Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

So, recently i Discovered that trex 450 clones are significantly cheaper than the real Align Trex. I've been reading the forums and it seems that generally, people are suggesting to just get the real thing if you have the money. However, i'm on a tight budget and i'm wondering which clone is completely compatible with Align Part. I hear that copterx and Exi are good clones, but is there one that is 100% compatible with the Align Trex 450?

Thanks
Jason

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I have tried many different clones of the trex. exi, flasher, hk, and others. the best of the clones in my opinion is the flasher.some will say the copter x. cant go wrong with either one really. even the EXI from xheli is good and cheap. go for it! it makes a great learning plateform without costing a fortune. so far all have been at least 95% compatible with the genuine trex replacement parts.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I use the Hobby King clone and have some genuine Trex parts. Depends what kind of flying you will want to do... I'm getting an Align Trex Sport Combo. I'll be able to tell the different - hopefully.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Is there a kit that is Completely 100% compatible with Align Parts?

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Tarot (and maybe Flasher) appear to be Identical to the Trex (SEv2 & Pro). I have read that Tarot parts are actually Align parts with Tarot written on them???

The Others (EXI, HK, CX, Etc) are all made by what looks to be the same manufacture and are close but not exactly the same as Align. Most, if not all, parts are interchangeable with Align but are not identical.

Some differences can be found in the shape of the alum blade grips, thickness of tail boom tubing (thinner), Tail drive gear assy in the Pro, Swash plates, side frames, main gear (usually out of round), tail case (specially the plastic case), etc, etc. Like I said, most parts are interchangeable but not Identical.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Hm alright, thanks for the information. I think i'll be looking into the Tarrot Clone then. Your third paragraph, were you refering to the tarrot clone, or "the others"

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I ordered one flasher 450 sport from targethobby on the way, it seems 100% identical, I will check and let you know after it arrive

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I was referring to the other clones compared to Align. From what I have seen the Tarot is 99% identical. For example the 450Pro from Tarot and Align are 99% the same with the only difference I can find is the placement of two wholes in the side frames. The Tarot has two square shaped holes where as the Align has two round holes. With the other brands they have many differences throughout the design if you look close. Here is another example in referring to the TT tail of the 450Pro. Aligns tail shaft is stepped with a larger dia shaft portion supported by larger I/D bearings and the EXI/CopterX have a strait shaft without a step. The means these items are not interchangeable.
Here is a ling to each for comparison.
[link=http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/popup_image.php?pID=9380&image=0]Copterx 450 Pro Tail Shaft[/link]
[link=http://www.align.com.tw/shop/product_info.php?cPath=22_72_99&products_id=2786]Align 450 Pro Tail Shaft[/link]

Another Example in the same 450 Pro can be found in the plastic tail boom holder. This component houses the forward torque tube gears and on the Align housing has channels to hold the mushroom gear bearings in place. The Copterx/EXI on the other hand uses what looks to be a mushroom gear assembly that encases the bearings on the mushroom gear and this assembly is installed in the tail boom holder. The result is that the tail boom holders are not interchangeable and the gear sets may not be interchangeable as well. eHirobo even states, on there site that "Specification may vary accordingly to manufacturers." [link=http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=173_454&products_id=9427]eHirobo - Copterx Tail Boom Holder[/link]

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

ah i c, thanks for the info!`

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

The Tarrot is the closest to the ALign if you are looking for an exact replica. The parts are identical in dimension and looks but differ in material quality. The shafts and gears are quite good though as i find no problem in the dimension as its a direct bolt in on an ALign Heli.

Other clones tend to have bad dimensions. although it looks like the Align one but once you use their parts you will find some tolerance problems. Like shafts are somewhat smaller sometime thinner that it has some gab with the bearing. Other are too big that if wont slide in the bearing blocks. I had some issues with this before with some flasher replacements shaft. In a pack of 3 pcs main shaft on one was good the other 2 were useless as it wont slide in the bearing block.

