helorookie

Hey everyone,

I came across this thread and decided to drp on by for a bit. It looks like you have a great 'family' going on here. Hope I can learn from you all and be able to input some in the future.

Catch you on the flip-side.....

dooleyje

HAHAHA MAAAN, cool sound

Jim

dooleyje

Helorookie welcome to the family!!

helorookie

dooleyje,

Thanks for the welcome. I am looking forward to spending time here.

Just some quick background for you all. I am currently over in Iraq. This is where I first learned to fly, self-taught of course. You can imagine how that turned out, and with a Blade CP of all things....LOL!!![:-] I never knew a heli can do a back-flip and do the dying chicken within the matter of .05 seconds....LOL!![X(] Well, things have progressively gotten better. I can't make too many mistakes as there is no LHS right around the corner to get repaired and back up flying again. Right now I am flying a Blade 400, but am waiting on parts for the head as it decided to become a concrete jackhammer...[:@] Oh well, I will get it right and back airborne soon.

Like I said, just some background. I am not an expert in any matter, but have learned a lot from the heli community. It can only get better for here....

dooleyje

Keep coming back. I want to say thank you for your service over there.

Helis are a different machine and can destroy themselves. By the way the 400 is a very nice heli. I have flown one and was very pleased with it. Do you have a simulator that you can practice with? It makes a lot of since to not have to buy parts and learn with the simulator. But broken parts are a fact of heli life. Keep note of what is broken and stock up on spares. Usually spindles, main shafts gears, blades, tail rotor parts, flybar, Tail boom, skids.

Again welcome to the family and any questions you have we will do our best to get the correct answer for you.

Jim

David867

Welcome to the thread helorookie!


I'm sure you'll learn a lot from the guys here, they're great! Very friendly and knowledgeable. You don't find that too often, usually you find people who THINK they know everything and are god's gift to heli's. You won't find that here. When I first started with my Raptor G2, Jim(dooleyje) helped me out, told me a lot of stuff, I absorbed it all like a sponge, and I was up in the air, smooth sailin! He's always right, knows his stuff!

I've looked at the Blade 400 3D RTF kit, it looks really good, a great kit to start, the parts are also fairly cheap. I was in the mall, and saw this girl who bought the blade 400 kit, and some rolls of gift wrapping, that's gonna be one happy boyfriend! Another heli freak is gonna be born.

Ya, you should order a sim to run on your laptop, you can get a remote and FMS(free sim software) for $20, it will run on any computer. If you have a good 3D card, u can get the newer stuff, realfight G3 or G4. It'd be best to learn everything on there since you can't crash as often. And when you're waiting for parts, you can practice all those moves that you'll try once you've got it back up in the air.

If you run into any snags getting your Blade up, don't hesitate to ask!


Take care.

Dave.

maddog57

hi all,

can anyone recomend a quality ball link sizing tool to fit the links on the Raptor G2? are they 3.5mm? also where can i get one?

thanx, chris

flyachopper1

So, now "David" gets to tame a "Goliath". Man, my lawnmower doesn't have that much power. If ya hook a skateboard to it you can drive it to work. Sounds awesome. If you use a dab of locktite between the pinion and motor shaft it'll hold more solid. A little heat will loosen it to change gears or repairs. I'm wondering about how the maingear will hold up to the torque. Mechanics are relative. You can't run a Ford 428 through a C4 tranny. Tends to eat gears. I guess we'll all learn through you how that motor blends into the heli. Love the sound. Has a nice "power" sound to it. I'm thinking that motor would be cool in a scale. If anyone ever gets them back in stock I may have to get one to play with. Any idea yet on how long a battery lasts with it?

You're running excessive power now and I really would hate to see you get hurt or destroy equipment. Please take some time to research what combination or motor, pinion and rotor blades you need to safely harness that motor.

