Good but cold!

It was good flying but just over 40F with a light breeze.  Dick Smith was there at first but the wind chill got to him so he departed right after I got there.  I put in 4 packs on the X5 plus 4 full tanks of glow through the SNAFU.  Great fun and flying.  Did not forget how to fly a plane, and did not screw up and crash the X5 by switching back and forth.

Good Goblin

Flew my remaining Goblin today, the 630 for 3 flights.  Also flew the X5 for 4 flights.  That used up 10 battery packs.  Weather was low overcast with a few blue sky patches now and then, but the wind was very light to nothing.  Great flying weather with 50F!  Resumed where I was, doing half loops into inverted and flying straight for a bit then pulling out.  No cajones to try a turn again though.  X5 has the new MONSTER canopy which is easier to see than the stock red, white, and black one.

Gobbled up Goblin 500

Shitcanned the Goblin 500 on Thursday I think.  Did not want to write about it, still have not looked at the junk pile on the garage floor, exactly where I left it after coming home that day.  First flight was great.  On second flight, shortly after lift off and going to IU1, I was turning towards the North field.  All of a sudden I heard a ping or crack sound, and I think I saw something small fly off to the NE.  The heli began to rotate one direction.  This is maybe 10' above the dirt road.  I panicked, hit throttle off like in a plane.  DUH, that is full negative pitch, and the heli instantly responded with a deafening crunch on the hard pack of the muddy dirt road.  No cushioning there.  It was ugly, couldn't even find many parts.  Dunno what flew off or if the heli was able to land but I did not give it a chance....too ingrained on airplane emergencies and I haven't been flying the helis frequently due to the Winter.  Oh well.  I got out the Goblin 630 and flew it for three flights, lol.

Now what day was that?

Tad reminded me to update my blog for a day that I went flying last week.  I can't remember the day, but earlier in the week, perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday, I took the X5 and the G500 to the field.  Got in four packs on the Goblin, but only two on the X5.  I had two more new batteries for the X5 however I forgot to stick velcro on them for firm attaching to the heli frame.  For all six flights, I stayed close and low due to pretty bad fog.  It was safe close in.  No flips or long passes.

Storm Approaching

This one was a struggle to get the sky done.  Originally I had very black clouds on the right side of the painting.  I finished the painting that way.  Then San came home and I asked her to look at it like always.   She really hated the black clouds, heck!  So I took another hour to scrape off the right side of the sky and replace it several times till I came up with what is in the pic.  It involved painting the left half in places to darken the blue evenly with the right, and to add more clouds to match the right side.  Anyway, it is done and my pal critic says it works okay now, lol.  Lucky the wave and beach went on easy today, and I feel good about my comfort level with doing those features.

I'd say this is my last painting for 2014, 94th in my career, haha.

Lakeside Chateau

Here is the painting I did for Andy yesterday.  This was per her request for one like J's (see #85 in right margin) but with a cabin in it, and still with a lake.  I feel good about this one as the mountains came out nice, so did the many layers of trees with misty spaces between them.  The cabin came together easy, and the grass and bushy area from the cabin to the shore turned out the best I've done yet.  The feel for meadowy hills is coming slowly, but surely?

Private Privy!

Why in the world Sue wants an outhouse in a painting, but I fulfilled the request today.  She wanted a painting like J's but horizontal, and she wanted an outhouse in it.  Andy already asked for a cabin in hers, so I guess she did not want to be a copycat.  Anyway, the whole painting came out pretty nice.  In fact San says it is my best ever, but I dunno about that personally.  It was fun though, and indeed a good one, just not my personal favorite.

My 92nd painting using Bob Ross'es wet on wet method and paints.

Goblin up the good weather!

IT was a surprisingly nicer day than anticipated.  While I charged up all my 10 packs last night and this morning in prep for flying, I didn't think it would be so good.  Wow was it nice, dead calm when I got there, but the wind indeed gradually increased with every passing minute.  By the time I left a couple hours later, the wind was between 5 and 10mph.

