I've been sick for 5 days now and it has been pure hell. I'm up to my knees in tissues filled with my own thick greenish-brown nasal excrement. Needless to say I don't do well when I'm confined to the couch and forced to stay inactive. Luckily I've kept my sanity by continuing a pointless and solitary hobby left over from last winter, RC Helicoptering. It all started with a pair of Air Hog micro toy helicopters that Doug gave me for Christmas. Those were fun, but they didn't last very long. In a bout of winter induced boredom I took the next step (or skipped ahead 5 steps like going from a tricycle to Ducatti) and picked this up:
It was a full 3D collective pitch electric RC helicopter called the Honey Bee King II. I spent many obsessive hours learning, tuning, flying, crashing, and rebuilding it. At my best I was able to hover it facing away from me and fly in any direction or altitude as long as the nose continued to face away from me. The thing I couldn't do was keep control if the nose turned in any other orientation. I've flown RC airplanes in the past and never had orientation problems, but the helicopter was different. Here is a short video of me attempting to hover the Honey Bee and loosing control as it flys toward the camera and off screen:
After a few crashes it became harder to tune and soon would make uncommanded flight path changes. Eventually one of the those uncommanded inputs resulted in a spectacular crash which sent carbon fiber fragments flying everywhere. It was at a party with lots of spectators, but luckily no one was injured. A few weeks ago I sold the remnants of the Honey Bee and picked up the easiest RC Heli out there, a co-axial Blade CX 2.
A co-axial helicopter uses two main rotor blades mounted vertically spinning in opposite directions to cancel out each other's torque. It's easy to fly because you don't have to learn to coordinate the tail rotor with the main rotor blade. My Blade CX2 is basically stock except for an aluminum rotor head, carbon fiber tail boom and upgraded motors. It still needs to be tuned a little, it drifts forward and to the right. I'm taking small steps in learning to hover with the nose in other directions, so far I can do it nose right no problem. Here's 30 seconds of my work:
What does any of this have to do with the title "Tormenting Molly 2.0", you ask. Last year I posted a video of me tormenting Molly with the Air Hogs (here). To Molly the helicopter is nothing but a mysterious flying dog toy. She barks at it relentlessly, but doesn't try to attack it. The blades are flimsy enough that they wouldn't hurt her if she made contact, but it would be the end of the heli. I don't want to take a chance so I hover it just out of her reach. It's challenging to keep it stable in the blowing air currents of her barking breath. I only let her play about every third time so she knows it's just a game and not to chase it every time. Here she is in action:
It was a full 3D collective pitch electric RC helicopter called the Honey Bee King II. I spent many obsessive hours learning, tuning, flying, crashing, and rebuilding it. At my best I was able to hover it facing away from me and fly in any direction or altitude as long as the nose continued to face away from me. The thing I couldn't do was keep control if the nose turned in any other orientation. I've flown RC airplanes in the past and never had orientation problems, but the helicopter was different. Here is a short video of me attempting to hover the Honey Bee and loosing control as it flys toward the camera and off screen:
After a few crashes it became harder to tune and soon would make uncommanded flight path changes. Eventually one of the those uncommanded inputs resulted in a spectacular crash which sent carbon fiber fragments flying everywhere. It was at a party with lots of spectators, but luckily no one was injured. A few weeks ago I sold the remnants of the Honey Bee and picked up the easiest RC Heli out there, a co-axial Blade CX 2.
A co-axial helicopter uses two main rotor blades mounted vertically spinning in opposite directions to cancel out each other's torque. It's easy to fly because you don't have to learn to coordinate the tail rotor with the main rotor blade. My Blade CX2 is basically stock except for an aluminum rotor head, carbon fiber tail boom and upgraded motors. It still needs to be tuned a little, it drifts forward and to the right. I'm taking small steps in learning to hover with the nose in other directions, so far I can do it nose right no problem. Here's 30 seconds of my work:
What does any of this have to do with the title "Tormenting Molly 2.0", you ask. Last year I posted a video of me tormenting Molly with the Air Hogs (here). To Molly the helicopter is nothing but a mysterious flying dog toy. She barks at it relentlessly, but doesn't try to attack it. The blades are flimsy enough that they wouldn't hurt her if she made contact, but it would be the end of the heli. I don't want to take a chance so I hover it just out of her reach. It's challenging to keep it stable in the blowing air currents of her barking breath. I only let her play about every third time so she knows it's just a game and not to chase it every time. Here she is in action:
I hope I get over my sickness soon because Jo and I have a couple winter trips coming up. In the mean time at least Molly and I have something to keep us busy and sane.
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