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Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:20 pm
by Hance
Is anyone else into radio control hobbies ? I have two RC airplanes . One is a PT 40 with a 46 size motor in it . It flys pretty well . I also have an electric plane . It flys really slow top speed is only around 10 MPH . It is alot of fun in smaller areas where there just isnt enough room to fly the nitro powered plane .

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:22 pm
by SpotTheCat
I think when I get older and my toys can have more money I'll get into helicopters.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:31 pm
by Hance
I personally have no experience flying an RC Heli but from what I have been told they are HARD to fly . I have been flying RC planes for around 3 years now with only one major wreck . The wreck kind of sucked . I hit a parked school bus :oops: I have the photos around someplace if anyone is interested in seeing them . A couple of the guys I fly with have planes and helis . These same guys fly circles around me with there planes and say they can barely keep a chopper in the air :o

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:51 pm
by mattsteg
Hance wrote:
I have been flying RC planes for around 3 years now with only one major wreck . The wreck kind of sucked . I hit a parked school bus :oops:
Heh, wrecks can be pretty crazy. We had a rather extreme racing design that we designed and built for a class, designed for speed and the expense of "nice" flight characteristics. Never even got the thing to full speed, the pilot was so nervous about flying it he stalled and spun it after half an orbit. The only thing that didn't shatter was the tail.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:55 pm
by SpotTheCat
I think if I had a heli I would be able to start slow enough to learn without crashing.

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:58 pm
by tfp
I have a RC trainer plane flew it once, crashed but not too bad... I haven't had the time or room to fly it since. I need to get away from the city and find more time.

I have an electric RC car (Old RC/10 buggy) that is fun to drive around if there are other people do that with. If I do get another car it will be a gas/nitro one.

*edit my Uncle has a few RC helis says they are VERY hard to fly.*

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:01 pm
by Hance
One rule to flying RC is there are two kinds of pilots . The ones that have crashed and the ones that will . If you decide you want a heli get a flight sim and fly it alot . RealFlight is pretty good . FMS is another good one and its free . Also most people that fly love to help beginers get into the hobby . find a flying club and have someone help you get started . Other wise i can promise you that your bank account will get alot smaller really fast

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:14 pm
by SlyFerret
My dad and I built an RC/10 buggy back when I was a kid. That was a lot of fun. I rember running it right into my babysitters ankle. She wasn't real happy with me. I guess it left quite a bruise.

A couple years ago, I bought a Traxxas T-Max nitro 4x4. It's a lot of fun. The only downside is the maintenance. Keeping the engine tuned and running right is more involved that I thought it was going to be. I also find that when I run it off-road, I go through clutch shoes like crazy. Replacing them is only about $12, but it takes about an hour to take the thing apart, replace the shoes, put it back together, and get the drive gears adjusted right again.

Now that I live out in the country, I'm thinking I'd like to get into RC planes. My yard is about 5 acres of grass, and behind my lot is a hay field and a corn field. Not much to hit. My driveway is pretty long to, so it would make a good runway.

-SF

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:21 pm
by tukkus
i have 15 planes and i'm still in the process of buying more....i have a bunch of biplanes and eventually i'll get a tri-plane....there are so many planes to choose from and also many different flying styles to pick from too.... the style of flying that i like best is called 3D....here's a link of a 15 year-old flying 3D...the plane is a Giles202 with a OS 1.60 engine

http://www.ultrarc.com/videos/Giles202UL.wmv

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:27 pm
by Pagey
As kids we had a few of the Radio Shack specials, but nothing exotic. Just some cars that were too slow in my opinion. I wanted a plane at one point, but I knew I was too young to master it without incurring a significant cost to the parents' wallet. :lol:

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:05 am
by VaTech Hokie
Right now we are finishing up our 9ft wingspanned rc plane that has to carry 10lbs of cargo, shes affectionately called shammo (sic). RC planes are fun, unless they are lumbering giants that have a small flight envelope and taking turns is a nightmare! You think with a 9ft high AR wingspan and a thrust to weight of about 2 when its not fully loaded would be hard pressed to stall :( .

