Flying SoCal

Pylon Racing at the Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys June 8-10!

Robert Wright — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:16:33 +0000

For more information about the Q40/Q500 Western Championship Series event please contact Travis Flynn at (818) 843-4107 or at flynnracer@aol.com

All Electric Fun Fly at the Apollo XI Airfield 4/29/2012

Robert Wright — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:37:50 +0000

I have been taking a break lately from flying due to the fact that I crashed 4 planes in 4 weeks about 6 or 7 months back. I had a lot of friends call me and say you have to make the next electric meet, there is going to be a lot of cool events going on, so I figured I would check it out. It was a little overcast in the morning but it got very nice by the mid day! Tony Naccarato was running the event and it had a really good turn out! The best part of the day was all the pilots that brought their B17 Flying Fortress models to the field for a group fly event. Seeing all the B17's taxi out was a pretty cool site and the fact that they were all electric made it possible. Lets see you get that many Nitro motors running at one time LOL! I think there was 10 B17s in attendemce for a grand total of 40 motors! The next event was the giant scale 3D Combat model event that went over like a lead balloon due to model wing flexing problems LOL. The traditional F22 Raptor Combat flight had a bunch of entries. There was too many planes to count! Yet the carnage was kept to a minimum. I can't figure out why you can have that many planes in the air and rarely see a hit and then on the other hand have clear skies and 2 planes flying the pattern and have them hit each other almost every weekend, kinda funny actually! I shot videos of the main events and I am posting them below with some pictures.

A very decent turn out at the Event and quite a few different airplanes!
There was a total of 10 B17 aircraft at the event and it was really cool to see them all fly!
Left to right, John Peters, Myself and Dave Dawson
Dave Dawson working on his Gee Bee with a Pratt-Whittney sound system.
The winner of the F22 Combat event and the first person to receive the New Black Sheep Squadron ACE T-shirt!

Here are a few videos of the events!

The B17's Taxi out to the Runway!

The B17's take of and fly around the field. There was a total of 10 in the air at once!

Combat Fail!

Dave Dawson with his Gee Bee with electric Pratt-Whittney sound system!

F22 Combat!

Thank You for taking the time to check out my Post,
Robert

October 23, 2011 All Electric Fun Fly Event at the Sepulveda Basin!

flyingsocal — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:16:21 +0000

It was a nice day to go flying today in So Cal! The weather was warm but not too hot and the All Electric Fun Fly Event at the Apollo XI airfield at the Sepulveda basin was packed with Flyers and event onlookers! I arrived a little on the late side at around 10am and the parking lot was packed with cars. I was lucky to even find a place to park! I walked around talking to a lot of the pilots and people just checking out the event and everyone was having a great time. I even spent a few minutes talking to the event's organizer Tony Naccarato and he was extremely pleased with the events turn out. The day started with open event flying and at mid day the F-22 Combat event started. There were a lot of pilots competing in the combat event! I filmed a couple of videos of some of the combat flights. It got pretty crazy at several points during the event. After the combat was over they set up a pair of pylons for a T-28 race that was scheduled for the Fun Fly. It was really cool seeing how many pilots they could get going around those pylons at the same time and also the age and skill of some of the younger pilots! I wish I could fly as well as some of these kids, it is pretty amazing! I filmed a few videos of the T-28 races as well. Another thing I did notice during the day today was the major advances in the quality of the newer electic power systems. I am a Nitro flyer guy from way back and I have to say I am seeing a lot more Nitro pilots making the switch to electric. I saw several large planes that had top notch power systems installed in them and my understanding is with the way the price is coming down on the electronic gear it is going to be real hard for the Nitro guys not to make the switch, JMO. I would say right now the price for the bigger models is getting pretty close to even with the Nitro models if you take into consideration the price of fuel and nitro clean up supplies not to mention all the hassle of having to wipe the models down after flying. All in all I had a great time and it is my feeling that it was a day well spent!

The event sign up table and look at all those fabulous Raffle prizes!
We had a very wide variety of planes at the event
A very well done electric ducted fan F-86 Sabre
One of the Fastest Electric ducted fan models at the event
Standing room only in some areas!
A couple of the guys brought these really detailed and expensive RC Tanks. They can actually tell when the have shot each other!
IMO One of the best models of the day! A twin electric ducted fan ME-262, WOW!

Here are some videos!

Electric F-22 Combat

T-28 Pylon Racing

Thanx for checking out my Post!
Robert Wright

11th Annual Hi Johnson Memorial Control Line Contest

Robert Wright — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:20:54 +0000

It was another Beautiful day in the Van Nuys Basin at the Apollo XI Airfield for the 11th Annual Hi Johnson Memorial Control Line Contest. It was a great turn out and slightly hotter then I expected it to be LOL. After signing up for the .15 Carrier event I spent some time on the stunt circles talking to some of the pilots and friends. Unfortunately I could only make it for the Sunday event but I will definitely be posting the results for both days once they are made available. I made my way over to the carrier circle to set up my model and talk to the other pilots before the events started. After I put in my flights I made my rounds and took some pictures. All in All I had a great time!

