oops

Hi All,

I just bought my third heli. At first, I was planning on a T-REX, however I noticed for the same price, I could get the "Aluminium Helicopter" advertised on Ebay.

It just arrived today, and aside from some crushing of the box and a missing ball-joint, it was all there and in good condition.

This review will only cover initial impressions, since it's not flying yet. I'll update as I go along.

First Comments.
This helicopter is the "Supper (sic) Easy Fly" manufactured by the G.K. Model Company Ltd. The English is bad, but the English manual is good - quite comprehensive and with excellent exploded diagrams down to each component. Packing is all cardboard, with no plastic rigidity inserts like many other models have. (the blown plastic bubble inserts).

The shipping weight was 1.2 Kg, so it's cheap to send around, however would get heavy when you start adding stuff.
When I weighed the flying parts supplied, it was 324g, although the canopy would add another 30g to the weight. You can use that to calculate the rest of the stuff, by adding in the parts weight... The brushed motor was included in that weight though... Just no ESC.

The first thing I noticed (well, I did notice in the pics) is that it had the Bell-Hiller mechanical CCPM rather than an eCCPM. More like the Shogun than the Hornet II style, however it had the bevel gear from the main driving the tail - like the Hornet... Which makes me wonder which is better?

General Construction.

First things first. Just how much Aluminium (or other metal) is in an Aluminium Helicopter? (Basic Construction).

Well, it had more Aluminium than I expected. From the Swashplate up, everything is metal. The links from the swashplate down are plastic, but most of the main shaft parts are metal. The servo connecting horns are also Metal, and tolerances are tight throughout.

Additionally, the rear gearbox (a big dissappointment for me with the Walkera 22A) was excellent. Two brass bevel gears that mesh beautifully, and an all-metal slider mechanism, although the blade actuators are plastic, as are the tail blade clamps. The tail axle is 2mm and a touch thicker than some others.
The geabox gears are fixed by a grub-screw rather than a pin, which is a huge weak-point of the Walkera22A/D.

The lower skids are all metal too, however the skid struts are plastic, although an antenna mount seems to be included on one side. A brief criticism here is that both skids are close together and seem too far forward. Position is fixed by a grub-screw, but it's set in plastic, so won't take abuse.

The second most common element is fiberglass. The metal chassis has two simple flat plates of fiberglass attached to each side, each cut to shape.

The fiberglass is 1.0mm and seems very rigid. Spacers throughout keep the two sides apart, and large sections of aluminium chassis keep it from moving.

Smaller pieces are also used as side sections of the rear gearbox, and one side forms the tailfin, while the other is purely structural to the gearbox. The very back of the fiberglass is braced by a spacer, so the load on the fiberglass is reduced.

But there is plastic. The boom seems plastic, as does the boom clamp and the main gear and bevel pinion to drive the tailshaft. Although a thicker plastic than most with more gear meshing surface area, I'd like to see how long this lasts. On a positive note, they do seem well cut thick stubby teeth, so at least look strong.
The main gear teeth are 4.5mm thick, while the bevel teeth appear at least 5mm long! Huge for such a small heli!

Features.

The basic Heli comes with an autorotation bearing standard, and also a 380 speed motor (2.3mm shaft) with a spear pinion gear to drive the main gear.
Stickers for the tail, and a bubble canopy which you assemble and paint yourself. It's ARF, so needs some assembly, including nearly all linkages and of course, all your electronics.

The parts seem stiff at first, but loosen up quickly once you wriggle them around, yet mine still felt very precise.

Wooden blades were included with mine, however they have no drilled hole, so that is something I will have to do when I fit them.

Minor Negatives.

Small threads of what I take to be fiberglass are still present from the manufacturing process and wrap themselves around moving parts, resembling hair in the gears. It's annoying and hard to get off.

Specifications (From the box).

Length - W/blade 715mm
Body Length - 490mm
Height - 168mm
Rotor Dia - 593mm
Gear Ratio: 13.2:1:5 (Motor:Rotor:Tail) ie, Tail is 5 x rotor speed.
Flying Weight - 470g
Engine - 380 motor. (Brushed motor included)
RC - 5 channel, 4 servos. Need ESC or Brushless setup.
Recommended Gyro - GWS - PG 03
Battery Recommended - 11.1 1500-1800 Mah LiPos
Speed Control Recommended - 20a w/o brake.


