Marius' learning to fly - "video diary"

[Marius]

Had my first "real" crash today...

I have swapped out a few tail gears and some trinkets before, but I've never really CRASHED the 450 - until today. NO, I did not get it on video. I was flying at my ramp like I usually do - there was a bit of wind, but nothing I haven't tackled before. I was on a roll, feeling like a boss.

Usually I never try new tricks IRL unless I have trained a lot on the sim first, but today though - like I said, I was on a roll. I was doing low, small loops, with the bird flying towards me (nose in, sort of). I had a blast playing with the wind, flying into it, letting it lift the bird high up - then dive backwards back to the ground.

I did this over and over - soon I felt so comfortable I was playing with the tail at the back drop, making the bird come out of the loop sideways while diving down. Well no, I have never trained on this in the sim, but I thought I knew what I was doing. THEN, for some reason - I'm still not sure what went wrong, dumb thumbed it I guess - when coming out of the loop sideways, I lost it... I had lost the orientation, and was fighting to regain it. When it was two feet above ground (still plummeting), I realize it's up-side-down and tail-left. But it was too late.

The bird smacked into the snow covered field (hard icy snow). The motor continued to buzz for a small second before I flicked the TH. I ran down to the crash site - the servos was still buzzing, or shall I say rattling.......

CRAP!

Both mains are totaled.


Main shaft bend to hell and back.


Feathering shaft bent.


Blade grip arm totaled. The threading was ripped out!


Main gear lost a few teeth.


ALL three of my BRAND NEW DS415m's are stuck... I'm still figuring out if they are totaled, or just need gears.


I'm looking at about 100 bucks in repairs...

______


Regarding video, I shall soon have a action camera with all the necessary equipment (including a head strap). When I get it, I shall start shooting all my flights - just in case something interesting happens.

[Marius]

At Lee's recommendation I went ahead and got my first quad It's the same unit he got he's wife later back (different canopy). It's great fun!





Gonna upload some flight with this baby soon (just gotta let the GF cool down LOL - she's tired of it buzzing around her head LOLOLOL )

Also, got my baby good to go again after last weekends mishap (stripped a tail gear).




I've gotten some feedback that I should maybe start a new thread (this one's getting a bit big), but I think I'm gonna continue with it too keep my timeline consistent. I know some new members actually read through the entire thing! But do advise if you believe "chapter 2" is in order - and I will comply if it's the general opinion.

Thanks for checking in

[Marius]

I finally got some video of the JR today. It's raining. It's windy. And some boy was there jabbering and distracting me. But I got the freakin' video LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJWDwvW ... e=youtu.be

[Marius]

Was at the cabin this weekend, riding my snowmobile, chillin and flyin

But. I have been trying to find the best gain on my GOV for the 600, I was at value 30 (which was working out nicely last weekend) - so I tried upping it to 31. So on Saturday I took her out for the first test at value 31 - the motor started hunting... This also caused the tail to twitch as a reaction to the motor not flattening out it's head speed. I did two flights anyways - and all seemed fine.

Today I reduced the gain back to 30 again. The motor was still hunting (not as bad, but still). I did one flight - worked fine (and I got some awesome tic tocs ) Then, on my second flight, I tried the tic tocs again - then this happened:



I should obviously not have flown with it knowing that the motor was hunting - but I'm stupid, so I did it anyways. After studying the damage, I can also see that my mesh probably was a bit on the wide side.

New main gear on the way - new test flight next weekend.

[Marius]

Two times I've stripped gears on the JR, once on the tail case, once the main gear. Both times the machine continued to fly - but letting me know something was wrong by emitting horrible sounds Nothing else took damage

As I see it, three factors contributed to the gear strip; GOV and motor hunting, Mesh not tight enough, over powered vehicle.

[Marius]

Exciting

[Marius]

Here it is, my custom Canomod canopy That's right, I'm very proud











______

Regarding the JR stripping gears; I have been researching a bit, and it would seem my GOV gain is way to high. At first I thought I would increase the gain until I got oscillation, then step it back. But as Lee pointed out previously, the bird does not sound quite right - and I believe this is caused by too high gain. I see that many 700E's operate around 17 as GOV gain value - I have mine at 29 ATM. I'll step it down to 20 tomorrow, then do another test flight.

[Marius]

I just came in from 3 short test flights with 3 different settings for the GOV gain. I tried 18-20-16 in that order - and, OH BOY did the JR sound different. All the flights up til now, the bird was flying on the wrong gain settings.

The lower I went, the smoother the sound. On 16 I noticed the tail started to fall behind. So I think I will land on 17, 18 or 19. I'll need more test flights, and a good analysis of the Castle log first.

