 10 years or more. I won’t do EC5 connectors but it will do the RC Pro Plus D6 connectors. Invest in an assortment of tips Hakko if they fit they make really good tips and their tip cleaner works really well, it’s like really coarse steel wool (I think its brass) in a little metal cup.
The weather is going to be nice tomorrow, I'm off so I'm going to try and get some flying in.

[macdad]

The station is a weller WES51. Very nice. I have quite a few tips. I need a smaller one yet. I think the smallest tip I have is a 1/16". I would like a smaller one for more detail work. It is cued up in my shopping cart. Just need to hit buy!

[Larryu]

You can't go wrong with a Weller, I've got a 60 watt Weller iron I've had for 30 years I originally bought it to do stain glass now it's what I used for the EC5 connectors but now I've converted everything over to the RC ProPlus.
Here's the tip cleaner I was talking about works way better than a sponge and it doesn't cool off the tip.
https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-599B-02...keywords=hakko

[macdad]

I have a cheaper version of that tip cleaner. It came in a package deal with my station. It works very well!

I was at IRCHA yesterday. It was a bit cold. Sort of weird wearing a jacket in August. Almost seems unnatural. Today should be a bit nicer. I think I may spend a little bit today. Good thing I only came with a couple hundred bucks. There are some used models for sale at a pretty good price.

I'll probably spend about a half day there today, then head home. I was thinking about flying there, but it is $85 for a non-IRCHA member. That includes a t-shirt and a meal tonight, but I don't want either of those. If I was going to actually camp on site and stay for the whole time, I'd pay. I won't be flying this time though.

[macdad]

I was at IRCHA until just after noon yesterday. It was much better weather! Great day. I bought a new canopy for my Assault 700. Couldn't pass it up for $20! I also bought a new VTX for my quad. Then, I walked down to the Oxy tent... I didn't have enough money to get a kit, and I honestly haven't really looked at them. However, the little Oxy 2 would be perfect to fly across the road.

After spending almost an hour in there talking with the guys, one of them gave me a pretty good deal on their used heli. I walked away broke and with a little heli! I have to get some batteries before I can fly it though

I have high hopes for it. It honestly is a very solid heli for as small as it is. We will see how it flies. It would be really cool to come home and put a couple flights in after work, when I don't have enough time to make it to the field!

I ran out to the field today as well. There were some threatening skies, but we all flew anyway. It started to sprinkle around 11:30, so everyone packed up and went home. I was able to log the following flights:

Protos 380 - 3
Assault 700 - 2

I really wish I had more time. The flying was really good. I haven't simmed a lot this summer, but things are really clicking right now. I have just tried to relax and enjoy the flying, and everything seems more smooth. My confidence is pretty good right now. I am really loving it right now!

[Larryu]

Man I’m jealous, I want a OXY2, I want it to fly in my backyard the 3’s not so much, not that it’s not a great helicopter, it’s that they cost almost as much as the X3 and you’re really limited on the main blade selection. I’ve been able to look over a 3 and seen them fly they are a solid little helicopter so I know the 2 is going to be every bit as good. Maybe a little bit of a culture shock going from a 766 to a 190 but hey they're all CP helicopters.
That’s really cool that you can go to IRCHA it would cost me a helicopter to go, what I mean is I could buy a big helicopter for what it would cost me to travel up there to go. A lot of cool stuff like that happens in Ohio.