Turnigy TGY-20A TGY-30A Manual of Speed Controller for Brushed Motor HK0001-SM005ENG-20130511

I will post the Manuals for all ESC and motors that I use.  I didn't find this one online.  I tried saving as a PDF but it saved in the wrong direction.  Thus, it's a JPG file.

Read this manual carefully. It looks like there are two jumpers you will need to set to use the speed controller.   One for brake and one for battery type.

I assume no responsibility with what you do with this information.  If you crash your plane/drone or burn up your ESC because you plugged it into your LiPo battery without your motor, its not my problem.


This manual  is for a "Brushed Motor."  If your motor has three wire and you're trying to figure out how to get these two wires hooked up to it, you have the wrong speed controller.   Brushed motors have two two connections.  Brushless "outrunner" motors have three wire connections.  The bad news is you'll need the right speed controller. The good news is that you didn't burn up your motor figuring that out.

One last thing, check your motor carefully for the appropriate amperage required for your speed controller.  While you're at it, check it out for the correct propeller size for the motor.

 

The Zagi Teardown-Project #1

I already talked about pleasing the Zagi gods.  To summarize, this was a plane that spent more time crashing into the ground nose first than flying.   It's time I got to work on the restoration project.  One of the largest challenges is removing tape from foam with an extra layer of 3M 77 adhesive.  And to top it off, throw in some mono-filament  strapping tape.  How do you get the tape off the plane without destroying it?

Forget about it.

Seriously, that's the answer.  Let it sit for years and don't touch it. What will happen over time is the adhesives will get old and fail. I mentioned before that packaging tape, especially the acrylic adhesive packaging tape (colored tapes) have the mildest adhesive of them all.   Over time it gave out.  It's a process called "delamination."  





About 90% of the tape came off without a fight. There were a few spots that required 'gentle persuasion.'  It took about 45 minutes to get the plane down to its foam core.






The photo above shows the build of the Zagi.  The foam at top looks different than the foam beneath the seam.  The leading edge is made of EPP foam and the rest of the wing is good old fashion styrofoam.   You have to keep in mind that this is 20-year-old technology.    The brushless motors that this plane had can't compare to the brushless outrunners of today.

The photo also shows a fairly good scar in the foam.  There is a solution.   Lightweight spackle.  It's what is used to fill in dwells and cracks in foam. It's mainly cosmetic.

The wiring was truly remarkable.

The problem with the plane probably had a lot to do with the weight. It was too heavy fly, or at least the motor wasn't strong enough to get proper lift.  It had a lot to do with excess tape and wiring.  In the new build, weight will be addressed. The old build came in at just around a pound without batteries.  And that's without the winglets. . I am hoping to get that down to ten ounces.

The motor stays, for now.

I got the brushless ESC to replace the one that burned out.  For an older brushed motor, this one was pretty good for its time.  That and I have three more propellers.

The motor mount still worked, though it was a tad bit broken in the back, and the canopy has been missing for a while.  No fear, $20 later it was on its way from Trick RC who still sells these Zagi parts though the owners'  are retiring.




Lady (singular) and gentlemen (plural), I present to you, the Zagi a la nude.

And now, I know what I am up against. Someone told me at the time that I should use Shoo Goo to bind the spar to the wing.  Over time the glue ate through the foam and was only stopped by the tape. Shoe Goo wasn't the greatest idea.  The plane also had a one-inch hole at the front where the styrofoam died from too many crashes on its nose.   I have a fix for it.  The tape did tear away six inches of the trailing edge on the port side.

Overall I give this plane around an  80% for it's condition. It's not perfect but it's a great first project to work on. I can continue to make my mistakes on this plane before I move onto other things.

How long will it really take to get a plane in the air?

The guys in the hobby shop aren't lying, above anything else they want to see you come back as a customer.  But, when they tell you how long it takes to get a plane in the air they are talking from experience, years of experience.  What they can assemble in a morning is something that may take you all weekend.