Deciding what head speed you want to run is the best way to decide on a pinion size and rotor blades. Where it's true that high headspeed can improve stability it won't make your heli more powerful. It's likely to diminish power using a very high headspeed. You lose torque. And, as JD will likely agree, too much headspeed is unsafe as well as power wasting. It's true that some of the pros occasionally run high rpm's but they spend hundreds on high end rotor blades and still show up with several sets as they tend to destroy them. When you're sponsored this is easy. Out of your own pocket, it's gonna hurt. I'd bet the manufacturer of the motor can help you decide what head speed you need to maintain max torque and the manufacturer of your blades probably have rpm ratings for them.

Here's a formula for figuring what pinion to use with what motor at which headspeed. Once you've found what headspeed your rotors can safely take you can use this to calculate pinion size.

Target rpm * teeth on main gear / motor kv / voltage / motor efficiency

Here's a link to an automatic calculator that is real handy: http://dhrc.rchomepage.com/calc.htm It's not as complicated as it looks, Just read the instructions at the bottom of the page.

helorookie, Good to see you found us. First, I thank you for serving us like you are. I'm a fellow vet (Vietnam) and you are one of my heros. Please pass this along to all your comrades too. This thread is an informal one and full of friendly folks who have fun, chit chat and know their helis. Please come back, kick back, get to know us and enjoy. We'll do our best to answer your questions or steer you to where the answer may be. May take some time sometimes but we won't ignore you. Doesn't matter what kind of heli or assoc. equipment you have. It's all welcome here. So is your sense of humor. Yah, these helis are a danger to themselves and can be to you. I'm sure you know how to handle equipment like them though. View them as a piece of military gear. Handled right they will serve you well. Get careless and you'll end up trying to explain to the medics how come your ear is in your pocket instead of on the side of your face. You'll learn though and will have a lot of fun. Someday the backflips will be on purpose along with some other amazing and fun tricks. A fine way to relax and dump the stresses of you duties. Stay healthy my brother and come home to those that love and admire you. Bring all your buddies with you.

maddog, yep, they're 3.5 mm. I know some do but we're not supposed to post specific links to vendors on the forum. I'm toeing the line right now because I'm on moderated status due to some rule breaking in the recent past. I did an internet explorer search for "ball link sizing tool and got a bunch of sources. The sponsored banners on the forum will get you to suppliers that have them too. You'll find that the cutting ball on the tools are going to be larger than your ball links. This is so you can use it to 'clean up' the links and end up with the necessary taper in the opening. You don't run the tool all the way through. Use a light touch with the tool, stop and measure with a digital caliper frequently. No caliper? Then just give them a gentle sizing, stop and try them on one of the balls. Myself, I just keep a lot of new ones on hand. They're cheap and widely available. When I get down to 6 or so left I add some to my next parts order.

Got notice today that my new cellpro chargers will be shipped soon. They even altered my order so the ac powersupplies are part of a combo order and knocked $30 off the total. Good folks there. Gonna be nice to properly charge and do more than one at a time. I've been charging all day and I'm still not done. Gonna be stromy here again tonight and tomorrow. I guess there's no hurry on the charging.

Got the black beauty all licensed up and ready for the work in Oklahoma next week. They love me at the court house. Cost me over $1200 to get out of there today with three pieces of pink paper and one green one. It amazes me that I have to haul all those flight and maitenance logs in to someone that doesn't understand any of them so I can get their permission to fly a machine they know nothing about. Gotta play the gooberment games though. It's all about the fees to them. If they don't get their money Senator U. L. Givitame and Congressman I. L. Goonforever won't get their pet projects and self voted pay raises.

Helismith, where are you? It would be nice to hear from you. Still building helis for others?

The steak on the grill smells real good and done so I'm outta here.

Keep your little man made tornados tweaked, linked and outta the neighbors living room.

maddog57

flyachopper1,


thanx for the info on the ball link tool. i should've searched it myself [duh]. don't get in trouble here cuz your knowledge and friendship are too valuable to all of us.


chris

dooleyje

I have a JR sizing tool that i use on ball links. You just twirl the tool in the link a light touch and then install on the ball to see if it is loose enough and not binding. You can get it all most any vendor. Tower, Advantage, Helihobby, Horizon,Heliprozs.

