geoffff

I've never flown anything before, but have always wanted something to let me take aerial photos. After much research, I decided to buy a TI 5 Pro off Ebay.

My first test flight involved a bunch of scooting around on the ground to get the feel of the controls, and then I got too brave -- a 5 second flight that ended with a sheared nylon rotor screw and a chipped rotor. Time to order spare parts! I ordered rotor thumbscrews (for convenience), a set of nylon rotors, and a power tether.

When my parts arrived yesterday, I spent all afternoon getting the hang of my Draganflyer (powered by the tether). I spent a full hour carefully learning how to scoot around and hop briefly into the air.

Once airborne, the TI didn't seem to be making much of a difference for me. Both green eyes were lit after calibration, but I suspect the Draganflyer couldn't see much horizon in my small backyard with neighboring houses. I ended up leaving TI off for consistency. I'll have to try it in a more open area someday.

I got pretty good at flights of up to 20 seconds, with mustly successful crash landings -- lots of lift power right before impact, then cut the throttle quick! I'm still occasionally shearing nylon rotor screws, and I blew the fuse.

Today was my second flight day, and I'm now able to hover almost indefintely (using batteries), without veering off into anything. I've found that the left/right and forward/back controls need very fine inputs to keep level, but with lots of constant twitching adjustments -- like wiggling the steering wheel of a big old American car with loose steering.

geoffff

Oh, and since the nylon blades were all black, and those stickers on my old used foam blades always seem to be peeling off, I just spraypainted the front nylon rotor blade.

TheHindmost

Welcome aboard! It sounds like you're climbing the learning curve well...good luck!

Will

l8braker

I just ordered one last week, so I'm waiting for my first flight. I've already flown some E-flite's CX & CP so I'm wondering how different this will be. I also got the folding rotor upgrade for my TiPro.

techrtr

If you've been flying a CP I think you will find the DF to be pretty easy to get the hang of.

l8braker

Awesome!

My only other concern is hooking up the RCA jacks to my camcorder. I can't seem to figure out how to make it record so far, so I may need a new camera. Mine is a Canon Digital with an S-video input, but even with that I can't get it to record from an S-video. How much are these converters I've read about in other threads?

Also do you guys have any video's not found on youtube/rctoys? I can't watch enough until I get mine haha

Sky High

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3675858/tm.htm]Here[/link] is a video thread with all of my flights. There are plenty of other video threads scattered throughout this forum too.

geoffff

Today I went out to a school baseball field, and sure enough the TI does work! I had some fun trying flying with and without TI.

Flying high and fast is fun, but I eventually got overconfident and after flying really high I lost track of which end was front during the descent. Oh, and there was a bit of a breeze. I kind of freaked out, and when I should have just let off the directionaly control and let the TI take over, I instead tried to level it myself without knowing which way was the front. My flight ended with a spectactular high-speed cartwheel rolling crash landing.

Though the Draganfly looked a mess, tonight's assessment shows it's not too bad. Broken were two diagonal carbon fiber strengthening rods splintered, two plastic motor/gear holders, one leg, and the center cross plastic piece. I have spare parts for all of these except the cracked center plastic cross, which I think I can just patch for now with some tight thread and glue.

To replace the plastic motor/gear holder pieces, I assume I have to unsolder and resolder the motor wires, right?

To do:
- Install red/green LEDs so I can see which end is which.
- Practice INCREMENTALLY with some sane drills until I master those.

laceycopter

Yep..Time to break out the soldering iron....also check all your motor shafts...you might have bent some...no piont resolding a bad motor back on.
good Luck,
Lacey

l8braker

Yeah I already ordered some LED's for that exact purpose! Another idea Geoff is to just paint the "front" rotor so you can easily see it. Sounds like you've picked it up quickly though. Make sure the center cross is level as you don't want one end higher than the other.

geoffff

I did paint the front rotor (metallic bronze). The others are black. But at a distance in the bright sky, it turned out to still be difficult to tell which rotor is which.

Fesfly

I have tried several colors - even glow in the dark and reflective (pretty cool at night with LEDS). I haven't found any paint that really works well or stands out enough. I am going to try colored electrical tape, at least it wouldn't chip off. When I fly at night with the LEDS it is nice as you can always tell which way you're heading.

clear skies

SAVS

This is another reason to have the SAVS as you can not miss where the camera is. It's in the front and the battery tongue is in the back...Denny (directionally challenged)

l8braker

Woohoo got mine today! Have flown a little bit, but already sheared off the propeller screws in a "bad" crash. I figured out why I crashed later.....dummy me was arming the TI horizontal not vertically. This resulted in a pendulum effect I couldn't recover from. No big deal replaced the screws and got back at it. Anyone know the specs on those screws? I'd like to get more, but I'm sure I can find them locally.

Now I'm going to try out the video and see how it does. I've only flown it up to 30-40ft so far, but I love it!

hiaber

they are #4-40 x 3/8" long