Stunt planes lined up and ready to compete!
Setting up for the Carrier Contest
Eric Conley, Burt Brokaw and Ron Duly getting ready for Eric's first Profile .36 Carrier flight
Best way to stay out of the heat is to stick to the shade
Kevin Kusik lining up a new model for some test flying
Tony Naccarato putting in one of his Profile .15 Carrier flights
Moving a stunt ship off the circle after a stunt flight
Eric, Burt and Myself holding the cups given as trophies this year

World Models Zero Fighter EP ARF Review

Robert Wright — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:09:53 +0000

I received the World Models electric powered Zero as a Christmas gift last year (Thanx Mom and Dad! ) The biggest selling point for this model is the fact that it is a scale looking Zero and the fact that it has retracts. I had seen the model at the local hobby shop several times and opened the box then to check it out. I was pretty impressed with the way the model looked and stated to my father who was standing right next to me at the time how great it would be to own this model! I believe the Zero at the time was running around $130 at the stores I saw it in.

Construction:

When I started taking the model out of the box all the parts were wrapped in plastic and all the covering seemed to be pretty nice and didn't require any tightening. The instructions for the model were pretty decent and easy to follow. The model will require a Y and two 6 inch extension, 4 standard micro servos and a high torque MG micro servo for the retracts. I tried a standard servo for the gear at first and it didn't take long for the gear to wreck that one, so I switched to a better servo. I bought a 30 amp ESC and used the stock motor that came with the ARF. I always try not to change the design on a build unless I have to but I was extremely tempted to on the elevator for this model. After installing the push rods for the elevator, I noticed that the movement of the 2 linked rods together that move the left and right elevator flight surfaces was very tight and I was concerned that it might even lock the servo after a bit of use. I went ahead and sanded the rods smooth and used graphite on them to enhance their movement. The graphite seemed to do the trick and made me worry a little less. The model took a little while to assemble. Setting up and adjusting the retracts is where I spent most of my time on this build.

First Flight:

The finished model was pretty lite but it took a lot of lead in the nose to get the model to CG correctly. I personally would rather increase the engine size instead of installing dead weight but I wanted to fly the model so it would have too do for the time being. The model had good flight characteristics and performed pretty well on the first flight! I do feel however that the model is slightly under powered. This will give me an excuse to add a bigger motor and remove some of that lead. Also installing and removing the wing after every flight is a pain! Although I hear that World Models has now fixed this problem by installing a battery hatch on the newer versions. The wheel / rod covers look great when first applied but after using CA to put them on, they get pretty brittle. After a few sketchy landings, I now wish I hadn't put them on. They are all chipped and broken up. Speaking of crappy landings, this airframe is built pretty light and will not stand up to heavy or hard landings. If you are a beginning pilot you might want to steer clear of this one for a while til you get several hours of stick time. It doesn't take much to break this model. My next project on my zero is retract support repair LOL.

Specifications:

Wingspan: 39.5 in (1000 mm)
Flying Weight: 27 oz (760 g)
Fuselage Length: 32 in (820 mm)
Wing Area: 264 sq in (17 sq dm)
Requires: 5-channel radio

Thanx for taking the time to read my review

Robert

Assembly time: 10 hrs (*1)

Kit Difficulty (1-5) 3 (*1)

Kit Quality (1-5) 4 (*2)

(*1)This represents the amount of difficulty and time I spent building this model and in no way reflects how long it will take for someone else to complete the task. These factors will depend on your individual skill in modeling.

(*2) Every Kit or ARF is different and this rating in no way reflects this product as a whole. This rating is just my experience with the individual product I dealt with.

Great Planes ElectriFly Fokker D.VII ARF Review

Robert Wright — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 03:02:47 +0000

The Great Planes Fokker D.VII ElectriFly ARF has been out a few years now but it still seems to be a pretty popular model. I bought The D.VII and my father bought the Great Planes SE.5. If I remember rightly, I paid just over a hundred dollars for the model when I bought it but I think the price has come down a little on it now.

