INDOOR R/C FLYING SPACEMAN

Indoor R/C Flying Spaceman, retail $24.98 (www.thingsyouneverknew.com...)
Manufactured by (Unknown)
Last updated 02-14-11








This isn't a flashlight, household lamp, Christmas light set, or other thing that glows, but he *DOES* have a flashing blue LED in it, so what the hey. I have only evaluated remote controlled (RC) toys several times before, so please bear with me here.

I love things that fly; that's why I purchased him and also why I added a seperate section titled "PRODUCTS DESIGNED TO FLY" on my website.

This is a very small, lightweight, easy-to-fly remote controlled spaceman (he functions like a helicoper). He fits in the palm of your hand, and is designed exclusively to be flown indoors; his construction is such that you won't gouge holes in walls or couches or break lamps when you crash (note I said "WHEN", not "IF", because you WILL crash him at least a few times while learning to fly him!!!).

The third photograph above is the replacement unit; note that the tail rotor is unshielded, the visor (the transparent part of the spaceman's helmut) is different -- it is painted on instead of being a seperate piece of plastic, the rotor blades are black instead of being colorless and nearly transparent, and the "auto stable" "rods" above the main rotor are now aerodynamically designed while still having weights on the ends of the blades to preserve the functionality once handled by those "rods".


SIZE



This toy is remarkably easy to use for a helicopter-like flying spaceman...here's how to get him off the ground:

As with any rechargeable product, charge him first (see directly below), and then you can pretend to fly a dragonfly (well, that's what the kitty cat thinks he is).


1: On the right side of the spaceman's body, there's a tiny on/off switch.
Use a fingernail to slide this switch down to the "on" position.
A blue LED in the spaceman's body will now come on, and then a second later, begin flashing in a series of three quick strobes, off, three quick strobes, off, lather, rinse, repeat. A movie clip farther down this web pages shows this.

2: On the remote control, turn the "on/off" switch to the "on" position.

3: Place the spaceman on a flat surface; the floor is a good place. Orient him so the tail faces away from you.

4: Aim the red part of the remote at the spaceman. Gently push the left-hand stick on the remote control forward.

5: The spaceman should now lift off the ground. Congratulations, you're now a pilot!!!
This product operates identically to a helicopter; reading this web page will give you a good idea of the process.

If the spaceman does not respond (ie. the blades don't turn), set the "A B C" switch on the remote control to another position. Do it again if necessary. The box is marked as to which channel (A, B, or C) the remote should be set to.
For additional instructions & tips on how to fly, please read the instructional material that comes with the product.

Turn the spaceman and remote control off when finished using them.
Same switches as before, but slide them in the opposite direction this time.



The battery in the spaceman itself is rechargeable and is not designed to be changed; however the batteries in the remote will need to be changed from time to time.

To do this, unscrew & remove the phillips screw from the battery door on the underside of the unit, using a phillips screwdriver that you furnish yourself. Set the screw aside.

Remove the battery door, very gently place it on the ground, and kick it into the garden so the hungry, hungry praying mantids will think it's something yummy to eat and strike at it...O WAIT!!! YOU'LL NEED THAT!!! So just set it aside instead.

Remove the six used AA cells from the compartment, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Insert six new AA cells into the compartment, orienting each cell so its flat-end (-) negative faces a spring for it in each chamber.

Finally, place the battery door back on, and screw the screw back in.
Aren't you glad you didn't kick that battery door into the garden with all those hungry, hungry praying mantids now?


Here is what a praying mantis looks like.
I found this guy on the morning of 09-08-06 clinging to the basket of my scooter.

Since I do not have any known-new AA cells, I cannibalised them out of my FlyTech R/C Dragonfly's remote because I know the cells in its remote are relatively fresh.


To charge the battery in the spaceman, swing the door up on the upper portion of the top of the remote control.
In the compartment you just exposed to atmosphere , you'll see a thin cord with a small plug on the end.

With the spaceman turned off, plug this into the small receptacle for it on the right hand side of the spaceman's body.
This connector is keyed to fit the receptacle on the spaceman only one way; please do not force it or you may irreversibly damage the spaceman and he might not fly for you again.

Turn the switch on the remote control to the "on" position. A green LED on the remote should now come on.

After a maximum of 20 minutes, the green light will turn off. If the red light on the remote goes out at any time during the charge cycle, turn the remote off & back on again. When the green light turns off, turn the remote control off, gently unplug the cord from the spaceman, stow the cord in the remote control's compartment, and swing the door back down.

Fully charging the spaceman's battery should give you 7-10 minutes of flying time.

According to the instructional materials furnished with the product, you should wait 15 to 20 minutes before recharging the battery after you've run it down in order to allow it to cool.



This RC spaceman is meant to be used as a toy in a dry area indoors, not as a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown him in the toilet tank, bash him against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a patio, let my housemate's citty kats go to the litterbox on him, run over him with a 450lb Celebrity motorised wheelchair, stomp on him, use a large claw hammer in order to smash him open to check him for candiosity, fire him from the cannoņata (I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piņata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout, with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; and the cannoņata is only used to shoot piņatas to piņata parties away from picturesque Piņata Island), send him to the Daystrom Institute for additional analysis, or perform other indecencies on him that a regular flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be significantly more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

The maximum range is not stated, but should be up to 100 feet (30 meters).
The remote control uses IR (infrared) LEDs instead of radio waves; there are three channels (channels A, B & C) that will allow up to three models to be flown at the same time.
The approximate wavelength of the LEDs in the remote is 920nm.