Final comments (at this point).

This seems like an easily serviced Heli. The main components do seem very strong, and quite repairable. Parts aren't as cheap as my 4 or even my 22A but then it's mostly machined metal, sometimes anodised so that's to be expected.

I was impressed with the single panel fiberglass sides - they look easy enough to fabricate if I damage them.

Overall, for the ebay cost of around US$179 (I paid less because I bid in an auction) this so far looks like excellent value.

David Kitson.

oops

Pictures (1)

oops

Pictures (2)

Bubblehead

Nice review - Have you flown it yet?

oops

Preflight Problems.

Well, I've finished getting the Heli to flying build.'

2 x HS-55 servo on the cyclic and a PFS-09 on the collective (direction of the HS-55 was wrong) and a HS-55 on the tail.

One piece missing that I missed was the tail drive rod - oh well. I re-used one of the tail-boom supports and out a ball through a HS-55 joint. Works OK.

I attached the Gyro from my Walkera 22A, which sat nicely on the Gyro mount. The Gyro mount is a thin piece of fiberglass which you bend slightly and put between the chassic fiberglass sheets. It slots into four small slits in the original bodywork, and sits just above the motor. That means you need to remove the gyro when you access the motor.

I only had a 4 channel controller available, so I mixed the speed controller and the collective Servo. I set it for zero pitch mid-throttle and left it at that. Next I connected up the NiMH 9.6V pack I had, and took it outside.

All up, without the canopy, it now weighed in at 513g. Quite heavy !

Once outside, I started it up. It's a lot bigger and doesn't spool instantly like my smaller Heli's. The blades are about an inch longer also.

A quick check of the tail rotor showed a good response to the rudder, but I ended up trimming hard right to keep it center.

I fired up the controller, and it simply bounced along the ground. It made it about 1cm off the ground, but that was it... It slid everywhere and was otherwise uncontrollable.

Not enough power. I took it back inside.

It seems it needs more, so I went out and bought a LiPo 1800 battery. 7C, 10C surge. A little low, but the hobby shop insisted it was suitable for the specifications I had discussed. It was the largest battery that fitted also, being 22mm by 35mm, it only just fits in the final cavity I want the battery to sit in.

In it went, and the next morning, it was time to test again... Now it weighed in at 535g without canopy.

Now it lifted easily off the ground, but a sever tail-bobbing motion ensued that left it uncontrollable. WIthin seconds, the bobbing killed control and I was scrambling to shut the rotors off, which of course, span wildly on the autorotation bearing.

This I think is due to two reasons. Firstly, the CoG is 2cm back of the main shaft - that's something that the Gyroscopic effect will need to overcome. The second is that the headspeed is probably still too slow.

So I took it in, and that night adjusted the pitch. Now severely negative at zero, it would slow down quicker and lock itself to the ground better as well.

I spooled up, and at just over 85%, it lifted....

The bobbing motion was now minimised. Still visible, but stable and controllable. The main rotors screamed as they beat the air around them into submission, and it sat on the ground effect. It was windy, but aside from a little sliding instability, the wind didn't otherwise both it much at all. Then at 100%, it lifted into an uneasy ground-effect hover. Up to 2ft, then back down... It seemed to want to settle around 1ft altitude max.

At this point, I realised my biggest problem. Perhaps regardless of the battery, this motor simply probably does not have enough grunt to lift this heli easily. Just as the 370 was too small for the Walkera22A, the 380 brushed is too small for the Aluminium "Super Easy Fly" model.

Also, the gears haven't worn in yet, so friction was probably a lot higher than optimal as well.

There's now no doubt that a brushless motor will be required. The Brushed motor is only useful as a temporary motor for my Walkera 22A I suspect. It's just too small. I could probably endure, but it won't give me the snapping response I want from such a nice piece of engineering. Sure, my throttle choice is bad, but it's not that far off effective. Time to find a nice 400 brushless. No other way around it.

As for the cyclic? Well, it was responsive enough, despite the stiff feeling in the head. The flybar doesn't move much, but it seems to be enough. I was still flying it with Kid gloves, with just slight motions of the cyclic.

