Offshoot RC Models/Drone Hobby Thread

1024

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!:open_mouth:

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33V @ 120A = 100 kilometres an hour + small wave = high speed Submarine = water and electricity don’t mix = LUCAS smoke gets let out in a BIG way!

At least being 10 metres underwater at the time, it didn’t burn a big hole through the Hull!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

This is old damage, but just getting around to planning what’s required for the rebuild seeing as I’m getting back into the TYLOSAURUS custom build and having a little break from the Aircraft.
(Until the next ones arrive.):wink:

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Can’t have a Typhoon and not own a Hurricane hey @Maiphut ! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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The FW190 is to partner with the British adversaries in the collection, just as the ZERO partners with the F4U CORSAIR.
Unfortunately the BF109 Messerschmitt’s are now extinct in the 1100mm size.:disappointed_relieved:

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Was another beautiful day out on the water today though, and the Search and Rescue Kayak still didn’t’ have to be deployed yet again! :clap:

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Seeing this glassy water the last couple of days is what got me inspired into getting a few boats back together and out again!:ok_hand:

2 Likes
1025

BTW @BME … had to dig out the Speedboats to get through to a pile of boxes looking for those MP5 folding stocks!
Must be In the storage unit as not in the odd few boxes in the spare room.:face_with_monocle:

1026

No rush…
I appreciate your looking…!

The zombies of raccoon city can wait…!!

:crazy_face::crazy_face::grin:

1027

Another beautiful WA day out on the water.:blush:

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Got quite a few flights in but had to retire the HUSKY early in the afternoon.

Was wondering why it was handling like a Jellyfish halfway through the 2nd flight and having trouble with coordinating turns and getting it wings level for landings.

Wasn’t until the 3rd flight I threw in a fresh battery and did the usual control surface checks before takeoff that I discovered that the Right Aileron Sevo had given up the ghost.:face_exhaling:

Back at home and now obviously have some tinkering ahead to test or start replacing all of the Servos with my new metal geared waterproof units.

Had to dismantle all of my beautiful tidy wiring to access the leads required to run the Servo Tester, and somehow the bastard started working again!

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I have all the extension leads already delivered, but still waiting on the Plug kit to arrive before I can start swapping parts out.

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1028

Is it Politically Incorrect that I want to remove this Pilot and fit him with a White Headband with the Rising Sun Insignia on it? :joy:

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Possibly repainting the colour of his skin as per @BME 50 shades of correcting a proper historical replica ?

This Pilot is paler than the Poms from Northern England compared to the traditional Japanese people.

No offence, but this pilot looks more like George Smythe from Cornwell rather than Misaki Hiroyuki from Japan!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1029

In my opinion, not politically incorrect at all, Doc. :thinking:

As you said, it’s historically correct if you repaint Biggles to look more Japanese, and Rising Sun hachimaki are an undeniable part of that era in history. :+1:

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Future generations are going to be in a sorry state if true history is going to be redacted in the name of political correctness. :roll_eyes:

1030

Few more parts to help finish off some projects.

Plug/wiring kit to enable making tidy custom length Servo leads to delete the loop piles and mess with leads that are simply too long for their purpose.

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I did my best cable management with the extra lead lengths so far, but being able to cut them to length to plug directly into their relative positions will be the proper way to finish off the wiring.:ok_hand:
(still gotta clean up all that aluminium swarf!)

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Will also allow to make some custom length extension leads to be able to fit the Waterproof Metal Geared Servos into the Airplanes.:+1:

Also a few REFLEX V3 Gyros for a few upcoming projects.

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Unfortunately the side effects of adding Floats and Steel Frames to what are essentially ground Aircraft wreaks havoc with weight CG and trimming flight characteristics, so having these Gyros are pretty much essential to achieve safe and stable flight whilst trialling out different mechanical trim settings.

1031

Cleaned up the excess wiring on the Helicopters using the new plug kit.
No more big looped bundles of excess wires stacked everywhere!

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Run it up to full throttle on 4S with only the Flybar paddles fitted, and despite only originally designed for 3S, was able to adjust the Tail Rotor trim to perfection … but found out that the new Tail Gyro is a piece of shit, so will remove, rewire and fly without one.

1032

Got the F4U CORSAIR back on the clothes hoist “workbench” as the Motor mount was flopping around like a cock in a sock even though it’s brand new and has only made a few ground loop tests to ensure all the electronics and controls were working as designed and has NEVER left the ground now nor in the immediate future until I’m 100% confident that everything is as solid as I can possibly perfect.

