EP 203 – What the Fish??

[unknown speaker 00:00:05] Hello, everyone. Welcome to the RC Plane Lab podcast. I'm Ron. And I'm Dave. I'm Daniel. Dave jumped the gun. His and I'm Dave didn't quite work. Way to go, Dave. Rewind tape. Take two. How's everybody doing?

[unknown speaker 00:00:30] Good.

[unknown speaker 00:00:31] Good. Feels like it's been a little while since we've recorded, but it hadn't been that long. Happy New Year. We haven't actually recorded just us. Just us for the new year. For the new year yet. So I hope everybody got everything they wanted for Christmas and had a wonderful beginning part to 2026. Talk about a couple things first, and then we'll get into what we did on January 1st, setting the mood for the rest of the year. And a few other things.

[unknown speaker 00:00:58] We've had a busy couple weeks. We've been busy. I'm barely able to feel my toes now. I'm glad you're starting to warm up. It was cold. Anyway, so first thing, Electro Streak Short Kits. We've had people asking about those. Those are now available on the website. We have some in stock and ready to go, so get them while you can. When they're gone, they're gone until I make some more. Which reminds me, I finally got my wide format printer all fixed up.

[unknown speaker 00:01:23] I remember talking about having the errors with that. So at this point, knock on wood, it's all set for anything I want to print on it.

[00:01:33] Ron: Yes.

[unknown speaker 00:01:34] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:01:35] And also, we are hosting a giveaway along with the 13th Squadron. We have the BF109 giveaway going on. For information both on the giveaway or the Electro Streak Short Plans, head over to rcplanelab.com, and there's links at the top for both of them.

[00:01:51] Ron: That's in our giveaways and short kits.

[unknown speaker 00:01:54] In our buyaways. No? I don't know. You buy them as you get them given away?

[00:01:59] Ron: Sure.

[unknown speaker 00:02:00] But yeah, so we have, and I know you guys talked about it before, on the BF109, Daniel, who is now with us, printed the lovely accessories for the BF109. You want to talk a little bit about that? Because you forgot, I forgot, you got a new printer.

[unknown speaker 00:02:18] Yes, I did get a new printer, and I think they printed out a lot better. Don't look away.

[unknown speaker 00:02:22] Talk right into it. Talk into it. Okay, okay. There you go.

[unknown speaker 00:02:25] Yeah, they printed a lot better than the five-year-old printer I had, so. So, yeah, you'll be getting the better copies than what I got for mine.

[00:02:33] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:02:34] Yeah, five years technology is wonders in 3D printing, so.

[unknown speaker 00:02:40] I'm not going to lie. Like, I was very impressed with how thin the supports and everything were on that. Yeah. The only, is it FDM? What's it called? What kind of printer do you have? It's an FDM.

[unknown speaker 00:02:54] FDM. Oh, okay. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:02:56] So, the only. The filament. Yeah. I don't remember what that stands for, but the only experience I've had with one of those is the one that I got probably, God, eight or nine years ago. There was a cheapo Amazon special that I got just to learn on and absolutely hated. Oh. So, seeing how far they've come, honestly, is very impressive.

[unknown speaker 00:03:19] Yeah, it's really, I mean, like I said, I didn't realize I've had my, I had a Creality and I had it right at five years. I didn't realize it was that long. And then now I've got a bamboo P2S and it's night and day. I mean, there's, you hit the go button and it goes. There's no manually, you know, leveling the bed or tinkering with it. I mean, it tells you in mid print, it'll send you text messages if there's a problem and it shuts down.

[unknown speaker 00:03:48] I mean, it's just, and the quality of it's just, I mean, a lot nicer.

[unknown speaker 00:03:53] Yeah. So, the one I had, there was no text messaging. There was a, I'm going to start this now and wake up in the morning and hope something printed or I'm just going to get a big ball of spaghetti.

[unknown speaker 00:04:02] And it's got, this has got spaghetti detection and it works. I've had twice now that it went into spaghetti mode or whatever. And it shuts down, send you a text message, very little waste.

[unknown speaker 00:04:16] That's very nice.

[unknown speaker 00:04:17] And then the thing is, I've ran out of filament a couple of times and it'll shut down, send you a message saying you're out of filament. You put new in and it starts right from where it took off. Really? Where it stops. Right. So, don't waste. In my old Ender, I used to have to start all over again because it would never, never work. And what's nice too, the other day I was sitting at work, found something, I hit the go button from work.

[unknown speaker 00:04:40] And by the time I got, by the time I got home, it was done.

[unknown speaker 00:04:43] So, you can just surf the web, find files to put on it and then just from your phone.

[unknown speaker 00:04:47] Oh yeah. Bamboo Lab has their own website with all their own, I think it's called Bamboo Maker or Studio and just hundreds. And I mean, anything you can think of is on there and you just move it over, hit print and change colors. Cause this has got the AMS on it. So, it changes, automatically changes colors. Yeah. It's.

[unknown speaker 00:05:06] And you have four colors.

[unknown speaker 00:05:08] Is that right? Four. Yeah. It'll hold four colors at a time. I can add another four. So, it can do a total of eight. So, it's, needless to say, I got it Christmas Eve and it's been running nonstop since Christmas Eve with, I got a whole shelf full of useless 3D prints, but. That's why you have it though.

[unknown speaker 00:05:27] It is. It's fun. That's, no, that's so cool. Like I said, the, the prints are, are very impressive compared to what I'm used to seeing. So, it's, yeah. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:05:37] Very nice. It's hard to, they're, they're out of stock. I mean, I, I had a small window. I, I looked for about three weeks and they were out of stock. I looked Christmas Eve morning and the, and the store in St. Louis down from us had six in stock and you can't buy online and have them save it. So, it was first come first serve. So, I made a hot 830 in the morning, made a fast trip to St. Louis and yeah, four, I saw four walking out the door as I was walking in.

[unknown speaker 00:06:06] And I was like, oh, but yep, I got my, I put it in the cart and did not let my hand off the cart as I walked around.

[unknown speaker 00:06:14] I was going to say, that gets the heart rate going, doesn't it? Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:06:16] One, two, three, four. Oh no. And this could be just a useless two and a half hour trip down, but you know.

[unknown speaker 00:06:22] I'm glad it worked out. Like. It worked. So. That's a, a very nice addition to the tool shed.

[unknown speaker 00:06:28] Yes. I like it between that and the laser cutter. So.

[unknown speaker 00:06:33] Very cool. And what do you have laser cutter wise? I should remember, but I don't.

[unknown speaker 00:06:36] It is. It's also a Creality Falcon. I think it's a 20 watt, I believe.

[unknown speaker 00:06:44] So, is it a, like what kind of laser?

[unknown speaker 00:06:46] Oh, it's.

[unknown speaker 00:06:49] Is it the, the diode laser?

[unknown speaker 00:06:51] Diode, yeah. Okay. I was thinking LED and I knew it wasn't LED. Yeah, diode. Yeah, it's a diode. I mean, it does, it does, for what I'm wanting to do, it does fine. Yeah. So, and it's, you know, I like it. I cut a lot with it. So, again, a lot of useless stuff, but.

[unknown speaker 00:07:09] That's okay. That's, that's the fun stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:07:11] It is.

[unknown speaker 00:07:12] It's, it's fun.

[unknown speaker 00:07:12] Gives you something to look forward to. Yeah. What's the bed size on that one? Do you remember? I do not. It's, well, I can fit, I think it's a 15 by 15 pieces.

[unknown speaker 00:07:25] I can put it on there. Yeah. Nice. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:07:28] And then you can also raise it so it's got feet. I can add to it so I can raise it up if I got, I haven't got it, but like they make a mug.

[00:07:39] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:07:40] Tumbler. Like a rotary. Yeah, rotary. Excellent. I haven't got that, but you can raise it up to do that. Or if you got, I know I've done some glass blocks, like the, what you use for windows, you know, those.

[unknown speaker 00:07:52] Oh yeah. Like a little nine inch.

[unknown speaker 00:07:54] Yeah. Which are thick. Like you can raise it up so you can, you can cut, engrave on those. That's kind of cool. Yeah. It's, it's, I've had fun with it. And there for a while, I was, I was using that more than I was the old 3D printer, but now it's kind of gone back the other.

[unknown speaker 00:08:09] So you'll be using a 3D printer now for a while until you buy a new laser and then you'll go back to that. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:08:13] Here, here we go. Yeah. It's a non-stop.

[unknown speaker 00:08:16] Never ending back and forth.

[unknown speaker 00:08:18] Yeah. Oh wow.

[unknown speaker 00:08:18] No, that's cool though. I'm, like I said, I'm glad you, you have that for when I need some silly things made. Bring it. what else? Okay. So that was fun. Now let's go to something not so fun and then we'll get back to something fun. I want to talk really quick, very quickly about the FCC ruling, whatever you want to call it. I'm sure everybody knows, but if not, the FCC let out a doozy of a press release right before winter break, before Christmas.

[unknown speaker 00:08:51] they recently tightened the rules on foreign made RC electronics, mainly DJI and, you know, things that don't, or things that we didn't expect were going to affect us. but unfortunately, we didn't have any idea what all was going to be covered on their list. It included everything from radios, batteries, ESCs, motors, which I kind of expected it just to be the DJI drones, you know, the things that are out of line of sight and all that kind of stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:09:21] But, they, they added more to it than I kind of think anybody, anybody was expecting. long story short, nothing you own today is affected. Current gear is still legal. Anything you own is fine. the changes about things in the future. The, like new radios, receivers, FPV gear and stuff from overseas may have a little bit more of a, an issue getting brought in, delays, higher prices, all that kind of stuff.

[unknown speaker 00:09:51] So after a little bit of pushback, I would say, they did give some temporary exemptions on things till 2027. but we'll see. I mean, this is still changing a lot. I think keep flying by all the essentials of stuff you can have now. So you have them just in case and kind of stay tuned to what is going on. Listen to the AMA.

[unknown speaker 00:10:19] if they say, you know, write your senators, write your congressmen or whatever, do what they say to show more of a group mentality on this to kind of stop it. but yeah, give it time. We'll see what happens. The sky's not falling yet. But it's shaky. It's, it's starting to come down, but it hasn't fallen. Anyway. So now let's talk about some happier things, shall we? Sure. New releases. Who wants to go first? We all have new releases to talk about.

[00:10:50] Ron: Let me get the eyeglasses off so I can actually read.

[unknown speaker 00:10:53] So this one Dave's going to talk about is one that, he actually tried to order. Actually, he hadn't heard about it. I told him about it when he got here. He tried to order it. And unfortunately it's back ordered already. But what do you got, Dave? I am looking at the FMS 800 millimeter beaver. You've been looking for a, a beaver like for quite a while.

[00:11:15] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:11:15] Daniel's got a big one and you were kind of looking at something. Beaver-ish.

[00:11:20] Ron: I would really like to have it on floats. Although I don't see anything about floats for this one, but it shouldn't be too hard to finagle something.

[unknown speaker 00:11:27] Yeah.

