Listing Details
| ID: | 1569 |
| Title: | Zero RC |
| URL: | http://www.zerorc.com/ |
| Category: | Recreation: Hobbies |
| Description: | Provides the latest news and information about radio controlled cars, boats, planes, helicopters, and everything else related. |
| NEAT Fair 2009 Report - Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:41:21 -0500 |
The 10th annualNEAT Fairtook place September 18th-20th, 2009 in the Catskill Mountains of New York. More than 300 registered pilots attended this all-electric show from all over. Updated 9/27/09:Al Ramsdell fromMaine Aerial Photography Servicewas kind enough to let me post these three shots of the Peaceful Valley Campgrounds. The last two are taken from his Swift 16 aerial photography rig, which he hadwayup there. Nice flying and shooting Al!  The fog burns off on Sunday morning.  An overview of the show.  From left to right: vendor row, pilots' canopies, and the flight line. As always, the show is run by theSilent Electric Flyers of Long Island, who come up a week in advance to set up. Many thanks for their hard work, and especially to Tom Hunt for putting on the show.  Nice quad sea plane.  An unusual high wing model with working doors.  An assortment of planes including two Ellipsticks.  A dual-body Radian FPV machine.  A close-up of the camera and video transmitter.  Two beautiful Gee Bees.  Towing the NEAT Fair banner.  Not all landings are perfect.  An assortment of smaller models. Although NEAT is primarily a fixed-wing show, there was a smaller helicopter presence who enjoyed the 2.4 GHz-only heli stations. Most pilots were 3D flyers, but we had a couple of scale models, and even one fixed-pitch Corona. At one point I watchedKyle Stacydo a warm-up flight with his Furion, which was so fast I couldn't photograph it. His reaction time is just amazing.  A scale Eurocopter with T-Rex 600E mechanics.  Another shot in the air.  Several full-scale planes came and went during the weekend.  My friend Gary from Bulgaria with his Logo 400.  Which he knows how to toss around.  Unusual heli angle.     Me and the Swift 16.  A test flight with the stock 520 mm woodies.  Much better with the 550 mm fiberglass blades. The noon demos pack a lot into an hour and a half, showing off many styles of flying and a wide range of models. Unlike other shows, most pilots do not fly to music at NEAT, which allows the crowd to hear the planes in action.  Dan Landis and his Extreme Flight Yak.  Sitting pretty in a hover.  Showing off for the crowd.  A nice pattern plane from the noon demos.  An ME-163 Komet with fall-away landing gear.  The Komet in the air.     Are you man enough to fly a pink airplane?  Part of the crowd at the noon demos.  One of a pair of night fighters. Gary Graf had an impressive first-person-video rig of his own design. He used a 72 MHz transmitter with a 900 MHz video downlink. His on-screen display provided heading, altitude, pack voltage, and more. I ran his video recorder as his flying buddy helped with navigation and held a second transmitter connected by a buddy box cord, as required by the AMA. Gary won best technical achievement at the show for his efforts.  Gary's home-made FPV setup.  Launching the FPV Maxi Swift.  Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! Updated:Check out a video from Gary's Maxi Swift: The NEAT Fair is also a great place to see some upcoming products up close, and in the air. There were more than 30 vendors present at the show, and many pilots had items to sell in their tents as well. There's nothing like getting face-to-face time with the designer of your plane, and NEAT brings out a number of smaller kit and ARF manufacturers.  The Hobby Lobby 12 foot Telemaster ARF (yes, it's an ARF).  Kids running out for the candy drop.  The Xero Gear booth (it was packed at night).  Shawn and the surprisingly fast Merlin.  The new folding Xeno wing.  The Funcopter, which didn't get to fly this time.  A new LiPo charger from Dualsky.  The Hobby Lobby F-35 jet.  The new Hobby Lobby A-10 with oversized fans.  Wow.  Even more wow.  The upcoming high voltage versions of the Castle Creations ICE ESCs.  A great collection of auto-gyros.  What a streamlined pusher jet.  A Gee Bee and a Carden Yak. The NEAT Fair is a Northeast U.S. tradition, and I'm glad to see it still going strong in its tenth year. For even more coverage of the event, check outPaul's photos for RCGroups, and the rest of theNEAT Fair 2009 forum. read more » |
| IRCHA 2009 Report - Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:20:33 -0500 |
