JPEE

Nick,

When I was young a 100 year ago I drove a tractor as Glenn discribed pulling a weed hog and mowing the grass in the big fields at the College.


So far everytime I have been at my field the guys fly one at a time. But last Thursday and old timer there told me on the weekends when it gets busy they have as many as four planes or helis up at once. They do not mix helis and planes in the air at anytime, that is the unspoken word. The most guys I have seen there at one time flying is either 5 plankers and some have small 400 helis or 6 helis guys including me. During the time I have never ever seen more than one guy fly at a time.

JPEE

evdreamer

Glenn,

That is a nice looking field.

Nick

JPEE

10-4 with Nick, a very nice flying area for sure Glenn.

JPEE

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Yeah, it definitely seemed as though Wayne took personal pride in the field, as he was finishing up mowing it when I got there.

He said that tractor is very old, it's an old John Deere, green and yellow...pretty cool old thing...does a nice job on the grass with that pull behind mower.

I hope they stay afloat, he was saying that tough times have definitlely hurt their membership....apparently, there are like 8 core guys, that are almost always there, and the other ones just kinda come and go...

MHA was the sponsor of that huge fun fly I went to over the summer, he was saying that it brings in over half the club's revenue each year....and they could not go on without it...they rent/lease that property the field is on, and they have to of course, pay for it each year...

I'll be glad to give them my $75 to join...it sure will be money better spent than on my current club/field....after all....it is ALL HELIS!!

He did mention an occasional small electric plank now and then, but only for fun, and only when NO ONE is flying helis....kinda opposite of what I'm used to!!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Instead of flying a plank for fun they should fly a pizza box. I guess some guys at a heli club near me fly something like a pizza box with an engine and propeller. Or fly the foam lawn mowers that I have also seen.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

LOL ...

Wayne is pretty laid back....he said they'll do pretty much anything that's fun...doesn't seem like they are too strict on the rules and what not...very cool...

At my club, you always have to fly helis at the very far end of the field, and far out away from the flight line, which all makes sense, but it's all centered around what's good and what's convienient (and safe) for the PLANE guys...lol...

It will be refreshing to fly with other heli guys....for sure...

Glenn

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi all,

Glenn,
That is a great looking field you got there, sounds like the drive wouldn't be that bad considering each time you go its a sure thing you'll be able to fly. I think the best thing is that your going to get the chance to meet a great group of people and that your all heli flyers. I think your going to be kicking yourself for not going sooner.

Hopefully will get a chance to fly this week. Have a great week everyone!

Mark

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Mark,

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the new flying place, although I imagine my days are numbered for this year's flying...we've been lucky here so far...but the cold weather is just around the corner, and there won't be too many more nice weekends coming up...and that field is entirely too far away to go to even if I snuck out of work early...so it's a weekend only thing there, at least until summer time.

Seems like a nice core group of about 8 guys, according to the club president. Should be alot more pleasant than the plane club I currently belong to.

Not much going on here, I got out of work a bit early yesterday, and was able to sneak one flight in with the B400, which is now flying great...no complaints at all about it.

Not sure about the weather this coming weekend....

The boss at work knida clamped down on the lunch hour, everyone was kinda taking long ones, me included...[X(]....so it's alot harder to get any flying in at lunch...a bit breezy today anyways...

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a nice week...I'm still kinda adjusting to the normal pattern here, and I wear out a bit early in the day still...should be good in a week or so...

Glenn

evdreamer

Guys,

I just ordered a power panel fuel pump and glow starter along with all my electronics to build two power panels, since the minimum order on the circuit board is two. Hopefully I can start prototyping next week and finish up the programming.

rotarydoc

Nick,

Sounds cool....you'll have to be sure to keep us posted, and some pics, I'd be curious how you do with it...

I had a Hobbico or something similar back in the Cobra days, it was pretty simple, and basic, nothing special, but it got the job done...

Are you planning a field box to mount the panel in? I loved mine, it was called a "field tote".....I can't remember who made it... but it was a kit, all wood, with two sliding drawers, and on the one end was the battery compartment with the power panel mounted above the battery, at an angle, and on the other end was the fuel jug mount, just a shelf, with a strap to hold the gallon jug....and of course the fuel pump, lines, and all...had basically everything I needed in that one field box, was very cool...

