JPEE

Thanks Nick, (:-)

I won't start the build until the middle of next week. We have so much going on right now. We are camping next Friday,Sat and Sun if the weather allows. We go to a place called El Mirage Dry Lake. We ride our quads and I will fly in the total unadulterated wide open spaces anytime I want to. Anytime of the day I can turn and put the sun behind me and fly. I can hardly wait. Then when we come home on Sunday, Monday is "unloading day". Then Tuesday is Judys Birthday. Once that is all over "then" it will be my time to focus on the 700.
Have a great weekend, John

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

WOW JPEE...that thing looks huge just by the size of the box in that pic, major congrats to you!! You waited long enough and now deserve the rewards for your patience. Enjoy!

Sounds like you have a huge week planned with lots of outdoor fun and a birthday to do as well...have fun! Not to mention wide open space for uninhibited flying.

Nick,

Have you chosen your powersupply yet? Just wondering.

I may have to split my order from Powerwerx since they don't have the crimper tool in stock, unless I can find both the crimper and connectors from the same online store.

I have been practicing my auto's on the sim and am getting confident in the timing of flaring...thanks for the smacktalk reference, I haven't had the chance to look at the video's yet but will in the next few days. I also saw they had a vid for rainbows...something else I gave a bit of a try on the sim but really didn't do a good job yet...a bit more practice needed.

Glenn,

Hope the weather cleared up for you to get some flying in.

Can you believe Fall finally moved in down here? We have been having temps in the low 80's during the day and 65 at night...Ya hoo!!

Mark

JPEE

Hey Guys,

Nothing real new I went flying today and cranked a few packs through the 500-600 working on my inverted flight. I already find I am getting more comfortable on every pack. I try to fly the front part of the pack inverted and the back half in normal so I can keep my finger memory in both postions.

Yes the 700 sits on the bench just glaring at me LOL. We are supposed to have showers through Thursday night so no fliyng. As I said I have tons to do to make ready for the weekend fly and quad riding! YAHOO

Mark, keep working on your moves, you can't beat the Sim time.


John

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

More rain and cold here....pretty much rained all weekend, and it feels more like the middle of NOVEMBER....didn't even make it to 50 degrees today...and windy too...fall came in in a big way here!

JPEE,

Congrats on both the inverted flight, and the new 700!

Now it sounds like you just gotta get some time to build it...

Good luck on your inverted flight as well....don't fall in the same trap I did....stick with the 50/50, or maybe even less inverted time at first...

Nick,

Cool on the smacktalk auto video...I should make a note to watch that as well...

Mark,

Good deal, practicing the autos on the sim first...it's surely a good thing to know how to do! In fact, it should probably be one of the first things we learn to do!

I see you are feeling the early fall as well....it was downright chilly here, I had to get out the space heaters this morning...I always try to wait as long as possible to fire up the furnace....late October usually...

Hope you guys have a great week...

Glenn

evdreamer

John,

That sounds like a fun weekend.

That is cool you are getting comfortable flying inverted.

Mark,

I am not in a big hurry to buy a powersupply. I am trying to save my money after buying the Furion 6. If I was flying more I would probably get one very soon.

I am kind of addicted to the 3D smacktalk videos. I have downloaded all of them.

That is cool you have some nice weather.

Glenn,

Sorry it is still raining there.

Nick

JPEE

Hey Nick,

I flew 3 packs each on the 500 and 600 yesterday. I spent the day at the field and were there at 3 pm and left at 7 pm. I was totally drained in both my head and my old bones lol. But we had fun. Everyone was challenging themselves. I took my noob and got him doing loops last time out and he felt good with those on the 500. Then yesterday we worked on his loops, and just stationary back flips. He grabbed that stuff like pie. Then I got him to try a nose over front flip. He had to really consider than one. It just doesnt make sense to point your heli down towards the ground he said, YA THINK! Well I pushed him and he did it. By the time that pack was done he had a good grip on both moves. By the end of day he "MANed UP and did all of that with the 600. OMG I have created a monster!

Wifie and I are making the RV ready today so we can leave on Friday for the Dry Lake Beds. I am taking both 500s and both 600s and my plane, GADDS ZOOKS I am getting stoked!

The bad new is my DIESEL needs a new turbo and is in shop but will be ready in time, but the cost to me $2,200.00................................ Any body wanna buy a 700e in the box CHEAP? Just kidding. Some people buy gold, I collect new helis and shelf them for security if this government collapse's lol.

That's it for now my friends.


John

evdreamer

John,

It sounds like you and your noob had a good time flying.

Don't stare at the clock too long counting down the seconds until Friday.

Sorry about the expensive repair bill.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hey guys,

JPEE,

Real sorry to hear about the truck repair...ouch is that expensive. []

But it sounds like a good time flying...both for you and your student.

Have fun on your RV'ing trip and wishing you some good flights.

Nick,

Finally finished downloading 3 of the Smack video's and have to say the back and forth between Bobby and Bert is hilarious. I got the auto, transitioning, and rainbow/tic-toc video's...the prices are really great too, plus the location in Costa Rica...I can see how your addicted.

Now I just need to wait for my powerpoles to get here so I can practice some auto's on my 550.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

That is cool you are enjoying the smacktalk videos. There is a guy called brother rick in some of the earlier videos and he is funnier than Bobby and Bert. I think he was in the IRCHA video and that was very funny.

Did you find a crimper for the powerpoles or are you soldering them?

I am trying Google Chrome out. I really wanted the new internet explorer on my desktop, but it doesn't work with Windows XP. So far it seems to be doing better than my current version of internet explorer.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Nick,

I was able to find both the crimper and a 10 set of 45A connectors (5F/5M) from a HAM radio online store...it seems the powerpoles are big with the HAM radio guys. I tried looking at Grainger but no luck there, kinda surprising.

I've never been one to switch browsers, kinda keep with what I'm familiar with. Good luck with Google Chrome and let us know what you think of it after you've had some time to get familiar with it.

Wonder if JPEE will be able to sleep at all Thursday night?

Hope Glenn's weather is getting a bit back to normal for this time of the year...space heaters in October...yikes!

Mark

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

I see the thread is getting knocked down kinda far so here's a update on what's going on 'round here...

rain, rain, and more rain.

Thanks Glenn!

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

That is good you were able to get the crimper and some connectors.

I like Google Chrome compared to IE. It takes a little longer to load the browser, but the web pages come up much faster. With IE I could wait from 3-5min before I ever saw a web page once I logged on. With Google Chrome it probably takes less than a minute to load the browser and see a web page. I like to listen to Pandora and it would really slow down my computer with IE, but it doesn't affect Google Chrome.

Sorry you are getting rain. It was really cloudy here yesterday and rained a little.

I have been busy with work and school, so I don't have much else going on. I built a simple brushed speed controller for school. Someone else designed the board and circuit, but I soldered all the parts on. There is no solder mask, so it was hard to keep the solder where it was supposed to be.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Well, FINALLY some decent weather here, really nice, in fact...

I got some flying in today, ran 6 batteries through the MCPX, and got back in the swing of upright flight again, still need some more practice, but it came back pretty quickly...

I think I need to look at my elevator servo....the arm has some slop, and the collective is very twitchy at mid-stick...a small input makes a huge elevation change...super sensitive, I think it's that servo play/slop making it like that.

I also discovered some of my batteries are not doing as well as some of the others. I have varying headspeeds depending on the batteries....[&o]

JPEE,

Man, sorry to hear about the turbo failure, they certainly can get expensive....sorry it wasn't covered under Ford's powertrain warranty....I guess you got some miles on the clock?

Hope you are enjoying the desert trip....and sounds like you had your noob doing some cool new stuff...nice job...

Mark,

I think it rained pretty much every day here for 2 weeks....it was ridiculous after a while...hope your weather turns out as nice as mine has been this weekend....

Hope your power poles come in soon, so you can get on those autos...

Nick,

Glad you are enjoying Chrome, a lot of people prefer it over IE. I still don't use it that much, just too lazy to switch I guess...and IE works pretty well for me on this PC. I spend a lot of time on my Apple PC's, which use a browser called Safari, which I like a whole lot.

Pandora is a cool website...I listen almost every weekend...still have not upgraded to Pandora 1, the subscription service, since I don't listen to it enough to justify it.

Cool on the brushed speed control project. Sorry you have been too busy to fly much...[&o]


I was in New Jersey on Wednesday and Thursday for a 2 day class on the new Mazda "Skyactiv" technology. It's Mazda's approach to the steep fuel milage standards coming soon (all car companies have to average 35.5 MPH across the board for all their cars by 2016). All the car companies are scrambling to meet the standard...

It's incredible some of the technology and effort involved in even bumping the MPG by one tenth of a mile per gallon...Mazda is not going the Hybrid/Electric route like some, but rather super effiecient engine/transmission combos...and we get a DIESEL engine next year...

I won't bore you guys with all the details, but some of the technology is impressive....

http://mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/skyactiv_frankfurt.action

I hope to get some more flying in soon...it kinda lit my fire a bit to see the MCPX back in the air....

Talk to you guys soon....

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

That is good you have some nice weather again and got some flights in.

I also use the free Pandora version. They got rid of the ban of only 40 hours a month for the free version. I could go through that in a week and just pay a $1 for the rest of the month.

It sounds like Mazda is thinking outside of the box. Do you know if they are thinking about engines powered by natural gas?

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Kinda bummed out today as I finally came to the realization that I need to sell off my beloved 550. [] Immediate finances are the major factor, but loss of flying spaces for something this large were also contributing factors. I really am trying to keep a positive attitude as I do have my 450 and trusty mcpx to toss around for the time being...but I will miss my first 'big' heli. [&o]

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

Sorry you have to sell your 550. That is good you still have some backup helis.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Guys,

We had a great time in the desert riding our quads and my flying of heli's and my plane. I did get a surprise when I unloaded my heli's the first day and set up to fly. I first brought out my daily flier a TREX 500ESP. I put in my battery pack only to find that the heli would not bind to the radio. I have lost a bind to a rx before so that's not uncommon. However in my haste in packing I had not brought a binding plug with me OH BEANS! So I set that 500 away and grabbed 500-2 my back up. It was great flying around in the wide open but I did find some stress factors in the beginning at least for me. The surroundings were different! Having nothing to scale how far away I could possibly fly away from myself created and issue. Then having from time to time the distraction of dune buggies, home built planes and one seat helicopters made me a little tense. They were not in my way but just stuff moving around me that I was not used to. But this is not to say it was all bad, the flying was spectacular once I got used to these things around me. I can't tell you how many packs I flew in over the two days as I lost count, that's a good feeling! Back home my wife packs my lunch and ice chest nearly daily when I go fly. I have no limit on my heli $$ spent, I am blessed man in the regard. But............. she has no interest to ever come with me and watch so now being with me while I flew for three days was an awaking for her and here was the result of what she said. She stated "that 600 whipping through air and those big blades popping scares me a bit". I explained when I build the 700 there will be some "big blade popping", she just worries God bless her.

I have posted some very short videos we took of.......... motorized hang gliders, one set small home built helicopters, a government drone being tested, a guy with a home built plane that he brought there in Hertz rental truck and then assembled it there in the lake bed. After a day of running up and down the lake bed he finally did go up and took two laps around the lake bed. After landing it would not restart so a quad motorcycle came out and towed him in. The other video is from me, a proud husband of a girl that just turned that weekend 65 years of age and is out there riding a Yamaha Warror 350CC quad. She stands 4'10'' in height, I am proud of her. Who says when you get old you have to sit home let life pass by, not either one of us.

On a closing note a guy at the field who has been flying a 700 for months lost his CC 120 amp HV ESC while inverted! He was high enough he rolled and came in safe. Then he went back up without the canopy and did a few pitch pumps and bang! the ESC shut down again! He said "to the devil with this" and went down and got a Kontronic 120 HV for his 700. When he called and told me this story I had him pick me up one too. I am not going to build my 700 and then see it fall out of the sky over the ESC. Here is an update on the CC ESC's, it turns out that even the recalled CC that are being reworked and sent back to end users are STILL FAILING! This has Align up in arms as now they don't have anything to put in their kits so they too are losing money! The guy at the store that sold us the Kontronic said he sent back his CC products and will not carry them any longer! My buddy bought our two there at the counter, another guy stood next to him and bought the last one for himself and then wanted another for his buddy, sorry charlie, sold out again, the word is out. People are biting the bullet and just forking out like I did to insure the safety of their helicopter. I have to send my CC that came in the 700 kit back too, then what I will do with it I have no idea. It's good to be home.

Mark, I am sorry to read you have to part with your 550. However, family comes first and you have to be a fuddy duddy like me before you can just throw money into the wind. Your day will come I know and farrrrrrrrr sooner than mine did. Continue to work hard and all will come to you.



[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZtu8-ANsLk[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imKSNwV9ay0&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXaLETvCZMM&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7iZEvoLmBg[/youtube]

evdreamer

John,

It looks like a lot of people brought toys out there. That is good you enjoyed your trip. Cool videos. That hang glider looks a lot like the para gliders that fly at one of the shows I fly in. That is cool Judy got to watch you fly.

It looked like Judy was having fun on the quad.

That is too bad CC is still having problems with the revised ESC's. They shouldn't have discontinued the Phoenix controllers before the ICE controllers. Those were very reliable. Mine are still going strong. The new MA electric Whiplash looks tempting. If I ever decide to spend that much money it would almost be cheaper to go Nitro with the extra cost of the Kontronic ESC.

Nick

JPEE

Thanks Nick for the words.

I dont know what a MA Whiplash is? I looked it up, pretty neat. So you would go Nitro rather than and E right.


Here it is: http://www.miniatureaircraftusa.com/...article&id=140


John

evdreamer

John,

I prefer electric, but I wouldn't mind going Nitro again. I like the quick refills and long flight times. MA put a huge tank in the Whiplash. Bobby said a normal guy could get 15min flight times. Then with the gas version there is 30min flight times.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

JPEE,

All I have to say is it looked like you and the lil'misses had an outstanding time on the dry lake!! The video's were great. Judy looked like she was having a time on that quad...and it seemed you were having a time just watching her!

Over the summer I remember seeing several of those ultralight trike flyers buzzing over our area. It did seem kinda cool...I don't know if there is a club or if they take off from a nearby small airport (or some grassy field) but I see them from time to time. Looks like a few guys get together to do some weekend flying.

Darn bind plug. Glad you had other heli's to fill the space. That is awesome that Judy was able to watch you fly your big birds...wait 'till you get that 700 beast up and flipping around...major blade sound. My wife also has little interest in watching my heli's fly...in the beginning when I was learning (on the Blade CP ) I remember her asking "is that all it can do is just stay in one spot?" Oh were those funny days. Now she'll watch some of my flights when I record them. Now my son...he's 100% interested.

I really wish CC would clean up this mess...unfortunately they are the supplier of middle priced ESC's and even though I haven't tried their ESC's I do think the data logging feature they offer is very nice. Now they just need to get this mess cleaned up once and for all esp since, as you pointed out, Align is deep in bed with them by exclusively using their ESC's on their 600 and 700 birds.

Speaking of 700's, now that you've been back for more than 2 days when will we be expecting your 700 maiden and flight report on the new 3GX? LOL. I'm sure you are taking some time for vacation recovery.

Nick,

Have you considered selling off your Velocity for the Whiplash? That is a nice looking bird, plus its a 90 size...man you guys are going BIG.

I am happy to report that I sold off my 550 to a HF guy in Illinois...got 6 smackers back for it so not too shabby. Upon disassebling of it I was pleasantly surprised to not find all that much wear on it. Of course it only had 24 flights on it so maybe I was expecting to find more wear and tear.

I did take out my 450 today and it seemed so small. But I'll get used to a 450 size again.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

There is a long waiting list for the Whiplash with all the preorders. The Nitro version won't be available until next month. At this point it is more of a dream. If I get a bonus this year I was thinking about getting a MA Fury 55 and then transfer everything from the Velocity to that.

That is good you were able to sell your 550 and you were able to fly your 450. The weather hasn't been very good lately, so I have been flying my 450 in the backyard.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Mark,

No there is no air field from them to take off, they build and take off right there in the lake bed. Guys bring the kite, sail boards, dune buggies, quads, two wheelers and anything else you can think of. However when

the SCTA (southern california timing assco) have their races then the there are limitations for the rest of the bed. It gets coned off and there are field Marshals that watch the side lines to make sure no one gets to close.

You can still fly and ride mind you, but not in that area. Once home I tried rebinding the 500 and NO GO! I haven't had to really get to it but when I plug in the battery the light flashes in the main receiver and then goes out.

It acts like the satellite is out. I know that without the satellite plugged in you cannot get a bind so that is where I will be searching for a cure. EDIT: today I looked in the 500 and found even with a new ESC I can't get the rx to work

or do more than a flicker when I connect up the battery. I will now try a satellite off of another heli and see what that does, otherwise the rx is dead!

