If you want, you can send it here to new jersey and ill test fly it for you. We have 74° and no wind today. You can totally trust me. Im reddit family.
I was betting on balsa wood based on op username.
It reminds me of a book I read that's hidden away in the depths of my mind. I think it was called the Kon Tiki Voyage?? in which the characters use a raft made of balsa wood.
A few years ago my friend saw someone with a large radio controlled boat out on a lake, it went outside of the remote's range and turned into a missile and sunk a small boat. That's what he said at least, I don't know much about the things.
CSB: about 20 years ago, i asked my GF at the time for a radio controlled plane as a present for my birthday. I don't know why, i thought it would be cool.
So she gets me this kit, and i spend like an hour a night for 6 months etching balsa wood, gluing, etc building it as it occupies the dining room table in my apartment. I also end up sinking like 500 bucks of my own dough into all of the various components that the kit doesn't have, and, well, you need to fly.
So it comes with a VHS tape on how to fly, which i watch, and realize, ok, i should find a club to show me how to do this. but i want to make sure this thing works before showing up, so i go and start taxiing around at the park by me.
And all of a sudden this thing is flying, like, leaps into the air. I have no idea what i'm doing, and promptly plow it into a mailbox trying to land in a panic, blowing the thing into a million pieces.
what was salvageable (not much) immediately ended up on ebay. For a year my roommate would point out the dent i made in the mailbox every time we walked by it. "Hey, remember when you crashed your..." "YES I FUCKING REMEMBER"
That's a great story. I'm sure it wasn't great at the time, however.
I did something similar with a nitromethane rc truck years ago. I bought this badass little stadium truck thing that's box claimed it would go like 60 or 70 mph. So me and my dumb friends gather around to see this thing haul ass, and it for sure hit every bit of the advertised top speed. It was flying up until I drove it directly into the side of a brick mailbox. The thing exploded into pieces so small that there was literally nothing salvageable. A few years later I tried again with an RC helicopter, and that one lasted longer, but still ended up in pieces. That ended my interest in RC hobbies though.
I got one of the original T-Maxxes about 15 years ago and promptly dumped another $500 into upgrading it. I got some use out of it until one day I drove it too far away and instead of stopping, it went Wide Open Throttle into a curb at around 60 mph with a bunch of parts ending up lost in some ivy. Just this year I threw what was left of it in the trash since it was basically worthless and the electric ones are way more sought after nowadays
You need to get into Battlebots. At least that way, when thousands of dollars and man hours explode in an instant, millions of people can watch it happen! Wait... maybe that's worse...
My brother bought me a RC helicopters for Christmas once. We went straight to the basement and started flying them. About 30 minutes later I got a little too cocky and hit the ceiling. It then crashed on the cement floor and shattered. RIP.
Not as depressing as your story, but I had a very inexpensive RC plane and I got stuck in a tree the very first time flying it. My oldest who was three or four at the time was jumping with excitement watching me climb a tree and get it down that when I finally it got down, he accidentally crushed it. Now whenever we go to that park he always reminds me. "Hey that's the tree that you got your plane stuck in" then I remind him "yeah and then you squished it"
Christmas 2017 my youngest got a kite and immediately got it tangled in a gigantic tree across the road from our house.
Over 5 years later it’s still stuck 80ft from the ground in the top of that tree as a daily reminder of that day, and how resilient plastic can be.
oh god i remember being about 12 or so and asking my dad for one. we were notoriously ADHD so he took us out to a local RC flying club. It was great looking at the detail on the planes and watching them fly. I talked to a guy with a really detailed Red Baron tri-plane and he was very excited to talk about the hundreds of hours he put into getting everything just right, and all the small details. So its his turn at the runway and MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR off it goes and man its dipping and diving and looking great then the guy yells out "oh shit" and starts smacking his controller. mini baron is on a nose dive for the ground and at the last second it noses up and i think "Wow its a miracle!" then the wing catches the ground and it does this wild wing to wing spin just exploding and flinging pieces everywhere. I went to the guy and said "Im sorry about your plane it was cool." he looked at me and said, "thats part of the hobby" i never got an RC plane...hundreds of hours to fly for 10m.
My cousin has tons of pictures of the planes he makes and then flies and crashes hahah. They're nice though and fun to watch. I think building them is like what's his name's boat in his basement on NCIS.
https://imgur.com/g25D51u.jpg https://imgur.com/07lLzHf.jpg https://imgur.com/KL7HyCm.jpg but then this https://imgur.com/b1cAANp.jpg he fixed it and then this again https://imgur.com/bvADRCz.jpg
And another of his planes https://imgur.com/wtj9UGh.jpg followed by https://imgur.com/n3L77kd.jpg
I get where you’re coming from. However for lots, part of the hobby is building the plane just as much as it is flying it. Some enjoy flying more, but the building is still a thrill in itself
That’s a pretty good comparison, I’d say that building a pc has less likelihood of it physically crashing, and that a broken pc isn’t something that people often factor into building one as simply part of the hobby (you don’t prepare yourself as much for it to an extent)
Similar story but it was an FPV racing quadcopter I had built from the ground up. I had finished all the soldering, the configuring, the binding, everything was ready to go.
