So, a few weeks ago, I posted about my purchase of a new Jeti DS-16 G2 transmitter, in red which I ordered from Aeropanda.com. Turns out they didn`t have a red one in stock, so I opted for my second choice. An all black one.

I have been flying it for a couple of weeks now, and I`m really enjoying it. It`s not a whole lot different from the older DS-16, but it does have some things that the older model does not have. Such as a mic to create custom voice announcements, Dual band (2.4 ghz/900 mhz) RF output, a colour screen, and voice commands to name a few.

I do have to adjust the stick tension on the rudder, because it is a little tighter than I prefer to have it. But other than that, it`s perfect. I did change the stick ends though. Being a thumb flyer, the stock ones are way too long for me. Especially with my small hands. Danny from Aeropanda realized that, and gave me a set of shorter SeaCraft stick ends to go on it. They got the sticks short enough for me to fly comfortably, and I love them.

I have been flying with a Jeti DS-16 carbon edition transmitter for close to five years now, and it has performed flawlessly for me from day one. I have been considering getting another Jeti for buddy boxing new prospective pilots, and today, I decided to go forward with that decision by purchasing another transmitter.

But rather than purchasing a DS-12 or a DS-14, I thought......why not upgrade my main transmitter, and use my current one for the buddy box transmitter? Sooooo.... I went ahead and ordered a newer DS-16 G2, to use as my primary system. I chose the carbon red one, and it looks HOT.

I will be taking delivery of it on Saturday 8-21-21, and I should have all my models in it by the following weekend. I`m really excited about this, and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it. The photo below, is from aeropand`s ( www.aeropanda.com ) website, and not my actual transmitter. I will be posting an unboxing video soon, on my youtube channel.  ( https://www.youtube.com/user/GeenaTucker ) and posting more blogs about it as well.

The past week for me, was simply amazing! First... on August 2-4-2021, I competed in my first ever Helicopter F3C Nats in Muncie, Indiana. What a rush it was to be surrounded by so much talent, and to be able to compete in an event of this caliber. 

I compete in the Sportsman class, which is basically beginner, but I hope to move up to the next class as soon as I can. The Nats was only my second contest, and I admit.... I was a little nervous at first. But the guys made me feel at home, and the nervousness soon passed.

There were 10 pilots in Sportsman class, and ended up finishing in 7th place. Although I didn`t do as well as I would have liked, I`m very happy to have been able to compete on such a level. Finishing 7th is my motivation to train harder and do better in my next contest, and to be more prepared to compete in the Nats next year.

The fist few days were kind of quiet. We walked around, checking out all of the helicopters and paid the AMA museum a visit. Thursday, friday and Saturday were the big days for me. Thursday and Friday, I worked in the Kontronik Drives booth, and also worked a little in the Miniature Aircraft booth. Thursday afternoon, I did a demo flight for Kontronik, during our power hour. Friday was my demo flight with Miniature aircraft, which I did with my Whiplash nitro.

Saturday, at about 4PM, was the golden hour for me. I was selected by Kontronik, to represent them in the Battle of The Brands on center stage. Battle of the Brands, is a 3D flight to musik competition, and I was up against some of the top pilots in the world....Yeah, I was terrified. But not only did I compete in the Battle..... I made a little IRCHA history, by being the very first woman to EVER compete in Battle of The Brands.

There were 13 pilots competing, and after we all flew, the crowd voted for their favorites by how loud they cheered for each of us. They must have liked me, because the officials informed me after the contest, that I had gotten 3rd place. I feel so honored that Kontronik trusted me with performing for them in the Battle of the Brands, and I really hope I get to do it again.

I have been busy for the past few weeks, building two more Miniature Aircraft helicopters to add to my fleet. The first one, is my F3C contest helicopter. A Whiplash 730E.

I got it build and set up a couple of weeks before this blog post, and I have about a dozen flights on it so far. In true Miniature aircraft form, it flies great. It takes saddle packs, which I was never a huge fan of.

I usually prefer stick packs on a slide in tray, but Miniature aircraft did the saddle pack mounting system right....and I have changed my mind about saddle packs now. They are SO easy to put in and take out, and only takes a few seconds to do.

They must have been thinking of Kontronik when they designed the ESC mount, because there are holes pre-cut into the tray, to accommodate the mounting tabs on the Kontronik ESC, and they even supplied blind nuts to press into the holes to fasten the speed control to the tray. Just Brilliant thinking.

The Whiplash 730 E is a well built, well thought out design, and it flies like a dream. It weighs just over 8 pounds without the batteries and just over 12 pounds with the batteries in it. But it does not feel like a 12 pound helicopter in the air. It`s quite snappy in 3D flight, but settles in good for doing F3C flying. Kind of a perfect balance between the two worlds.

They added a gyro tray to the front of the helicopter, which eliminates the need for the upgrade tray that was available for the Fury 55 way back when. Plus there is a gyro tray on the rear of the frames as well, if you prefer the gyro on the back. I prefer mine to be on the front, under the canopy so the oil from the exhaust is blocked from getting on the gyro as much as it can with the gyro on the rear....Just my own preference.

They also slotted the mounting holes in the landing gear struts, to force the landing gear to break on the outsides of the frames when you crash. The slotted holes, along with the bottom plate will help save the frames in a crash.

In my last two blog posts, I covered the building process of my new Miniature Aircraft Whiplash nitro helicopter. The build has been completed, and the helicopter has 20 or so flights on it at the time of this post.

It took several flights to get used to it and start opening it up, but each flight gets better and better. It`s a very well designed and build helicopter, and it just screams quality. It is smooth, stable and predicable, which makes it even that much more fun to fly it.

The red canopy is a little hard for me to see in some orientations, but it`s nothing that I can`t get through.
Miniature aircraft will be sending me the neon orange canopies when they send me my Whiplash 730E and Fury 57, and I should be able to see them a lot easier.

Parts count on this helicopter is pretty low, which is a plus in the event of a crash. But from what I have seen from my team mates crashing them, they don`t break very easily.

The Whiplash is build to last, and even though they are build so tough, they are still reasonably light as well. Mine weighs in at 12.6 pounds with a full tank of fuel, and the tank holds a quart of fuel. I will try to get the empty weight, and include that in my next blog post.

It will take a wide range of main blade lengths from 690mm to 720mm. I have 710mm KBDD Extreme Edition main blades on mine, and it flies great.

Thank you all so much for visiting my website, and have a wonderful day. :)

Here is my setup:

Xpert KD1 cyclic servos

Xpert KD1T rudder servo

Xpert KD1E throttle servo

KBDD 710mm Extreme Edition main blades

KBDD 105mm CF tail blades

Bavarian Demon 3X FBL system

Pulse Ultra 5000 mAh receiver battery

Jeti REX7 receiver

Aerospire Multigov Pro governor

OS 105 HZ-R DRS engine

Botos ProTune 105 pipe

Switch Glow Pro onboard glow plug igniter