MAYDAY! Model Aviation » Videos

30-inch Dead-Simple Wing [VIDEO]

Erwin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:37:05 +0000

So, I’ve been MIA for a few weeks or so; since early august. I have been up to stuff and one of those stuffs is a 125% Dead-Simple wing from specs found at RCGroups. Instead of 24-inch wing-span, I built mine 30 inches wide. I put on a Blue Wonder and took to the skies.

On Saturday, September 24th, I went to Ives Estates Park with my friend, Julio and my wife and son to fly the wing. I had flown it once before and had great success but crashed it. After repairing it, it looked pretty good so I decided I could go for it again.

It flew on rails. It was as smooth and straight as it gets. We clocked it at 51 MPH on the following setup:

Motor: hexTronik 24gram Brushless Outrunner 1700kv
Propeller: 5×7 APC
ESC: Turnigy Basic 18A
Servos: HK15178 analog 10g
Battery: GravityHobby 800mAh 3S 20C LiPo

It rolls pretty good and you can see it can fly really slow too. After a few flights, we changed batteries and flew again.

Julio had never before flown and RC plane so I thought I’d let him fly my cheap wing since he had a ton of hours on a simulator. He did f’awesome! He even dead-sticked it! Here’s Julio’s second flight:

Overall we had a pretty awesome time. The wing is crashed again but I can fix it. I might make a new one but we’ll see how much free time I have. Look out for my next project: A way-fast jet.

Also, I’ve noticed those OrangeRX 6-channel receivers have pretty good range. I flew the wing out almost out of LOS and never glitched. Pretty sweet for a $6 receiver.

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Cutting Carbon Fiber Rods [VIDEO]

Erwin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:30:37 +0000

It’s raining non-stop in Miami so I’ve taken the opportunity to build and repair. This time I’m cutting some carbon fiber rods that will be going into a 30″ Dead Simple Wing. I use a Chicago Electric Dremel-like rotary tool with a cutting blade to snap 2 CF rods down to 18″

Presented in HD 720p Thanks to my new Flip UltraHD:

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Stuff You Should Love: Prop Savers [VIDEO]

Erwin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:56:24 +0000

If you’re flying like me, you’re probably replacing propellers and bending motor shafts like there’s no tomorrow. This is especially true if you’re flying from a grass field. The problem is that when your propeller hits the ground, either it takes the force of the impact or, if it’s still turning with throttle, it can bend the motor shaft.

Early on when I started flying RC I kept hearing about prop savers. I didn’t really get the benefit until I used one myself. Now I use a prop saver on every 3 or 4 mm motor shaft! I’d love to say I have no more broken props or bent shafts but all I can say is that it has drastically reduced prop fatalities and shaft replacements.

Here’s how a prop saver works

It’s a small aluminum ring that fits on the motor shaft like on Figure 1. It has two milled, threaded holes where little screws go and it comes with one or two rubber bands (you only need one).

Figure 1: Prop saver installed on a motor. Notice the rubber band holding the propeller on.

After putting the prop saver on the shaft you tighten the screws so that it doesn’t spin free from the shaft or slide off the shaft. You then put the propeller onto the front of the prop saver and attach the rubber band from one screw, around the front of the propeller and onto the other screw.

Now your prop has some room to flex back-and-forth and spin free from the motor a little. So if you hit the ground, the rubber band takes the force a little instead of passing it to the prop or shaft.

Prop shafts are cheap! You can find one at a local hobby shop for about 3 or 4 bucks but you can buy a pack of ten (3mm) online for less than three dollars! (or 4mm for less than four)

They come in all shapes and sizes but all do the same function: save props… and shafts.

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H29 Jet Flight [VIDEO]

Erwin — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:41:18 +0000

The H-29 Pushprop Jet by chara is a small park jet with a mid-mounted motor and taileron configuration. It uses only two servos and three channels. The thrust pushes directly through the tail, being slightly diverted by the elevons; giving this model superb performance similar to other, more complex, thrust-vectoring models. Last time I wrote about this plane I had flown it with a 7×5 APC prop and didn’t like the performance.

So I finally tested two other propellers with the 28-26 1360kv motor. Previously I had chosen a seven-inch propeller because I thought if I went up to the recommended eight-inch it would strike the wood dowels on the twin booms but later noticed there was plenty of clearance, so I got a GWS 8×6 and an APC 8×8 today and went out to test which would give me better performance. On the bench test, the GWS 8×6 seemed to give me much more thrust but I found out otherwise at the field.