I got in 4 packs on the Goblin 500 first, followed by 6 packs for 3 flights on the Goblin 630.  I feel like I made a major breakthrough on inverted flight.  The breakthrough is being able to get inverted easily, settle down to a stop or slow steady forward flight, then execute a half turn to the left.  I then would pull back to upright with either a half roll or half loop.  I also did a few half cuban 8's via doing a little more than half a loop, then rolling out on the downward inverted path from the top of the loop.  Not saying any of this looks great, but I can do it consistently without panic and disorientation.  Now I can work on smoothness and placement, and making a full inverted circle!  It is awesome to make progress.

Brrrrrrr

43F was the high when I was at the field today, brrrrrrrr!  Good thing it was calm so there was no wind chill factor.  Sky was hazy with high overcast and thankfully no fog.  I got in 10 flights on various aircraft today....4 on the G500, 2 on the X5, 2 on the G630, and 2 on the Star.  Not another soul was there unless you count two brutish dogs that wandered through.  One was large German Shepard, the other a Boxer.  I stayed in the car when they came near, but they seemed wary and moved away when I yelled at them to get out of there.

Flying was good.  I did way more inverted than usual, and in fact tried a few half circles with both Goblins.  Not very good, but good for first attempts.  Did not crash so there is the silver lining!  I wandered far and got disoriented though, but always recovered and came back to try again.  Part of the problem is flying high to be safe, but therefore not being able to see the heli attitude and speed well.  It's ok, I will build stick time, gain confidence gradually, and get lower, then better with time.  I only used the Goblins for the inverted flying since the X5 is hard to see in comparison.

Was only able to get two packs charged for the Star, but it was old reliable as usual.  :)

Foggy yet again

Today was clear at 6AM and then fog rolled in or developed, but I went flying anyway at 9:30...no worse than any other day, but no better either.  The wind was a little higher than anticipated too, but still flyable.  I got in 4 packs on the G500, 2 on the X5, and 4packs/2 flights on the G630.  Feel like I am at a plateau of progress.  Wanted to try my first turns in inverted forward flight, but I did not feel confident with the wind, so I left that for another day.  The stick time is still good for getting more confident at the things I already do.  I notice for example that I am not hesitant about making small right circles anymore.  While I favor left ones for ease of execution, I am not afraid to do right ones as well.  Also I am flipping in all directions more, and getting more axial at them.  I just want to fly inverted or backwards soon!  Better hit the sim to enable that sooner than later.

Foggy

My 500 and 630

Foggy like preceding days, but very flyable.  Got 4 packs on the G500 and 6/2=3 flights on the 630.  Tad maidened his new black and white Goblin 570 successfully, with helpful tuning tips from Quang.   Looks like a good new heli, very quiet!  He also had a few flights with his 500.  Quang had a couple flights with his G800 and also his 7HV.  What a good heli pilot.

Tad's G500 and new G570!

Tad's new Goblin 570

Quang's G800 zooming by inverted, lol.

Pleasant Practice!

As opposed to my painting practice yesterday, today's practice flying of my helis was extremely pleasant, lol.  Foggy skies prevailed early but I got out there to avoid later winds.  It was already likely 5mph+ when I flew.  Barely 50F but I felt fine and never once ran into the warm truck.  Just drank hot water sometimes.  Got in 3 packs on the G500, then one on the X5.  Those warmed my brain up enough to then take 2 flights on the G630, yeah baby, and then ended with one each on the 500 and X5.  Liking them all, but the 630 is growing on me more and more and might be my fave very soon.  When that happens I will need more packs to fly it enough, haha.  It is just so easy to see due to its size and color, and it is slower yet very nimble still.  With all three helis, I did a bunch of flips and loops with extended tops to practice inverted more.  Also stopped while inverted to pyro 180, then pull the other half of the loop.  Kinda fun.  Need to develop more cajones to try more stuff, but I am hesitant in the foggy and grey skies that prevail in the Fall and Winter, meaning my vision is at its worst in those conditions.

Painful Practice

I challenged myself to paint deciduous trees and grassy areas today, using a model painting we see at Momiji Japanese restaurant.  Would love to be able to emulate it better.  Gotta start somewhere so I ventured an attempt today.  Boy it was painful.  Results are so so, and I can only improve with more attempts.  The main challenges are to find the right brush for the technique, and to have the right consistency of paint.  Thinner paint sticks to thicker/drier paint, so the leaves and rolling grass need to be thinner consistency than the underlying dark paint.

