R/C Back Again

Here is the latest update from RC Driver. Today, Greg will give you a few tips about your exhaust gasket. Enjoy!

I'm Here

For the past posts I have posted nothing but Radio Contolled car posts. But, I haven't forgoten about my lonly rocket on the shelf. The reason for such neglect is that I still haven't found anything to use as a blast plate on my launch pad ( though I admit I haven't looked as hard as I could).
On the other hand, a recently had a commentor suggest that I use an old cookie sheet. Strangely, I never thought about using that! And, the mysterious commentor had a good point, it probably be cheaper then finding sheet steel. So, one problem down; now to get my hands on a cookie sheet. It will be interesting to see if the thrust will burn through and how fast. Once I get one, I will post how it works and maybe a movie of the launch. Thanks for the comment, mystery Dude!

More R/C

Like I said earlier, I would be posting more movies by R/C Driver whenever they come out. this weeks tip happens to be how to flange your tune pipe and prevent it from coming lose in the event of an impact. I won't give it all away thought; I'll let the real experts tell the details. You can find more stuff from R/C Driver here.

Blitz-Rage!

As every R/C enthusiast is noticing, Short-Course race cars all the rage in the R/C market. Companies such as Associate Electronics and Traxxes have long since released their model of a big team truck. HPI Racing has released a a truck version of the Baja 5B, and a smaller truck was expected to be on the way. Well, here it is; the HPI Blitz!

The Blitz is a 1/10th scale, electric truck. This bad boy is 2wd, powered by HPI's reliable 15t electric motor. The chassis is based on the company's E-Firestorm, another 1/10th scale vehicle. In all the vulnerable areas, strong nylon takes the blow of impact. Plus, it is virtually fully customizable. Ride Height, anti-squat, camber and toe, and shock angles are all customizable (this is found elsewhere on many other cars).

Some of the features found are:

• HPI's 15t motor
• All metal gear transmission
• Full Ball bearings
• 12mm hubs
• Maxxis pre-painted body

...And, as a added bonus, the truck is mounted on Maxxis scale Trepador tires! These tires are designed to provide the looks and performance as the real thing!

Although you can't get it yet, it won't be a long wait. Scheduled to be released by this fall, it is just around the corner. To tease you even more, here is a video of the test Blitz in action, courtesy of the crew at R/C Driver magazine. I hope to have one of these things soon!

Digital R/C

A new feature at the web page of R/C Driver and on You Tube are videos of editor Greg Vogel and a host of other people from RCD explaining the what's-what of the r/c world as well as new products. And, just like the magazine, they will show projects and how-to's. From now on, I will be posting movies whenever they update. Enjoy!

Brake Down

My main topic for this blog is to write about my adventures with model rockets and radio controlled (R/C) cars. But, these past posts I haven't been writing about my little Losi Mini-T. About 10 inches long at most, this little bugger is my one and only hobby grade car. Yet, like my rocket, it hasn't had the smoothest history.

It started out as a Christmas present a few years back(2006). Since there was four feet of snow outside, the little car was kept inside doing figure-eights in my room. Of course, my room is small, so it got a few scars the day it rolled out of the box! Once the weather permitted and with a freshly charged battery, we ripped it up on the street, using the snow as ramps. But, like all cars, it got bumped and bashed and tossed around. By the first 6 months of driving, I had broke my motor, striped my gears, and snapped my shock tower clean off. Plus, the body is no longer red; it is now red with white pin stripes.

Today, my "T" is sitting idle, waiting for a new battery/charger and a new set a treads. The gears are once again striped , yet the motor is still going strong. The cost of fixing it will be about $40 or so, but my main priority is to get the rocket flying. Hopefully I can get the parts soon, so then my car can be flying!

Finished...or am I?

A couple of days ago, I finished my first rocket. As I mentioned earlier in my first post, my rocket is a Quest Shuttle Intrepid, capable of carrying a glider on top. Using a B6-4 or C3-6 motor, it is capable of reaching 500+ feet. Parachute recovery is how it returns from orbit, yet with the annoying wind, I will really need to keep it from flying away!

Also as I mentioned earlier, I had some issues while painting. The air brush was being stupid, and I eventually gave up on it. I managed to hand-paint it on, yet it doesn't look perfect. Oh-well, the paint scheme actually looks cool! I call it "Winter Camo". First, as a primer I painted gray on the whole rocket with the air brush. On the body tube and the top of the wings, I hand-painted on a layer of white (this is when I about threw the air brush). The white dried unevenly, showing bits of gray from underneath. This gave it the "Camo" look. On the bottom of the wings I painted on flat black to give a shuttle look.

Now I need to just install the motor and its ready to go! But, what to launch with? My launch pad is incomplete, for it is missing a blast plate (for those who don't know, a blast plate protects the ground and the launch pad from the thrust of the motor at lift off). My Handbook of Model Rocketry suggests using a peice of steel, whether sheet steel of from a can, but I can't find anything! If anyone out there has any ideas as to what I could use to create my own, I would appretiate it. But until I get a blast plate, my shuttle is grounded. Oh well, that gives me time to build more space craft!