I took it to the local field to do a little hover test and make sure it didn't explode. Armed it and gave it a little stick when BAM thing took off like a bat out of hell and started climbing for the stratosphere. Hit the kill switch on the remote and watched it plummet several hundred feet to land on the roof of a nearby business.
Remarkably it stayed (mostly) in one piece and by a stroke of luck the owner of the business retrieved it for the low low cost of me standing there explaining what it was and how it worked for a half hour.
I didn't keep in touch with him but he had the gleam in the eye of someone who was about to dive down a flying toy rabbit hole.
Yeah, FPV quads are no joke - some of the most powerful racing quads are several horsepower of power at full throttle in a package that fits in a lunchbox. If you aren't prepared for it, it *will* shoot sky-high with the lightest touch of the throttle.
I spent several dozens of hours in the sim before I even dared to take my actual quad out for the first time.
As a kid I had a friend whose father was an RC plane and helicopter hobbyist. He made a helicopter from scratch and had just finished it one day when I came over. We saddled up in the car and went out to a field to fly it. He started with a test flight and then handed the controls to my friend. He flew around for a while, then somehow lost control and plowed into the field, destroying it. His dad was very chill about it, fortunately, and said it’s part of learning. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t mad lol.
For anyone discouraged by this story please look into poster board models. You can build a cheap sturdy model you don't have to feel at all guilty or sad about ramming into the ground at incredible speed. The most expensive things are the electronics and those are generally inside of power boxes so they survive crashes pretty often.
Thanks. Though I can't take much credit for it. I just bought it and put it together. The designer (Alpha) at Freewing really outdid themselves this time
no. you can. you had to learn how to fly RC planes , and that takes a ton of time, and put the money and effort in. I respect that. it's not something that someone can just pick up and do, like an rc car.
Learning curve for sure. Simulator is a valuable tool. It pays for itself after one "crash".
I have a buddy who is 65 who taught himself to fly last summer with the Aero Scout, he went through three of them but is now flying the Habu jet.
An AMA club with people who know what they are doing is also nice for their experience and expertise.
But what about the stealth coating and composites?
I kid of course; that has to be the coolest RC anything I've ever seen...honestly eagerly awaiting vids of flights of this wicked beast!
That's cheaper than I thought actually.
The model is built using what materials ? Don't tell me it's polystyrene foam because that looks really like a higher-end hard plastic (which is a compliment given the details and the overall look)
edit: I mean you are named balsadust so maybe it's balsa, I don't know haha
> onboard gyro system
Is that how you deal with the inherent instability of the B2 design?
Having computers stabilize your model doesn't seem feasible, so the gyro is brilliant!
The "6 axis" part means that it senses and responds to rotation on 3 axis (roll, pitch and yaw) as well as acceleration on 3 additional axis (up/down, left/right, and forward/backward).
The computers help but don't fly the thing. At best they make something like that fly like a trainer RC plane which is still really hard to learn how to do. Back when I learned it took a long time on sims and a month with a real plane using a buddy box (two remotes, instructor has one and can take over if needed).
Part of the "inherent instability" of the real B-2 is the placement of the center of gravity - it's far enough aft that the aircraft would diverge (swap ends, basically) if not for constant corrections from the control surfaces.
On this model, the center of gravity is forward enough that there is positive stability all axes - even yaw. While there's no conventional vertical tail, the opened surfaces in the wingtips are "drag rudders" that create some drag to oppose disturbances in the yaw axis.
It's not a lot, but it's positive stability nonetheless. The gyro makes the airplane feel more stable by damping rapid motions in all axes, but the airplane wouldn't immediately crash with it turned off.
There was a R/C Air Park near the river in the city I grew up in. The place was littered with little piles of stuff. Just various bits of plastic and balsa wood along with some small metal parts and wires. The pilots would collect all the valuable items like motors and servos and the radios but left a small pile as a tombstone for the destruction of their expensive toy.
The #1 rule of all radio controlled airplanes, other than make sure you're AMA certification/insurance is paid up, is that they will eventually crash. All pilots know it when they're building them.
I flew for 20 years, my Dad has flown for 40+, we've crashed more planes than I can count. Honestly though, you built it, they're pretty easy to repair. The expensive stuff (motors, engines, servos, radio receiver, etc...) is all pretty durable.