The Gyro worked well enough.... It's hard to fly, but once set, it holds. It's also very responsive to the tail input, and can easily overcome rotor torque to spin on the spot. I didn't try too far, since I was so close to the ground, but it did move quick with just a little rudder stick.

Pitch response overall seems good. I'm sure I will be able to set enough pitch once the power is present. It can go well beyond the levels I was flying at to the point that the blades started to stall, and there was some left still.

The thin landing skids originally bothered me. However it has been fine. There is enough headspeed to control it on the ground once down, and it locks down beautifully with the negative pitch.

One other thing - the tail rotor bottom rotates away from the body. This was good. When I landed it in some loose sand, it quickly dug in and fortunately, kicked the sand away from the main gears.

The next step? Perhaps another 1800 battery. That would shift the CoG and provide me with the extra power for the main rotor. It's a big micro and should handle it just fine... And a decent brushless motor to drive it.

I'll update when that is done, however it will probably take a while -

futura

Thanks for the continuing review OOPS!!

Best of luck with it.

swashplate

Hey oops thanks for the reply in my post, and thanks for this great review! Man if i didnt have to buy "guts" for my hornet this would be on the top of my list, just great to know that once my next round of fiscal burlyness occurs my money wont cause that irritating burning phenomena in my pocket!!

cptsnoopy

thanks for the update! I just took apart my 35 and re-arranged things to get the cg under the mast. before is was quite a bit tail heavy as you describe with your aluminum heli. the gyro went where the receiver was and an extended plate was attatched to the lower part of the front body to hold the battery further forward. the cg is now under the mast with the canopy on. i don't have a good scale but the heli seems pretty heavy. is there any easy way to get your cg moved under the mast without difficult mods? I am getting pretty good power from my 380 brushed. I think the tach showed about 1900rpm from mid throttle to full throttle. I would not want any less but the heli is flying stable. good luck with that thing! any chance for a pic of it flying or even a short video?

oops

Test flight video temporarily at:

http://blackice.com.au/heli/SEF380.wmv (2Mb)

At least until the bandwidth becomes a problem

Not much to see. It's difficult to control due to the low headspeed. And probably poor piloting ability, but it does stay off the ground until landed.
Note the nasty tail-bob when it first takes off? Previously, it hit that early, and it got worse. I lessened the pitch across the throttle range, but it was only just enough.

I measured the total current draw at flying power, at it was from 9-10A. Not that much. I suspect the 380 brushed is not really powerful enough for the Heli.
I suspect with a smaller battery (eg, 1200 or mayby 800 mAh) it would fly. The 1800mAh is just too heavy.... So it never gets out of ground effect.

But even then, just flying isn't really acceptable is it? I doubt it could do 3D at that kind of performance level. And I don't want to run out of power trying to stop a rapid decent either.

I think it really does need a Brushless...

Regards
David

cptsnoopy

thanks for the video David. that looks like a very nice heli. it sounds like it is turning the blades fast enough but it obviously is not generating enough thrust to perform well. my 860mah lipo pack is 65grams and the 1800mah lipo that i weighed was around 115grams. my 35 with a 380 brushed is using 5 amps at 5/8's throttle and 8.3 amps at full throttle. the rpm's are around 1900 from mid throttle to full throttle. I just don't have a weight for it right now to compare with your aluminum heli. i hope the brushless motor gives it the power you need/want.

ClemenTang

Are those flying rods at 00:34?

Clement

oops

Flying rods? Hahaha. No it's (was) a bee. It flew straight into a spider web from there. There is a BIG spider just the other side of the Camera. She's become like a house Pet. We leave her alone and avoid wrecking his web. She catches a lot of bees and flies and is growing. It's not poisonous, but is well and truly large enough (and aggressive enough) to bite, but the kids know not to walk into her web... The web's about 2m x 2m. Very big. She puts it up at night and takes it down the next morning. It was still up when I did the test.

Anyway, the AluSEF did it's maiden flight today. Not too long, and yes, I do have it on Video.

With the Align BL420LF motor and Align controller, it has enough power and is quite responsive. It's also very stable, although there are some issues.

