Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hit the Sweet Spot with my T 6


I Love my T 6. Seriously 15 min plus flight times. My setup is 450 class motor the low kv version spinning a 10 6 or 9 6 prop, with a 32 A ESC and a 2100 TP lipo. It's so stable and she'll do anything, I have been practicing cuban eights, and trying to learn some more aerobatics, warbird style. I get my electronics from heads up rc, 2$ shipping from right here in the USA, the prices are the lowest I have found, and believe it I have looked. My next T6 will be EPO. Also I am going to paint it just like my Grandfather's. Lately I have been thinking about the sonic combat modules, or just the old fashioned ribbon style combat. I am ready to fight. I can't shut up about the flight times. The plane weighs about 10 oz. less than my EPO P 40. I also fly at half throttle most of the time to keep it looking scale. This must be the winning combination. Those factors and flying behaviors all coming together perfectly to get the most out of my equipment. I can't wait to shoot some more video. The last videos were all done on the same windy day. Really excited about better video and more aerobatics. I intend on doing a mini airshow routine with borrowed narration. You tube search Bill Leff's T6 and you will see what I am talking about. Also following GWS T 6 thread A Classic from the past on RC groups. RAMZ over and out Google gws t6 and it is the second listing for RC GROUPS

Monday, August 10, 2009

DAY 1: RC WARBIRD TRAINING

GWS has a few planes that I would suggest as a first plane for anyone looking to start flying the fighters. I prefer the GWS kits because of their affordability and the fact that you can easily find replacement parts. They look true to scale and are available pre-painted or white. I like the white versions so I can base the paint scheme on a truly historic squadron of pilots. The PT 17 Stearman is a great first trainer with stable flight characteristics that has a rich history. Many advanced modelers choose to fly it over their more challenging warbirds. The PT 17 can be flown with the stock brushed motor that it comes with or be upgraded to a brushless 370 or 400 class motor. With the 400 class, I can get 10 or more minutes of flight time and have plenty of power to pull some aerobatic maneuvers. The PT 17 maneuvers slow so make sure you have plenty of altitude before you put it through its paces. The model is designed to be flown gentle, so if you plan on flying super aerobatics with it you will have some reinforcing to do. If you intend to fly scale with some basic maneuvers this is a great kit to start with. In building a GWS kit the assumption is that you have some building experience (or willingness) and maybe some leftover parts from an earlier trainer. Unless of course you are willing to start from scratch. The directions are easy to understand and once you have done one GWS kit you basically have done them all. All their kits are essentially put together the same way and utilize the same parts tree for the little plastic parts. Be careful to achieve the correct center of gravity. I always aim for a little nose heaviness especially at first. Practice your landings up high by decreasing throttle or cutting it completely and see how she'll glide. Get comfortable with it and practice making a good landing approach into the wind. Right before your wheels touch, cut the throttle and flair slowly. On the grass, be prepared to nose over. Try to land where the grass is thin. Congrats you have advanced to a T 6.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Building next P 40, PSYCHED

Man I love this plane. Just started building my 2nd one today after work..the one pictured has been through the wringer, there is really nothing wrong with it other than they no longer sell the mount i need to make it work. There are two stick positions possible, i used the top position on this one which was fine, i also drilled out the other position to get more airflow around the esc. Now that i can not get the mount i need the second position is my next choice well it's gone i drilled it out, and making a firewall requires a lot of modification. I cannot stand it any longer so here comes the new one..I'm thinking that i'll paint it like the AVG FLYING TIGERS..the new one will be using the same motor only less KV, this will allow me to swing a 10/6 prop again without burning up my esc, also this time 40a esc..this thing smokes on that set up, i'll be able to fly 10 + minutes with some throttle management, this bird flys much more scale at half throttle. Totally psyched to get a P 40 back in the air..

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Formation flying


I have been wanting to try flying in formation with my father. Tonite we tried it for the first time. It went pretty good. I was flying my GWS T6, and my father was flying his speed stick, it's like a slow stick except different wing and tale feathers, they are leftovers from a wing dragon. Anyhow it went well for our first time, we will keep practicing and eventually i will post photos or video of our efforts. This realy gets me thinking about the sonic battle modules, i have seen a video of sonic combat once and it looked like a ton of fun, thing is I do not know where to look to find them, i'll keep looking.

P.S. It's time for a GUESS WHAT..so GUESS WHAT! guess what aircraft this is at the top of this post...

Monday, August 3, 2009

Sunday, August 2, 2009

What's in your hanger?

Here's what's in mine:
  • GWS T 6, 450 class upgrade, 10-6 prop, 2100 lipo
  • GWS EPO P 40, 480 class, 10-6 prop, 2 3/4 in. dubro spinner, 2100 lipo
  • GWS PT 17, 400 class, 9-6 prop, (flying w/o top wing... struts keep breaking)
  • GWS slow stick
Here's a list of planes that I use to have (but weren't so lucky):
  • Phase 3 P 38
  • Nitroplanes RTF P 47 (2)
  • Easy Star
  • GWS Pico Cub
On its way:
  • ParkZone Micro Sukhoi (for my son)
Reviews to come for all of these planes. Stay tuned!
So... what's in your hanger???

Pilot Briefing


Welcome to my blog. My name is Ryan Ramsey. I have been involved in the RC arena for a little over a year now. As I was growing up I basically ate, drank and slept airplanes. My grandfather was a corporate pilot and still owns a couple of warbirds. He has a T6 and a PT 19. I spent every summer until age 13 at airshows. Twenty years later, when I discovered the RC world, I realized how lucky I was to have had such an awesome experience growing up and have fallen back in love with aviation. I was pleased to discover that you could fly warbirds with electric power, and that you could fly them almost anywhere. Now I am crazy about warbirds, both RC and the real deal. Since the beginning of my RC journey I have studied flight with a passion. Necessity at first, after crashing over and over, I began to learn the why and how it works and the why and how it doesn't work. My father also flies RC. He says that flying is like stacking BB's. I believe this is true. I had so many things stacked against me on my first efforts. I tried everything and learned so much due to my failures. My first RC was a RTF P 47 from NITROPLANES, which was my first mistake. I should have started with a trainer. I had no idea how difficult it was. I will review this plane and my other planes later. My point with this blog is to share the journey and the love of flying with anyone who's interested. Some of the websites that I visit are very good, however i am not satisfied with their attention to parkie warbirds. So in this blog, warbirds will be the main focus. We are going to get into reviews, tech talk (mods and upgrades), crash analysis, where to find the bargains and many other things. Videos and photos will be littered throughout. I am very excited about this. Please follow my blog and feel free to leave comments!