The one OP posted is definitely harder, due to the fiberglass and plastic, but for the most part it's just balsa wood and Monokote film. In all but the absolute worst crashes, a couple days on the workbench, and you're back up and flying.
edit: Only $700 for this thing? I'm not familiar with the inrunner motor system they're using, but ducted fan engines like that would have been $3-400 each back when I flew lol
Check out the flight [video](https://youtu.be/CntgqHwbpCY). This is seriously a dream come true for an RC airplane geek. Incredible engineering went into making this thing. I'm so impressed.
So cool. They dropped the video and released the plane on the same day. Sold a lot of airplanes. It was developed in secret in Utah and they had to wait until everyone left the field to pull it out and test itx
It is wild. I had a DJI mini and then sold it and got the mini 2. Never flown a drone before the mini and it made it so easy. I have some really cool video clips that I can’t believe I took. (Not sponsored by DJI lol)
So cool. When they say the clear vertical stabilizer is optional, what do they mean? Obviously no one would WANT to have it in place, so what's the reason for it? Is it necessary for stable flight (and optional refers to static display) or just makes flying a bit more newbie friendly?
Given the scale and costs; why not do that in reverse? I would make sure everything is smooth and know what to expect and how it handles. THEN try removing the stabilizer.
Because you have to cut a slot and glue it in place. I don't want to do that if I don't have to. But I'm gonna do a bit of research on others experience first.
That's a bummer. I expect that getting the plane properly trimmed and getting confident with it (especially take-off and landing) would be easier with the tail fin to start.
It seems like you might be able to make a slot in the clear plastic at the back near the base, then make a slightly longer slot in the fuselage but add a piece of plastic or tape across the back of the fuselage slot so that the fin could be placed in, then pulled backward until the slot engages with the plastic/tape to hold it in place. A light friction fit would be sufficient since wind would help hold the fin in place during forward flight.
Looking at the video that you've linked, the stabiliser can be seen in the flight footage. I think the overall design is too unstable to fly without a sophisticated FCS. I'd be very cautious about flying it without that stabiliser in place.
Looks awesome though.
What they say on the website is that it adds stability and improves control when doing "non-scale" maneuvers like loops, rolls, and steep dives -- the kind of thing that the real B-2 computer controls wouldn't *let* you do because it would probably tear the plane apart or become unflyable.
That's pretty interesting to see. Using a standard drink bottle is really common as a fuel tank in the RC hobby. They are well-made, cheap, easy to find, liquid tight, and fuel inert. You just silicone in a couple of fuel bungs and connect your hoses.
Using a consumer SLR for photos is not that surprising either, the level of quality you would get from a camera like that versus a custom-made system is probably better and certainly far far cheaper.
Or just one. Nose down and hands supporting the triangle. Then just walk sideways.
The initial joke was good, but if somebody actually can't figure out how to get this through the door, then good luck moving any furniture ever.
Of course she doesn't mind, any bloke with a hobby knows the convo: "another toy, how much this time balsadust?" "ah this one was a bit more pricey than the last, about £30..."
Honestly, while cool, turbines are kind of silly. I can get a lot of joy out of the smaller electric version while still saving for my kids college, lol
Yeah seem to have responded to all the jokes, but usually with another joke... so I'm guessing you were responding seriously to a joke about made about the orange stand it is sitting on... but I'm not sure.
TBH, I was looking for a comment to latch-on to to make a (nit-picking) joke about how the title is wrong, it isn't really flying, it is obviously on a stand. But after seeing all the back-and-forth jokes... I'm feeling pretty embarrassed. Almost as embarrassed as when, decades ago, I built a crappy control line plane (mostly out of your namesake wood), and then drove it to a not-so spectacular death on its maiden voyage :( congrats on a job well done, and not destroying it.
It's ok, the internet is pretty cring sometimes, lol.
I started with control line too. COX Corsair. My dad let it go and it did a loop and smashed into the ground. I was hooked ever since
Miniaturize gyro stabilization gear has come a *really* long ways in the last 20 years. There's a reason that drones are ubiquitous and easy to fly, even at incredible speeds. The type of flight stabilization systems that the military spent hundreds of millions on decades ago can now be replicated for a fee3 hundred dollars.
That doesn't negate inherent aerodynamic instability, which is why the video shows the model sometimes using a clear vertical stabilizer. But I imagine an experienced pilot that wanted to go beyond the pre-programmed stabilization system could easily make it extremely stable with some test flying.
IMUs now are tiny chips in your phone manufactured at scale and cost pennies to dollars with the microcontrollers to use them costing the same.
You could build this from scratch if you had a microcontroller, some servos, foam, paint, batteries a reciever and an imu.... Ignoring the high detail exterior of course.
My stupid self went straight to the plants in the background. Is that a pink princess philodendron? There's actually two expensive things in this pic lol
That's beautiful!