Jay great news. Yes I like the folks at FMA. I do not have the power supply. It was offered way after I got my chargers. I do plan to get one when I get some pesos.

Jim

dooleyje

Jay: I found a Body for the AS350 at a place called http://www.jmdmodels.com/index46.htm

I think it is a match for yours.

Jim

flyachopper1

Ooh-yah JD,
That's a perfect match. They even have the right kind of skids. Helihobby has them in stock and priced right. I like that it comes clear so it can be painted any way you want. I think I have to have one of those. I found a cool video of one of these flying. I downloaded it and lost the web address if you want to see it I can e mail it to you.

Checked at Tower for a sizing tool and theirs are discontinued.

I sure am spending a lot of dinero on helis lately. Just spent an hour online buying more parts. Needed some heatsinks for the five motors I have now and wouldn't ya know it, I found about twenty other things I needed. Got a big order of spare parts coming now. I'm outa control here. My workroom is gonna look like a hobby shop. Fun as heck too. Money is kinda like fertilizer, doesn't do any good until you spread it around some.

Darn, got an e mail telling me that my new computer is delayed for two more days. Won't ship until the 6th. I guess the G4 sim will have to sit in the box a while longer. I did try to install it on this old laptop and it just doesn't have enough left in it to run it.

Got the repairs done to the cracks in the G2 frame today. They need to set up overnight. That stuff from Ames' vulcanizing kit is a miracle of modern chemistry. Kinda touchy to work with but not too bad. Smells real exotic. Had to put a fan in the workroom window and blow the fumes out. The stuff actually dissolves the original material so it welds back together and I used toothpicks to shape the excess into the corners of the frame. Looks like new now. Got some on my fingers and now I'm losing a little skin. Guess I'll have to be more careful next time.

Flew down to Kearney yesterday and took a few pics of the tornado damage there. It's not too bad considering there were six of them that touched down. Most of them were out in the hills and just kicked up a lot of dirt and a cow or two. Got a couple of nice shots of the derailed coal train. I'll post them below. The ones of private property damage belong to the insurance co. and can't be shared.

Got a movie to watch and a bowl of ice cream to eat so I'll leave ya alone for now.

helorookie

Thank you for the warm welcome. I can tell you that I will be here for many days to come. Before anything gets misunderstood, I just want everyone to know that I hung up my uniform a couple of years ago after 14 years service. I ended up working for a company that makes a product used by the military over here, and was asked to come over to provide support for the troops to keep them in the fight with an awesome piece of equipment that has saved many lives. I will let them all know that you are sending your best wishes to them. I work very close with the servicemembers, and have lost many who I would consider a friend in the 3 years that I have been here.

I have been told that there is a flying club that was thrown together down in Baghdad. I wish I had someone here that I could get together with and maybe fly with. I can tell you that I have gotten much better since the days of the infamous 'back-flip' with my Blade CP....lol The crash I am recovering from now happened with a huge wind gust that basically took my bird and threw her into the concrete. I just need to redo the blade grips and then balance the new blades and I should be airborne again. I have started my own little LHS here with repair parts. I know the site I order from is really happy with me, with the money I spent with them...LOL!!

Take care everyone and keep em flying.....

dooleyje

It does not matter what uniform you are in or out of. You are still a brother harms way.

Jay: Yep I am going to have to get that body. With the clear plastic we can paint it on the inside with a paint brush and the finish outside will look like glass. Send me some pictures of your black beauty with the tail numbers. I would like to have a model of one that I know the pilot. My SA will be perfect.

Tell Donica that we miss her.

Jim

flyachopper1

Helorookie,
I think we are all in agreement. Your clothes don't matter. You are there and serving. I especially admire you for being there of your own free will and aiding our soldiers. Keep 'em alive for us. There are a lot of videos on the net of soldiers flying little helis. When I re-find the links I'll post them.

