Falcon 40 setup???
 

I am new to rc helis and have a falcon 40. I have looked for info on setup and tuning and can not find what I think I am looking for. I see people talking about truing the flybar and that, but do not know what that means. If anyone can point me in the right direction for set up and common problems. I have training gear on now and it seems unstable. I know part of this is my inexperience but i try to practice a lot and on a sim. i still can not get it to hover in one place and it seems ridiculously easy on the sim. Let me know your true opinions if it is me or it may be the heli. Thanks in advance.

RE: Falcon 40 setup???
 

I suggest first ensure your swash plate is level, by eyeballing from front and sides and check exact 90deg between shaft and the top surface of the swash. This needs to be done after servo initialization, through trimming control on the radio. The second check needs to be aligning flybar paddles with the seasaw frame, they need to be in line and at parallel to each other. Then measure distance between flybar paddesl to the seasaw frame, both need to be equal.

The last tricky part is the main blade tightness, Falcon 40 is very finicky about this. They should be slightly tight. Also as the blades are not symmetrical, aligning them exact 180 deg to each other is a problem. So play around, and spool up to check vibrations. Then adjust the alignment till the heli spools smooth. Put some alignment mark, best is to draw lines across both blades and the center hub by a permenant marker.

Now the heli can be lightly spooled and lifted for finer trimming adjustments. The natural tendency of the heli is to go slightly left just at the time of lift off, by practice you will naturally adjust for that and then you are good to go. Avoid full stick throws at the start, as you will usually overcorrect and the heli will crash. Small stick moments help a lot.

RE: Falcon 40 setup???
 

Thanks so much for the advice, SOUL!!! I dont want to be stupid... but the swash plate is the part that controls the cyclonic action? This should be visualy level? I will bring home some calipers from work and check the distances for the flybar paddles. At start up should they be perfectly level? without any pitch? Is it best to have the weights at the out most position to increase headspeed and inertia? can you describe in more detail how to align the seasaw frame? i dont know what that is exactly whatt that is...

In your experience should it take off with slight left pull but be easily maintained at hover? so far it seams as I gain experience it is easier to make small adjustments instead of to over react but it still seems to move about drasticly with very little input. I know that I dont have much time in (about 2 weeks) but i can not even get close to get it to hover in one spot. I am usualy pretty good with picking up new hand to eye coordination skills and I feel that things should be going better. I love the challange but it looks that other people may be having an easier time.

RE: Falcon 40 setup???
 

take your time, I dont think anyone picked up fixed pitch heli like Falcon 40 that easily. They are all very twitchy and squirrely to begin with, even with folks coming from Co-axial. I almost gave up, but then realized my setup was making it worse.

Regarding flybar weights, I moved it midway to begin with and now have them completely removed. Basically if you find less control on heli, move them in. Putting them all way outside makes the heli respond very slowly to inputs, and that was an issue for me.

The seesaw bracket is the one through which the flybar passes near the shaft. The blue lines in photograph should be eyeballed and leveled. So both paddles should be parallel and in line with the seesaw bracket in the center.

RE: Falcon 40 setup???
 

Thanks. I will try that. I do have a new problem however. Smoked my 4 in 1. Is there an upgrade, or in your opinion just buy a new one or go all in and buy a whole new heli and use this one for parts. the RX is 40 plush shipping and i can get a new heli to my door for $85.