[00:11:28] Ron: 800 millimeter beaver. It comes in two schemes. It comes in a U.S. Air Force scheme, which is the one I tried to order and what they're calling a red scheme. And that looks like, very similar to the fly zone one. Although I think the fly zone one's orange, whereas this one's red.

[unknown speaker 00:11:46] Yeah.

[00:11:47] Ron: pretty, pretty normal color scheme for it. It looks good. It's 800 millimeter. So it's a little bit on the smaller side, but that's fine. Yeah. Something like that. it's nice throw in the trunk type airplane. Yeah. Don't necessarily have to take it apart.

[unknown speaker 00:12:04] and I think the wing comes off pretty easy on that one too, if I remember right.

[00:12:07] Ron: and it's a, it's big enough to have a presence, but it's not so big that it's a pain to move around and store. So I've got their 800 millimeter T28 and it flies really, really well. So I'm assuming this one's going to be similar. it looks like just a quick glance. It looks like it uses very similar electronics to my, T28 same battery. And I think the motor is roughly same size. I don't know the specs exactly on the T28, but it seems to be close.

[00:12:38] Ron: really attractive part on this. The plug and play is only $130.

[unknown speaker 00:12:42] I know.

[00:12:43] Ron: Like that's a, a good price. Yeah. and it's a good looking airplane, especially in the Air Force scheme. That's the one I like. It would have been nice if that was in the Canadian scheme that was all yellow, but the yellow and red and white is, it's very nice. nice enough that, like I said, I tried to order one and I don't know how I missed this. I really don't. but it is out of stock and, I'll just, it won't let me order it.

[unknown speaker 00:13:10] So you'll have to keep looking.

[00:13:11] Ron: I think they show some on AliExpress possibly, but, I can wait.

[unknown speaker 00:13:18] Yeah. And who, yeah, I didn't even say, or pay attention to who that order through or who are you trying to order through?

[00:13:24] Ron: FMS directly.

[unknown speaker 00:13:25] FMS directly. Okay. Yeah. Cause they're free shipping over a hundred bucks. So.

[00:13:30] Ron: Okay. No big deal.

[unknown speaker 00:13:31] Cool.

[00:13:32] Ron: So that will probably be in the hangar down the road. Good looking airplane. Like I said, I'm not sure how I missed this one.

[unknown speaker 00:13:38] Cause I would get all over it. Right. I saw that and I was like, oh, this is right up Dave's alley. Yeah.

[00:13:43] Ron: So anyway, I'll, I'll do some research to try to find some floats while I'm waiting for it to show up back in stock again.

[unknown speaker 00:13:49] Yeah. There's gotta be something that you can make work.

[00:13:54] Ron: It's 800 millimeter. It's shouldn't be anything massive.

[unknown speaker 00:13:58] Only thing though. How, so you have one of the same size, same motor, same battery, which the battery, by the way, is a two S eight 50.

[00:14:05] Ron: Oh, thanks.

[unknown speaker 00:14:06] does it feel underpowered at all? Does it feel?

[00:14:09] Ron: Well, the T28 flies great on, on that setup.

[unknown speaker 00:14:12] Okay.

[00:14:13] Ron: this, this might be a little draggier with the struts and everything, but I don't see it would be that much different.

[unknown speaker 00:14:22] Still got enough. should it get off the ground for.

[00:14:24] Ron: Let's see here. Does this have flaps? it does not. It says radio, at least four channels, but it just says four servos. So I'm thinking it does not have flaps, but that could be easily changed. Plus you don't really need them.

[unknown speaker 00:14:43] Yeah.

[00:14:44] Ron: I would think T28 is the same way. It doesn't have flaps. Not needed. Oh, wait a second. Flaps. No. Retracts. No.

[unknown speaker 00:14:52] Retracts. Obviously. Yeah.

[00:14:54] Ron: so yeah, that could easily be changed, but flaps in it if I desire. So might want that if I ended up with floats on it, but it should be fine without them. Anyway, FMS 800 millimeter beaver in two different schemes.

[unknown speaker 00:15:11] And you can also get it. I don't remember what the price is you got in front of you, but ready to fly.

[00:15:16] Ron: I lost that sheet. Do I still have that?

[unknown speaker 00:15:19] I think that's this one.

[00:15:21] Ron: Oh, yes. The ready to fly, is one 89 99. So that comes with, kind of a generic transmitter receiver.

[unknown speaker 00:15:32] But if I remember right, that also has the, gyro at that price.

[00:15:37] Ron: And comes with a gyro.

[unknown speaker 00:15:38] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:15:39] So that's not bad at all.

[00:15:41] Ron: Optional parts with FPV. I need to do more research on this.

[unknown speaker 00:15:45] Yeah. So you can get FPV for it. It's just, it has a mount on top if you want to mount a FPV camera on it. It pretty much, so I didn't spend a lot of time looking at that, but it looks like what they're doing with it, a little FPV thing is making it to where you can mount it on obviously different vehicles. Like one of the things they show is also on RC car.

[00:16:03] Ron: Kind of a little quick mount deal.

[unknown speaker 00:16:04] Right. Yeah. Kind of like a GoPro that has the, the mounts and stuff for it, but just designed into the airplane already.

[00:16:12] Ron: Cool. A lot of 800 millimeters. So that'd be really tiny equipment.

[unknown speaker 00:16:15] It looked big on there. So I don't think, I don't think it's that small of equipment.

[00:16:20] Ron: A little draggy, huh?

[unknown speaker 00:16:21] Yeah. So I guess if it flies with that on a 2S, it should fly without it pretty good. Yeah, that should be fine.

[00:16:27] Ron: He said the little, the T28 flies great on that little 2S, so.

[unknown speaker 00:16:31] Very nice.

[00:16:32] Ron: Can't ask for more than that.

[unknown speaker 00:16:34] And I already have a couple of 2S batteries for RC cars in that size, so.

[00:16:38] Ron: You never know. You never know. You might have a fleet of beavers.

[unknown speaker 00:16:43] Everybody needs a beaver. A flock of beavers? A clam of beavers? I don't know. What is multiple beavers? Let us know, folks. BVI? I don't know. Daniel. You want to go next? Yeah, I can go next. This is the one you said you saw and you were actually kind of excited for and you might want. Right? Is that, or did I misunderstand when you said it?

[unknown speaker 00:17:04] No, I just saw it. Oh, okay. It just rang on my, or.

[unknown speaker 00:17:07] Came through today.

[unknown speaker 00:17:07] On my phone, yeah. It is another timber, so. We're looking at the 10th anniversary special timber. Looks like it comes in like a Bind and Fly Basic with the AX, 3X, and the SAIT. Just their standard.

[unknown speaker 00:17:24] Yeah. They're normal, everyday, everything.

[unknown speaker 00:17:26] 1.5 meter, I guess.

[00:17:28] Ron: The big change on this one is they went to a top loader. How's that?

[unknown speaker 00:17:35] And four cell.

[unknown speaker 00:17:36] And four cell. Yeah, I was just going to say it's five to seven channel spectrum. And then, yeah, 3S, 4S, 2200 to 5000. Dang, that's a good size battery for a timber.

[unknown speaker 00:17:52] Yeah. Well. It's, I mean, it's big, but I guess it's not that big.

[unknown speaker 00:17:57] it's got metal gear servos installed. the brushless outrunner motor, Spectrum AV, was it Avion? Yeah. 70 amp.

[00:18:07] Ron: Avion. Oh, they bumped it up to 70 amp on the speed contract too. I can't remember what the old one was, but they bumped it up a little bit. Nice. Probably because you're running four cells.

[unknown speaker 00:18:15] Yeah. Spectrum AR 631 plus receiver with a S3X.

[unknown speaker 00:18:20] Have you priced receivers lately, by the way?

[unknown speaker 00:18:22] Spectrum receivers have jumped incredibly high.

[unknown speaker 00:18:26] AS, or the 631 plus, $104.99.

[unknown speaker 00:18:32] Yeah, I haven't bought any yet. It's been a, it's been a minute before I've bought any.

[unknown speaker 00:18:36] So, yeah, I've decided any plane that goes with me to Toledo, because I think that's our next swap meet, right?

[00:18:43] Ron: Yes.

[unknown speaker 00:18:45] Maybe.

[00:18:46] Ron: Oh, that's the next. We should have like Belleville or something.

[unknown speaker 00:18:49] We should have another one down in the St. Louis area.

[unknown speaker 00:18:52] I won't go to sell there anyway. No. So the next time I'm going to sell that, I will be pulling receivers out.

[00:18:58] Ron: Yeah, everything, I was going to save this for later, but everything I've sold, I pulled all the receivers out of everything I took to the swap meet this last weekend. Yeah. I'm not selling any receivers.

[unknown speaker 00:19:07] You just, yeah, it's best to hold on to what you have. But yeah, we can get into that when we talk about our swap meet experience. Anyway, anything else on the timber?

[unknown speaker 00:19:16] Oh, it looks like, it looks like they got a set of optional floats for it. It comes with the floats, I believe.

[unknown speaker 00:19:25] No, it comes with them? Really?

[unknown speaker 00:19:26] Yeah. In the box. Yeah. So, set of optional float use, and set of optional, whatever, landing edge slats. Oh, leading edge slats.

[unknown speaker 00:19:38] Or leading, I'm sorry. The little things that go on the front to kind of get them left.

[unknown speaker 00:19:40] Hopefully they're bolt-ons instead of glue-ons.

[unknown speaker 00:19:42] Yeah. It'd be nice to be able to take them on and off whenever you want.

[00:19:45] Ron: Yeah. I mean, I've got the slats glued onto my UMX. What do they do?

[unknown speaker 00:19:49] Just, are they actual functional or just?

[00:19:52] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:19:52] Well, they don't move, but they give you more lift.

[unknown speaker 00:19:56] Oh, okay. More lift. Okay. I didn't know if it just allows it to fly slower. Cosmetic or if it's an actual tool of some sort.

[unknown speaker 00:20:04] Yeah. It slows them down a little bit. It gives you a little bit more lift on the wing, so you have a little bit more slow flight characteristics and stuff.

[00:20:11] Ron: I had one of them come off of my UMX, and quite frankly, I didn't notice.

[unknown speaker 00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:17] Ron: So I had a slat on one wing and no slat on the other. I saw something fluttering down. It's like, what is that? And the aircraft didn't roll or it must have minimal effect on the UMX.

[unknown speaker 00:20:30] Yeah. There's, well, yeah. They're small to begin with.

[unknown speaker 00:20:34] I was going to say, it's not much there anyhow. So, yeah, you're looking at, what is it, $340.99 for bind and fly? And $2.99 for plug and play. See, I find that. And release in January 21st.

[unknown speaker 00:20:50] I find that interesting because I don't remember what the last plane we talked about that they had just come out with. What are we talking about? It doesn't matter. But there was a bigger price difference between the bind and fly and plug and play. So that's only $50 difference.

[00:21:05] Ron: Which is what I would normally expect between, it used to be $30 and it's jumped up to $50. I wanted to say. That's what I expect.

