Wow does time fly. I was just looking at a calendar and realized how long it has been since my last blog post. Since my last post there has been quite a bit going on. I have acquired a new machine as well as finally completing some projects that had been on my To-Do list for too long. Overall it was a productive break but I am sure getting sick of this winter weather and can’t wait until summer is here and the flying picks up again.
As to be expected I did get in some flying over my 4-week break from school. Now I probably didn’t get in as many as you would think but I did work a full time job while I was back home. That aside I did get in around 30-40 flights or so. During these flights I was working on cleaning up maneuvers that I have already learned but were no long up to my standards. Even though there wasn’t much progressing or crazy flying I did really enjoy getting out and tossing around a heli.
As I am sure some of you have heard I am the new owner of a DJI Flamewheel 550. Now before you jump to conclusions let me explain myself. This all started on christmas when I got a new go pro hero 3 black edition. This was completely unexpected and I was super excited as you could imagine. But the first ting that popped in to my mind is I can’t let this gift go to waste and I must put it to use. What better way to use a go pro then to strap it under a Flamewheel 550 and shoot some aerial photography? I have always enjoyed taking pictures and video and this was the perfect opportunity to explore this even further. I figured that since it was winter and I wasn’t flying that much anyway this would be the perfect time. So I ordered up a miltiIrotor and a gimbal to fly the go pro around. So far I am having a blast with this thing and it is a nice and relaxing break from flying a heli every once in awhile.
We all have those projects that are on our to do list but they just never make it to the top and get strung out way to long. This was the case for me with upgrading the power supplies in my charging case. I am happy to say that this last week I finally took the time to go through and modify some supplies for my charging case. E last couple weekends at the field it has been great being able to charge at 30A per charger, although the generator doesn’t like it very much.
This brings me up to last week. As I am sure some of you heard on the show I spent a considerable amount of time going through and cleaning every single part on my 7HV. This heli was definitely due for a rebuild considering the number of flights it has on it. All in all it feels like I have a brand new heli again, hopefully the weather will clear up long enough so I can go out and get some flights on it.
Since the weather sucked this last weekend I spent all of Saturday soldering. I got in some new Gens Ace batteries for my 7HV and my 6HV that needed new connectors soldered on them. While I was at it I went through and cleaned up some of the wiring on the 6HV by removing excess battery and ESC wire. Hopefully this will be enough batteries to get me through the flying season this next summer.
That’s it! That pretty much sums it up. Now that I have new batteries and a clean heli I really wish summer were closer. Unfortunately when I look outside at the moment all I see is snow, and judging by the forecast it’s not going anywhere in the near future. In the meantime it’s back to the sim and continuing on with winter maintenance.
-Jessie