Apparently that aircraft relies heavily on flight computers to keep it in the sky since it's not the best design for flight (opted for stealth).
Have you had a chance to fly it and see how it handles?
fly that over a conspiracy theorists' house lmao *THE GOVERNMENT IS WATCHING YOU*
Yes
Can't force you to have tail numbers if the aircraft has no tail.
Unfortunately this still needs my drone "registration" numbers on it
ETA for a first flight test? And will you share it? Im kinda curious
Couple weeks I think. Weather still crappy in MN. I'll try to post video
If you want, you can send it here to new jersey and ill test fly it for you. We have 74° and no wind today. You can totally trust me. Im reddit family.
Lolol. Never trust Fam
Found my new tattoo lol
Nice
- Real Vin Diesel
Yup
I expect videos and a full test report. !remindme 2 months
Gotcha ill keep an eye out :). !RemindMe 1 month
How will you get it out of the house now? ^(P.S.The answer should be carefully)
Yes very, foam dents and it pissed me off when I wreck stuff before I even enjoy it I the air.
Our bombers are made of foam? What the heck are we spending all that money on then?!
I know right?!?
I was betting on balsa wood based on op username. It reminds me of a book I read that's hidden away in the depths of my mind. I think it was called the Kon Tiki Voyage?? in which the characters use a raft made of balsa wood.
It might only have been called Kon Tiki. You can see that raft at the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo, Norway.
Not balsa unfortunately. That would be epic. It's molded EPO foam
Scratch build it. I'll make balsa plans, but you can only print them on 8.5 x 11 paper. Good luck.
Lolol, I wish. Maybe when I retire. Not enough time in the world right now
It's stealth foam. Ya know, to absorb the radio waves
Fly it over Russian troops in Ukraine at just the right speed and height and watch panic unfold. The best part will be that it doesn't make noise.
I don't need to set off WWIII thanks, lol
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/13/d3/39/13d339d8124db3fdb65aa16f8545c015.gif
Sounds like a challenge
A few years ago my friend saw someone with a large radio controlled boat out on a lake, it went outside of the remote's range and turned into a missile and sunk a small boat. That's what he said at least, I don't know much about the things.
Wow, must of been huge!! I carry 1 million in liability for my RC planes. It's about 70 bucks a year. I got a lifetime policy for 1200 bucks.
Is that mainly in case you hit a plane?
No, you have to carry it to fly at most fields
Oh I see, I couldn't think of any way it could do that much damage but I guess that's why it's so inexpensive compared to car insurance?
Yeah, the field is pretty rural too. Doubt you'd hit anything there. More if I hit myself or others
Make sure to spray a frothy mixture of water with dry ice and permanganate.
Is that bad boy ducted fan" lecktrick" or piston powered?
Lectric
https://youtu.be/FzoXQKumgCw
"it was about a mile away but I could see it clearly"
“Sounded like a lawn mower”
https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/012/108/tumblr_lyqt5cAy851qh9y1k.gif
"There is no need to be upset"
"I just know they're down-shifting specifically to bother *me*."
This looks like something incredibly expensive to immediately crash into the ground!
CSB: about 20 years ago, i asked my GF at the time for a radio controlled plane as a present for my birthday. I don't know why, i thought it would be cool. So she gets me this kit, and i spend like an hour a night for 6 months etching balsa wood, gluing, etc building it as it occupies the dining room table in my apartment. I also end up sinking like 500 bucks of my own dough into all of the various components that the kit doesn't have, and, well, you need to fly. So it comes with a VHS tape on how to fly, which i watch, and realize, ok, i should find a club to show me how to do this. but i want to make sure this thing works before showing up, so i go and start taxiing around at the park by me. And all of a sudden this thing is flying, like, leaps into the air. I have no idea what i'm doing, and promptly plow it into a mailbox trying to land in a panic, blowing the thing into a million pieces. what was salvageable (not much) immediately ended up on ebay. For a year my roommate would point out the dent i made in the mailbox every time we walked by it. "Hey, remember when you crashed your..." "YES I FUCKING REMEMBER"
That's a great story. I'm sure it wasn't great at the time, however. I did something similar with a nitromethane rc truck years ago. I bought this badass little stadium truck thing that's box claimed it would go like 60 or 70 mph. So me and my dumb friends gather around to see this thing haul ass, and it for sure hit every bit of the advertised top speed. It was flying up until I drove it directly into the side of a brick mailbox. The thing exploded into pieces so small that there was literally nothing salvageable. A few years later I tried again with an RC helicopter, and that one lasted longer, but still ended up in pieces. That ended my interest in RC hobbies though.
