Some fun flying with the 500 size CH-54A and MH-53J last week.
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Club Greater Southwest Aero Modelers (Member)
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500 MH-53M Flights
Got a few more flights in on the 500 size MH-53, and it’s good to have it behaving nicely. Finally got the cyclic gains high enough that it doesn’t feel as squirrely in ground effect any more. I think I can finally (mostly) call this project complete.
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After a few months of tuning and troubleshooting, I finally got the 500 size MH-53M Pave Low up in the air today. Still have some issues to sort out (uncooperative retracts), but it's now flying smoothly. Thank Paul Lange for the excellent in flight photos!
500 size MH-53 Pave Low
Another project airworthy! Got the 500 size MH-53M Pave Low up in the air today for a few test flights. Cyclic gains still need some tuning, and the ramp servo needs replacement, but it’s close to complete. Has the most features I’ve tried to pack into a 500 size model before, including retracts, nose gear steering, working ramp, 3 retractable landing lights, nav lights, a searchlight, and...
Another project airworthy! Got the 500 size MH-53M Pave Low up in the air today for a few test flights. Cyclic gains still need some tuning, and the ramp servo needs replacement, but it’s close to complete. Has the most features I’ve tried to pack into a 500 size model before, including retracts, nose gear steering, working ramp, 3 retractable landing lights, nav lights, a searchlight, and interior lights.
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500 size CH-54 Tarhe (Skycrane) Build
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Some awesome slo-mo footage of my 500 size UH-1C Huey Gunship at the Golden Triangle RC Club’s Heli Fly-In yesterday with some fitting music.. Thanks Raymond Cervantes for the fantastic video!
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Sovereign Tech Tandem-5 Chinook to ACH-47A Conversion
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Some moonlit flying on the 500 size UH-34 this evening
Thought I’d share this great video of my 500 size Sikorsky HO3S-1 in the air at the St George Electric Event:
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After a lot of building and planning, I finally was able to take photos of the 500 size Sikorsky HO3S-1 performing a rescue mission of a pilot from a ditched F9F Panther today. This recreates a scene in the the beginning of the movie "The Bridges at Toko-Ri". To get everything in place for the shots, I converted a beat up RC Lander F9F Panther to a boat so that it could be steered into position...
After a lot of building and planning, I finally was able to take photos of the 500 size Sikorsky HO3S-1 performing a rescue mission of a pilot from a ditched F9F Panther today. This recreates a scene in the the beginning of the movie "The Bridges at Toko-Ri". To get everything in place for the shots, I converted a beat up RC Lander F9F Panther to a boat so that it could be steered into position on the lake (over 6 lbs of ballast was required to make it float at a reasonable displacement). Pilot and crew chief figures were 3D printed.
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PKM 500 size UH-34 Mercury Recovery in Flight
An excellent video of one of my Mercury Recovery flights out at St George, UT:
500 size Sikorsky HO3S-1: 3-blade tail mod
It is said that a scale project is never truly finished.. After flying my 500 sized Sikorsky HO3S-1 for a few years, I was finally able to address one of my primary gripes with the project, and add a correct 3 bladed tail rotor to replace the old Align 2 blade tail. To do this, I used a Gaui X3 tail unit, an aftermarket Trex 500 clone tail gearbox, and a bit of 3D printing.
The major issue was...
It is said that a scale project is never truly finished.. After flying my 500 sized Sikorsky HO3S-1 for a few years, I was finally able to address one of my primary gripes with the project, and add a correct 3 bladed tail rotor to replace the old Align 2 blade tail. To do this, I used a Gaui X3 tail unit, an aftermarket Trex 500 clone tail gearbox, and a bit of 3D printing.
The major issue was that the Gaui tail slider wasn’t compatible with stock Align parts, as it used a circular slider. I found this aftermarket unit and with a bit of re-engineering, was able to get it to work with the Gaui tail: .
The pitch links on the Gaui were also way too short. So, I designed 3D printed longer tail pitch links that fit the bushings from the stock parts (stock pitch link is the small black part in the final photo).
Tail blades were microhelis Blade 180 main blades cut down to size and reshaped. I completed a few test flights with the new tail and so far it’s worked great! No change to its excellent flight characteristics.
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500 Skycrane Flights
Had a great time flying today at B.E.S.T. (Best Electrics in South Texas) at the Tri County Barnstormers Field in New Waverly, TX. Got a few photos of the 500 size Skycrane in the air as well as the HO3S-1 (H-5). The Skycrane is flying well, and the next steps will be working on the cargo release system, and painting/detailing. Possibly some revision of the tail rotor pitch linkage as well.
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Roban 600 Superscale Airwolf Manual - English Translation
While working through my build of the Roban 600 “Superscale” Airwolf ARF with compactor mechanics, I was frustrated to see that the build manual was only available in German. I ended up translating it into English with a whole lot of help from word and google translate. It's still a work in progress, and I may make some updates/additions as I progress through my build. Here is some other...