The annualIRCHA Jamboreeis the largest gathering of RC helicopter pilots in the world. This year was the 20th anniversary of the event, held as usual at the AMA National Flying Site in Muncie, Indiana. Updated August 22nd:Check out our HD video coverage of the show: This year had the highest attendance in the show's history. With 951 registered pilots as of the Saturday night raffle, I believe IRCHA 2009 takes the record as the largest radio control event of any kind.  Early morning flying.  Setting up tents Friday morning.  The flight line and the tents seem to go on forever.  A view from the other end.  The AMA headquarters when you enter the property.  The vendors on the west end. The main flying site had 10 pilot stations, each set up for a 200 foot wide box. These were in continuous use during Friday and Saturday, with a few helis waiting in line behind the current pilot. Sunday is the best time to fly, as most people are packing up or have left already. There was also a second site for beginners and hover practice, with a shuttle running between them.  One of several turbines at the event.  Mmm, scale.  And more scale.  Nice scale tailblades.  No tail rotor necessary.  Nice MedEvac colors.  One seriously large chopper.  A collection of vintage helis.  Another view. The show is a great chance to meet people from the forums and to make new friends. Everyone was friendly and willing to lend each other tools, electric power, or whatever help was needed. Spare parts were easy to find for most models for the inevitable crashes.  Is that a web cam on the side?  Tossing out t-shirts and goodies at the pilots' meeting.  A range of Bergen aerial photography ships.  A small fraction of the vendor tents.  Matching T-Rex canopies. IRCHA is also a big show for vendors, who typically announce new products and show previews of what's to come. Curtis Youngblood had a prototype of the Total G flybarless system. This tiny, all-in-one unit contains a three axis gyroscope and a governor. It also accepts up to three Spektrum satellite receivers, eliminating the need for a main receiver. Interestingly, the governor can also be used on electric helis, by mounting the magnet and sensor on the main gear as usual. The price and shipping date were not yet announced.  Front to back: Rave 450, Rave 90, Henseleit Rigid.  Close-up of the electric Rave 90 prototype.  The Henseleit Rigid.  Curtis Youngblood's custom transmitter.  A prototype of the Solid G three axis gyro/governor/receiver.  A sweet looking FAI fuselage. Continuing the flybarless trend, the Mikado Mini VBar and the new Rondo unit were on display. All three units can be programmed in the field with a small, hand-held LCD controller (each company sells a proprietary unit). I heard that Skookum is working on a three axis unit as well but didn't get to see it in person. Look for prices to begin dropping as the competition increases. Castle Creations was showing the new BEC Pro and ICE speed controllers, all of which are now shipping. They also had prototypes of the upcoming 160 and 200 amp ICE ESCs on display. Steve Neu, whose motors are distributed by Castle, is now moving into chargers. He was showing the NeuEnergy X10, a 10S LiPo charger capable of 300 watts, with a built-in balancer. There was also an X6+ model, for 6S LiPo with balancing and an internal AC power supply.  Steve Neu motors come in all shapes and sizes, and are made to order.  The new Castle CC BEC Pro.  A high amperage prototype Castle ESC.  The new Phoenix ICE 100 ESC.  The complete Phoenix ICE line.  A new 10S LiPo charger from Steve Neu.  A new 6S Steve Neu charger with a built-in AC power supply.  The Aurora 90 electric and prizes on the raffle table.  The Mikado team works out a Logo. Futaba unveiled a new transmitter at IRCHA, the 8FG. It's an integrated 2.4 GHz unit featuring 8 channels and a backlit screen. The most distinctive feature is a new control wheel reminiscent of an iPod, with no moving parts. It acts as five different buttons if you tap it, and as a wheel by sliding your finger in a circle. The middle button is confusingly named "RTN", as it acts as an Enter button, but other than that navigation was easy. The case styling is noticeably more modern than other radios in the line, and there are no visible screws on the front panel, indicating a more sophisticated industrial design. Lastly, the 8FG accepts an SD memory card for additional model memories, and more importantly, the possibility of user firmware updates. The radio will ship with an eight channel receiver in the next month or so.  The new Futaba 8FG transmitter.  A top view of the switches.  