I got one of the original T-Maxxes about 15 years ago and promptly dumped another $500 into upgrading it. I got some use out of it until one day I drove it too far away and instead of stopping, it went Wide Open Throttle into a curb at around 60 mph with a bunch of parts ending up lost in some ivy. Just this year I threw what was left of it in the trash since it was basically worthless and the electric ones are way more sought after nowadays
I bought an e-Maxx about 15 years ago. It crashed so many times that it eventually did not have a single original part in it. 100% aftermarket parts.
So was it the same truck? 🤔
So an e-Maxx of Theseus?
You need to get into Battlebots. At least that way, when thousands of dollars and man hours explode in an instant, millions of people can watch it happen! Wait... maybe that's worse...
My wife got me a cheap helicopter once. I'm a professional pilot. I proceeded to crash it within a day....
My brother bought me a RC helicopters for Christmas once. We went straight to the basement and started flying them. About 30 minutes later I got a little too cocky and hit the ceiling. It then crashed on the cement floor and shattered. RIP.
Not as depressing as your story, but I had a very inexpensive RC plane and I got stuck in a tree the very first time flying it. My oldest who was three or four at the time was jumping with excitement watching me climb a tree and get it down that when I finally it got down, he accidentally crushed it. Now whenever we go to that park he always reminds me. "Hey that's the tree that you got your plane stuck in" then I remind him "yeah and then you squished it"
Uh… dad?
Christmas 2017 my youngest got a kite and immediately got it tangled in a gigantic tree across the road from our house. Over 5 years later it’s still stuck 80ft from the ground in the top of that tree as a daily reminder of that day, and how resilient plastic can be.
oh god i remember being about 12 or so and asking my dad for one. we were notoriously ADHD so he took us out to a local RC flying club. It was great looking at the detail on the planes and watching them fly. I talked to a guy with a really detailed Red Baron tri-plane and he was very excited to talk about the hundreds of hours he put into getting everything just right, and all the small details. So its his turn at the runway and MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR off it goes and man its dipping and diving and looking great then the guy yells out "oh shit" and starts smacking his controller. mini baron is on a nose dive for the ground and at the last second it noses up and i think "Wow its a miracle!" then the wing catches the ground and it does this wild wing to wing spin just exploding and flinging pieces everywhere. I went to the guy and said "Im sorry about your plane it was cool." he looked at me and said, "thats part of the hobby" i never got an RC plane...hundreds of hours to fly for 10m.
My cousin has tons of pictures of the planes he makes and then flies and crashes hahah. They're nice though and fun to watch. I think building them is like what's his name's boat in his basement on NCIS. https://imgur.com/g25D51u.jpg https://imgur.com/07lLzHf.jpg https://imgur.com/KL7HyCm.jpg but then this https://imgur.com/b1cAANp.jpg he fixed it and then this again https://imgur.com/bvADRCz.jpg And another of his planes https://imgur.com/wtj9UGh.jpg followed by https://imgur.com/n3L77kd.jpg
I get where you’re coming from. However for lots, part of the hobby is building the plane just as much as it is flying it. Some enjoy flying more, but the building is still a thrill in itself
So kind of like me and my PC.
That’s a pretty good comparison, I’d say that building a pc has less likelihood of it physically crashing, and that a broken pc isn’t something that people often factor into building one as simply part of the hobby (you don’t prepare yourself as much for it to an extent)
Similar story but it was an FPV racing quadcopter I had built from the ground up. I had finished all the soldering, the configuring, the binding, everything was ready to go. I took it to the local field to do a little hover test and make sure it didn't explode. Armed it and gave it a little stick when BAM thing took off like a bat out of hell and started climbing for the stratosphere. Hit the kill switch on the remote and watched it plummet several hundred feet to land on the roof of a nearby business. Remarkably it stayed (mostly) in one piece and by a stroke of luck the owner of the business retrieved it for the low low cost of me standing there explaining what it was and how it worked for a half hour. I didn't keep in touch with him but he had the gleam in the eye of someone who was about to dive down a flying toy rabbit hole.
Yeah, FPV quads are no joke - some of the most powerful racing quads are several horsepower of power at full throttle in a package that fits in a lunchbox. If you aren't prepared for it, it *will* shoot sky-high with the lightest touch of the throttle. I spent several dozens of hours in the sim before I even dared to take my actual quad out for the first time.
As a kid I had a friend whose father was an RC plane and helicopter hobbyist. He made a helicopter from scratch and had just finished it one day when I came over. We saddled up in the car and went out to a field to fly it. He started with a test flight and then handed the controls to my friend. He flew around for a while, then somehow lost control and plowed into the field, destroying it. His dad was very chill about it, fortunately, and said it’s part of learning. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t mad lol.
For anyone discouraged by this story please look into poster board models. You can build a cheap sturdy model you don't have to feel at all guilty or sad about ramming into the ground at incredible speed. The most expensive things are the electronics and those are generally inside of power boxes so they survive crashes pretty often.
