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Discussion in 'General Talk Forum' started by theothers, Apr 15, 2009.

  1. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Alright guyz. Sorry it has taken so long for me to get this video together. I am learning this new camera and this is my first attempt at video editing :) Hope you enjoy the video. We met up with Evil-Tunes this morning at a local college for some outdoor flying. It was awesome!
     
  2. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    Great job on the editing.
    Looks like you guys had a fun time. Keep at it.
    E-T's bird looks nice too.
     
  3. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Thanks 3D. I felt like I had a much better feel for it this time. I am going to try to put together the indoor flying video from last week.

    Big spaces are great to fly in. We have a small baseball field here that I flew in in summers past but the whole time I was trying to fly in a circle to avoid trees. I still was trying to fly in a circle this time but it wasn't as much pressure. Plus, I could fly real high and avoid hitting the ground! I tried a landing but I just wasn't ready yet. I need to learn how to line it up :)

    Flash, the flying solo lesson you posted really helped. If you keep your fingers close together you have much better control. Monkey thumbs are tempting though. I am going to try a neck strap next time. The controller is heavy for me to hold and my hands have to stretch so far to reach the controllers that only my pinkeys are holding the radio. I think a neck strap would make it much less stressful.
     
  4. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Glad to be able to share the info. I found the lessons helpful and bought a couple of their books. I had been using the monkey thumbs method up to then and had to unlearn old habits but now that I have, I feel really uncomfortable if I don't have my forefinger on the stick. I am still using my thumb to push the stick around, but the finger is helping to guide and provide positive feedback as to where the stick is at any given moment.

    I can see where small hands could pose a problem with this method. I don't adhere so strictly with the method on the throttle/rudder but the aileron/elevator stick is what I most want to have good solid control over. If it helps to hold the controller with your left hand and use the thumb method on the rudder/throttle in order to keep a good grip on the transmitter, then do it. A neck strap may help too. I see some guys who have made some pretty elaborate strap mounts to hold the radio so they can have both hands free for managing the sticks.



     
  5. ttraband

    ttraband Member

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    Anyone want to weigh in on the strap versus tray approach?
     
  6. 66tbird

    66tbird Moderator Staff Member

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    A neck strap is big help. Pinch stick is the way to learn. Make going to helis easy also.

    Another thing that speeds up the learning curve is to turn your back to the plane and look over your shoulder at it when it is coming at you. Helps in confidence on landing setup if your prone to right/left errors. (I don't know if it was mentioned in the above links).

    The main thing about landing approaches is to keep it coming straight at you till its close, then do the final adjustments to hit the runway and make that glass smooth touchdown.

    A typical lesson for me is to have the student do 3-4 minutes of defined patterns, right/left circles, square turns etc, then a few minutes of play time, like loops, stall turns etc. Then they do an approach or two. If they line up fine I'll let them land, if not, I do it and we try landing next time. Once they can land, then that's all we do during defined pattern time. Touch and go's till they can dead stick it to their feet :lol: I wish-- now that dated me :lol:
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous New Member

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    I have never used a tray, but I have been tempted to try one. However, for the $80+ the trays seem to all sell for, I can buy a LOT of neckstraps! BTW, I always fly with a neckstrap.
    Along with that, I've noticed that a good pilot can fly well with minimal equipment, but a poor flier can't fly any better with the best equipment on the market. In personal terms, the addition of a tray probably wasn't going to make me fly any better than my dumb-thumb mistakes will allow, so did I think there might be $80+ worth of comfort or convenience by getting a tray? My answer was no. :(
    One of the biggest helps I have found for flying with a neckstrap is using the "Hang-Flat" device, a small piece of aluminum plate that is designed to nearly perfectly balance the receiver from your neck. http://www.morganmill.com/RC/rc-site-10-7-08_003.htm
    I have one on my Spektrum DX6 and one on my Futaba 9CAP. :D
    [​IMG]
     
  8. 66tbird

    66tbird Moderator Staff Member

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    I used a tray back in the day when I needed precise control while going very fast. It was what I needed to keep my wrist steady. Wrist support is mainly what I found it good for, and holding the timer. I made mine from 1/4'' ply and added the bumpers and pads as needed. As the flying got casual and tx handoffs were common the tray was turned into firewalls.

    If there had been Expo back then I may not of used one.
     
  9. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    I have never used a tray. Only used a neckstrap once and then tossed it aside.

    But, given that Trishes hands are most likely smaller than most of us guys, I would expect that a tray or at least the device Dorsal mentioned might be useful for her.
     
  10. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Ok, it looks like our we're going to try our Toledo Show neck strap. We're hoping to go the E-T's fly in tonight. I worked on the videos from last time but so far, it's 10 minutes long. Video editing is hard :) and very time consuming. It takes longer to edit the video than it did to spend a couple of hours flying. At least that's the case for me right now. I'm sure I will get faster/better at it.

    Dorsal, that "Hang-Flat" device looks interesting. I'll see how it goes tonight and keep this attachment in mind.

    Hopefully, we won't need to spend $80 for the tray and we'll be able to put that money towards a DX-7 (make that 2 DX-7's). That is one problem with having both the husband and wife into the same hobby. There is no one there to say no, lol.
     

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