Here is the model that I admire!  I'll get there someday...

Doesn't get Better!

Wow what a nice day in the Fall...calm air, no rain, crisp air at about 55F, hazy sky.  Well, if the sky was blue, it would be better visibility for my poor eyes, but I will take today anytime this Winter!  Using my yellow overglasses, I see pretty decent.  No disorientations today!

Got 3 packs through the G500, then 2 through the X5.  I was going to use my last single pack in the X5 but decided the G500 is more visible and I would minimize my chance for disorientation.  The X5 is just harder to see in a hazy sky.  And that left me 4 packs to make 2 flights on the Goblin 630.  Sublime time!  I am liking it more as Tad thought I would.

Wave crazy!

#90 and #89, left to right

Having a ball practicing my wave action in my paintings.  Did the right one on Fri, and the left one yesterday.  Totally good fun.  I struggle on each one a little but the payoff comes soon when each painting is done.  These are both 16x20 since I have lots of those stretched canvases right now.  No two ever identical because I make a lousy copy machine.  Right now I am getting lots of color in these seascapes with the sunrise or sunset skies and then the beach and water color variations.  I have now done 90 oil paintings using Bob Ross'es wet on wet method, and his paints and brushes.  Works great for me!

#90, Wave Splendor

#89, Ahhhsome Waves

Flight Log: 11/01/2014

Jeremy with his Warp 360.  Front to back are my X5, G500, and G630

Great fun flying helis with Tad, Jer, and Quang this morning.  It was calm but a little cool with temps barely hitting 50F.  Jer sure was cold though, and sat in the truck a lot to warm up between flights.  He repaired his Warp 360 finally and flew it well today.  Tad had his G500 and G700.  Quang brought his new (to him) Compass 7HV.  And I flew my G500, X5, and new G630.  I got in 3 packs on the G500, one on the X5, and 3(x2) on the G630.  Quang noted that my 700 sounded like it was screaming at a high head speed, and so I took off some very light balance tapes I had on the main and tail blades.  With those removed, the heli still sounded the same.  So I used IU1 instead of IU2 on my xmitter and the heli sounded fine, effortless like Tad's 700.  The diff is my throttle curve is only 86-83-80-83-86 on IU1 while it is 90-87-84-87-90 on IU2.  A few points sure makes a difference.

Tad and his G500

Quang and his 7HV.  Tad's G700 left, my G630 right.

700 on left, 630 on right.  NICE SIZES!

Lift off of the G700.

Just wanted to show fully clothed Warp 360!

Foggy but Flyable!

I charged 10 batteries for the helis last night, then was faced with fog this morning.  The fog thinned enough by 10AM for me to head out for a try at flying.  Happily it was as thin at the field, and I got to fly the helis.  I just had to stay close in for a few flights at first.  First I ran three packs through the Goblin 500 to warm up my brain.  After that I ran six packs through the Goblin 630, but that makes just 3 flights since the 630 uses two packs at once.  Concluded with the last pack on the 500.  Pretty much did the usual things after a few flights and the fog thinned even more to provide decent visibility...stall turns, loops, flips, and a little straight inverted flight.  The 630 is nice and stable, almost slow and too stable compared to the 500!

Back to oil painting, finally!

Gosh I took a long break from my oil paintings...my last ones were done in January 2014, so it has been almost 10 months since I held the brushes!  I just got into enhancing my HO trains from Feb to May, then put them away and flew my helis (some planes too) for the Summer.  Now we are into Fall and rainy days have commenced running together one after another.  When I walked this morning, some ideas popped into my head for my next painting, and I came home and got set up immediately in the bonus room, on the pool table as usual.  Here is what I produced today, not bad after the long layoff that made me wonder if I still knew how to paint!

Misty Hills

Big Easy...the Goblin 630

I maidened my new Goblin 630 today and it was totally uneventful!  Kinda anti-climatic actually!  I guess with good assembly and preparation, that is how it should work out, lol, so I am grateful and satisfied.  I had my G500 and X5 with me today too.  First I put 3 packs through the G500 and 2 through the X5 to get my bearings and confidence since flying is getting irregular now in the Fall.  Had not flown since 8 days ago.