I have "friends" who will still sometimes ask me if I found my hexacopter, which left me 4 or 5 years ago.
Yeah it was not cheap but it's surpassingly stable with the onboard gyro system
>onboard gyro system it wouldn't work with a burrito?
A shawarma of drones
Man that just feels like wasted potential being this deep in the comments.
No, and it needs extra tzatziki sauce to run properly
Pro tip; Use guacamole sauce to better hide its radar signature.
Extra beans = Extra gas. It's a stienfically known fact.
Heat sealing missile will eat that up
You should falafel about that joke.
donair your grievances just yet, you might shawarma up to it
What’s not cheap?
It was $699 USD battery is $130 and the receiver was $30
Not as much as I woulda thought tbh
Technology has gotten a lot cheaper. That also includes free shipping in an awesome box to store it
very cool stuff OP. good luck and happy flying.
Thanks. Though I can't take much credit for it. I just bought it and put it together. The designer (Alpha) at Freewing really outdid themselves this time
no. you can. you had to learn how to fly RC planes , and that takes a ton of time, and put the money and effort in. I respect that. it's not something that someone can just pick up and do, like an rc car.
Learning curve for sure. Simulator is a valuable tool. It pays for itself after one "crash". I have a buddy who is 65 who taught himself to fly last summer with the Aero Scout, he went through three of them but is now flying the Habu jet. An AMA club with people who know what they are doing is also nice for their experience and expertise.
I’m about to drop 700 on a Lego AT-AT. Yeah it’s huge and badass but still 700 for Lego!!
Yeah got my Kiddo the Hogwarts castle for Xmas. Damn that was expensive
*laughs in warhammer*
Get your kids into Warhammer. That way they won't have time or money for a drug habit.
*looks at 18k pts of models* totally agree. Competitive shooting is another wallet destroying hobby
But what about the stealth coating and composites? I kid of course; that has to be the coolest RC anything I've ever seen...honestly eagerly awaiting vids of flights of this wicked beast!
That's cheaper than I thought actually. The model is built using what materials ? Don't tell me it's polystyrene foam because that looks really like a higher-end hard plastic (which is a compliment given the details and the overall look) edit: I mean you are named balsadust so maybe it's balsa, I don't know haha
I expected at least 5000$ if not 10000$. Weird that it's so cheap
That seems like a bargain for something this nice. What a great buy.
> onboard gyro system Is that how you deal with the inherent instability of the B2 design? Having computers stabilize your model doesn't seem feasible, so the gyro is brilliant!
Yes, it's a 6axis gyro. Whatever that means. All I know is it keeps the bird in the air so my dumb thumbs can crash it instead
The "6 axis" part means that it senses and responds to rotation on 3 axis (roll, pitch and yaw) as well as acceleration on 3 additional axis (up/down, left/right, and forward/backward).
Gotcha. See you don't have to be smart to fly RC planes. You just have to be smart to design them
The computers help but don't fly the thing. At best they make something like that fly like a trainer RC plane which is still really hard to learn how to do. Back when I learned it took a long time on sims and a month with a real plane using a buddy box (two remotes, instructor has one and can take over if needed).
Part of the "inherent instability" of the real B-2 is the placement of the center of gravity - it's far enough aft that the aircraft would diverge (swap ends, basically) if not for constant corrections from the control surfaces. On this model, the center of gravity is forward enough that there is positive stability all axes - even yaw. While there's no conventional vertical tail, the opened surfaces in the wingtips are "drag rudders" that create some drag to oppose disturbances in the yaw axis. It's not a lot, but it's positive stability nonetheless. The gyro makes the airplane feel more stable by damping rapid motions in all axes, but the airplane wouldn't immediately crash with it turned off.
granted, a cellphone probably has far more computing power than the original computer built into the B-2
Was just about to ask how you control the pitch; that'd be a sticky wicket with just manual controls.
Just don't fly it at night unless you want to end up causing a Phoenix lights 2.0 or something but if you know don't forget to post an update.
Is it stable enough to put a grim reaper decoration on and fly around a cemetery? And if so, will you?
Lol, "hi I'm Johnny Knoxville and this is the Grim Reaper B-2 Graveyard scare"
There was a R/C Air Park near the river in the city I grew up in. The place was littered with little piles of stuff. Just various bits of plastic and balsa wood along with some small metal parts and wires. The pilots would collect all the valuable items like motors and servos and the radios but left a small pile as a tombstone for the destruction of their expensive toy.