Construction:

When I got the model home and opened the box as usual with Great planes kits the model was packaged very well with each individual part covered in plastic. The model is a balsa wood frame contruction. There was only a few areas on the airframe where the Monokote had slacked a little but for the most part it was pretty pristine. I hit those areas with a heat gun to tighten up the loose spots and got to work gluing the model. Be very careful when using the heat gun on this model. The Monokote overlapping is very tight and if you heat it up too much the corners or edges could lift and create gaps in the covering. I heated it up a little too much on the elevator and shrunk one of the black stripes down a little in one spot. The instructions for the model were written extremely well and were very easy to follow. It was a fairly simple build that required installing all the CA hinges on the flight surfaces, the rudder and elevator, setting up the wing supports and installing the motor, landing gear and servos. You will need 4 micro servos, a Y and a 6 inch extension. I bought the recommended RimFire 400 motor and 18 amp ESC. This is a really cool looking model but I had a problem with a WWI Biplane having a gloss covering on it so I went ahead and bought some Testors mat water based spray paint and covered the entire model in it. I used small black fuel tube for the cockpit edge and and painted the engine in on the battery lid and what WWI Biplane would be complete without a scarf for the pilot! The model looked killer when done and pretty darn scale!

First Flight:

This was my first experience with a Biplane and a tail dragger style model. If you haven't flown one they are a very different style of flying as I soon found out. The take off needs to be very short and the landings can be a little scary due to the short wheel base. If you are looking for a sport model this will most likely not be your cup of tea. The D.VII is a very scale flying airplane that has a pretty slow roll rate and typical Biplane take off and landing characteristics. Don't get me wrong, the plane flies very well but it just wasn't my style of flying. If you do want a WWI Biplane but would like one that is a little more maneuverable you might want to consider the Great Planes SE.5 like my father bought. It has both upper and lower ailerons which gives it a much better roll rate. If you are looking for a Biplane that looks killer and has typical WWI fighter characteristics, this is the plane for you!

Specifications:

Wingspan: 36 in (914 mm)
Wing Area: 360 in² (23.2 dm²)
Weight: 25.7 oz (730 g)
Wing Loading: 10 oz/ft² (30 g/dm²)
Length: Length: 27 in (685 mm)
Requires: 4-channel radio w/4 Futaba® S3107 micro servos, ElectriFly RimFire™ 28-30-950 kV brushless motor, ElectriFly Silver Series SS-25 brushless ESC, ElectriFly 1250mAh LiPo battery, LiPo-compatible charger

Thanx for taking the time to read my review

Robert

Assembly time: 6 hrs (*1)

Kit Difficulty (1-5) 2 (*1)

Kit Quality (1-5) 4 (*2)

(*2) Every Kit or ARF is different and this rating in no way reflects this product as a whole. This rating is just my experience with the individual product I dealt with.

Valley Flyers and Circle Burners – Swap Meet & Teach and Fly, July 10th 2011

Robert Wright — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 03:58:55 +0000

I arrived at the Apollo XI airfield at the Sepulveda Basin at a time that I thought was early, but boy was I in for a big surprise! The regular parking area was completely full at 8 AM! I talked to several of the locals who were already on-site when I got there, and they told me that the place started to fill up at around 7 AM. I couldn't believe it! I have been to several of the swap meets at this field and usually there is a fair amount of people, but I have never seen this many! Everyone is out looking for bargains! The Control line events weren't suppose to start for another hour, so I figured I would browse through some of the tables of stuff people were trying to sell. There were several tables of really good deals but I couldn't find any of the items I was looking for. I also noticed a few tables that had stuff priced like the sellers wanted to take the stuff back home with them LOL. Maybe the wife is trying to clear some space in their garage 9 AM rolled around so I moved over to the control line circles to see if the flying had started over there yet. The event organizers John Patwell and Bill Barber had already setup the tent area and were getting ready to start putting student pilots in the air. Seasoned Veteran control line flyer Tony Naccarato was nice enough to volunteer his Sunday to help out the student pilots with their first flights by guiding them in the circle. Sometimes first time control line flyers can get a little dizzy in the circle. Having an experienced Co-pilot in the circle too can save them from having any new pilot mishaps. All in all the Swap Meet & Teach and Fly was a huge success!

Swap Meet turnout was phenomenal!
Hundreds of hobbyists turned up looking for a good deal or maybe to unload a little garage clutter.
As usual the Valley Flyers were setup to feed the masses with great food and cold drinks
The Circle Burners prepping for the Teach and Fly Event.
The First Student Pilot of the day!
Trainer planes lined up and ready to go!

Veteran flyer Tony Naccarato helping Sean Wright get back in the control line groove, It's been a while since Sean has flown.

New Parkzone Stryker Review!

