Rotor Hub Review: Sikorsky S 34

Also known as the "H34 Choctaw" within military ranks, this helicopter has an interesting rotor hub assembly. Originally it had a large radial engine, but I have seen a few that have been brought to life and uses a turbine power plant.  The lead/lag axis utilizes a heavy hinges with vertical trunnions. Usual lead/lag hinges that I've seen are at the blade root or some type of flex beam inside of a couple of torsion bars combining lead/lag with flapping as seen in the Twin Star. But, I'm not an expert. Just thought it was an interesting set up.

RC Helo Review: Air Recon

My Step daughter Amy, got me this Air Recon indoor helicopter for Father's Day, made by Propel RC. Though the small platform costs a few "bags of nickels", the pay off is what it has to offer and that would be digital video as well as still photos. The still photos are a bit blurred, but let's face it, it's mounted on something that flies. The digital video feed is surprisingly clear, though it does not have a sound feed. It's a smooth operating little rotorcraft with very responsive control though it does not have a swash plate. Froward/Aft pitch is controlled by the small horizontal tall rotor that applies vertical lift upwards and down. Yaw control is governed by changing the RPM of one of the rotor discs. It's also a rugged bird as I have crashed it a number of times over the 4th of July weekend. I did manage to break the tail rotor when it hit my wife's mini-blinds, separating one of the tiny wires, but I managed to replace the motor. Now for those who do not tinker on their own, I would suggest buying parts made for the air recon helo. I usually do my own thing and bought a similar motor from the local hobby store. I re-ran the wiring to the new motor, splicing the ends with a good "bread tie" twist and used an flexible adhesive to protect the exposed wire rather than soldering the ends. The draw back to my replacement motor is that is was a bit longer, though the voltage was ok.  It did change the center of gravity causing the helo to drift aft a bit, but I leveled the CG out by gluing a small machine nut to the nose. It reduced the run time a bit, but I enjoy the tinkering and process of problem solving. Video and pics are stored on a removable micro SD card that can be removed and place in the flash drive adapter to down load to your PC. All of the above mentions hardware comes with the helo. Charging the helo can be done from the transmitter as well as a USB slave cable that enables you to charge the helo from your PC. Over all not a bad package. The only draw back.....it's IR signal and not radio, so it can only be flown indoors because the sun screws up the IR signals.
The other airframes are coming along, but electrical issues I found to be faulty manufacturing.