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nano qx maiden

I just received the new Blade Nano QX. This thing is tiny! The box is about half the size of a typical college calculus book. It comes with a usb charger instead of the usual wall charger so it is a perfect coworker harassment tool. Too bad I got the BNF version or I would just keep the whole set in the office.

This thing comes with software called SAFE (sensor assisted flight envelope). What a difference it makes. In stability mode, this is probably the easiest flying thing I've played with. It's self levels and yet it doesn't have the annoying tendencies of the mSR. I find agility mode to be a bit hard to fly, so I didn't try a flip yet. Not sure if it's because I'm a little rusty (been 3 months again) or just the tiny size of the thing. The prop guards are also nice, but it sounds like it'll only be useful on low speed bumps.

The way it switches between stability and agility mode is a bit odd. According to the manual, you set normal flaps to down 20. To switch modes, you cycle flap position from 0-1-0 (dx6i). Here's how it behaves:

0 - stability mode with blue led 1 - agility mode with red led 0 - red led, but cyclic has no control 1 - stability mode with blue led

When the led is blue, everything works fine no matter where the flaps switch is. However, You lose cyclic control when the led is red and flaps in the 0 position. This inconsistency is something a little annoying. It should really be 1-0-1 since position 1 works in both modes. If I take another extended break from this hobby, I'm sure to forget about this. Not sure why it isn't just 0 stability mode and 1 agility mode. my first guess is it's some optimization so they only have to detect a change to switch modes. But why is detecting a change more efficient than checking for the value?

Other than that little problem, it's a very nice little quad. The indoor friendliness will make me fly it more.

first inverted attempt

It's finally happened. I've been comfortable flying circuits and loops for a while now. Comfortable means I've stopped worrying about it flying into my face. They're still Pringles shaped and nowhere near pretty, but I've decided I'm ready. Finally gained an real understanding of what collective management and tail blowing out means. Before I was only able to guess at what people meant by doing pitch pumps. I only lost 1 shaft bearing for trying this, but I got a few seconds of inverted hovering out of it. I'm happy.

hat cam with keychain camera 808 #16

My lens B for the 808 keychain camera #16 arrived. I think it is better as a hat-cam than lens D. Lens B:

Lens D:

#um t-28 #808 camera

Difference between rc plane and heli

I've had my [plane](http://tryingtofly.com/post/39970641476/parkzone-ultra-micro-t-28-maiden) [for](http://youtu.be/wfGYi2soj_I) [3](http://youtu.be/o5p93EqMDCM) days now, I think that is enough time to form an knee jerk opinion on the difference between plane and heli. Helis are not very picky about where you can fly, even though I've mentioned that a [large space](http://tryingtofly.com/post/38966852917/space-is-the-key) is good. Micro helis can be hovered inside a garage, in your bedroom, really just about anywhere. The ability to fly in small indoor area makes micro helis less affected by weather. Planes *require* a large empty space. Where I've been flying is way bigger than I need to fly the mCPX or [mQX](http://tryingtofly.com/post/39782774020/aerial-photography-attempt-2), but I feel it's still too small for the UM T-28. There is [barely any room](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfGYi2soj_I&t=1m10s) to make it fly straight. [Evil trees](http://youtu.be/8JoOYUhraJM) and their man made cousins also cause major problems. It also wouldn't hurt to have thick grass for crashes and some sort of road for landing. I've done my share of [crashing into walls](http://tryingtofly.com/post/2551195847/first-flight) when starting out with the mSR, but the repair methods are a bit different. Heli repairs are usually done by getting a replacement part, then install the part. These parts are precisely engineered and fits like a glove. Maybe some measurement helps, but no tinkering required. Damages on the plane is another story. Every time the trees attack, the foam body suffers a bit of damage. Things get folded, torn, warped and bent. Repairs are less engineering, more arts and crafts. It involves a lot of molding the foam into shape then using glue and tape of keep it that way. Helis are very quick and agile with amazing 3d potential. Flying helis requires quicker reflex and reaction times. Everything involves a ton of on the fly error corrections. Every single control is being used constantly. Rudders to keep the tail in line, collective to adjust the blade pitch, cyclic to keep the disc at the correct angle. Planes are very intuitive. Decide how fast you want to go and set a throttle, the aileron and elevator takes care of everything else (I'm sure rudders are useful too). I don't want to say they are easy yet, since I haven't been able to land the thing nicely. But once its up in the air, I feel pretty good about how to make it go where I want. tldr:

heli -- small indoor area ok, good to have large space repair by replacing precisely engineered parts complex maneuvers involving quick reflexes and timing plane -- very large space, probably wants a landing strip too creative repairs with foam, glue, tape and other materials intuitive to fly, need to be precise and plan ahead to land

ParkZone Ultra Micro T-28 maiden

Yes, I got a plane. LHS is out of stock on a mCPX bearing, but I can't pay $5 bucks shipping for a $5 item. I'll just add a $99 plane to get free shipping, that'll make me feel better about being a smart shopper! Maiden didn't go as well as I hoped, which is somewhat expected. Think I can do better on a calm day in open space.

