Junior champion and rising star J.J. Wang signs as the newest addition of Thunder Power RC’s racing team.
		Known throughout China as one of the rising stars of modified touring car and off-road racing, 14 year old J.J. Wang signs to represent Team Thunder Power RC. J.J. may be relatively new to the electric powered (EP) racing scene, but is known in the nitro racing scene and as China’s youngest competitive driver. At the age of 11, J.J. was recognized by winning the Tamiya Asia Cup Junior Championship.
J.J. has launched his EP career with a 4th Place finish in the 4WD class at the last TITC race. Stepping up his game, powered by Thunder Power RC, J.J. recently won the EP 4WD Short Course Truck and 2WD Buggy classes at the Horizon Hobby Cup. J.J. will run Thunder Power RC Z3R motors and batteries to power his 2012-2013 racing season. J.J. will represent the TPRC Team in China and at various International and US electric/LiPo events. Thunder Power RC would like to welcome and thank J.J. for trusting in Thunder Power RC to be the power behind his recent podium level performance. You can catch J.J.’s next race powered by Thunder Power at the Invitational Reedy Race of Champions in Union City, California starting May 24, 2012.

Download Press Release
JUNIOR CHAMPION AND RISING STAR OF CHINA’S RACING SCENE JOINS THUNDER POWER RC TEAM.

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There is a spreadsheet available with test data from over 251 unique propellers frequently used on rc model airplanes. Dr Phil Millener, Chattanooga, Tennessee (RCGroups.com user “Dr Kiwi”) has compiled a massive amount of data on almost all the frequently used RC propellers, and gave us permission to make the file available to you for download. For your convenience, there is also a reformatted version which only contains the results without any macros (available in .xls format and .csv format.)

This spreadsheet has over 13000 data points for different propellers. Each row has the following information:

• Propeller Name
• Motor Used
• Gear
• Propeller Diameter
• Propeller Pitch
• Amps, Volts and Watts drawn
• RPM
• RPM as % of Kv * V
• Motor Weight
• Motor and Gearbox weight
• Thrust (in g and oz)
• Grams per Watt
• Pitch Speed

There are macros in the spreadsheet. You can either use them to produce graphs and sort data, or disable them and just read the data. From this data, you can make a more educated choice on which propeller is best for your application. Looking at figures, such as the number of grams per watt obtained, can help you choose between similar propellers by giving you an estimate of which ones are more efficient in different situations. Depending on if you’re building a quad copter for hovering and aerial photography or a high performance RC airplane, you can now get an objective picture of the differences between the propellers.

Simulating propeller performance is a difficult thing to do, and usually requires the use of approximations and assumptions that reduce the accuracy of the final results. Having actual experimental measurements overcomes all of these problems. Individual measurements are usually hard to find online, and are typically scattered among different sources. Besides being difficult to locate, you can’t usually compare similar propellers side by side, since each tests lists data differently. This spreadsheet is a big step towards solving this problem.

Here’s some sample data, taken for an APC 8×6 E Thin Electric Propeller with a Hacker A20-22L  brushless motor:

If you wanted to know how this propeller performs with this motor as RPM is increased, you could make a plot like this in Excel (or any other spreadsheet program, like Numbers, if you’re using a Mac.)

Adding a trendline to the data allows you to make a prediction about the thrust this propeller and motor would provide at other RPM values. A simple polynomial fits the measured data well, and since there are more than 3 data points, you can be reasonably confident that the predictions will be good.

Another useful quantity could be the efficiency of the propeller and motor in grams of thrust produced per watt of power used. Here is one such plot.

APC RC model airplane propellers are available on our website, along with suggested brushless motors.

It’s not every day you see a new coax RC helicopter that’s different from the rest. Manufacturers are always coming up with simple variations on the same designs, each marketed like it’s the next big thing. When we heard about the new Extreme Flyers X350, we expected the same, but we were surprised to discover that it changes almost everything we expected to see in a coax helicopter in this price range. From the vertically mounted tail rotor to the 5 in 1 control module, everything on this helicopter is new and innovative. The most surprising feature is the X350′s ability to fly in high winds, something totally new for coaxial RC helicopters.

Flying in the Wind – Extreme Conditions

Coaxial helicopters are great for learning how to fly, but their inherent stability usually causes them to be very sensitive to the wind. Using the vertically mounted tail rotor and patented technology, the Extreme Flyers X350 overcomes this problem. Not only can it be flown in extremely windy conditions, it’s actually easy to do! Here’s a video to prove it – watch how the wind affects the trees and the flags near the flying helicopter.

There’s a mode to turn off the tail rotor if you’re flying the X350 indoors, which reduces the sensitivity of the controls. Since coaxial RC helicopters don’t have a particular need for a tail rotor, the vertically mounted tail rotor can be used to help stability in high winds.

5 Channel Control

Most coaxial RC helicopters have only 3 or 4 channel radio control. The Extreme Flyers X350 changes this, and adds an extra channel in the form of a vertically mounted tail rotor. The tail rotor provides more control in the forward / backward direction, and helps maintain control of the helicopter in windy conditions. A switch on the transmitter allows you to change between a calmer and more aggressive flying style.

Perfect for beginners and Intermediate Pilots

The Extreme Flyers X350 RC helicopter is great for both beginning and intermediate pilots. Able to be flown outside and in the wind, the helicopter has enough control to satisfy those wanting to improve their skills and those who are just learning how to fly. Even though the Extreme Flyers X350 RC helicopter has the stability which comes with a coaxial design, the helicopter has enough speed to cover a park in a few seconds flat.

Awesome Flight Videos

Check out these videos, which show the new Extreme Flyers X350 in action.

Learn More

We have the Extreme Flyers X350 RC helicopter for sale on our website. Learn more about this cool new product, and consider taking one for a spin yourself!

Several people have made how-to guides about adding radio control to the Multiplex Fox free flight glider. Since the glider doesn’t come with any radio parts or electronics, it can provide a very cheap and durable airframe for conversion to either a pure or motor powered glider. Some have reported success with adding bigger and faster brushless motors to their Multiplex Fox kits, turning the glider into a mini pylon racer. Here are a few of the different setups reported to be successful, and the parts needed to build them.

Pure Glider Setup

This setup leaves much of the Fox airframe unchanged, and adds aileron, elevator and rudder servos to give you a four channel glider. These gliders can be hand launched off of a hill, bungee launched, or even towed by a powered RC airplane (like the Multiplex Minimag.) The construction of one of these gliders is detailed here. The parts used are:

• Four sub micro servos (BA-36G or similar)
• One small 3.7 volt LiPo battery to power the radio (TP125-1SPL25UM or similar)
• Four channel micro RC receiver

The aileron servos can be omitted to reduce weight and complexity, leaving a two channel glider which is controlled with only the elevator and rudder.

Powered Glider Setup

This setup is similar to that of the pure glider, except that the nose of the airplane is cut to make room for a small brushless motor and a larger LiPo battery. Once successful version can be found here. The parts needed are:

• Four sub micro servos (BA-36G or similar)
• One 2 cell LiPo battery to power the motor and radio (TP325-2SPP65J or similar)
• Small brushless motor (HA-A10-12S or similar)
• Propeller (APC-06-040-E or similar)
• 5 to 10 amp speed controller (CC-TB9 or similar)
• Four channel micro RC receiver

You can check out the Multiplex Fox on our website.