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Vintage Trans-Am powerplant history

December 19, 2016 by justin 2 Comments

Here is a summary of my findings regarding the powerplant history for the US Vintage Trans-Am racing series, as well as our Minnesota variant. Some of the comments are moot-point as the previous series manufacturer, Novak, is no longer in business. But it may provide useful insight for the newcomers out there.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric On-Road Tagged With: brushless, budget racing, training, USVTA

Kyosho Raider

November 21, 2016 by justin 4 Comments

The year was 1988, I was 11 years old. The Minnesota Twins were fresh off a World Series win. After taking my Sears Lobo II to it’s limits (whatever that means to an 11 y/o), it was time for an upgrade.

I had purchased a copy of Radio Control Car Action magazine from the local hobby shop – Jolly’s Toys and Hobby in Apache Plaza. Inside, I found this article with all of its 80s flair:

Raider1

(The other pages from that article: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road Tagged With: battery, Raider, throwback

Budget FPV Ground Station < $100

September 26, 2016 by justin 1 Comment

Now that I got my ham license and some FPV equipment, I needed a way to set it up so that it’s usable at the flying field. Also, don’t let the title fool you – most of the money ($75) was spent on the FPV system itself, (including camera!). Other parts I was able to borrow or steal…

I started with the two-monitor portable DVD system that my kids use to watch movies on road trips. The 1st monitor is the “brain” that has the DVD player. The 2nd monitor simply accepts power and an A/V signal from the 1st. I stole this monitor for use with my ground station. I tested it by powering it on through the cigarette lighter jack and then hooking it up to the FPV receiver. With the FPV transmitter off I saw static instead of the dreaded “blue screen” – which is good!

fpv-screen-static
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Filed Under: Fixed Wing, Flight, Rotor Tagged With: battery, FPV

Ham Radio for FPV

September 12, 2016 by justin Leave a Comment

I finally jumped into FPV by purchasing my first kit, a Quanum Tx/Rx/Camera package I got for around $60 from HobbyKing while it was on sale.

With it’s 600mW transmit power, it should be more than enough for some field flying, even with trees in the way. But before I fire it up, I needed to get legal. The FCC has a rule called Part 15 about “unlicensed equipment” which states what sort of emissions a device can have to be operated without a radio license. It’s rather complex and the only FCC Part 15 certified FPV systems I’ve seen are 20-25mW. So it was time for me to ante up and get my amateur radio license so I can be a legal, card-carrying operator.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fixed Wing, Flight, Rotor Tagged With: FPV

DIY lithium powered lawn mower

August 29, 2016 by justin 3 Comments

While this isn’t about anything R/C, it’s somewhat related… I recently converted a lead-acid battery powered mower to lithium-ion batteries. Anyone that is in R/C and has a lawn to mow should follow this course.

For the record, I hate mowing the lawn. It’s a useless pursuit. We’ve all got better things to do with both our time and our resources like water and land. This Washington Post article “Lawns are a soul-crushing timesuck and most of us would be better off without them” pretty much sums up my opinion.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin Foell (@jrfoell)

The purpose of upgrading to an electric mower is to get the job done faster, and without smelling like a snowblower repairman when I’m done.
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Filed Under: Cars, Electric Off-Road, Electric On-Road, Fixed Wing, Flight, Rotor Tagged With: battery

HiSky HT8 Module for Turnigy 9x

August 15, 2016 by justin Leave a Comment

My Assault 100 helicopter came with a transmitter module that allows you to use it with any transmitter. This module is also used with HobbyKing’s Q-BOT Micro quad and FBL100 helicopter. It’s actually just a rebranded HiSky HT8 module which is used for many HiSky helicopters. Rather than have to charge this module separately and hang it off of my Turnigy 9x, I decided to build a module specifically for my 9x which would power it up and keep it safely in place.

IMG_2490

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Flight, Rotor Tagged With: 9x, Assault 100

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Meatball Racing

Cars, kids, and crashing since 2006. Let's talk about having fun, and being inclusive not exclusive. They're just toy cars after all. More about Meatball Racing.

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