Motion RC Knowledge BLOG

We have encountered some customers who have been having issues with their L-39 MCB-E control box.  The customers who call with problems are connecting everything to the control box and putting the gear down and immediately noticing they can’t steer the front gear.  It sounds like the rudder and steering servo are out of sync. The procedure to put them in sync is the following.  Do this with the radio on and battery connected to the ESC of the plane (do not power down plane or radio during tests).  For safety, use throttle lock on your radio. Remove steering servo wire from the steering servo port on the MCB-E and connect the steering servo wire...

Not too long ago I heard about someone who crashed their plane during the landing sequence.  Everything was going just fine when suddenly the plane lost power/control and torque-rolled in on the base leg right before turning to final for what should have been an uneventful landing. The pilot surmised it was the receiver.  Instead, a closer examination ultimately discovered the true source of the problem:  The UBEC overamped causing a brown-out condition where all controls were momentarily lost.  This is never a good situation to be in but when turning onto the base leg to set up for final...

Flight School 101 For Beginners If you are reading this article, chances are you or someone you know is looking into learning how to fly R/C models, or perhaps even a full sized airplane.  Either way, there are general principles of aerodynamics that apply to both small and full scale aircraft. So let's dive right in!  Since Motion RC is a distributor of R/C aircraft, we will use model aircraft for reference, however like stated previously, the same principles apply to full scale aircraft. The Forces At Work In aerodynamics, there are four primary forces at work: Thrust Thrust is the force that...

I remember when I was a little boy my dad and I loved watching Baa Baa Black Sheep on TV.  Loosely based on real life WWII Marines fighter squadron VMF-214, the star of the show, Robert Conrad, played Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington.  Pappy was in charge of the squadron who named themselves "Black Sheep" due to the general condition of their aircraft.  Almost like cast offs Pappy and his crew went on to become one of the most famous squadrons in all of the war. Being so young at the time, it wasn't the story line so much that captivated me, but...

Over the years we have received complaints from a few customers regarding poor flight performance of their aircraft, especially jets.  A quick determination would almost always inevitably reveal their flying location was at an elevation far above sea level.  This would in most cases explain the poor performance of their aircraft. Why is that?  One primary factor has to do with air density.  The higher the altitude, the less dense the air.  When air density is compromised, aircraft performance suffers.  A degrade in jet performance is especially obvious. EDF jets for example rely on RPM and forward speed to ingest and...

 In recent years the explosion of drones (i.e. "quadcopters", etc.) into the public domain has been a double-edged sword to the RC aircraft hobby.  It's been great in the sense that the joys of RC flight has been discovered by tens of thousands of people who may have otherwise never thought to give the hobby a try.  The downside is that many people without any previous experience or training will attempt to fly these drones - and some which are quite sophisticated - without basic regard for safety and even common sense. There have been increasing media reports around the world in recent...