Mack66

I am a newbie but getting more seasoned each time I fly. I finally broke one of my landing skids yesterday while trying to fly outside. Wind came up and tried to launch my baby over the house. Smashed into the top of the house I killed the thottle and watched it free fall into the garden. Damage report: stapped skid strut and separated swash plate. No biggee.

So looking for skids I went to Boom Town looking for improvements to help me fly outside plus skid replacement. I'm considering buying the following products:

Ultra Flex Landing Skids
[8D] Model 4 Boom Kit
Flybar Combo
[:@] Extreme Motor Heat Sinks (come in pairs)

The landing skids are self explanatory. Idea there is to get something that is more robust.

The boom kit is about reducing sensitivity to rotor wash in the house, and wind vaning outside.

The flybar combo is intended to reduce blade clash because I intend on moving the swash links to the second hole for more aggressive cyclic response.

The motor heat sinks are sorta bling but hoping that they'll help stabilize yaw drift over time. I'm not worried about wearing out motors because I am overheating them. I'm just buy more motors. Real question here is since they are split one for each motor do I have to remove one motor to install them or can they be installed without motor removal?

I seem to keep hearing good reviews about Boom Town products. Appreciate any opinions in this forum on these choices and competitors' offers.

Mack

cornerblade

+1 for boomtown, skids are awesome, boom kit is sweet, you will get your parts FAST.

schreydog

My Feedback: (2)

I have done alot of business with jamie @ boomtown, rest assured. always returns emails and phone calls and ships fast. great products! schreydog

Mack66

Interesting. A number of readers but only two respondents. I went ahead and ordered the parts. I'll report back when I get the parts and install them. Even if the parts show up next week I'm so busy it may be months before I get to install them!

But I will report back and let you know. So far I ordered the parts on 3/20/2009 at 4:22PM, and they shipped on 3/21/09. I was notified of shipment at 3:17pm. Sweet. Had them mail the parts (they're small) via USPS Priority Mail, so anything at this point, my friends is in the hands of the USPS. I've always had good luck with them.

Stay tuned!

Mack

Mack66

OK the parts arrived yesterday on 3/25. Everything ship-shape no damage, nicely packed. Not bad, shipped Saturay, and received the following Wednesday from Oregon to Texas.

Now if I can just find some time to install this stuff and test fly. It may be quite a while before I get to it. Pretty busy around here doing unimportant stuff instead of flying my RC heli!

Mack

Mack66

OK believe it or not, I finally got home after a month in London, and a month on the road from Houston to Montana and back (~4750miles).  Installed all the components yesterday:


[img]{akamaiimageforum}/image/s4.gif[/img] Ultra Flex Landing Skids:
Very durable and easy to install

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/image/s3.gif[/img] Model 4 Boom Kit
A little confusing about the O-ring, but the online video did set me straight.  Very straighforward installation.
The online video was great, and included a little error in disassembly I could identify with.  Made the whole thing more natual.

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/image/s1.gif[/img] Flybar Combo
Again, easy to install, although the ball is slightly loose in the link not sure if this will be an issue.

[img]{akamaiimageforum}/image/s6.gif[/img] Extreme Motor Heat Sinks (come in pairs)
Easy to install without motor removal.  However, I didn't have any heat sink paste so just slid them on.  Need to get some and stick them down.

Checkout flight went well at first.  Because I had also relocated the elevator and aileron links to the next hole, I had to make minor adjustments to trim on the elevator link, but that went well.  The aircraft seems a little less stable and responds more rapidly to rotor wash, causing it to dangle somewhat more like a pendulum at times.  Still if I get the thing into the air high enough and away from furniture etc., it levels out nicely.  I like the more aggressive response to aileron and elevator input so that came out well.  No blade clash so far but haven't pushed it yet.

The tail boom weighs 13g, 1g less than the original (14g), so little or no impact on weight/distribution with tail fully extended.

Everything was going well until I suddenly started having total power loss (glitchout) events, which ended up in a couple low impact crashes ultimately leading to swashplate separation.  I shut down to ponder what was going on.  I need to recheck that those heat sinks haven't migrated or Rx antennae aren't accidentally relocated etc etc.  Regardless the glitchout isn't related to Boomtown products at all.

My final assessment of Boomtown quality and service is VERY HIGH.  I'm impressed.  I'll be back to them looking for more for sure.

Mack

dude7422

MACK with the this talk about boom town i would think at least one of you would post a photo 
or better yet a  LINK TO THE PARTS  lol

Mack66

Sorry. Here you go:

http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/category_s/9.htm

Don't know if the upload was successful, but you should see several views.

Also go to www.model4.info and watch the install video.

Mack.

Leethetreeguy

I was one of the first four test pilots for the boomtown model four boom. They are great. I love it. Lee