I have flown two small rc helicopters and they are a blast, plus you dont need as much room as a plane.

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:37 pm
by Hance
tukkus i watched that video all i can say is :o damn that guy is good

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:49 pm
by SnowboardingTobi
I started out with r/c cars back in the 80's. Built a Tamiya Monster Beetle, Tamiya Wild Willy, Tamiya Big Wig, Tamiya Clod Buster, and a AE RC10 (to original gold tub chassis).

A few years ago I got back into r/c cars and built an HPI Pro3 just to mess around with.

I realized I was getting bored with cars so I went towards r/c helis and never looked back! I've only got 1 r/c heli, a Hirobo Sceadu 50, but it's plenty heli for me.

Yes, a heli is damn hard to fly when you're starting out. The only way to learn is getting stick time on a simulator. I didn't have anyone else to learn from because everyone at my flying field flew planes. There was supposed to be another heli guy but I never saw him whenever I went.

I'm okay at flying. Doing the crazy "3D" flying they do with helis is not something I can do comfortably. Maybe because I don't like the prospect of rebuilds if I crash. :lol:

If you want to see what r/c helis can do then check out the following site: http://www.augustoheli.com/videostuff/videoarchive/default.asp

specifically check out the vids for Alan Szabo, Curtis Youngblood, Jason Krause, and Todd Bennett.

Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:59 pm
by SpotTheCat
that kid's video is crazy! that plane must have a pretty high thrust/weight ratio (at least 1, anyway)

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:11 am
by VaTech Hokie
T/W >1 isnt to hard for rc aircraft, our design plane acheieves that unloaded. My friend has a katana 2 that you can take off vertically and hover, T/W i believe is around 1.25

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:46 pm
by Hance
Yeah this is a necro post but its my thread so shoot me. Well since my last post in this thread I have added a bunch more stuff. 2 more airplanes. One of them is a Super Cub and the other is a 3D scare you to death when you fly it job. 2 Helicopters one is the Blade CX2 coaxial heli nice and mild to fly. I use it to chase the cats around the house. And this is the newest addition to my fleet.

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Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:56 pm
by SpotTheCat
Nice, man!

As far as my 2 year old first reply, the time is coming that I have money for toys :D

edit: I've heard the switch from plane to heli is like that of bicycle to unicycle, is that about right?

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:08 pm
by Hance
I am an average pilot when it comes to airplanes and a complete nOOb with collective pitch helicopters. If flying a plane is like riding a bike then flying a heli like this is similar to standing on a beach ball while blind folded while you juggle. Once you learn to control one the helis arent really that hard but the learning curve when you start out is very steep and expensive. With an airplane if you crash you can be in the air again in a few minutes a good part of the time. With a heli they flop around like a chicken with its head cut off when you crash. Your looking at an hour minimum to check things over and replace a few parts before you can even think about flying again.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:38 pm
by Captain Ned
That seems to be a standard Bell two-blade rotor with teeter-bar design (although the teeter bar has some aero flaps on it). I wonder if there are any R/C copters using coaxial rotor designs, which would remove blade torque from the control problems?

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 10:55 pm
by Hance
Captain Ned wrote:
That seems to be a standard Bell two-blade rotor with teeter-bar design (although the teeter bar has some aero flaps on it). I wonder if there are any R/C copters using coaxial rotor designs, which would remove blade torque from the control problems?


There is a bunch of different coaxial helis I even said my other one is a coaxial in my post :wink: The coaxials are all smaller in size so you cant fly them outside unless its dead calm the wind just blows them away. The way they are built you cant do any 3D stuff with them at all. Basically the body of the heli hangs off the blades and the blades stay level all the time. They will fly forward, backward, right, left, up, down and you have rudder control but they cant do any cool stuff with them. Here is the stuff that E-Flite makes http://e-fliterc.com/Search/Default.asp ... =&CatID=HB I have the Blade CX2 which is a coaxial.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:21 pm
by Captain Ned
Hance wrote:
The coaxials are all smaller in size so you cant fly them outside unless its dead calm the wind just blows them away. The way they are built you cant do any 3D stuff with them at all. Basically the body of the heli hangs off the blades and the blades stay level all the time. They will fly forward, backward, right, left, up, down and you have rudder control but they cant do any cool stuff with them.