The spaceman has what's called an "auto stable" system, in which two smaller rods positioned above the main rotor have small weights on their ends. This helps keep the spaceman more stable during flight, and helps ensure that even beginner pilots can fly the toy.

The body of the spaceman is made of a very lightweight foam (known by most people as StyrofoamŪ), so he can withstand crashes and he won't gouge holes in walls, break lamps, or damage couches & chairs if he's crashed into those articles. As a matter of fact, he was designed *EXCLUSIVELY* to be flown indoors. The only real hazard is to the eyes of his operator or other people & pets in the room; so you'll want to be careful about that.



Photograph of his remote control.



Photograph of the replacement Spaceman's remote control.
Note that the position of the switches & charge door are different.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the flashing blue LED in the Spaceman himself.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the orangish-red "Power" LED in the remote.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the yellow-green "Charge cycle in progress" LED in the remote.

USB2000 spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.
WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the flashing blue LED inside his body.
This clip is approximately 1.2 megabytes (1,339,690 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than six minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.


WMP movie (.avi extension) showing the spaceman flying.
This clip is approximately 1.7 megabytes (1,816,626 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than eight minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

In this clip, you can hear me say "Shoot this movie with the kitty cat here", then you can hear the Spaceman's
motors throttle up, then you can see him take off, fly across the living room, hit the ceiling, and then crash.




This is a video on YourTube showing the product flying.

In this video, you can hear me say "Entering sector zero point six" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number six", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the product buzzing around the room for a bit, and then landing hard offscreen.
You may hear the song "On the Run" by Pink Floyd playing; this product is not sound-sensitive, so the sound may be ignored or even muted if it pisses you off.

This video is approximately 3.87775634905 megabytes (3,892,720 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than eighteen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.




This is another video on YourTube showing the product buzzing around my room.

In this video, you can hear me say "Entering sector zero point eight" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number eight", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the product buzzing around the room for a bit, and then landing offscreen.

This clip is approximately 3.67735778347 megabytes (3,871,978 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than seventeen minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.




A second video on YourTube showing my (orginal; once-broken!) Indoor R/C Spaceman buzzing around in my room. He flies remarkably well in this video.

In this video, you can hear me say "Entering sector zero point five" in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Star Trek'' {it's supposed to be Mr. Spock saying this}, then say "I mean...flight number five", in the same manner as the speech synthesizer in the coin-op arcade video game ''Looping'', followed by the product buzzing around the room for a bit, and then crashing into a wall (oops!!!).

This clip is approximately 6.14483453569 megabytes (6,342,208 bytes) in length; dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than thirty one minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.

I cannot provide these videos in other formats, so please do not ask.



TEST NOTES:
Test unit was ordered on 11-20-07, and was received on the afternoon of 12-03-07.

Product was made in China. A product's country of origin really does matter to some people, which is why I published it on this web page.


UPDATE: 12-11-07
The upstairs neighbour's water heater leaked over the weekend, and yesterday morning I noticed numerous water spots on the remote and on the blades of the Spaceman himself (he was lying on his side) - this indicated to me that the product got pretty thoroughly douched - but when I tested him, he still appeared to function properly.


UPDATE: 01-12-08
When I tried to charge it, the receptacle/switch assembly broke free and went inside the Spaceman's body, effectively causing product breakage.
Therefore, that dreadful "" icon will be added to its listing on this website.


UPDATE: 02-24-08
I purchased a replacement yesterday; so I'll soon have a working unit again.


UPDATE: 03-04-08
I received the replacement yesterday; so now I'm back in the air - so to speak.
Therefore, that dreadful "" icon will be removed from its listings on this website.


UPDATE: 02-11-11
Using a small screwdriver, I was able to hold the charger/switch assembly in place (on the original one that had become broken) so that I could plug the charger in. Even though the "feet" have (long ago) become broken off the front, the unit still flies very well, and I'd like to think that I now have two of these units in working order!!!


UPDATE: 02-12-11
Here is a photograph of the original; his front "legs" busted off some time ago (very likely in an interstate move I made in early-2009); note how I bent the wire supports for the back so that the product itself sits on the ground somewhat level and can lift off on his own properly:








    MANUFACTURER: Unknown
    PRODUCT TYPE: "Helicoper"-like R/C flying astronaut
    LAMP TYPE: Blue LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: N/A
    SWITCH TYPE: Slide on/off on side of product
    CASE MATERIAL: Styrofoam & plastic
    BEZEL: N/A
    BATTERY: 6xAA cells (remote), 3.7 volt Li-Poly rechargeable (spaceman itself)
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: Unknown/unable to measure
    WATER- AND PEE-RESISTANT: Very light splatter-resistance at maximum
    SUBMERSIBLE: NO WAY HOZAY!!!
    ACCESSORIES: Spare tail rotor
    WARRANTY: Unknown/not stated

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Because this product is not intended to emit light, the standard "star" rating will not be used.
    He *DOES* have a flashing blue LED inside his body, so he is at least a bit germane to this website.





Indoor R/C Flying Spaceman * www.thingsyouneverknew.com...






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