RE: Custom painting
Can you give us an idea of the technique you use to get a "soft edge" on your camo pattern? Looks great! KennyMac
Posted on: 7/26/2012 9:26 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11170043

RE: What is my steering servo doing?
What John said.... But, I like to use a channel controlled by the eyebrow trimmers on the 12x. That will "save" the trim setting for your nose gear and will not be dependent on having your knob in the correct position which might be a problem if you use the TX on multiple models, or bump the knob while handling the TX. You can do the same thing on a 9303 or 9503 by using a channel activated by the trim switches. I also like to use a mix for rudder to nosegear, not channel mating. This allows you to deactivate the nosegear servo when the gear switch is in the "up" position. KennyMac
Posted on: 7/26/2012 9:24 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11170036

RE: Lipo Fire in Garage
Wanted to express my appreciation to the OP for his willingness to bring this incident to the board and face all of the Monday Morning Quarterbacks who were sure to jump in. It's easy in hindsight to see what should have been done, and it's important that we do look at the pictures, disect what mistakes were made, and learn from this accident. I think we should also applaud the OP who was willing to share this with us so we could learn from it. We can all be that much safer if we learn not just from our own mistakes, but from other people's as well... Thanks! KennyMac
Posted on: 6/25/2012 1:00 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11131411

RE: adjustable (turnbuckle) control rods
Nylon ball links will thread onto the left handed thread end of these turnbuckles no problem...New threads are cut by the turnbuckle when you thread it on. KMac
Posted on: 6/25/2012 12:21 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11131344

RE: JR 9303 and spectrum ar9100
If you could, please do the wiggle check on those connectors and let me know what you find out...How they look means absolutely nothing. I'd like to get some more data on how they are behaving in other people's installs besides my own and would appreciate your input. Thank you! K
Posted on: 6/20/2012 11:18 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11125413

RE: JR 9303 and spectrum ar9100
Squirrel... The description of your failure sounds a little like a failsafe with the turbine shutting off and the gear going up... But that assumes you bound the RX with the gear in the up position which would be odd. Was your gear on a servo operated valve, or an electronic valve? If you had one remote RX go out you would still have 2 or 3 operating which would be enough to get you home safe. It could be a loss of power to the RX, possibly initiated by the gear going down, maybe the gear locking down jarred the airframe and connectors? Then maybe an intermittent connection was made long enough to have them retract again? Still odd though... An analog servo will move around when voltage is applied to it and taken away so if one was operating your gear valve that could account for some of that. Not sure how the different electronic valves behave when they are powered up and down like that. When you say that the radio wasn't working when you checked it after the crash, can you be more specific. Were any of the Remote RX lights on? Blinking? Were the blue power indicator lights lit on the main RX? Were the servos powered up but not responding, or dead with floppy control surfaces? Have you checked the batteries since the crash? KMac
Posted on: 6/20/2012 11:14 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11125409

RE: JR 9303 and spectrum ar9100
Squirrel, Do me a favor and plug your batts into your RX one at a time and then wiggle the connections and see if the blue power light on your RX goes on and off. It's unlikely that both battery connections would go bad at the same time, but if one was bad, you could run a single battery down quickly. I understand that is unlikely because it was your first flight of the day after a charge. My Deans connections looked perfect as well, but behaved inconsistent. One connector was worse than the other, but both were intermittent. Changing out the female connectors on the battery helped, but didn't eliminate the problem. I'm begining to think that the design of this connector is not well suited for the lower voltage/amperage of RX use. Only one side of each tab presses against the other and relies on the spring tension and the connector body to keep those two tabs pressed against each other. A pin/pole and socket connector such as the EC3 seems like a better more reliable connection. Thanks, KMac
Posted on: 6/20/2012 10:51 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11125335

RE: Shock oil viscosity for skymaster 1/8 F16
I've been looking at RC car shock oil as well for a replacement of Skymaster strut oil. Right now I'm having good luck with 80 wt clear silicone oil. KennyMac
Posted on: 6/20/2012 10:21 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11125318