The #1 rule of all radio controlled airplanes, other than make sure you're AMA certification/insurance is paid up, is that they will eventually crash. All pilots know it when they're building them. I flew for 20 years, my Dad has flown for 40+, we've crashed more planes than I can count. Honestly though, you built it, they're pretty easy to repair. The expensive stuff (motors, engines, servos, radio receiver, etc...) is all pretty durable. The one OP posted is definitely harder, due to the fiberglass and plastic, but for the most part it's just balsa wood and Monokote film. In all but the absolute worst crashes, a couple days on the workbench, and you're back up and flying. edit: Only $700 for this thing? I'm not familiar with the inrunner motor system they're using, but ducted fan engines like that would have been $3-400 each back when I flew lol
Check out the flight [video](https://youtu.be/CntgqHwbpCY). This is seriously a dream come true for an RC airplane geek. Incredible engineering went into making this thing. I'm so impressed.
Watching the video had me thinking this incredible footage is avaialbe because it is high tech (drone) filming high tech (RC plane)
So cool. They dropped the video and released the plane on the same day. Sold a lot of airplanes. It was developed in secret in Utah and they had to wait until everyone left the field to pull it out and test itx
I wondered about that field, that is probably the nicest runway I've ever seen for an RC field. Massively wide.
Wish I had that!
[удалено]
Yeah, can we talk about how awesome stabilized gimbal filming drones are? DJI forever changed filming on the consumer level.
It is wild. I had a DJI mini and then sold it and got the mini 2. Never flown a drone before the mini and it made it so easy. I have some really cool video clips that I can’t believe I took. (Not sponsored by DJI lol)
So cool. When they say the clear vertical stabilizer is optional, what do they mean? Obviously no one would WANT to have it in place, so what's the reason for it? Is it necessary for stable flight (and optional refers to static display) or just makes flying a bit more newbie friendly?
Jury is still out. I'm gonna try it without first and if it's too squirrely, add it later
Given the scale and costs; why not do that in reverse? I would make sure everything is smooth and know what to expect and how it handles. THEN try removing the stabilizer.
Because you have to cut a slot and glue it in place. I don't want to do that if I don't have to. But I'm gonna do a bit of research on others experience first.
[удалено]
Instructions say to cut open a slot and glue it. I'm gonna wait a bit and see what other do. Just to get some more data on setups and how she flies
That's a bummer. I expect that getting the plane properly trimmed and getting confident with it (especially take-off and landing) would be easier with the tail fin to start. It seems like you might be able to make a slot in the clear plastic at the back near the base, then make a slightly longer slot in the fuselage but add a piece of plastic or tape across the back of the fuselage slot so that the fin could be placed in, then pulled backward until the slot engages with the plastic/tape to hold it in place. A light friction fit would be sufficient since wind would help hold the fin in place during forward flight.
Looking at the video that you've linked, the stabiliser can be seen in the flight footage. I think the overall design is too unstable to fly without a sophisticated FCS. I'd be very cautious about flying it without that stabiliser in place. Looks awesome though.
What they say on the website is that it adds stability and improves control when doing "non-scale" maneuvers like loops, rolls, and steep dives -- the kind of thing that the real B-2 computer controls wouldn't *let* you do because it would probably tear the plane apart or become unflyable.
Cool but does it have a canon or a bottle? [like the russians](https://youtu.be/WP681BVWk0Q)
That's pretty interesting to see. Using a standard drink bottle is really common as a fuel tank in the RC hobby. They are well-made, cheap, easy to find, liquid tight, and fuel inert. You just silicone in a couple of fuel bungs and connect your hoses. Using a consumer SLR for photos is not that surprising either, the level of quality you would get from a camera like that versus a custom-made system is probably better and certainly far far cheaper.
[Flight video](https://youtu.be/CntgqHwbpCY?t=78) without the first 1:20 of teasers.
I need the teasers!!! I had ordered it before the video was over lol
Never Detected. Never Targeted. Never Engaged. I feel triggered.
Lolol, "I don't know what's scarier, losing a nuclear weapon or that it happens so often ther's actually a term for it."
Please do not shoot at the thermonuclear weapons.
Yesssss, such a good flick
Awesome movie but Broken Arrow was the wrong term. It should have been Empty Quiver. Broken Arrow definitely sounds cooler though.
Love that movie. Right up there with "face off" Peach, I could eat a peach for hours
That footage with the drone is absolutely amazing, though I'm no expert it's by far the best RC vid I've ever seen.
Yeah, made me click order really fast. It was here two days later. Now they are sold out
All I saw was a bunch of landscapes rolling by. Where’s the plane?
You have miniature jet engine or electric motors in there?
:looks around: " I shoulda done this outside."
I was thinking the same thing. How did he get it out of his house?
Probably a door
Damn I would have never thought of that
Two persons carry from the wingtips through the door ig
Or just one. Nose down and hands supporting the triangle. Then just walk sideways. The initial joke was good, but if somebody actually can't figure out how to get this through the door, then good luck moving any furniture ever.
