Matt Walker's Tech and Hobby Blog » soarstar

RC Plane Hanger

Matt — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:17:25 +0000

Here is a overview of the planes I have been flying. More details to come…

Soarstar Electric ARF by Super Flying Models

This is my first real plane. It was a great trainer
for both the build process and flight. Yak 54F by E-flite (Quique Somenzini designed)

This is my first plane with ailerons, it flies great. 20-20 Hacker
Style motor, 25amp Towpro ESC, 3S 1300 Lipos Slowfly plans by Sloper Steve

This is my first scratch built. I am currently building
another and will post details.

Terminal Velocity Pentax Optio S6

Matt — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:24:20 +0000

I learned two very valuable lesson today…

1.) Don’t rush sending electronics airborne
2.) When attaching anything to a RC Plane, make sure it’s on there good.

I had so much fun the other day taking the video with my soarstar, I rushed out there today and look what I did…

The last time, I attached the camera on top of the wing, in the center facing forward. It worked well, but I noticed after the flight, I was blocking the air flow to the motor and it got pretty hot. So… I figured I would try attaching it under the wing, facing down to hopefully get better footage and not overheat the motor. Everything worked great. I took it waaayyy up there almost so I could tell the orientation of the plane. As I was descending I got impatient and did a dive. I have done this before, but not with a camera strapped to the plane. When I pulled back, it took longer than usual to level out. As it leveled out I noticed a little black dot falling from the plane… crap, it was the camera. I followed it to the ground and watched it bounce about 20 feet back into the air. It ran to were it fell, about 50 yards for some reason hoping it would be ok, lol. It was destroyed, and I didn’t even capture the fall, because it shorted out and didn’t save anything to the memory card. I guess that is the end of the my aerial video for awhile. So if you ever find the urge to strap a camera to an airplane, take your time and make sure it on there good.

Soarstar RC Video (First Attempt)

Matt — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:14:41 +0000

I had been flying my Soarstar for a couple of months and finally decided to attach my Pentax Optio S6 camera too it. The easiest setup what to just strap it down and record video. Eventually I would like to setup a servo to take pictures. These cameras are not great a shooting video, but here it is:

AirHogs Just Not Enough Anymore

Matt — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 04:34:37 +0000

I have had alot of fun with them, but I’m just itching for more. My biggest desire is to for control surfaces. You can move the rudder and elevators on the AirHogs, but not in-flight. I have been doing quite a bit of research online and finally committed to the next step. In reading most of the “Beginners Guides” they recommend joining a local flying club and learning with a buddy box (were you can tether your transmitter to an instructors). I am sure this is great way to learn, but this is the digital age right? Yup, they have several RC flight simulators that are very realistic. The most popular is Great Planes Realflight. However, there is a new kid on the block. Horizon Hobbies has built FSOne. Apparently their physics engine is unmatched. You can get the software with a USB transmitter or with a USB adapter for a real transmitter. I decided, why not get a real transmitter and learn on that. So, I went to the LHS (Local Hobby Shop) and picked up a Spektrum DX6 Transmitter and order the flight-sim online. They had a Real-Flight kiosk, but something about all the “add-ons” really didn’t appeal to me.

When I bought the Transmitter, the guy at the hobby shop talked me into buying a plane to “actually fly”. I wan’t planning on getting a plane until I tried several models in the simulator. I am glad I did though, I didn’t even think about the building part of the hobby. He recommended a SoarStar, it is a simble 3 channel plane that is easy to build. It was a great exercise to get familiar with servos, linkage, expoxy, esc (electronic speed controllers), recievers and working with foam. I really learned a lot.I found out really quick that the batteries that the transmitter came with wasn’t going to work. It had a trickle charger without peak sensing and it was only 600mh. I found some rechargeable AA NiMh’s on eBay for really cheap and found a battery tray from RadioShack that fits in the transmitter. 8 AA’s work out to the same voltage and have 2400mah of juice.

Before I figured the Transmitter batteries out I thought oh no… I should have got the Simulator that came with the transmitter. There would be nothing worse that having the transmitter die in the middle of a flying session. The point of the simulator is to learn and spend more time flying that building, fixing, charging, etc. Turns out it didn’t matter anyway. When the transmitter is plugged in to the USB converter, it draws a small amount of current. Not enough to charge the battery, but enough to keep it at the same voltage (or so it seems).I haven’t flown the SoarStar yet, I am still logging some time on the simulator. It is not easy, but it’s a lot of fun. I have saved at least a thousand dollars in all the planes I would have wrecked.