I found this forum a short time ago searching for some info. Looks like another good place to learn so I signed up. I live in Central California at the base of the Sierra foothills between Yosemite and Kings Canyon. It's mostly rural farm land here so plenty of open spaces to fly. Once upon a time I used to fly RC sailplanes but I then got a job and all my free time vaporized. I retired about 10 years ago, but my career has been in systems engineering and network management.
A few years back a friend asked me what I knew about flying RC Helis. I tried to talk him out of it but ended up talking myself into it. Although I didn't have any recent RC Heli experience, I've always been intrigued by them. So... I bought a Tarot 450 kit for my first RC heli and surprisingly it's still flying today. Interestingly I managed to dig up my old hobby knife set which still has my old AMA sticker on the lid.
I'm still flying the 450 and I've added an Align 500 and an MCPX BL to my hangar. Been trying to fly Helis couple years now and I'm still very much a beginner. No 3D flying here. Just very basic sport flying on a good day. Part of the problem is I take long breaks in between flying sessions so progressing has been slow. You'd think being retired I'd have plenty of time to fly but it hasn't worked out that way. Always something competing for my time.
Recently I decided to give multi rotors a try and built a Tricopter based on the RCExplorer design. I had a rough time getting some the problems sorted out but right now it seems to be flying OK. Hopefully it continues that way because I actually like flying the Tri more than I expected. I've been fighting the Afro ESC motor sync issue although I think the new Afro firmware may have fixed it for me. The sync problem has been very intermittent so only more flying time will tell.
So that's my intro to me and my RC.
Thanks.
Dave
A few years back a friend asked me what I knew about flying RC Helis. I tried to talk him out of it but ended up talking myself into it. Although I didn't have any recent RC Heli experience, I've always been intrigued by them. So... I bought a Tarot 450 kit for my first RC heli and surprisingly it's still flying today. Interestingly I managed to dig up my old hobby knife set which still has my old AMA sticker on the lid.
I'm still flying the 450 and I've added an Align 500 and an MCPX BL to my hangar. Been trying to fly Helis couple years now and I'm still very much a beginner. No 3D flying here. Just very basic sport flying on a good day. Part of the problem is I take long breaks in between flying sessions so progressing has been slow. You'd think being retired I'd have plenty of time to fly but it hasn't worked out that way. Always something competing for my time.
Recently I decided to give multi rotors a try and built a Tricopter based on the RCExplorer design. I had a rough time getting some the problems sorted out but right now it seems to be flying OK. Hopefully it continues that way because I actually like flying the Tri more than I expected. I've been fighting the Afro ESC motor sync issue although I think the new Afro firmware may have fixed it for me. The sync problem has been very intermittent so only more flying time will tell.
So that's my intro to me and my RC.
Thanks.
Dave