Where I come from is this reality.  It's 2:00 PM, we get the new barbecue home from Home Depot.  It's in a box in many pieces.  There is 3 pounds of chicken in the fridge and my wife informs me "Oh, Ed and Lisa are coming over. at 6:00PM."   That's two hours to set the thing up, one hour to find propane and one hour to shower and get the house ready for their arrival.


Thus, when it comes to assembling a plane my old tactic was to build it quick and get it into the air.  That didn't work well.  A hasty build leads to all kinds of issues.  Even if you can get it to fly, it won't fly as well as if I were to simply take my time.

I first learned this lesson at a young age.

Pinewood derby day was the event that I took what little dignity the family still had left in our community and destroyed it.   When I showed up every kid had his own masterpiece of a car.   There, hanging in the background, in large block letters was a banner with the words "Game On."  These cars  looked nothing like the block of wood I got the week before.  One in particular was molded down to a classic 1940's race car design.  It was Union 76 orange, and not only that but it looked like it was hand sanded for weeks at a time.  The paint was perfect and it had a clear coat of lacquer on top.  It was worked by hand to perfection.    Hand painted numbers by an artist along with 1mm white pinstripes.   Of course, a 9 year did that.  I recall hearing him say "So I said Dad, when I checked out the bit in the router it was a Roman Ogee.  I was like 'what, are we making cabinets?"      Sure the kid made it just like the size one model with the size D rack claims she didn't have any work done.  She can always insist you were referring to her house.

The point of the Pinewood Derby days is that the kids don't build the cars . Well, they really should but they don't.    Maybe at one point they did but all it took was one father to break out the power tools and show up to a race with a better looking, faster car and it was all over.  From that point on every dad used the opportunity to show up the other fathers.  "My dad can beat up your dad" is what boys used to tell each other.   The problem is, they can't without ramifications.  The next best thing to show off male superiority is to drop three weekends on a $4 piece of wood.     This is suburban dad's version of cage fighting.  Today they snap images with the cell phones and send them to the other fathers with the words "Game on."   Men who are building the cars should be left alone.  They are on a strict diet of  cold pizza, Budwiser and sports talk radio.

For those unfamiliar with the Pinewood Derby car it's sold in a kit.  it's around seven inches long  and during my era it was a large rectangular piece of smooth pine with a notch where the driver is supposed to sit.  It comes with axles and wheels and overall it's quite simple.   The basic idea is that you supposed to reshape the car, paint it, make it look cool, and make it go fast.   You can think of it like an oversized Hotwheel where there are two aspect of the car, the first being how cool it looks and the second is being fast enough to come in first place.  The objective is to have the  best looking car AND to win the race.  Anything less is a complete failure.  Oh, and your son who is supposed to build the car really shouldn't touch the car, ever.  Well not until after the father dies because it's locked up in the safety deposit box with  the family stocks and bonds.

My car caught everybody's attention. but not in  a good way.    First of all I had problems having the axles stay in place, so I used Elmer's glue.  The glue got onto the axles and slowed down an already slow car.  The car was the factory original pinewood color.  Not only that, it was in it's original rectangular shape.  I went for that stock car, "right out of the box" look.   But no, I did decorate it as my mom suggested.  At the time there were these four inch by one inch trading cards that they sold at 7/11.  It was a strange shape for a trading card, and I am proud to say that NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was glued to the front of the driver's cabin along with some other NBA star.  The car was looking a bit bare so I put on stickers all over the car.  Race decals?  Nope, one liners from Rowan and Martin's Laugh In.  "Here comes da judge" and "Sock it to me" and "You bet your bippy." Of course some of the stickers started to peel off so I glued them down with Elmer's glue.   So the car had this soiled spots look to it  like the bottom of a hotel mattress.  That and the Fritos grease on my fingers while I built the car.    Kareem may be a basketball legend but he was sticking up about three inches from the car and that  was adding to my drag coefficient.  That and the somewhat glued axles made a car that drove as bad as it looked.    Needless to say, it was very interesting.  As I handed it to the man to put the car on the wood track he held it, turned it around carefully to admire the fine workmanship  and asked "What the hell?"