Those flights went well, so I busted out the Goblin 630 from the bed of the Nissan Kingcab, and installed the 2 Glacier 4000 30C packs.  After announcing I was doing a maiden and to be wary, I spooled up the 630.  Sounds pretty impressive compared to 500 size helis!  Liftoff and the flight were smooth and without any surprises, very good.  I made an easy flight with no flips or stall turns, just some slow piros, and calm forward flight.  It's easy to fly slow and make tight flat circles.  Did a few fast piros and the rotation seems fast enough for my flying, being no 3D pilot.  Ran 4 minutes and 30 seconds like usual for my 500's, and landed softly.  Meter showed 3.81V per cell just like when I run the packs singly.  Sounds like a good thing to me.  After a short rest to calm down, I loaded the 630 with 2 Turnigy 4000 40C packs.  I am too dense to tell much difference between the Glacier 30C and the Turnigy 40C packs.  I would say the CG was probably more nosewise and therefore stable with the Turnigy packs, but I can fly both without a performance difference to my dumb fingers and brain, lol.  Now time will tell if I prefer the 630 versus the 500 size helis!

Dummy me forgot to snap some pics at the field today, so this will have to do!

I flew the X5 with tighter gear mesh today for the first time.  Due to the inability to removed the motor plate with motor from the frame, and no access to the mesh otherwise, I used the very crude method of using a nail punch with a hammer to slide the motor back for a tighter mesh, via the heads of the two socket bolts that are exposed on each side of the CF frame.  Crude but effective!  Anyway the X5 sounded just a little different with a slight drone or up and down hum, but not in any way a binding noise.  Flew well like usual, so the gear mesh will suffice for now.

The G500 was its great self, smooth but responsive and active, just not touchy like the X5 borders upon.  I still love the Dragon canopy, boom, tail skid, and LG that Tad and Becky gave me last Christmas, making the G500 very visible in the air and on the tables at the field!  Best looking heli there on any day, lol.  That's for Tad to frown upon.  ;)

I'm Baaaaack!

After an emergency trip to see my Mom in Hawaii, I am back home.  I only had four battery packs ready for the Goblin 500 today, and I made very easy flights to get my heli senses back.  All were close in and low speed due to dense grey overcast.  At least it was nearly 60F.  Breezes were stronger at my house when I was trying to decide to go flying or not.  Glad I went as the wind was almost non existent at the field.  Felt good to do a whole lot of slow and low right and left figure 8's and circles, just getting used to the bird, and practicing collective management.  Had to do one back flip and it was fine on the last flight, haha.  Ready for more now, but mother nature might be making a mess of things as Fall sets in.

Flight log: 10/02 and 10/03/14

Logged in 4 flights on the G500 and 3 on the X5 this morning.  Yesterday with Tad, I had 4 on the G500 and 6 on the X5, plus 3 on the Battlewing with Tad. We had just one hit where I got Tad good, but then we both proceeded to fly the other guy's wing down, haha.  Both ended up in the dirt of the north field, so neither could claim a kill, lol.

Flying helis was good and I am doing a little bit of inverted at the top of many loops, going so far as to piro 180 and then complete the downward half of the loop.  Getting more and more comfortable and I can tell I am getting lower on the inverted flight so that I can see the heli better.

Flight log: 10/01/14

The first day of October was a beauty for flying.  Got 4 packs in the G500, 4 in the X5, and 3 on the Battlewing.  Very clear sky, bright, and mild, with little to no wind.  WOW!  I was not the only one attracted by the fine conditions:  Rudy, Ashton, Glover, Bob R, and Mike L were there too.  Hmmm, that is as many guys as some Saturdays or Sundays!

I enjoyed doing more inverted with both helis.  In fact I was able to do a half piro while hovering inverted up high, my first one, and it was uneventful and grin producing.  :)  Did many inverted longer forward flight paths at the top of loops, and adjusted with up or down pitch to maintain level flight (sorta) and not build up speed.  Also worked in more slow back flips vs the usual full back stick I have used in the past.

