It was bound to happen, taking the next step and actually taking 2 minutes to edit my little ‘movies’ (really a personal video diary of my learning to fly and crash little flying machines). Here are the first two that I actually was able to load into iMovie and convert.
First is the Revel Proto CX. My micro counter-rotating blade heli: I cut a bunch of worthless time (more worthless that this video, hard to image but true) out of the middle and focused on the ‘good stuff’:
Next is video of the bird #2, the Blade CX3. EFlite Blade CX3 - MD520 Notar
I had just unpacked it, installed the training gear extensions (the funny orange balls) and bound it to the Spectrum radio that came in the ParkFlyer HobbyZone P-51 foamy. That was a nice little treat. Blade CX3 - MD520 Notar
For the most part it worked great. Here 90% condensation of about 25 minutes of actual flight time with the CX3. This was my first attempt.
However, yet again, I managed to mangle the landing gear after a few panic throttle chops as it got a little close to big steel things that would break it. :/ Back to the hobby shop for MORE stuff! Blade CX3 replacement landing gear. I left them 1 on the rack. At least they are not TOO expensive!
And finally, here is my repair video. First semi-successful attempt at time-lapse with the Canon S1100 micro-camera. The hardest part, I thought, would be learning how to do this with iMovie ’09. Nope, after some prodding around it turned out to be pretty simple. Sadly the camera was doing some sort of zoom-in and zoom-out madness. Site down before watching, you might get ill. Some are going to wonder about the music. Did I shot the video with this music in mind. NOT! Who’d try to shoot video like this, outside the brain-dead corridors of intellectual bankruptcy one finds in L.A. or N.Y.? No, but the frantic into to a good German industrial metal song just… WORKED! I only hope YouTube does not over-dub the music with something totally lame out of their music library, as I’ve heard they have started to do this.
UPDATE!
YouTube send me this message today. Hopefully they don’t over-dub the music. But, when you’re using a free service, their hardware, their network, it’s not a stretch to concede they own that copy of it.:
Your video, Eflite Blade CX3 MD520N (Notar), may have content that is owned or licensed by UMG.
No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.
After a number of pretty bad nose-in crashes (flying nose in is the most challenging), the bird was getting pretty beat up: Proto CX crash worn
With the landing gear broken and the canopy smashed, it was looking very ragged. Not only that, but the metal rod and zip ties I had holding the landing skids together added enough weight to make it fly a little funny (balance, what balance?).
Removing the weight of the rod, well.. that was not really an option: Broken and beaten Proto CX
Fortunately, the local hobby shop has a variety of replacement parts for these things (big shock, isn’t it?). The landing gear itself was about $8.50 to purchase. Easy enough. However, with all the plug-and-play miniaturization on these things, one thing that was not plug and play was the landing gear + battery tray. I’d have to perform some micro soldering to complete the repair. Replacement landing gear for the Proto CX
I lit up the soldering iron and did my best. Turns out that it was a little easier than I thought it would be. Plus, I didn’t accidentally melt any of the sensitive parts, like that servo there, located perilously close to the solder points I needed to use. Completing the repair.
With the important structural stuff fixed, the canopy was re-attached and she’s ready to fly. Good, maybe bad, but the shop did not have replacement canopy in stock. It’s OK I suppose, since I’d crashed this many times on the nose before the canopy finally shattered.
Broken gear left, repaired bird right.
Some pieces are still missing, but some clear tape and Sharpie marker returned it to serviceable condition. It’s not going to win a beauty contest, but it does fly, as you can see here!
Actually, it’s more like re-learning how to fly Radio Control. In my formative years, I had a number of Radio Control cars, planes and gliders. All of them fun in their own exciting ways. One thing I’d always heard over the years, was how difficult and expensive it was to learn to fly an R/C helicopter. Which is, of course, why I’m trying to do it. I love a challenge.