One race and I was done,  Not only that, Kareem's lawyers sent me a cease and desist letter.

So, let me tell you something about men.  We don't remember birthdays, anniversary, and we don't cry unless the Packers lose the Superbowl.  But when we spend 25 hours working on a $4 piece of wood with wheels you better bet we remember every car at the race. To this day there is someone saying every Thanksgiving  to  his son "Do you remember that 'sock it to me' mobile?"    Oh yeah, it was legendary.


Back to the planes

There seems to be two distinct worlds when it comes to flying. On one end there are people who pride themselves with taking a piece of foam and getting in the air as quickly as possible. They are seldom painted, perhaps they will use color tape. But they seem proud to talk about how fast they put it together. The other world is the planes at the RC parks. These are people who have a lot of time and money spent on the planes and they worry about the smallest details. It's very much game on. I am now somewhere in between. Part of the fun of the hobby is figuring things out along the way. To answer the question, how long will it take to get the plane in the air? Whatever it takes, I am in no hurry.

Hobby People Closing-The slow death of retail hobby stores.

I went into Hobby People just to buy a propeller balancer, and the shelves were empty.   They were starting their going out of business sale.   The owner, Paul Bender died last month.  His kids didn't have an interest in keeping the stores going.


Women have their own hobby store, Hobby Lobby.  And though Hobby Lobby won a landmark Supreme Court decision against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and many a feminist was up in arms about the place, vowing to never step foot in the store again the stores are doing great.  Plenty of women shop there and other craft stores like Micheals.

The  male hobby store is a different breed altogether. Perhaps it's because we don't tend to like shopping as much, or perhaps the stuff sold in these stores tends to get expensive, we just tend to shop online.

The online world is killing the hobby store.

Let's do some fun math.    There is a radio controlled airplane kit that costs $50 wholesale.   You own a store that is online and one that brick and mortar.      The retail store runs on a 30% GTM whereas the online store is at a 15% GTM.
Selling price
$69.95=Retail store
$59.95=Online

In this example you're making  a bit less than 30% GTM for retail but more than 15% for wholesale.  Another way to look at it is that you're picking up $20 for each retail sale but only $10 for online.

The question is, how fast can it sell?  It's a fairly popular item, you sell it once a week in retail on average, or 50 times a year.  Whereas you're selling it 100 times a year online.

Either way you're making $1000 a year on that item.   Now, let's factor in the retail cost.  You're getting a deal on your lease, you're only paying $10 a square foot. The kit takes roughly 2 square feet.  That's another $20/4=$5.  So, the extra $10 you made having a retail store means that half the profit is gone, just like that.   With the extra $5 you have remaining you have to pay wages, workman's comp, heating, cleaning and all the other fun things  The extra $5 you made doesn't go far.

And that's the problem in a nutshell. It's cheaper to house inventory in large warehouses where rent is measured in pennies or low dollars per square foot.  Because places like the Amazon fulfillment center are massive.  With predictive logistics they can help you stock inventory in warehouses close to where sales are most likely to occur, thus reducing the wait time.

Now, as a consumer, would you like to pay $59.95 for a kit you can have shipped free to your house that may arrive in a day or two, perhaps without sales tax,  or pay $69.95 for something you can get today?

Much of retail is dying

Everything about retail is changing, forever.   The ability to walk into a store and chat up the local pro is increasingly a thing of the past.  There still are some hobby stores around.  But they are increasingly dying off.  Perhaps we should talk to Bass Pro Shops and ask them to put in an RC section in their stores.  Guns, ammo, LiPo batteries.  It's all good.

