Anyone still flying?

[Tam_T]

Well, I didn't get to fly this weekend. We are doing a bunch of work on the house, so I have been working with contractors and making sure things are getting done. New fence, check! New shed, check! Hedges and bushes pulled and dirt leveled for concrete, check! Hopefully I will have something more exiting next week!

[Tam_T]

What are all you ladies up to? I haven't been able to fly much as we have had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks, but I did get a chance to fix my msr. All of a sudden it would not hover more than a foot off the ground. I had crashed it into the wall but had one flight after and it was fine. It seemed like the motor was going out. This morning I replaced the main shaft, feathering shaft, and the motor - good to go now! I really believe it was the motor because it seems much faster now

Anyone have any updates on their flying, building, sim, or tinkering? I have been doing a lot more tinkering lately. It has helped me learn a lot about the settings on my radio as well as my heli setup. I bought another MT from rmalt here on helifreak and ended up crashing it in some bushes while trying to get it set up right. I also changed out some parts. I have it flying pretty good now and the experience of setting it up was great. I had been lucky to have the guys I fly with help with my setups so far, but I wanted to make sure I could do it all on my own!

Hope you all are well.

Tam

[Lynbird]

Not much new here. Still flying on Fridays indoors, usually 4 batteries. How many minutes are you getting on your batteries with your MT? I've been getting 8.5 min, stock motor & esc, 3s 30c 2200mah batteries and still under 80%.
I did get to 2 more swap meets in the area. Only bought a Futaba receiver at the last one, but it's always fun to look and talk to people. There's another one next Sat and then one more in April.
Oh, my husband pre-ordered the Mcp X for me for my birthday (April)! That should be fun. Plus I bought the Spektrum mod for my Futaba 9C tx so that I can bind to any DSM2. Bound the Msr to it today so I don't have to use the little tx that came with it anymore.
Happy flying.
Lynne

[Tam_T]

Let me know how you like the new mcp X! That's cool. I fly at 100% throttle all the way across and have my timer set at 4 min. My batteries are usually down to 3.85 per cell. All of my batteries are from hobby king or hobby partz and are 2200mah. I wish we had some swap meets for rc here. Maybe we do but I've never heard of any.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Tam

[Lynbird]

Thanks but the birthday won't be until late April. When I bought my husband a 700N for his birthday I didn't let him have it until his birthday day. I bet he does the same to me!

[Tam_T]

I hope he pre-orders it just in case. It seems a lot of people are. I saw in another thread that they are to be in around March 3rd. My b-day is just after yours......not sure what I want yet!

[Tam_T]

We went to the desert for the weekend and this was the first time I brought the MT with me. I love hanging out at the desert. We bring many things to keep us entertained....RC cars, wish lanterns, and of course the dirt bikes. Well, I brought along my heli, too, this time. I got up Sunday morning and flew through 7 packs before the wind gusts started and I had to keep her landed. I guess I need to bring a heli pad as one time I landed and the tail blades were striking a small rock. I had an awesome time!

[Lynbird]

That sounds really nice. Do you have a travel trailer or toy hauler? Also what is a wish lantern? For a helipad you could use a rubber mat or a thin piece of ply. I imagine landing in the desert the heli gets quite dusty.
We got up around 40 degrees but that is still too cold and damp to be out there long. I did get a new receiver battery for the Raptor and I plan on switching it to 2.4 and rebuilding all of the links before the first flight of the year. Looking forward to that!

[Tam_T]

We have a motorhome and haul the bikes on a trailer. I prefer motorhomes as they seem more homey and comfortable and I like to go camping and go on road trips in the summer, too. Yes, I was thinking of just using a car mat as a heli pad, or even just carpet remnant, just didn't think of it until I got out there. It was 80 degrees out there last weekend! I even got a little sun burnt. The wind really started picking up on Sunday and by the time we were loading everything up it was really blowing. I heard the winds gusted up to 70 mph on Monday! Glad we took off when we did.

The wish lanterns are really cool out at the desert. They are made of rice paper in the shape of a hot air balloon and have a fuel cell you light underneath attached by some thin wire. You just light them, hold them for about 90 seconds, and then they lift off brightly into the desert sky until they are completely out of site. I pasted the URL below if you want to watch a video. I attached a pic of the MH below and a pic of me by my YZ250F.

Good Times!


http://www.wishlantern.com/

[Lynbird]

Tam,
Thanks for the pictures and link to wish lanterns. I had never heard of them. The motorhome looks really nice. We have a small travel trailer which we really enjoy, though I would like to have one side slide-out just to make it a little wider.
You're probably out flying today. It is getting a little better here and it could be up to 60 on Thursday and then back to 40 on Friday. I'm really getting anxious to get back outside.

