Ep 200: Listener Questions and Other Stuff

[unknown speaker 00:00:04] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the RC Plane Lab Podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Dave. How are you doing, Dave? I'm here. We're dry-ish. Yeah, I was going to say we're not snowy at this point. So, yeah, sorry, everybody. We are a week late. I guess that's one of the pitfalls of recording so close to our release date. We used to do it to where we had a week or so in between, just in case we had stuff like that happen, but we don't anymore. And I like it that way.

[unknown speaker 00:00:41] It keeps us more current on things that are going on. It's fresh. But, yeah, last week we had a bit of a snowstorm. It was a lot slipperier out, slicker out, whatever.

[unknown speaker 00:00:55] We didn't get much snow, and we didn't get any ice, but, man, that snow was super slick.

[unknown speaker 00:01:00] Yeah. On my way home from work, I was on the interstate. And at first I was driving along, like, oh, this is no problem at all. This is, you know, just wet pretty much, even though it was snow covered, but it still wasn't slippery. I got a couple miles outside of town, and then all of a sudden I was, like, not wanting to be on the interstate. It got bad pretty quick. I was. And that's when I called you. I was, like, yeah, you might.

[unknown speaker 00:01:24] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:01:25] If you don't want to come out tonight, I fully understand, because it's supposed to get worse.

[unknown speaker 00:01:28] Oh, I got to state, that new Toyota of mine rocks in the snow.

[unknown speaker 00:01:33] Does it? Oh, it works wonderfully.

[unknown speaker 00:01:35] Glad to hear that. Yeah. Good job.

[unknown speaker 00:01:37] That's nice. That'll be good for all the weather we're probably going to be getting.

[unknown speaker 00:01:41] Yeah, we've had more snow. We've had 80% of our snow coverage already before winter even started than we normally get for the entire year. Yeah, and I like it.

[unknown speaker 00:01:50] I mean, I love the snow, so I can't say anything bad about it. Yeah. So pretty. And today was 55 was the high.

[unknown speaker 00:01:59] And it's supposed to be 17 tonight. Yeah, low of 17 tonight. So welcome to Illinois.

[unknown speaker 00:02:05] And we had rain all day today. So now it'll probably be ice.

[unknown speaker 00:02:08] My snow's all gone.

[unknown speaker 00:02:10] Yeah, we have just a couple places where we, you know, cleared the driveway, but unfortunately not what we had last week. I do miss it. So what else? I've got some notes here. Let me look. Oh, kind of excited. Something we have not done for a while. I haven't done with you at all yet. No, this is new to me. We're going to be doing a giveaway starting the first, the goal, which I'm going to put this out there. That could change.

[unknown speaker 00:02:40] But the plan at this point is to start it the first week of January with our first episode. I think it's the first week, right? First full week.

[unknown speaker 00:02:51] First full week of January.

[unknown speaker 00:02:54] And so we will have more details to come. But be prepared. Be prepared. A giveaway coming up. It's cool. Yeah, it'll be kind of like the one we did last time, if anybody remembers. But it'll be a website for signing up and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like I said, more details to come. The other thing, my mind just went blank. Was it there was something else I was going to say that I didn't have on the list? Oh, that can't help you. I got the list. I know, right?

[unknown speaker 00:03:24] So giveaways, snow.

[unknown speaker 00:03:29] UNKNOWN: Wow.

[unknown speaker 00:03:29] Maybe it'll come in later. We'll see. Update on the Electrostreak short kits. We've got a lot of people asking about those. Calm down. It's coming. I'm only able to do as much as I can. But I've started printing the plans and all that kind of stuff. And I tell you what, I don't think I use that big printer enough. Because every time I go to print something after it's set for a while, lots of parts need replaced. It says I like being stationary.

[unknown speaker 00:04:00] It doesn't like to print a lot of stuff, apparently. But I think I found my root cause of my issues. We'll see here in a week or so when I get parts. Hopefully that'll be it. And it'll be able to sit for longer than that without breaking. Nothing money can't fix. That's the problem. These are expensive printers I found.

[unknown speaker 00:04:20] And you are including two copies? Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:04:23] So I wasn't going to get into exactly what we were doing yet because we haven't finalized it. But yeah, this time instead of just a single copy of the plans, we're going to do two copies. Mostly because when I build something, not that I do it very often, but when I do, I like to have a plan to bastardize, I guess. Or cut apart. And then one to always have full for reference. So yeah, that's the plan on that one. Two sets of plans. Use it that way or give it away to your friend.

[unknown speaker 00:04:50] I could care less.

[unknown speaker 00:04:51] How's your electric streak going, Ron?

[unknown speaker 00:04:55] Anyway, you mean the e-flight one? It's perfect. It's all ready to go. Where is that started kit of yours?

[unknown speaker 00:05:02] I haven't seen it for a while. Oh, it's on the other side of the basement. Oh, it's on the other side. It's back there. Because it still does exist, right?

[unknown speaker 00:05:08] Yeah, it still exists. I'm going to be honest with you. I've thought, especially since I'm doing all these again, I thought about junking part of the first one. Because the thing that was difficult and that really made me stop wanting to work on it was the fact that I was trying to get it lit up very well. Oh, yeah. You don't need to light it. I don't. If I don't light it, I think that will be a lot easier to build. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:05:32] So that was my, I don't want to say the straw that broke the camel's back. But that was kind of the thing that's like, I don't necessarily have to have it lit.

[unknown speaker 00:05:42] Just become a stumbling block and you just couldn't get over it.

[unknown speaker 00:05:45] Right. I didn't care to go farther. So we'll see. I've already built one and a half. I know. I need to, I very much need to do it. Maybe this will be my time to build mine for the second go on all this stuff. We'll see. Yeah. So we'll probably talk, actually we'll, I'm not sure how that's going to work when we talk about it. But I will say this. So they will be available. My plan is like beginning part of January.

[unknown speaker 00:06:19] The easiest way to find out when they're ready is join our email list because I'll send out an email blast once everything is all set. But I think I'm going to do, I think I'm going to give our Patreon supporters a couple days notice. Let them have first dibs on stuff because the way this is now, I'm only doing so many when they're gone. They're gone until I do more.

[unknown speaker 00:06:43] And it's been two years since the last batch went out. It has actually been, is it three years now? Well, the build was two years ago. So probably two and a half years.

[unknown speaker 00:06:53] The build was 23.

[unknown speaker 00:06:56] Really?

[unknown speaker 00:06:57] Yeah. Wow. So 24, 25, it'll be 26. So yeah, three years. Right?

[unknown speaker 00:07:03] Yeah. So these are a limited run. Pretty much.

[unknown speaker 00:07:07] But anyway, we will talk about that next episode we can. But like I said, for more information, either join Patreon and you'll figure it out as soon as we do it. Or just join the email list and you will find out soon-ish when it's ready. And then we'll probably talk on the podcast after that. So pardon me while I take a drink. All right. What's next? Do you want to talk about the new airplane?

[unknown speaker 00:07:35] Sure. You go for it.

[unknown speaker 00:07:36] It's different, which is what I like being different. It's the eFlight 1 meter GB.

[unknown speaker 00:07:44] Which is still a good size airplane, even though it's got a 1 meter span.

[unknown speaker 00:07:48] Well, it's wider than it is long, which is okay. But yeah, foam put out by eFlight. Go look for pictures of it. It's kind of neat. $329.99 for the bind and fly. Which, I mean, that's about the price of these things anymore.