Hopefully I will get everything ready for tomorrow so I can make a video.

[Marius]

Had a bunch of flight today with both the 450 and the 600. Used the new camera, but I had the bracket angled too low, so all the videos were of the ground LOL

The 450 seemed to work nicely through three packs - but at the end of the third pack the motor couldn't keep the RPM at a constant... It was as if I was in Normal mode, and going up and down on the throttle (even though it was in IU and the throttle was not touched). I switched to Normal mode, but the fluctuating RPM was still noticeable. I was concerned that the motor had taken a hit, as the pinion had been showed inwards on the shaft during my last crash. So - new motor is on it's way.

On my last flight with the 600 I noticed a vibrating tail, and a strange sound. Since then, I redid the tail gear mesh and I also redid the tail setup in the BeastX. I hoped this would solve my problems...it did not. Well the noise had been replaced by a new noise, but the vibrating tail was still the same. I have checked everything I can think of, but did notice that the tail auto gear is sort of warped. A new gear will be underway soon.

I really hope I get all the kinks out of this 600 soon.

[Marius]

OK. I was just down at a lit up parking lot (it's 11.30 PM) and tested both the 450 and the 600.

I have no idea how I fixed the tail vibration, but the 600 seemed to be good. I lengthened the tail rod one turn, redid the tail end points. Turned up the no.1 pot on the FBL. Made sure the tail blades were not tight at all. I also checked everything I could think of. So it looks like I fixed it...somehow...?

The fluctuating RPM in IU is gone on the 450. But the FBL was all messed up - so I'll probably have to check the swash and redo the DIR.

All in all - everything looks OK

[Marius]

I'm not very satisfied with the new cam I think my pocket cam (which I recorded my previous vids with) captures video with a lot better quality. The JIB2 was set to 1080p - and when I play it back on the Tube in full quality I think it looks sort of mushy, not sharp an nice... I'll set the JIB to 720p for my next recordings, as this produces 60fps vs. 30fps in 1080p.

Here I am flying the JR at some field not far from our house. I'm speaking to my friend a few times during the flight - it's regarding some of the noises and vibrations we're seeing/hearing. Also, it's windy - very windy - so there's a lot of noise.

http://youtu.be/O9hlKDs3q3Q

Here I have driven to another field closer to the city. Much less wind - but daylight is fading. Also, I haven't edited it yet - so there is a bit of me adjusting my radio and what not (sorry).

http://youtu.be/4pa6ydPyXoc

And last but not least a flight with the 450

http://youtu.be/2FEctkUtiXg

[Marius]

These last weeks me and the GF have been moving into our new apartment - so I haven't been able to spend much time on the forum, nor with my birdy's. Well, I have been flying my Nano a lot (that's right, I got myself a Blade Nano), and oh boy can that thing handle some crashes. I do not have grounds for comparison other than a Nine Eagles 125 I borrowed from a friend - but I would highly recommend the Nano to everyone!

Even if I wanted to take one of the birds out, I wouldn't be able to - I sold my charger! But STAY CALM, I'm not quitting the hobby, I'm UPGRADING Some of you may remember me blabbering about a Hyperion charger and a Turnigy PS - well I went ahead and got them both.



This setup can charge up to 20 amps! On TWO packs AT THE SAME TIME!
That's 40 amps I'm definitely gonna feel this one on the electric bills!! LOL



Charging two packs at the same time: What a brave new world!


I was just out with the JR. Charged the two 6S packs at 2C - done after only 30 mins!! (packs was storage charged before starting the charge). Charging with the old 50W took forever - even with storage charged packs. I'm def. loving this!

The 1200W Turnigy did get some mixed critics on the interwebz, but I got it anyways - you just can't beat that price. Hopefully it will deliver future 3C (dare I say 4C?) charges without problem.

As far as the Hyperion charger goes - I'm not having any doubts about it. I loved my other Hyperion (even though it was slow), and I'm sure I'm gonna love this as well. The menus was a bit more complicated then the previous charger, but then again this is a far more expensive and advanced charger.

So anyways: I went out into the darkness and fired up the JR tonight. So here you go LOL:
(A bit out of frame - will fix this on the next flight)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKu8TFC ... e=youtu.be

As you may notice, I'm not using the new JIB2 for recording. I'm using the Panasonic I used to begin with - superior video quality! I have changed out the "head rig" with a proper head mount now - so the cam sits more back on the head than with the previous rig.

Gonna shoot some more flights on Sunday - as I felt a bit rusty on the sticks

[Marius]

Been at the cabin this weekend. Brought the fleet Flying down at the lake.