Nobody was there to combat, but I just flew sport with the Battlewing, and maybe can be better in actual combat sorties.  Made a couple good hand catches and flubbed a couple others off my finger tips.

So gorgeous

Wow the weather was perfect today for flying.  Only around 55F when I went out, but it warmed slowly and was calm at first to slightly breezy near noon.  I got in 4 packs on the G500, 6 on the X5, and 3 on the Battlewing.  All heli flying was good, no disorientations today in the bright sun and clear sky.  Got in more inverted time and felt happy doing it.  Also did much slow flying in circles  and often trying to stay at one altitude to force better collective control.

At the end I flew my wing against Dick's Scythe.  He has propped it down and it flies just about the same speed as my Battlewing.  We finally had contact on the 3rd flight today, and I won because mine stayed up in the air while the Scythe fell to the ground with a busted prop.  I can see where his stiff prop made a gouge on the top of my wing, fore of the aileron.  I think it means I hit him coming from behind and under, but the whole thing happened quick and in all honesty by chance even though we were chasing hard.  Good fun, and I think the two different wings match up real good such that I do not need to buy a Scythe.

Bigger than Normal Funfly

IT was a fun day even though hardly anyone showed up.  We had about 6 flyers, though, counting Tad on helis, so it was good fun anyhow!  Let's see...Tad, Rudy, Mike, Ashton, me, and late arrival Joe, haha.  Spectators respectfully outnumbered pilots!  Maybe there were a dozen spectators or 15 total.

Rudy's Nuance in foreground.  Me and Bravata next.  Joe in back.

Got my Bravata up for 4 satisfying flights, each of 8 minutes.  Gasoline runs long!  Just have to love that plane for wide speed range, stability, visual impact, flap fun, and easy take off and landing.  Can't complain about it at all.  DLE-30 ran well today, and the gas tank maintenance yesterday (new internal lines) had no ill effect.

Bravata on low fly by.  Tad's helis on table.  Tad's nice pic!

Tad did well as usual, using all 7 of his packs...3 on the 700, and 4 on the 500.  I am looking forward to flying helis again tomorrow/Sunday with him.

The only other big bird there was really Mike's Super Sportster which he flew a couple times.  He also had his big Cessna but never got it up due to a temperamental engine.  Joe flew his Frankenstein combo big bird for all of 10 seconds when the wing departed the fuselage.  Body bag was needed for the zillion fuse parts out in the middle of the 80 acres.  Wing fluttered down fine.  Rudy did fine with his repaired Nuance...flies great again even with repair, which is hardly noticeable from 5'.  I guess the Nuance counts as a big bird actually, since it is a 2M plane.

The spectators seemed to enjoy the flying even though we had so few planes.

Real first day of Fall

Today is the real first day of Fall per the calendar and internet.  I flew the Goblin 500 three packs and then mowed the runway.  After that the wind was still up but I decided to fly more since at least it was not raining and our dry days are  coming to an end.  Got out the X5 for two packs.  On both helis, I stayed close and mostly slow due to the sky conditions...grey overcast, dark, ugly.  Under such conditions I see mostly silhouettes of the helis and easily lose orientation.  Staying close was good for practicing slow and small circles and turns.  Those are actually harder to fly than big fast ones.

Great first day of Fall!

Slight wind from the South, but it was great flying nonetheless.  Got in 4 packs on the X5 (two were new 30c Glaciers), 2 on the G500, 5 on the Star, and about 5 on the Battlewing.  Whew, kinda tired after all that.  On the helis, I tried to do a little longer straight line inverted forward flight at the top of loops.  Seemed more comfortable today.  Also did a little straight line backward upright flight, trying to prolong the lines.  Tad flew 3 packs on the G700 and 4 on the G500, all in usual graceful fashion.

Tad, Quang, Dan, and I had 3 Battlewing sorties.  Out of all that air time, there was only a single touch between Quang and Tad, with both safely recovering flight in the air.  Dan and Quang like to fly fast, therefore higher and farther out, so it makes it hard to make contact under those conditions.