Research shows that keeping the brain (and body) learning new things is the best way to combat age-related maladies of the brain. Having relied on my brain to get great jobs, and even a few times, it’s come in handing finding clever ways to get out of life threatening dangers including things from terrible car crashes to being assaulted at gunpoint. So, my brain is a pretty important thing to me. Fortunately, my work challenges me on a daily basis. I once tried to explain why I sometimes looked so tired after a long day’s work. I’d tell people to imagine taking the semester final exam in the toughest class you’ve every taken, and then do that every day, 5-days a week, 50 weeks a year.
Sure it’s challenging, but really, I’d like to find some fun ways to keep my brain active besides work. So, I’ve giving R/C helicopters a try. They have some a long way since my last adventures in R/C, some 30 years ago. They have come A LONG way. With the advances in electronics, some of the things that made R/C heli flying so dang near impossible for the mortal, are now handled via gyros and ultra-fast response servos, coupled to ultra-light weight electrical systems. Sure you can still buy big 600 and 700 class ‘gassers’, but you can buy the same big birds with high performance electric motors that never need to be tuned up, can be programmed to have very manageable torque curves, nearly infinite and repeatable power settings and of course, a lot less smoke and noise.
That said, flying a modern R/C heli is still NOT easy by any stretch of the imagination! I’ve talked to a variety of people flying them, and the advice has all been the same. Start out SMALL, with one of those indoor CR (counter-rotating blade) models. But get a decent one with a 2.4GHz radio that won’t cause you frustration due to horrible quality.
One specific model kept coming up while talking to people, the Revel Proto CX Helicopter. So I picked one up last week:
How did I get here? Well, there is, of course, a story.
It started early last month on a trip to California with my kids. While shopping at one of those California Super Malls for LEGO, The Boy was distracted by a pair of guys flying little model R/C helicopters around in the mall. He was transfixed. And really, I found it really cool too. We returned to the LEGO store.
I have a system when at the LEGO store with the kids. They have a budget to work within. If they want something in the budget, they can pick it off the shelf and we’re done. But, if it’s more than their individual budget they can lobby the other sibling to pool capitol and purchase more advanced kits.
Sometimes this happen, some times it does not. This time around it did not. In the end, he wanted a LEGO watch (of which they were out of stock). The Girl found what she wanted and we took care of that right away. Upon exit from the store, I was again urged to ‘check out’ the helicopters. I could tell he really REALLY wanted one, and with a birthday only a few weeks ahead, I caved. $40 later we were out of the mall with a bag of LEGOs and a tiny helicopter.
We attempted to fly it outside in front of my sister’s house. It was impossible. It was a windy day, and it was our first time. The helicopter spent A LOT of time spinning out of control and crashing into the ground. It was not long before all the landing gear was busted off and the once smooth rotor blades looked more like steak knives.
Upon returning home in Washington, we flew it inside the house, and much to our enjoyment, found that it flies pretty good when it’s not being subjected to wind! But it was still pretty beat up, flyable but beat up. And I can’t blame The Boy for not taking care of his new toy, I had just as much to do with busted it up as he did, if not more so. And this is how it all began.
I did not replace it right away. Those things are pricey. And I wanted to get one that would suffer a little more abuse with a little more dignity. A trip to the local hobby shop, talking to people online and in person, and a few days later I laid down some $$$ for a little trainer (the Proto CX).
Now, it’s become an addiction of sorts. Flying it all hours of the night, the television has not sat this quiet in quite some time. And that’s a good thing.
Now, today I finally found a suitable replacement for his first heli. It looks like a cool little sport kit, lots of flashing lights and some pretty sturdy landing gear. So now we have three of these little things in the house. Sometimes it’s like a little air show in the living room with little aircraft buzzing around everywhere. Pets seem pretty indifferent, which is fine with me. Less chance of one being stalked and pounced on.
So another adventure begins. Here is a really lame video of my flying this afternoon.
And finally, a neat video from a guy that actually knows how to build and fly these things. As noted in the video, the next step I was advised to take as getting a fixed-pitch heli and nailing down the general skills of multi-channel flight.
