In summer of 2010, I got drawn back into radio controlled flight atfer a decade hiatus, because of the outstanding performance of electrics. My first three EDF planes are here. I modified the F18 with have leading edge droop and dropped the ailerons for more drag and lift for touch and gos. I would not have dreamt so long ago how good it would become.
The F4 and F18 are AirField's and the EF2000 is an Art-Tech. The kits came complete; battery, receiver, servos and transmitter. The Typhoon is a blast to fly, with ample power. The F18 is weak in comparison, but has the most control for approaches to landing, throttling in to nail the touchdown, looking very much the part. The F4 is a terrible beast, with horrendous thrust to pitch coupling - due to the lift change as the blast of air slips by underneath the empenage - fully corrected by electronically mixing throttle to elevator, changing it into a dream, zero pitch change at any power setting, and it's a rocket at 1 to 1 thrust to weight ratio! I added a 100K lumens white LED (1 W) behind the nosegear that turns on when cell voltage is above 3.7V, so if on approach the light is out, it's time to change the Lipo. The light is highly visible even in daylight. I sometimes mount a VGA camera on the tail of the F4 leading to some fun video.
The problem with ARFs that come complete, is a proliferation of radios! With the F5, also an Airfield, I began ordering the planes without the radio.
I got into electrics with these little twin counter rotating helis, driving them around my living room and garage, as they can't handle any breeze. Even the forced indoor heating air flow caused them some trouble.
Here's what happens when you have 1 second of inattention while carrying out a discussion flying a plane that can't be fully trimmed in roll and lose track of the orientation with gray skies as a backdrop... never again. Watch the video.
Yet two more planes joined the hangar - the BlitzRC F14 twin with flying tail and swing wings and a Mig 29 twin vectored thrust. The F14 is remarkable in its careful attention to structure and finish, whereas the Mig has poor finish and build, but is fantastically powerful at 1:1 thrust/weight.
During my holidays in the Philippines Dec '10, I brought a T45 EDF and 5 Lipos to keep me from getting bored. The hot weather, addition of a landing gear, FOD all over the sports complex, only one semi favourable aero entry point (three sides are cliffs and monstrous palm trees) and huge crowd, made it next to impossible to fly except before 9 am after a cold night. She'd climb on the stall. I once lost her behind trees, only to find her 60 feet up unscathed in a tree. A very flexible youth climbed up and down, not adding a scratch to the T45 or to himself. On the 12th flight, the fan disintegrated on a high speed pass. What a blast flying in tight quarters!
DIY 4 axis CNC foam cutting machine
I've been wanting to build a computer controlled hot wire foam cutting machine for a decade. With affordable eBay chinese stepper drivers and software apps that permit you to design wing and fuselage sections and cut them (driving the CNC) such as TJZoid, it was time to rifle through my boxes of spare parts and build one. Interestingly, the horizontal axis rail wheels are phenolic pulleys with bearing from a Cessna Citation business jet flight control cable system.
FPV/RPV generation 3
looking elsewhere on this site you've already noticed I've always wanted to have a remotely piloted vehicule. With ultra affordable and exceedingly capable electronics nowadays, there is no point in my building the electronics, so I bought a complete EagleTree telemetry system, coupled it with DIY circular polarized antennae and goggles. It takes quite a while to get it right, and I'm at the first step of a tall staircase. I had purchased a wing but cut the rest of the RPV - weird looking indeed. The *avionics* is in the removable tray in front of the RPV on the tool chest.
From 2013 to 2017, we lived on a 5.5 acre farm in Eastern Ontario and I rolled out 300'x17' of stitched poly-ethylene, stuff they used under road beds. Plainly seen from space! Was pretty good for EDFs, not much room for error. The farm was elevated 30' above the corn/soy fields, and I had 360 degree sky to fly into - bliss! We moved to a 20 acre farm further south, still have to roll the runway out again.