The Star was its usual well behaved self.  With the South wind, it was fun doing landings on the heli-mat, approaching over the dirt road.  Spent a whole battery just shooting landings continuously.

Goblin 500

It was a gorgeous day morning on Friday and I flew six packs through the Goblin 500.  Did a little bit of everything, trying holding inverted longer in slow straight line flight at the top of a loop, and also flying upright backwards.  That one is unnerving to me.  So easy on the sim, but hard in real life with much investment at risk.  I will just go about those two slowly.  Didn't have anything else to fly because I did not want anything exposed in the car when I went to the optometrist before flying.

Also flew earlier in the week, maybe Tuesday, and forgot to log/blog the flights on the G500 and X5, probably a couple flights on each.

Fun in the sun with the son

Flew with Tad today and we had the field to ourselves the whole time.  I even mowed most of the field in the under 2 hours I was there.  I had four packs through the Goblin 500 and two through the X5.  Tad got four on his 500.  Flew mostly close in but ventured away a few times when it seemed I could see ok in the mostly overcast sky today.  When close in I tried to do lots of small controlled circles with little bank.  Did fly in reverse a few times up a mistake high.  Tried to hold on as long as I could before feeling discomfort and having to 180 pyro and get the nose going forward again, lol.

Tad flew great, seems more impressive each time we go out.  I would love to get to his level of confidence and performance flying backwards at times and inverted at other times.  Great stuff, ballet in the air.

Eight was Enough

Got in 8 packs on the helis today...4 on the Goblin 500 and 4 on the Gaui X5! Conditions were great weather wise with calm air, blue skies, and mild temperature.  There were workers on the field adjusting irrigation and mowing, but I stayed over the north field and they did not affect me much.  For flying today, I tried to fly slow and make many, many small controlled circles left and right, while maintaining level altitude.  Good practice.  Also tried just slow and easy reverse flight in a straight line while up pretty high.  Slight turns are up next.  Bailout move was to pyro 180 to be heading forward again.  Satiated and tired when out of packs!

Not quite mayhem yet!

Quang brought his friend Dan down, and both brought Battlewings to do air combat with Alex and me.  Great fun, but not as many hits as one might expect.  There might have been 6 hits at most in 6 sorties.  Nobody incurred significant damage.  Worst damage was done by rough landings on the north field, haha.  It's exciting and I think we got Brandon/Bruce interested, lol.  My personal highlight of the sorties was one of my hand catches.  I had to stretch as high as I could with my right hand, caught the wing, then lost my balance as I came down on the dirt road.  Almost fell flat in the dirt with xmitter in the left hand and wing in the right, but I regained my balance and footing.  Whew, lol.

Alex flew his Trex 450 DFC twice and I got in 4 packs on the Goblin 500.  I had the X5 and as many packs but did not get to fly it.  I think Battlewings tires us out!

Failure to launch

My main bird was the AW Ultimate 50cc today, but it did not want to run right, so it never got off the ground.  The DLE-55 would start, idle, then would not take almost any increase in throttle.  The engine would continue to run, but unsteadily and sort of like at about 1/2 throttle.  It never died.  I tried various high needle settings and none worked any better.  So back it went into the truck, and I flew my Goblin 500 for two packs, all I had charged for it because I anticipated flying the Ultimate.

Later in the day at home, I figured I have either a carburetor problem or a gas tank problem.  Since the gas tank is an easier job, I went that way, and removed the tank.  I found that the Tygon tubes inside the tank were all as stiff as hard plastic!  I replaced all the inside tubing, and also the line from the tank to the carb.  Other tubes seemed flexible enough.  While this might be the cause of the situation today, I am not sure.  Only trying to start the engine will tell either way.  Probably will do that tomorrow in the backyard.

Beautiful day but....

Only Rudy and I were there to fly!  Ridiculous level of inactivity in our club, lol.  It was gorgeous with very light wind, one guy working on the field that did not bother us, nice temperature.  Oh well.  I flew my Goblin four packs, and X5 two.  THe sky rapidly filled with clouds and overcast so I lost orientation a few times over the north field, same orientation each time...chopper facing west generally , me facing north, sun rising on the right/east.  That typically gives pretty good silhoutte conditions and I see the chopper profile the same for either NW or SW orientations of the nose!  Kinda scarey.  Hoping for better prescriptions for my glasses this Friday when I visit the optometrist to really fine tune to minimize the astigmatism effects...I see too many double edges on objects.