Taken everything apart…

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Now have to make some bracing to align the motor plate firmly in place.
Can see here where the factory loose motor mount has driven the prop axle into the front radial engine cover plate and chewed it out.

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Again, this hasn’t even left the ground yet, only taxied around whilst checking out my controls after the initial build.

This is why I am so pedantic on spending weeks on setting up and testing Aircraft before I even think about taking them into the air due to the amount of factory inbuilt faults that are guaranteed to keep every new owner crashing and having to order a heap of new parts that shouldn’t be necessary if they were designed and built properly in the first place.:face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

1033

That photo of the engine cover plate looks like something out of “Air Crash Investigations”, Doc. :rofl:

Shows how a bad design and manufacture flaw can render a nice piece of kit useless… and I thought gel blasters had their issues.

Good on ya for giving them the “DocBob Treatment” before they hit the sky. :+1:

1034

Cheers mate, and yes, I have the Gelbaster Industry to thank for teaching me patience and low expectations to the point where nothing surprises me any more!:roll_eyes::joy:

1035

Been a busy few days getting this Engine together.

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Haven’t played with Xmas Tree Model Kits since the 1980’s!:smile:

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Forgotten how much work goes into these damned things.
Every single part needing cutting, trimming, sanding, test fitting and trimming/sanding again just to get shit to fit together and functioning properly.:face_exhaling:

All good when you are retired and have nothing else to do, but I’m working on a deadline goddammit!:joy:

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Plenty of painting today and on the home run having the main engine together, now just a few more hours work adding the final auxiliary parts and finer details.

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I can fully reassemble a real V8 engine in a single weekend and get it running again, whereas this little model is day 3 and still going!:smile:

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ALL the parts are either black or grey and was looking a bit bland, so thought I’d add a few more colours and real life details to it.:sunglasses:

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1036

That’s looking amazing, Doc! Nice work! :+1:

I built a Tamiya RZ500R bike model once… because I raced one around Phillip Island back in the 90s. Great fun little stroker it was too…

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Put all the you-beaut Yamaha decals all over it, was looking great. Then I hit it with the wrong clear coat and chewed out all the waterslides. :rofl:

It still looked cool with all the bodywork off, but it was a lesson I never forgot. :laughing:

1037

Finally finished, and just in time too!

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Added a few extra little details, because he loves those small things.:grin:

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Was pretty wobbly on the provided plastic Engine Stand that was only held together by glue, and the motor only sat on top which caused it to rock and roll all over the place.:face_exhaling:

I ended up solid mounting the engine to the frame, then made the executive decision to make up a sturdy base plate to fix it all to something more solid and adding a bit more weight.

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Big chunk of Marine Ply did the job nicely, then added some old Brass Handles for the finishing touch to make it easier for him to move it around safely.:ok_hand:

Now it doesn’t move a millimetre when cranking the Engine and can’t fall over or get damaged as easily.

It also has exhaust manifolds, but I left them off as they basically covered up the sides of the engine block and heads, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of being able to see inside the engine!

1 Like
1038

I caved in and fitted one exhaust manifold to the right side of the engine, mainly to add some protection for the Dipstick that was hanging out in the breeze, but also gives a more finished look on that side whilst keeping the other bank open for viewing.:+1:

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Happy that I didn’t paint the Engine Stand Red/Orange like they have in the Instructions.

Now mounted to the black marine ply with the brass handles added, it all blends in seamlessly and leaves the Engine to shine as the main show piece on its own.:ok_hand:

2 Likes
1039

So what are we going for Doctor. 625ci Donovan direct methanol injected that goes in the monster trucks :rofl: :+1:

Had an Australian built one come to the farm fair. Well American motor but built here by that team. That was a beast. Better than the Monster Jam ones.

I was talking to the owners as I asked how much HP that got, well couldn’t find a dyno that went beyond 1700hp. I was shit can I borrow it :rofl:. They had trouble starting it as cold morning and direct methanol don’t play too nice.

They also had another that you could ride in the back which just had a standard 350 chev and a 350 Holley on for safety reasons. Was good fun :+1: Jumped some bailes of hay in the race one. It wasn’t even allowed in the Monster Jam sessions as they are watered down monster trucks, run a certain motor not as big and follow a pre scripted show. They travel all over Australia going to Australian events.

Called the Monster Patrol and the ride on one was Buster.