[unknown speaker 00:08:08] Yeah, they've all crept up there just a little bit. I think the… I mean, a year ago, that was probably a $299 plane, but…

[unknown speaker 00:08:14] Well, I think the plug and play is… I should have printed it. I want to say $249 maybe. So receivers, I guess, are expensive.

[unknown speaker 00:08:23] This one, I'd almost want to get the bind and fly version because it's got all the programming in it for the ability that this thing's going to need.

[unknown speaker 00:08:31] It's a very difficult plane to fly well. And it looks like from the videos that with their AS3X stuff, they have that nicely dialed in.

[unknown speaker 00:08:42] It looks tamed, except for the landing. That looks still a little sketch, but… Yeah, I mean… Especially on the grass. That would make it want to tip over more. Yeah, I see that.

[unknown speaker 00:08:54] But for… Let's see, what is it? For digital Metal Gear servos, which is nice. Motor, 70 amp ESC, and 631 plus receiver. Requires 4 to 5 channel plus spectrum transmitter and a 4S 3200 to 5000 milliamp LiPo battery or milliamp hour LiPo battery with an EC3 or IC3 connector. Unless you change them. Unless you learn how to solder. Right. Which I would not do that anyway because I like that. But anyway, check it out. We had somebody comment that we need to do better…

[unknown speaker 00:09:38] They were nice about it. But need to do better at adding links to things we talk about. So I will try to remember to do that in the show notes.

[unknown speaker 00:09:46] Can't promise anything. It's a good looking aircraft. It is. I like it. And round as a shape.

[unknown speaker 00:09:51] Yeah, it's… I don't know how scale it is, but it looks the part. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:09:59] Okay, what else?

[unknown speaker 00:10:01] Oh. Oh, did you see micro fasteners is no more and has been purchased? I have not.

[unknown speaker 00:10:09] Really? Yeah, and I love micro fasteners. I work with her a lot.

[unknown speaker 00:10:13] Well, they are now owned by National Balsa. I kind of figured that was coming.

[unknown speaker 00:10:17] I just… They were buddy-buddy at all these events.

[unknown speaker 00:10:20] Yeah. I mean, I didn't think they would be purchasing one or another, but…

[unknown speaker 00:10:25] I know speaking to her, her husband was having some health issues, and she was pretty much running the place by herself from what I kind of understand, just quick conversations.

[unknown speaker 00:10:34] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:10:35] So all the best to them. Yeah, absolutely. They'll be using them, even though they're National Balsa now.

[unknown speaker 00:10:41] Well, they still have the website up, so it's still micro fasteners apparently separate that way. But who knows? Yeah, so that's one of those things that it's good that we didn't lose them, and that somebody else has taken over because they're very popular.

[unknown speaker 00:10:56] Yes. Very nice products. I've never had any issues with any of those things.

[unknown speaker 00:11:00] Yeah. Cool. Well, I've got some listener questions. Do you want to do that? Sure. Do you want to read first? Do you want me to read? Let me grab the first one here. I hate the reading part. I really do. I don't know why.

[unknown speaker 00:11:14] Ah, no big deal. So, number one came from Grant. Hey, guys. Love the show, and I'm completely stuck. Well, we're here to help you out. I spent three weeks reading forums about which trainer to buy. Everyone says Aeroscout is great. But then half the internet says just build a flight test plane from scratch, and so I learn how to fix it when I crash. If you were starting today with zero experience and a hundred bucks, what exactly would you do?

[unknown speaker 00:11:43] Well, I would definitely get more than a hundred bucks.

[unknown speaker 00:11:48] Yeah. That's going to be a limiting factor. That's going to be a huge factor.

[unknown speaker 00:11:51] But if you bump that up to maybe twice that, my recommendation would be the Hobby Zone Aeroscout. It's really a tough plane to beat, and it's a tough plane.

[unknown speaker 00:12:03] I agree.

[unknown speaker 00:12:04] It flies great as a trainer, and it also can be entertaining for the advanced flyer.

[unknown speaker 00:12:10] It's fun to fly. I mean, like, there's something about that airplane, whenever I fly the one Piper has that doesn't get flown much, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But it's just dumb, stupid, simple, and no stress.

[unknown speaker 00:12:26] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:12:26] And the nice thing about it is it's built. You don't have to worry about, did I build it straight? Did you put a warp in it? Did you not hook something up right? Just it flies out of the box. I mean, there's other aircraft out there, obviously, that'll work just as well, but that is probably, I think, the most popular one out there. And I've got personal experience flying it. I just know it's a great flying airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:12:50] It's got the pusher prop, so that kind of helps with safety a little bit. Just a really good flying airplane, and the radio system is sorted out in it.

[unknown speaker 00:13:00] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:13:01] Even if you don't use a spectrum transmitter, the receiver is still going to work just fine. It's a tough nut to beat.

[unknown speaker 00:13:10] Yeah. And it looks funny because it is a pusher, but… I think it's hilarious on floats. I know. Me too. But the nice thing is, you know, without the propeller in the very front, it protects you from rollovers and all that kind of stuff, breaking your propeller. So, it's a well-set-up airplane that is a good tool for learning, I think. It just works right out of the box. Well, that was easy.

[unknown speaker 00:13:37] Yeah. Shall we do another? Go for it. I don't want to.

[unknown speaker 00:13:40] You want to read it? I'll do it. I'll take this one. That's fine. All right. Okay. So, Nathaniel says, and by the way, we have edited these down for clarity, and some of them were a little longer with stuff that is more to us. This is the broadcast-friendly version. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. So, Nathaniel says, CA glue, hot glue, grill glue, or glue epoxy. What is actually the holy grail for repairing foam without melting it or adding 10 pounds of weight?

[unknown speaker 00:14:14] Also, does acetone get super glue off fingers, asking for a friend?

[unknown speaker 00:14:19] UNKNOWN: Liar.

[unknown speaker 00:14:19] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:14:20] You are your friend.

[unknown speaker 00:14:21] No, I'm kidding. Does it also get it off your lips? Because I glued my mouth shut. Really?

[unknown speaker 00:14:25] Yeah. Oh, I remember that.

[unknown speaker 00:14:27] Yeah, I pulled the cap off of my teeth, and yeah, that was bad. Yes, acetone works great.

[unknown speaker 00:14:35] Not on your lips, though, probably. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I'd want to put that on my lips.

[unknown speaker 00:14:39] I didn't get it in my mouth. I did clean it up around the edges, so I didn't have crud. I got grilled all night and got crusty. Yes, the acetone works great for getting it off your fingers. It also gets it off of tools. It gets it off of everything.

[unknown speaker 00:14:55] But, oh, I shouldn't tell. Crystal's going to be upset. So, I got a funny story for you. So, it's before Thanksgiving, and her and Piper decided to do their nails. Well, I think Crystal already had some nail polish on, so she had to take it off. Long story short, they were in the living room. And to make it easier to dip their hands, she went and got a TV tray, using a TV tray with a solo cup on it. Oh, and that's foam solo cup?

[unknown speaker 00:15:28] No, it wasn't foam. Oh, okay.

[unknown speaker 00:15:29] It was actually plastic, the red ones. And then she poured a good amount, let's just say, of nail polish remover in that cup. That cup then decided to melt, and the nail polish remover got all over the top of the TV tray. So, it stripped it, like, down to bare wood, and the, I mean, she just was beside herself, making sure it wasn't going to actually go down on the carpet and stuff. But I found that quite funny, because who knew? I mean, foam, yeah, I know foam. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:16:03] I didn't think it would do that to a plastic. Some plastics are safe with it, some plastics, not so much.

[unknown speaker 00:16:09] Red solo cups are not.