Hey JD,
I'm proud you want to model the black beauty. Looks like there's going to be two models of it. I know black isn't a suggested color for an r/c but that's what I'm putting on it. It won't be my primay flier anyway. I'm looking into a three bladed rotor head for it to complete the realism. I'm still trying to find the link to the video of a completed one. He used the three bladed head and it flies real well. One of those Scorpion motors like Davids will give it the right kind of turbine sound and power. I think I'll make this one a project, go all out and make it a realistic copy inside and out. I'll post a couple of photos of the real one below.

David,
Did some e-mails and phone calls inquiring about that motor and the maingear. I've been told that they should be fine. The techs at Align suggested using the new high strength white ones that are available now and the 14 tooth pinion. All of them said the Radix blades would handle the power. I'm looking forward to your results with this little hot rod.

Rain, rain and more rain. This part of the country is a sponge right now. Raining now and likely will all day. I'm heading out shortly to go get my older brother. He live 35 miles east of here and is taking delivery on his new Harley today. The dealer is here in No. Platte. We're going to use my truck to get it to his house. Too much rain to ride it.

Woohoo, just got and e mail telling me my new 'puter has shipped. Should have it by Monday. Now I can get serious with the G4 sim.

Yesterday was Donicas birthday. We talked on the phone for a long time and I had flowers and a gift certificate from a nice womens clothing store in Baton Rouge delivered to her hotel. I passed on your hellos. She is in good spirits and seems to truly want to work things out. She's dissappointed and happy at the same time about my plans for the Copt. X.

The ground is just a place to get ready to fly.

flyachopper1

JD,
found some more photos.

flyachopper1

Check out ther paint job on this one. It's used in California to shoot movie stuff.

drobin

Hay Jay,

What happened to your instruments???Don't look like the hueys or 58's I'm used to.I wouldn't know what to do in one on them anymore after 4000 hours.

Dave

flyachopper1

Hey Dave,
Good to hear from you again. Yah, the panel looks a little empty now doesn't it. Everything is on the two screens and is selected by either the buttons along the side of the screens or from a button on the joystick. If something goes wrong or overlimits the computer automatically brings up the proper readout. Even some of the guages that are still in the panel don't need to be there anymore. I left them in so I didn't have to stare at a big empty space and it still has some of the old school aircraft look and feel to it. The gizmo on the left with the smaller screen on it is the new GPS gyro navigation system. That thing can find and take you too any spot on the planet within 10 meters. You probably noticed that all the overhead switches have been moved to the center console. Cleaned up the space above my head and got rid of a lot of the reflection on the windscreen at night. Uh-didja notice the twelve disk cd player mounted at the front of the center console? That was Ames' idea and work. I guess he got tired of dragging his mp3 along. He hid six speakers inside the headliner. Two at the rear, two in the middle and two in front. Under the rear seats is a 600W bridged Bose amp. Now we rock and roll in the sky. Lots of cool advancements these last few years. Just like in the electronics for our r/c stuff. I love tech stuff. I'd love to have an old basic huey to mess with though. Kind of like having an old pickup. Put the fancy car away and take the old beater out and rod around for a day. I keep looking at the flame job on tha blue one and thinking the balck beauty would look good with flames like that done in red, orange and yellow.

Well, all the stuff I've ordered lately has been shipped my way. Some for delivery on the 9th, some on the 10th and some on the 11th. It's gonna be like a three day Christmas. My new 'puter is first, then my cellpros and then all the assorted parts from Helihobby. Hoohaw, look out there's gonna be cardboard and packing flying around. Gonna be simming, charging and flying too. Life is good.

JD,
Do you remember where the three bladed heads can be found? I saw them a while back and can't remember where. My scale is going to have to have one. I finally found the link to the video of the Ecureuil AS350 scale.
http://dhrc.rchomepage.com/
Scroll down just a little and it's there. There's a lot of other cool videos on the site too. Some real good ones of an air wolf scale. He does them in a dense format for quality and they can take a little while to download. Worth it though. Then again, it may be this old beat up laptop of mine making it slow. Can't wait to do this stuff on the new one. I'm donating the old one to the Christian school here. They need anything they can get.

