Genius! Just ordered a Hydrofoam :D

boYce · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:04

saitrix, i can remember you first posting about these a good few months ago. I was so impressed by the original videos that i looked into it and it turn out that all you could get was the plans off the forums where the creation had begun. about a month later there was talk of selling self build kits but they didn't seem to be happening so i forgot about them.

any idea if these ones now appearing on ebay are good quality?

It would also be interesting to know if these are being produced by the original designers or has someone ripped them off?

boYce · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:08

saitrix said:
They most probably won't. You will move the sticks too much, over react and ultimately crash when a little gust of wind just alters its course a little. It is the whole reason why you can buy trainer planes to learn how to fly with.

PinkFloyd, 2 mins? You're optimistic.

come on saitrix lets not put him down just yet.

as he says it was only £50 for a bit of a play, give the guy a chance.

OP; make sure you have someone filming its first flight.

Meatball · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:23

Gimme

They look so fun

Hawk Tuah · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:24

I hate to put a downer on things, but dont you need a licence and insurance to fly an RC plane (which I'm sure this would count as).

I had a petrol plane years ago, but stopped when they brought the new laws in.

Meatball · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:25

Bug One said:
I hate to put a downer on things, but dont you need a licence and insurance to fly an RC plane

Incase you crash the plane into an old ladies head?

Roughly how much does it cost out of interest?

Magic_x_uk · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:27

christ I have had them for 2 years now, sold loads on ebay as well as the plans for them also.

I fly R/C Planes and Heli's so had to have one, not as much fun though after a while, bit of a novelty. There ok. Key is plenty of power to weight. Li-Po batteries and a nice powerfull Brushless motor etc.

Without sounding rude, a beginner to RC flying will not find this model easy at all. You need to be quick on the controls, remember everything is reversed when it's coming towards you.

If you do get one, just practise with it skating on the deck 1st before going in the air and when you do go in the air, do short little hops!

You will crash as well, get the cyano ready!

Enjoy.

Meatball · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:29

Magic_x_uk said:
christ I have had one for 2 years now, sold loads on ebay as well as the plans as well for them.

I fly R/C Planes and Heli's so had to have one, not as much fun though after a while, bit of a novelty. There ok. Key is plenty of power to weight. Li-Po batteries and a nice powerfull Brushless motor etc.

Enjoy.

*Points to my post above* How much is a license and insurance?

Magic_x_uk · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:32

Meatball said:
*Points to my post above* How much is a license and insurance?

http://www.bmfa.org/
The BMFA is the body delegated by the Royal Aero Club to be responsible for all aspects of model flying in Great Britain. The BMFA normally has around 780 clubs affiliated to it, with a combined membership from clubs and individual members of over 36,000. Membership brings many benefits, including 3rd party liability insurance of up to £5 million. You can read more about the insurance scheme there...

Pretty much says it all there...

Hope it helps you.

Joining a RC Club though for one of these models is pointless as there a gimmick really, like the cheap helicopters and planes. But they do what there intended to do.

Deadly Ferret · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:32

I just quickly looked into it, and found a UK supplier called Firebox that sells one for £99. I noticed in the features list it said:

"Quick charge time - one hour charge gets ten minutes use."

Presumably it can hold more of a charge than that required for ten minutes though...? Left charging overnight for example, so it could be taken out for an hour or two's use...?

Meatball · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:32

Magic_x_uk said:
http://www.bmfa.org/
The BMFA is the body delegated by the Royal Aero Club to be responsible for all aspects of model flying in Great Britain. The BMFA normally has around 780 clubs affiliated to it, with a combined membership from clubs and individual members of over 36,000. Membership brings many benefits, including 3rd party liability insurance of up to £5 million. You can read more about the insurance scheme here...

Pretty much says it all there...

Thanks for the link

Magic_x_uk · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:36

Deadly Ferret said:
I just quickly looked into it, and found a UK supplier called Firebox that sells one for £99. I noticed in the features list it said:

"Quick charge time - one hour charge gets ten minutes use."

Presumably it can hold more of a charge than that required for ten minutes though...? Left charging overnight for example, so it could be taken out for an hour or two's use...?

No, the batteries need to be small, the ones I were using were 3 cell Li-po packs around 340MAh, incredibly high discharge rates. You need the lightness of the batteries and the punch they can give. Going with a bigger battery is of course worse as you are adding weight, best thing is a couple of battery packs.

Also a basic Li-Po Battery Charger for those batteries is only £16 give or take.

Please also note:-
DO NOT OVER CHARGE THE BATTERIES THOUGH, They can and DO explode. I kid you not! Li-po's do not need oxygen to burn and if there voltage drops below 3c per cell, bang time! not cheap either!

saitrix · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:41

Meatball said:
*Points to my post above* How much is a license and insurance?