That's odd, as everything I've read about real-world coaxials says they're more maneuverable in 3D than single-rotor/tail rotor designs. I wonder if stepping up to gas power would "fix" that problem (while eliminating indoor activities)?

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:35 pm
by Hance
Captain Ned wrote:
Hance wrote:
The coaxials are all smaller in size so you cant fly them outside unless its dead calm the wind just blows them away. The way they are built you cant do any 3D stuff with them at all. Basically the body of the heli hangs off the blades and the blades stay level all the time. They will fly forward, backward, right, left, up, down and you have rudder control but they cant do any cool stuff with them.

That's odd, as everything I've read about real-world coaxials says they're more maneuverable in 3D than single-rotor/tail rotor designs. I wonder if stepping up to gas power would "fix" that problem (while eliminating indoor activities)?


Nope it wouldnt make any difference. We might be thinking of two totally different things thought. This is a coaxial helicopter in the RC world.
Image

The top set of rotors is free floating ( no contol inputs go to them). The flybar has brass weights in it. With the top rotor being free floating and the addition of brass weights to the flybar to help counteract what the botom rotor does you gain stability but loose all 3D ability in the process.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:52 pm
by Captain Ned
Hance wrote:
The top set of rotors is free floating ( no contol inputs go to them). The flybar has brass weights in it. With the top rotor being free floating and the addition of brass weights to the flybar to help counteract what the botom rotor does you gain stability but loose all 3D ability in the process.

I get it now. Real-world coaxials have swashplates for each rotor whereas R/C coaxials treat the top rotor as a big propeller. Makes for a lot of difference in control authority.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 11:50 am
by Hance
I went out and tried to hover the new bird this morning, the experience was interesting to say the least. I was over controlling it so I took the head apart and took a couple of shims out to soften up the helis response. Then I dialed in some expo on the radio to soften it up even more. Now when the wind dies down I can go give it another try. Hopefully with the softened responses I can hover it with out having it do the dying chicken dance and spraying parts all over my yard.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 12:05 pm
by liquidsquid
Ironic, my dad is into it and he just sent me this link. $5000 an engine. One you don't want to crash at the speeds these things go!

http://rcuvideos.com/item/X3DJT5TRN7D4C ... ater_title

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 3:34 pm
by UberGerbil
I love that we're getting contextually-appropriate ads at the top of the page for this topic. (I've seen a $69 RC Piper Cub and a Heli ad so far).

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 5:23 pm
by Hance
OK time to start RADDS School of Rotary Flight. Hopefully it will save me some money. http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 7:51 pm
by StrangeDay
Hance wrote:
Is anyone else into radio control hobbies ?

I think that if I had the money and time, I'd get into something like this: link

Screw playing BattleTech with dice ever again after seeing that! :D

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:08 pm
by SpotTheCat
Tell me how it goes. When I learn to fly helicopters I think I'll get a simulator game for my computer to learn.

I'm going to build my first fast flying plane, probably a flying wing (I've only flown throttle+elevator+rudder, a cheap thing)

I want to build it myself. If I can find a way to hotwire the foam myself I will, otherwise I will just buy a zagi or something. I'd like to do my own glass covering too, as it would be sweet do do it myself.

Re: Radio Control Hobbies

Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:35 pm
by Hance
Spot take a look at this http://www.public.iastate.edu/~orman/ai ... twire.html you can find more stuff here http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_35111 ... tm#3511182 the first one tells how to make the hotwire and the second shows some pics. You can find pretty much anything related to RC at RC universe