As mentioned earlier, the JR had a tail vibration. After lowering the HS to 2200 the vibration is gone, and all is goooood

http://youtu.be/Lxdgt2eUXpY

http://youtu.be/M_VMc9X5-tc

[Marius]

21°F (-6°C) and BEAUTIFUL weather here today - perfect flying conditions.

Working on my funnels, tic tocs, backwards flight and inverted orientations.

http://youtu.be/1eZxBYKiMVo

http://youtu.be/6oFGvrLg5-o

[Marius]

You say details will follow, but I see no details. What happened? Crashes happen, it's just a part of the hobby. I'm sure you will have it in the air in no time.

I can give you the details, but the pics will have to wait until I get home from work.

I was out flying at the same site as the day before. It was my second flight, and I was practicing my tail down funnels. It was going GREAT! But then, about mid way through my 10th consecutive funnel (a big one - the bird was far away atm) the tail blew out!! I don't know how - but I remained surprisingly calm through the whole ordeal. The bird was spinning like crazy with no response to my tail inputs - the tail drive had given out.

I did try the cyclic for a brief moment, but with way too little practice on how to save a bird with no tail control - I decided to do a controlled crash. I brought her down as far as I dared before flipping TH. I misread the altitude (again, it was far away, like 350 yards), the blades stalled, and the bird dropped out of the air from maybe 30 feet.

As there was some spectators, I walked instead of ran down to the crash site. The poor thing. It sat there, just twitching. The motor seemed to be trying to spool - sort of. But I was able to hold it back with my hands. I took off the canopy, and unplugged the battery - the twitching stopped.

It was horrible. Looked like something out of a car crash - my poor JR...

__

As it still is lying on the bench, I haven't gotten to see what ALL the damage is. But ATM:

• One 6S battery pack totaled
• One main blade
• Landing gear
• Entire frame including battery compartment
• Bent main shaft
• Bent tail rod

As for the Servos, Rx, ESC and motor: I still don't know. All I know is, this is gonna get expensive.

[Marius]

So here's the horror show:

Both main frame sides totaled




Battery compartment cracked - this I think I can repair.






Landing gear


Main blade (one blade survived)






Boom bent


Tail support rod bent


Main shaft bent


Either the one way bearing or the shaft sleeve is bent - not sure, but the thing feels weird when rotated


Tail servo leads severed (not sure if servo is functioning)


My almost brand new canopy cracked

• Motor is working - but suspect bearings might be slightly damaged
• ESC housing is cracked but unit is working
• All cyclic servos are working
• AR7200BX is working

And last, but certainly not least; the culprit - the son of a bi*ch - the cause of my nightmare; the front tail gear box:



Both gears completely stripped bare

[Marius]

Good news!

I got a reply from JR Propo, and they are offering to send me a new frame and tail gears for free They could however not see any wrong with my setup, nor have they gotten any other complaints on the tail gears. But they did mention that the gears should be greased before every flight, and that non greased gears might have caused them to strip.

I'm guessing that since the manual does not mention the greasing of gears, they are willing to "stretch" their good will on to me

[Marius]

I recently learnt to do inverted backwards circuits (banked turns) on the sim. I spent some hours practicing this over the last week. Last night i was at some indoor flying in the city - pulled off the same move with my Nano. So today I decided I'll try it with my 450.

Now, usually I'm much more nervous about trying news stuff. I usually practice hours and hours before trying it IRL. Well, I pulled off two CCW circuits - but then I was gonna do the CW one... Crap.

Well I got it on tape. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkTAEzU ... UrhEZ2T5WQ

Both birds grounded. That's RC-hobby for ya Now I just gotta get my paycheck so I can start repairing.

[Marius]

The Goblin is starting to behave. I'm still getting a feel for it, but here's another test flight.

http://youtu.be/V3F3Fg8rloI

I also did some packs with the 450. I'm having a bit of elevator wag on this one, but I'm still able to fly it. Oh yeah, I also updated to the latest 3GX (didn't feel any particular change in behavior).

http://youtu.be/dWMF-BkHoSo

[Marius]

Took both my babies out to the fields again. Only got enough power in the cam to shoot the 450 (the Goblin is a bit boring anyways, as I'm still learning to flyit).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djfcJTL ... e=youtu.be

I also swapped out the plastic horns on the Goblin for Align metal ones.



The inner hole is at the perfect distance for use in the Goblin.



Installed.





I also broke the 450's landing gear a few weeks ago.



So now I got the fancy black skids



Even though I have been contemplating getting the Warp - it's on days like this I realize; I do love my 450