[unknown speaker 00:16:11] So, if you're going to be working with any kind of nail polish remover or acetone. Glass. Yeah. That's the best bet.

[unknown speaker 00:16:17] That's absolutely safe is glass.

[unknown speaker 00:16:18] Yep. And it washes off just fine to reuse it if you want to, too.

[unknown speaker 00:16:21] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:16:22] What else? I got an off. Glue. What's the best glue, Dave?

[unknown speaker 00:16:27] Dave, for me, if I'm not in a hurry, the foam tack is the way to go for any repairs or building with foam. I really like the foam tack product. It's not exactly the cheapest glue you're going to find.

[unknown speaker 00:16:39] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:16:40] But it works just so well. You smear it on, you touch your parts together, pull them apart, wait 30 seconds, jam them together. And in surprisingly quick amount of time, your parts are stuck.

[unknown speaker 00:16:51] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:16:52] Good enough.

[unknown speaker 00:16:53] I mean, I wouldn't.

[unknown speaker 00:16:54] You don't pull on them. Right. So this is not a quick field repair glue. But for general purpose repairing and or building, foam tack is the way to go. I've also used the same company, Beacon, is the manufacturer of foam tack. I've also used their Fabri-Tac. And quite frankly, I don't see much of a difference. Foam tack seems to be a little more aggressive and a little faster. But the Fabri-Tac is available at Walmart and is a little cheaper. So.

[unknown speaker 00:17:24] Same consistency.

[unknown speaker 00:17:25] Same consistency. It stays flexible. It doesn't get hard. Works really, really well. For fast field repairs, I've got a small glue gun that actually runs off of a three-cell LiPo battery. And it is wonderful for making those super fast field repairs. Take a chunk out of your elevator. You can just smack it back on and, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:17:50] Five minutes later, you're flying. And you use, I'm guessing, the low-temp glue.

[unknown speaker 00:17:55] The sticks I have are dual temperature. They work low and high. I use a low and high-temp glue gun in the house to build with. I've found that, especially when you're working with small things, the low-temp works much better. But you've got to be fast. You can't be gluing large items with the low-temp because it just cools way too fast. But it also tends not to melt the foam. So some, especially like foam board, will tend to melt quite quickly.

[unknown speaker 00:18:26] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:18:27] I've done that before. But the high will have taken, allow you to do larger areas because you've got a little working time. At the field, I don't know what it actually turns out to be with the three-cell LiPo. It works.

[unknown speaker 00:18:42] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:18:42] I think it's somewhere probably in between is where it ends up. But they have the multi-temp glue sticks, and those are available. Walmart, Hobby Lobby, pretty much any place that sells craft supplies, Michael's. You can get those anywhere, and they're inexpensive.

[unknown speaker 00:18:58] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:18:59] Epoxy will give you a little stronger joint, but it also tends to rip a little bit more in the foam because it doesn't flex as much as the softer glues. And the CA as well will do the same thing. It makes the foam hard and tends to crack and rip a little bit easier, but it will allow you to do things quickly. However, you have to make sure it is the correct type of foam. Some foams CA will eat. Other foams, perfectly fine. So get a scrap out and give it a shot.

[unknown speaker 00:19:29] Good idea. Or somewhere where it doesn't matter. Yeah. Inside of a battery hatch or something like that. Put a dab on. But, yeah, make sure it's the foam safe CA. Correct. Other one eats through pretty quick. Okay. Shall we move on? Sure.

[unknown speaker 00:19:45] Jason, long-time listener, first-time crasher. Well, apparently you've been doing a really good job. You just crashed for a time.

[unknown speaker 00:19:51] Or he hasn't flown much. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:19:52] Yeah. You guys always preach about using a simulator. Be honest with me. Is it actually worth $100 or is it just a video game? I feel like I'd learn better feeling the actual wind. Convince me I'm wrong.

[unknown speaker 00:20:06] I mean, simulators are invaluable, in my opinion. You save your money on the first crash. Yeah. I mean, that's the…

[unknown speaker 00:20:15] The first crash will pay for the simulator.

[unknown speaker 00:20:16] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:20:17] Not saying you're going to learn everything with that simulator. It is different in the real world. Yeah. But… Yes, it is. It puts you well ahead of the learning curve.

[unknown speaker 00:20:27] Right. It gets you the basics down because, honestly, it's a very foreign feeling if you don't have the basics down when you go out and actually fly something, especially if you're trying to do it by yourself. It can get away from you very fast.

[unknown speaker 00:20:45] Yes. And still make sure to get a qualified instructor to help you out, even if you have 100 hours of simulator time, that instructor is going to save you.

[unknown speaker 00:20:56] Yeah. So, it teaches you reactions. It teaches you to do things without thinking. And once you get there, that's when things go much better for you.

[unknown speaker 00:21:07] It's been an extremely long time since I personally have used a simulator because the one I have runs on a 486 computer and it's on two floppy disks. Is it called Stick Flight because it's just a stick man on a… Actually, it is a stick. Oh. No, it is a Dave Brown flight simulator. I can't remember the actual real name of it. And the aircraft are basically sticks. But the flight mechanics are there. And it worked really well. I personally haven't used one in a long time.

[unknown speaker 00:21:39] But when I go to instruct new pilots, I can tell who's used a simulator and who hasn't in the first 30 seconds.

[unknown speaker 00:21:47] And it does, after you learn the basics, get to be a fun video game where you can hone your skills and do other things that you wouldn't… And what happens if I do that? Right. Exactly. It's a good place to test stick movements and see how the plane reacts. I don't know if the newer ones…

[unknown speaker 00:22:04] It's been a while since I've done the newer ones. But do they have a… Where they give you an untrimmed airplane? Because I know that Dave Brown actually gave you an airplane that was way out of whack and you had to fly it and trim it. It was pretty handy.

[unknown speaker 00:22:15] I liked it. I don't know, actually. I've never thought to look at that. But I know they do… Like the real flight that I have has different modes set up to where you can be taught. Like if you're working on landings, it will literally just have a plane coming in from, what, 400 feet away at, you know, 40 feet in the air or something. And you have to keep practicing. And then when you land, you can reset. And it's just right there.

[unknown speaker 00:22:37] And it's just constant over and over and over again.

[unknown speaker 00:22:39] So it just takes it back to recess to point A and… Right. As opposed to landing.

[unknown speaker 00:22:43] Oh, I got to take off and land again. It also has training things in there for help on… I'm trying to think what was the one I was playing with. It's been a while since I've been on there too. But it has like hovering training, I know, for that kind of stuff. And then it actually does go through and walk you through different steps on how to take off, how to land, all that kind of stuff too.

[unknown speaker 00:23:05] So it's somewhat of an instructor. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:23:09] It's a… It's… I don't want to call it a game because it's much more than that. But it can be… It's a game of size. Does that make sense? Like it's… It kind of has things in there that are more… It's a game plus.

[unknown speaker 00:23:25] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:23:26] So that's nice. And you're right though. They're not 100% on to what you fly like in real life. But you can turn on wind. You can turn on failures. That was the other thing that it has on there. You can have it set to give you failures on one point, two points, three points. You know, just different things like a cervical out or the motor dies or, you know, silly things like that. All after full catastrophe. Pretty much where you got nothing.

[unknown speaker 00:23:52] But it does that to where you can practice and do all that kind of stuff too. So it's very handy. And I think that is the first step anybody should ever buy when getting into the hobby.