So long to Hobby People

This was a great store! It was local in flavor, but full of people who were passionate about their hobbies.  But, when you're looking for an odd motor mount and they didn't have it, the alternative was that you would have to check out half a dozen other stores in the area. Now, you don't have to leave the house to find it. .  No matter how obscure it is, if it is made, or was made within the last 20 years you can usually find it.  The only problem is the cost of shipping.   Tower Hobbies wants $100 in orders to get free shipping.   What do you do when you only need one piece of balsa wood?  Are you going to pay $10 for something that you were overpaying for at $5?  Are you going to come up with another $95 in orders just to hit your free shipping minimum?

Though I can clearly see how the store closed down I still feel sad that a piece of our heritage is going away.  This was a store for men, kinda like Bass Pro Shop.   When you factor in the amount of drones in the market the base of people flying something is larger now than ever before.  And yet, the hobby store is a dying entity?

While at the store one of the clerks was snapping at the customers.  I think the shock and sadness of the reality was hitting him and he wasn't too pleased about it. I spent over an hour at Hobby People today.  In that entire period of time not one single woman walked into the store.

That says something.

There was a certain fraternal order in the store.  While in line I was talking to a tradesman who probably was an electrician or a carpenter  He is deep, deep, deep into the hobby and all his money went into the hobby. He's a neat guy I wouldn't otherwise meet or get a chance to talk to unless I start flying gas powered planes at the RC parks.

I have the feeling that the pressures of a struggling set of stores may have helped lead to Paul Bender's death.  For a store that took the moniker of "Discount Hobby Stores" there was a sign on the window that being  said "We beat internet prices."   It's getting harder to do with large scale organizations like Horizon Hobbies and Tower Hobbies.   They have huge buying power and can leverage their suppliers for the lowest prices.  This makes it difficult for the small hobby store or regional store like Hobby People to compete.  Still,  these larger hobby store mass retailers can  also depend on their manufacturers or wholesalers to inventory and drop ship certin orders.  Orders are processed online and instructions are given to the where to ship the merchandise.   This means they never paid employees to touch the merchandise and they had no inventory costs.

How can any brick and mortar store compete with that?

If you think about all the cars, boat, quadcopters and planes that take batteries, motors, and speed controllers one other thing about the hobby is becoming clear.  As the number of these hobby items increase the cost of these items decrease.  Lower cost items, even with the same GTM means frewer profit dollars.

One of the customer asked "Hey, is a hobby store a good business to start?"  The salesman behind the counter nearly broke a smile when he said "Not in these days of Tower Hobbies."  

Getting Connected- Electrical Plugs

I am writing about things that I've discovered about RC planes as I encounter them.  This one was one that I had a hard time understanding.  My Turnigy battery showed up this week along with my Turnigy charger.  It came with an "Octopus cable."  That means banana plugs that go into the charger with the same connectors you'll find on a multitester (banana plugs) and about ten charging cables on the other end.  But, none of them would fit the battery.

Welcome to the wonderful world of modern RC!

I had to spend some time researching the connector on the battery and figure out what to do next.  The connector was an XT60 which is new and fairly common.  I was reading what other folks said about it when it first came out.  The XT60 seems to be widely approved by the modern generation of RC enthusiasts.

Sticking to one series of connectors.

My first impulse was to use the XT60 connector for everything.   I have plans for a smaller plane to be built within the next month or two. Those take smaller cells.  Those batteries come with the JST connector and so does one of the ESCs.  My ideas was to keep that legit and get  a converter cable to throw onto a larger motor plane that usually takes the larger voltage battery.  Yes, the motor will still work, though underpowered not for long.  I don't plan on doing this often but it would good to see how a plane would with fly with an even lighter battery.

So, the JST connector also stays.


Soldering on connectors.

One of my speed controllers is coming with the wrong connector on it.  This is a typical problem.  You find something at a good price or in this case it's a rare older product. It's a high amperage speed controller (40 Amps) for a brushed motor. It's coming with a Deans connector.   My other speed connectors have no connectors on them.



The one thing the guy at the hobby shop doesn't really tell you is that this is a hobby that involves electricity, and soldering.  Oh sure, you can buy the off the shelf planes with the radio and everything else you need in the box.  But if you choose to go the route of making things yourself and fixing things yourself you need to get your hands on things.

