As Crash and Radio say the links should last more than your timeframe.
I went the CNC thing on the Pro and my end result was a standard Pro but with a CNC swashplate and anti-rotation....there is a lack of proper tools for the size of links offered on the Pro.
I made my own tool for takin' the little buggers apart and the only satisfactory way I found for reassembling them was a small socket head driver to apply pressure all the way aound the circumference.
Hazy skies around here these last two days. NC has a large brush fire near the coast and the smoke plume is being blown inland. I live just west of Greensboro but I've been doing some work at Duke University and the smoke there had visibility down to a mile or less....Lord, you could taste it. Looking for a few showers over the weekend to clear things out.
My birthday tomorrow...or, rather, the thirty fourth anniversary of my thirtieth birthday. Don't have any plans but I bet there is some treachery going on among my lot.
Must begone...playing this eve so my beautiful Burns Marvin will sing tonight.
Ray

LOL...go knock 'em dead eh?

Wow! Do you ever go into idle up? I think that's what popped mine loose. Seems that happened once before to me when I tried idle up. I don't do that too much; still a little scary for me and my flying space is just a little tighter than I'd like.

Flew all four batteries this morning in fairly calm conditions. The home construction project next to my little neighborhood park is progressing and so my airspace will be shrinking soon, not to mention the activity of all the construction workers in the meantime making me more hesitant to fly with them around.

Scott

Ricks scale Bell Ranger:

It's a nice scale project....easier than I've ever done before. Getting the DX7 to be friendly with it....a little tougher than I would expect BUT the DX7 is a JOY to program and work with...I'm pretty close to sending it back to him. After I finalize the DX7 settings (adding expotential and what not) it should be good to go.

Who makes Rick's Bell fuse?

Jay...that's an E-Sky fuse....#EK4-0051, and they are SWEET. Here's a pic also of the one I'm doing for the MX-400. I'm NOT sure, but I think it might be a DarthDRK fuse...it's not too bad compared to the HightorqueUSA stuff which is HEAVY.

That second pic is sweet! Looming like a scary Friday the 13th movie[8D] That would make a good Army chopper.

God Bless Vic!

BTW weird weather again, huh. I got 4 flights on a plank around 6:30 after the storms rolled through with zero wind and an hour after that it starts blowing something fierce. Oh Well.... I'll take the good when I can get it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Fathers Day!

God Bless B.O.B.'s

Yeah...it's supposed to be a LOH (light observation helicopter). It'll be in US Army battle dress when I'm done....maybe throw a couple missle tubes and a search light on it (LOL). Not really 100% accurate for a LOH, but it'll be impressive like the Huey was. No breaks in wind till near dark...not good enough to dial the DX7 in....I don't like those suprise 15mph gusts we've been having off and on tonight. I flew NOTHING today...tried once, the wind chased me back in side.

Hey guys, I wanted to share a pic of what I did yesterday. We were fishing for Walleye but this one decided to bite
instead. It's a 47.5 inch Muskie. It's by far the biggest fish I've ever caught.

God Bless!

Jay

OMG Jay...I think I peed myself. What an awsome fish!!!

I KNEW yesterday was a good day to go fishing, but I didn't.

LOL... I think I did a little of both #1 and #2 when we got it in the boat

How long to get it in, what bait?

It bit a crawler harness which was 10lb mono filament line and the rest was 10lb braided Fire Line. I took me a half hour of finessing and my buddy driving the boat after it with the trolling motor. I should have taken a picture of the net handle that it bent in half. We both had to grab the sides of the net to get it in the boat

Jeebus...10# test???? You're lucky you even got it near the boat. One good roll and rapid acceleration, it would have been GONE. I use crawler harness, my son calls it the "death" harness, and they WORK. A very heartfelt congradulations to you...nice going!

Thanks Vic! I had the drag set so low it wasn't funny. When I felt comfortable I would put pressure on the spool with my hand to slow him down but when it would panic it wasn't too tight to snap the line

You're no slouch sport fishing...I'll tell you that. Most (including myself) would have lost it....PM comming.....pushing the "off topic" thing a bit.

HBKII on the way I just talked to my LHS and it should arrive Tues or Wed. Now I just need to round up all of the hop-up parts

God Bless All!

Jay

I'll get back to you soon on the belt fix. You know, the newer ones may not throw belts...they might have corrected that at the MFGR by now, you might not need to do the mod.

