Not so hot and not so humid!

But I took out the EZ Hawk and got a long, high, flight, taking advantage of thermals. I only needed the 800mah battery. I think it's great that a plane you can buy that cheap flies that well. Once you get the hang of hand-launching it, it's just one great flight after another.

I flew in sweltering heat yesterday...

... but I was desperate for stick time. I took out the 800 mm FMS powered glider and ran through 3 batteries. I don't think lipos like 100+ heat. Either that or the Teflon treatment was not so good for the motor. Or, the motor is simply wearing out. It was not only very hot but also very humid and the mosquitos were out in force, despite recent spraying. On the other hand, the heat might have gotten to the ESC. I'll have to try it again when it is not so hot and humid.

I'm getting better with the Blade Nano QX.  I'm being really careful because I don't want to break it!

The Blade Nano QX

It arrived yesterday and it looks good. Very light construction so I hope it will be durable. The Hubsan Q4 was much sturdier looking but proved to have a fatal weakness. The blade guards on the QX protect the props in the event the thing flips upside down and comes down on a hard surface inverted. It is still possible, however, to get a prop strike, just not as likely.  The lower mass of the QX might also be helpful. I had no trouble getting it bound to a Hobby Zone DSM2/DSMX transmitter. Haven't tried "agility mode" yet but it will be a LONG time before I'm ready for that. These things just seem hard for me to fly. The Hubsan had a rather complicated method of setting control sensitivity, but you had many more options-- a range available on every axis. The QX has only two options and the axes are not individually selectable. So far, I have not seen any evidence that it will return to a hover merely by releasing the sticks, even though the LED in the QX indicates that I am in SAFE mode (stability augmented flight environment). It'll take a lot of experimentation.

The wind died down enough for me to fly a Firebird Stratos yesterday afternoon but it was 104 degrees out! Standing out in the sun in heat like that was almost too much. Plenty of sun screen and water, obviously.

Over a week of wind...

... has made it tough to get any flying in. A couple of days ago I got out the EZ Hawk PNP from Grayson and tried it with the new 1100 mah 20C lipo. I got tired of the near-one-hundred heat and of fighting the wind gusts long before the battery played out. Tomorrow UPS should be delivering the new Quadcopter. At least I can fly that indoors or in the backyard, where a tall fence will help protect it from the wind.

I got some more Gowland & Gowland models, assembled, on eBay for a moderate price. This purchase will add the Stutz Bearcat, Rolls Royce, and early Model A Ford to my collection. I'll have duplicates of some others and I might try cleaning them up and detailing them, as an alternative to throwing them away or putting them back on eBay.

But wait!

That's not all! The wind started kicking up around noon but I took out the EZ Hawk. I had discarded the stock Dynam lipo because it got puffy and found it hot at the end of a flight. I replaced it with a Zippy 800mah 20c 'high power" battery. I also changed the prop, going to a smaller Park Zone gray nylon pusher, same as the one I've been using on the Hawk Sky. Good results with this combination! Endurance didn't suffer, as I got about 10 minutes of flight and maybe could have gone longer but I didn't want to overdischarge this battery. I had no problem with altitude or speed or ability to penetrate wind. I've ordered a 1100mah lipo, 20c for this plane.

The easiest and most economical modification for these Dynam powered gliders is to replace the stock prop, and I find that the gray nylon Park Zone pusher props are a very good substitute-- easy to install, and performance improves markedly. A lot of bang for your buck. You should also go to a battery with a higher discharge rating.

This morning I flew the Firebird Stratos, the one I got at a bargain price on eBay.

Calm and cloudy!

So, good flying weather. Early this morning I got out the 800 mm FMS and found that the Teflon treatment helped. But I found some ways to reduce weight and improve ventilation for the battery and ESC. I also stripped off the decals and changed some settings on the elevator control horn so I could get more up trim.

And then I took out the Park Zone ultra micro T-28. I flew it with the new (used) radio from Hobb-E-Mart, on eBay. This radio actually works better than the original one. It has analog trim, for instance, which I like better than digital. I got a long flight.

Packages have arrived!

The E-flite Blade LP5DSM transmitter arrived and it was better than I expected. Can't really tell that it has been used. I set the DIP switches to aircraft mode and bound it to the ultra micro T-28-- works perfectly! And then later in the day my Estes planes arrived! The Viper looks interesting. I have not had a chance to fly them yet. First it might be wise to charge the batteries. I did get out this morning and I flew the FHX-800. Not a very good flight. Rather sluggish. I gave the brushless outrunner motor a good shot of Teflon dry lube after I got it back home and checked it with a fresh lipo. I think the lube job will make a difference. It had higher rpms and ran smoother.

The OLD Estes X-81...

... still flew well last evening. The winds were light enough. I put new AA batteries in the transmitter and charged the plane's lipo. If this plane had elevator control it would be much better, but it zips around in circles and does figure eights easily enough. Landing is tricky. Fly it over grassy areas only.

More flights and more planes!

A couple of evenings ago we had very calm conditions. I flew the ultra micro Cessna Champ and it flew very, very, well. For the first time I got to see how these little planes fly under ideal conditions. Most of the time I flew at half throttle or less, and I got a lot of flight time.

Estes is having a sale on its rc planes: I got a Viper for $20 and an X-81 for about $30-- way below the usual price. I've wanted another X-81 and I've wanted to try the split-wing Viper. These are real bargains!

E-Flite Blade Nano QX

I ordered one of these in the bind-n-fly version. Yes, I'd like to take another stab at a quadcopter, and this one has blade guards and a more robust airframe, as well as more advanced stability systems. I've ordered a used E-flite Blade LP5DSM transmitter as well. I intend to set this transmitter to run in aircraft mode and use it to control an ultra-micro t-28. The t-28's ParkZone transmitter will be better adapted to control the Nano QX. 

Blade Nano QX Quadcopter

New plane complete except for small details...

The hardware graft from the crashed Easy Trainer 1280 went well. Everything fits nicely into the balsa 2 meter glider. I've checked out the motor and controls and it all works. I'll post some pics eventually. I'm going to try using a House of  Balsa 2x4 wing as a "sport" wing on this plane.

It's been very windy for more than a week. I managed one flight but it was dicey, using the Hawk Sky. I was lucky to get it down in one piece.