[Tam_T]

Yes, the slideout is awesome. It makes a huge difference, really making the walking and living area much bigger. I wasn't able to fly this past weekend. I was too busy with work......stuff at home and had to do some remote office work on Sunday. It was really nice out, too.......bummer.

I've been seeing some good things about the mCPX! isn't it April yet

[Lynbird]

I have the mCPX in the house and opened it once to make sure it looked okay. Now it is sitting waiting until April 23rd. Though after all of the bearing and feathering shaft issues that have come up, I might just go over it while I am waiting.
Too bad the woman in the video hovering is not closer to you in Calif. We all seem to be spread out around the country.
I did get a Great Planes Escapade (electric, 52" wingspan) plane finished and ready to maiden when it gets about 60 here. It's the first larger electric plane I have had. The others are nitro. I wanted something I could bring out quickly, fly and bring home without all of the cleaning involved. After heli's, planes are more relaxing and I find I am a better pilot.
Hope you are getting a chance to fly.

[Tam_T]

I did read about some of the mCPX issues. I remember reading about the bad bearings and using the Trex 250 bearings instead. I can't frickin' believe how many posts are already in the mCPX section, AMAZING. Helifreak has some great people, great info, and great opinions......gotta love it.

I finally got some sim time in. Next time I'm out, I'm goin' for it!

Let us know how the plane goes. I flew a couple of three channel cheapies...didn't do too bad. Hopefully, it will warm up out there. I think it is supposed to rain here starting Friday.......RRrrrrggg.

Yeah, bummer we are all spread out..... Sucks....

Tam

[Lynbird]

Hey Tam,
I think Cranky in the post about the girlfriend flying thinks you are a guy. Do you want to set him straight?
Lyn

[Tam_T]

DANG! Thanks Lyn. I posted in the thread and hopefully that will set him straight. I am always surprised that my screen name does not trigger in their heads that I'm female! I guess I should change it to something like PinkGirlyFlyer......

[Tam_T]

BTW, thanks for having my back!

[Lynbird]

I think PinkGirlyFlyer might get you the wrong type of attention and your credibility will be out the window. Pretty funny though!

[Whirly-Girl]

I'm still hanging in there. I sold my last heli this week in preparation of getting another one. It was a T-Rex 600E with an AskmanAP camera mount installed for aerial photography.

I am going to order a T-Rex 700E to replace it and also upgrade to a PhotoShipOne 2XPT mount so that my camera operator (mostly hubby...but thinking about training my almost 7 YO son) has control of pan and tilt.

For fun flying I've been focusing a lot more on my planes because my husband and I enjoy that together more. I have a 118" Carden Aircraft Extra 330 with a DA-150. My husband also flies a 118" Carden, but his is a mid-wing Extra 300, also with a DA-150. Both have JR guidance in them and Smart-Fly EQ-6 Turbos for power distribution.

We are looking forward to attending our second Joe Nall fun fly this May. If you have never heard of this event, go to www.joenall.com. I can even begin to sum it up except for if you like to camp (you don't have to) and you like R/C (ALL ASPECTS), then this is THE event to attend. Especially now that they added a helicopter flight line last year and saw the interest it generated so Triple Tree added even more accommodations to that flight line like electricity, more sod, etc, etc. It's a whole week of R/C...five flight lines: heli, float, main, electric and 3D.

If any of y'all of going, look us up. Our camper will be parked down at the 3D flight line since that is where we do most of our flying, but I like to go to all of the flight lines throughout the day.

[Lynbird]

WhirlyGirl,
Good to have you post again. I had looked at some old ones when I first joined. Have you been flying heli's all of the years you have been involved with RC?
Are you doing the aerial photography as a business? Before my husband and I sold our full scale plane we had an aerial photo business and had thought about continuing using heli's when he first got into them. But then other things happened and we didn't.
Do you have pictures of your finished Carden's? I would love to see them.We're seeing more guys at the field getting into larger scale planes with gas engines (cost of nitro too high). You just need a transport method.
I doubt we can make Joe Nall this year but I would love to go. Maybe next year. I would like to do IRCHA this year but don't know yet.
Is FCM a national organization?
How did you get into flying heli's?
Sorry for all the questions.

[sarah1097]

hey not sure how many have been flying but where i am at, the weather is so bad, I dont even want to go out side. I wish spring would finally get here. 30 degrees is still too cold