Beyond My Hover

[trainrider06]

Myself I suck at nose in hover too! But I can fly toward myself, a weird thing! I suppose I should practice that better. Whenever Ivan posts his flight video's and his flying in tight space, then effortless nose in hovering I get a little green with envy!

 

[PLANETGETLOW]

I was using the blade nano yesterday evening to practice circuits and nose in

 

[Heliman450]

Good work Phil. The nose in hover is a good skill to practice but is not absolutely essential to master it before progressing into forward flight and circuits. I know of a few quite experienced heli flyers (one with decades of experience) who cant do a nose in hover to save their lives, yet they can fly around doing circuits all day without any problem.

Hi Steve, I have to confess that I've been doing some other stuff as well before falling asleep at the sticks. However, it's coming on quite nicely so I don't want to lose track of it completely and then never return. A big part of the (any) hobby is finding the right balance. I've been working on getting more stick time as I was kind of stuck in the building/set-up part. I also want to be able to fly even if it isn't world championship stuff so buying another heli is something for the coming winter combined with an overhaul of the T-Rex. Weather permitting, I'll get there before the snow comes

Bye now!

 

[Smoggie]

Sounds like at least you have been getting some good flying conditions Phil.
Here in Aberdeen the wind is back with a vengeance though i did brave three quick flights today with my Trex 600 Pro as I'd put in a new ESC and wanted to get it tested. It worked fine after a bit of head scratching when the FBL controller wouldn't power up. Turned out to be a dodgy mini-T connector between the flight battery and the HV BEC, the soldering was fine but the connector itself was making a bad contact. So that's the last time I use those connectors, I'll stick with bullets from now on.

So what new heli is on the Xmas list?

 

[Heliman450]

Hi Steve, the weather has been a little better here but we're having a couple of rainy days right now. I'm more confident when it's windy, so I'm going to the field also later in the day and so getting more stick time overall. Sunday afternoon was the most windy day that I've ever flown in but even though I could 'feel' the difference, it wasn't a problem. It all builds confidence when you can come home with an undamaged heli.

By 'mini-T' I assume you mean Deans connector? I've also been thinking of changing my connectors over to bullets for my 5000 mAh batteries and the ESC as the spark is slowly wearing the connectors away. If I do it, then I'd include a resistor to avoid it.

As I've said once before, I think I'd be inclined to go for a much bigger heli, maybe a Goblin 770 or an Urukay as one of our local model shops is a specialist with Goblin. On the other hand, I'm still interested in the SoXoS 800 kit, but with my choice of bits to add on works out at around $800 more expensive. Of course comes the issue of 6 or 7 cells to power it, my Graupner charger system can deal with both so no problem there. A bit of water needs to pass under the bridge before then and I want to feel 100% about my ability before making the purchase anyway. Let's see.

Bye for now!

 

[Smoggie]

They are like mini version of a Deans: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45504__Mini_Black_T_Connector_Pack_5_Pairs_.html
They are only 10A rated but that's planty for the application (power to the BEC).. they seemed like the ideal connector for the purpose but my confidence is shaken, supply to the BEC is one place you need a reliable connection.

There are few anti spark options around. The 'RCProPlus' connectors are the gold standard but Hobbyking does a few at cheaper price point, the XT90 anti-spark are worth looking at: XT90-S Anti-Spark Connector (2pairs/bag)

 

[Heliman450]

Hi all, well my birthday present is ordered. Just remains to be seen what the import duty works out at and how long it takes to arrive.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Smoggie]

Phil,

i hope the SoloShot comes soon, i'm keen to hear how it performs and see the video it produces.

The other guy i know with one ordered placed his order just after Christmas and the shipping date on the web site at that time was March 2016. He's still waiting and still doesnt have a firm delivery date commitment, so you might have to be patent. But they seem like a fully legit business so I'm sure it will be with you sooner or later.

 

[D.O.G.]

That's too cool Phil. I know it hasn't come in yet but Good luck and enjoy. Can you tell us which solo camera you order? 1-2 or 3? You know your going to be the ginney pig for all the RC members interested in this camera like my self. Inquiring mines want to know ? Lol

 

[trainrider06]

You guys and your fancy gizmo's! Make me sick! I want one dang it! Lol

 

[Heliman450]

Hi all, I decided on the Optic65 camera to go along with the base. The order confirmation is quoting autumn (fall) for the delivery but from what Steve says, I'm not going to hold my breath.

As soon as it turns up, I'll start a thread in the video section and we can follow its performance there

Bye for now!

- - - Updated - - -

You guys and your fancy gizmo's! Make me sick! I want one dang it! Lol

Right now, I'm going easy on the heli fleet and only have two (the Beam E4) is waiting for me to return to it. The way I see it, the camera will work for whatever I do in future, whether it's my heli or someone else's.

 

[trainrider06]

I'd really like to see what this camera is all about! Really sounds cool!
Getting anymore flights in Phil?

 

[Heliman450]

I'd really like to see what this camera is all about! Really sounds cool!
Getting anymore flights in Phil?