Robert Wright — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:43:25 +0000

As stated by Parkzone this is the completely reengineered F-27Q Stryker. Most of the stores I have seen it in are selling it for around $185. I never flew the orginal Stryker but was told by several people that have that the original was a decent model but nothing to write home about. The new and improved Stryker however is! This is a much better looking and flying model and out of the box this thing does 100+ mph STOCK! It now has fully functioning rudders that allow for more advanced maneuvers. It also has a redesigned airfoil and more powerful 480 Brushless Outrunner motor for improved aerodynamics and speed. A more rigid airframe with fiberglass reinforcement which reduces wing flex and increases precision and speed with a removable top hatch that provides convenient access to internal electronic components. Me and my friend Gus both agree that this is a great flying fast model that took almost no time to put in the air. All he had to do is install a reciever, a LiPo battery and this puppy was ready to GO!

Specifications

Wingspan: 37.1 in (943mm)
Overall Length: 24.1 in (612mm)
Flying Weight: 30 oz (855g)
Motor Size: 480 size Brushless Outrunner 2200 Kv
Radio: 4 channel radio system minimum
Servos: Four (4) DSV130M digital metal geared servos
Trim Scheme Colors: White with black, yellow, red and blue
CG (center of gravity): 5.5 inches (140mm) forward from the firewall on fuselage
Prop Size: 6" x 6"
Speed Control : 40A (installed)
Recommended Battery: 11.1V 3S 2200mAh 25C LiPo Battery
Control Throw (Ailerons): Low rate: 17mm, 10% expo; High rate: 35-40mm, 50% expo
Control Throw (Elevator): Low rate: 13mm, 5% expo; High rate: 35-40mm, 50% expo
Control Throw (Rudder): 35-40mm, 5% expo for both Low and High rates
Approx. Flying Duration: 8-12 minutes
Experience Level: Intermediate

Thanx for taking the time to read this review,

Robert Wright

Assembly time: 30 min (*1)

Kit Difficulty (1-5) 1 (*1)

Kit Quality (1-5) 4 (*2)

(*2) Every Kit or ARF is different and this rating in no way reflects this product as a whole. This rating is just my experience with the individual product I dealt with .

Speedo Pro Mark II 1.2M Thermo Glider Review!

Robert Wright — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:58:40 +0000

The Speedo Pro Mark II Thermo Glider is the advanced version of the R Hobbies Speedie Glider. The model price was just under $100. This is my first experience with a R Hobbies product and I am pretty impressed with the quality of the model so far. The ARF quality was very good and all the parts came packaged nicely. Each individual part came wrapped in plastic. Be sure to pick up 3 micro servos for the build. You will also need two 6 inch servo extentions and a "Y" to link the aileron servos. I am pretty bummed the model we received didn't come with any instructions or user manual. I went to R Hobbies website and downloaded the user manual for the Speedo ARF, but a) the images did not seem to be the same model, and b) they left MUCH to be desired. Now I am starting to think this is why they didn't include them in the kit LOL. For an experienced builder this model shouldn't take more then 3 or 4 hours to put together, yet I feel that the novice builder might be completely overwhelmed with the lack of any detailed instructions in the current user manual. Due to the lacklustre instructions, I am giving the model a build level difficulty of 3 instead of a 2. My only complaint about the model build is the way they setup the elevator. The kit doesn't include a servo pushrod connector and all the ones I could find hit the canopy when installed, so I flipped the connector in the servo control arm so it is pointed down to clear and got rid of the z bend at the tail and added another push rod connector to provide adjustment. Also the elevator control horn included doesn't give much room for control surface movement if you put it in the position they suggest. I made a couple of very minor changes to their setup but if you follow their instructions you should still be ok providing you can find a smaller pushrod connector then the one I used. It was the smallest available at my local hobby store and I didn't want to spend the gas checking them all to find a smaller one. The rest of the build went pretty much without a problem. Went to Grass Mountain and took The speedo for a test flight and it is really a great performer. This model is really a great deal providing you are looking for a light wind flyer.

Thanx for taking the time to read this review,

Robert Wright

Assembly time: 4 hrs (*1)

Kit Difficulty (1-5) 3 (*1)

Kit Quality (1-5) 4 (*2)

(*2) Every Kit or ARF is different and this rating in no way reflects this product as a whole. This rating is just my experience with the individual product I dealt with.

Got Events?

Robert Wright — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:59:54 +0000

Do you have an upcoming club event you want covered on this website? Let us know! Unfortunatly I can't possibly browse every club's event calenders from day to day and post all the local SoCal model happenings on this site. So it would be great if you folks could help me out here . If you send me your Club's open events about a month before they happen, I will do my best to post it here on the main front page of the website. Please don't send your clubs calendar for the year LOL. I update this site on a daily to weekly basis and it will be impossible for me to sort through all the different Clubs yearly happenings. Also If you have an event coming up soon you can always use the FlyingSoCal.com's forum to post it for all to see. I will also be browsing there looking for cool stuff to put on the front page of the site.

Open event means any activity that is open to the general public. Sorry we don't cover private club events.

FlyingSoCal.com Editor

Robert Wright

flyingsocal@gmail.com