Unstable

I got a 450sa cheap (read did a few hours work and it got handed to me) and am wondering what needs to be done to it.
I am not new to RC or helis but have never owned a t-rex so I am not that familiar with thier quirks

I am looking for tips and warnings about things to improve easily and warnings of things that have failed on other machines that I should be on the lookout for

so far from searching the forum and such I have got these tidbits

1: ditch the plastic tail drive and upgrade to the metal
2: ditch the idler on the tail as it wears the belt faster.


the current equipment I have in it is
the arf combo motor and ESC (3550Kv)
3 HS-65hb
HSG-5083mg
HG-5000 gyro
2200mAh electrifly pack
7ch hitec RX
futaba 9C radio
so far I have 3 flights on it mostly hovering some forward getting the pitch and throttle curves set

ad yes I am DLing the Finless Bob videos as we speak...err type... whatever
Thanks in advance

unstable

Hibrass

My Feedback: (1)

Unstable,

You're fine for now.. Plan to replace the main Head once you have an accident.. The SA plastic head may not hold up all that well... (At least mine didn't.) Also consider upgrading to the V2 Auto Clutch down the road mine didn't hold up that long after I starting flying instead of crashing... And last but not least the Tail housing... Mine worked and held well for a long time... I would run it until you damage it enough to require replacement.. Also you may need to change out the drive pulley on the tail rotor shaft.. Mine started slipping fairly early on...

Thats about all I can think of right now.

Good Luck and enjoy,

Phelansa

My 450SA is still going strong after almost 50 hours of flying. In that time I have upgraded the Tail rotor blades for carbon items, the Vertical Stabilizer (broke both showing of). I have replaced the main gear for a V2 set, and I have fitted 325mm Carbon blades.

That is it apart from the regular maintenance type of stuff.

The point it, replace parts as you break them. And since you are replacing in any case, you might as well fit the best possible parts. It makes upgrading a lot cheaper.

ace22459

I have an SA that I've upgraded over the last year to an SE. The only stock parts left from the original SA are the head block and the screws. Everything else upgraded to aluminum or CF. Some parts I upgraded when I broke them, the rest I did before they broke just because I figured I'd break them eventually and I like bling! Just so you know, there really aren't any parts on the SA that have to be changed to make it fly better, but you'll get longer life out of upgrades. You might want to replace the gears in those HS65s with metal gears as I can guarantee you'll strip the plastic or Karbonite ones pretty quickly in even a minor crash or hard landing.

Flying Foot Doc

My Feedback: (2)

Unstable, I changed to Youngblood Red dampers when I had trouble getting my blades to track well. I found the stock ones degenerating. From crashes Ive changed to a metal tail case. I have x-gear spider gear on for shock absorbtion. I use my simulator a lot and the lessons from Radd's. Have fun, let us all know how you do. Andy

pawraith

as far as that idler pully on the tail, there is NO NEED to pull it out. with proper belt tension and spraying the belt with some silicon spray, you will have long life and great performance out of your tail system. Engineers at align put parts on these helis for a reason. granted there are better aftermarket parts available, but that does not involve altering the already VERY functional design of a perfectly fine heli.

another good upgrade you may want to consider is a V2 head block and feathering shaft. the V2 shaft is thicker than the standard shaft and quite a bit more durable.

good luck, and have fun.

Skarn

Actually it has been proven to increase problems with it in. Even Align reps are now telling people to remove them! There is a long thread over at helifreak if you want detalis, but apparently Align simply carried over the idea from Raptors....on a TREX 450 there IS NO NEED for the idler pulley and it can eventually cause problems. But it is indeed a FACT that if you remove it, it will NOT cause any issues and will actually make your heli much more smooth.

Skarn

Unstable

Thanks for the advice. got the new drive pulley in and the idler out ... now I need to get the nut behind the sticks working right

pawraith.. as for engineers designing something... I work on fire trucks for a living... and the things the engineers pull with how they design things? they may have some years of schooling.. but that doesnt make them smart.. (there is no way I should have to crawl through an access hatch and hang upside down to change a fuel filter. [:@] EVER! )

pawraith

unstable,
fire trucks and helicopters are two totally different things. an aviation engineer vs. a truck designer also very different. i've worked on full scale AH-64A Apache helis and we didn't remove anything we felt unneccesary. yes, the idea to put a pulley on the tail box may have been carried over from the Raptor. and how good are Raptors? pretty good i'd say. it is inherant of designers/engineers to take a good idea/s and to incorporate them into their design. a good example of this is how so many r/c helis have Bell/Hiller mixing. basicly, it comes down to this, whats your prefrence? if you want to possibly alter the performance of your macine, go right ahead. i haven't had any belt/pully problems out of my SA when i had it, or my current SE V2 by leaving the idler in place on either a plastic tail box or the aluminum V2 tail.

skarn,
please show me where Align is saying to remove the idler, i'd like to see any other details that they give.

Skarn

pawraith,

It's the thread sticky in the 450 section at helifreak....a person called Align with belt problems and they were told to remove the pulley, it's not needed.

Yes, the Raptor is a great flying heli, but MUCH larger than the 450 and thus the NEED for the pulley.

Bro, not going to argue with you....there are thread after thread after thread of newbies with belt issues.....we tell them to remove the idler pulley...they come back very gracious and thankful now that their heli flies great!

You are a lucky one so far....but your heli WILL be smoother without it!

Skarn

Unstable

remember we are talking about RC engineers... if you tail belt fails on your t-rex, you are out a few hundred buck if it punches in... if the pump in a fire truck fails, a firefighter that is inside a burning building doesn't get water... and that is going to make him VERY mad. and yes, I have removed/changed parts in fire aparatus to improve what the engineer messed up .

you would think a $500,000+ machine would be better built...

but anyway.. the point is moot.. the pully is gone and it flies fine (see post labeled "spinny side down")

now to get a pilot wrench to tighten the loose nut supporting the sticks
[link=http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=12]pilot wrench[/link]