[unknown speaker 00:21:11] I wanted to say there was one I was looking at, though, that was like $70 difference or something.

[00:21:15] Ron: That was a huge difference.

[unknown speaker 00:21:16] Yeah, $70 rating.

[00:21:16] Ron: There was when it was.

[unknown speaker 00:21:18] Doesn't matter. I'm not going to remember now, so whatever. Well, cool. Anything else you want to say about that?

[unknown speaker 00:21:25] Nope. I think that's it. And that's all I got to say about that.

[unknown speaker 00:21:28] And that is all. That is all.

[unknown speaker 00:21:31] Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:21:33] You good? I'm good. I'm good. Well, I shall go next. You go next. So, or do you want to take it here? You take another one. I don't want to do two.

[00:21:40] Ron: There you go, Dave. What have I got here? Yeah, that just put me on the spot. I don't even know what I'm looking at.

[unknown speaker 00:21:46] I'm sorry.

[00:21:47] Ron: The Havoc Racer yellow plug-and-play from Skynetic. Looks like it's $215 in the plug-and-play version. The Skynetic Havoc, which is spelled weird, is a thousand millimeter, so it's a one meter or roughly three foot racing airplane. Looks like it's supposed to be fast, agility. It kind of reminds me of a V900. Yeah, it looks like the V900, excuse me, V900 or the Hobby King version.

[unknown speaker 00:22:24] Yeah, I can't remember what they call theirs. I can't either, but I know what you're talking about.

[00:22:26] Ron: It's very similar looking to both those aircraft. Kind of a P-51 tail on it. I think this is mostly supposed to be kind of a Reno Racer P-51-ish. Does it have a belly scoop on it? Is there another picture?

[unknown speaker 00:22:39] I didn't print any other ones. I don't know. There's no belly scoop. It's a smooth, flat bottom.

[00:22:44] Ron: So, thousand millimeter, 100 mile an hour on 4S. So, yeehaw. I'm sorry, guys.

[unknown speaker 00:22:54] No, that's on me. I should have.

[00:22:57] Ron: Yeah, brushless 3542, 1600 kV motor, 70 MPSC with the XT60 connectors, four digital Metal Gear servos. Pretty standard stuff for this type of airplane. 100 mile an hour. Looks interesting on 4S. And how big a battery is this? 4S, 2200 to 3000. So, kind of the smaller ones, more affordable.

[unknown speaker 00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] Ron: Looks like it could be a fun airplane if you want to go fast.

[unknown speaker 00:23:29] So, the price is cool. $215, free shipping. It's great if you use cheaper receivers. But, as I said.

[00:23:38] Ron: Just curious, what color is this thing? I got a black and white photo here.

[unknown speaker 00:23:41] I don't know why they're printed black and white. But, anyway, so that one's yellow. And I think they also have, is it orange, maybe? Or red?

[00:23:47] Ron: You look at me like I know.

[unknown speaker 00:23:49] I know. No, there's two different colors. I didn't print both of them out.

[00:23:52] Ron: But, it's a pretty sharp looking airplane. Like I said, it's very Mustang-ish.

[unknown speaker 00:23:58] Yeah.

[00:23:58] Ron: I can see that now that you say that. Definitely in the tail.

[unknown speaker 00:24:03] Yeah.

[00:24:04] Ron: Nice. So, if you want to go fast plane.

[unknown speaker 00:24:07] Mm-hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:24:07] Price is good. $215, but like I said, it gets up there if you have to buy a receiver from it. Or for it from your favorite receiver people. Yes. Okay. Now the next one. This is the last one that I'm actually kind of excited about. I don't know why. Because I don't know if I'll buy one or not. But, eFlight came out with a UMX Viper. 30 millimeter EDF. Has the linear servos. Brushless outrunner motor. And, that's part of the kind of stinks. But, all the UMXs are like this.

[unknown speaker 00:24:40] The spectrum control unit with receiver and brushless ESC. So, it's not a… It's an all-in-one. It's not a receiver you can take out or, you know, whatever with that. But, 4S450. I think I already have one of those for the Draco. If I remember right. That's what that one took.

[00:24:58] Ron: What's the A10 use?

[unknown speaker 00:25:00] 3S850.

[00:25:01] Ron: Oh, that's the 3S.

[unknown speaker 00:25:02] Yeah. And then it is… Has the IC2 connector on it. So, I saw a couple pictures of this being put together. One thing I didn't like at first was that it is not a one-piece airplane. So, it's not one piece in the box. But, the wing actually looks like it goes on and off pretty easily. All the connections are in the very front. So, as you put the wing on, the connections are made. And then it has one wing bolt on the bottom to hold it on.

[unknown speaker 00:25:31] So, it's very quick to take apart and put together. In fact, it repairs a lot easier. Yeah. It has all the lights on it, which make it look kind of cool. Like I said, I've seen a couple flight videos on it. It looks good. The thing I really like about it and that you would appreciate, too. What am I pointing at?

[00:25:48] Ron: It has a clear canopy with a pilot.

[unknown speaker 00:25:51] Clear canopy with a pilot.

[00:25:53] Ron: They didn't wimp out and paint it.

[unknown speaker 00:25:54] I know, right? Right. So, now they have, what is it? 30 millimeter, 64, 70, and 90.

[00:26:04] Ron: So, you know, nice as well. And, of course, the Viper airframe always flies nice. Yeah, it really does.

[unknown speaker 00:26:09] Removable gear. But, you know, who would ever want to put gear on it? The gear on it when it sits on the shelf. Well, it should just sit on a box. Or in a box, to be honest. But, yeah, you're right. If you want to make it look pretty sitting on a shelf, whatever. Hand launch assist. So, easy takeoffs, nothing. And Vipers are well-behaved. So, I can't imagine this is any different. Yeah. 199.99. I might think about that. We'll see what I get rid of at Toledo.

[00:26:37] Ron: Yep.

[unknown speaker 00:26:38] I know I have to be net negative for this year. Which I'm failing so far.

[00:26:43] Ron: I'm down four. I'm down four. Hmm.

[unknown speaker 00:26:48] Good for you.

[00:26:49] Ron: Even after I went on the buying splurge, I'm still down four. And we can talk about that.

[unknown speaker 00:26:55] So, let's go in order, though. Because if I don't go in order, I'm going to forget. We started the new year right. Yes. Shall we talk about that? Flying. How bad.

[00:27:04] Ron: We went flying New Year's Day. The weather wasn't too bad.

[unknown speaker 00:27:08] No, it wasn't bad at all. It wasn't too great, but it wasn't too bad. Oh, it's been a lot worse. It has been a lot worse. It's been a lot worse. No, you're right. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Because the last time we went flying was horrendous. Yeah. We'll get to that in a minute. But what was the weather on? It was. I should know. I was cold. Like, I know it was cold.

[00:27:25] Ron: It was right around freezing. I think it was right around 30, 32. I mean, it was there. The wind wasn't bad. And the wind was noticeable, but not enough to cause an issue.

[unknown speaker 00:27:36] Yeah.

[00:27:36] Ron: My fingers actually warmed up after a while.

[unknown speaker 00:27:38] No, I made, well, we were out there, what, two hours? And I think my feet finally got, started to get cold after two hours. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:27:45] Well, you have all your, like, heated jackets and heated gloves and heated pants and heated underwear and heated hats and whatever else.

[unknown speaker 00:27:53] I came prepared. Well, the only thing I didn't come prepared, I guess I needed heated socks. Heated socks, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:27:57] Now you know.

[00:27:57] Ron: And I didn't have any problem at all with my foot. It didn't get cold at all.

[unknown speaker 00:28:02] Shut up. You said, when you said foot, it threw me. I was like, do you mean feet? And I was like, wait.

[00:28:10] Ron: You okay?

[unknown speaker 00:28:11] Yeah.

[00:28:11] Ron: That just caught me off guard.

[unknown speaker 00:28:13] My bad.

[00:28:14] Ron: It was not uncomfortable in the least bit. We were out there quite a while and everything was good. Got some nice flights in. I did a lot of maiden flights. And all of a sudden, I can't remember what I had. That's why you write it down. So I had the brand new 13 Squadron 109. Get a test flight on that. I unfortunately did not charge my radio beforehand. So it started yelling at me that the transmitter was getting low. So I just did a very, very quick flight on that one.

[00:28:43] Ron: Discovered that it makes a hard left turn with throttle application. So it needs some right thrust, which I've corrected and haven't been able to test yet.

[unknown speaker 00:28:50] But other than that, it flew great. It's a beauty with Midwest winters. Yes.

[00:28:57] Ron: Looks really good in flight. It's got a really nice look. You did a good job on that one. Yeah, it turned out nice. I appreciate that. Thanks. Then I had my Hobby King Radjet 800. It's like, why are these people coming up with these names? But the Radjet. Beautiful flying airplane. Love that one. That test flight went really, really well. And I had my Yak 55 from Dancing Wing Hobby slash Grayson Hobby. This was their special edition from Grayson.

[00:29:32] Ron: Got a little bit of issues with that one. Servos are a little slow when they're cold in that particular airplane. They must have a thicker grease in them. And the gyro was having trouble. That was the first time I've used one of the FreeSky gyros. And the settings were all over the place with it. I adjusted, and then it started acting up again. And I think a lot of it in the servos just felt sluggish. So I'm thinking once they warm up a little bit, we'll be in better shape.

[00:30:05] Ron: But it flew very nicely. It does not roll at all in the grass with those little tiny wheels. Those are comical.

[unknown speaker 00:30:13] Like they're the size of dimes.

[00:30:15] Ron: Yeah, so I've got a bunch of larger foam wheels. I think I'll find something to throw in there to give it at least a chance of not just coming to a screeching halt the second it touches the ground. Even though it doesn't land very fast at all.

[unknown speaker 00:30:29] No rollout.

[00:30:30] Ron: It would be nice to be able to roll over a blade of grass without it flipping over.

[unknown speaker 00:30:35] Which you can't. Not at all. I mean, you don't even really need to have the wheels on there. Just the spikes. And it would probably work just as well.

[00:30:42] Ron: Yeah, there's no difference. Landing gear with or without wheels is pretty much the same. But overall flight characteristics of the airplane were very nice. So I can't wait to play with that when it's a little bit warmer and the servos are a little smoother and faster. They're a lot faster in the house.

[unknown speaker 00:30:59] Oh, I'm sure. When it's moving through the cold air, it just.

[00:31:02] Ron: I was a little concerned about the Radjet because it's a pretty quick airplane and those servos were fine in the cold. So no problems there. And then, of course, I hit the old McTwist, which is just a great knock-around airplane that I don't care about. It flies so good.

[unknown speaker 00:31:19] And pretty much indestructible. Yeah, it bounces pretty good. We've found.

[unknown speaker 00:31:23] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[00:31:24] Ron: It went down a few days ago.

[unknown speaker 00:31:27] So I ended up flying the 64-millimeter F-18, the FMS. It's a good flying airplane. It was a good day for it. And then a few flights on this little Ultra Stick because that's a great airplane that has to go everywhere.

