Hobbico E-FEST Was An Awesome Electriflying RC Display! (21 Pix)

(click any pic to enlarge)

The University of Illinois Armory building is a great place for indoor electric flying!

 Hobbico, headquartered in Champaign Illinois, is the largest distributor of hobby products in the world, so it's not hard to understand why they are the host for the E-FEST electric indoor RC event at the University of Illinois Armory building in Champaign Illinois! The big E-FEST event took place over this last weekend (Feb 9-10, 2013) and I made the 4-hour drive (each way) over there on Saturday with my 11 year old nephew Jaxon to check it all out. I figured any huge electric RC event would have to be interesting to see, and it didn't hurt that Scaled Composites had also sent Elliot Seguin to the event to conduct a forum and do a little Scaled engineer recruiting. And for Jaxon, who so far only has a peripheral interest in aviation, I figured some exposure to the world of foam and electric flying toys would have to be a good idea : )

 Btw, if you're an engineer looking for one of the coolest companies in the world to work for, I suggest you check out the Scaled careers page right now, this is a rare period of strong growth for the company.

 It was great to meet up with Elliot from Scaled, and, the electric RC flying on display was absolutely fantastic. In fact, the entire event was fantastic. It reminded me of the good ole days... lots of cool people doing cool stuff in a kind, gentle, and orderly fashion, with no need for pesky heavy-handed supervision. You just don't see Americans able to operate like this much any more, and it was extremely refreshing to me. Along with all that goodness, the changes and advancement in the world of RC in the last few years are just incredible. As my financial situation is finally showing signs of noticeable improvement, I can promise you that some affordable electric RC flying machines are in my future! If things continue to improve, I'll eventually graduate from RC back into full scale! (actually, you never really graduate from RC, you just add full size fun to the mix!)

 The star of the show for me was this little Gee Bee R-2 available from E-flite, which appears to have been out for a year or so but I sure wasn't aware of it. Given my general obsession with all things Gee Bee, the existence of this little critter is a big deal to me. With a small 20.1 inch wingspan and a flying weight of just 3.6 ounces, this Gee Bee would seem like it would have to be a handful to fly. It would be if it wasn't for some amazing technology called AS3X incorporated into the electronics. AS3X is a stability enhancing system that basically keeps the aircraft on whatever flight path you put it in, yet it doesn't prevent you from making the airplane do whatever you want it to. It compensates for aircraft instability and air turbulence, and creates both an easy to fly airplane and one that looks soooo real in flight. It takes a small and extremely twitchy design like the Gee Bee and makes it a fantastic flyer!

 Check out this E-flite Gee Bee video to learn more about the airplane and see it in the air. I can't emphasize enough how real and 'scale' the several Gee Bee's I saw at E-Fest looked when in the air. It's just stunning to see them fly. This little Gee Bee is on my short list for getting back into RC once again. They're essentially a ready-to-fly airplane and can be found for just $99 with motor, battery, and servos already installed. All you need to complete is a compatible transmitter that can be bought for as little as $59 (if you don't need anything fancy) or, a more expensive transmitter (about $159 to $250) makes more sense if you plan to expand your hangar of flying toys. Without a doubt, these little foam 'scale' aircraft, and systems like AS3X are transforming small model flying!

Click any pic to enlarge

My 11 year old nephew Jaxon building a freely-provided foam rubber-powered flyer

Click to read more ...

Video: Dancing With A Kite At The 12th Annual Windless Kite Festival (Amazing!)

 The 12th annual Windless Kit Festival was held last month in Long Beach Washington... and before you go off thinking this is some sort of twisted joke about trying to fly kites with no wind, you really need to watch this video! It shows Spencer Watson flying a 4-line Revolution kite (I have one of these!) flying indoors and winning the AKA Open Individual Indoor Unlimited competition. By moving away from the kite you make your own airflow for the kite to be able to fly, and with ultralight kites and no wind to disturb the air, fabulous things can happen in the hands of talented people like Spencer.

 This is such an awesome display of eye-hand coordination. If you've never flown a 4-line kite like a Revolution, you cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it is to control. And having this delicate of a touch while always being in control is mind-blowing to me. 

 I wish we could make all the video games on Earth disappear and that kids (and adults) would do things like this instead... there would be almost no limit to the good that would come from that! Plus, we'd brew a whole new generation of people that would be fascinated with the art of moving thru the air, that magical thing that you and I call flying. Open up your mind... go fly a kite!

