Align T-REX 450SA ARF Seller:Erick Royer Details:
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Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
I wanted to start a thread for this particular heli which doesn't seen to be represented. I started another thread on this heli http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6245390/tm.htm, bought one, and though it may be of benefit for all of us considering or flying this heli.
Xheli.com and raidentech.com sell this heli as the Vulcan 450SE, but I have not seen specific parts for this heli on their websites. Himodel.com sells it as the GL450 and they have parts. Bananahobby.com sells it as the Pigeon 450. The GL450 and Pigeon 450 have slightly different frames from the Vulcan 450, but you can see a family resemblance in all of them, and all of them are clones of the Trex and share many parts.
Anyway.....after accumulating all the necessary parts and pieces, mine took it's maiden flight from our deck late Friday evening with a 3-foot hover. Saturday afternoon, my son flew it around the front yard for a few minutes beginning the process of getting it dialed in. I plan to continue the thread and blog our discoveries and hope others with these helis will contribute too. Photos forthcoming.
Here's what we've discovered so far: -My Vulcan 450SE came with no documentation or instructions whatsoever. You are on your own. For some good help, go to Trextuning.com. Download all of "Finless Bob's" videos on the HDX450, Trex450, and general videos like soldering bullet and Dean's connectors, ball links 101, thread lock 101 etc etc etc on Helifreak.com. -It helps greatly to have someone with Trex450 experience who can help you. -Go over the entire heli and loctite all screws that go into metal. -Most of the fasteners are phillips-head screws. You'll need good phillips screwdrivers in sizes #00, #0 and #1. You'll also need hex drivers in 1.5 and 2 mm and a nut driver of 5.5mm for the blade nuts. -I bought a set of fasteners for the helidirect.com HDX450 (which is very similar to this heli and another Trex copy) I'm gradually replacing the silver phillilps-head screws with the black socket-head screws. The hardware package only costs a few bucks - do it! Now I have plenty of spares and am getting rid of those darn phillips-heads. -The links are marked with a "J" which is hard to see. My son says they're not very good. Replace with Align links. -The blades absolutely, positively suck. Mine were warped and took a LOT of tape to get in balance. I'm not using them. Get the Align 325mm pro wood blades. -You can get a spare belt from helidirect.com. Look for the one with "453MXL" in the description. Lube the belt with silicone oil or grease. Grease will cling better. -The fins are metal. I'm replacing them with Helidirect.com's CF fins when they are back in stock. I want the blue or silver fins. -You'll need to resize all the ball links as the head is pretty stiff. I had to file a little metal off the flybar control set on the inside bushings where it contacts the seesaw holder. There was some binding there. You'll want to go over everything, and I mean everything, to loctite screws, add lube, and loosen things up. -On the Vulcan 450SE you can mount the motor on the top frame, pinion down, or from underneath, pinion up. The Pigeon 450 only has the top mount option and I haven't seen a good enough picture of a GL450 to see the frame details.
Here are some pics:
< Message edited by Dale_G -- 10/28/2007 5:46:30 PM >
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
Man, I feel like I'm playing with myself here!! 155 hits and no replies!
For those of you looking for information, I've got more. We're still getting it dialed in slowly. Since my original post, I bought a JR7202 transmitter and got all the settings transferred over to it. I'm going to be taking lessons from my son and we're going to use a trainer cord so I'm properly supervised!
Problems so far - the one-way bearing locks up when you spin the rotor head up and put a load on it. I was able to free it by hand after flights, but it would lock up the next time, so autorotation was not possible. I just received a replacement bearing and bearing tool I bought from HeliDirect and swapped the bearing out tonight. works fine now.
I got a "Mega Power" battery off Ebay for $36. 2200mah, 3s, 11.1v. With shipping it was about $45 delivered. HeliDirect sells this battery for around $50 plus shipping. Since then I bought a couple Li-Po's from fmadirect.com. These are great. They're smaller and lighter than all our other Trex 450 size batteries AND they last longer and have more punch. At $47.95 they're not a bad deal. I also bought the FMADirect Cellpro 4s charger - $75. I recommend it highly. Great charger and a reasonable price. It has numerous modes, and will safely fast-charge a li-po pack as well as do a slow charge, a 50% charge for storing the battery and it has a cycle to recover a pack that has been over-discharged. There is an optional computer interface so you can view your battery information and charger settings with the PC.