[unknown speaker 00:31:43] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[00:31:44] Ron: Once again, it's disposable and easy to repair if bad things happen.

[unknown speaker 00:31:48] Yeah, but I can't imagine. Like, what bad, like, honestly, if it loses power or you lose signal, it's just going to float right in and land on its own.

[00:31:58] Ron: The only thing that's concerned me about it that I've seen is I've saw it on Daniels. It developed a severe amount of tail flutter. He was flying fairly fast and it developed a fair amount of flutter. So if that were to break off or get wonky, I think you could do some damage. But other than that, fairly fast, though. Fairly fast. 10 mile an hour.

[unknown speaker 00:32:21] I was going to say fairly fast. Really?

[00:32:24] Ron: A little flutter. Flutter gets your attention regardless if it's 10 mile an hour or 100 mile an hour.

[unknown speaker 00:32:27] No, you're right. I get it. I've noticed because of how it's made, obviously, there's not a lot of structure to hold that flat.

[00:32:35] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:32:35] So you have to be careful because it does move.

[00:32:37] Ron: I am sorry. That's me. I forgot. I shall turn that down.

[unknown speaker 00:32:43] Yeah. But that's the only thing I can see. Yeah.

[00:32:48] Ron: That's the only thing that's going to cause it really any damage other than bending one of those booms.

[unknown speaker 00:32:54] Yeah.

[00:32:54] Ron: It's just a piece of aluminum, so no big deal.

[unknown speaker 00:32:58] Anyway, Daniel, what did you fly? Good old slow stick. See? That and tried to fly the helicopter, but when you don't bring batteries, it doesn't good.

[00:33:09] Ron: Not to charge them, but I didn't put them back in. So I think we had an episode about checklist, right?

[unknown speaker 00:33:16] Yeah. So I got, I don't know, three or four flights on the slow stick, and that's about it on that.

[00:33:24] Ron: You attempted to fly the rad jet, and when I handed you the radio, I kind of freaked out.

[unknown speaker 00:33:28] Yeah, that didn't go well.

[unknown speaker 00:33:29] Oh, I didn't catch that. What? I guess I wasn't paying attention.

[unknown speaker 00:33:34] He's got his sticks on the radio cranked all the way down, so they're… I got short thumbs. Oh, I do remember that, yeah. He got it going. He got it up in the air. He goes here, hands the radio off. I grabbed the radio, and…

[00:33:49] Ron: And he didn't find the sticks.

[unknown speaker 00:33:50] I couldn't find the sticks, so then I freaked, you know, because… Well, then I found the sticks, and then it just, I think it already, mentally, I wasn't there, and then it was, I was all over with it, so I gave it right back to him. And then I don't know where it's at, so I'm going, where is it? Yeah, I don't know why. I don't know why I panicked, but yeah, it was, I guess I've never had that before where I couldn't find the sticks.

[unknown speaker 00:34:14] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:34:15] And he just has them down so low.

[unknown speaker 00:34:19] You're just, you're used to the longer ones that you can easily get your hands on.

[unknown speaker 00:34:22] I've been on my spectrum, you know, they're up there high, and I, like I said, grabbed the radio, went to grab the sticks, and where are they at? Well, you know, and this thing's moving along, pretty good clip in the air.

[unknown speaker 00:34:33] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:34:34] That's pretty quick. Then I found them, and then it's up, you know, and then it started, you know, all over, and I'm trying to correct it, and I just mentally wasn't, here, take it back. Yeah. So, I think I would have been fine if he would have gave me the radio, and I would have took off from, from the get-go. Right. You had it in your hand. Yeah, and I would have, yeah. The brain goes in breakout mode. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:34:56] Yeah, I mean, I panicked, and it was, because I couldn't find the sticks, and then, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:35:00] If you'd have been calibrated from just holding it without flying, without any stress on

[00:35:04] Ron: you, you'd have been okay.

[unknown speaker 00:35:05] Exactly. I swear he had flown that radio before. No, I've held it. I've never flown with it. But yeah, that was.

[unknown speaker 00:35:12] And still, you can still say the same thing. True.

[unknown speaker 00:35:16] Still. Well, but that's better than putting, putting the ground and saying, well, here's your remote back. And my brand new airplane. Here's your plane over there, over there, over there. So, yeah. So, that's all it was. I can't, I can't disappoint. I wanted to try the helicopter since I just had got it, but.

[unknown speaker 00:35:34] Yeah, well.

[unknown speaker 00:35:35] I have my own dumb fault. I seriously thought about going home and getting it, but.

[00:35:40] Ron: It was telling you that today's not the day.

[unknown speaker 00:35:43] So. Next time. Next time. Yep. It's still sitting there. So. Okay. Is that good for January 1st?

[00:35:52] Ron: Yep. It was a good day to fly. Turkey buzzard came and messed with us. For some reason or another, the slow sticks bring in the turkey buzzards.

[unknown speaker 00:36:05] I don't know why.

[unknown speaker 00:36:06] I was kind of surprised that many people showed up out there, too. Usually, we're, when we go out, we're the only ones there. There's only, like, three other people, right? There was three to the right of us, and then there was two over there by where Reggie was. Obviously. I do not remember. Yeah. Somebody came in. I don't know who. Yeah, Reggie was. I think they were brand new.

[00:36:30] Ron: Oh, that's, yeah. Yeah. The FNS 1300 Super Cub. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:33] So, I was surprised, because usually it's just us out there and don't ever see anybody else. So, it was good to see other people.

[unknown speaker 00:36:40] The club did their official, like, January 1st thing at, like, 8 or 9 in the morning. Oh. And so.

[00:36:47] Ron: We always wait for it to warm up a little bit before we head out. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:36:51] So, I think we aim for noon, if I remember right. Yeah. It's always noonish for us. Yep. So, either they'll come to our schedule, or we just won't see them. Okay. Next. What do we do next? We went to Wisconsin. Yes. We went to Wisconsin in January. That's. This actually was not a bad. I mean, like, from what we've had a couple years past. Yeah. This was not a bad drive at all. No. Especially for me, because I didn't drive. I rode in the back seat.

[unknown speaker 00:37:18] Thanks, Daniel, for chauffeuring. You're welcome. Yeah. So, the Rock River Aeromodeler Society always puts on their swap meet early in January. And that's become kind of a tradition for us. We've gone the last three years, which, oddly enough, is. All three. All three years they've done it. We've seen some growth. I mean, it's gotten. It's a good-sized show.

[unknown speaker 00:37:39] Yeah. It's more worth the drive.

[unknown speaker 00:37:41] It's gotten bigger every time, I think, since we've gone.

[00:37:44] Ron: We didn't have to get up at 2.30 in the morning, but.

[unknown speaker 00:37:46] That part, yeah. I was two. Two o'clock. Yeah, but when you're stoked to go, you get up pretty easy.

[unknown speaker 00:37:53] No. Oh, no, no, no, not at all. I'm sorry. It was difficult. It was.

[unknown speaker 00:37:59] I did all right. I even, I mean.

[unknown speaker 00:38:01] You were late. What are you talking about?

[unknown speaker 00:38:03] I was right on time. You were the last one.

[unknown speaker 00:38:05] Two-thirty.

[unknown speaker 00:38:07] I rolled in at. Three-thirty. Or three-thirty. I got up at two-thirty. Three-thirty, I rolled right in at three-thirty.

[unknown speaker 00:38:15] I beg to differ, sir, because Reggie actually was there before you, so we know you were late.

[unknown speaker 00:38:22] Well, I had to get a drink.

[unknown speaker 00:38:25] Had to beat dogs. No, it actually worked out well, because.

[00:38:28] Ron: The timing, I think, worked really well.

[unknown speaker 00:38:29] Yeah, because we were still earlier than.

[unknown speaker 00:38:32] Yeah, I think we need to check our times a little bit better than for next year, because I thought it started at eight, because that's what Dave said.

[00:38:39] Ron: That's what I thought.

[unknown speaker 00:38:40] That's what it said.

[unknown speaker 00:38:41] And so, is that. Well, yeah. Yeah, for cellar started at eight, the doors opened at nine, is what it said. We got there at seven-thirty.

[unknown speaker 00:38:51] Yeah, a little bit earlier than that.

[unknown speaker 00:38:51] And there was already a lot of people there.

[unknown speaker 00:38:53] It was full. Yeah. I mean, like, I thought we were going to be sitting in the car for 45 minutes, but no, we were late, so we need to go.

[00:39:02] Ron: Well, we were delayed by the travel conditions.

[unknown speaker 00:39:06] Yeah, a little bit of snow. It could have been worse. It could have been worse, yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:39:11] Roads and cell phone, Pat. But it was visibility. Visibility.

[unknown speaker 00:39:16] As Dave says, what was it?

[unknown speaker 00:39:20] What? With the headlights?

[unknown speaker 00:39:21] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:39:22] Because I don't have LED headlights. No road lights.

[00:39:26] Ron: He doesn't have fog lamps, which would have made a huge difference. Yeah, we heard that. Reggie, did it snow?

[unknown speaker 00:39:31] Yeah, Reggie got cold. He slept all the way up there. He snored a few times. And all the way home, too. So, I'm glad he went. That was nice to keep us all company. That was funny. Okay, so no, it was actually, it was pretty cool. We got up there. We got table. Actually, a couple tables. Dave sold some stuff. We met Terry from RC Roundtable. That seems to be our yearly get-together with him, too, because he drives down from northern, or farther north in Wisconsin.

[unknown speaker 00:40:01] And it's always a good show to go to. So, what did you sell?

[00:40:06] Ron: Let's see here. I sold my Hangar 9 Piper Pawnee that was done up as the Skywarden. That's a sad one to see go.

[unknown speaker 00:40:19] That was a beautiful plane.

[00:40:20] Ron: Yeah. Every time I went to go put that thing out on the table for sale, it's been to a couple shows to sell, and it's never moved. But every time I put it out, it's like, I really don't want to get rid of it. But it's not something I was flying. It was difficult for me to carry because of the size, just my situation. It was difficult for me to carry and move around. So, it was one that I was not taking to the field on a regular basis.

[00:40:45] Ron: It was adequately powered, but it wasn't overly powered. So, it wasn't as much fun to fly. It was basically just a low-wing cub, even though it did have bombs on it I could drop.

[unknown speaker 00:40:56] Yeah, that you dropped far out and made me go get. Yeah. And almost hit you with them one time. Yeah. I was going to leave that part out, but yeah.

[00:41:06] Ron: I don't know. It was a good-looking airplane. I really liked having it, but it was an inconvenient size.

[unknown speaker 00:41:12] Yeah.

[00:41:13] Ron: So, it was nice to flip it. I sold it well under what it was worth. In fact, I had two people kind of fighting over it. So, anyway, it's gone. My JR Ergo helicopter that I've had for 25-plus years sold it at a giveaway price. It's something that I'm not going to fly again. When I parked it, it was flyable, but it got to the age where it was too old.