Also took my Battlewing up for 4 packs and had a ball just zipping it around.  Good practice for future battles!

Note to self:  I lowered the gain one point last night, so it is now at 42.  Seems just right now, rock solid tail, with no tail wag sounds.  That doesn't make sense, but the tail wag was not visible, it was audible.

Heli Sunday

Great time today flying with Tad, Quang, Allen.  Latter is Quang's good friend visiting from Kentucky!  The guy can fly like crazy, even better and crazier than Quang.  He flies an old Trex 450 and a Gaui X5, both old and basically beaters from years of use and likely zillions of flights.

Allen and Quang

Allen doing indescribable 3D with his Trex 450

Allen's 450 and X5

Quang and his Goblin 500 and Hobby People EDF jet...SUPER FAST!

I flew my Goblin 500 for 4 packs, Gaui X5 twice, and the Factor for six packs.  Goblin 500 needed gain lowered, so Quang dropped it a few points for me at the field using his laptop.  That helped a lot to reduce some tail chatter, and I will lower the gain one more point at home.  The increase in motor pulley from 18T to 19T is the cause of the chatter.  Excellent!  Both the 500 and the X5 flew great and I felt real comfortable, owing likely to the clear blue sky and full sun that create the best visibility for my lousy eyes.  Tad flew great with both his 500 and 700, 7 flights in all.  Really coming along good, the confidence shows in the air.

Quang flew his 500, 800, nitro 700, and the red F-16 in the photo above.  He just flies good, period.  Awesome was the jet....super fast.  And with high speed low level passes skimming the grass or dirt, wowser it is impressive.  And it only has elevons for control!  $30 he says, from Hobby People, for the airframe only.  

3rd place!

Prizes for the Challenge...winners pick what they want based on finish position.

Came in 3rd today in the KRCA Club Challenge.  Crazy as it is, Steven came in 1st, Dick 2nd by just 3 seconds over me in 3rd, durn it, haha.  Next came Mike, Bob, Rudy, Ashton, and Ron.  Good fun, and I won $35 plus my choice of planes left, and I took a large Piper Cub that I intend to sell or trade.  Tasks are shown in the pic below.

My flight times were short of the 2 minuted 14 second mark, by 25 seconds, 3, and 12, for the tasks shown.  My internal clock was to sing Lullaby and Goodnight four times, and then add 10 to 20 seconds on the end by counting, dependent on whether I thought I sang fast or slow, haha.  Needless to say, I need another method!!!  FUN nonetheless, and everyone won a prize.  Oh, I flew the Star in the event. It was followed up with a nice hot dog picnic under our awning.

The Star

Dick's Stick

Mike and Ron flew UCanDo's

Old farts having fun

4x4

Got in 4 packs on the Dragon G500, and 4 on the X5 today!  Felt good doing that albeit very tame due to a nasty cough I have had over a week.  Just not feeling too sharp but I need the flying time for relaxation.  At least I did not crash!  I tried my move once and got so off that I ended up doing a backward flip of some sort from a vertical nose up starting position, lol.  Everything went well though, and the new Gobby is a sweet machine like the Pulse edition was.

Back to normal?

Got in 4 packs on the new Goblin 500, and 4 on the X5 today.  Felt like being back to almost normal.  The Gobby behaved well and I really like having it back in the fleet.  The X5 felt the same as usual.  Re the Gobby, I lowered the throttle curve a couple points in IU2, and the batteries read perhaps a smidge less drainage at 3.78V or so.  Performance change?  Unnoticeable.

She's back!

The Gobby 500 is back in fine form.  My new Quantum 4120-1200kv motor came on Monday after ordering Friday night!  Got it installed last night, and took the Goblin through 4 full packs today for lots of fun flying.  Did some flips already and stall turns, but no inverted yet.  Seems as good as ever, just slightly different on the left stick due to the increased motor pulley from 18T to 19T.  Motor seems to come down hotter, and the batteries now consistently check out at about 3.75-3.80V instead of 3.82V per cell after each flight of 4.5 minutes.