[unknown speaker 00:24:04] Yeah, that is excellent. Saves you much, much money. I was going to say thousands of dollars, but it could actually. It'll save you the price of the simulator. Easy. Yep. Now I just got to get a computer that can run one. Oh, we just had to go buy new computers too. Yeah, I'm stuck in Windows 10 world still.

[unknown speaker 00:24:22] I mean, that's how I was. So now I'm dealing with the whole getting everything onto this new computer, making sure I have the same programs that I use. Not remembering what programs I needed until I go down or sit down to do something. I'm like, oh, that's not on here yet. Got to install it and all that kind of stuff. It's kind of a pain, but hopefully these will last us a while too. Crystal had to go out and get hers also because ours were very, very old. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:24:45] Now you guys always make fun of my shop computer that I bring down here. I know, and I will. I was scraping paint off it again last night. Oh, God. I can't. Oh, I just couldn't do that.

[unknown speaker 00:24:56] Anyway, next says Thomas. He says, hey, fellas, I'm trying to get my 10-year-old daughter into the hobby. We bought a cheap, small RTF, ready to fly, off of Amazon that flew for four seconds before entering a death spiral and hitting the concrete. It was discouraging. What is the absolute most bulletproof, slow-flying, uncrashable plane for a kid to learn on that won't make us both cry? Wow. There's a lot to unfold there. Obviously, the AeroScout's a good airplane.

[unknown speaker 00:25:30] The other one that I just now thought of that would be a good, slow-flying, almost indestructible. Ultra-slow-stick. Right, almost indestructible. But, like, you can fully stall that, and it won't stall. It will just slowly settle into the ground. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:25:48] It's so lightweight that it's breakable, but parts are easily replaceable. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:25:54] And if you know you've done a couple things, then just buy a couple extra landing gear legs or something like that because they pop right in and pop right out. The Sport Club S2 is also a good one. That's a small one, a UMX size. Or, no, that one's not. Sorry. What one am I thinking of? The Champ.

[unknown speaker 00:26:16] Oh, the little UMX Champ?

[unknown speaker 00:26:18] Yeah, that's a good one, and then so is the UMX Radiant. I enjoy my UMX Radiant quite a bit. Either of those are full house, though. They don't have ailerons. No, I get that. But if you're looking for something inexpensive, that's probably a good way to get into it, too. Yeah. I think. Really, I think that slow ultra stick is the way to go. Yes. The only reason I stuck with the Radiant, though, is they said something about buying a cheap, small ray to fly. Cheap and small.

[unknown speaker 00:26:49] So, if we're kind of trying to stick with that. Well, they've got the UMX Timbers. Those can fly nice and slow.

[unknown speaker 00:26:55] That is true. And they weigh nothing, so when they bop into something.

[unknown speaker 00:26:58] Yeah. And if you can, it's always good to fly over, like, taller grass if you have a field or something, because that's like a built-in airbag. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:27:07] I've used the low beans a lot. When they get to be adult beans, not so much. But, yeah. I used our tall grass out here before with Piper.

[unknown speaker 00:27:16] And it's just, let it go. It'll go down. It's fine. Just pick it up.

[unknown speaker 00:27:20] Push it in.

[unknown speaker 00:27:21] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:27:24] Okay. Next. Do you want to go? Oh, boy. This one's going to be technical. Mark wants to know, can you guys explain ESCs to me like I'm five years old? I know it stands for an electronic speed controller, but I don't get amp rating. If I put a 60 amp ESC in a plane that calls for a 30 amp, will I blow up the motor? Or is it just overkill? I have a drawer full of spare parts. I'm afraid to mix and match.

[unknown speaker 00:27:49] Well, hi, Mark.

[unknown speaker 00:27:51] Yes. Hey, how are you? How was school? Oh, you want a cookie? You want a cookie?

[unknown speaker 00:27:56] No. So, this actually is, I don't want to get too much into it, because we did an episode on that already. so, I would suggest going and finding that one way back towards the beginning. But, so, amps on an ESC, you're okay to overdo it. Bigger is better. Except, if you go too big, your weight gets a lot higher, and then you have to deal with that. My E-streak has a 90 amp speed controller. Yeah, did you ever measure it to find out how much you're pulling, out of curiosity?

[unknown speaker 00:28:30] If I push on it hard, it barely pulls 40.

[unknown speaker 00:28:33] Oh, way overkill, then. Yeah. So, yeah, you can absolutely oversize an ESC, no problem. But I need the nose weight. Well, then, if you need it, it works out just fine. yeah, so, putting a 60 amp ESC in a plane that calls for a 30 amp is fine. Dave did 90 when he's just pulling 40, which really, you would have gotten away fine with, like, a 60.

[unknown speaker 00:28:55] A 60 would have worked beautifully in that airplane, and probably fit much better, because, obviously, the smaller the amp rating, the smaller the speed control.

[unknown speaker 00:29:03] Yeah. Right. but since the motor is what uses the electricity that's being supplied to it from the ESC, the ESC needs to be the higher of the two numbers. Right. So, if you have a, and I always go 20%-ish overhead.

[unknown speaker 00:29:20] I like a nice margin of error. And, honestly, with prices anymore on these, it's not much different.

[unknown speaker 00:29:26] If you're going from a 60 to a 90 or something like that, amp, it's not that much more expensive. Yeah. So, if you can handle the extra weight, and size, yeah, I would go higher.

[unknown speaker 00:29:38] Yeah, I, I cringe when people have a 40 amp airplane, and they put a 50 amp speed controller in it, it's like, it'll work. Until it doesn't. Until it goes, ah, I've had enough.

[unknown speaker 00:29:51] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:29:51] So, I like that little bit of extra headroom in there, just in case.

[unknown speaker 00:29:55] Yeah, I do, too. It just makes things last longer.

[unknown speaker 00:30:00] so that was it. We just want to know about amp ratings on that.

[unknown speaker 00:30:04] Okay, so here, so, this will be more towards you a little bit. Drew says, greetings from the workbench. I'm looking to upgrade my radio. I've been flying Spectrum for years, but everyone at the field is talking about ELRS, ExpressLRS, and RadioMaster. is the learning curve of OpenTX, EdgeTX, actually worth a headache, or are people just nerding out over cheap hardware? I just want to fly, not learn to code.

[unknown speaker 00:30:27] you have, I have FreeSky. which is similar to, but not exactly the same as the RadioMaster.

[unknown speaker 00:30:38] Is that, like, in the middle? I mean, like, when it comes to ease of programming and, and what is actually done for you versus what you have to do, like, code-wise?

[unknown speaker 00:30:47] I think the FreeSky has made it easier than the actual coding that you would have to do with RadioMaster. I've never actually programmed a RadioMaster myself, but it's similar to, but not, not the same. They've made a RadioMaster easier with the Ethos system.

[unknown speaker 00:31:00] So, it's, like I said, in the middle, like, Spectrum is very simple to do what you want to do if you know where the menus are. You're not doing any coding, you're just flipping switches and changing values. Whereas, if you're getting into the, like, the OpenTX and all that kind of stuff, or EdgeTX, whatever, I don't even know what the most current on that is.

[unknown speaker 00:31:19] But when I was looking into them before, they were very much, you have to know coding and all that kind of stuff to make them work. Unless that's changed, I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:31:28] And I don't know either, because I've not really delved into it. I just went from Spectrum to the FreeSky Ethos system.

[unknown speaker 00:31:34] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:31:35] And never really spent any time in the other OpenTX program stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:31:42] So, just, and we might have gone over this before and I don't remember, why did you choose what you chose?

