Great weekend!

 

Finally a day with sunshine!

 

Last weekend was just great! The weather has been horrible the last month with cold winds, clouds and wet snow. But this Sunday we got a clear blue sky and some nice sunshine! And the best part was that there was absolutely no wind. I brought both my Blade 130x and a 700e DFC to the field. I started the day with some tests of the micro in which I just mounted an option motor.  I knew that the motor, a XP08, was a little better than the stock but the difference wasn´t as great as I had hoped for. A little bit more power and a lot more shakes and wag. I had to turn down the gains to the bottom for both ail and elev and tail. But after that it flew okay, a small heli like that can never fly as good as the bigger ones but it still got me laughing. Tons of fun for sure!

I managed to fly 8 packs with my Rex and it felt really good. For the first time in a long period I did not feel rusty or uncomfortable. I could just focus on my flying and the execution of the maneuvers. I tried some new stuff and tried to make my hardest tricks as good looking as possible. I still need to learn to flight tighter and make quicker transitions between maneuvers, but that will be my main focus when the season really starts. Next goal is to finish the first version of my music flight and practice that one in the simulator for a month. It will be better to do it now then later, because then I will be out flying and not be hyped to sit in front of the computer.



Blade 130X

 

Blade 130x - Tons of fun in a small package!

 

 

I recently got myself a Blade 130x. Just for the fun of it! I got a lot of Lynx upgrades for it so I can not say anything about how it performs with original parts. So, I just mounted all the metal bling and then the bind thingy with my old trusy DX7. I flew really well without any tweaks! I was suprised how well it handled right out of the box. But in the end of the maiden flight the whole chopper started to wobble. I landed and took the canopy off to quickly realize that one of the ailerion servo had bugged out. After some research on the forums I got the tips to clean the servo with alcohol. Simply done, and after that it worked fine. Today I did 4 flights just outside my doorstep and it was tons of fun! I crashed once but just put it back up on the skids and continued the flight. In stock form it it not really that powerfull so tonight I upgraded the motor and put an XP08 in to see if it gives the heli a bit more "umpf". I report back after my next flights. Maybe a exernal governor would be fun?

Nice day!

 

Nice day with some good flying!

Today was a really fun day of flying! The weather was quite warm so I could fly without using my transmitter mitt. I could really focus on the task of getting use to my 14sg. And today it clicked and I started to get the hang of it. And there where absolutely no wind which always is fun. I managed to pull off some new piro reversals and a few new tic toc combinations.  It is always fun going home from the field with a big smile and be confident thinking about the upcoming season and competions!

Lynx option parts!

Some shiny red stuff!

Today I got some parts from Lynx. And what is in the package? Actually some options parts for a Blade 130x. A few weekends ago I tried a 130x which belonged to a friend of mine and I was so stoked after the flight. It was super fun! It did not really fly that well and the piro comp was non existing, but still a blast! You could fly 3D without any strange behaviors but it required some extra focus to keep it a tight spot. I mainly fly 90 size helicopters and every time I go to the filed I aim to practice for competitions so for me flying is 100% serious nowadays. But a Blade 130x would be a perfect brake and nothing but a fun time. So I actually ordered one for myself. And since I am team pilot for Lynx I will of course use their hop ups, bling is king as we say! I will receive it the middle of next week so a short write-up about my impressions will be published on the blog shortly after.

Freezing cold!

 

Snow, snow and more snow!

 

The weather was really unpleasant this weekend! A few degrees minus, nasty wind blowing straight in your face and a cold wet moist made us freezing even before we even started out flights. But I still managed to pull off a few flights. It was mainly because I wanted to get to know the 14sg a little better. It still feels a bit strange but it is getting better and better every time I fly. We haven’t build anything more on the whiplash yet so no more pictures at this time. So, this week will be a week filled with hours practicing in the simulator. I have some nice and new moves coming up so I am eager for nice and warm weather. It can´t be that long now…

KDE Options!

 

KDE makes lots of upgrades for the Trex 700e. At the V1 and v2 some options where rather mandatory then optional to make the model fly okay. But the V3 is fine box stock. We did some mods to the one way bearing just because it is better to be safe than sorry. At the v1 I had the one way slipping at some points and the problem could be tracked to the sleeve inside the hub slipping due to a too small amount of Loctite from the factory. Taking it apart and put more Loctite to it is the easiest way, but we did a small mod and added some set screws to secure the sleeve. It works really well. And the v3 version of the Trex 700e it seems like Align learned their lessons and added a proper amount of Loctite. So there is nowadays no need for any mods. The only downside to the hub is that the aluminum tends to be a little soft. If your screws are fine you should not strip any threads, but once again better safe than sorry. KDE released their solution to this issue, even though you cannot really call it an issue, and I wanted to try their stainless steel hub just to find out how it worked. The mounting was truly a “drop in fit” with strong threads. I do think construction wise it is smarter with a solid hub in stainless steel then an aluminum one with a steel sleeve. Of course, Align produced it in the cheapest possible way and it seems to work for the most parts of pilots, so I definitely understand their choice.  I will continue to use this hub and will be reporting back after a couple of hundreds of flights.