Soldering isn't something I'm good at, I really haven't had enough practice. I am about to get more practice. As far as soldering wires onto connectors I have a bit of an issue with this.  In some situations there may not be an alternative.  But it's my belief that the connectors with wires assembled at a factory will have a superior connection than soldered on by hand.  This is one area that will get pulled and yanked on all the time.

XT60 connector without wire

This is perhaps a better way to go about it.

Do a solid solder job, bond with a heat shrink tubing for extra protection.

I found this to be a great video about how to solder properly.



The one thing I will mention is if you watch this guy's video he does a lot of automotive soldering. His soldier gets exposed to the elements.  So, waterproofing is of importance to him.  If your plane gets exposed to the elements for long periods of time it's probably stuck in a tree.

You can skip the silicone paste.  The heat shrink should be good enough.  Other than that, this is a great video.


A warning about batteries

When you buy LiPo batteries they usually come charged.  Keep that in mind if you decide to cut the ends off and put on another adapter.    Be careful not to short the wires.

Take your time, do it right.

Chances are good that you have a fair amount of time and money invested in your plane  A faulty connection spoils the fun.  It can cause intermittent power issues and potentially put the plane out of control.   I am planning to make good electrical connections a top priority.

Covering for foamies

Okay, so my lack of real world flying experience up to date doesn't make me the authority on everything foamies.   Most of my experience has been in my past attempts and  hours spent on RealFlight. RC flight simulation. But when it comes to this subject, I do have real world experience with tape and film.  As I mentioned before in other posts I've spent five years working for a mill that made packaging tape.

Tape is okay, depending on what you use.




The entire foamie Delta Wing  movement started by Trick RC with the Zagis is based on using packaging tape as cover.   The favorite has been colored packaging tapes. It's works so it makes it fine for many people.  You don't need any special tools to use packaging tape.  You don't need to paint your plane, you can simply apply fairly quickly and you're done.  I've seen some fairly creative usages of tape.  So, trust me, I'm not knocking it. There are many grades of tape with different adhesives and film thicknesses.

What a lot of folks do who make planes with tape is buy the multi colored acrylic tape set from Tape Bros.

https://www.amazon.com/Tape-Brothers-Carton-Sealing-several/dp/B003ZWO0H4

Why I don't think color tape is the bee knees.

The colored tapes which are used most frequently have acrylic adhesives.  When I got my Zagi yars ago it came with a roll of colored tape.  The tape was a water based adhesive.  Of all the adhesives, this one is the weakest.  The solvent based acrylic tape has a more aggressive adhesive.
Colored packaging tape is getting harder to find these days.  It may be due to demand, these tapes are more expensive to manufacture.  If you want to cover a plane quickly without the fuss of painting, this may be your best choice.  But, I'd suggest other tapes.

You can use colored duct tape. It has a great adhesive but they are very heavy and the matte finish would slow down your plane. Thus, it's generally not used in plane building with the exception for things like racing stripes and sometimes on the leading edge.

What I was going to use was clear packaging tape with a much thicker film base. I would use a hotmelt (synthetic rubber)  adhesive tape as opposed to the acrylics.   There may be some natural rubber adhesive based tapes floating around.  If you do locate a source it will be expensive and
you won't have a lot of options for thickness of film or width of tape.    If you can find a 3" hold melt tape with a thick film coating (3 mill) you'd be better off. It would take less strips of tape to cover a plane.

Painting a plane
People tend to go nuts over this subject.  I've seen very impressive results with painted foam.  What seems to be the most popular is spray paint. It's fast and lightweight. Plus it comes in a wide array of colors and can be fairly cheap.  I am going with house paint on my first build because it's going of EPP and I feel one coat will cover better plus fill in the vallys of the foam better. I am not as concerned about the look as I am about increasing the surface area.  This is important to me because I feel it will do a better job of having adhesive stick to the surface of the plane.