You don't accually need a licence or insurance in thoery for those models. Electrics get away without those, but I would suggest for the small cost, look into insurance.

Lipo's can burn and explode underwater by the way. So yes you really do not want to go up.

http://saitrix.rchomepage.com/lipo2.avi

Watch that vid, that will show you what they can do on overcharge and over discharge.

http://aircraft-world.com/shopexd.asp?id=3879

Click on the datasheet for more info on the kit.

saitrix · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:43

Deadly Ferret said:
I just quickly looked into it, and found a UK supplier called Firebox that sells one for £99. I noticed in the features list it said:

"Quick charge time - one hour charge gets ten minutes use."

Presumably it can hold more of a charge than that required for ten minutes though...? Left charging overnight for example, so it could be taken out for an hour or two's use...?

Nope, the average rc battery is fully charged after 1 hour. Multiple packs need to be used for effective battery time. Though they sound like cheap cells only getting 10 minutes. You should be able to get a setup that lasts 20mins.

For cheap pocket fun I think I would rather like an Edge RC Pocket 250. Little 20" wingspan flying wing that does 60mph. Not of the old men that one.

http://www.edgerc.com/J250movie.wmv

Meatball · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:43

saitrix said:
You don't accually need a licence or insurance in thoery for those models. Electrics get away without those, but I would suggest for the small cost, look into insurance.

Lipo's can burn and explode underwater by the way. So yes you really do not want to go up.

http://saitrix.rchomepage.com/lipo2.avi

Watch that vid, that will show you what they can do on overcharge and over discharge.

http://aircraft-world.com/shopexd.asp?id=3879

Click on the datasheet for more info on the kit.

Thanks for all the help. It's a hobby I've always been interested in but I've never really looked at it in much detail so hopefully this thread will gimme a kick up the backside.

DailyGeek · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:44

The only concern I really have is using it on the ground - does the foam not get all churned up when used on tarmac etc?

Efour · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:44

Dont overcharge them batteries, when i was a kid i had one on fast charge for 12 hours thinking it would give it a boost. Cost my old man 20 quid to buy me a new one

Whats the law on "flying a boat" over the local duck pond???

Magic_x_uk · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:46

saitrix said:
You don't accually need a licence or insurance in thoery for those models. Electrics get away without those, but I would suggest for the small cost, look into insurance.

Can I ask, without sounding rude to you, where you get that idea from ?

You can have an electric model plane worth £2k swinging a 16" carbon fibre prop at 1800 rpm. Now that would cause some serious damage going out of control I can assure you. As well as smaller electric models.
I have a 34" electric delta wing that is brushless and can and does hit 155mph+

saitrix · 20 Dec 2006 at 23:53

Magic_x_uk said:
Can I ask, without sounding rude to you, where you get that idea from ?

You can have an electric model plane worth £2k swinging a 16" carbon fibre prop at 1800 rpm. Now that would cause some serious damage going out of control I can assure you. As well as smaller electric models.
I have a 34" electric delta wing that is brushless and can and does hit 155mph+

Sorry I was meaning parkflyer class models do. Which do not include flyingwings etc. They are the sub 600g models, the floaters, the sort of foam model he would most probably begin with.

And yes I know how much a prop swinging at 1800rpm can do, afterall I have lifted a flap of my skin up with it when it just touched it.

Which delta do you have? Plus what setup, always been interested in a seriously fast leccy wing.

Magic_x_uk · 21 Dec 2006 at 00:00

yes I thought you meant more along the lines of the parkflyers.

oh for sure, being hit with a prop does hurt, been there done that, sure i'll be back again doing it...

Devastator from Justin in USA
http://www.edgerc.com/

I have a Mega Motors 16/15/4 (I think) cant go to garage tonight, too cold lol

Castle Creations Pheonix 35, 2 Hi-Torque GWS Servo's, Tornado 2100 3cell Li-Po 20C Discharge / 40C bursts Battery

Cant remember prop size at moment, change them all the time, try different ones on that for speed or duration etc. Good fun, but needs a clear day and don't even think about blinking lol

saitrix · 21 Dec 2006 at 00:02

Ooooo, Have always liked the look of the Devastator and those Mega's don't come cheap. Really am tempted for uni to get the Pocket-250 from there, but maybe have a brushless instead of the 250 brushed.

Edit - Yeah little tip, don't try testing out a motor/gb/prop setup by just holding the stick mounting.

I never have done it since.

I need to get my first nitro built really, I am being so slow at building it. Galaxy Models Magician if you know it. Still not 100% sure with these engine things in planes, more of a leccy man myself.