ALign helis are kinda cheap now if you try to look at the COMBOS. if you remove the electronics the cost of the heli is somewhat cheap already. I remember locally one hobby shop the one handling all the align parts sold their ALign kits without the electronics to a price that was very cheap. as to compare it with the Tarrot clone. The price was only P1000 difference so roughly $20 difference. stock were flying out the shelves....

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

O whewww... thats good to know haha. I just purchased teh Tarot 450 and if you said the "flasher" or soemthing was the best, it woudl kinda suck.

Thanks

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

New kit from Hobbyking today: http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...dProduct=12390

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...-450MTV2-1.jpg

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Some reviews coming in as I write this. It seems that it's similar to the GT model, but without the CF frame. Note that it probably has the same problem with the tail rotor gear (pre-installed in frame).

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I can reply about the HK T-450 clones.

I first ordered the $67.00 450 Pro version with the belt driven tail rotor. Upon receiving the kit it was very complete and no plastic blade holders and 4mm Feathering shaft. The CF body was identical to the Aligh 450 Pro but the rotor head and tail rotor are from the 450 V3 version. The Align pro has larger bearings in the mail blade holder and the HK 450 has a 7x2.5mm and a 8x3mm bearing.

Since I was a beginner in Heli, I decided to buy the $67.00 kit and felt that if I crashed it (which I did) I would not be out $400.00. After being about 50% able to hover and not crash too much, I then purchased 3 of the $20.00 HK T-450 bare bones kits for parts.

When the 3 $20.00 kits arrived I found that they were a clone of the T-450se, 3mm feathering shafts lots of plastic blade holders, control arms are plastic, tail rotor are 80% plastic and motor mount is plastic. All body parts are stamped steel and not CF.

I have upgraded the $20.00 version with adding a new Align main rotor housing, clone 4mm Feathering shaft, metal blade grips, and 4mm head dampers. I have gotten a lot of experience with using the $20.00 kit and so far can hover and land with ease.

Some of the hard landing bent the frame but since it was steel I just bent it back in shape, (easy fix).

I figure that I saved me about $200.00 in replacement parts.

I even let 2 of our Heli club trainers fly it and they were impressed with how it flew.

NO 3d action yet as I dont think it would hold up.

LArry

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I just was introduce to the hobby about two months . i have a vilotation 9053, blade cv2, now im ready to build one, my friend has a blue ray 450 that he just finish building.i ask him about my next heli,he said that i may need to look at the exi 450,and he would help me build it.I told him that i did not want to spend alot of money first. So i am taking my time to build one .I think i am  going for a EXI kit.what do you think, i will take my time to build, what type of esc, gyro ,motor and servos should i buy, oh i do have a dx6i.</p>

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Hey, I just finished building my clone. I was actually surprised because it performs quite well. To start off, I too, have the dx6i.

The clone i purchased was the Tarot 450 Pro, which is more expensive than the exi etc.. However, it is supposed to be identical in every way to the trex, whcih means parts are readily available. So far, ive replaced the jesus bolt and the main shaft, becuase those parts are supposed to be weak or soemthing. I read somewhere that the exi isn't 100 percent compatble so i didn't go with that.

For the motor, i have an alpha 400. THat wasn't my first choice, but it still performs quite well. I had to replace the pinion w/ a 11t one because i didn't want too high of a head speed.
For the gyro, i have a gy48v by detrum. It holds really well in hovering. I have also done circuits and pitch pumps and it holds excellent. I"m not sure about 3d, haha but i think it will do aite too. Cyclic servos, i have the tower pro sg90, which were only 2.77 usd at hobbypartz.com :):) I bought four of them incase one of the servos striped in a crash. They're fast and i think they'll do well in pretty much everything. And for the ESC, i have a really cheap volcano 30a esc.

O i'm running 20c 2200 turnigy lipos which i got of ebay. THey're 3s and lastly, i have the hs225bb for the tail servo. The guy at my lhs recommended it to me and said that it would be good for basic flight, but so far from what i notice, it centers really well, the tail is snapy and accurate. Its also really fast and i wouldn't be surprised if it could do some fancy 3d.