Better than tape?



If tape sticks to everything why does it come off the roll?  Clearly it doesn't stick to itself.  Yes, there  is a release coating on the back of the tape. So, not only do the areas that you overlap add weight to your plane but it's not a very good bond.

This is what I opted to cover the plane with.

http://www.canuckengineering.com/new/catalog/film-covering





It's called "The New Stuff."  It's a film that you can order by the foot in various thicknesses. Instead of  a pressure sensitive adhesive it's a low temperature hotmelt adhesive. It goes on with those old MonoKote irons.  I found one on eBay for under $20 including shipping.   New they are under $30 from Amazon Prime.

I am really excited about this product for a few reasons. The first is that I can go for some insane film thicknesses.  Yes, a thicker film does bring up the weight.  There is a trade off of weight versus protection.  The thicker the film the more protection it will offer.  They have film in these thickenesses.

1.7 Mil-  The smaller the number, the thinner the film.  This is the thinnest film they sell. It's also the least expensive.  This is the most versitle film.  Good for things like tails and fuselages.  The only bad thing is that this film will die off first with age.  Buy as much as you will use in a 3 year period.

3.0 Mil  This is a  solid film thickness with a lot of strength.  There is a lot of protection with this film thickness. It's a bit more difficult to work with than the 1.7 mil.

5.0  Mil  very sturdy film, it's a heavy-weight film.  Yes it weighs more, but it gives  a lot of  protection.


7.0 Mil -This is the ultimate Delta wing cover. Super strong, very tough.

10 Mil- Overkill by every sense of the word.

I went with 5 mil in 18" rolls.  It has strength and durability but is still somewhat usable on things that aren't Delta Wings.

People asked about painting on the film in some articles. Some tried but found it flaked off. Put your paint under the film. But that means the paint requires proper curing time before applying the film.

Smooth surfaces cut through the air better.
A smooth surface provides less drag.  You'll get better performance with one piece of film versus layers of tape.  Paint only needs a few hours for a second coat when on the walls ( I wouldn't suggest it for RC planes, it would add too much weight.).  They say that household paints have a two-week curing time before you can wash it.  With all this in mind I would let the paint sit on a plane for a few days before you apply a film.

The gameplan for now

1. A good cleaning of the surface of the plane
2. Minwax Polyurethane oil based primer
3. Housepaint diluted by 10 to 15% with windshield wiper fluid
4 At least a few good days to dry
5. 5 mil film coating.


More information on this topic

RC Groups Discussion

Can a brotha get his props?

I am documenting my progress as I journey through this crazy life of  radio controlled planes.  If you have questions or comments, please write them below.  I am documenting my frustrations and discoveries along the way, and pointing out what I watched and read so that you too have sources.

Today I am leaning about propellers.  So, here's a question. As a joke I decided to seriously upgrade the motor of your office fan, by 50 times. The thing goes flying, does it hit you or fly away from you? You're getting the windblast but the fan will fly away from you and probably hit the wall and break into many pieces and I'll have to pay for it, sorry.

Another question, I know you've watched the fan spin its blades around  many times before.   When you turn it off you watched it spin down, what direction was it going, clock wise, or counter clockwise?   With the fan blades pointed to you to keep you cool it was going clockwise.

These are the things to keep in mind about propellers. An airplane like a Cessna has a large propeller on the front of the plane.  It pulls you though the sky.  So, these propellers pull you in a counter clockwise rotation.  This is the most common.  The planes I am interested in have propellers in the back that push you through the sky.  They are pusher-props.  The go in a clockwise rotation.

So, when you are buying propellers you have to keep in mind if it's for a plane that pushes or pulls, because they aren't the same thing.  They are designed to go a certain direction and you can't simply turn them around because the pitch is really designed to go the direction they were intended to go.

 But your ceiling fan can turn in either direction.  Why can't a propeller?  Your ceiling fan has blades which aren't pitched.