The new Futaba R6106 2.4 GHz receiver.  The Futaba FASST receiver line.  A couple of mean looking Mikado canopies.  A prototype of Mikado's Mini VBar.  Not a flybar in sight at the Mikado booth.  A prototype of the Jive 120+HV ESC.  Some tandem helis from Hirobo. Perhaps even bigger news was the introduction (finally!) of an affordable 6 channel 2.4 GHz receiver with standard-size servo connectors. The Futaba R6106 will be available in two versions. The park flyer version has a short stub antenna like the older R616FFM unit. The R6106RFC is being touted as a mid range receiver, and has one long antenna, similar to the R617FS. Futaba says the mid range unit is good to 1500 feet, and is fine in helicopters. Both flavors of the R6106 also contain a second internal antenna, and will be available for around $60 USD.  Some pair practice flights.  Looks like an Agusta.  A range of scale Hirobo helis.  A very slippery-looking FAI fuselage.  More Hirobo scale helis.  The all-in-one Rondo flybarless unit.  The widow of IRCHA's founder was given a plaque celebrating the 20th anniversary of the event.  The pilots waiting for the raffle to begin.  Anybody want a free mCX battery? IRCHA is full of other things to do besides flying and looking at new products. Manufacturers set up demo flights at center stage on Friday and Saturday, as seminars were held under the tents. A poker tournament, pilot raffle, autorotation contest, and a drag racing contest kept things interesting. The AMA also has a museum on site.          My personal favorite was the night flying competition held Saturday night, with nine contestants and a top prize of $500. I believe these were all sponsored pilots, but they were only announced by number so the crowd couldn't play favorites. They appeared to hold nothing back from their daytime routines, some doing piro-flips one foot off the ground (which did result in a couple crashes).   A nice auto to finish off the flight.         Flying very low...  Tossing the glow stick after crashing...  And doing the walk of shame back to the pits. The most impressive routine was performed by two Mikado pilots who flew simultaneously with their Logos, doing very close high speed passes. At one point they climbed to several hundred feet and both helis went dark together, causing the crowd to gasp. The lights came back on, cycling through colors and blinking in perfect synchronization. I found out later they used a third transmitter and a second receiver on each heli for the lights. They made it to the final round but sadly crashed in their second flight. Nick Maxwell was the eventual winner, and fireworks followed the competition.  This duet was the highlight of the night.     IRCHA is really something to experience. It was hot, and far, and tiring, but completely worth it. Consider the event a pilgrimage for all helicopter pilots to make at least once. Just don't forget your sunscreen. read more » |
| Helis Over Delaware 2009 Report - Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:12:48 -0500 |
Helis Over Delawareis an annual, three day event put on by the Delaware RC Club. It features all sizes of machine from micro (T-Rex 250) up to enormous (turbine-powered). Check out our exclusive,HDhighlight footage of the flying on Saturday (make sure to watch it fullscreen): Here are a few photos on the ground:  One view of the flightline.  The other end, taken from the same spot.  Attaching the ball-drop mechanism to a large gasser.  The ball-drop mechanism, activated by a second transmitter.  A Logo 400.  A flybarless Logo 500.  An upgraded tail on the Logo 500.  A Logo 600.  The Mikado twins (Logo 500 and 600).  The two extremes of the Align product lineup.  Not exactly a park flyer.  The JetCat-powered turbine heli.  My Swift 16 looks tiny next to it.  A Thunder Power MD530.  An MD500 scale heli. In addition to lots of open flying, there was also a golf ball drop contest, an autorotation contest, and a balloon popping contest. Finally, there was a smackdown session on Saturday evening featuring the best pilots competing to wow the crowd. My friend Yohann Coppel has also postedthis huge gallery of flying shotsfrom Saturday. Overall the large helis dominated, with a mix of 50 and 90 size nitros, and a surprising number of gassers. There were roughly 115 registered pilots by the time of the raffle on Saturday evening. Prizes included a Solid G gyro, a Furion 450, and a grand prize of a T-Rex 700. The field was great and the whole event was well run. I'd recommend anyone in the area to make the drive next year. read more » |