I got a 230watt power supply from a trashed computer at work and built a nice little 12v 9a power supply for the charger. The charger requires 5amps, so if you go the computer power supply route, you'll need a charger of around 200 watts minimum. All I had to buy was a couple screw-post/banana socket connectors and a 10-ohm 10-amp resistor. I put some rubber feet on it too.
I have some short videos of the first real flight, but have not been able to put them on RCVideos yet. Will make a post on the thread when I do.
Now that the days are getting shorter, I'm not getting home with enough daylight to practice hovering. Can't wait for the weekend.
Is there ANYONE else out there flying a Vulcan 450SE??? Building one??? Contemplating the purchase of one?
Over and out for now.
< Message edited by Dale_G -- 10/10/2007 4:15:50 AM >
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
Posts: 9
Joined: 10/11/2007 From: Mogadore,
OH, USA Status: offline
How ya doing? Thank goodness for this site....it might just be you and I for a while....
I guess I am the lucky one though because I am just a flat out ROOKIE when it comes to RC....
My uncle got me going several months ago and the bug just flat out bit me....though I am older I always wanted to do this since I was a kid....now that I am able to somewhat afford this hobby I am totally excited about getting going....
So what did I do....I jumped in with both feet and bought the Vulcan 450SE as my flag ship...hahahahaha
My thought here was not just insanity....I figured if I have to build the thing I will get a great understanding of what I am doing and how everything works....sounds good until I barrell it into the ground and watch it disintegrate...huh
Well so far what I have done (received the box last week):
- opened the box and thought about sending it back....hahahaha - purchased a different set of landing gear struts from my local hobby store....really like them...heavier and look great....(jchobbies.com-buy online) - installed land gear struts and skids - attached fins and rear rud servo stuff.... - basically I am just getting started - I am currently in the process of rechecking all of the screws and using loctite
I appreciate the info on the downloading of the videos....they are really halping alot....
I did purchase the Spectrum DX6 system after doing much reading and research....for what I will be doing over the next year or two I think this is a great unit..
Posts: 9
Joined: 10/11/2007 From: Mogadore,
OH, USA Status: offline
By the way....
My goal is to have my maiden flight next spring.....I will be chomping at the bit but this will prevent me from moving too fast...hahaha
Also I did purchase the following this evening off of Ebay....
Align Trex 450SE Tail Rotor Blade Set Black Carbon $5.95 USD
Align Trex 450SE Flybar Paddle Black Carbon $6.95 USD
Align Trex 450SE 325mm PRO Rotor Blade (Black/White) $25.90 USD (2 blades I believe...2 sets?)
Align 430XL Brushless Motor (3700KV) RCM-BL430XL $51.95 USD
T-Rex 450 Painted Canopy Fiberglass (Red/Orange/Black) $20.99 this looks great.....
When I bought the landing struts I had also bought black carbon tail fin and stabilizer so I decide to match them up with the tail rotor blade set and the flybar paddle set. Maybe I am dressing this baby up too much for a beginner...but it will sure keep me from being too foolish...
I had purchased from "flyhelirus.com"
Looks like they shipped out same day....should get the stuff Friday....
Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
If I were you, I'd put the stock tail rotor blades and flybar paddles back on - the CF stuff is too nice to be sacrificed in your first crash. Put the fancy stuff on after you ruin the stock parts.
I'd like to see some pics with the new canopy. I've been bidding FG canopies on Ebay for a couple weeks, hoping to get one cheap. Looks like they've been "discovered" now though. I missed out on a few that went for .99c!!!
Good luck!
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
Posts: 9
Joined: 10/11/2007 From: Mogadore,
OH, USA Status: offline
Good advice on using the stock parts...I definitely will when it comes time to fly for the first time.
As soon as I get the canopy and other stuff I will put together some photos...I really appreciate your help thus far....as I said before...I have always wanted to do this...just never took the plunge....no pun intended..