When choosing propellers you need blades that are oriented to the type of plane you have, one with the motor in the back (a pusher) or one that is most common, with the motor up front.

What doe the numbers mean?

There are a set of numbers  such as 8/6.    The 8 is the diameter of the blade, and the six relates to the pitch.  In a perfect world every time a blade spins around once it should push the plane 6 inches forward.  Thus a blade that is an 8/4 means that for each revolution you won't go as far.  Which is what is needed for planes like park flyers.

Let Josh  & Josh school you on propellers.

Back to the ceiling fan example.  You ever have one this isn't balanced?  At slows speeds you don't notice it.  But when you turn it up to full it's bouncing around.  That is the problem with propellers as well.  Thanks to these new, faster spinning propellers we're flying with  a slight imperfection means that your way out of balance and can negatively affect the motor.  You need to learn how to balance a propeller.

This is a good video, and guess what, you get to buy more stuff!





Which size propeller is right?

Without much trouble you should be able to find the correct propeller for your motor. The manufacture tends to have suggestions. The little foamies I work with use 8/6 quite often.

I had a problem finding 8/6 pusher propellers.  I bought quite a few from APC. They come with an EP a the end of the model number which stands for "Electric Pusher."  I bought some 8/6 standard blades which aren't pushers by mistake. They need to go back.

Zagi RC Airplane-Pleasing the Zagi gods

In every industry there are some unsung heros.  Jerry and Joe Teisan may not go down in history, and that's kinda sad.  When I was a kid RC planes were large gas powered planes that were too expensive for kids.  Today, foamies come from China in kits for very little money.  And, if you're a bit ambitious you can build  your own Dollar Tree Store Delta Wing.  These Delta Wings are based on the Zagi design.  The original Zagi planes  were extremely simple.   They were made from EPP foam, affordable motors and ESC, and covered in colored packaging tape. It made them cheap and durable which was forgiving for beginners   This was the plane I attempted to build.

Mine had problems. My main problem was that I had no experience at plane building, and nobody to help me.  I had issues with the initial build, servos breaking, issues with CG, and finally my ESC burning out. I never had the wonderful experience of getting the plane high in the sky.  Never had the wonderful experience of watching it crash from high altitude.   My original build was nothing short of fugly.  It ended up in a state of disprepair in my garage for about a decade.  I tried to get it going once before,and even bought a new NiCad pack for it.  And well, once again no luck.

After finding all those wonderful videos on building Delta Wings  online, I figured out my issues with my initial build.    But, the tape is worn out and falling off the plane.  There are a lot of issues.  It needs a rebuild.  This time I will approach it with respect and go out of my way to make it cool.  Yes things have changed since the first build. LiPo batteries mean that it can be powered with a lot less weight. I can do a few things to add a little more weight without penalty.  The other thing that I wonder about is the silver canister private labeled motor.  It's the old canister style.  Yes, there are much, much better motors now.  But hey, we'll start with the original.  The propeller is kinda small by today's standards.  I am not opposed to throwing in an upgraded outrunner motor  into the plane. On the Zagi website they are advertising a 3100KV motor which needs a 40 amp  ESC.  The idea is to spin faster and run at half power or lower.  But, with a 40 amp ESC it means that this motor can really draw a lot of electricity.   3100 RPM is the upper range of the motor.  Yet, there are other motors that work at the same RPM with half the amp requirements. This suggests to me that the torque on these motors are lower.    This is the main reason why I don't jump into new motors so quickly. I just want to get out and fly it for a while. Things have a way of becoming more clear. over time.

The largest question I had was how to recover the plane?  I listened to everybody.  I considered Monokote and Econokote. What I wasn't liking about that was the need for new tools and the fact that tears show up fairly easily.  It's a thin coat, which is fine to keep it light.