While working through my build of the Roban 600 “Superscale” Airwolf ARF with compactor mechanics, I was frustrated to see that the build manual was only available in German. I ended up translating it into English with a whole lot of help from word and google translate. It's still a work in progress, and I may make some updates/additions as I progress through my build. Here is some other important info that was not in the original manual for those building one:
Main gear ratio: 10.91:1
Tail ratio: 4.95:1
Motor Pinion: 17T
1st Stage Main Pulley: 60T
2nd Stage Pinion: 22T
2nd Stage Main gear: 68T
Main Bevel Gear: 32T
Tail Output Bevel: 20T
On a similar note, Roban recommended an 1100kv motor in the original flight manual, which would result in 1980rpm. That seemed overkill on a 600 to me. I'm planning on using a 790KV Egodrift motor to target 1400rpm.
Hopefully others find this helpful in building the kit!
Roban 600 Superscale Airwolf Build/Review
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Maiden flight of the 500 size CH-54 Skycrane
Successful maiden flight of the Buamodel Skycrane this morning
Had a great time flying the 500 size Huey, UH-34, and HO3S (H-5), at Warbirds Over the Johnson Space Center 2 weeks ago. Was a fantastic opportunity to fly some helis at an awesome historic location! Winds were very high (18 gusting 35 mph) but it didn’t stop me from getting in a few flights. Unfortunately, a gust did catch the H-34 during spool down and scraped the blade tips. Blades have...
Had a great time flying the 500 size Huey, UH-34, and HO3S (H-5), at Warbirds Over the Johnson Space Center 2 weeks ago. Was a fantastic opportunity to fly some helis at an awesome historic location! Winds were very high (18 gusting 35 mph) but it didn’t stop me from getting in a few flights. Unfortunately, a gust did catch the H-34 during spool down and scraped the blade tips. Blades have already been replaced and the aircraft returned to flight.
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A few shots of my 500 size UH-34D in the air last week.
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A few photos from flying the H-34 yesterday with Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule slung underneath. This was part of the noon demo period at the Warbird event at Bomber Field in Monaville, TX.
A few photos of my helis at today's Golden Triangle RC Heli Fly-In. Had a great day of flying with multiple flights on all aircraft.
Had a great day of flying yesterday. Brought out most of the heli fleet, including the 600 Bell 47, and 500 size H-5, H-34, Apache, and Huey.
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A few shots of my 500 size Apache in the air this weekend
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Did a 2nd take on the Mercury capsule recovery today with the 500 size UH-34 Choctaw. Had perfect weather and some nice blue water. Finally got the shot for shot recreation of the original photo of Shepard's Recovery pretty close. Just after that, the magnet let go and left the capsule floating in the water. Luckily, I was able to use the rotor wash to push the capsule back to shore.
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Wanted to share a few excellent photos of my 500 size Sikorsky UH-34D Choctaw taken by Chris Wolfe during the Bomber Field B-17 Gathering event in Monaville, TX.
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Guide to Multi-blade Main/Tail Rotor heads (450-800 size)
Yesterday morning I finally had the chance to recreate the recovery of Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 Mercury Capsule with my RC UH-34 Choctaw over the water at the Southern Scale Helicopter Challenge. The helicopter was modeled and painted in the scheme of the real Mercury Redstone 3 recovery chopper, so it was tons of fun to actually sling load a capsule underneath it.
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Finishing up a commission project, 500 size PKM Bell 412 finished as a Miami Dade Fire Rescue bird. Hoping to get the first flight completed this weekend.
Finished the final touches on the 500 size Miami-Dade Bell 412 and got a few flights on it. Very happy with how it turned out, and it flies quite well.
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A few photos of my 500 size Sikorsky HO3S-1 (H-5) in the air at a local float fly. Need to get a floating F9F Panther fuselage to rescue some pilots..
Enstrom F-28C-2 N9576
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600 Size OH-58A Kiowa (Funkey Conversion)
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A few shots of my Century Bell 47 converted to a MASH H-13D
500 Size 3D Printed SA-341 Gazelle
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A few shots of my 500 size Sikorsky HO3S (H-5) in the air at Helis Over Apache Pass this weekend
Another great year of flying and seeing friends at Southern Scale Helicopter Challenge in Dalton, GA! Thanks to Mark for sponsoring the excellent steak dinner on Saturday, and to Darrell for hosting this fantastic event. Here’s a small selection of the photos that I grabbed over Friday and Saturday:
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450 Size HUP Retriever
A few photos of both my 450 and 500 size Hueys flying cover for a PBR Riverboat. The 500 UH-1C is modeled in the colors of a 174th AHC Huey, and the 450 UH-1B is painted in the colors of the Navy HAL-3 Seawolves. Both feature 3D printed weapons, custom scale blades, and extra surface details.
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A few in flight photos of my 500 size UH-1C Huey Gunship.
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Got in a few flights today on my latest project, a 500 size UH-34 Choctaw finished in the scheme of the aircraft that retrieved Alan Shepard's Mercury Capsule. Flew excellent! Looking forward to getting it out flying some more.
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Putting the final touches on my 500 size UH-34D. Should have everything ready for the trip to IRCHA on Thursday! Paint scheme is modeled after the aircraft that recovered Alan Shepard’s Capsule after the first Mercury Mission.
My Roban 500 size Apache in flight
Working on a new heli project, a tandem 450 size Piasecki HUP Retriever.