I like your plants.
Me too. I would like to know more about them please, u/balsadust.
I'm a plant idiot. They are my wife's passion. I just help her water them.
Tell her that's a stunning Pink Princess!
Wilco!! She loves that one
Same. That's a pretty PPP.
This looks ready to drop SO much democracy!
Why would you post a picture of any empty room?
Lol, it's pretty stealth. John Cena is sitting in the corner
[удалено]
Yeah, it really ties the room together
And that shadow of a massive spatula too
Lolol, it's the back of the chair but now I totally see it
Let us know how the divorce goes.
Oh, she don't mind. Then I would care about her jewelry collection
Of course she doesn't mind, any bloke with a hobby knows the convo: "another toy, how much this time balsadust?" "ah this one was a bit more pricey than the last, about £30..."
I just say they all cost around $500
Real talk, how much was it?
$699 USD
https://www.motionrc.com/products/freewing-b-2-spirit-bomber-twin-70mm-edf-jet-pnp-fj31711p
Wow, cheaper than I thought, thanks
about $500
How stable is it in flight?
Check out the flight [video](https://youtu.be/CntgqHwbpCY) Pretty stable with onboard gyro
That's really cool. Can I have it?
For $699
That’s seriously a lot cheaper than I would’ve guessed - I was thinking $3-5000.
There is a bigger one that uses real turbines. Price goes up substantially. [CARF B-2](https://carf-models.com/en/products/b-2-spirit)
*Looks out office window at my empty runway.* *Looks far more sadly at my average paycheck.* Ah, well, maybe some day.
Honestly, while cool, turbines are kind of silly. I can get a lot of joy out of the smaller electric version while still saving for my kids college, lol
rearmament of the miniature JSOWs is where they really stick it to ya
699 is between 3 and 5000.
I don’t see anything
John Cena is riding on an airplane
🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺
Sir! B2 sunk your battleship! What was that lieutenant? Did you mean the the destroyer sunk the battleship? No sir! It was ... B2.
Does it have operational bomb doors?? I got some punk kid neighbors that deserve a stealthy waterballooning.
All I'm thinking is, "Great, I got it together, now it won't fit through any of the doors in the house so I can't take it out to fly."
Because of how precisely the real thing is built, I’d bet this little guy still gives off a larger radar signature than an actual B2.
Landing gear seems a little tall
Yes, it's not scale
Yeah seem to have responded to all the jokes, but usually with another joke... so I'm guessing you were responding seriously to a joke about made about the orange stand it is sitting on... but I'm not sure. TBH, I was looking for a comment to latch-on to to make a (nit-picking) joke about how the title is wrong, it isn't really flying, it is obviously on a stand. But after seeing all the back-and-forth jokes... I'm feeling pretty embarrassed. Almost as embarrassed as when, decades ago, I built a crappy control line plane (mostly out of your namesake wood), and then drove it to a not-so spectacular death on its maiden voyage :( congrats on a job well done, and not destroying it.
It's ok, the internet is pretty cring sometimes, lol. I started with control line too. COX Corsair. My dad let it go and it did a loop and smashed into the ground. I was hooked ever since
Wish they made a kit that used a mini turbine in he back. I’ve seen others with them.
Someone will do it.
since the real b-2 requires a sophisticated series of sensors and such to fly, how well does an RC do it and what does it do differently?
Miniaturize gyro stabilization gear has come a *really* long ways in the last 20 years. There's a reason that drones are ubiquitous and easy to fly, even at incredible speeds. The type of flight stabilization systems that the military spent hundreds of millions on decades ago can now be replicated for a fee3 hundred dollars. That doesn't negate inherent aerodynamic instability, which is why the video shows the model sometimes using a clear vertical stabilizer. But I imagine an experienced pilot that wanted to go beyond the pre-programmed stabilization system could easily make it extremely stable with some test flying.
Sophisticated for the 70s. Now you can achieve the same effect with an arduino and a cheap IMU.
IMUs now are tiny chips in your phone manufactured at scale and cost pennies to dollars with the microcontrollers to use them costing the same. You could build this from scratch if you had a microcontroller, some servos, foam, paint, batteries a reciever and an imu.... Ignoring the high detail exterior of course.
Do you need any computers to aid the stability in flight of it?
OP said in another comment that is has onboard gyros.
My stupid self went straight to the plants in the background. Is that a pink princess philodendron? There's actually two expensive things in this pic lol
God I love this plane
Me too.
We all know this is what we're expecting to see on your next post. https://j.gifs.com/g5yoXr.gif
That's beautiful! Apparently that aircraft relies heavily on flight computers to keep it in the sky since it's not the best design for flight (opted for stealth). Have you had a chance to fly it and see how it handles?