A bit about me

R

Returningrcr

New Member
I am returning to rc airplanes after at least a 20 year break. I live in Sioux Falls, SD in the summer and Apache Junction, AZ in the winter months. I need to relearn everything starting with batteries and foam planes. I am used of the stick build balsa and nitro methane engines. I feel like I am in Kindergarten again. Currently I have a Timber X night 1.2 and a Conscendo Advanced and 3 other balsa/nitro methane planes a friend gave me. I am using a Spektrum NX8 transmitter along with the smart charger and smart batteries since I know so little about this whole new concept.
 
Welcome to the forum! Glad to see another pilot getting back into the sky. The new technology is crazy compared to when I started flying on 72MHz around 2003. However, its nothing to be scared of. The new gyro-stabilizing stuff is cool too with 2.4Ghz. Bonus with flying Spektrum radios / receivers is they are simple to setup on a bind-n-fly (or BNF) model. Futaba has a lot of new technology too, but the Spektrum programming menus make a lot more sense to me (just my opinion). You mentioned having a Timber X, and that is a great airplane! I believe you have a option between 3S or 4S batteries with it, and for a high wing plane, it is very 3D capable. The night lights really help for late evening or of course night flying too. Again welcome to the forum, Happy flying :banana:.
 
Thank you for the welcome back.
I do like some of the Spektrum "Smart" techknowledgy i.e. batteries and chargers.
Sorry to say but I found the Spektrum files were very confusing to me. Using the timber X night for example, when binding, I didn't know which of the many files to use as they were abstract, and I couldn't find a simple explanation to each. Caused many needless crashes. The motor turned backward sometimes and sometimes not. No one at the field could figure it out. It turned out to be the wrong file for what I needed. No explanation of what switches do what. Sorry to say, if I were to do it all over again, I would go with the good old standby "Futaba" I am sure other manufactures will incorporate much of Spektrum's Techknowledgy that will be much more user friendly. I realize much of this is my lack of grasping the new tech stuff. In my case, I would have been much better staying with the non-tech stuff since it has been at least 20 years since I have flown.
Finally, after mostly crashed flights, I am just now getting a bit more comfortable with everything.
 
Returningrcr said:
Thank you for the welcome back.
I do like some of the Spektrum "Smart" techknowledgy i.e. batteries and chargers.
Sorry to say but I found the Spektrum files were very confusing to me. Using the timber X night for example, when binding, I didn't know which of the many files to use as they were abstract, and I couldn't find a simple explanation to each. Caused many needless crashes. The motor turned backward sometimes and sometimes not. No one at the field could figure it out. It turned out to be the wrong file for what I needed. No explanation of what switches do what. Sorry to say, if I were to do it all over again, I would go with the good old standby "Futaba" I am sure other manufactures will incorporate much of Spektrum's Techknowledgy that will be much more user friendly. I realize much of this is my lack of grasping the new tech stuff. In my case, I would have been much better staying with the non-tech stuff since it has been at least 20 years since I have flown.
Finally, after mostly crashed flights, I am just now getting a bit more comfortable with everything.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your crashes…If you have one of the AR636 type receivers on board, it may be a orientation issue. From what I’ve seen (for foamies), they are often pre-mounted for proper orientation to help the gyro act accordingly. I’m not too familiar with the flight files Spektrum has, I usually just bind the airplane up by the manual process (to have SAFE or no SAFE). Then work from there. I had a Sukhoi SU-29mm crash on the maiden flight because of the gyro from what I could tell. Tried to take a wide turn and completely lost it. Went spiraling down low and hit a tree at nearly full throttle (maybe full throttle). It hurt the plane of course, but I got it fixed to fly again. Ultimately I was glad it never hurt anyone, and didn’t hit the nearby creek.

With the motor running backwards, that sounds like more of a esc issue. Might need to swap one of the 3 leads for the motor to the opposite side of the esc to get it going the right direction. I could be wrong, but that’d be my first guess.

As far as what switches do what, for the 2-position and 3-position toggle switches, every airplane is different. But you should be able to re-assign them how you like from inside the radio. I’ve had to do it many times to make things more comfortable from a pilots standpoint. Just make sure if you move the switches that everything is moving the right direction; And inhibit the switches your not using.

On a side note - if you have realflight 9 or 9.5, the timber X is on there to experiment with different setups. And If your looking for someone to fly with, I’d be glad to join you on the simulator sometime.
 
Thank you Mike! All this new technology is great but in my seasoned years it is just more of a challenge for me to pick up on things and retain for more than a few seconds, or so it seems.LOL
I do have the newest ReatlFlight 9.5 simulator.. It does help muscle memory but landings as quite different in the field.
I am improving but just not as fast as I'd like.
Thank you for your guidance!
Dan
 
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