[unknown speaker 00:41:42] Yeah, that was 1972. Yeah.

[00:41:45] Ron: It was mid-'90s. It was to the point where you couldn't get any replacement parts for it, and if you fly it, you're going to ding it.

[unknown speaker 00:41:55] Yeah. That's still 30 years, by the way.

[00:41:57] Ron: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:41:57] I know.

[00:41:58] Ron: It adds up fast, doesn't it?

[unknown speaker 00:41:59] Yes, it does.

[00:42:02] Ron: So, yeah, it went away just so it's not taking up any room in the garage anymore. Really stupid cheap. The guy that bought it said he's probably not going to fly it. It's just going to become a wall hanger.

[unknown speaker 00:42:13] Yeah.

[00:42:14] Ron: So, that's where it needs to be.

[unknown speaker 00:42:16] Yeah, I agree.

[00:42:17] Ron: Good-looking helicopter. It was a great flying helicopter. That was Nitro, right? Yeah, it was a 30-size Nitro. It had an OS-30 in it that I never, ever had a single flame-out in. I can't believe I've never had a flame-out in that engine. Yeah. Beautiful flying. It's going to be missed, but time to move on. Room for other things now. Room for other things. I had a little flying wing that you guys were going to run over with a tractor, trailer, truck.

[unknown speaker 00:42:44] A camper, yeah.

[00:42:45] Ron: And I flew it. It was fine. I've proved my point that it could fly, but I got other things that I'd rather fly.

[unknown speaker 00:42:52] Yeah, that was the one Tommy got at Joe and All. Tried multiple times to fly it. There was something weird about it. Something was warped or something. I don't remember what.

[00:43:01] Ron: It was warped, and it was horribly overweight, and it was extremely tail-heavy.

[unknown speaker 00:43:06] Okay. I think that was the biggest issue.

[00:43:07] Ron: That was a huge issue.

[unknown speaker 00:43:10] And so, yeah, it was stressful moments for us. Yeah. And it almost got just thrown under the tire to give it a nice fitting end. But Dave's like, no, I will fix it and make it fly well.

[00:43:25] Ron: And Dave did. I mean, it wasn't the best flying thing I've ever flown, but it flew decent.

[unknown speaker 00:43:30] Yeah.

[00:43:30] Ron: I sold it to a young man who was kind of wishy-washy on it. And it's like, you know what? You got 25 bucks. It's yours.

[unknown speaker 00:43:36] Yeah.

[00:43:37] Ron: So it's gone. And then I took my Hobie's, not Hobie's own, Hobie. I mean, it was Hobie's own. Little Cessna 182. Liked flying the airplane. Never, ever in my life flew it in calm weather. Every time I took it out to fly, it was always breezy. So I imagine it flew really, really well in calm air.

[unknown speaker 00:44:00] Yeah.

[00:44:01] Ron: But I was wanting a bigger one. I was actually, I'm kind of wanting the bigger one from FMS. So it was a bit of a pain to take apart. So I left it together all the time. And I don't know. It was just, it needed to go away too.

[unknown speaker 00:44:17] Yeah.

[00:44:17] Ron: Although I did fly it a fair amount. So those are all the ones that went away. And then I have my little electric Amish pusher plane. I don't know what it is. We bought it at Toledo a few years back. And it flies decently for profile.

[unknown speaker 00:44:32] For a little foam pusher. Yeah. I don't even know how to describe that. It's like a twin boom with a single tail. It almost looks like the tail set up kind of like a boomerang jet. Yeah. Like the Elon. But that's just to kind of give you an idea of what the back looked like. Yeah. The front was triangular. And yeah, weird.

[00:44:52] Ron: It's got a weird shape. It's fast. It flies good. Except for don't loop it at high speeds. It apparently flexes really hard. And it'll loop. It'll spin out of a hard loop.

[unknown speaker 00:45:03] Yeah. It'll roll to one side.

[00:45:05] Ron: Yeah. Other than that, it flies fine. It was just an airplane that I don't fly a lot because I've got other stuff similar to it that doesn't loop out.

[unknown speaker 00:45:16] Yeah.

[00:45:18] Ron: So it came back home with us because nobody had any interest in it. So it's going to go to Toledo. Let's see what happens. Yeah. And we've done so there. It'll just come home and I'll just keep flying it.

[unknown speaker 00:45:29] Yeah. We'll have plenty of room because I'm sure we'll be taking a trailer to Toledo. You can't go without one. And so it's going. We can even take mine if you want. Doesn't matter to me.

[unknown speaker 00:45:42] Well, I would say mine's probably easier to get in out of that parking lot. It's lighter to move around. Probably. Think about it. Remember last year we just dropped it and pushed it into. Yeah. Pushed it into three.

[unknown speaker 00:45:53] That would be difficult with mine. But I do have more places to hang things if we need to get more. We'll talk. We have time.

[unknown speaker 00:46:01] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:46:03] It's coming up quick. It's coming up quick.

[unknown speaker 00:46:05] True. But we have time.

[unknown speaker 00:46:07] We have time.

[unknown speaker 00:46:10] Yeah. So it was a good swap meet.

[00:46:13] Ron: So no one else took anything else to sell. I think I only.

[unknown speaker 00:46:15] No. You're the only one. It was just the Dave show.

[00:46:19] Ron: I came back with more money than I left with. So.

[unknown speaker 00:46:22] I didn't. I ended up. So I was proud of myself. I bought one airplane there. And I wasn't planning on buying anything. But. It was weird. Then that's what I like. So. And I didn't realize how old it was. After I got home. Did some research and stuff. And found out that it was new in 2014. So this is a. A Durafly Retro Das Ugly Stick. And it's a stick. So I'm sure it flies good.

[00:46:50] Ron: I don't even remember that I'm selling that.

[unknown speaker 00:46:52] Well that was a long time ago.

[00:46:56] Ron: I don't know.

[unknown speaker 00:46:57] I would have just been getting into the hobby at that point. So. Probably wouldn't have been looking at that kind of stuff. But anyway. So it's a foam stick. With a dummy nitro engine on the front. Well done. Very well done. Like it confused me for a minute. Because Daniel and I were walking around. And we both saw it. And I was like. Look at that. And he's like. Oh it's nitro. That's cool. And I was like. Yeah. And then I saw it was a foam wing. And I was like. Hold on. That.

[unknown speaker 00:47:25] That would just eat up that foam. How is that possible? And so I started looking a little bit closer. And we realized. Like after I spun the prop on it. And I was like. There's no compression. And then it hit me. I was like. Wait a minute. This is electric. So I took the little hatch off. And sure enough. There's a little electric motor. Behind the dummy radial. Or not radial. But behind the dummy.

[unknown speaker 00:47:48] Nitro.

[unknown speaker 00:47:48] Nitro engine. And it. Like I said. Done very well. Like from a distance. You can't tell. I mean. Like short distance. It looked.

[unknown speaker 00:47:57] Right. I was going to say. We were right up on it. And we thought it was.

[unknown speaker 00:48:00] And of course. Dave has to notice. The obvious things that we missed. Like there's no throttle linkage. Which. Duh. Looking back now.

[00:48:07] Ron: That could be easily dummied up.

[unknown speaker 00:48:09] Right. And that's. The other thing too. Of course. Dave's like. Well you could weather the engine. And make it look like it's actually been.

[unknown speaker 00:48:15] Because it did look. That's what I was noticing. It looks. This motor is brand new. It hasn't even been ran. Right. That's when you said. It's. It's electric. I go. What do you mean it's electric? Yeah. And then you touch the motor. And it's like. That is plastic. Yeah. Yeah. I mean. It had me fooled. It threw me. And I walked by it multiple times. And just thought it was. Nitro motor.

[unknown speaker 00:48:36] Yeah. I. Yeah. I was confused by that for a little bit. And I think that's why I like it. Because it like. Threw my brain into like.

[00:48:42] Ron: What the heck is this? It got one over on you. And now it's yours. And you don't see it. Every day.

[unknown speaker 00:48:47] No. I've never seen one of those before. And it's a stick. Right. And honestly like. Looking at. How that's made. And put together. It wouldn't be hard to take that off. And put it on a different airplane. Right. Like I wouldn't mind putting that. Even on the. The e-flight stick. The small one. Because that would be more of a. A fitting airplane for it. Since it is not foam. You know. It's the built up balsa. So it would look better on it. It's more of the part. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:49:12] But for the price I got it for. It came with spectrum receiver. You can't not purchase it.

[00:49:17] Ron: Yeah. You got a heck of a deal on it.

[unknown speaker 00:49:19] And it even came with a box. So I was able to put it back in the box. Yeah. And it all breaks down on its own really easily.

[unknown speaker 00:49:24] I was going to say. That didn't take any time.

[unknown speaker 00:49:25] You were five minutes.

[unknown speaker 00:49:26] It was back in the box. It took you longer to find the screwdriver in his toolbox.

[unknown speaker 00:49:29] It did. Because they brought tools. And he's like. Yeah. Here. Use these tools. And I'm like. I can't find anything. But we got it. But no. I was. I thought that was pretty cool. So. Haven't flown it yet. Obviously. It's a little windy and cold. It'll probably wait till. Who knows at this point. When we have no wind and cold. Because it's been very windy. It doesn't look any good. The future doesn't. No. The next week. Not. Good at all. Yeah. Not the week at least. But yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:49:56] Like I said. I was pretty excited about that one. Had no plans on buying anything. Actually told myself. I wasn't going to buy anything. And then I walked in. And I saw so many planes. That I wanted to buy.

[00:50:06] Ron: They had a nice selection. And fairly decent prices on most stuff. They did. There were a few people out there dreaming. But. The majority of it was. Within reason. Or. Wow. That's cheap.

[unknown speaker 00:50:16] There were a lot of them. That I saw. There was a couple. F-18s that I like. A couple F-22s they had. That I had to. Physically talk myself. Out of. I'm like. No. No. Let's think this through.

[unknown speaker 00:50:29] We had to remember too. We didn't have a trailer. That's. That was another. David already had the truck full on the way there. So. True. He didn't sell anything.

[unknown speaker 00:50:38] We knew we were going to be.

[unknown speaker 00:50:39] Out. Yeah. You guys were going to hold a lot of stuff on the way home.

[00:50:42] Ron: And that would have been okay.

[unknown speaker 00:50:43] I mean. We do what we have to do. For the love of planes. Um. But. And like I said. The thing I bought was in a box. So I figured that would be. Easy. Less prone to damage. If something did happen. Or had to be. Flung in. Other places. To make it fit. Uh. We ended up getting Reggie to buy a couple of planes. It wasn't hard. No. It wasn't hard at all. No. It's always fun. Um. Actually. Planes that I already have. He bought the. 64 millimeter FMS F-18. And then the. Freewing.

[unknown speaker 00:51:15] 64 millimeter F-22. I was going to say.

[00:51:17] Ron: Was it 64 to 70?