RE: LiFe battery questions.
bob nj, You CAN balance charge with just the three wire/node connector in your chargejack switch, and you CAN do it with any LiFe compatible charger, NOT JUST A CellPro. And it is just as easy to do it... you just need the right charging cable and Hangtimes and Electro Dynamics sells them. Check out the links that I put in my last post. You can also make your own cable easily. CellPro is not the only option for easily balance charging your pack through a chargejack or chargejack switch, you just need a LiFe compatible charger and a cable that has the proper connections. KMac
Posted on: 6/20/2012 10:02 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "Batteries & Chargers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11125285

RE: JR 9303 and spectrum ar9100
Squirrel.... What kind of connectors are you using between the batteries and the RX? I've been switching mine to Ultra Deans but recently found more than one connector that is giving me intermittent contact. I'm going back to EC3s. The Powersafe RXs with LiFe batts with no regulators is a very robust setup. KennyMac
Posted on: 6/19/2012 12:00 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11124032

RE: LiFe battery questions.
You do NOT need a CelPro charger to do this, You can do it with any LiFe compatible charger and the proper charge cable... Been doing it this way for a couple years now. And I ALWAYS balance charge my LiFe packs. Their are only two cells and an imbalance can have a major effect on your capacity. You also CAN check the capacity with a voltage meter, you just need to understand that there are only a few tenths of a volt difference between charged and marginal. Read Steve Anthony's No BS batteries / Hangtime hobbies website on A123 batteries... all of the answers and info is there. Here are the links to the charge cables http://www.electrodynam.com/store/product295.html http://www.hangtimes.com/a123rxsetup.html http://webhosting.web.com/imagelib/sitebuilder/misc/show_image.html?linkedwidth=actual&linkpath=http://www.hangtimes.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Combo20g.jpg&target=tlx_picalhz&title=NoBS A123 Combo Solution Charger Cable KennyMac
Posted on: 6/19/2012 11:02 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "Batteries & Chargers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11123951

RE: Ultra Deans Connector problem in RX install
Connectors have been in use for about a year, but only about 50 flights. They are not secured to the airframe, so wear from vibration should not be much of an issue. They don't even touch any parts of the airframe as they are suspended between the RX and battery. Soldering was done to each connector while it was mated to the opposite connector to prevent the prongs from becoming misaligned. Are you suggesting that this might actually cause a misalignment? Problem seems to be related to the male connectors on the RX as different batteries with different female connectors produce similar, although not exact, intermittent results. Other males have been tried with the same batteries (female connections) with no problems. I did find an old RCU thread with somebody with the same problem, and he cured it by replacing the connectors. I'd like to know why this problem is showing up on connectors that appear to be perfect. If the alignment tolerances are so small and these connectors are that finicky, I'm not likely to keep using them on my installs. Hoping somebody will have a smoking gun on what I might have done wrong to make these things flaky. Thanks for your replies so far. KennyMac
Posted on: 6/13/2012 11:11 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11116944

Ultra Deans Connector problem in RX install
Discovered an issue with a powersafe RX install that I have had in place for about a year. Two batteries connected to a powersafe receiver via Ultra Deans connectors. The problem is that both connections are intermittent... wiggling the connectors around will complete or break the connection periodically. Problem seems to be on the Male side as I have tried different batteries (female side) and get similar results. Both male and female connectors are genuine Deans and appear to be in good shape with no corrosion, springs intact and not flattened, etc. Solder joints have been inspected and are good, and wire is not crimped or damaged. Luckily, I found this on the ground but I'm concerned about using this style of connectors for RX power now. May have to go back to EC3 connectors as much as I dislike the difficulty unplugging them. Anyone else come across this problem with Ultra Deans connectors? KennyMac
Posted on: 6/13/2012 9:46 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11116851

RE: Mike McConville jet flying!! NO WAY!!!
That looks great Mike! Hope to see you at Illini Jets this year. Was there some sort of tracking setup on the camera, or was it just somebody with a tripod and good skills? It looked almost like a simulator on some of the shots. Pete G tells me he's been messing around with a 3-axis gyro setup on his Hawk, are you running any on yours? See ya' soon... KennyMac
Posted on: 4/3/2012 2:59 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11027084

RE: Jetogather at Rabbit Dry Lake ?
I'm in! KMac
Posted on: 1/30/2012 10:40 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10935248