Hi Rodney, one thing I never even considered when I got started in this hobby was just how difficult it can be to get the stick time. It's much better now that I have four batteries so I get more consistent sessions. Unfortunately, I can't just go outside and practice like I've seen you and others doing in their videos. I can only go to my flying club and on top of that I can only fly at the helipad, not in the carpark or just off the track that leads up to the club. Two days of rain stopped me and during this time I went down with a bad cold, cough and lost yesterday, which was the first sunny day. I'll be going today, for sure!

I must say that I support the restrictions as it only takes a few idiots doing something stupid and many suffer when the rule makers clampdown on everybody concerned as we've seen with the drone 'sindrone' (syndrome ).

I want to lift my skills and hopefully I'll be able to give the new camera a good test when it arrives. Fingers crossed!

 

[trainrider06]

It is frustrating, although I am only about 15 mins from my club I have not been there in 2 months... time and weather have not been kind to me this year...

 

[Heliman450]

Hi all, last entry on this thread for a while I think. Major crash today I can't say for certain why it was but my thinking is mechanical failure as I was going ok doing a bit of backwards and forwards flying when it didn't seem to be responding to my left stick to increase pitch and gradually came towards the ground and didn't stop going despite giving full stick (I'm sure I didn't freeze). I'm not too concerned as I was thinking about taking it out of service for a big shakedown anyway and during the time update my Jeti firmware and if anything occurs to me maybe upgrade something . Steve's always good for ideas on that score. I'd probably have upgraded the head to DFC but following his previous bad feedback on DFC, I probably will just stay with standard FBL, let's see.

Unfortunately, my wonderful turn-buckles are nowhere to be found not sure if I'll get them in time to come together with the rest of the job if I order them up now. In that case, I'll just use the normal rods.

Let you know how it goes.

 

[Smoggie]

That's a pain in the a$$ Phil, it was flying so well too.

The Spirit does data logging so if you go in and download the log it might give you a glue to whet the problem was. The data log can be invaluable, just last week i had some glitches and brief power losses on my KDS Agile and the data log showed multiple reception errors on the satellite receivers, so i changed and repositioned the sats and the log is error free now plus no more glitches. It would have took me weeks of trial and error otherwise.

 

[Heliman450]

That's a pain in the a$$ Phil, it was flying so well too.

The Spirit does data logging so if you go in and download the log it might give you a glue to whet the problem was. The data log can be invaluable, just last week i had some glitches and brief power losses on my KDS Agile and the data log showed multiple reception errors on the satellite receivers, so i changed and repositioned the sats and the log is error free now plus no more glitches. It would have took me weeks of trial and error otherwise.

Hi Steve, that's a good idea. I just dragged it back to my shop and dumped it in the corner........ not quite, but I wasn't feeling up to starting anything right then. I've still got the Blade 450X on the bench at the moment.

I was looking for the part numbers and came across some new products......... a three blade head and tail............ now that sounds interesting and looks super cool. It isn't DFC either what do you think of that?

 

[Smoggie]

I understand the 'throw it in a corner' urge, I'd feel the exact same way, i hate crashing. Give it a day or two.

The three blade heads look like nice bits of kit. I think the main reason to go three blade is just for the 'cool factor'.. Performance wise I don't think there is really any significant advantage, but if it 'floats your boat' the why not. i did read of a geometry problem on the three blade tail that gave unequal travel, but that was on the 700, the 550 might not be affected.

 

[Heliman450]

I understand the 'throw it in a corner' urge, I'd feel the exact same way, i hate crashing. Give it a day or two.

The three blade heads look like nice bits of kit. I think the main reason to go three blade is just for the 'cool factor'.. Performance wise I don't think there is really any significant advantage, but if it 'floats your boat' the why not. i did read of a geometry problem on the three blade tail that gave unequal travel, but that was on the 700, the 550 might not be affected.

Thanks for the feedback Steve, I'm just going through compiling the parts list for only what I need for the repair/overhaul. I'll see what the cost is and think it over for a while.

 

[Heliman450]

Hi all, I decided to publish one last video in my series. I didn't cut anything out, only trimmed the start and finish to give 3mins 30secs. It's the last video before my T-Rex met planet Earth, so although the crash isn't videoed I think the series covers a period when my hovering improved. Unfortunately, I didn't get to video a stable nose-in hover but I think that I'd never have tried to do anything else if I'd waited much longer

So, here it is..........

[video=youtube_share;5iqSJ1VTrRg]https://youtu.be/5iqSJ1VTrRg[/video]

A few stats to finish up on:

1. Estimated flying time to date is now about 12 hours over a period since May when I first tested my T-Rex
2. Using some of the battery data the head has done around 1.5 million revolutions during my ownership plus whatever came prior to me buying it second hand
3. It's now going to get a really good overhaul including new bearings all round and probably a DFC head (sorry Steve)

Hopefully, I'll be able to video its return with my new SoloShot3 camera when my flying will be using a bit more sky

Bye for now!

Link to new thread: http://www.rc-help.com/showthread.php?15911-My-T-Rex-550-Rebuild