Video screenshot of Spencer Watson wining at the Windless Kite Festival in January

Video: Keyboard As An Elevator... The Flying Piano! (RC)

 There seems to be no end to the number of everyday items that can be turned into a wild-n-wacky RC flying model, including a grand piano! And what a great flying piano it is too. With a slab keyboard for the elevator (it's split, not sure if it's elevons) and a profile piano man for the rudder, this lightweight electric has a lot of wing area and performs quite well, especially at high angles of attack. The video is well done too which makes it all the more fun to watch. But if you're not a fan of piano music you might wanna turn the speakers down.

 This is definitely one of the world's most unique biplanes : )

  Video screenshot: when tuned right, this flying piano has perfect pitch : )

Video + CoolPix: Aero Telemetry Starts Carving 20 Foot Wingspan Spruce Goose!

 Today marks the 65th anniversary since Howard Hughes made the one and only flight in the fascinating 320 foot (and 11 inch) wingspan Hughes H-4 'Hercules' - or Spruce Goose as we've always known it. That makes a pretty cool day to find out about a new project by the guys at Aero Telemetry. If you don't know about the off-the-scale cool stuff done by Aero Telemetry, check out:  OMGosh! Museum Quality, Half Scale (UAV) Hughes H-1 Racer.

 Watch the video above and read the info below (from the Aero Telemetry youtube page) - and then keep your eyes open for more updates on the project both here on AirPigz and at AeroTelemetry.com... oh, and check out the CoolPix of the Spruce Goose on its only flight from 65 years ago today at the bottom of the post : )

Video screenshot showing the 20' wingspan Spruce Goose fuselage halves

On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes made history by flying the world's largest airplane, the mighty Hughes Flying Boat, more commonly known as the Spruce Goose. 

Today, 65 years later, November 2, 2012 Aero Telemetry is pleased to introduce the next airplane in our Hughes Aircraft Company Trilogy.... The AMA legal (120lbs), museum scale, 20 ft wingspan Spruce Goose.

Using experience gained from building and flying our original airplane for Martin Scorsese during the movie The Aviator, this new airplane is being meticulously designed with the most precise attention to detail.
Working with The Western Museum of flight and several ex-Hughes Aircraft employees, Joe Bock and his team of Aviators were given access to "never before seen" photographs and original Hughes Aircraft Company Flying Boat blueprints and documents detailing the technical intricacies of the complex and graceful Hughes Flying Boat. Joe and his team have turned this information into one of the most graceful and beautifully detailed model airplanes ever built. 

Aero Telemetry and Joe Bock have created the world's largest flyable, most historically accurate and detailed scale model of the Spruce Goose...again.

And so begins the life of the Aero Telemetry Flying Boat.

(click pic for hi-res) Howard Hughes on Nov. 2, 1947 and the only flight of the Spruce Goose

The Amazing Thunderbirds T-33 (RC) Built By Graeme Mears Flies!

Gorgeous 110" wingspan RC T-33 recently made its first flight - and it flies great!

 Here's a quick update from Graeme Mears' facebook page concerning the first flights of the turbine powered RC T-33 project he recently completed:

Here are a couple of pictures of the T-33 at Florida Jets taken by David Hart. We only got two flights on during the event as the weather did not fully co-operate. The model was awarded "Critics Choice" and "Best Craftsmanship" trophies. Ali is very please with how it flies.. apparent by how he rang-it-out after only two patterns the first flight.

 To see the other picture, go here on Graeme's facebook page (scroll to the bottom of the gallery), and to see the other posts I've done about the project, check out:

Wow - Thunderbirds T-33 Jet Built From Scratch! (Sorta)

Stunning Thunderbirds T-33 (RC) - First Flight Coming Soon!

Video: Marvelous RC Cam Fun Over Germany - Must See!

 It used to be that really great RC videos meant you just watched a really cool model do its thing, but the days of small HD cameras have opened up the experience to put all of us in the pilot's seat. The challenge however is to make a video compelling enough to be worth watching.

 Well here's one from youtuber muethenmetz (aka crazy horst) that's worth way more than the almost 8 minutes is takes to watch it all. With multiple camera views on a simple little Graupner 'Rookie' electric airplane, this video mixes excellent video quality with a great sense of humor and loads of awesome views over Germany. I've rated this as an absolute 'must see' and the screenshots below help to show you why. Watch this video! : )

Screenshot of rear facing cam showing a launch from an elevated balcony in town

Sreenshot from front facing cam over a beautiful German building on a foggy day
 

Screenshot approaching hot air balloon with the RC pilot in the basket!

Screnshot of the big 'catch' at the end of the video - great stuff!

Video: Paper Airplane Geeks Rejoice - New Distance World Record!