RE: Help Me Understand Gyros
I think you could also use two standard gyros, one on each servo. Orient the gyros so they respond to the roll axis and make sure they are correcting in the proper direction. Pitch/elevator control would be unaffected. Make sure gyros are not set to "heading hold" mode. KennyMac
Posted on: 12/15/2011 11:35 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10861020

RE: E flite F-4 First flights
Ali, Regarding the flight modes, after flying the model and getting all the trims correct for the different flap/flight mode positions, I like to then transfer the elevator trim to the flap system function instead of relying on flight mode trims. This allows you to slow flap travel and your elevator compensation comes in slow too....instead of all at once with flight mode. I hope you'll give this a try and like it so you can convince Doug to do it this way too...he won't listen to me! KennyMac
Posted on: 12/12/2011 12:18 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10855998

RE: CALI CREW FALL CLASSIC AT THE WILLOW / DECEMBER 2nd -4th
I'm out for the December weekend. Toys for Tots at Prado same weekend. Have fun everybody. KMac
Posted on: 11/8/2011 11:43 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10802778

Parkzone Warbird Race!
Hey Everyone... This Saturday, October 29th will be the Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club Fall Classic Race for EF1 and Parkzone Warbirds at our Prado flying site in Chino, CA. This will be a three-pylon race for the EF1 class electric racers, and the electric Parkzone Warbirds. We have been having a lot of fun practicing out at Prado and many club members are going to attend the race. A quick head count has us already up to 25 entries. We would like to encourage you to participate in this one-day event. We will start briefing all participants at 8:00 am on Saturday, so stop by and be a part of the fun! If you race, you will be competing for some great prizes from Horizon Hobby including an LR-1 Pogo, Parkzone Spitfire, Parkzone Micro warbirds like the Mosquito and F4U Corsair, plus other great prizes. Please come out and be a part of this fun event! Details on the rules for both classes can be found at the PVMAC website www.pvmac.com . All of the Parkzone foamy Warbirds are eligible to race including: T-28 Trojan F4U Corsair P-47 Thunderbolt P-51 Mustang Spitfire MkIX Bf109G Messerschmitt F4F Wildcat If you have one of these airplanes, you can race it with us! There are some restrictions, so please review the rules here at http://pvmac.com/PDFDocs/2011_Parkzone_Warbird_Racing_Rules_and_Guidlines.pdf . Using these rules so far at our practice sessions has given us some great races and the airplanes are VERY equally matched! We do recommend flying higher than the pylons though as all of the airplane vs pylon encounters have come out in favor of the pylons!! We’ve also discovered that regular CA doesn’t melt the foam that these airplanes are made of and we’ve been able to get all injured parties back into the air!! Bring a hardhat and some charged batteries and prepare yourself for a good time. Hope to see you there! KennyMac
Posted on: 10/24/2011 3:49 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "Park Flyers & Backyard Flyers"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10780661

RE: Best In The West Video Part 3
What a pleasure and honor to fly on Ali's wing with the Victory... You don't have to fly a jet fast to have fun with it. That was sooooo cool! Ready to do it again. Cali Jets in the spring Ali? KennyMac
Posted on: 10/20/2011 10:15 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10774612

RE: Prado Air Park Fall Classic
Hey everybody.... Just a reminder that the Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club which operates out of the Prado R/C field in Chino CA is holding a three-pole pylon race on Saturday, October 29th. We will be racing two classes, EF-1 and Parkzone Warbirds. Standard EF-1 rules apply, and a set of rules for the Parkzone Warbird class are available at the PVMAC website... PVMAC.com or http://pvmac.com/PDFDocs/2011_Parkzone_Warbird_Racing_Rules_and_Guidlines.pdf We have lots of very nice prizes to give away from Horizon Hobby including some PNP kits and Micro warbirds from Parkzone, and more! We will also be setting up the pylons this Saturday the 22nd at 3 pm for pylon practice. If you've got a T28, Corsair, P-51, Wildcat, Me109, P-47, or Spitfire from Parkzone, then bring it out and have some fun with us. See you there!! Ken
Posted on: 10/19/2011 12:54 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "General Racing Discussion"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10773420