[unknown speaker 00:31:49] I looked at the other radios that were out there. Okay. I knew coming from the Spectrum side of things, what I was dealing with with them, because I've been doing that for a very long time. Oh, it didn't work out. I just hit myself in the face with the mic. I was, I was very heavily considering a RadioMaster system solely based on the price.

[unknown speaker 00:32:15] and the ability to do all your different programming.

[unknown speaker 00:32:19] I mean, that's not exactly easy to do with the Spectrum system.

[unknown speaker 00:32:24] then I ran across the FreeSky. With a Spectrum system or your Spectrum system? With my Spectrum system. Okay. I was going to say that.

[unknown speaker 00:32:34] Which is an older, it's a DX system. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:32:36] So. Very limited in today's terms.

[unknown speaker 00:32:39] then I ran across the FreeSky folks and everybody was just raving about FreeSky and I saw jet pilots were either using Spectrum or they were using Jetty or they were using FreeSky. It's like, well, if you've got a $20,000 airplane and that you're using, Jetty's way out of my price range. Yeah. I had actually considered Jetty for a while, but I didn't want to have to save for the next six years to afford one. Make payments. Yes.

[unknown speaker 00:33:06] and I think, the community is much easier in the United States for FreeSky. I think Jetty is probably more popular in Europe. I may be completely wrong on that, but that's just the feeling I get. It's a, it's a European based manufacturer. And most of what I saw was coming out of Europe with that. So if I was needing help with the system, FreeSky was much closer to home, even though it's not here, it's, it's close enough. Spectrum is literally in the backyard. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:33:37] So just saying, if it's closeness.

[unknown speaker 00:33:40] Yeah. The, less than helpful for me, unfortunately. Oh, anyway, we're not going to talk about that. Everybody's heard me complain before. and that's the reason I went with it. the Ethos system, once you get used to it, is actually very similar to using the newer Spectrum system. just, it's very comfortable and very intuitive after a very short period of time. and then there is the community all over the internet.

[unknown speaker 00:34:08] If you need help with something, I was having trouble having, believe it or not, I had a $25 microblade MCX that I was having trouble binding to the new FreeSky radio. Could not get it to work. It was just all over the place. Just bad things were happening. I put a quick post out about it and they said, oh yeah, just turn down the number of channels. It'll be fine. I mean, I literally got a response in two minutes.

[unknown speaker 00:34:31] I took and dumbed it down because the default is 24 channels because that's what FreeSky does. Everything's 24 channels. I dumbed it down to six channels. Bing, bang, done, bound immediately. No problems. So just little bugs like that. I just couldn't figure out. But now, you know, for next time, throw it out there and the community just comes right back at you. It was like, try this.

[unknown speaker 00:34:54] Nice.

[unknown speaker 00:34:55] ELRS, if you need something with super long range, that's the way to go. but, RadioMaster, if you're wanting something that's more customizable than maybe a Spectrum radio, I can't really say. It's, it's a, it's a nice option and it's a whole lot less money. FreeSky is, you get a lot of radio for less money than others. So, it's just not cheap hardware. I bought a stabilized receiver, eight channel, $45.

[unknown speaker 00:35:35] Yeah. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:35:37] So, I mean, it's just not just the cheap hardware. It's everything goes along with it. But there is some, there's a fairly steep learning curve in the beginning. But once you figure it out, it's, it's no different than any other manufacturer. Does that answer the question?

[unknown speaker 00:35:52] So, I think to dumb it down, because he's asking about, ExpressLRS RadioMaster. Sure. If you like the tinkering and playing and learning all that kind of stuff, go with that.

[unknown speaker 00:36:06] If you want a fully customizable radio that you can just assign every knob and switch button to do 15 different things, go for it.

[unknown speaker 00:36:12] Yeah. If you want just basics, then look at, like, the NX series or something of Spectrum. Or if you want a little bit extra, go with the iX. Yeah. I would say stick with Spectrum, because that's what I know, and that's where I'm going to stay. So, we'll see.

[unknown speaker 00:36:27] Yeah. And, everybody gets their own preferences after a while.

[unknown speaker 00:36:32] Oh, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:33] I mean, I've got nothing against my Spectrum Radio, although it will probably be going to Toledo to be disposed of. Really? Yeah. Okay. I don't use it. It sits in the box. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:44] No, I get it. I thought about getting rid of my iX12, too, because I don't.

[unknown speaker 00:36:47] I mean, it's a DX9. I mean, it's a good radio. It's a good solid. It's never given me any trouble, but it's completely outdated. And I'm feeling I'm probably lucky to get 50 bucks out. I seriously doubt.

[unknown speaker 00:36:59] That might be a little high.

[unknown speaker 00:37:01] But you never know.

[unknown speaker 00:37:01] As I said, I seriously doubt I'm going to get that. Yeah, it depends on the crowd, I guess.

[unknown speaker 00:37:06] But I don't use it. So, I mean, why have it just laying around?

[unknown speaker 00:37:11] I get it. There's not an infinite amount of room for keeping things.

[unknown speaker 00:37:16] Quite frankly, I want to see if Daniel wants it. He has a DX8. See if he wants to upgrade to the 9. He can have it. Other than that, it's going to go to Toledo just to be disposed of.

[unknown speaker 00:37:26] Nice. I'm looking forward to Toledo. But anyway, next. You want to read David?

[unknown speaker 00:37:32] Sure, David. Question about LiPo storage. I admit I'm lazy and I have about 15 batteries sitting in my garage, fully charged from last summer. I know, I know. Shame on me. Have I ruined them? How strict do I really need to be about storage voltage if I fly every weekend? Give me the real world truth, not the safety manual version. Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:37:57] Well, there's two things that I caught on that one. First off, fully charged, bad. Secondly, garage, if it gets hot, bad.

[unknown speaker 00:38:08] Hopefully, they're in some sort of fireproof case. My stuff's in an ammo box. But where do you keep yours? A work room? Inside your house? Inside the house, yeah. Which is probably not the best place for them either, but they are in an ammo box. Hopefully, if anything does go bad. And I've only had one battery go kapooey on me. Is that the one you were charging? That's the one I was charging, a streeter.

[unknown speaker 00:38:34] I've not, knock on wood, had one go off just sitting. Sitting around, I think they're fairly stable just sitting around. Unless you damaged them, brought them home.

[unknown speaker 00:38:44] Right. Then they might have issues.

[unknown speaker 00:38:48] Yeah. Yeah, so it's fine being lazy. I'm lazy too, honestly. Honestly, that's why I like the Spectrum smart batteries, because they auto-discharge to storage voltage at whatever time you set. You can tell it to do it after an hour. You can tell it after, like, 72 hours. I think most of mine I have set to, like, 36 hours. Because then that gives me time.

[unknown speaker 00:39:13] Like, if I charge them to go somewhere and something happens and I don't go until the next day, they have not started discharging. They're perfectly fine to sit for a couple days. Right. Not going to hurt them in the least. But the longer they sit full charge, the worse off they are, the more they're going to deteriorate and pretty much start to eat themselves.

[unknown speaker 00:39:30] I will have to say my FlightBox battery, it's a 4-cell 4000, and it was one of the cheapest ones you could find. I think it's, like, a 25C battery. It's real low-end, but it powers a starter and a fuel pump.

[unknown speaker 00:39:43] Right.

[unknown speaker 00:39:43] It's always fully charged. It sits all the time. It's over 10 years old. It sits there all the time, fully charged. It's buffy.

[unknown speaker 00:39:51] But it works just fine.

[unknown speaker 00:39:53] It's just fine.

[unknown speaker 00:39:56] So, if you're not, I mean, you're not going to be able to pull high amperage and all that kind of stuff out.