[unknown speaker 00:51:19] 64. Because 70 has retracts. This one. Does not. Yeah. So. Yeah. He'll be able to. Fly those. And hopefully not crash them. He can fly them with me though. Yeah. Uh. And also. Before we get into what Daniel brought. Before I forget. I want to give a quick shout out. So we met some new friends. At this trip. Um. This has been. Let's just say. A year. A little over a year. Coming. So. I had. A guy reach out to me. From Brazil. And this has been. I think mid part of 24. Saying.

[unknown speaker 00:51:53] Hey. We're planning a vacation. A family vacation. To the states. We'd like to stop by and meet you. If that's okay. Long story short. Last year. That fell through. We've kept in touch. Back and forth. On a few things. And they finally made the. Trek. Up to the. Good old USA. For their vacation. This year. And. Originally. We were just supposed to meet. At Eli Field. Sunday. The day after the swap meet. And we'd been. In contact. Back and forth. And he let me know.

[unknown speaker 00:52:20] When he was getting into. Chicago. And he was. They were flying into Chicago. On Friday. And so I asked him. I was like. Well. What are you doing tomorrow? Like. What are your plans? And. Long story short. I sent him all the information. On the swap meet and stuff. And I said. It's a couple hour drive. From where you're staying. If you're interested. You know. We're going to be up there. And I told him. We were going to be up there. And stuff. So. Long story short.

[unknown speaker 00:52:41] He came up to. The swap meet. It was his first.

[00:52:45] Ron: I guess they don't have swap meets. In Brazil. That's what I understand.

[unknown speaker 00:52:49] So. I think he. Kind of enjoyed the. The full swap meet experience. On what he got to see. And. And. What we have available. Here in the states. And after talking to him too. I think. We. Take. The hobby scene. Around here for granted. Apparently. It's much more difficult. And much more expensive. In Brazil.

[00:53:10] Ron: Big price difference.

[unknown speaker 00:53:11] To get. Any kind of gear. Let alone. Foamies. And. And all the stuff. That's just so common here.

[00:53:18] Ron: I don't think he said. He said he had never flown a foamy before.

[unknown speaker 00:53:21] Never flown a foamy. So. Yeah. I mean. We'll. We'll get to that in a little bit. But yeah. So. Never really been around him. And all that kind of stuff. I guess everything they do in Brazil. Is. You know. Bigger size. Like. Forty size. Fifties. Or not forty. But like. Forty. Sixty size. Airplanes. And that kind of stuff. He said he flies a lot of electric. And a lot of nitro. Which nitro is cool. But no. It was. I thought it was very cool to meet them. I wasn't.

[unknown speaker 00:53:47] I was happy they were able to come to that. And on the way home. We also stopped at Dynamic Balsa. So. He got to meet Brian. Along with his family. So. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But just quick shout out. Or shout out to. Jose. Jose Carlos. And I'm going to. Completely mess up his wife's name. I will say the American version. Because I cannot do the. The correct way. But Kelby. They were very. Very nice to meet. And I was happy that they were able to make it.

[unknown speaker 00:54:14] And spend some time with us.

[00:54:14] Ron: Super wonderful people.

[unknown speaker 00:54:16] Mm-hmm.

[00:54:16] Ron: Definitely want to keep in contact with them.

[unknown speaker 00:54:18] Yeah. Hopefully they'll come back sometime when it's not. You know. So cold.

[00:54:23] Ron: I was really worried about them coming from. Tropical.

[unknown speaker 00:54:26] To Illinois in January. Well. Not only that. But. So I. I was looking like where they live in Brazil. The record low. The record low. Is like 55 degrees. That's the record low. Like for us. 55 degrees. Like. Oh. We're finally getting a little bit warm here. It's kind of nice. But no. It was a. It was a nice time. Like I said. I was glad they got to come up. See a. A swap meet. Go out to lunch with us and stuff. And then head to Brian's. But before we talk about Brian's.

[unknown speaker 00:54:59] What did you get Daniel?

[unknown speaker 00:55:00] I didn't get a lot.

[unknown speaker 00:55:02] Nope. You got something kind of special. Do you. Oh. Come on. Do you not remember? Yeah. I remember.

[unknown speaker 00:55:08] Oh. Okay. Which one do you consider special? The.

[unknown speaker 00:55:10] Well. I'm actually talking about.

[unknown speaker 00:55:13] Weird.

[unknown speaker 00:55:14] The very cheap thing you bought.

[unknown speaker 00:55:16] Oh. Yeah. Okay. So we'll talk about that first. Into the microphone.

[00:55:20] Ron: So.

[unknown speaker 00:55:22] I just couldn't pass it up. It's. And I knew I'd probably get. Teased over it. Not as much as I thought though. I was kind of.

[00:55:30] Ron: You bought a fish at an RC swap.

[unknown speaker 00:55:32] Yeah. So I don't know why you thought you'd get teased. Because honestly. Had I seen that. Like I'm glad you saw it before me. Because that is something. That is so ridiculous. I know. That I would have purchased. And then been like. I have no room. Why did I do that? But I'm glad you did.

[unknown speaker 00:55:46] Yeah. I. And. I don't know how many times I'd walk past the table. It's. It's things on the floor. You don't look underneath the tables. And.

[unknown speaker 00:55:54] There's so much I missed.

[unknown speaker 00:55:55] Yeah. And it just happened to caught. Catch the corner of my eye. I was like. What is. Under that table. Pull it out. It's. Dory. The fish off of. Finding Nemo. And it's. Yeah.

[00:56:08] Ron: A phone. From Hobby King. A large.

[unknown speaker 00:56:11] Very large. Dory. RC airplane. RC plane. Yep. So. Of course. I pulled it out. I'm looking at it. The guy says. You need to go home with that. And I.

[00:56:21] Ron: I'm not sure.

[unknown speaker 00:56:23] It is different. Very different. Well. When he finally said. Ten bucks. It's yours. One way or the other. Even if it doesn't fly. Ten dollars. I mean. It's a good laugh for ten dollars. So. Right.

[unknown speaker 00:56:35] That's going to be amazing.

[unknown speaker 00:56:36] It is going to fly. It looks good. Yeah. It's missing. You sent me the. The directions on it. Then. Assembly. I'm missing some stuff. Yeah. Fiber rods. I mean. Probably. The motor mounts. To go around. Well. That's the fiber. It looks like the fiber. Carbon fiber rods. To keep it from flexing. And then. The motor mount. Motor mount. You can make it.

[00:56:57] Ron: Yeah. I saw that was 3D printed. Somebody. 3D printed. So.

[unknown speaker 00:57:00] And I haven't looked far enough. I figured. Well. That or either 3D. Or I'll use a laser cutter. And lay. You know. Cut it out. One way or the other. It's. It's. Not going to be hard. So.

[00:57:11] Ron: For ten bucks. I mean. Yeah. How can you not?

[unknown speaker 00:57:13] Well. And you already have all the electronics. Yeah. So. The. Cardinal that we used. Joe Knoll. What? Combat cardinal. Two years. Yeah. Mine didn't really. Do very well. So it's in pieces. Didn't you almost hit somebody? I did hit somebody.

[00:57:29] Ron: I forgot. Whoever was.

[unknown speaker 00:57:31] One of our buddies. Yeah. From Rhode Island. Right? Yes. Yes. That's funny. I don't know why. I still don't know why the bird went straight up. And straight down. But. Yeah. So. I'm going to take the guts out of it. And switch it over to this. And we. It should go. So. Combat Dory.

[unknown speaker 00:57:47] Combat Dory. No. No. I don't want that to get messed up.

[unknown speaker 00:57:50] So it is. And it's discontinued. So. There is no more.

[unknown speaker 00:57:54] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:57:55] So. Yeah. It's. And you said he had two of them. Like I wish I had seen the other one. He had two of them. And as I was walking back to the table. The other guy hollered out. Oh. You bought the other. He said I bought the first one. So.

[unknown speaker 00:58:06] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:58:06] He had two of them. So.

[unknown speaker 00:58:09] I'm guessing the first one was probably Nemo. No. They're both dory.

[unknown speaker 00:58:13] Oh. They both. Oh.

[00:58:14] Ron: Yeah. How do you get one to start with? Not to mention two.

[unknown speaker 00:58:16] No kidding. Yeah. So he had two of them. Okay. Um. So. Yeah. I couldn't pass it up. That's awesome.

[unknown speaker 00:58:25] It took up half the truck bed. Yeah. I mean. It did take up most of it. But it was his truck. So. I wasn't going to say anything. It's okay. We had room. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:58:32] We had room.

[00:58:33] Ron: We had. Yeah. It wasn't a problem.

[unknown speaker 00:58:35] So. Yes. I did get that. And then. I wasn't looking for one. But I ended up getting a new radio.

[unknown speaker 00:58:42] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:58:42] I just couldn't remember that.

[unknown speaker 00:58:43] I mean.

[unknown speaker 00:58:46] It's a FreeSky X20. X20. Yeah. Like I said. I wasn't looking. The price was absolutely incredible. Yeah. I just. I think it would have been one of those.

[00:58:55] Ron: If I wouldn't have done it. I would have got home and been like. Man.

[unknown speaker 00:58:58] I should have done that.

[00:58:59] Ron: I should have done that.

[unknown speaker 00:59:00] Yeah.

[00:59:00] Ron: So. And it came with the module.

[unknown speaker 00:59:02] Yeah. It came with the module. K. I mean. Everything. Except the charging cord. Which. Whoop-de-doo. The USB-C. Yeah. So. That's. That's. In a receiver.

[00:59:12] Ron: Oh. And it came with a receiver too. Oh. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:59:14] A little. So.

[00:59:15] Ron: A little. A four or six channel. I can't remember what it was.

[unknown speaker 00:59:17] So. Yeah. It would have definitely been one of those. I. Would have probably kicked myself. So. Well good. A little bit of an upgrade from what I got. What are you fine with now? A. Spectrum. DX8.

[unknown speaker 00:59:31] DX8.

[unknown speaker 00:59:32] Okay. Oh. Yeah. It's. Definitely a big change.

[unknown speaker 00:59:36] Was that Gen 1 or Gen 2? Two.

[unknown speaker 00:59:39] Okay.

[unknown speaker 00:59:39] So at least you were a little bit more modern than I was before I upgraded. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 00:59:43] It was a Gen 2.

[unknown speaker 00:59:43] Two.

[unknown speaker 00:59:44] But. It's different getting used to the. I guess you'd call it the computer based. Yeah.

[00:59:51] Ron: So. Yeah. It's going to take a while but we'll get through it.

[unknown speaker 00:59:54] Been on YouTube a lot last week. You guys have each other so that's good to go.

[unknown speaker 01:00:00] Well we're still recording when it's time for Piper to get to bed. Sorry about that. Everyone.

[unknown speaker 01:00:05] Yeah. So that's a plus too that yeah he's gone through a lot of it that. But I want to figure it. I need to figure it out though. Yeah. That's the problem with my DX8 right now. It's easy just to give it to him. Let him deal with it and I don't still don't know how to do it so. Yeah. I want to. I want to. I want to try to figure it out. Yep. But. I got back up.

