Radio Control Blog
Actually my plane was in Drew’s vlog earlier this summer. If you don’t subscribe to his channel on YouTube, you should.
He was at Flite Fest East and flew his quad in the one combat session I dared enter. My plane is a white FT Flyer with blue stripes on the leading edge of the wing, along with American flags on the wings and vertical stabilizer 🇺🇸 It was also sporting a streamer that day 🎉
I’ve tried adding an upgraded battery to my son’s Scout CX in the past, but it’s designed to only accept the tiny 70mAh batteries it comes with. After upgrading my Inductrix to a larger power connecter, I had two donor batteries to experiment with… So I took my old Inductrix battery lead and made a lead extension.
I was finally able to get to Flite Fest in Ohio near Canton. It’s a 12-hour drive from home in Minnesota. To split up the time on the way out, we took the SS Badger across Lake Michigan. They have an eastbound red-eye option that leaves at 1:30AM (Central) and arrives 4 hours later at 6:30AM (Eastern). Even though it makes the trip technically longer, the downtime is much appreciated.
In hindsight, I wish I had arrived at the departure dock earlier. They encourage you to arrive an hour before departure. Ideally I would have arrived before midnight so I could be asleep by then. We got there around 12:45AM – but I was just glad to have the opportunity to rest. Getting a stateroom for the red-eye is a must:
I got super-cheap HK-T6A V2 6-channel radio for my first model airplane. It’s great because it’s programmable using a computer and a specialized USB cable. Using the USB cable, you can also play simulators such as FMS and RC Desk Pilot (among others). Did I also mention it’s dirt cheap?!?
After I built another plane and also purchased a small multi-rotor, I quickly realized the need for a transmitter that could handle multiple models. The Turnigy 9x fit the bill. I kept my old HK-T6A for using on the simulator and now my son will use it to fly his FT Flyer.
The 9x has a trainer switch and a trainer port, so I wondered if I could buddy-box these two radios. There’s plenty of information out there regarding modifications to buddy box two HK-T6As, but using the 9x as the master and the T6A as the slave seems like it would only require a specialized cable with no modification to either radio.
After buying a secondhand TC5 chassis for VTA racing, I had a leftover HPI RS4. Rather than letting it collect dust, I asked Jules if he’d like to invite his cousin Reese to go racing with us, of course the answer was yes. We had an extra unpainted Mini Cooper body and I was able to load up the unused chassis with super-cheap electronics like a silver-can motor for $4 and brushed ESC for $10.
This is a rule we use in life. You have to learn to crawl (or scoot), then walk, then run. I’ve treated my (re)entry into R/C racing the same way.
There is an alternative way to enter on-road R/C racing than Vintage Trans-Am (which I’ll talk about below) which is slower, but still a ton of fun. It is the Tamiya Mini class.