[unknown speaker 00:40:01] No, it would never work in an aircraft. But for the service that it does, it does a fine job.

[unknown speaker 00:40:07] Right. So, like I said, 36 hours is when I have mine set to go at an automatic storage charge. And, like, the longer, obviously, they stay at full charge, the more they, like I said, before deteriorate and stuff. That makes a difference in certain planes more than other planes. Like, if you're flying a high-performance EDF that's sucking that juice out really quick, it's going to be much more noticeable.

[unknown speaker 00:40:37] With low-voltage cutoff and that, you're going to hit that a lot faster than if you're flying a slow stick on a, you know, just a 4S2200 or 3S2200, just barely pulling anything out of it. But, and there are times, depending on what the battery is, that it could be past the useful date for an EDF, but still work fine in a prop plane.

[unknown speaker 00:40:57] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:40:58] You could still get a couple more years out of it.

[unknown speaker 00:41:00] It may be three or four more years out of it. My EDF batteries are regulated now down to lower-end prop planes, no big deal. And they fly fine.

[unknown speaker 00:41:08] Right. So, it's just one of those things to where, depending on the usage, depends on how good your battery has to be. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:41:15] So. And just, the more often you can do it to run them down to storage voltage, the better. But if you forget and leave one for a week, it's not going to kill that battery.

[unknown speaker 00:41:25] No. Months and months will, though. Yeah. I mean, so if it's puffy, I don't deal with puffy batteries. If they get puffy, they're gone.

[unknown speaker 00:41:33] I've only got one puffy, and that's the flight box. Everything else is. Yeah. I'm paranoid about that, though, because I just am. There's puffy, and then there's puffy.

[unknown speaker 00:41:43] Yeah. There's. Right. There's puffy, and then there's round. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:41:47] And when they get to the round part, that's the part that gets scary. If they're just a little squishy. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:41:52] That's not terrible, but I still prefer not to have any of that. So. Okay. Hopefully, that answered David's question. So, let's move on to Chris. Chris says, hey, RC Plane Lab, I just bought a 3D printer. I see all these files for fully printed planes, like Eclipson and 3D lab print. Are these actually viable for a daily flyer, or do they explode into plastic confetti the moment you have a rough landing?

[unknown speaker 00:42:15] Is PLA okay, or do I need to learn to print fancy, lightweight, foaming filaments?

[unknown speaker 00:42:21] This one's up to you, because I don't do.

[unknown speaker 00:42:23] Well, I'm going to be honest. I don't know much about it, so I had to Google this one. And what I came up with is. I've seen it explode. Yeah, kind of what I was thinking, like, for flyability. They fly fine until they don't. So, they are brittle.

[unknown speaker 00:42:42] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:42:43] So, that one rough landing, which would be normally a no big deal.

[unknown speaker 00:42:47] A non-event. Could mean a total reprint.

[unknown speaker 00:42:52] But, since they're 3D printed, that might not be all that difficult. You're out a few pennies to a couple bucks in material. And hours of printing. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:43:00] So, if you have the files, it's not that big of a deal, as if you didn't have the files. And what I found also said to use the LWPLA, which is the foaming stuff, because it is, like, half the weight of regular.

[unknown speaker 00:43:14] And it kind of, my feeling would probably glue itself together a little bit better.

[unknown speaker 00:43:17] Yeah, I would think so. Once again, talking with no knowledge on the subject. Yeah, I have no idea either. And I would also think that that would make it a little bit less brittle, too.

[unknown speaker 00:43:27] Yeah, because it kind of locks itself together with the foamy.

[unknown speaker 00:43:30] Once again, talking completely out of our rears, because I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:43:33] We have no idea.

[unknown speaker 00:43:35] But we, like with Joan Aul last year, we saw a 3D printed plane. Really, really cool. Like, you can do a lot of stuff with them. They're awesome. But not ones that I would consider daily flyers.

[unknown speaker 00:43:49] I have a 3D printed spinner right now, and it's kind of got me a little questionable.

[unknown speaker 00:43:55] Like, how big?

[unknown speaker 00:43:57] It's two inch-ish. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's like, I don't want to stand in front of this thing. I get it. It looks good and solid. It was surprisingly out of balance. I couldn't believe how much balancing I had to do on this spinner.

[unknown speaker 00:44:13] What kind of print was it, do you know?

[unknown speaker 00:44:15] Daniel printed it for me. It was just the PLA. Yeah. I mean, it looked good. It spins perfectly round. It's perfectly round. But I ended up drilling a big hole in the back plate to take a bunch of weight off of one side of it to get it to balance.

[unknown speaker 00:44:34] Not 100% surprised, because, I mean, filament is different weights depending on where you are on the roll, too. Yeah. It just happens that way.

[unknown speaker 00:44:43] So, yeah. It was considerably out of whack. But it was perfectly round. So that surprised me. It surprised you that it was round or the weight?

[unknown speaker 00:44:51] Yes, that really.

[unknown speaker 00:44:52] Because it was so symmetrically round, you know, I bolted it up and spun it, and there was no major runout. I mean, nothing's perfect, but the runout was absolutely minimal. But when I threw it on the balancer, one side just dropped like a rock. That's interesting.

[unknown speaker 00:45:09] I've never flown a 3D printed part like that. At least with that, it's not structural. So if something does break, it's going to fly apart.

[unknown speaker 00:45:20] Yeah. I'm going to get some major vibration. It's not like losing a prop blade, either. Right. I mean, I'm going to get the vibration. I'll be able to just shut it down. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:45:27] I'm assuming electric. Yes. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:45:30] Yeah. That would make more sense. Okay. You want to take the next one? All right. This is from Leo. I've mastered my EDS.

[unknown speaker 00:45:39] I feel like this also could be from you, by the way. Huh? I feel like this one could also be from you. This is where you need to be. These are questions you need to be asking.

[unknown speaker 00:45:48] Okay. Well, I don't know. Talk to my checking account. I've mastered my EDS, electric ducted fans, and I'm feeling the need for the smell of kerosene. What is the entry barrier for getting into actual turbine jets? Is it possible to do it for under 3K? Or should I just sell my car now? What's the gateway drug into jets? Okay. That would be cocaine. No.

[unknown speaker 00:46:14] Selling it to be able to afford it. Yes. Okay. So this is like what Dave will be asking when he finally starts to get into turbines, right?

[unknown speaker 00:46:26] Sure.

[unknown speaker 00:46:27] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:46:27] Sure.

[unknown speaker 00:46:27] Let's pretend that's where we're going with this. So to go as cheap as you can, look for something used, obviously. Yeah. But things to realize with turbines. You need to look at the hours that are on the turbine when you get it. Because if you buy this airplane with a turbine in it, you might have to send it in for refurbishment. Comes in with 24 and a half hours of runtime on it. Right. Then you know it's about time.

[unknown speaker 00:46:56] I think King Tech, after 25 hours, is about $250 to send it in, have it re-machined and all that kind of stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:47:03] And all things to say, you know, you're spending 3K plus on a jet. What's $250?

[unknown speaker 00:47:08] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:47:08] 3K plus on a used jet. But right.

[unknown speaker 00:47:12] Whereas, and 25 hours sounds like not very much, but that's a lot of runtime on a turbine when you fly it seven, eight minutes at a time. Right. okay. So let's see. The, the barrier, I think though, you have to have multiple people to help you get your license, your turbine waiver. So you have to know people that already have theirs that are willing to help. This is not a solo project. No. you need to be trained on it. You have to be tested on it.

[unknown speaker 00:47:45] And then they have to sign off. Then you know what you're doing.