I asked the owners do you go in the Monster Jam, said no we are not allowed as it’s HP capped but we do our own seperate tour all over Australia. Interesting stuff.

1040

Great memories mate.:+1:
We got to see the same show years ago I think at the Dowerin Field Days, along with the new American HUMMER lineup when they were first released, both Military and Civilian models.

My best mate who’s property I looked after for a couple of years had a blown 632 on Methanol in his HQ one tonner Burnout/Drag Car that I helped him to plan and build.

I made a set-up where it ran a 240V Oil/Block Heater and twin fuel systems, one with AVGAS and the other straight Methanol.

To start it you had to plug in the Heater System to get the engine up to temp, prime the electric pump on the AVGAS system and then stand by on the blower with an oil bottle to squirt a bit of lubrication and fuel into the Blower Hat as you wound it over a few times on the starter before hitting the ignition coil switch to hopefully get it to catch fire in the cylinders!:face_exhaling:

As soon as it was fired up on all cylinders, then you would switch it over to the Methanol system and keep the revs up until it was running smoothly and able to bring it back to a steady “idle”, if you can call a loping lumping lurching racket an idle.:joy:

This whole process was second nature to me from my many years building and running Drag Cars for a couple of other mates over the years, but this poor old mate had a battle getting the hang of it, where I would get a phone call many times to come out and get it started for him, only to find that he’d punched the windscreen and cracked it on several occasions where his frustration had got to him before I got there!:open_mouth::joy:

Also had to switch back to AVGAS a few minutes before shutting off the engine to flush/wash out the Methanol from the carbs and fuel lines, otherwise if he forgot, he would spend days pulling apart EVERYTHING, as Methanol turns into thick jelly if left sitting in the carbs/fuel lines/pumps/tanks that takes forever to get cleaned out again.

He had the same issue on finding somewhere to get it onto a Dyno.
There was only one business in WA that could handle that sort of power, but even then they couldn’t get a proper final readout because the light one tonner chassis kept climbing off the rollers no matter how much they tried to strap it down.

Best they could manage was just short of 1300HP, but was under max RPM with HP still climbing, so unsure what the full output could have been.

Great fun though and one hell of a beast to wheel around the burnout pad, let alone the few full passes at the Kwinana Motorplex that we managed to pull.:grin::+1::australia:

1041

Haha why I didn’t got too much into it as I knew that’s your wheelhouse.

That one I talked to the brothers running it. Had to cut the blown injected when the dyno tapped out at 1700hp but couldn’t find a bigger dyno but best guess was mid 2k HP as had heaps left.

It sure did, was great fun to watch, doing monos and 4w and 4ws steer burnouts. Brung brung cammed off it’s head. Whistle of the blower.

I said I need one of these to the brothers. Well the Donovan block empty was 45K. I said shit ok I’m out :rofl: :rofl: :+1:

@DocBob when I was younger one of Dad’s mates was tri owner of the Jarvis Ford sponsered sprint car team. They’d drag me around after school mid week as they were getting it ready for the weekend races.

That was awesome direct methanol injected 383ci as per the rules for that class. Block your ears kiddo got to test fire. Top aussie fellows. I asked how much fuel does it take, methanol 44 gallon drum would just do 2x 20min sprints. They always took more. Another 44.

They had no clutch and direct drive which you’d know why they tow start them.

They had a new driver and gave him 60k to go to USA with a shopping list for parts and team sponsorship. New driver got sacked blew it all on hookers and crack and came back with no parts. That was the nail in that team, cost them mega bucks. :woozy_face:

1042

Sounds like something most of my Sprintcar mates would do as well!

They’re all rural blokes that are a bit mad in the head and do stupid shit all the time regardless of the consequences!:joy:

Got a few wild stories myself of trips around Australia in an old Dennis Bus one of my Speedway mates converted to haul his cars around Aus for National Events.

Needless to say, an old bus full of young Cockies with a couple of Sprinters in tow led to some pretty wild shenanigans, especially when the beer supply equalled the same amount of Race Fuel we were carrying!:joy:

He’s STILL going hard at it too, even at this age he’s got a huge property down south, built a massive shed for all his toys that includes engine building and machine shops inside, as well as made his own full sized Speedway Circuit in the middle of one of the paddocks out front.:sunglasses:

1043

I know a guy that sounds like that. He had header drag races. So funny. Ever seen a header do burnouts. So funny, I had a great time. God damn aussies don’t give a damn. So funny.