There is a LOT of torque on the tail, so I need to make sure it's well locked down... I didn't for a quick test-flight, and it almost ended in disaster. The tail got around to 45 degrees !

The Gyro is unstable, and the SEF has a nasty dynamic instability which results in a high frequency vibration of the tail when the Gyroscopic effect overcomes the gyroscopic wobble. The tail vibrates up and down quite fast, and this effects the Gyro quality as well, so I need to pay attention to the tail.

The tail control is excellent however. Unlike the Walkera 22A, it is crisp and responsive in both directions, and the attitude control is good also despite the stiff ball joints. The gear mesh seems OK, although it does need adjustment (about 0.5mm too low).

Vertical response was good, and I was flying in light to moderate winds. Not quite enough for a kite, but more than enough to upset a smaller Heli. It handled well, and no change to the attitude of the craft with sudden gusts was noticed, although it did slide all over the place

All four HS-55 servo's appear to be working well. The blades seem balanced, and it looks like I can use the slightly longer Align blades, although I'll need to find a suitable sleeve for the smaller bolt diameter. Align blades look like great value BTW. A lot longer than most others.

I estimate most flying is at around 8A, and I was pleased to see the battery coping well. It's a 7C 1800mAH LiPo, so should get around 8 minutes flying time More than enough at present.

The engine sings nicely under flight conditions, and the whine of the gears with the beat of the blades sounds awesome.

I think this is quite a bit smaller than similar Heli's now that I have had a chance to look at it. It's a bigger than the Walkera 22A, but smaller than some other Micro's I've more recently seen, so it's proabably mid-sized.

The metal parts look nice under operation, and the setup from factory really was ARF. Once the linkages were attached, it was all correct from the start with only minor changes needed.

One little issue that I feel I'll have to address is the R/A horn that drives the "Aileron" mix into the head. It's only connected at one end, sits 3mm out from the fulcrum, and the load-bearing is just a washer and a screw.

It's probably OK, but does twist a little under operation which will undoubtedly lead to less handling response over time. At some point, I want to add another bearing point at the far end to head off any slack that might develop over time.

Other than this, mechanically, it seems good. The gears show no signs of issues, and look like they might last a while. The chassis seems solid and I've been able to mount things in lots of different places.

The name "Super Easy Fly" isn't so bad. It does fly nicely, above problems excepted, but it definately needs work. One thing I did notice with the original motor is that the top of the shaft was pressed hard into the bottom of the tail boom, and this would have undoubtedly caused friction. It also highlights that the boom isn't made of plastic or CF like I thought. It's Alumium too! Painted Black. I should have known.

Also, I needed to use the 6 channel (8 really) RD6000 transmitter. Having separate control over the mixing of the speed/collective is imperative. I wish now that I had used it before.

I suspect now that if I had used the 6 channel so I could set 100% throttle early and also if I had adjusted the motor so it didn't strike the bottom of the boom, that it would have flown with the 380 Brushed motor. I probably won't try that now, but it's always there if my Brushless ever dies or if I ever sell it. Neither of which will be likely.

I still need to add the boom fasteners to the tail - maybe that will help a little. Also, I do need to find the source of the vibration, but I think that may prove difficult. I'll need to great creative to resolve that issue.

Next, some flying videos (If I get a chance this weekend, or otherwise next weekend) and then completion of the model with the canopy and maybe some better battery selections.

So far so good. Total expenditure: Much more than I intended. I'm terrified I'll crash this one - so I need to make sure I preflight it properly, but it has been good. Several times it's hit the ground or flown close to an obstacle, but the control is good and it is responding well. I'll definately learn nose-in on the Walkera 4 before I try it on this - even though it would probably be easier on this one.

David

futura

Glad things are progressing along so nicely. Thanks for the continuing saga!

BlackStump

Have almost completed a ESM Tornado 400 CP (as Shogun/ZAP 400/ZOOM 400 or whatever).
The kit motor is a 380 brushed but I have fitted a brushless Ultrafly C/13/28 motor as an option.
The kit motor pinion is 10T and kit supplier says same pinion is for brushless motor: is this correct as rotor seems to start with a jolt and only minimal throttle.
Should I be fitting a smaller pinion before I do first test run up.
The manual is very basic and does not give any great detail on setup: any advice for normal flying setup would be appreciated (this is my first collective pitch heli).

BlackStump

Have almost completed a ESM Tornado 400 CP (as Shogun/ZAP 400/ZOOM 400 or whatever).
The kit motor is a 380 brushed but I have fitted a brushless Ultrafly C/13/28 motor as an option.
The kit motor pinion is 10T and kit supplier says same pinion is for brushless motor: is this correct as rotor seems to start with a jolt and only minimal throttle.
Should I be fitting a smaller pinion before I do first test run up.
The manual is very basic and does not give any great detail on setup: any advice for normal flying setup would be appreciated (this is my first collective pitch heli).

Human_Enigma

oops: the blatent mispellings on the packaging.. Should disturb any human. "Supper easy" makes me hungry, and "higth performance" .. no comment..

oops

Yeah, it seems normal. Both brushless I have tried seem to start with a jolt. They don't seem to be able to start slowly... I don't know why. Might just be a brushless characteristic.

I'm using an 11 tooth. I think the idea is to multiply about 10v x RPM/v and divide by the ratio and get somewhere around 2000rpm.
The Tornado assumes a lot of knowledge.

The Heli seems reasonably well behaved, but a little touchy on liftoff... Be careful. Try to get your swashplate horizontal and a touch to the right before takeoff.

Your brass gears will chew out after a few flights. Make sure you grease them first also. When they wear down, replace them with steel gears. Much better (Use Walkera 22a steel gears if you can't get better).

Don't worry about the gears too much unless you get bobbing tail issues, in which headspeed is too low. Also better to use a smaller pinion to avoid overspeed of the rotor if possible.

If the bobbing still occurs at full throttle, then install a larger pinion...

David

credence

My Feedback: (2)

It's my understanding that only sensorless brushless motors have the jolt or stutter when first applying power. A sensored brushless motor will have 5 wires, and typically only spins one way as the esc does not need to "guess" which way the motor is supposed to be spinning. On a sensorless motor, the direction of the spin is determined by the ESC, which has to figure out which way to power the motor by reading the coasting pulses of power from the windings coming from the motor it's self. Thats why on start up, where there's no movement coming from the motor, it jumps around, but once running, it's nice and smooth. It's also not uncommon (especially on cheaper motors and ESC's) to find the motor spinning the wrong way on occasion, and you'll need to turn it off and turn it back on to get it going the right away again.

This is only my basic understanding of it, i'm probably totally off, but i'm also not an electrical engineer, so whatever .

Either way, my point was, stutters on start up are normal [:'(]

thecheatscalc

that's a pretty nice heli. i like how in the end before you set it down the blades look completely still (yet bent... [&:] ) I did see it wobble a bit, almost smashing the tail rotors into the ground [X(]

so what's the worst problems and things about the heli?

BlackStump

Thanks for the info: I can now try a full runup and hopefully get it flying in a few days.
Have been flying a Helimax Rotofly fixed pitch (mostly indoors): hope this one handles better outside in the wind.

Human_Enigma

Anybody familiar with the " K.I.S.S." method?

oops

Another Video Clip -

Just a hover, but with the brushless.

http://blackice.com.au/heli/helihovertest.wmv

The worst thing about the model? The tail gears. Seriously, they are really bad. Other drawbacks to the model include a lack of space for the batter and the CoG is a little far back. But you can replace the gears with steel, and creativity will solve the other issues. Then it's actually quite a nice Helicopter. I wish I had a better gyro though!

Oh, and regarding the K.I.S.S. method? I practice it ALL the time. Everytime I go to buy another heli part, I K.I.S.S. my money goodbye....

David

DEFLYER22

Are the parts available?? I saw some picture on this helicopter too
- [link=http://www.do-ok.net/index.php?t=sq&uin=28]Pictures of this Aluminium Helciopter[/link]
- With pictures on main body and tail gear.

Gregor32

My Feedback: (1)

oops, does the alum sef require any special mixing for the swashplate ? (like 120deg ccpm mixing etc)
i just got the tornado cp400 for fathers day!
Thanks Greg.

credence

My Feedback: (2)

Looks like you're really fighting that tail. How come you were flying in rate mode if the Walkera gyro can operate in HH?