Shoe String Budget R/c: Some updates. Long over due.

Need to rush report which was supposed to be completed by this weekend. Oh well.

Photos mostly self explanatory.

Cracked starter coupler on 700N. Probably isolated, but once again proving how cheap the 700N is.

Sprayed my own canopy. Doesn't look good and not very cost effective. Good experience though. First time. Total cost was $60+ and a lot of time. The Helidirect V2 canopy is only around $110 at my LHS. Not sure why got some white spots after the clear. Used flat clear as the glossy one was out of stock.

New ball links with the shorter elevator link. Same batch, same serial, same shipment, but I got 1 long(old one) and 1 short(new one)...again proving how inconsistent Align is. Crap brand.

Cracked the 9c gimbal. Mended with CA.

Crashed. Costly crash, granted I only paid $76+ in total for repair bill coz I had everything else. Otherwise I would have been looking at a repair bill of $300+. Nonetheless, nothing compared to my previous raptor crash and definately CHEAP for a 90 size. Really lucky that all gears survived and there was no ding to muffler and engine crackcase which is always the case for YS91.

And the cause is because I lost it in a UPRIGHT FORWARD PIE DISH...lol. Not sure why, it just dropped and "BAM". Not the first time something like that happen, coz I had it before twice on the raptor and once on the 700N. Saved all 3 times...got unlucky this time round.

Front skid, ball links and boom support took most of the impact I guess.

Broke the servo gear in the BLS251. The inolab's all feel really tight after the crash. Loosening the casing screws a bit helped. Service at my local inolab distro is VERY VERY GOOD. One of them still feels a bit tighter than the others. Amp draw has gone up to 3.5amp average from the 2.5. Not good. Servos are a bit choppy moving which was already the case before the crash.

Damaged the main hub slightly as evident from the phasing pin being slightly distorted. Nothing a little bit of force and a pair of pilers cannot fix.

Finally got down to sanding the stupid align tail blade bolt slightly to fit the rotor techs.

Pinned the boom at the front and re-aligned the CF hybrid tail boom as mine was off like everyone else's.

All in all, I am amazed at how cheap 90 size has become, both in price and of course...erm quality.

Added another piston to my collection. Yup, the hyper killed another piston. Still deciding if I should repair or replace the whole engine. No good choice available yet though... TT53 lousy carb...YS50 apparently a bit weaker than the OS...Novarossi 57 expensive...and the worst part is don't know when OS and YS will come out with a larger engine.

Got rapicon. 1x30%, 2x 15%. Indeed, their 1 gallon is a little bit more than the 1 gallon of CP. I did pour the bottle of rapicon into the CP bottle just to prove that. Despite the fact that I just got a lot of fuel before CNY...I just couldn't resist buying the rapicon to try which means that I have 2.5case of fuel in my storeroom now. Should last a while. There is no bottle or colour difference between rapicon 15% and 30%. Only sticker different.

Rapicon 15% nitro 23% oil- Colour is similar to what I have been mixing. Power is way down from what I am using now, which btw, is the same price per gallon. Smoke is way more than CP15%, but maybe slightly less than CP20%. Power is better than CP15% for sure, marginally better, not a whole lot, but better for sure. No way comparable to CP20%. Maybe a hotter plug like enya 3 or OS A3 can help to bring out the best power. I am using OS 8 now, which I found produce the best balance between power and temperature with my 2:1 CP20%+CP15% mix. Why I am using this mix is a long story. Tried enya no.4 with my mix, felt a bit too cold and does not produce as much power. In fact, the rapicon 15% with OS 8 felt the same as MY MIX with enya no. 4. Should have used a hotter plug. All mixtures/plug combo were tested with "can put my finger on the backplate forever before I cut the throttle" needle settings, which I think is just right for a 90 size engine. This YS MP5 combo get VERY HOT after I cut the throttle, despite this setting.

My YS is PICKY on fuel and plug.

I found CP12.5% at LHS. Been wanting to try it. Found it to be quite a little bit weaker than 20%, but comparable to 15%. Probably some old stock. Rare stuff. Scott gray used to mix that with 30% and reported NO PERFORMANCE LOST over 30%. Might try it with rapicon 30% or CP30%.