Now that's what I call a fish....!!!!!!!!
Take a helluva lotta chips for that monster.......can't remember when I had decent fish 'n chips made by someone else....even Dearly Departed loved my fish and chips.....no one does chips like Ray.
Another HBK2 investor.....?
Love mine but just had a battery go south after about 16-20 charges. My LHS sold me a Thunder Power rated at 2100 mah.....just a mite heavier than the stock battery but flight times are a bit better.
The stock battery when charged by the stock charger showed a dim LED for one cell so I bought a Blinky monitor/balancer and hooked up to my Triton and put it through a 2 hour discharge cycle and now it's going through a Triton charge cycle.....so far, things are OK with no abnormalities.
Survived the birthday intact....I was right about the treachery:
Mid afternoon lady bass player friend drives up with guitar playing buddy in tow. I am to get cleaned up and go with them. Was taught never to answer back to a lady so proceeded to do as I was bid.
I was led to the van and taken to a nice supper by two great friends and it was indicated to me that I was not going to bed that night without playing.
"But I didn't bring anything to play", says I.
"What you need is in the car", says Charlie.
We drove to the club and there's Charlie's band waitin' fer us.
Yeah, I did play.....quite a bit actually.
You see, Charlie's band uses a Hammond organ in it's lineup so not only did folk see me on bass and guitar but Charlie announced that I would "do the next set on keys".
Nearly all the folk at the club have seen me play bass and guitar but it went over well when I got behind that beautiful Hammond.
I do believe that a good time was had by all.
Been kinda queasy the last few days.....been doing some forensic work on an industrial accident involving steam and they've been cutting concrete nearby in order to put a new valve station to bypass the damaged one.
Everyone been bound to secrecy 'cos of pending litigation but two of us knew what had happened as soon as we saw it.
Local temperatures have become a bit more civilized so the birds have been flying.
I think I'm gonna have to replace the esc in the 400. She loses power about three minutes in....I land and spool down and I'm able to take off again almost immediately. It happens with all my batteries and after consultation with my LHS heli guru we believe an esc may be faulty and he suggests using an Align unit for a Rex. Gotta wait for three days for one to arrive....thank heaven I have the HBK2.
Must be gone....long drive through lousy traffic tomorrow.
Ray

Jay,

You finally took the plunge and got the HBK2. Happy for ya, you'll love it. As far as hippity hop-up parts, I'd recommend to fly it for a week or so Stock. I don't know if you got the brushed or brushless motor, but the brushless motor and ESC are the first to upgrade... Then the 43 tooth pulley for the tail rotor..

You know I've had mine for almost a year now. I've been through all the upgrades and I can tell you which ones to get or not. Let me know what you have in plan...

God Bless,

Dave / Choppersrule

Jay,

Here's a site for the 43 tooth pulley.. http://www.xtremecx2.com/servlet/the...-Pulley/Detail

God Bless,

Dave / Choppersrule

Hey Guys,
Ray I'm glad you had a great birthday, nice doing what you love! You've got some good friends[8D] As far as the TP 2070 v1 pack you have ( I'm Guessing ) they have know that some of those are bad out of the box. Contact Thunder Power and they will replace it for you. I have 2 of those and I'm a bit suspicious of one. TP has always done right by me, I even got a new 210 balancer because it went bad. You'll probably have to pay the shipping to get it to Las Vegas.
Dave, thanks for the link. I've been think of ordering my upgrades from Ushobbysupply. I found a 4000 kv motor, a 3 piece pinion set, the telebee HH gyro, and the 43 tooth gear and belt set. I hope this will get me inverted[8D]

Has anyone dealt with www.UShobbysupply.com ?

You all Rock!

God Bless!

Jay

US HOBBY SUPPLY....you have a PM.

I got the PM... So it's a GOOD THING! You had me wondering there for a bit I'll be giving them a call tomorrow.
I'm really looking forward to this bird. Seems like a great price for piece you get.

God Bless B.O.B.'s

Hey guys! Geez, I darn near forgot my password...! been off this addicting forum for around 5 months, but I'am still alive. And still loving the heli's. Took a rest for a few months, and got to re-educate myself on how to fly... Lol.. My poor heli's got a little bit of dust on em' but that will soon change. Getting drawn back in (so help me god) and even had my first crash with the Trex on Father's Day. It's been hot here in Cali lately 100-107 degrees. The Trex doesn't like that hot weather and things cut out a little from heat overload, but I know the limits now. I feel like I've fallen behind, but looks like everyone is still here with even some new clients... BTW, nice fish Jay ! Whew ! Read about Jeremy's Stryker adventure...! Still being adventureous eh ?! Good to see everyone still here, and flying... Hope all has been well, and I'll be around now. Just picked up one of those little "Challenger" planes to piddle with in the skies. Never flown a plane before, so that should mess me up for a bit, but it will be fun. Been practicing on the G4 simulator, it seems easy, but I know it's deceiving in relation to flying it for real. Right now however, my concentration is getting back with my orientation in flying my heli's. That's my passion, and always will be...

See ya guys soon....Take care all,

Jeff