Micro Helicopters, the good ones.

Over the last two years, I've amassed quite a collection of 4 channel fixed pitch micro helicopters.

The first one was the Novus FP. In the photo it's on the right. I ended up with it because it was frighteningly cheap. Something like $80 with radio. It's not very easy to fly.

The Novus is darned near aerobatic. It's fast. It's twitchy. It wants to go FAST. And all of that makes it a really challenging heli to fly.

The next one was the Blade MCx. (it's the yellow helicopter) One of my former coworkers ended up buying one as a follow up to the Syma s107's I had been flying around the office. I figured if it was 4 channel, and he was flying it.. I'd get a kick out of it, and it would be easy to fly. It was! And it's transmitter was the gateway drug to my T-28, and Sukhoi.

The MCx isn't a very fast flyer. But it's amazingly stable. I kinda wish it were a bit faster. The Heli can be flown hands off most of the time. And if you're ever in trouble, just let go of the direction controls and it will sort itself out.

Most recently, I was wandering through a local hobby shop. And I saw a Blade MSR hanging from the ceiling. (it's the helicopter in the middle) Through some negotiation I got it, the red and blue bodies, a complete set of flight spares, two batteries, and the charger for $50.

To say the least I was happy. $50 is almost worth it just for the battery charger. The BNF MSR comes with a 4 port charger, and AC adapter.

The helicopter is not bad. The heli is quite stable. Nearly MCx stable. But the other side is that it's not very fast. Without doing some pendulum work to get the helicopter to tip over, the thing is very slow going forward and back. Slipping left and right is quite snappy though.

New parts from china: lets build a Nano DLG

 The new project is a Nano DLG. Here's what I have for radio gear.  A spectrum reciever, and some 4gram servos.  I need to decide if I am going to use that 420mah cell, and have it a powered glider as well, or stick with some 100mah cell. 

Here's the assembly video.. yes, the music is annoyingly christ heavy.  Nano DLG, build video

And here's a flight video:  Nano DLG flight video

I hope to have this built next week.

Two months on with a Parkzone Ultra Micro T-28

Flying is fun. Lots of fun. Enough fun that I'm willing to risk my airframe just to fly some more. My little T-28 isn't a very fast plane. And is much less fast when dragging landing gear around with itself.

I usually chose to fly without landing gear, but due to one late evening exercise in stupidity, I no longer have that option. I decided I'd try to fly under the parking lot lights at a local business park. It was quite a bit of fun, but one landing ended up contacting a curb, which ripped off the starboard landing gear. While gluing it back on, I managed to glue the landing gear into the mount.

I've managed to not get any pictures of my plane, really, at all. So while playing with the laser cutter at the pumpingstation I took a shot or two of it.

So this is after "well I've got nothing left to lose" repairs. The plane had started flying like it was carrying 30lbs extra in the air. And i figured it was all my glue and tape repairs. Buying a new airframe seemed sensable, so i did that.

I now have two T-28's. the one that didn't fly right, I decided I was going to dissect and put into a new airframe. Something custom, something more aerobatic. But while looking to take the plane apart, I found that the control horns weren't actually controlling the rudder or elevator.

It's amazing what a little foam safe CA and cardboard will do for control authority.

I still wanted to make a new airframe. .... And because it has a picture of my latest little model aircraft tool, I'm going to give you a preview of what I'm building.

Yes, that was cut on the laser cutter. It's a clone of the Ace Littlest Stick.

Left center you'll see a bunch of E-flite batteries. I have put Velcro on the back of a laminated business card so I can keep track of my cells easily. I hate losing $5 batteries at the turn of my head.

I think we're getting near time to review the T-28. I've put 20-30 batteries through it, so I think we're deep enough that we can say I know the plane well.

Drinking the ParkZone Kool-Aid

It's been a bad weekend for my wallet. But a good weekend for hobbico. A buddy of mine picked up a MCX Helicopter last week. He bought it because his syma S-107 bit the dust.

$80 later he's flying his 4 channel heli around the office. Lucky guy.

I hear his review, and decide I should do the same thing. I bought one on sunday. .... I'm an idiot for not buying one sooner. I'll post a full review later.

Monday rolls around, and while riding my bike after lunch, I stop by my local hobbytown. I'm wandering around, and I noticed that the transmitters for the Ultra Micro series planes, and my MCX are the same.

So later that evening, I'm flying my brand spanking new T-28 around the local park. 17mph winds and all. Turns out I can fly a 4ch airplane.