Not much new here, didn't fly today, was a bit busy at work, and it gets dark so early now, almost no chance unless I get out real early, like 4:15 or something.

Maybe the weather will cooperate this weekend for me and I can take my complimentary trip up to MHA for some flying...

Hope everyone is having a good week so far...

Glenn

JPEE

Hey Guys,
Here some of my 600 flights today at the Club field. Sorry one of them I am high in the frame. I tried to cut out all of the boring parts or out of frame parts on both vids.

The videos are seizing so you must bring it up but then "pause" it until some of the red load line fills up. It needs to buffer up about 1/4" of red line before they will run without seizing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbMuLWcCgc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZCM4T3sEw

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlZCM4T3sEw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbMuLWcCgc[/youtube]

JPEE

evdreamer

Glenn,

I don't know if I have enough wires to put all of it on my bread board, but I can at least show you guys the little sections that are involved.

I was looking at a field box, but they are expensive. I could probably build one cheaper or wait till my club's auction next year. The auction in January had a lot of field boxes with all the starting equipment for around $15. Too bad I didn't know I was going Nitro.

Hope you have good weather. I checked and it is going to be 30-40 degrees the rest of November with a lot of chances for rain and snow.

Nick

jroo

Morning all!

I was wondering if the TRex 450 canopies listed at hobbycity will fit on a blade 400?

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...y_for_Trex-450

thanks!

Great videos JPEE!

JPEE

Jreue,
Those canopies will fit, however you must drill the holes in them for your helis mounting frame. I use a Dremal outside the house so I don't get fiberglass dust in the house. What I did was take a shorter piece of wire rather than the CF rod and stuck it through the frame canopy holes. Then a touch of lipstick on the tips. I slide the canopy over the frame holding wings out. Once I get it where I want it I let the canopy barely touch it against the rod with the lipstick, then you know where to drill your holes. Trying to hold the canopy and sighting it doesn't work very well. I found this method works the best. I also had to Dremel some of the side of the canopy so it did not rub the main gears with a drum sander bit on the Dremel that way you don't damage the paint.
If you look at the pictures you will see where they indented an are to put the holes, however they are no where even close to where a 400 canopy fits.
This is worth a bit of work. Heli Hobby sells them here for $20.00 each! YIKES

JPEE

evdreamer

JPEE,

Cool to see you are flipping the 600 some more.

Nick

jroo

JPEE,

Thanks for the reply. You got a nice looking shop there from what i can see!

JPEE

Thanks Jreue,

I am blessed with a wife that loves for me to be happy. She said "you need area for your helis". She even came up with the counter ideas and such. I have a room dedicated to our computers and helis. Holy Cow am I a lucky bustard or what.

Nick, thanks for the nice words, it means a lot coming from you.


JPEE

evdreamer

Guys,

I just upgraded to internet explorer 8. For a long time the helis on Real flight were really slow and blocky, but the airplanes worked fine for some reason. So for a long time I wasn't able to practice on the sim. Then after IE8 was installed the helis seemed to work just fine. It is great to be able to practice again. Speaking of sims, Glenn do you know Horizon now distributes the Phoenix sim?

Nick

JPEE

Hi Nick, good news on the I8 for you. I keep getting notices to upgrade but I had it before and it gave me problems so a friend removed it and put back the standard edition.
P

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

JPEE,

Looks like you had some fun out there with the 600....nice flying!

Windy here, rain tomorrow, but the weekend looks promising, not raining at least, until maybe Sunday afternoon....so maybe I'll get a break and get to fly some..

Nick,

That is very strange that the IE upgrade fixed the flight sim....but I've seen stranger things happen with computers...

Just be glad it did, and enjoy!

Do you like IE8? I love it, have had it for a while now, lots of cool stuff...more secure as well...

Yeah, that was a smart move for Phoenix, they should benefit from it, and Horizon should too...great deal for both...maybe that's what's behind all the new models, and especially the MSR, and Parkzone planes they have recently added...since they are of course Horizon products....

Kinda the same reason in reverse that you don't see any Eflite models on Real Flight, (except the ones that were created by users) since RF is manufactured/distributed by Great Planes, Horizon's direct competition...[X(]

I think Phoenix will sell better, some people are not comfortable buying products from England....even though they are a great company....I recently wrote them a techincal question about why I'm getting a bit of stutter with the video card in the new PC, and they wrote back within hours, ON A SUNDAY!