APC propellers are built for speed. Once they reach enough RPMs, they produce efficient thrust. GWS propellers, in the other hand, are built for general-purpose and scale flight. They produce max thrust almost immediately but are slightly less efficient at higher RPMs.

Watch the video and enjoy.

Wondering how I shot the video and flew at the same time? Here’s the rig:

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @killerwin.

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On-Board the Super Cub – BONUS: Surprise Ending [VIDEO]

Erwin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:04:08 +0000

Taken in November (2010) flying off the lake. Got good video and then it happened…

» Go to SPOILER and Details of video

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Super Cub Flying in Strong Winds [VIDEO]

Erwin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:33:34 +0000

Flew my Super Cub at Ives Estates Park in Aventura last Sunday. the winds were at least 25 knots and it was so much fun. My son was having a blast with the plane hovering so close. I did some fun STOL flying like the real Bush Cubs ^_^

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AMA Summary of Model-Full Scale Bipe Collision [VIDEO]

Erwin — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:32:50 +0000

On August 14, 2010, a 43% AJ Slick collided with a full-scale biplane over a private air strip near Denver, Colorado, marking the start of numerous finger-pointing online forum discussions. A number of clips surfaced on YouTube.com, including a very detailed and clear video of the point of impact and immediate aftermath.

As most modelers and pilots expected, both, the AMA and FAA began investigating immediately. While the FAA is yet to realease an official report, the AMA has published their findings via the AMA Today monthly newsletter. In it, Rich Hanson explains the events and decisions leading to the mishap. Apparently the event coordinators decided to allow full-scale and model aircraft activities to resume at the same time, guided by a man with a transceiver communicating with the biplane pilot in the air and verbally with the model pilot on the ground.

As the biplane returned from another event, it came in for a low pass and went around the traffic pattern to land. The RC pilot resumed flying over the runway in a 3D hover. As the biplane came around, the pilot decided to abort the landing and make a second low-pass without informing the person with the transceiver. Since nobody knew this guy’s intentions, the RC plane continued to hover at the end of the runway at about 30-50 feet high. By the time the biplane’s pilot saw the RC model, it was too late and it split the $8000 model in half with its lower left wing, causing minor damage to his airplane and landing safely.

No one was injured but the irresponsibility shown by the FAA-certified pilot caused some guy a very expensive model and lots of hours of work. Being granted that this event wasn’t sanctioned or the lack of a spotter on the ground, this has to be blamed on not a single individual but a few bad decisions by a group of people. Lesson learned. Read the summary and make your own deductions.

READ THE SUMMARY BY THE AMA

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Sencond Flight of the Black Jet

Erwin — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:49:53 +0000

What a fun jet! I took the Park Jet out today for some trials at Ives Estates Park. I was trying on a new APC 9×6 prop and some new LiPos. The new prop along with a new lighter 30C LiPo makes the Jet scream! It was the most fun I’ve had with a model yet. Here’s a video of one of the first flights:

I’m flying with a 2200 3S 20C Zippy but it zoomed with a 1300 30C Turnigy! Man, I have to go back tomorrow. I’ll take the Super Cub too since I put ailerons on it. That, too, should be fun :)

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Neat Way to Solder EC3 Plugs

Erwin — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:30:09 +0000

For many new RC pilots, soldering has to be one of the most dreaded tasks they can’t avoid forever. A fellow flyer, iflyforfun has made a video* on soldering EC3 plugs that makes it easy for just about anyone to solder them. His trick is simple yet very effective:

For more info about this video visit the thread at the Super Cub Club:
http://supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=tt&thread=3481

*please not that I did not make this video or help with it in any way; iflyforfun has allowed me to share it with you.

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Park Jet Sneak Peek

Erwin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:11:33 +0000

The foamie jet is coming along nicely. I’ve finished gluing the wing and fuselage. The vertical stabilizer is on and all that’s left is to cut the elevons before the electronics and parts arrive. I must say: it looks sexy! I can’t wait to see it in the air.

A bit of sad news: HobbyKing.com has announced a new “V2″ radio system to replace my radio so I think that system is canned. The receivers are out of stock and don’t seem to be coming back in. I think it’s time to invest in some kind of modular radio.

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