rktboy

Well, I guess this was technically my second day of flying, but since I only got in about 30 seconds of flight time the first time, I'm calling it my first full day of flying.

After my first experience (and crash) I had to order a replacement TR Gearbox (Went with one of Bret's 'Indestructible' ones which arrived promptly. Thanks Bret!). I also ordered a CF Tail Fin from Matt but it hasn't yet arrived. I went down to the workshop on Saturday to effect repairs. Disassembled what was left of my old TR Gearbox and ran a length of dowel down the Tail Boom to straighten out a slight dent. Reassembled the tail boom and TR assembly (I did want to mention that Bret's gearbox is a really nicely machined piece of hardware. I highly recommend it as a replacement for the stock one). All in all the repairs went very smoothly. In the absence of my new CF Tail Fin, I fabricated one out of some aircraft grade plywood. I also decided to cannibalize a GY401 gyro that was mounted on our Kyosho Caliber 30 for temporary mounting in the Corona. Overkill, perhaps, but I figured I might as well make use of it as the Caliber won't be taking off until I learn how to fly this heli.

Sunday afternoon, my father and I carted the heli over to a local gymnasium. The first flight was a little rough as, during programming the transmitter to operate the sensitivity on the GY401 gyro, I managed to reverse the throttle controls. An excellent lesson for me though. Always do an electronics check before flying! After some quick adjustments and a moment to bend the landing gear back into shape, we were back flying again. This bird flies like a dream. I was, admittedly, a bit nervous for the first couple of minutes, but quickly grew to thoroughly enjoy the experience. By the end of the day, I was able to maneuver the heli in slow squares and even pulled off a couple of flashy looking pirouettes. Also, by the end of the day, I was able to hover the aircraft almost rock steady.

Only a couple of down notes to the day. The first was that I encountered some radio interference that cut out the throttle a couple of times (maybe 3 total all day). No serous damage on any of the crashes (with the exception of, once again, bending the landing gear back into shape ). The second was that our number of flights throughout the day was limited. We're still waiting on 2 more battery packs to arrive and so, our 7-9 minute flights were interspersed with 45 minute periods of dullness while waiting for our only battery pack to charge. I think we got in 5 or 6 flights in total though.

All told, it was a great day. Great flying and some good laughs. The Corona weathered any of the abuse that it took and came out swinging (or spinning, as the case may be). The only damage was a mark on the Tail Boom from a boom strike, a slight chip on the trailing edge of one of the rotor blades and, of course, a well exercised landing gear. It's so neat to be able to take such a complex piece of machinery out flying and have little to no repairs to make at the end of the day. Thanks Lite Machines!

psycho_klown66

That's really cool! I only had a couple of weeks of "flying" on my Corona. Currently waiting for replacement parts. I was also looking at Matt's beltdrives... never have to replace a gear it seems with them!

rktboy

Yes, those are on my list of potential upgrades as well but I think I'm going to follow the advice of others on this site and just upgrade things as I break stuff.

mikec456

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Where can you find Bret's gear box?

Peter_d

You can find the gear box here http://www.chopper-1.org/

About Matts beltdrive... it's awesome, it's one of my favorite upgrade...

//Peter

gadget01

As you start doing damage to the rotor blade tips, you will most likely notice some wobbling from the imbalance. This is not a big deal- just cut the edge of the blade smooth again and then cut the opposite blade to match and then balance them. I was using a pair of blades that had nearly 2 inches of the ends cut by the time I grounded them. You will inevitably destroy blades, so having a couple sets in your kit will prevent having to wait to fly again. The yellow blades work well as they are more visible than the white or black LMH blades.

mikec456

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Well my first day with my new Corona 120 went really well. I spent a few battery packs in the garage setting it up then went outside. Even with 15 wind gust I was still able to hover and fly around. Still working on my control but I got to say this baby is so much easier to fly than my micro Shogun and way more forgiving! Even when I was hover at 6' and my boy yelled out "hey Mike look out" thinking a car was coming I came down really fast and hard but it didn't hurt anything but a couple of the wire ties broke-now try that with a Shogun or TRex!

theLane

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I'm ordering a Corona here soon. Should I get the belt drive right away? What is usually the first thing to break?

mikec456

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Nothing has broken yet on mine but I went ahead and purchased the belt drive which is smoother and quieter than the spur gear. The first thing that actually broke was the cheap tail gear box which I upgraded to the Chopper-1 heavy duty box.

theLane

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I'm all paranoid after reading things here. Started thinking I should order all the upgrades right off the bat, but then I thought, "it can't be that bad or it wouldn't have the kind of reputation it has" so now I am just wondering...

Must be something weak on it, as there always is on a heli, so which is the weakest link? Gear box?

mikec456

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Yes the gear box will break real easy, but the rest of the heli is very sturdy. Believe me I hit lots of things with the main blades and didn't even break anything. I even brought it down really hard from 7' up-no biggie! If I was still flying my Shogun I would be broke.

theLane

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OK, so a gear box and a landing gear with battery holder, right?

I heard that right away, you should change it so the bettery is carried underneath. Apparently it increases stability like 10 fold.

So, where should I get these upgrades from?

Thanks,
edoc

mikec456

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Don't forget the Titanium book protector from Chopper-1 also. It will save you from denting the boom on boom strikes. If you do bent the boom you can shove a 3/8" wood dowl down it to straighten it out. Check out the Chopper-1 gear box-pretty cool. I just looked and Chopper-1 are out of the boom guard.

mikec456

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Here's the pics

mikec456

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Just returned from flying-another good day!

mikec456

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More pics

theLane

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Nice. Well, I think I'll definately order the gear box, new landing gear w/battery holder and I think I'll get the belt drive too. Whats the advantage of having the belt drive, just quieter?

mikec456

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Yes I changed the landing gear too. The belt drive has less drag and quieter.

theLane

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It says on the BT website, a comment from a user says:

Did you have to modify the crutch to use it?

mikec456

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No I have the aluminum crutch-I too heard it needed to be stiffened so I purchased some aluminum flat bar but have not installed it as of yet.

gadget01

Going to the belt drive will most likely change where your motor mount bolts to the frame a little- I had to drill new bolt holes on my crutch to get the belt tension right. This is not the easiest thing to do, as getting it to that sweet spot takes a little trial and error. The belt should be just barely tight enough so it doesn't skip when you throttle up. If it starts skipping when you add power, you will suddenly lose down-thrust and that's usually not a good thing- resulted in my most costly crash so far. If the belt is too tight, it will drag too much and make too much work for the motor, which shortens your run time.

The plastic motor mount leaves a bit to be desired too- I think it's too flexible. BT makes an aluminum motor mount that compliments the belt drive very well.

You can order it from: [link=http://www.ballistictechnology.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=14&Itemid=26]BT's website[/link]

or from: [link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/lmh_upgrades.html]HeliHobby[/link]

mikec456

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Well I didn't have any problems mounting my belt drive to my crutch. I moved over one bolt hole and elongated the other hole about 1/8". I'm running the plastic mount also with no apparent issues after 10+ flights.

gadget01

My plastic motor mount kept slipping, which loosened the belt, causing it to skip. Tightening the bolts more ended up stripping out the screw holes in the plastic mount. The aluminum motor mount solved all this.