06/03/06 - New (to me) heli
Mark is upgrading to a T-Rex XL heli so he gave me this one to fly.  I went through the instruction manual learning about the heli and setting up my radio to control it

06/04/06 - First flight
I flew a couple batteries out today.  This heli flies great! I was thinking about doing a forward tumble, but figured I'd aileron roll it first.  I'm glad I did because the roll rate is extremely slow.  I barely had time to get back upright before hitting the ground.  I'll have to work on the roll rate before I try that again.

06/13/06 - New transmitter
I configured the Shogun on the new Futaba 12ZH radio today.  I moved the servo plugs to the new Futaba standard.  I also flew it a couple times in the garage.  I was feeling comfortable with it so I figured I'd try a head height autorotation.  That's not a good idea, I found out.  The head speed almost immediately stopped and it fell like a rock.  No major damage.  I just had to re-re-re-reglue the landing gear, straighten the boom and glue the rudder linkage back together.

06/18/06 - One flight
We went to Mission Viejo Lake today, so I brought the Shogun along.  It was a bit windy, but friends and family wanted to see it fly.  Weird winds and tight quarters equals a pretty boring hovering session.

06/25/06 - Short flight
I flew at the new construction site spot.  About 1/4 way through the battery the rudder linkage came off and I set the heli down.  The landing gear cracked again so it was re-re-re-re-reglued.  I took a razor blade to the linkage rod and cleaned it up.  I re-re-re-glued the rudder linkage, but I think this one is going to hold from now on.  I was having a blast flying the Reflection, so this was the only flight for the Shogun.

08/05/06 - Crash bang boom
On the 1st flight I noticed that the rudder trim was off and there was a weird noise.  I landed to check it out.  I found that the tail shaft had slid out of the outer bearing.  I lined it up and with quite a bit of effort got the shaft pushed back through where it belongs.  I actually thought it would stay there, but it lasted just a minute or two before coming out again.  When it came out it pushed the rudder all the way to one side and the heli started spinning.  I did my best to level off, hit the hold switch and try to "land" but it didn't go well.  One of the carbon main blades hit the boom and broke the blade in half.  The boom folded over almost 90 degrees.