Coming home and then two days later having my wife's real birthday party took every free minute left. Then there was the dumping of the rv tanks OH BOY and making it ready for storage again. As I said we have not been out

for two years and HONESTLY I forgot how much work was involved!



Glad you got top dollar on the 550, that has to give some conciliation.Thats cool your wife kind of got on board and now helps you with your vids.



Well yesterday I set up my build area in the shop with three tables in a horse shoe configuration. To the left are my tools on that table, to my right are all of the 700 parts, and the build goes before me. So Monday

"will be the start of something wonderful" as Hal the computer said in 2001.... LOL. It is pretty cool you still have the 450 to pal around with. There is nothing wrong with going back to your roots so to speak.



Nick,

I hope that $$$ "bow-ness" lol comes through this year and you can purchase the Fury 55, how cool would that be.

Starting the 700 this morning sanding frames and such. Been reading up the 3GX and people are threatening law-suite against Align because on occasion the 3GX "resets" itself in the air and down you come! Crap will this stuff ever end. Now I am really again considering the V-Bar and just being done with all of these chances my 700 might BE BROUGHT down by an electronic failure!
Heli $1260.00
ESC $560.00
EDIT:today I made another big decision
V-Bar $320.00

That has me into this heli $2140.00 OUCH! But I now know I have all of the "insurance" I need to know this heli will stay up in the air where it belongs.

John

evdreamer

John,

Hopefully your receiver is ok.

That is cool you get to start on the 700 soon.

It sounds like Align didn't do enough testing with the 3GX.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Finally have some time to get caught up...had a hectic week last week, and had to work on Saturday, so I'm just about caught up with stuff...

Mark,

So sorry to hear that circumstances led to the sale of the 550...but as they say, sometimes "ya gotta do what ya gotta do"....glad you came out so well on the sale, that's always nice...didn't take too much of a hit at all...

I'm sure you'll adapt to the 450 and MCPX again just fine...the big helis are cool, but as you stated, I'm kind of in the same boat, there is nowhere close by here to realistically fly anything much bigger than a 450....450's and MCPX's are nice in that way, finding a convienient place to fly is a whole lot easier... I find I have nearly as much fun flying the MCPX in a small area, as I did flying the SDX in a large area....it's all kind of relative... Smaller, heli, smaller space, more close in flying...

JPEE,

The trip to the desert looks like you all had a great time....and the vids came out great as well, the GoPro vids of Judy looked very cool !! Looks pretty barren out there in the desert...kinda peaceful I would think...glad you got out and had a great time..

Interesting stuff on the CC ESC's....sounds like they'd better get their act together and soon....or they'll go from a reputable company to out of business real quickly...shame, because as Nick said, they had some great products with their previous ESC's...sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone....but then again, it's a competitive market, and they have to innovate, or be left behind...cool that you decided on the Kontronics, they seem pretty bulletproof...and you get what you pay for....

Starting the big build...wow...congrats, I know you've been waiting for a good long while....so enjoy my friend!!

Sounds like a good choice on the V-bar...they have been doing FBL for quite a while...and I think their experience will pay off with a more reliable unit for your 700...I talked to Rob the other day, and he's been playing with the new Futaba FBL setup (I forget the model number), but he loves it so far...says it flies great, and is very easy to set up...

Nick,

Sorry for your bad weather, but at least you are still flying the 450 around the back yard to keep sharp...

The link for the Whiplash didn't work above, I'll have to research it some...sounds interesting though...the nitro is a .90?? Better start investigating buying fuel at a discount in bulk...[X(] Sounds like it will be awhile anyways...but nice to keep in mind for the future...

Mazda didn't/hasn't mentioned much about natural gas powered engines so far...I'm surprised more manufacturers aren't interested....biggest problem I guess is lack of a fuel infrastructure...no place to refuel just yet...I have seen some commercial vehicles and buses that run on CNG, but they have dedicated fuel depots I think....





I wanted to fly the MCPX this past weekend, but between work, and the high winds we had, I didn't get a chance...maybe this weekend...hopefully.

I kept busy last week with tech stuff....I got the new iPhone 4S....and Apple released a new mobile operating system, along with something called "iCloud" for storage...lots of stuff all at once...been keeping me busy studying how all this stuff works!

Hope all of you guys are doing well....

Glenn