[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Had a glitch last evening on the last turn on final, wings rocked hard the wrong way when I was slowed right down! Recovered fine, problem appears to be a bad connection between the gray matter & the thumbs!

Seriously though, I'm feeling a bit smug out here in no man's land, still using 72mhz stuff including a glider on AM! No problems at all! Russ has had a few brown outs with 2.4 G to deal with though.

No rush to change up for me, I will just use the good old dependable stuff until you guys get all the bugs worked out!

Thanks for your efforts!

[russ]

my brownouts were directly related to using an ESC that doesn't supply enough power to the servo's. The solution in that case is very simple, and very reliable - Castle 7a (10a peak) BEC. Easy choice, an extra $25 for a safe plane.

How many times do we blame radios due to the (in)actions of our fingers?

[Xanadu]

Thanks to all, I needed to vent and you all accommodated me with grace. This was my first major pride and joy RC, and totally bummed me when it went down.

When I came home from the field with my bags of leftovers, I left it all on the bench for later time. Looked things over yesterday, and it can be salvaged, but will take some hours to do and few bucks. Won't be quick as some parts are out of stock unless I pay major bucks for EFlite product and such.

Will do a thread on the rebuild if anyone is interested.

Should consider to rename it ads Sweet Thing 2, of maybe even Phoenix?

Thoughts?

[cassat]

Not really sure why you insist in using EFlite products? With their high prices so the middleman can get a cut and a lot of their stuff is not really top notch.
A fellow had a new electric foamie at the field the other weekend (higher end plane) and we
had to yank out the servos and start replacing them with cheap hong kong servos for example. I could never afford the price of their motors...and get better results with chinese
products at half the cost.

[russ]

I totally understand that feeling, it's always good to put things aside for a few days and take a second look. I like the idea of a re-build thread. I'm sort of in the same boat with my Senior. Good luck with Sweet Thing II

PS. my mentor told me I should never make my 1st few planes "too pretty". Now I know what he means.

[Xanadu]

Miscommunication on what I meant, sorry. I currently use power systems from HK, but with what I need they are all out stock. So failing that along with the postal strike I may have to resort to buying from the LHS on name brand product.
That was what I trying to say.

[Xanadu]

Originally Posted by russ

PS. my mentor told me I should never make my 1st few planes "too pretty". Now I know what he means.

This was my 7th build, so this one was the prettiest. Each one I have gotten better with, and more detailed.
Live and learn, but it seems the old ugly ones always seem to fly better and survive whatever comes at them.

[dean2287]

Originally Posted by What Tree

Where did you hide the 72 mHz antenna on the Beaver Dean?

It exits right under the radio compartment on the fuse and is routed through little tube pieces down the bottom of the fuse to the tail. Nicely out of sight.

I use FM 72 mhz PCM. I had some issues with PPM, but may have been just dated receivers...no problems what-so-ever with PCM, very reliable.

[Cougar429]

I'm still hard core 72MHz. IMO they had close to 40 years of development behind them and with good gear you are assured of years of reliable service. Even though I have worked with and trained others on different gear, personally I have stayed with Futaba. This is not to say one make is better than the others, but that I have learned to trust their systems. One of the advantages is you get to know their programming layout and where to find the different options. I currently run a pair of 8UHPS transmitters with CAMPAC modules, each set covers either my nitro and electric fleets. At their release, (yegads! almost 10 years ago now) they were top of the line and loaded with features. If I have any regrets compared to the newer models is the instant mode selection and the ability to control servo sweep speeds, (useful for flaps or mixing functions).

Years ago I went with the PCM for the failsafe feature, something that was useful in case of signal failure or channel saturation. At the time the local hobby shops were selling any type of radio to anyone for any reason, and with a pond nearby you could see the risks. Anyway, my only complaint was Futabas long receiver relock time and what seems to be a power hungry transmitter when in this mode. Curing the Tx battery simply took replacing the stock 600MAh pack with one of 2500MAh for both units.

The time lag with the legacy receiver failsafe cost me a couple of craft and I went looking for other options. My first catch was BERG, which on their 7P is fully programmable with the same PC link as the one I used for my speed controls. Since they run PPM the relock is considerably faster and I can attest to saving a plane near the end of last year when I pulled a Homer. Along with the full programming their receivers are considerably smaller and lighter and also have internal base loading, which means you can shorten the antenna for indoors or park flyer range if necessary, (eg. cutting the antenna to 1/2 length reduces reception range to 1/2).

p.s. Now that more have gone over to the 2.4 "Dark Side" I am left with less risk at events, (if they are liberal enough to still allow 72MHz).

[OLD PRAIRIE RED NECK]

Originally Posted by russ

my brownouts were directly related to using an ESC that doesn't supply enough power to the servo's. The solution in that case is very simple, and very reliable - Castle 7a (10a peak) BEC. Easy choice, an extra $25 for a safe plane.

How many times do we blame radios due to the (in)actions of our fingers?

Exactly what I was saying Russ!