Monthly Archives: May 2014

So this time next week we will have completed our 1500km trip north from Adelaide to Alice Springs for the 38th Finke Desert Race. The Modelflight team are looking forward to getting involved in the sights and sounds of this historic race. For those of you that may not be aware we thought it important to give you a little background to the history of the race. The Tatts Finke Desert Race is an off-road, multi terrain two-day sprint/race through the Simpson desert from Alice Springs to the small Aputula (Finke) Community on the first day, and, back to Alice on the second day. The race crosses the Finke River, believed to be one of the oldest in the world and this year will be held from the 7th to 9th June. “Finke” as it is known, is now one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory. It is recognised as the richest Off Road Race in Australia with the added reputation of being one of the most difficult courses in one of the most remote places in the world. It’s a bit

INDOOR IN THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

Well dear readers, life for we mere mortals has had its share of "ups" and "downs" over the last few months. The weather, always a common topic has, fortunately been mainly on the "up"  with we here in Adelaide notching up some sort of a record for the number of consecutive days over 22 degrees. Scott the golfer has had several "downs" among his many "ups" but still manages to be popular. Rolf Harris could well have done with a few more "downs" but dont let us mosey along that path and probably one of the most important "ups" to us is that our flying numbers were up to such a height that for the first time this year, we managed to pay the rent to the Netball Stadium. My first picture features a group of fine looking gentlemen, mainly making their first visit to our Indoor Flying and what a welcome they were. I can only hope that they return.

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For fans of ultra-micro RC planes (or scale planes in general), some great news emerged yesterday with the launch of the E-Flite Ultra-Micro Corsair. This is an excellent addition to the E-Flite hangar. The previous Corsair from ParkZone was a very popular model and it is great to see that E-Flite have now created a smaller-scale version, which is perfect for both indoor and outdoor flying. A key feature of this new Corsair is the inclusion of Artificial Stabilisation Three Axis (AS3X) Technology. AS3X works subtly in the background as you fly; smoothing out the effects of forces such as P-Factor, turbulence and torque. This technology is so subtle, you will hardly notice it working. The control responses and throws will be as sharp as always.

The E-Flite Ultra-Micro Corsair comes with great scale detail, including an accurate paint scheme, clear canopy and moulded panel lines.

This is a guest blog post from Modelflight team member, Matt. It shows photographs taken as Matt assembled the JR Forza 700 RC helicopter, with his commentary added underneath each image. We recommend referring to this post in conjunction with the Forza 700 manual as you assemble this product.

My initial thoughts after opening the Forza 700 box and laying out all the bits and pieces ready for assembly, was that all the machining on the metal parts and the finish on the carbon fibre parts are equal to the supreme quality of the earlier JR Vibe series. 

An exciting new release has emerged from the ParkZone hangar. The new Sukhoi SU-29MM RC plane has just been announced and it is certain to be a groundbreaker. Designed by the champion pilot Mike McConville, the Sukhoi comes equipped with Sensor-Assisted Flight Envelope (SAFE) Technology. This is a first for an aerobatic RC plane. SAFE will allow you to perform fantastic maneuvers in the air with more confidence and less risk. This technology gives you four different flight modes with the Sukhoi, which we will look at in turn.

The first mode is "Stagility", whereby the Sukhoi can perform any aerobatic or 3D maneuver, but will return to upright flight immediately if you release both sticks. The second mode is AS3X 3D. This mode balances sharp response with great stability when you perform

This is a special guest post from RC helicopter pilot, Hamish Scott. If you would like to see Hamish's skills in action, please visit our YouTube playlist "RC Helicopter Action Videos with Hamish."

G'day Blog Readers,

After a year off from flying I am getting back into it and I am more pumped than I have ever been before. With a big thanks to Modelflight, once again I will be returning into flying this year with some great new products.

I will be flying this year with the new JR Propo XG14 DMSS transmitter and TSA Model helicopters more specifically the 700 electric series.

The

Fans of quadcopters, have we got news for you! The amazing AR.Drone 2.0 from Parrot is coming soon to Modelflight. The AR.Drone is one of the leading models in the quadcopter field and with good reason. This drone comes equipped with many exciting features, which we will be looking at in detail in this blog post.