Did YOU fly today??

[buzzbird]

Did I fly today? Couple of flights early evening before dumb thumbs took the Esky Sport over the hedge. A burst of juice and back up it came, but then the wind got it and I fought to get it down but it kept travelling upwards and further away. Finally I just killed the power and gave up trying to save it. Last seen about 200 yds south plummeting into someone's garden.
That's me and FP done - I'll keep the unused one as a shelfie while I look for something else.

[trillian]

Maidened the cheap and cheerful 500 and trying Radix 690 V2s on the Faifa. The Faifa is great (and sharing packs with the 500! ) The Trex tail is a bit wonky, I fiddled with the gain but I think it's prob too much mechanical slop so I'll have to see what I can do with it before I take it out again, otherwise it's all working as far as I can tell

[electricsceadu]

the R22 and the Bell 47 were both out this weekend
the Bell 47 after its 2 year lay off has had a few fueling issues and although flying very well it needs it fuel tank looking at again
as it not delivering the full tank of fuel
an auto Saturday after the clunk line came off
and today running out of fuel after 11 minuites of running (it should still have over 1/2 a tank left)
both will be flying at the Cambridge Scale Fun Fly next week end

[barryorbik]

Just returned from our field with a broken Trex 250. Poor thing went mad and started doing very advanced 3D moves before i flicked the throttle cut switch about 10 feet up. She came down on her side and little damage apart from another stress crack in the canopy,one bent skid and a broken plastic DFC link - all caused by the V BAR coming loose because the glue on the gyro pad had given up in the heat. In fairness she had been on the bench in full sun for at least an hour before being flown but on the way home from the field the rear view mirror fell off in the motorhome because the double-sided pad holding it to the windscreen had the same problem. Must check all the other gyro pads as they say things happen in three's.!!

Have fun and stay safe.

Barry

[trillian]

Pretty much got the tail sorted on the 500 now. Earlier in the week I tried moving the link on the servo wheel and a different hub and grips and it was just not working with the DS525 servo. Now I have a 9257 and it's working pretty OK, not perfect but I can live with it. The Beam 450SE is great for something so small, and today they are twins with matching canopies.

[chrisleematt21]

Pretty much got the tail sorted on the 500 now. Earlier in the week I tried moving the link on the servo wheel and a different hub and grips and it was just not working with the DS525 servo. Now I have a 9257 and it's working pretty OK, not perfect but I can live with it. The Beam 450SE is great for something so small, and today they are twins with matching canopies.

Is that a firing range in the back ground?

[trillian]

Is that a firing range in the back ground?

Directly in the background is an old WW2 era building that was part of the Chain Home radar network at RAF Swingate. It has one floor above ground and then stuff underground.

[Mike Sanders]

Had a good day at Sunny (as usual) MK.

I tried some different blades on my 600 but couldn't detect any difference between them.

There wasn't much wind so I had a dozen flights with the foamy; superb fun.

[electricsceadu]

I pottered about the sky with my benzin trainer
and gave the 600nitro a good thrashing

I also carried out a multi rotor A test for a fellow club member
I don't know what he was worrrying about, the flight was perfect

[trillian]

Maidened the Shape S8. It was perfect right from the start, no FBL changes needed, not even tail gain! Couldn't ask for a better maiden. I suppose the only thing that surprised me was that despite it's size it wasn't really very different from my light 700s in terms of the way it looks and flies. The sound is great though, very quiet drivetrain and those big blades.

[Grumpy]

Looks awesome. That's a heli with a whole bunch of physical presence. I bet it makes most 700s look like a 450.

[trillian]

Looks awesome. That's a heli with a whole bunch of physical presence. I bet it makes most 700s look like a 450.

Yeah it's certainly very large on the ground and when transporting it. It took me a while to find a suitable bag to carry it and I improvised a canopy cover out of a motorcycle helmet bag. But my impression is that once it's in the air the subjective look and feel is very similar to the lighter 700s. Visibility is very good as you would expect. The drivetrain is smooth. I periodically checked the crown gear as I had heard about someone melting theirs from an overly tight mesh but the gear was always cool. It was pretty warm here yesterday and everything ran really cool. The motor was only just warm after a 6 minute flight.

It's fun to fly, super stable as you'd expect and would be great for F3C hovering. The battery layout is very flexible for different size, shape and weight packs. At some point I'll check the logs to see what the average and peak amps look like, I know there's an energy price to be paid for all that mass but I'm sure it's less than what some guys pull flying smaller helis really aggressively.

Here's my 6ft surfboard bag, works great so far but it's massive!

[chrisleematt21]

Maidened the Shape S8. It was perfect right from the start, no FBL changes needed, not even tail gain! Couldn't ask for a better maiden. I suppose the only thing that surprised me was that despite it's size it wasn't really very different from my light 700s in terms of the way it looks and flies. The sound is great though, very quiet drivetrain and those big blades.

Is that a 250 next to it

Looks like a really nice heli, I'm surprised it flies like a light 700. Did you get it from freakware?

[trillian]

That is a Beam E4 SE (450) which is the smallest heli I have. I got the Shape from a guy that bought it as a combo from Freakware and he flew it only a few times and then decided to sell it. I rebuilt about half of it (well most actually, all the moving parts) and put in my own motor and ESC and FBL (Spartan VX1). I did buy another canopy in yellow from Freakware and I also had to get the correct RH side bellcrank as the kit had been supplied with two left bellcranks and this was not noticed by the original owner. Freakware gave me the bellcrank, which was cool of them.

Yeah, because I am running my 700s at low headspeeds, the apparent feel is very similar. So the Shape is a lot heavier but is compensated by the bigger disc area. It definitely looks very 'planted' in the air, like you can sense the weight and inertia of it. There was very little wind Saturday but I suspect if it was gusty you'd see more difference over a light 700.

Is that a 250 next to it

Looks like a really nice heli, I'm surprised it flies like a light 700. Did you get it from freakware?

[Mike Sanders]

I had a fantastic day again at sunny Milton Keynes. Thank goodness for the oak tree which shaded my pit table nicely.

The wind was light, from the North West. I had five flights with the 700, still trying to become consistent with stall turns.

I had 12 flights with the foamy. I have at last got it trimmed well and it was performing brilliantly. We usually had five foamies in the air together. Mine collided with that of our chairman Kevin but almost no damage was done to either.

PS. MK has vacancies for new members. No joining fee at the moment.