#um t-28

Phoenix progression series

I am starting a [youtube series](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSv_xTB-QTdFlBVnDMfaYpirg6aqycz2z&feature=view_all) documenting my progress in Phoenix. Hopefully over time, it'll create an interesting look into how much and how fast I improve (or not). There are too many videos of pros doing perfectly round circles and stationary hovers. It is now time to show how the sausage gets made. The videos are captured using [msi afterburner 2.3.0](http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm) and [x264vfw](http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/). [dx6i phoenix settings](http://tryingtofly.com/post/39667099298/phoenix-dx6i-setup) here. *edit* Turns out the default physics settings in the models are not too realistic. It can be cranked up and it is much harder to fly. That kind of renders this useless because I don't want to play on easy mode. Looking back though, it does show that I've improved in just a week. I may or may not start another one with the setting turned all the way up.

#phoenix

aerial photography attempt 2

The video quality of the 808 #16 is much better. The fpv video shows that I'm really not flying it very far, but the mQX doesn't handle wind up high and I already have trouble keeping track of orientation at this distance. Maybe I'll get a copilot with binoculars to help me out. Maybe I'll learn to ride a horse and train the horse to chase it. I hope I'm not going down the path of hexacoptors and fancy camera gimbals. The GPS autopilot stuff sounds like fun though.

#mQX #aerial photography

loops and rolls with the mQX

After a few inconsistent attempts, I think I have figured out how to do loops and rolls with the mQX. The cyclic stick is easy, just jam it in which ever direction. The giant thread on rcg has an explanation on why the diagonals in the x configuration is the best, but I can't find it now. I never understood why forums like these giant threads. Who can wade through thousands of posts looking for the information they want? Without a moderator keeping a neat summary, these giant threads become useless at popular sites such as avsforum or rcgroups. It is the equivalent of tossing everything into the closet and garage to keep things seemingly neat. Anyways, my favorite is the back loop because it's still under control after it completes. The key is throttle control. Full throttle to start, then lower to about 1/2 throttle. If throttle is not decreased, it'll fly straight into the ground inverted. There lots of videos of people doing low flips now. Maybe I'll start attempting that.

#mQX

Phoenix dx6i setup

I picked up Phoenix flight simulation. I find things actually harder than it is in real life. I lose a ton of depth perception since everything is now a flattened image on screen. Only the relative size can be used to determine where everything is. The camera angle also gets weird at times. I keep getting the feeling that its the camera that is moving, not the model. Maybe these flight sim folks should consult with John Carmack and look into the [Oculus VR](http://www.oculusvr.com/). Despite all that, it'll be a valuable tool. Setting up the dx6i with it is somewhat unintuitive. First I was stuck when my sticks does not move the bars from 0 to 100. Changing the travel adjust to 125% fixed that. Guess these settings on the dx6i really goes up to 11. Then, the gyro switch did not work. For some reason the default gyro setting for 0 and 1 are both 50%. Changing 0 to 0, 1 to 100% got that working. After these 2 items, its setting up pitch and throttle curves normally. Here's a summary: * pick empty model and reset * set model to heli * enter name * change all travel adjust to 125% * change gyro setting 0: 0%, 1: 100% * make sure swash type is 1servo 90° * setup dual rates and throttle pitch curves as usual

#phoenix #dx6i

happy 2013

Happy New Year! I think I'm getting the hang of the mQX. A few days with the mQX outdoors is really doing more for me than all my 5 months of indoor mSR flying. A lot of things I read started to make sense. This video is made with my brand new 808 #16. The D lens makes aiming the video much easier, but everything appears a bit small. Not happy at all with the Quicktime container though.

#mqx

aerial photography attempt 1

Wow, busy day today. Mailman left the mQX motor on the front porch. I plugged it in and stuck my 808 camera #6 on a piece of velcro on the bottom of the battery. Have to figure out how to make it descend without going wobbly.

#aerial photography

space is the key

This hobby really wants a large space. At least in the beginning. You can start a death star trench run only after you dusted crops on large open farmland. Since my mQX is down at the moment, I have no choice but to fly the mCP X. The little quad has built enough confidence to make me attempt to fly the mCP X the same way. It almost did fly the same way. It is definitely a step above the mQX. It's faster, less predictable, and does more damage in a crash. But these become less of an issue when there's more space.