 

More drama...

The drama continues as we speak. Scorpion is pissed of by an ad that was posted by Align regarding a motor swap program. Jeff Fasbinder, manager of Align USA, now confirmed that this was not an official offer by Align. It seems that is was a local shop in Taiwan running this campaign and posting it in the Align forums. Someone saw this and then google translate made it much more confusing. But the general Align bashing continues and now all haters are claming they are back peddling. It does not seem to come out anything good at this. The people supporting Scorpion are doing their best to bad mouth Align and the supporters of Align are doing nothing except continue to fly their products. And Scorpion has responded…

And all of you thinking this are the right move done by Scorpion, do you raise your children telling them that it is all fine to fight as long as the first punch was made by your rival?

Eastcoastheli!

 

 

I am a proud member of the swedish team Eastcoastheli. We are a bunch of guys who just loves to fly the snort out of our helicopters. I really like these dudes and they are always in a good mood and trying to motivate you to fly lower and harder. Since I always see the other members  names everywhere I tend to forget to promote us as a group.

 

We recently updated our website, Johan (Drh) is a great webdesigner and I think it turned out great!

 

Please come visit us and see all things we are up to! www.ech.se

Align - the scape goat of our hobby?

To me - this is quality combined with clever solutions!

Sometimes I feel that a lot of people in our business want to see Align as the company being at the bottom of the pecking order.  It is just like they want to find the scape goat of the hobby. Just as any other brand Align got some good designs and some bad. Some things are passing the quality control which shouldn´t, but that is something that happens to all brands. But Align always has to take the shitt. They released their DFC head and quickly addressed the problem with the bolts, and ever since it has been working flawless. But take a look at the forums. On page after page these self-claimed engineers are talking about the theoretical flaw in the design. I did not say anything to anyone before I tried it myself.  Now I got 300 trouble free flights with no boomstrikes, no wobble and no worn out parts. At the same time other brands with DFC heads offers a “new design” because some people had troubles with their original head. But who to blame? Once again, Align takes the shitt.

Sometimes the discussion about sizes becomes straight out ridiculous. Some say the Trex 700 is too small for being a real 700 size. Other is saying it is too heavy. Some says it needs tons of upgrades to be flown hard. Some say it is a flying brick. Come on, how could Align ever satisfy you? A heli with the size of the Logo Xxtreme, the weight of the TDR and capability to smack as a Goblin? Lots of folks seem to forget that all pilots doesn´t aiming to be the next 3D champ. A quality heli with affordable parts and good enough electronics might just be the perfect combination for the everyday flier. Not all need the most expensive top of the line products to have a great day at the field. But when it comes to a comparison between brands that aspect is many times forgotten. And it is just not only about what is good or bad. To me, one of the things I value the most is how well the parts hold up. During the summer I practice a lot and each and every machine goes through a couple of hundreds of flights. I tried many other brands and regarding this topics Align is for sure a top contender. What about bad quality? I have been a part of three Align builds the last year and all of them have been completely without issues. I could name a German brand I was flying a few years ago which constantly was breaking swashplates, craking tail sliders, slipping belts, twisting tailcases on the boom, easily breaking frames. Bu no, this is a brand which is rated in a different league then Align so it wouldn’t be fair, right?

One thing I tried to focus on the last years is to not bad mouthing other brands then the one I fly myself. Of course I fly the things I like and prefer. I also like to try new brands and products. Sometimes I find something I really like and sometimes it just wasn´t for me. That’s the natural way and even if it didn´t like it or it had shitt loads of problems I tried to have a neutral point of view. But this is not common. So many pilots can´t just be satisfied with their own preferred helis and feels in some way that they need to be picking on something else. And here is always where Aligns name comes in. Align is mass produced. It is nothing ordinary and innovative that changes the hobby. So therefore they become an easy target. Once again, Align takes the shitt.

The last big discussion is the program Align announced a few days ago. They give you a discount on their new 800mx motor if you trade your Scorpion 45xx motor. And the rage is all over the forums. How come? It is not like Scorpion is losing profit, the 45xx motor is already bought. The way I see this ad is that they are giving you an opportunity to try something you might not considered otherwise.

I have always taken the part of the bully’s side. If someone, or something, becomes an underdog I am there to support. Align is often eating more shitt then they deserve. So to all you keyboard warriors, keep on hating. I will just raise my middle fingers and grab another pack for my Rex and go out for other trouble free flight. Oohh, I just think my brick out performed your exclusive master piece….

Start of Whiplash build!

Today me and Mats started of building my new Whiplash 90e! We finished the FBL head and the complete tail and boom. I will come back later with a full report of the build and summarize my experiences.

My setup:

Whiplash 90E
MKS HBL 950 x 3 for cyclic
MKS HBL 980 x 1 for tail
TT GT-5.1
Edge 713se
KDE 700xf 495 kv motor
Gens Ace 5800 mah 45c packs
Kosmik 160A Esc

I guess this will be a really heavy setup. If it is to heavy I will switch to Jive 120, Scorpion 4525 Ultimate and just run my Gens Ace 5300 mah packs...