[unknown speaker 00:47:48] And the regulatory paperwork. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:47:50] and then a $25 fee to get your waiver also. So, and I should say this is assuming he is in the United States. I didn't even think about that.

[unknown speaker 00:48:00] Yes. Like it varies depending on where you're at in the world.

[unknown speaker 00:48:03] If you're not in the United States, I don't know. But you can probably find used jets for around three grand for something that might be a little, a little rough around the edges, but serviceable. Right. I don't want to say off, but yeah, something that, has been road hard and put away wet. Doesn't mean they're bad, but just make sure you go over everything before you buy it. And then do your research. Definitely before you, fly it.

[unknown speaker 00:48:31] I know a lot of times when people are selling turbines, I have seen, they will offer just to meet you at the field and they will fly it for you. So you can see that everything works and all that kind of stuff too. but if you're going new, look for a brand that you like and get something that's trainer type. like the boomerang sprint or the, like I said, I have the hangar nine MB339, which is an awesome flying airplane. I absolutely love it.

[unknown speaker 00:48:58] you're probably going to be closer to five ish, I would say 5,000, in order to get started in it. Also, because there's other things you need. You have to have your, fire extinguisher. You have to have your fuel jug, which you can go a little bit more inexpensive on those. If you want to, but, you have to have your oil. You have to have, I mean, there's a lot of ancillary things that you have to have to do it.

[unknown speaker 00:49:25] so I, I know he said he's mastered EDFs, but I think just for fun, make sure you fly like fast 90 millimeter EDFs and very much get used to them. Overweight. Overweight because they fly heavy, much more heavier than like the MB339 does. So if you're prepared for something more difficult and it turns out to be easier, that's all the better. Like I was, I was very surprised after I, cause I flew my MB339 before I flew my Viper.

[unknown speaker 00:50:01] I went completely out of order, but the Viper is a fun airplane, but it lands much faster. And it's a heavier wing loading airplane than the MB339 is. And the MB339 flies so much better than the Viper does.

[unknown speaker 00:50:16] Right. I would consider my F-15 on eight cells extremely overweight with the eight cell setup.

[unknown speaker 00:50:21] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:50:23] With a very short wingspan, the, the, the turbines that I have spent a little bit of time flying way easier than that F-15.

[unknown speaker 00:50:33] Yeah. I agree. If you can handle the F-15, you will have no problem except for the, the mental load of knowing what could happen. That's gotta be the hardest part. I think that was the hardest part.

[unknown speaker 00:50:46] Yeah. Just knowing that when it's over, it's over.

[unknown speaker 00:50:49] Yeah. There's probably not going to be anything salvageable if it goes in hard or you can be like Tommy and just have a flame out and not do any major damage at all and have it fixed in a day or two.

[unknown speaker 00:50:59] Right. Get lucky every now and then. Every now and then. Okay. Next. Ryan, my question is for someone who has only flown foam. Is there a modern balsa kit that isn't a nightmare to build? I want to try real building, but I don't want to spend six months building this thing. the modern kit. Yeah. So there are lots and lots of easy build wood kits out on the market. some of the best out there, old school model works. Their stuff is really nice.

[unknown speaker 00:51:34] I personally have not built one myself, but I have built with people working on their, their stuff. everything just locks together. Nice. Stephen's arrow. there's a lot of them out there that are, look for something that is laser cut. that's going to make it a lot easier. It's more up to date. The instructions are typically going to be better than an old school kit. that has been jig crushed.

[unknown speaker 00:52:03] Well, the old parts were, you know, they were die crushed, not die cut. Right. so the parts are going to generally fit a lot better with a laser cut kit. in my opinion, there is no reason for a laser cut kit not to fit perfectly because if something doesn't fit, instead of having to fix a $10,000, $20,000 die, they can go in and change a couple lines of code.

[unknown speaker 00:52:25] Right.

[unknown speaker 00:52:26] So yes, there's a cost involved, but if they don't fix that line of code, that's just pure laziness. so there is a lot out there. Just look for something laser cut and simple, something like a stick, a laser cut stick. I can't remember what, old school calls theirs, but they have a stick on there. yeah, just whatever you like, look for something simple and laser cut and you should be good to go. So some of that stuff builds so quick.

[unknown speaker 00:52:57] Okay. Next, let's move on. Do you want to read Finns?

[unknown speaker 00:53:01] UNKNOWN: Fin.

[unknown speaker 00:53:03] Fin. Does brand matter for servos? I can buy a 10 pack of blue nine gram servos online for the price of one high tech servo. For a beater foamy, do I really need metal gears and digital precision or is the cheap blue stuff fine? when do you decide to splurge on the servos? I use cheap servos myself because I'm cheap. I've also got some high-end servos that I use on certain aircraft because they deserve it.

[unknown speaker 00:53:33] my personal experience with the blue servos is they're awful and I would never use one on anything myself. Really? That's what I've ran across. Every, every blue servo I've ever had.

[unknown speaker 00:53:44] Like a little nine gram. They failed.

[unknown speaker 00:53:46] Okay. One of them.

[unknown speaker 00:53:47] Well, I will, I will admit I don't fly much with those because most of the stuff I do is not like in that small form factor. but I've not had a lot of problems with them.

[unknown speaker 00:53:57] Oh man. Every one of them I've dealt with.

[unknown speaker 00:53:59] But I will also say that I don't put them in anything I care about. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:54:03] The cheap servos do not go anything that weighs enough to hurt anybody. And, or you've got emotional involvement or hurt your feelings when something happens. I've got, I use a lot of $5 Corona servos and they have been incredibly good for me. Where do you get those? those are a Hobby King item.

[unknown speaker 00:54:23] Oh, okay.

[unknown speaker 00:54:24] they're always out of stock. So whenever I see them in stock, I grab like 10 of them. I don't use them in, you know, 90 size gas planes or anything like that. Although they do make fine throttle servos.

[unknown speaker 00:54:38] Okay. Cause you don't have to be so exact on those. I get it.

[unknown speaker 00:54:42] And they're metal gear. They're five, they're $5. I think, well, I started using them. They were five bucks. I think they're up to like $6.99 now, but still.

[unknown speaker 00:54:49] That's not bad.

[unknown speaker 00:54:50] there's a place in time for cheap servos.

[unknown speaker 00:54:54] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:54:54] Your 90 size 22 cell powered whiz bang plane is not the place to put them.

[unknown speaker 00:55:02] Yeah. I tried to go cheap when I built the Duelist and bought some on Amazon. I don't remember. It was like six of them for 30 bucks or something stupid like that. I mean, full, full size servos. And they went back because they were so bad at centering, so noisy, so twitchy. So it's just not worth it.

[unknown speaker 00:55:22] Yeah. A servo that doesn't center well on a high speed plane, asking for problems, asking for problems and makes your life unenjoyable.

[unknown speaker 00:55:30] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:55:30] It's it.

[unknown speaker 00:55:31] Yeah. And you're right on that one too. You're fighting issues that you don't have to fight just to save a couple bucks. Whereas if you had a good quality servo in there that was centered, you know, dead on every time you have a lot more fun because you're not trying to overcorrect for something that it is doing wrong.

[unknown speaker 00:55:45] Right. And they have to be up to the job. That super fast thing I built last summer, but I can't even remember what it was now. That orange thing that I ended up putting in the, Oh, the, the football looking, the football looking thing. And then I can't remember its name. All of a sudden, the goblin goblin. Yes. That thing was a blast. And I use the stock servos that came with the kit. although I didn't use the stock power system. it wasn't up to the job.