#mcp x

mCP X spins on the ground

Something weird to my mCP X today. I was messing around with the head since I bought a swashplate leveling tool. After I put everything back together, it would spin out of control on the ground. Looking at it closer, I noticed the tail motor would spin for a second, then stop completely. Since rebinding it seems to fix a lot of weird behavior, I decided to give it a shot. To my dismay, it would not bind. I tried and tried, the led would always go from flashing rapidly to flashing slowly. The controls kind of work, but the blades will not spin up. I tried using a fully charged battery, tried giving it full right rudder just in case it had some kind magical over the air update turning it into a V2 (I wish). Nothing made any difference. In the end, I started all over. I reset the model memory on my transmitter, reprogrammed all the settings, and tried again. Finally the solid blue light came back on. Everything is ok once more.

#mCP X

mQX motor life

I have discovered the first bad thing about the mQX. The motors seem to have a pretty short life. I had mine for less than 1 month, there's already signs of motor trouble. 1 of the motors will not spin unless I turn it manually. At 10 bucks each and 4 motors to replace, this could get expensive fast. To be fair I also had this problem with the mSR tail motor. It is possible that I shortened the lifespan by flying it too long without rest, although I check if the motors are warm to the touch before I start the next pack. We'll see how that motor holds up.

#mQX

first time flying

Weeeeeeeeeee. I have never been able to this before. The mSR will fly out of sight if someone breaths too hard, and I'm sweating bullets trying to keep the mCPX under control. Wow, this is what it feels like to actually fly something. I may have to re-examine my indoor only policy. Here's my current mQX D/R settings on the dx6i:

indoor Elev 60% rate, 25% expo Aile 60% rate, 25% expo Rud 85% rate, 0 expo outdoor Elev 100% rate, 0 expo Aile 100% rate, 0 expo Rud 100% rate, 0 expo

I also need a better video solution. My 808 #6 now randomly stops recording. Maybe a #16 V2 is in my future.

#mQX

beware of the hobby king lipo guard bag

So I got this 3 dollar [bag](http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=4364) along with my charger. Turns out it has bits of loose fiberglass inside the bag (made in China). I brilliantly got the jumbo size for my tiny tiny 1 cell batteries. Since there is so much room, I thought I store all my batteries and charging cables in it. After sticking my hand in a few times to get stuff out, I noticed this weird sensation when I rub certain area of my hands. Almost felt like I was getting a minor electric shock. After a few hours of annoyance, I caught a glimpse of light reflecting on my hands. It almost looked like spider webs on my hands at certain angles. Then I remembered the fiberglass fireproof bag and the word fiberglass started to make sense. A quick google revealed there is a thing called fiberglass itch when fiberglass gets embedded on skin. I rinsed my hands with cold water for a bit, then waxed my hands with duct tape. That seems to work well and my hands feel normal again. The comment section on Hobby King item confirms that the bag is the source of all my itching. Further look into this issue showed that these cheap lipo bags do not really prevent fire at all. All I got for 3 bucks is a mean practical joke toy and a few hours of itch.

#fiberglass rash #lipo bag

parallel charging mSR/mQX/mCPX

The last batch of the items I bought during black friday has finally arrived. A charger, power supply, and a fire proof lipo bag. My new Hyperion batteries and charging leads have been waiting patiently while the charger sits in customs for 2 weeks. Now I can charge multiple batteries for the mQX, mCPX, and mSR. Just like everything else about this hobby, you can really go down the rabbit hole if you choose. Here's a setup that works for me and my layman's summary of it. * [charger](http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7028) * [power supply](http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=20968) * [charging harness for mQX(JST)](http://www.progressiverc.com/parallel-6x-jst-charge-cable.html) * [charging harness for mCPX(JST-PHR-2)](http://www.progressiverc.com/parallel-jst-phr-2-charge.html) * [charging harness for mSR(Pico)](http://www.progressiverc.com/parallel-6x-pico-charge-cable.html) The same voltage is applied to each element of a parallel circuit, and all these batteries are single cell, the value 1S 3.7V will never change. the only setting that will change is the amps. To find what amp to use, a charge rate needs to be decided. A charge rate of 1C means all the juice in a battery will be filled or drained in 1 hour, 2C means 2 batteries (or 1 in half the time). The Hyperion batteries I got says to never exceed charge rate of 6C, to be safe I choose 2C. Add up the capacity of all the batteries, multiplied by the charge rate, divide by 1000 (unit conversion) to find the current. Lets say I have 4 550mAh and a 500mAh batteries to charge. (550mAh + 550mAh + 550mAh + 550mAh + 500mAh) * 2C * 1A/1000mA = 5.4A I would use 5.4A to charge these batteries, and they will be done in 30 minutes. However, before plugging them all in, make sure the voltage between them is about the same because current will flow from the higher voltage battery to the low. 10% seems to be a good rule of thumb, so they should all be within 0.05v of each other.

#parallel charging

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