Cool on the power panel, and the field boxes next year at the flea market or auction...probably save alot of money getting a used one, for sure...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I got a taste of IE8 at work and got used to it there. Then it fixed a lot of problems with websites that don't work well with the old IE. I really like the tab feature, since I usually have many windows open at once and my task bar got really crowded with the old IE.

Horizon was advertising Phoenix in one of their magazines that I get and was stating that it was the only sim that had Horizon products, but FSOne has a lot of Horizon stuff too. You could also get a DX5e with it, but that wouldn't work out well with the heli people.

It looks like my electronics are shipping out tomorrow morning. I ordered a black case for one and I am going to use an Almond color one that I already have for the other one. I can't remember buying screws for my almond case, so I hope I am getting some more with the black case. I sure get spoiled by Helidirect and a few other companies that ship stuff out the same day. I am sure going to need my magnifying glass for soldering the surface mount parts. My display driver is a 44 pin chip, so that is going to be fun trying to solder every pin. I looked at the soldering paste that manufactures use to solder surface mount chips, but it comes in big containers that cost $100+, so I think I will pass on that.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Yeah, the tabbed browsing is very cool, once you get used to it, you won't want to go back...and it's even sweeter when it's integrated with Windows 7....they work really well together...

I didn't know FS One had Horizon stuff on it...I know very little about it....the one sim I would like to know more about is called Reflex...not too popular, but it sounds kinda interesting...

Cool on your electronics...and yeah, SMD's can be a challenge...when did the SMD Xmas tree, I had every advantage I could...the lighted magnifier, the third hand thingie, to hold the board, and a very small, sharp tip, and very thin rosin core lead solder...

If I can do it, I know you can....just no caffeine allowed before working on it!!

Have fun with it....

Yeah, I know what you mean about Helidirect shipping, it does spoil you, for sure....they are very fast, and very consistent...great company, for sure...

Speaking of the SMD Xmas tree....almost that time of year!

Glenn

jroo

Greetings all!

Well thanks to you guys, and especially JPEE, I figured out the issues with my Blade400. Looks like my gyro is shot.

JPEE let me know about the 401B, which I've been reading all the great reviews it has received. I was ready to pull the trigger and buy a $150 Futaba 401, but JPEE made a good point in that just because you have a top of the line gyro, the gyro can still break in a crash too. For some reason I never really thought about the gyro breaking... very weird of me... anything falling from 50' in the sky under a 2000RPM whirly-bird do-hicky will probably take a beating.

So I figure I'd spend $19 rather than $150 while I'm still learning to fly. Some may say I took the cheap route, but I feel I took the smart route.

.... something about 'crawling before walking'...

I do want to take the time and give a big thanks to you guys in this particular thread. It's been nothing but a positive experience. You've really kept me on track, and definitely kept me on budget.

I ordered the 401B from HobbyKing. My previous order was delivered in a record 3-4 days, so I hope the gyro makes it that quick too.

I suppose I will initially try flying with the stock eflite tail servo. I do want to go HiTech 56MG all the way around, but I want to see how this will work out...that is of course you guys suggest I should pick up 1 65MG for the tail now...

evdreamer

Jreue,

The JR gyros are the only ones that have metal cases and those can take a beating.

You should probably skip the Hitec 56's and go straight to the 65's. They will be able to handle more abuse when you start doing more demanding moves.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi all,

Nick,
I think its a cool idea for building your own field box - that way you can get exactly what your looking for and place things where you want them, not where some designer thinks they should go. And there is the sense of accomplishment of DIY.

JPEE,
Very nice flying with the 600 - gosh the sound of them is so nice compared to the higher pitch of the 450. Your flying field is very nice with the backdrop of mountains. Yeah, to us on the coast those are mountains!

Jreue,
Sorry about the gyro issue. With luck hopefully you'll find something without breaking the bank.

Glenn,
I know the feeling of missing some good flying time due to the shortened days. Before I went to nights I remember the rush in hopes to get a flight in before I couldn't see the stupid plane.

Finally finished my canopy and wanted to get a few pics of it to share with ya'll: