Radical RC Workbench: RC Building Blog

Practical RC building tips, battery guidance, workshop techniques, aviation stories and hobby commentary from Dave and the Radical RC crew.

How Should You Form-Charge a New NiMH Receiver Pack?

How Should You Form-Charge a New NiMH Receiver Pack?

Short Answer: Use NiMH Mode and Pack-Specific Settings Charge a five-cell NiMH receiver pack with the charger’s NiMH program and the current, cell count or nominal voltage, termination, and safety limits specified for the exact battery and charger. Do not use...

Diamond Demon Flashes New Skin In The Sun

David Millburn from down under (That’s Australia mate) shows off his freshly covered Ben Buckle Diamond Demon. Purchased in late 2013, she’f nearing the fledgling flight! Great color combination. Hopefully he’ll fill us in on radio and power system....
What Power System Works for a Spirit of Sam Endurance Model?

What Power System Works for a Spirit of Sam Endurance Model?

Short Answer: Phil’s Wren Used a Geared 4,000 kV Power System The documented test used Phil Pearce’s five-ounce Wren with a 4,000 kV 12 mm Afterburner brushless motor, a GWS LPS gearbox reported as 4.8:1, and a GWS 9×7 propeller. Phil reported about 1.5 amps at...

Micro Stick Fleet Tryout

Gil Weiss from southeast PA sends a beautiful photo of his Micro Stick. Just test flown. Looks Great Gil! Hi Dave, Several years ago I built a Micro Stick. The kit went together very nicely. The little plane sat on a shelf until today. I enjoyed the last nice day of...

John Harper’s Creamsicle Stick 600 Part 4

Hi Dave… The Stick 600 got its maiden flight today. Test pilot Doug says it’s a real sweetheart, and had it alternating between floating and zooming. My watt meter says I’m getting around 248-250 watts with the 11×5.5 prop, and we had about 70%...

Stick 600 – Creamsicle Part 3

John gives us a comparison photo between his Stick 600 and a Great Planes ElectroStick. His comments: “Here’s a comparison with Test Pilot Doug’s Great Planes Electrostick. It’s about 5 lb. with a .32 Rimfire. It flies nice but not very...

Stick 600 – Creamsicle Part 2

To: John Harper: (July 31, 2014) I made a mistake in that last email. I calculated the Power 15 from Eflight. If you used a Power 10 then it’s 36 amps, 11×5.5 prop, 2357 feet per minute at 83 degrees. Should be very impressive. That is a much smaller motor...

An Interesting Stick 600 is Birthed! Creamsicle Part 1

Edgar Harper has just finish “Creamsicle”. Orange has been my favorite color of late. Hi Dave- (July 31, 2014) Thought you might be interested in how my stick went together. It hasn’t flown yet, but is in the final stages of tweaking. Nice kit, parts...