Hey guys!
I recorded my first experience with RC planes and made it into this short three-minute video. It's not very descriptive about what I did exactly and it wasn't my intention to make it a review or instruction manual. My intention was to simply record my first experience and show to people what it meant to me. I had fun making it. I hope you enjoy it too.
I want to say it was about 3 months ago when I first saw a video by Flite Test. I was browsing on the internet aimlessly when I saw a thumbnail for a video about a quadcopter. I had been interested in the hobby before, but never got around to getting into it. I clicked the thumbnail and enjoyed what I watched.
I was curious to see what else the Flite Test team had to offer after watching that first video. Suddenly I was hooked. For a month straight I would watch around 10 episodes a night until I started running out of episodes--incredibly, however, I still haven't watched all of them.
My interest persisted, so I decided to order the 3 pack swappable speed build kit with the Flyer, Delta, and Nutball. I ordered all the electronics from HobbyKing and in a couple of weeks I started building the FT Flyer. It sounds stupid to admit now, but I had no idea I would have to solder the connectors myself. I also realized I knew nothing about batteries, how to charge them, and how to take care of them. Not a problem. I did a little research and looked through the episodes of the show and the forum posts and found all the answers I needed. At first I was a little intimidated by the fact that I would have to solder the connectors. I thought that soldering would be a difficult task. After some research I realized that using the soldering iron is not intimidating like I had thought. I realized it would actually make the experience more interesting by allowing me to have the freedom to choose connectors, the ability to fix electronics, and give me the feeling that I can accomplish more. I now actually enjoy soldering and always try to improve on my previous soldering job.
After I was done plugging everything in and making sure everything was working properly I took the plane to the local park, where they have a designated place for model airplanes. As you can see in the video the plane lifted well, but it was hard for me to keep it in control. I hadn't done a good job calibrating the rudder and the elevator, so the plane was pulling up and to the left--I made the mistake of not bringing the proper tools to fix that on the spot. I found myself making the mistake of trying to use the aileron sticks when I should be using the rudder sticks. I was also not used to the sensibility of the controls.
After around 20 minutes of flying and crashing to the ground I finally managed to break the prop (another mistake; I could have continued flying if I had brought replacement props with me). Although my first flight didn't last too long, I had a lot of fun. I realized that that is what I want. I want to make small mistakes and learn from them. I want to tinker. I want to tweak designs little by little and see what happens.
I want to thank the Flite Test crew and the community for being so welcoming. This is my first time posting, but just from lurking around the website and watching the show for a couple of months I got a very strong feeling that this is a very welcoming community to newcomers like me. I look forward to our future interactions,
Feel free to say, ask, and suggest stuff.
Thomas.
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