Posts: 2
Joined: 10/16/2007 From: Tualatin, OR, USA Status: offline
Without going into detail about my "model building / RC" history, I hope either or both of you will reply to this post about the Vulcan 450SE you both are working on.
If "money was no object" what products would you guys recommend to buy for the following items: 6ch 2.4ghz Tx/Rx Servos Gyro ESC Motor Battery/Charger system Anything else you suggest...
Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: pdx_senior
Without going into detail about my "model building / RC" history, I hope either or both of you will reply to this post about the Vulcan 450SE you both are working on.
If "money was no object" what products would you guys recommend to buy for the following items: 6ch 2.4ghz Tx/Rx Servos Gyro ESC Motor Battery/Charger system Anything else you suggest...
I'll explain if I must!
Disclaimer: I'm not really qualified for "cost no object", but I'll do my best with what I know.
6ch radio - Spektrum DX6 (I'd go for 7+ channels and get a JR10x radio) servos- HiTec HS65HB Gyro-Futaba gy611 or Logictec 6100t w/Futaba s9650 digital tail servo ESC-Castle Creations Phoenix 35 Motor - Align 430XL (sorry, not familiar with other lines) Battery/Charger FMA Direct Cellpro 4s charger and Cellpro Revolution 3s 2100mah Li-Po pack - this pack is smaller and lighter and packs MORE punch than any others we've tried, and the 4s charger can charge at a 4c rate, plus has a lot of charging options
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
Posts: 9
Joined: 10/11/2007 From: Mogadore,
OH, USA Status: offline
As Dale said....I do not feel very qualified to "recommend" certain parts but I will at least tell you what I felt comfortable buying thus far...
I purchased the Spectrum DX6 system....I thought about the 7 channel but since I am just getting started I felt a "park flyer" system would suffice for now. But if money was absolutely no object I probably would go with Spectrum's DX7. Not really familiar with Dale's recommendation. And from what I have read and researched....the Spectrum's technology is on the cutting edge or at least advanced from other receivers. In addition, servo's and receiver come with the package so I would assume they work nicely together.
I also purchased the Alighn 430XL motor. There was a lot of positive info on this motor.
Not real up on the other components but will certainly research Dale's recommendations before I purchase myself.
I just came home from being out of town....work....I did receive the canopy and other items.....this weekend I will try and get some photos posted....
Posts: 18
Joined: 3/20/2006 From: perth, AUSTRALIA Status: offline
I am getting my pigeon 450 this Monday i cant wait. anyway my question to you is it looks good but does it fly good apart from that i am happy. i have put some gear together such as. gyro. jr g410t radio. jr max 66 esc. 60a motor. kontronk fun400 23 rx. synthesized jr 7ch
Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
You won' t need a 60 amp ESC. 35A is all you need. I'm not familiar with that motor. Not familiar with the radio either, just make sure it can handle a ccpm helicopter. The heli's fly great, once you get them dialed in.
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
Posts: 43
Joined: 4/18/2007 From: Mount Airy, MD, USA Status: offline
Parts discovery!
I just discovered that the Vulcan 450 seems to borrow it's main drive/tail drive parts from the Dragonus II nv. The Dragonus uses the same belt drive arrangement and the parts as photographed and listed here http://www.helidirect.com/index.php?cPath=38_168&op=list&sort=2a&page=2 . The tail drive cog, main drive gear and main drive gear housing and the MXL 453 belt on the following page LOOK like the Vulcan parts. Some of the aluminum parts listed as "collar" also look like the Vulcan pieces. The part they call a "collar" is an aluminum post with screw sockets at both ends similar to the pieces that connect the Vulcan flat frame pieces.
This makes me a bit happer as I have found almost all the necessary parts. The only parts that I have not found are the Vulcan frame items that are different from the Pigeon and the GL450.
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Modded Esky LamaV4, Vulcan 450SEw/ Align 430L 3150kv, Phoenix 35 ESC, Logictec 2100t gyro, HS65HB servos, JR radio
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"Unofficial" Vulcan 450SE, Pigeon 450, GL450 ... - 
