I have no friends....

[vinito]

... so I have to tell you guys halfway around the globe.

I resurrected a new hobby. Radio control aircraft!!!
I got into this pretty heavy back in the mid '80s and it was a ton of fun for me. Really the only thing I wish was easier about it was hauling everything out to the flying field in order to get some stick time.
So cut to last week and I plopped my socks into the shallow end and bought a little mini quad copter. These things have some neat electronics which go to a corner and do a bunch of calculating and come back to synchronize the props so it flies stable. The big boys have had a bunch of extravagant control systems for a long time so the only thing new about mine is that as usual, they've miniaturized it and made it cheap. This one was like $40 (US) and it's just ready to fly (RTF). Just install batteries and let the crashing begin!

The copters are quite a bit trickier to control than the planes I flew back in the bronze age. I figured it would be a fun little goof, but I'm having a lot more fun with it already than I ever thought I would. And of course the very cool thing about it is that I can fly it in the house or just go out to the yard and chase squirrels. And it's electric. No more 5 trips back & forth from house to car to load up, drive 20 minutes to the field (which was lucky close actually), fueling starting and warming up engines, etc. With one of these you can really rack up the stick time easily if you have enough extra batteries to keep you going.

I'm really enjoying trying to perfect coordinating the new axes of movement. I still suck, but I'm steadily getting better. The first day I crashed every 20 seconds and I've trimmed that down to about every 5 or 10 minutes depending on what I'm working on. This thing has a removable add-on protector cage and it's so light that I haven't broken anything at all even with a couple dramatic-looking tumbles. When I'm ready I can remove the cage and get a little better performance out of it.

So the one I got was a Hubsan X4 H107L. The "L" means it has extra LEDs which help my old eyes see which way it's pointed and enable night flying as well, which I am surprised I enjoy as well. Plus the lights just plain make it look cool. The craft isn't anything special in that realm, but it is reportedly a more stable flier than most of the ones in this size range.



I'm kind of in deep already though. As per my normal M.O., I have a slightly larger, slightly more expensive toy quadcopter on the way which carries a camera to record aerial video, and several other bits and bobs related to this stuff, like parts to build a micro-sized cheap 3-axis camera gimbal for future use (maybe in a copter, maybe in a fishing boat).

So yea, it's a toy. And it's kinda making me feel like a kid again.
I just had to vent. Hopefully some of my cheer is contagious.

P.S. I was going to buy this one (Blade Nano QX, but it's not available much. Maybe worth trying later or something. It's about the same size as the Hubsan. It looks really cool to me and it's supposed to fly at least as well as the Hubsan.

[swinks]

congrats, they are cool toys.

a relative is right into them and a great flyer and makes some money on the side videoing houses that are for sale for a real estate

[pinball god]

congrats, they are cool toys.

a relative is right into them and a great flyer and makes some money on the side videoing houses that are for sale for a real estate

he wasn't the guy who accidently took a photo of a woman sun baking naked in her backyard???

[swinks]

congrats, they are cool toys.

a relative is right into them and a great flyer and makes some money on the side videoing houses that are for sale for a real estate

he wasn't the guy who accidently took a photo of a woman sun baking naked in her backyard???

no  , the bad thing with that one was the real estate used the photo and placed it on the billboard.....

[oldskool1969]

I only recently gave this hobby up, apart from being $$$ it is really fun with your mates especially crashing into each other and having a few beers down the park ( illegal )
Soaring off cliffs near the coast is AWESOME.
enjoy it Dude, the only reason why I had to pass is that I couldn't look up without falling over 
Still have my helicopter and dune buggy though 

[Caveoftreasures]

Good thread.
I have Apx six large radio controlled planes both in electric and nitro petrol form and have both two stroke and four stroke engines.
A lot of fun.
I had a business buddy who had a import business so I used to get bulk buys at wholesale.
Still got enough radio controlled planes etc to start a airforce. Lol
A great hobby but if u crash it costs money. I have planes that do over 140 kilometres per hour and some planes have a six foot wingspan. Bigger planes are easier to fly and easier to see up in the sky. One day I will take some photos.

[vinito]

A great hobby but if u crash it costs money.

Hmm. What I found back when I flew planes is that it was expensive to get going, but repairing crashes wasn't a big deal. Fuel was cheap (per minute, not per gallon).
Of course back then the ARFs were just beginning so it wasn't at all like it is now. I always liked building things anyway so I always did a kit, and a kit really is simply a box of sticks. Even a bad crash is probably 75% recognizable airplane so it was just a matter of a smaller pile of sticks and covering and you're back in business. Much better than starting with a box of sticks from scratch. My most expensive repair was about $10 in materials and another $20 in parts. Minor crashes could often be done at the field. CA glue makes all that so much easier and faster.

Anyway, I clearly remember realizing that after I took the plunge and bought all the stuff to get started, it was very inexpensive fun to stay flying.

Now helis are another thing. Not a splinter of balsa in sight with those, so I knew that was too expensive to get into back then, especially since I knew they were much trickier to control thus I would crash and buy parts MUCH more often.

I'll probably get into larger and more expensive models of copters over time. My solution to crashing them so much is to spend time with Realflight (my favorite RC flight sim) first and make my learning crashes cost zero money or time. I find that it's very realistic the way the different craft fly and it's a fun activity all its own. Edutational.

Flew the Hubsan this evening out in the yard. The place always has three or four squirrels carousing and cavorting all day long. But ever since I got this thing I haven't seen a one on the ground yet. I think they had a meeting.
Someday though, they'll get hungry or forget what they decided (being small-brained squirrels and all) or something and I WILL have my way with them. The Hubsan always has a fresh battery at the ready.

[goodolddays]

Looks like fun Vince .

I got an RC heli Xmas before last .. one of these

 https://www.google.com.au/search?q=syma+s107&biw=1280&bih=929&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=KcTaVMCYM4T7UuauhIAC&ved=0CCkQsAQ

Recently put a larger battery in it which has boosted the flight time a lot .

[Caveoftreasures]

I have the same RC Real Flight software and training hardware and it is excellent.
The look and feel is just like the real thing. So many planes to chose from.

One of the training planes I purchased in both nitro methanol version and full electric version is called NextStar Select and they are excellent value for money, easy to fly and look excellent.
As you said, the ARF (almost ready to fly) kits are excellent.
The NextStar Select models are even more finished than the ARF models in that they can be unboxed and ready to fly in 15 minutes. A great hobby if u can get used to the flight controls and have good co-ordination. It's not easy. Some people pick it up real easy and others constantly battle to get it right. I enjoy giving some of my planes to expert flyers at the club and watching them fly the ones that are too advanced for my skills.

Helicopters are not easy. That is a very difficult thing to get used to when u go to large models which have helicopter blades 4 foot and 6 foot in size. People who can fly them are very talented. Those Helis are thousands of dollars as well. I know that I could never get that good.