Happy new Year !

I wanted to wish you all an happy and successful year 2010 with plenty of nice flights and new toys !

Alula EVO Review

My review of the Alula EVO has been published in RC Pilot. This is the first time I'm published in 2 different magazines the same month :) !


In this issue there is also a detailed review of the Aurora 9 from Hitec and an interresting technical article about the new generation of NiMh batteries which confirms that the Eneloop is a good battery.

New Logo for the french F3F web portal

I'm currently working on a logo for the new portal of the french F3F community. I ended with 3 proposals. I started with this one:


Then I modified it to obtain this one:


With a little rework, I ended with this one:


This is probably this one that will be used on the French F3F portal.

Modèle Magazine - January 2010

My review of the Weasel EVO from dream flight has been published in the January issue of Modèle Magazine:

This is the number 700 of this magazine.

Dingo on the road !

Dingos are now in France on the way to their new home all around the country. At the moment 8 of them are in Montbeliard and will go to Grenoble, before dispatch:


I will get mine on Saturday evening. Quality is, according to the friends, just amazing.

More to come soon ...

Dingo Dingo !

My Dingo F3F is ready and should arrive in France tomorrow. This is the last piece of my collection for 2010:


The Dingo is the latest creation of Vaclav Vojtisek and is succeeding the famous Ascot and Short Ascot.

You can find more information here: f3x.eu

If you want to see more color layouts, just click here and enjoy !!!

Of course, as soon as I will receive it (the 26 normally, when I'm back from holidays), I will do lots of pictures of the kit and will give you my first impressions.

Stay tuned !

Hall Effect Magnetic Switch

Tonight, I have uploaded a short article about an Hall Effect Magnetic switch on Planet-Soaring. This is a very convenient and tiny device that allows you to switch on and switch off without opening the plane, at distance, thanks to a magnet.

cheap transmitter case

I found this transmitter case in a DYI shop "Leroy Merlin".

The dimension of the case are 33 x 23 x 12 cm which is ideal for a transmitter + a small tool box or ballasts.


The stiker is not on the case when you buy it ;) !!!

Quality is very good regarding the price.

More pictures here

I finished the assembly of the Thyphoon as the weather was not good enough to fly. It took a little more time than usual because of some surprises:
Both the aileron and the flap horns made from epoxy plate and that come already installed are not at the correct height. The consequence is that a metal clevis cannot move freely, even after some sanding. I decided to changed the horn, finally swapped them with brass horns I had in stock. Apparently, according to the UK forum, I’m not the only typhoon owner having this issue. Of course this is not a big deal, but it’s still frustrating.



The second surprise came from the balancing. I was aware that the plane would need lots of lead to obtain the right CG, but not so much ! I needed 210 grams to obtain a CG around 86 mm. I had to change the layout and put the battery under the receiver, and clear the maximum of space for the nose lead. I suppressed the switch and use JST plugs instead.

The receiver is finally an Assan 2.4 Ghz. It is install on a piece of white hard foam that allow to maintain it far enough from the battery, and insert the 2 small antennas in the foam to optimize their position and optimize the reception.



The final weight is 1620 gr.

I also sanded a little bit the wing joiner to ease the mounting.

You will fine all the pictures of the assembling here: picasa album

The plane is now ready to fly !

reminder:

Manufacturer website: RCRCM
Distributor for France : http://www.wittnaircomposite.com/

Hyperion 95FMD tested on Servormances

Servormances is a software that present in a clever manner the results of the servos test under the same condition, in a repeatable approach.

Olivier Seguoin just made available a new database that includes a couple of recent servos like the BMS 555 DMG or the Hyperion 095FMD

I was pretty curious about the hyperion as I choose it for the ailerons of my Alliaj HM.

The results are convincing compared to the competition (s3150, Aitronics, Graupner, etc ...) and given the price, it offer a good ratio price/performance.




The software can be loaded here: http://www.teaser.fr/~osegouin/aeromode/servos.phtml (Sorry chaps, its only in French !)

Then you can upgrade it by copying the 2 files contained in the the zip file in the repository of Servormances:

http://osegouin.free.fr/servo/Upgrade_decembre_2009.zip

Thanks Olivier and the Servormances team for your contribution. It is appreciated :) !!

Greentronic REGMAX

Regmax is a DualBat input booster 1S2P Lipo or LiFe, 3 or 4 Nimh input, 5V5 4A output. Booster means that it is able to elevate the voltage from 3.7 V to 5.5V with a efficiency about 85 % which is pretty good.



I will install it in my Wasabi. The total weight of 2 LiFe 1S batteries + the regmax is lighter than a 4 cells R6 battery, but provide a higher capacity.



The redundancy is total. There is no primary and secondary battery. As soon as you unplug a battery the device switches automatically to the second battery. When the 2 batteries are connected and running fine, a green led is ON.

A video is better than 1000 words, so here it is:

Greentronic Regmax from Pierre Rondel on Vimeo.

I added more pictures on my Picasaweb: here

Greentronic is not only manufacturing this Regmax, but also different other voltage regulators or dual power.

http://www.greentronic.eu

Jeti duplex T12FG

I installed the Jeti TU module in my transmitter. The transplant went well. My setup is the following: I have a double switch (with lock) on the + and PPM signal while the - is always connected.

The soldering to do is:

• the - on the pin 2 of the back of the trainer plug
• The PPM signal coming from the double switch on the pin 1 of the back of the trainer plug
• The + signal coming from the double switch on the pin 5 of the back of the trainer plug

Despite the user manual is mentioning that the + must be soldered on the pin 6, I did some measure on my old FF9 and sicovered that the difference between the pin 5 and 6 is that 6 is always ON when 5 is ON only when the radio is powered on.

I built a T with plastique that I fixed in the transmitter case with double face tape. Then the module is also double taped at the top of the T.

Now let have a look on how it works:

1. switch in position OFF, transmitter RF OFF. No transmission at all in 2.4 Ghz thanks to the Jeti TU module.
2. switch in position OFF, transmitter ON AIR. The T12 transmits in the band of the RF module (40, 42 or 35 Mgz)
3. switch in position ON, transmitter RF OFF. The T12 transmits in 2.4 Ghz thanks to the Jeti TU module.
4. switch in position ON, transmitter ON AIR. The T12 transmits in 2.4 Ghz thanks to the Jeti TU module, but also in the band of the RF module (40, 42 or 35 Mgz). This is useless, but good to know for security reason (for others).

You will find more information on my picasa album: T12FG Jeti Duplex