[unknown speaker 01:00:26] YouTube University. That's what I've been watching.

[01:00:30] Ron: There's a lot but. It's doable.

[unknown speaker 01:00:33] Yeah.

[01:00:34] Ron: I look at you guys go.

[unknown speaker 01:00:36] Brothers in other ways now. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:00:39] Like I say I wasn't planning on it but he was just I wasn't even thinking about looking

[01:00:43] Ron: for a radio but. Yeah. But the price they had on it. Yeah. It was there. What I'm at it too is a guy got it from somebody else who didn't have it very long. Started trying to learn the program and just decided he didn't want it. He didn't feel like learning the new system and sold it. Sold it for what he bought it for.

[unknown speaker 01:01:03] That's good.

[01:01:04] Ron: Which was.

[unknown speaker 01:01:05] Cheap. Really cheap. Well cool. Now you've got something else to play with. Yep.

[unknown speaker 01:01:12] We'll see.

[unknown speaker 01:01:13] So you're going to put Dory on that one then? Oh I'm sure.

[unknown speaker 01:01:16] Oh yeah.

[01:01:16] Ron: I'm not going to put anything.

[unknown speaker 01:01:18] Anything from now forward is going to go right on. That's what I mean.

[01:01:23] Ron: He's got a lot of test flying to do.

[unknown speaker 01:01:25] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:01:26] Dory should be okay if she crashes.

[unknown speaker 01:01:29] Should. So.

[unknown speaker 01:01:30] I watched videos. Did you? Yeah. It's a lot. They use indoor flying a lot. Pretty much on that one if you get in trouble just shut off the throttle and just let it fall. Let it bounce. Yeah. There is a Nemo one. There is a Nemo. I mean I figured there was. And a shark.

[01:01:44] Ron: Oh there's a shark.

[unknown speaker 01:01:45] A shark too.

[unknown speaker 01:01:47] Hmm.

[unknown speaker 01:01:49] Yeah. So I don't know. Couldn't pass it up. Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:01:53] That's going to be. Seriously I can't wait to see that fly.

[unknown speaker 01:01:56] Definitely a calm day flyer.

[unknown speaker 01:01:58] Yeah. That's okay. We'll have one of those someday.

[unknown speaker 01:02:00] Maybe we can light it up.

[unknown speaker 01:02:02] Oh that's a good idea. Not with fire but with. No not with. Yeah.

[01:02:07] Ron: And don't you have access to a gymnasium? Yeah. Sort of. Kind of.

[unknown speaker 01:02:13] UNKNOWN: Hmm.

[unknown speaker 01:02:14] We'll talk about that later.

[01:02:16] Ron: It requires an orange jumpsuit but.

[unknown speaker 01:02:18] Oh. Yeah. I can try. Handcuffs and shackles but.

[unknown speaker 01:02:22] I mean whatever you're into. It's whatever they're into but. Oh. Yeah. So then after that we ended up going out to lunch. I think it's our new spot.

[01:02:33] Ron: Apparently.

[unknown speaker 01:02:33] Because.

[01:02:34] Ron: We ended up at the same spot twice.

[unknown speaker 01:02:35] Accidentally. Yeah. Accidentally ended up at the same spot. Which is good food. So I mean I wasn't upset with that. Couldn't tell you what it's called now. It doesn't matter. Something family restaurant. But yeah. We ended up going out with Terry and our. Like I said. Our new Brazilian friends. Then after that we ended up stopping at Dynamic Balsa on the way home. Which our Brazilian friends stopped there too.

[unknown speaker 01:02:55] So they got to experience all that is the awesomeness of Brian's shop. They don't have hobby shops like that apparently in Brazil either. After talking to him he said that if you want a used airplane it's pretty much something a buddy of yours has. It's internal trading. Right. Or that's about it. There's no hobby shops like that for you to go buy used stuff. So I think he was also pleased to see something like that too. Which I thought was kind of neat. Did you guys.

[unknown speaker 01:03:29] What did you guys get at Brian's place? About four servos. That's right. You did too Daniel.

[unknown speaker 01:03:34] Four servos and some. Not monocode.

[unknown speaker 01:03:38] Four servos and a.

[unknown speaker 01:03:39] Roll a covering. Roll a covering.

[unknown speaker 01:03:42] For what I remember you getting. It was olive drab.

[unknown speaker 01:03:45] For the two trip stick. Oh. That's right.

[01:03:48] Ron: Last year.

[unknown speaker 01:03:49] Because I popped a hole in. So yeah. So I've been kind of looking for. It's not easy to find that color. So he just happened to have one roll. Of course he did. I mean go figure.

[unknown speaker 01:04:02] Right.

[unknown speaker 01:04:03] And it matched. He has a little bit of everything. It matched. So I figured it'd be close enough. Cool. So that's all. So I.

[unknown speaker 01:04:12] I came out with. Well that's fine. He did good. That's good. Well.

[unknown speaker 01:04:15] And it was. A lot of. Because we had no room.

[unknown speaker 01:04:18] Right.

[unknown speaker 01:04:18] Because there was a lot more in there. But yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:04:21] Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:04:21] There's no room.

[unknown speaker 01:04:22] You didn't want another.

[unknown speaker 01:04:23] Probably if we had the trailer. If we had the trailer. It would have been. Yeah. Harder. But.

[unknown speaker 01:04:27] I think it's good that we didn't. I think so. Because it limited us to things that we really didn't need. True. I mean. Stopped us from getting things I should say that we really didn't need. And I ended up buying a Sportix. The E-Flight Sportix that they came out with last year. I don't know why. I've been wanting one for a long time. And I forgot. I wanted one. And then I saw one sitting there. I was like. Hey. Sure. Why not?

[01:04:50] Ron: I forgot I wanted one. That's how bad you wanted one.

[unknown speaker 01:04:53] Well. There's so many other ones that come out. And I mean. Honestly. There's a lot of other ones that I'd like to get to. But. Not going to happen. Because I don't have room. But. Maybe. I don't know why. I really want the. And it's a good thing he didn't have one there. But the. What's the Neo. Blah blah blah. The airliner. E-Flight came out with.

[01:05:17] Ron: Oh. Yeah. The. Airbus A.

[unknown speaker 01:05:21] A380. Or A80. Yeah. Whatever it was.

[01:05:24] Ron: That'd be a massive box.

[unknown speaker 01:05:26] Yeah. I'm glad he didn't have one. Because that would have been hard to pass up. I don't know why I like that one so much. But I do. Yeah. You'd fly it once and then sell it. Yeah. Maybe. That's the problem. But then I would know. Yeah. Then I wouldn't want it anymore. Because I've already had it. And then I also bought the. The new Spectrum SBC 200 battery checker. I'll talk about that in a little bit. But. Very nice.

[unknown speaker 01:05:53] Nice.

[unknown speaker 01:05:54] Anything else? Or do you want to move on? Yeah. Move on. Let's get to the next day. The next day. I said. Day. It's a long weekend.

[01:06:03] Ron: Running on like three hours of sleep here.

[unknown speaker 01:06:04] Yeah. So we ended up going to Eli. That was the original day of meeting up with our Brazilian buddies. They wanted to meet us there and see the facilities. Wanted to go flying. And wanted to get a couple of flights on a buddy box. So it was cool that this is the first time they got to fly in the States. And I will say Jose Carlos is a good little pilot. His dad Jose is too. I mean like they did very well with your airplanes. Because I didn't really bring anything. Yeah.

[01:06:36] Ron: Yeah. They did great.

[unknown speaker 01:06:37] Good to fly with the wind. Super cold. A little breezy. Super windy.

[01:06:43] Ron: Yeah. The wind was the problem.

[unknown speaker 01:06:44] The wind was almost perfectly 90 degrees of the runway.

[01:06:48] Ron: I think all the aircraft had some sort of accident sitting on the ground.

[unknown speaker 01:06:51] Yeah. I damaged my new Sportix after having it for 20 minutes sitting out. Because it blew off the table. But I got to fly that. I need to do a little adjustments on it. There was a lot of wind. It flew a little bit. It felt a little tail heavy. But nothing ridiculous. It was just the wind really sliding around. So this would be the first airplane that Jose flew. And he wasn't quite comfortable landing it. So he handed it back to me. Because it was so squirrely and weird.

[unknown speaker 01:07:24] But I've seen so many videos of those flying. That there's like I said CG is off. CG is. Something's not right. Yeah. And it doesn't help when you're trying to fly it. When wind gusts are 25 to 30 mile an hour either. And your fingers are stiff. And yeah.

[01:07:40] Ron: So we will get that out and figure it out once it warms up.

[unknown speaker 01:07:44] But you brought some planes for him. And I don't remember what. What did you.

[01:07:48] Ron: Well I had my McTwist. He didn't fly the McTwist. But I ended up putting the McTwist down out in the field. Because.

[unknown speaker 01:07:53] So glad.

[01:07:54] Ron: I got disoriented. It got blown out a little too far. And then it got flipped over on me. And I couldn't tell which side was up. Because well there is no up or down on it.

[unknown speaker 01:08:01] It looks identical. Upside down and down side up. So.

[01:08:05] Ron: So I just chopped the throttle on it. Let it fall. And apparently it was upright. Because that's the way the little guy went and ran out and got it.

[unknown speaker 01:08:14] I'm so glad his kid was there. Because that was far away.

[01:08:17] Ron: It was out there a ways. And then I had this slow ultra stick. Which. Fine. You know. And I don't. Even in difficult conditions to fly. It's a throwaway airplane. And they both flew it extremely well. And then we had the FMS 1700 Supercut. And both of those flew as well. I had extremely flat tires on it. And you know what. I kind of liked extremely flat tires on asphalt.

[unknown speaker 01:08:43] Yeah. I mean they balloon up when you start getting some momentum going. So.

[01:08:48] Ron: No bounce whatsoever. I'm going to fly them pretty. On asphalt. I'm going to fly them pretty low pressure.

[unknown speaker 01:08:55] Yeah.

[01:08:57] Ron: But both of them flew extremely well. With the conditions and a strange aircraft. And neither of them had flown FreeSky before. I think he was impressed with the FreeSky radio. He asked a lot of questions about it.

[unknown speaker 01:09:10] Yeah. He liked mine better Dave. Yes. He probably did. No. I'm just kidding.

[unknown speaker 01:09:13] UNKNOWN: I don't.

[01:09:14] Ron: They fly Futaba down there.

[unknown speaker 01:09:16] Yeah.

[01:09:17] Ron: Yeah. I think this is the first time he had seen one of these. But he did an extremely good job flying in adverse conditions with aircraft that weren't his.

[unknown speaker 01:09:27] Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yeah. That might have made it easier for him.

[01:09:30] Ron: That probably makes it easier.

[unknown speaker 01:09:32] No. Actually.

[01:09:33] Ron: I was like I'm leaving. I'm on the plane. I'm gone. Bye.