Flew the Gaui X5 for two packs, and with the stock formula canopy back on, after repairs due to the crash a few months back.

Dum Dum

Went to fly on Saturday with the Giles and Apache.  When I went to assemble the Giles at the field, I had the wrong wing tube...the Yak tube instead.  Dum dum!  So I flew the Apache about 30 minutes and it was too early to have thermals.

Today/Sunday I made sure I had the right tube.  Got in two nice flights with the Giles.  Such a good flying plane and powerhouse engine!  Too bad the pitts style muffler came loose again so I had to stop flying after two full flights.  I again flew the Apache perhaps 15 minutes, and again it was too early to have thermals.  Got my exercise though, lol.

Update on 08/25/2014:  I removed the muffler bolts, cleaned them and the holes with alcohol, then retightened with red threadlocker.  Hopefully that stops all three bolts from ever moving again..

Less than stellar

Tried my new Goblin 500 again today.  While it flew fine, the motor started to make a small squeal.  I think the bent motor housing is more than a cosmetic issue, so I will replace the motor.  No vibes due to the motor though, and the heli will be great when I get the new motor.  Later in the day, I ordered a new identical motor from RCDepot with 10% off sale, so it is $126.  After flying the Gobby, I ran 5 packs though the X5.  Not feeling very confident lately, but I made sure to get the stick time and try the usual things.

Goblin 500 Dragon maiden day!

I maidened the new Goblin 500 that replaces the Pulse edition that dirt napped a couple weeks ago due to the failed swash  plate.  The new one has the colorful dragon canopy, tail boom, and skids.  Looks very colorful!  The new gobby has other mods as well:  Lynx swash plate so I don't have the same failure again, Lynx tail stiffener, aluminum LG braces, Lynx HD main gear (survived crash in Pulse edition fine) , and a 19T "pinion" motor pulley.   The maiden went good enough, but was one flight only.  On landing I checked things over and found the motor housing had slipped open, meaning I had not fully engaged the c clip during reassembly.  Got it home and opened her up, and removed a thin shim from the Quantum motor shaft.   Now the c clip engages well, and the housing will not slip open again.  Looking forward to more flights!

I flew 4 packs through the X5 today too.

Heli of a day!

Sunday was cousin Ron's last full day in Oregon and therefore the last day to fly.  Great that my three sons joined Ron and me, and quang was there to boot.  We all flew Helis!  Add to that the battlewings and we had a blast and came home tired.  I only took three flights on the X5, but had several on the battlewings.  I was very content to watch and enjoy the others presence.   Sandy was a sweetheart, coming to watch us fly, and bringing spam musubi, grapes, and carrots for a light snack for us...even quang enjoyed the spam musubi.

Crazy Jeremy jumping OVER the helis!

450FBL, 450DFC, Warp360, Logo480, X5, G500, G500, 7HV, G700

Helis and pilots, too bad Jer is on other side of camera!

Flying kung fu masters!
Actually I was just clicking my heels, and
Tad was doing a flying kick.

Everyone got some good kills with the Battlewings today.  Lots of broken props and lost o ring prop savers, haha.   I think we get pretty noisy and raucous with the crazy Battlewings sessions, what a rush!  Ron gifted us with the three Battlewings and 27(!) batteries for them, as well as spare props and o rings.  Such a generous guy.  Other members have taken interest due to seeing us fly and making so much noise and excitement, lol, so a couple have already bought different wings.  Unfortunately those are too large, heavy, or fast to fly with ours.  While they would like to fly with us, we will not do so due to the uneven match should their wings hit our small ones.    It was great to hear that Quang ordered a couple of the Battlewings to do aerial combat with us.  Gonna be real mayhem with 4 of them in the air at once.  I can hardly wait!

Sad to see Jer crash the Warp 360 today.  He lost orientation doing piro flips facing the sun, and a little low.  While he gained control, he lost it again and hit the throttle hold button, and in she went.  Damage doesn't look too bad...new main and tail blades and tail blade grips.  He already has blades so it could be a cheap repair!