Some Updates

Hmm, given it is late I wont spend long but here is some stuff to bring readers up to speed.

I've bought myself a little hawk twister counter rotating heli. I wanted something I could fly inside and I don't have enough ability with the dragonfly yet to get close to that point. From nitrodude for $199.

Have had quite a few plays with it. I'm currently hovering above a card table (its helipad) wedged between a walking machine and fish tank. The space seems tight but no doubt a bit more talent would help.

Anyway, Paul at Nitro helped me out with a few adjustments this evening getting cyclic roll and pitch properly trimmed and she now approximately hovers at neutral control inputs. She keeps on yawing to the left (mostly - very occasionally to the right). Suggestions are that as the motor wear in a bit that might improve.

Okay, other bits of exciting news - depending on weather tomorrow I will be re-maidening my RV4. Pretty exciting. Even with badly bashed up balsa it is so often worth putting it to the side and coming back to it when the pain of the crash has passed.

Although the repairs are done I have some concerns about some of the wing forming stringers - also a little worried about the strength of the fuse over the wing given how many times I have repaired the stringers there. No snap rolls okay ozzie?

Now, the last bit of exciting news - tomorrow I pick up my new T-REX 450S fully built. Ground Dancer won it in an auction a few months ago, just before realising he didn't have room for another heli so he sent it my way at a good price.

So, several weeks ago I opened the T-REX box while at the PC, planning to thumb through the instructions (the box says 80% complete) figuring there wont be much to assembly... WRONG! The first page talks about joining individual nuts and bolts together to assemble the head, and it didn't look like it got better from there - so, I spoke to paul@nitro who arranged for their heli repair service to build my chopper - fantastic - expert assembly for a pretty good price.

Now, as for that 80% figure - the only way I can see they can defensibly say that is they are including mining, smelting and milling of the aluminium. In an industry full of exaggerations about completeness it stands out as an even more unrealistic claim than usual. Anyway - it's late - I'll try and keep the blog a bit more up to date.