Prado Fall Classic Race for EF-1 and Parkzone Warbirds
Hey everybody.... Just a reminder that the Pomona Valley Model Airplane Club which operates out of the Prado R/C field in Chino CA is holding a three-pole pylon race on Saturday, October 29th. We will be racing two classes, EF-1 and Parkzone Warbirds. Standard EF-1 rules apply, and a set of rules for the Parkzone Warbird class are available at the PVMAC website... PVMAC.com or http://pvmac.com/PDFDocs/2011_Parkzone_Warbird_Racing_Rules_and_Guidlines.pdf We have lots of very nice prizes to give away from Horizon Hobby including some PNP kits and Micro warbirds from Parkzone, and more! We will also be setting up the pylons this Saturday the 22nd at 3 pm for pylon practice. If you've got a T28, Corsair, P-51, Wildcat, Me109, P-47, or Spitfire from Parkzone, then bring it out and have some fun with us. See you there!! Ken
Posted on: 10/19/2011 12:53 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "Electric Pylon Racing"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10773417

RE: Any NOS JR 72 Mhz?
I fly Mode 1 and have a 388 and 347 TX I could sell you....as well as a bunch of 72mhz modules and receivers. Also have a Mode 1 10x that I would sell too. KennyMac
Posted on: 10/19/2011 11:04 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10773270

RE: Best In The West Video Part 1
I helped Bob with some geometry changes on the H-stabs and replaced his servos for him. He had fairly long arms on the servos and a relatively small travel adjustment in the radio....so he didn't have very much mechanical advantage on the stabs. When the stabs started fluttering, they increased the gear lash considerably on the servo's gear train. Since the geometry was less than optimal, this larger-than-normal amount of gear slop produced a large amount of stab movement. A new set of servos fixed the gear slop problem, and Bob moved the ball link in on the servo arm about 3/8" or more. This seemed to fix the horiz stab flutter on the next flight, but apparently the earlier flight's flutter damaged something in the vertical stab/rudder. Hope it goes well for him from here on out. KennyMac
Posted on: 10/7/2011 2:09 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10753533

RE: Harrier test flights begin
Ewald, Let me know when you are heading out, even if it is last minute. I'll try to make it and give you some help. KennyMac
Posted on: 9/13/2011 9:20 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10714535

RE: Harrier test flights begin
Ewald, I get out to El Mirage and Rabbit a few times a year, usually to fly turbines or test a Giant Scale Racer. I'll be out there again in the next few weeks at least once. KennyMac
Posted on: 9/12/2011 12:00 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10713041

RE: Harrier test flights begin
Cool Dude!.....your stuff really impressed me. Hope we get the chance to meet again and do some flying. Hope I got the particulars close on my description of your setup. KennyMac
Posted on: 9/9/2011 1:55 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10709085

RE: Harrier test flights begin
I saw a guy flying a turbofan out at El Mirage dry lake earlier this year. It was something he made himself...he worked at USC in their machine shop program. It had an air start core turbine, roughly p70 sized, with a shaft running through the center of it. at the back of the turbine was a wheel that was driven by the thrust of the turbine. At the front of the shaft was a larger diameter carbon fiber fan unit. All of this was in a nacelle setup that looked really nice. He had it on a high aspect ratio winged, v tail airplane with a center main wheel and outriggers on the wing tips (ala B-47, U2). The airplane was something he designed and built as well. Had a friend from NASA Dryden there with him helping out. The engine ran very well and put out lots of thrust. It was also very miserly on fuel. The funny part was that they were impressed with my ViperJet! KMac
Posted on: 9/9/2011 12:46 PM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10709005

RE: JR 922 Receiver
As has been stated here, you don't need the softswitch to bind. You CAN use a regular switch to turn on and off the rx by inserting a bind plug into the switch lead that the battery would normally plug into. The switch will now act as a softswitch. This setup does not put the RX into bind mode however....You'll need another bind plug in the correct port on the RX to put it into bind mode. Ken
Posted on: 7/26/2011 11:24 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Radios, Transmitters, Receivers, Servos, gyros"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10639806

RE: Jet action on Spike TV
Hmmmmm.... I was flying formation with that ViperJet at Cali Jets this year.... I know who owned it then. Isn't "reality tv" amazing! Good stuff Billy!.... Love the easy way the jargon falls out of your mouth... "We're talking 37 pounds of blow"!! Hope we can go do some flying together again soon with your new bird. KMac
Posted on: 7/12/2011 10:15 AM by Author "GR7Racer" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=10617896