[unknown speaker 00:56:11] it could not center the ailerons slash they were ailerons.

[unknown speaker 00:56:15] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:56:15] it could not center it on its own at speed under half throttle. The server worked fine at over half throttle settings. It just did not have enough guns to, to keep it centered, keep it centered.

[unknown speaker 00:56:27] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:56:27] And the fix for that was just put two of them on each Evalon. So split the load and they were happy with that, but you have to make sure to match your servo to what you expect it to do.

[unknown speaker 00:56:39] Agreed.

[unknown speaker 00:56:40] So cheap ones depends on what you're doing. Cheap's fine. As long as it's a cheap plane.

[unknown speaker 00:56:45] Yeah, exactly. Make sure everything is cheap that goes together as opposed to cheaping out on something you shouldn't. Okay. Let's move on. And this next one is absolutely all Dave talking because I don't know, I haven't done it. So how do you guys paint your, oh, Bill says, how do you guys paint your foam planes? Every time I try to use spray paint, it eats the foam or flakes off as soon as the wing flexes. Is there a specific brand or prep technique I'm missing?

[unknown speaker 00:57:11] I want my jagged, ugly foam build to look like a Ferrari.

[unknown speaker 00:57:14] Well, your jagged, ugly foam plane will never look like a Ferrari, but we can help you out with making it look better. Right. Ferraris don't fly. Yeah. so it, a lot of it depends on the type of foam that you're using. EPP foams, typically have problems hanging on the paint. They like to flake. I've got that Alteryx that I, the Alteryx 600 that I've got, and it has been painted with, Rust-Oleum. Get a nice finish on it.

[unknown speaker 00:57:45] but you have to be very careful with it, not flex it and bang it around too much because it will flake, flake and come off. I, since then have found various methods making things stick a little bit better.

[unknown speaker 00:57:58] Now, just not to interrupt you, but do you think anything like that would have something to do with maybe like the mold release or something that's on the, it very much could be.

[unknown speaker 00:58:07] I always clean everything very thoroughly with denatured alcohol to get any mold release that is on it off. I gotcha. but like EPP feels kind of soapy anyway. It's kind of slickish. And if you notice, a lot of times your factory decals will just peel right off because they

[unknown speaker 00:58:22] can't stick to it either.

[unknown speaker 00:58:23] Yeah. I have found ways to help with the adhesion. there are adhesion promoters that you can spray. I haven't really used much of those. what I do use as I've found that water-based polyurethane tends to stick pretty well to it. Not a hundred percent, but it does a pretty good job.

[unknown speaker 00:58:42] and so I give it a good brushing of a, dead flat polyurethane first, as far as your spray paints go, you need to check your type of foam that you're using to make sure it won't eat it. once again, just get a scrap or put it in a spot. I usually use inside the battery hatch, give it a quick shot and give it a good hard shot so that you get a lot of fluid on it because sometimes a little miscoat won't do anything.

[unknown speaker 00:59:10] But as soon as you go to put a serviceable coat on it, it'll chew it up. So give it a good hard shot and give it 20 minutes and see what happens.

[unknown speaker 00:59:19] And most of those are propane fueled, right? Like it uses like a propane or a butane maybe even. I think butane.

[unknown speaker 00:59:27] Butane and protein are the two as a propellant.

[unknown speaker 00:59:30] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:59:30] and then some paints have solvents in them, as a thinner. Yeah. So it's not necessarily the propellant that's eating it. It's the solvent in the paint.

[unknown speaker 00:59:38] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:59:38] I know the Rust-Oleums can be hard on certain foams, stuff we typically refer to as cooler foam. the old, polystyrene.

[unknown speaker 00:59:48] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:59:49] Stuff that we don't see a whole lot of anymore. stuff that snaps real easy if you bend it. That's the stuff that is usually eaten up by the solvents. and then just a quick check on that. Usually you can give it a good seal coat with the water-based poly and that'll allow you to use those paints on it as long as you didn't miss a spot because it'll let you know as soon as you do. trust me, I've got a UMX plane that, dissolved. Is no longer there.

[unknown speaker 01:00:17] Is no longer there. lighter coats, the better. And usually acrylic paints tend to flex more. So there's less chipping and flaking as well with the acrylic paints, the water-based stuff. Nice. So.

[unknown speaker 01:00:32] Okay.

[unknown speaker 01:00:33] There's entire articles written on that.

[unknown speaker 01:00:34] Yeah. This is just a quick overview to answer a quick question. all right. So last question then. We have Dan and he says, or do you want to read it? You want me to? No, go write it. Dan says, I have a confession. I've been flying for two years and I still lose orientation when the plane is coming towards me. My brain just freezes and I turn the wrong way. Do you guys have any mental hacks or practice drills to finally get my nose in flying orientation locked down?

[unknown speaker 01:01:04] Simulator.

[unknown speaker 01:01:05] Simulator, yeah. I remember the thing Tommy used to always say is stick to the low wing. So.

[unknown speaker 01:01:10] I can never remember that.

[unknown speaker 01:01:12] Yeah, me neither. That's too much thinking. I just. Just turn the way the low or the wing is, is down. I've seen people fly with a plane over the back of their shoulder.

[unknown speaker 01:01:22] No, no, thank you.

[unknown speaker 01:01:23] Yeah. but yeah, simulator is probably the best thing. The other thing that I think helps just to get the basics down, start with an RC car. Like I started with RC cars and stuff and it worked.

[unknown speaker 01:01:35] Control reversal is control reversal. So.

[unknown speaker 01:01:38] Right. And that's the, the biggest thing is once you understand what's backward and what forward, then you can kind of get that. It's like a switch just flips in your brain. You're like, oh, I get it now without even thinking.

[unknown speaker 01:01:52] Yeah. It becomes second nature and you, it just doesn't occur to you that things are backwards.

[unknown speaker 01:01:56] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:01:58] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:01:58] Just pretend you're in the cockpit. That's hard to do though. Okay. Well, that was fun. Anything else you want to talk about? Still don't remember what the other thing I was going to say.

[unknown speaker 01:02:09] So if I remember it, I'll write it down. We'll talk about it next time. So we'll see that in two weeks.

[unknown speaker 01:02:13] Maybe. No, actually. So next week is our, year end wrap up with the wives.

[unknown speaker 01:02:20] Oh, I forgot. We recorded that two months ago. The year end wrap up in September. Yeah. And it was October.

[unknown speaker 01:02:28] yeah. So you guys have something to look forward to. It will be coming out next Friday. We're not pushing that out. It will just be a week between these. Tommy is going to be on that one. That's why we recorded it so long. So, or so early, I should say. So you will at least get to hear his happy little voice. Yep. So you remember what he sounds like.

[unknown speaker 01:02:47] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:02:47] I kind of forget it's been so long. Oh God, that scared me. You can tell what time we're, Alexa is telling Piper it's time to go to bed. So that scared me. And spoiler alert, my wife's not on there again. That's not a spoiler. I think we all knew that. That's a given. Anyway, you want last word? Nope. I'm good. Okay. Well, thank you everybody for, for listening until next time. I'm Ron. And I'm Dave. Good night. Good night.

[unknown speaker 01:03:13] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plain Lab podcast. For topic suggestions, to ask questions, or to give any feedback, connect with us at rcplanelab.com or email us direct at either ron at rcplanelab.com or tom at rcplanelab.com. You can also text us or leave us a voicemail at 818-351-9846. Please subscribe, rate, and review us on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, may your landings be gentle.

[unknown speaker 01:03:41] UNKNOWN: Bye.