 Hey... designing, building and then throwing a paper airplane 226 feet 10 inches is a pretty big deal! That's what John Collins and Joe Ayoob have done as a team just last Sunday (February 26, 2012) in a hangar at McClellan Air Force Base outside of Sacramento California. As the video shows, that's a honkin' long way to throw a paper airplane! The team is expecting the feat to earn them a Guinness World Record as they have shattered the old record of 207 feet 4 inches set back in September 2003.

 For more details on the team and this new record-setting effort, check out this ESPN article. Then, to celebrate, I suggest you build the official 'perfect paper airplane' from AirPigz! Click the pic below to go to my dedicated post that I put up just weeks after the original launch of AirPigz way back in 2008. In that post you'll be able to print a pdf pattern (with awesome AirPigz graphics) and watch the video I made that shows you how to fold this incredibly great looking paper airplane.

Click the pic to for pattern and video instructions for the AirPigz Perfect Paper Airplane!

 I'm guessing the AirPigz paper airplane won't give the record any serious challenge, but carefully and properly built, this is one great flying piece of paper! C'mon, give it a try : )

Stunning Thunderbirds T-33 (RC) - First Flight Coming Soon!

Incredible detail on this T-33 by model master Graeme Mears  (photo: facebook)

 Quite a while back I showed you the unbelievable story of a privately owned F-16, which of course was really a hyper-realistic RC model built by Graeme Mears from Canada. Then I shared a progress report on a T-33 project he was working on for the Jet World Masters event back in July of 2011. Well here we are now in 2012 and as it turns out, the T-33 has yet to make its first flight... but that's now planned for late February of early March down in Lakeland Florida in conjunction with the Florida Jets event taking place March 1-4. It's definitely an exciting time in the life of this project!

 There are a lot of stunning projects like this being built all over the world, but usually we don't know much about them til they surface at an event. However, Graeme has been updating his facebook page with photos along the way giving us a chance to see the mind-boggling details that make a model like this look so incredibly real. I highly recommend you click that link and check out the collection of images.

 It's hard sometimes to believe that there are people with the skills and patience to do this kind of work... but to realize that these models fly too just blows the mind. According to Graeme's FB page, highly experienced RC pilot Ali Machinchy will be doing the test flights.

 Lastly, this Thunderbirds paint scheme replicates a full scale T-33 (see a flickr pic here) but it's important to know that while there have been a handful of private T-33's painted like this, the Thunderbirds never actually used them for demonstrations.

 Hopefully there will be a slick video of the T-33 in flight to post here before long : )

Graeme Mears with the RC T-33 giving some perspective to its size (photo: facebook)

Video: RC Floppy Wing Flyer Loves To Fly Slow!

 
 My friend Gary (youtuber sr71afan) makes some of the coolest simplified RC foam flyers and fun little videos to go with them. By going with hyperlightweight foam and flying either indoors or in still outside air, he experiences a purified beauty of flight that really clicks with me... I hope it clicks with you too.

 This one is a very conventional looking taildragger with such a lightweight wing structure that the wings sag on the ground and have loads of dihedral in the air. The takeoff roll from a standing start looks to be under two feet and the overall slow flying is very relaxing to watch. And don't be impatient and give up after 30 seconds... if you do you'll miss the flight thru the lean-to porch at :50 (after the spectators clear a path), and even more important, you'll miss his sweet formation flight with a full scale aircraft passing overhead at 2:45. It's more of the creative RC flying that makes Gary's videos so much fun to watch. His hat-mounted video cam is also a big part of what makes his videos different. As long as he's watching the airplane, we are too. Plus, that's why we get some passes that go by so close to the camera.

 I've just created a new AirPigz category labeled sr71afan so you can easily check out the other videos from Gary, some of which are him flying and some are other cool flyers. Enjoy!

Video: Superman, Iron Man And The Rocketeer All Fly Over New York?

 OK, these sweet RC 'flying people' aren't patterned after Superman, Iron Man and the Rocketeer, but I say they should have been! Regardless (or as the uninformed say: irregardless), they do look pretty cool with New York City as a backdrop. Especially when the Statue of Liberty is in the frame. It's a really well produced video even if it leans a bit hard on artsy over substance. It's also pretty popular as it's already over 1 million views and it appears to have been uploaded just yesterday. 

 It looks to me like these New York flying people are based on the one from RcSuperHero.com but it's hard to say for sure. Anyway, it's a cool video of some sweet electric RC flying machines... and I still wanna try to build a flying AirPigz 'flying pig' for OSH12 : )