Colored packaging tape once again?  Nope. My first real job out of college was working for a company that manufactured  packaging tape.  I worked for the mill. There are two things that you need to know about packaging tape. The smooth side is the film and the sticky side is the adhesive.  The colored tape is acrylic adhesive. It's the least sticky of all the adhesive for packaging tape.  The film side comes in various thicknesses.  The thicker the film, the more weight we put on the plane. But it will also help protect it more better.  The tape of choice for me  is clear packaging tape, with a hot melt adhesive (it's also known as synthetic rubber).  I will use a thicker film than the 1.8 or two mills used by Zagi in the past.  But with a clear coat it will be extra ugly.  It needs paint.

Sorry, I'm not spray painting the plane.  I know it sounds stupid but my paint of choice is interior latex win gloss.  It's a thick coat with one application to cover. Yes it will add weight as well. But look it this way.  I am taking off weight by switching to LiPo batteries. The extra weight from the paint and heavier tape goes over the entire plane not affecting the CG. It will be heavier, but more sturdy. I hope.

RC Airplane Dreams

My lifelong dream to fly RC Planes

I've always wanted to get into RC airplanes.  As a kid my grandmother asked me what I wanted for the holidays and I told her, an RC airplane.   I was seven years old, maybe 8.   This is what I got.



I loved it, however it wasn't an RC airplane. It's a control line plane.  Here's a photo of someone flying one.

Here's a video of someone flying one.  You have to admit, it's kinda cool for it's day but today they don't make these planes anymore.   It had a .049 engine with a glow plug.  You would have to heat up the glow plug with a battery then hand crank the motor without cutting yourself.  Oh, best of all, it had this really wicked fuel.  It's a combination of nitro and methyl alcohol.  Holly crap, this isn't something you should let a kid have access to!

The way it worked  was that the plane had a set of thin wire similar to fishing line. The only thing that moved aside from the wheels and motor were the elevators. You would stand about 20 feet away from the plane.  You were in the center of the circle and the plane few around you at the parameter.

So, what happened to the plane?  My dad was the first to fly it.  You tend to go round and round unless you have some control line skills to make it do flips.  The thing really hauled.  And after a minute or two you would get dizzy.  My dad's first flight he didn't land it super well and the gas tank nozzle broke off.  It was a $2 replacement, but back in my day, asking for $2 to fix a toy was ludicrous.  I learned how to fly it without the motor.  I got pretty good and making it go up and down. Finally,  my friend Mark came over and tried to make it fly super fast, and it did, into the side of our garage.  That was that.

I did check with my local hobby shop.  You have to keep in mind this was the 1970s at the time.  They told me  a trainer was only $20.  I was like "Cool, I'll take one."  And then they said it was in a kit, and would have to spend weeks building it. But they were honest when they said I would destroy my first one.  They were kinda vague on all the radio equipment I would need, motors, fuels, all the normal stuff.   If the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys than RC planes was certainly a man's toy.

In today's world my grandmother would buy me a Chinese made foamy with a control board that has the servos, ESC and receiver built on it.   They can be found online for around $30.   I would have flown it for a short time before I crashed it, would have tried to fix it and would have probably checked the box  "Fly RC Airplanes". Maybe I would go further into the hobby at a later time.  But to me, RC planes have always felt like a dream I never accomplished.  I don't know what it is about making a plane fly in the air that I can control from the ground, but it just appeals to me.  I don't want a Harley Davidson, I don't want a Colt 45, I just want to fly RC planes.

I am going to document my journey because I have learned so much from others.  When I tried to do the hobby in the 1990s I spent a lot of time and money and nothing got up in the sky.  I will outline why there are a few planes that have spent the better part of the last 20 years in my garage gathering dust.  I am going to be very honest about my failures and shortcomings.  I will do this to say "Hey, if I can do this, you can do  this."  We won't give up, right?   With passion, a desire to succeed, and a wife with a very good job that includes health insurance anything is possible.

The next blog entry, "Pleasing the Zagi gods" leads me into my re-entry into the hobby.  My first project is to get a plane that hasn't flown for more than 20 seconds into the air. But first, it needs to be rebuilt.   Or, should I say, built right at last.