Rain here again today all day. The ground is starting to squish when you walk on it. Flash floods all around us today and more real rowdy storms North and East of us. Man, what a spring. I hope it settles down soon. Hail storms have nearly ruined all the winter wheat and corn is drowning out. I hate to see the agriculture suffer. It's the life blood of the economy in these parts. We've got the cattle, but you can't feed those without the corn and wheat. Lots of lowland flooding right now. This part of the state looks like one big swamp from the air. Could benefit me in some ways though. Rivers will have to be re-mapped and insurance co.s will need aerial photos of flooded crops and atrition lands.

It's late. Better get some sleep.

Stay balanced, tracked and flyem' safe.

helorookie

flyachopper1,

Those are some nice pics of your Black Beauty. I have toyed with the idea of taking classes to get my helicopter pilots license. But I need to wait till I return from this place before I can work that out. Nothing better than the GI Bill.

I am preparing to order the G4 so I can practice on that while I am still grounded. It looks like a good sim to work with. Can't wait for that to get here. I will let you all know when it gets here.

dooleyje

Jay Thanks, great pictures and thanks for posting them for me. I think the three blade thread is in the scale forum.

Hey everyone I had a fabulous opprtunity to fly a new heli. It is the GAUI 200. It is about 1/2 the size of the Trex. It is all carbon and metal. It uses a 7.4 800mah battery. This heli had a 401 gyro(a little large) and a Futaba 3154 on the tail and HS45s on cyclic. It comes with brushless motor and controller and blades. My local Hobby shop is selling them for $279. The batteries cost $21. Man this little heli flies super. One of our factory pilot brought one to the field last night and let me fly it. It was very stable and flew like a much larger bird. It will 3D with the best of them. For those who like to fly in doors this is it.

I crashed my Copx last night. Was flying upside down and got too low over some tall grass (3ft) and caught a blade. It just wrapped it self in the weeds. Lost a main shaft, canopy and possibly a spindle and one blade and a main gear. Very light damage. Dumb thumb rides again!!

Well enough this morning. I have to hit the rode,

Jim

David867

Hey Jim,

Sorry to hear the thumbs strike again! Sounds like the CopterX was watching the lawn and garden show, wasn't listening when they said "don't try this at home".

I imagine an interverted heli can cut a few blades of grass right? There must have been a gust of wind that dropped it fast into the grass.

I hit my align box full throttle and the Align feathering shaft showed no sign of bending, it's amazingly strong, but I changed it out just in case, and put in a copterX shaft, I'd rather have it bend than hold tight, I hope that'll cause less damage if it bends.
Doesn't sound like much damage though, so that's good!


It's been raining a lot here too, but I'll be leaving town for 2 weeks, going to the interior. I'll bring my copterx and all the spare parts for a few crashes. I think there's going to be LOTS of bugs, so I'll have to get some DEET. Do you guys fly with a lot of bugs? I bet the blades get a lot of splatter.

Hope you're all having a great day!

David867

Tri-blades is a great idea jay!

http://flying-hobby.com/catalog/prod...oducts_id=1528

There's a lot out there for sale, but it's the game of finding a good set.

Imagine having 5 blades.. ;o) They've got those, but balancing 5 blades, and crashing with 5 blades might be a little much.

dooleyje

To tell the real truth It was me all the way. No wind ay all. We were trying to trim the grass and I push forward instead of backwards to blast back out of the weeds. Our club field is surrounded by a sod farm. Have you ever had a weed blade wrap around you weed-wacker? Stopped it cold. Its fixed now took about 15min the repair, The factory guy was there so a litttle showing off was in order. We all had a good chuckle.

The bugs are bad here also. Splatters all over the blades.

Jim

David867

Hahaha, oh, I guess it happens! At least you didn't do it with his heli ;o)
That Gaui sounds like fun to fly. Sounds like just a Trex shrunken down to size. The parts must be cheaper too. Being small might make it harder to work on. Hopefully everything's hex!