[unknown speaker 01:09:36] No. I mean like I said that. That was a good day except for the wind and the cold. So pretty much everything that. Yeah.

[01:09:43] Ron: I think I got a little bit of frostbite. So.

[unknown speaker 01:09:45] Yeah. Yeah. It was cold. I had my hands in gloves and holding on to my little heated hand warmers. My little electric ones that I carry around with me. I don't handle the cold very well anymore. I can't walk.

[01:09:58] Ron: I can't use gloves and walk. I slip off my crutches. So. No gloves. Yeah. And I think the edge of my pinky got a little.

[unknown speaker 01:10:08] A little worse for the wearer.

[01:10:10] Ron: Had a little. Yeah. Other than that it was a great day. If it was without the wind it would have been much much more enjoyable.

[unknown speaker 01:10:18] Yeah. Especially if it would have been I don't know 30 degrees warmer.

[01:10:21] Ron: Well I could deal with the temperature just as long as it wasn't blowing.

[unknown speaker 01:10:23] Yeah. Like I said the older I get the more of that just. It's bone chilling and I just. Ugh. But anyway. No it worked out pretty good. I enjoyed that. So I was glad everything worked out the way it was supposed to. And we didn't have like a foot of snow or anything. We did get snow so they got to see snow. Well but it was a dusting.

[01:10:40] Ron: It was just a dusting.

[unknown speaker 01:10:41] Yeah.

[01:10:41] Ron: But yes they saw snow.

[unknown speaker 01:10:43] And nothing that was impeding travel. Not at all. So. No we were pretty good. Yeah. So like I said I bought the the Spectrum SBC 200 battery checker. Which is 100 times better than the SBC 100 that I currently own. Actually I do like it more because it has the three different size IC connectors on it. IC2, 3, and 5. As opposed to the three that was the IC3 that was on the first version. But since I got that and could check all my airplane batteries easily.

[unknown speaker 01:11:18] I went through all the ones I had just to make sure. First off they were still holding voltage after sitting for a few months. And to make sure that I had all the settings the same on them. So I went through however many I have. Out of the however many I have there were three of them that were showing low voltage. Two of them didn't even turn it on. But I'm thinking that might have been my fault. Because those were ones from our RC cars.

[unknown speaker 01:11:54] That I'm pretty sure we used until they were dead in the car. And that was like we haven't used those. They were the ones that came with it. So they were not the smart ones. You know. Not really. Whatever. Good batteries anyway. Right. And so I think I put them away dead. And that was over a year ago. So I'm sure they just didn't sit very well. But the other one was also one of them from the car. That I have a feeling we did the same thing.

[unknown speaker 01:12:21] But it was one of the Spectrum smart ones. So two of the cells were very low. No, I'm sorry. One of the cells was very low. Because it's a two cell battery. But I was able to bring that back. Just by putting it on charge. And getting it above storage charge. So it could discharge itself back down. But no. I was. It took me a while. But I also switched on to. All my batteries now are set for 3.85 volts. For storage charge. That way if it does lose a little bit.

[unknown speaker 01:12:52] It can still be in the. Still okie dokie. Safe area. Or safe space. For what they should be at. And I switched them over to be 36 hours. Is how long they stay charged. Until they go into. Or start discharging to storage charge. That way it gives me a day or so. If I charge something. You know. We don't make it to the field. Or something like that. Then I can still fly them the next day. But yeah. So. Very handy to have one of those. Nice. And this is a reminder.

[unknown speaker 01:13:24] Check your batteries if you haven't. It's been a while for us. Since they've been used.

[01:13:29] Ron: I don't know. My stuff's been pretty. Pretty heavily used all winter.

[unknown speaker 01:13:33] All of them? All of them. All the common ones.

[01:13:37] Ron: My three and four cell batteries. Yeah. Common ones. The 1800s. The 2200s. Those have all been exercised. Regularly this winter.

[unknown speaker 01:13:46] Nice.

[01:13:46] Ron: The only one that sits in my six cell. Because I only got one airplane that uses it. And whatever.

[unknown speaker 01:13:52] Damn. I've got a few stragglers that are outside the norm. Of what common airplanes take. And it's good to keep an eye on those. Some of them haven't been flown since last summer. So. Like I said. It was good to go through them. And make sure all that was taken care of. And now I can sleep well. Knowing that I'll have another year with all my batteries.

[01:14:12] Ron: I've got an old Venom pack in there. And I just can't bring myself to dump it. And it's like. I'm sure it's no good. But.

[unknown speaker 01:14:18] Yeah.

[01:14:18] Ron: Every time I go to get rid of it. It's like. Nah. And I just throw it back in the box with everything else.

[unknown speaker 01:14:22] I have. It's not puffy or anything. So it's like.

[01:14:25] Ron: Well. If it was puffy. It'd be long gone.

[unknown speaker 01:14:26] Yeah. But. Easy to get rid of then. Yeah. I've got. Three. I think three of those lipo safe bags full of batteries. I have to get rid of. I just have a ton of them that just need to be gotten. Just take a battery cycle place.

[01:14:41] Ron: Yeah. But.

[unknown speaker 01:14:42] Anyway. Well that's all I have. You guys.

[01:14:45] Ron: That's all I got. All I got. My. One of the projects I bought. At the swap meet. It was. Oh. Hobby King F-16.

[unknown speaker 01:14:55] We didn't talk about what you bought at the swap meet. Did we? No. Well. Talk about what we bought.

[01:14:59] Ron: Or what you bought at the swap meet. How'd I miss that? I bought a 50 millimeter. Hobby King F-16. It was. Once again. On the cheap side. Had it in the house. And Reggie brought over a wing. For me to fix. Huge wing. This thing's like. No. Seven foot. I don't know how big it is. It's.

[unknown speaker 01:15:18] For what?

[01:15:19] Ron: I don't know. It's an airplane he had on the trailer. The open trailer. That he didn't strap down. And it. Cracked the aileron. So I got to fix that.

[unknown speaker 01:15:27] Open trailers and semi-trailer?

[01:15:29] Ron: No. Like a lawnmower trailer.

[unknown speaker 01:15:31] Oh. Okay.

[01:15:33] Ron: Anyway. The wing is heavy. It's old. And it's. It's very long. And it's very heavy. It slipped off my workbench. And landed on top of my F-16. So my project that was basically cosmetic is now structural and cosmetic. Oh, that sucks. So, eh. Whatever. And then the other thing I bought was a UMX P-51. When I bought it, the gentleman I bought it from said that the rudder servo is locked up on it.

[01:16:02] Ron: And that, you know, those little linear servos, they'll lock up if you sneeze on them.

[unknown speaker 01:16:06] Yeah.

[01:16:08] Ron: So I didn't think anything of it. No big deal. And the rudder, you know, even if I can't get it to work, it's just a rudder on a UMX. I don't use the rudder that much on something like that anyway.

[unknown speaker 01:16:18] Yeah.

[01:16:19] Ron: Anyway, it turned out to be the elevator servo. Oh. So. Yeah. Of course. The rudder servo is perfectly fine.

[unknown speaker 01:16:28] Did you try to give it a little. I tried. The spin to break it free?

[01:16:31] Ron: I tried to break it free. Actually, it was centered. It was slightly deformed. What I actually saw was going on with it real quick. I figured it out was as soon as I tried to spin it was the pinion gear, the little gear that goes on the motor had cracked and half of it was missing.

[unknown speaker 01:16:50] Oh.

[01:16:52] Ron: And the case was melted, which I discovered later. You know, it looked a little weird, but it's OK. Anyway, I had a linear servo that I had in a bag of spare parts, so I went in and just pulled the gears off of it and was going to swap the gears. Of course you did.

[unknown speaker 01:17:09] And the gears didn't mesh. It's like, wait a second. Why do the gears not mesh?

[01:17:14] Ron: And I got looking at it. It had gotten hot and deformed just enough. And, you know, those gears are so small. Yeah. It takes no distortion at all, and they didn't mesh. So I ended up pulling the parts apart from the—it was one of the—you've got standalone linear servos, and then you've got the integrated ones where they're built onto the board. This P-51 had the integrated servos, but the ones I had were standalone.

[01:17:40] Ron: So I had to disassemble with my magnifying glass and cell phone repair tools. I had to disassemble and move parts around. Regardless, we're up and moving. Nice. Everything's good.

[unknown speaker 01:17:55] So what did you do? Just take the motor off and replace the motor on it?

[01:17:58] Ron: Took and pulled the motor and gear housing. Okay. It's hard to explain, but the linears have an electronic board, and then they have a bolt-on mechanical section that's got the motor, the gears, and the slidey linear part. The piece that goes back and forth, yeah. And the slidey linear part was able to be unbolted and bolted back on with these extremely small screws and everything. And then I had to re-solder the motor wires. It's actually—I've never taken one of those apart.

[01:18:30] Ron: There's a fair amount of decent engineering in those little linear servos. I was impressed.

[unknown speaker 01:18:34] Really?

[unknown speaker 01:18:34] UNKNOWN: Yeah.

[unknown speaker 01:18:35] Nice.

[01:18:37] Ron: Not a big deal, but it works really well now. And since I decided I'm this far into it, I saw that they had a replacement tail section for it, which was broken on this one and repaired with—well, I'm not going to say poorly repaired, but not to my standards. Not optimal repair. Oh, yeah. So I went in and just ordered a new tail for it. Fifteen bucks.

[unknown speaker 01:19:04] Nice. No big deal.

[01:19:05] Ron: So it'll be like a brand-new airplane here in a couple days when that tail section comes in. Waiting on aiming. Come on. Come on. Let's go. Nice. I got a four-day weekend coming, so hopefully it gets here before then.

[unknown speaker 01:19:17] Nice. I don't. But anyway.

[01:19:19] Ron: So, yeah. Short of—

[unknown speaker 01:19:21] We both do.

[01:19:23] Ron: Maybe. Maybe not. Short of Reddy's wing falling on top of my F-16, it wasn't going to be that bad of a deal, but—

[unknown speaker 01:19:29] But still, it's not going to be warm enough to fly.

[01:19:31] Ron: It took a meat-flavored it, though. It didn't land on it flat. It landed on it edge-wise. Oh.

[unknown speaker 01:19:37] That sucks. Well, good. You need more to do, right?

[01:19:41] Ron: Yeah, like I need more projects. I'm already turning away work. I've got a truck that I'm supposed to have, so we'll get that next week.

[unknown speaker 01:19:50] Good deal. Anything else, gentlemen? I'm done.

[01:19:54] Ron: I think I'm done.

[unknown speaker 01:19:55] I'm done, too. Well, in that case, thank you, everybody, for listening. Don't forget to enter the contest. Don't forget to enter the contest and go buy an ElectroStreak. Yes. RCPlaneLab.com. Click stuff up top.

[01:20:06] Ron: Anyway, until next time, I'm Ron.

[unknown speaker 01:20:09] I'm Dave. And I'm Daniel.

[01:20:12] Ron: Good night. Good night.

[unknown speaker 01:20:15] We hope you enjoyed this episode of the RC Plane 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.