Category Archives: RC Planes

Geometric distortion in a triple-monitor setup for MSFS 2020, compared to XPlane 11

Microsoft released its new flight sim 2 days ago, on August 18th. This long-awaited launch got simmer really excited. I moved my flight sim equipment last month to a dedicated room in the basement, now with a triple-monitor setup, in anticipation of this launch. I set up XPlane 11 with these triple monitors, to make sure I got the hang of triple monitors. But all I wanted was the new Microsoft flight sim. I even took this week off from work, so I would not need to choose between work and enjoying the new simulator.

There is, however, one fatal issue, for someone who has gone through the trouble of setting up three 43″ monitors, for the express purpose of re-creating a 180° surround view around the pilot.

At this time, it is not worth sacrificing visual effects and frame rates for two extra side monitors that show greatly distorted views of world objects. Triple-monitor setups are no common. And it’s not clear to me when Asobo will care to fix this problem for a niche market. Until then, the public remains confused as to whether MSFS can be said to “work as is” for triple-monitor setups. There isn’t a source online that compares distorted views in MSFS 2020 against expected, clean views in, say, XP11. Thus this article.
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HHAMS in June – HarborFest, Paintball and Field Meeting

This article exists to house pictures that I’ve turned into a YouTube slideshow. June is usually the busiest month for HHAMS. The first week of June is usually the Port Washington HarborFest where we set up a tent to advance awareness of the aerodrome among natives of this town, and to advertise our upcoming paintball event. The paintball event takes place on the second week of June. Then we have our monthly meeting at the field. Continue reading

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HHAMS Flight Tests

This is a short article on flight tests that all new members must pass, before they can fly their model planes without a spotter, at the HHAMS Aerodrome.

It is spring again. Inquisitive visitors are starting to show up at the field. They want to know what it takes to be able to fly solo. Others have gone through the motion of paying the AMA, the county, and the club itself. They have a badge with a “novice” sticker on it. But they can’t fly on their own, and must wait for someone else to stand with them to fly. On the other hand, friendly members are willing to help newcomers learn to fly, and to pass their flight tests. However, not everyone remembers exactly what was involved when they took their flight tests in their days. Thus this article. Continue reading

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What on earth is SAFE® or: How I hacked AR636 from V900 to fly the Freewing Mirage 2000, with SAFE and AS3X

Last week I was faced with a new AR636 challenge. I removed a locked-down AR636 receiver with SAFE® from V900, an E-flite speed plane. I wanted to make it fly my new EDF jet, the Freewing Mirage 2000 Tiger Meet. It would be a breeze to reprogram the AR636 today, presumably, with the advent of AS3X® firmware 2.27 made available in April 2018.

I honestly thought it would take me an hour to reprogram the receiver to fly a delta wing, given the new receiver firmware and upgraded programming apps, since I last looked into the AR636. I thought I would fire up the programming app, and change the aircraft type from normal to elevon. I thought I could then set AS3X rate gains, while keeping SAFE panic and self-leveling. Surely Spektrum documentation had caught up in the last three year, right?

No.

You cannot easily take an AR636 that is pre-programmed with SAFE for aircraft wing type X (say dual aileron), and reconfigure it for another wing type Y (say a delta wing with elevons), without losing SAFE in the process.

No one has done this before. Or at least no one had clearly documented how to do this online before. It took me some time to figure out how to do this. Thus this sequel to the 2016 article. Continue reading

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How to master short-field landings with EDF jets such as the Avanti S

There is a real lack of information online about making successful short-field landings with EDF jets such as the Avanti S. I don’t know whether I should attribute this to search engines being saturated with merchant pages, or blame Facebook for hiding useful content from search engines. Looking for videos on YouTube for the same yields basically nothing. Last time I failed to find useful info, I wrote Learn to Skate the Two-foot Grapevine Analytically, despite being relatively new at ice skating. This time I’ll do the same without reservations on EDF jets and short-field landings, based on my personal experiences.

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HHAMS Reflections 2018

The end of the year is upon us again. As usual, it is time I try to make use of pictures I couldn’t stop taking on my phone whenever I was at the aerodrome. In 2015, I compiled them into HHAMS 2015 Field Pictures. In 2016, I compiled pictures into HHAMS Pictures of the Year – 2016 and Pictures of Planes Sighted at the Aerodrome in 2016. I was busy in 2017. Thus nothing was done, despite plenty of pictures having been collected.

This year, the club decided to show slideshows at the holiday party. Bobby Alessi and I collected pictures and videos from folks. As a result, we now have 3 photo slideshows and 1 video compilation. Pictures from 2017 and 2018 feature heavily in these, but good materials from 2015 and 2016 were also used. Continue reading

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HHAMS: My Girl (reflections 3/4)

This article exists to house pictures used in the slideshow HHAMS: My Girl. It is part three of a series of slideshows and compilations from photos and videos taken by HHAMS members from 2015 to 2018. Part three showcases pilots with their beloved planes.

A few pictures here were actually used not in the My Girl slideshow, but instead in HHAMS: What a Wonderful World and HHAMS: Learning to Fly.

Photo and video sources came from Andrea Watson, Tyler A Chase, Mario Goldberg, Bobby Alessi, Paul Yovino, Fred Hsu and Elisha Huang.

Music in the slideshow features: My Girl by The Temptations, My Girl by Otis Redding, and last but foremost, Seabird by Alessi Brothers – that’s our own Bobby Alessi. Continue reading

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HHAMS: What a Wonderful World (reflections 2/4)

This article exists to house pictures used in the slideshow HHAMS: What a Wonderful World. It is part two of a series of slideshows and compilations from photos and videos taken by HHAMS members from 2015 to 2018. Part two examines what HHAMS is about. It is about flying model planes. Sure. But there is so much more than that, as part two highlights.

Photo and video sources came from Andrea Watson, Tyler A Chase, Mario Goldberg, Bobby Alessi, Paul Yovino, Fred Hsu and Elisha Huang.
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HHAMS: Learning to Fly (reflections 1/4)

This article exists to house pictures used in the slideshow HHAMS: Learning to Fly. It is part one of a series of slideshows and compilations from photos and videos taken by HHAMS members from 2015 to 2018. Part one highlights a key principle that RC pilots follow. That is, learn to fly responsibly, and try not to make spare parts.

Photo and video sources came from Andrea Watson, Tyler A Chase, Mario Goldberg, Bobby Alessi, Paul Yovino, Fred Hsu and Elisha Huang. Continue reading

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2018 XiSheng RC Extravaganza 西盛遙控飛行嘉年華

New Taipei RC Flying Extravaganza (西盛遙控飛行嘉年華會慶) organized by NTAMA (新北市航空模型協會) took place on Sunday, Nov 4th, 2018. It was joined by flying enthusiasts from all over Taiwan. I went with friends from the RC club from Kaohsiung 高雄市遙控運動協會, courtesy of 陳振國.

This article hosts pictures I took and edited of this event. Perhaps I’ll come back and finish it with additional descriptions. Perhaps I won’t. It exists for now as a place for enthusiasts to browse and download pictures I took of them, or their planes. I compiled two YouTube videos: a shorter one comprising video clips I took that day, as well as a longer slideshow highlighting some of the many exciting moments I captured in still pictures. As usual, some of the best pictures will eventually end up on Wikimedia. Continue reading

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