O, total cost was abot 400

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Great thread.. I think I'll look at getting a Tarot 450 Pro for my first heli. I'm not too concerned about 3D, just want some practice hovering first. :)

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I would definately recommend it. The torque tube is more durable that I woudl have imagined (knock on wood). Two days ago, i took it full inverted into the ground and the only thing that broke was the main blades, flybar, and the pinion on the motor. The feathering shaft and main shaft were in perfect condition too.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I have an EXI 450 that I have been flying for a little over a year now, and I haven't found any part yet that wasn't T-Rex 450 compatible. I have really enjoyed this helicopter as it is my first. I have replaced main shafts, feathering shafts, main gears, flybars, a one way bearing, a tail pitch slider, and some other parts that I am sure I am missing and they were all replaced with align parts without any problems. The only problem I have found is figuring out which version of the T-Rex 450 it is compatible with as there is some real differences between the versions. Also, this is a very durable helicopter. I have had a blade strike on the tailboom without damage (somehow) and just last week I had a cyclic servo fail while in fast forward flight and the helicopter went in inverted at about a 45 degree angle to the ground with minimal damage. It bent the frame, but I bent it back, I replaced the main shaft, feathering shaft, flybar, and bad servo and was flying again. It didn't even damage the blades. I still have the original blades on the helicopter that came with it, and this is my first heli!

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

EXI, Flasher and CopterX are good clones.
The v2 clones are most widespread and parts readily/cheap available.
Not so sure about the Pro versions.

People should change their mindset to what a heli is instead of what the brand is.
At the end of the day, these helis are basically made up of a swashplate, head and tail rotor which are usually swap/replaceable. No need to get into fixing individual components.

You can get complete CopterX metal head/tail combos for $40 so its no big problem to replace or keep as spare.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

If you try to look at the clones and the Align heli . There are some differences. Basically the dimensions for the clones maybe off by a few mils. This is why if you try to use one part from the other there are some tolerance problems.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

I ran a Tarot 450 Pro clone for the longest time. I've since bought a Tarot 500 clone and sold my 450. You can find parts at AC-RC.com, yes it's based out of Hong Kong but shipping is rather fast and the prices can not be beat. If you guys live in the US and are looking for a great price on 325 CF blades then check out Xheli.com, I think there only $3.62 a set. I use to always have at least 3 on hand. Also those of you flying 500 clones, ac-rc.com has Tarot 500 parts are GREAT prices. I would always compair there prices with helidirect and they always come out on top.

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

Hey I got a question for you. I built my tarot 450 on a budget and ended up building a really capiable machine for about 400 dollars. My question is- how much did building the 500 cost? How about a 600 assuming both are based on the tarot line?

Jason

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

My 500 has about $500 in it. I used the Turnigy MG930 on cyclic, Hitec 5245MG on the tail, Align 750 Gyro, HobbyKing 1600kv motor with Turnigy 80A esc. The 500 Kit was something I bought from ValueHobby and was only $75. I had to replace the tail assembly right away with a Tarot assembly and I also swapped out the Main blade grips to Tarots. The $75 kit came with a aluminum frame which lasted till the first hard crash then was swapped out to a Graphite frame. I'd say all-in-all with the build and the upgrades I have about $500 in her, maybe a little more.

As for a 600 heli, I would think the only difference in cost is going to be the kit and the batteries. I've read that you can fly a 600 on 6S, 22.2v but most suggest 8+, so then your talking high dollar. The 500 for me is big enough to have fun and scare you if need be. LOL

RE: Most accurate/compatible Trex 450 Clone
 

.

Thanks for the heads up on AC-RC.com. I went to his website and ordered some replacement parts. Yes, he is out of Hong Kong, but the parts came in less than a week, he also emailed me and advised me that he credited my Paypal account for $1.00 because he charged too much for shipping.

This guy is a permanent bookmark in my parts supplier list.:D


Larry