Kdill2160

My little squirrel has arrived. YES

Henry, thanks for the awesome service, the kit looks sweet. Nicely detailed fueslage. I cannot wait to get started on this one.

If anyone is interested in this kit, contact Henry at MSCompositusa.com

The kit contents all come packaged in individually numbered bags corresponding to the steps in the manual. Nice touch.

The manual is basically two parts, the text and the drawings, both of which are very good. Only descrepencie I found was: It states you need a 7 ch RX. You only need a six channel RX for this heli. Separate the text from the drawings and set them side by side for the build. It helps when identifying parts. Just follow along and you should not have a problem.

The motor is a beautiful AXI branded outrunner, great quality, absolutely zero play on the "endbell" not sure of the correct term, anyhoo the part that spins with the shaft, external armature? Fine finish on the metal motor mount and threads. A very high quality motor if fit and finish say anything. Another great touch is the color coded wiring on the motor which makes it easy to identify correct cabling after a rebuild or swap of components. And finally the motor wires come pre-terminated with 2mm gold barrel connectors and matching color coded heatshrink.

The three main blades are very thin, 20mm chord width, 25.5 cm length.
They are extremely flexible. They appear to be of the ususal high quality I always expect from MS Composit CFC blades. Only in flight will I really know.... I cannot wait to get started.

The frame is all fibre glass composite. kind of a yelllowish color and appears to be pretty stiff for it's thickness.

Here's a couple pics..... Time to dig into the bags of parts.



Ken

Kdill2160

The manual is great, lots of drawings and full step by step text.

The fiberglass parts are either CNC routed or laser cut. I'm not sure. Very precision stuff here. Servo mounting could not be easier. No butchering, almost any micro servo will fit. One side is a hole, one side is a slot. NICE.

Hardware: Awesome, hardened SHC and nylocks to mount the servos and everything else. No need for locktite here. In-fact DO NOT use standard locktite with nylocks, it will ruin them. I believe there is a special threadlocker available that will not harm nylocks. I don't take the chance.

Bearings look to be standard MS Composit bearings, nice quility, high precision. The bearing blocks are made of what appears to be G10 or similar hard black plastic with the usual high quality MS Composit molding, with no flash and minimum mold marks.

Here's a pic of the frame parts..... you can easily see the slots in one side of each servo mounting bay.



Ken

Kdill2160

Frame assembly is straightforward, one thing to do is to put all the cross pieces in place before puting the two frame sides together.

Just follow the manual and you won't have a problem. What surprises me is how rigid the frame becomes after assembly with only the four landing gear mounting screws and the four bearing block screws in place, It locks everything together into a very rigid structure. There will be six more hardened SHC screws holding the frame together. Some of the fasteners are dual purpose. Mounting the bearing blocks also serves to secure the frame sides together so do the tail boom mounting block screws and motor mount block screws. Nothing is wasted. Very Rock Solid!

There are shelves for the Gyro, ESC and RX already layed out in the frame design. Space is adequate for all components.

Cleats are cut in the lower frame plate to allow use of rubber bands to secure the lipo pack. Nice touch.

I may pull the hitek servos. I like this kit so much I may put all of the best FUTABA stuff I have in it. S3110 servos, R146iP RX, GY401. Now that I see how the servos are mounted, I am going to pull them out and route the servo wiring over to the right side of the heli and probably have the two gyro leads running the left side. Need to pick up some more MAXX Products terminals and plugs to shorten all the cables after it's dialed in.

It's nice to have the correct tools.....

Kdill2160

I had a small delay in the build because I wanted to use JB Weld to secure the pinion to the tail drive shaft and I had to wait overnite for it to cure. I used a pin to apply the JB weld and was very careful to avoid the gear teeth area. This should eliminate the possibility of the tail pinion slipping on the steel shaft. A small problem I've had with Hornet 2 tails, BUT This is NOT a Hornet 2 Tail, It is similar to a Hornet X-3D Tail, much better. Here is a pic of the secured pinion on the shaft.



Ken

Kdill2160

Added after assembly: You might want to slide the tail rotor rod guide and the two tube housings onto the boom before assmbling the bearings! The bearing case E920 make it a little tough to slide them on after. Just a note.


This tail gearbox is much improved over the Hornet 2 tail gear box. Also the blade grips now have bearings (smallest I've ever seen) this is a great improvement. So far the only thing I've had to do is ease the holes in the pitch slider horn a little for the blade grip pins. I did this by twisting a #11 exacto blade in the hole a little at a time and testing the fit until it felt smooth and loose without being sloppy.

Speaking of blade grip pins, they are now molded into the blade grip and look to be a little larger diameter than the original style steel pins. This is a major improvement as the little steel pins on an H2 would come loose or come out. These are great and the bearings make the blade grips even better.

The assembly of the tail gearbox is much easier than an H2 because of the separate steel tail shaft and hub. The blade grip screws secure the hub to the shaft and allow for fine tuning the tail setup by moving the hub one way or the other on the shaft until the "sweet spot" is found. You then secure the hub by tightening the blade grip screws which again are hardened SHC screws. All fasteners are of the highest quality, I love that.

Here is a picture of the assembled tail gearbox.



Ken

Kdill2160

I want everyone to know this is my first micro scaler. I love the squirrel, it's an swesome heli in full scale. I cannot say enough good stuff about this kit. Every single component in the kit is of first rate quality. Bearings, fasteners, molding of the Fuse. Accuracy of cuts on the CNC parts and general fit & finish. EASE of building. This is simple elegance of design. I bet you could adapt these mechanics to other fuselage easily. I could not be more pleased.

I'm going to attempt to do a paint scheme that I really like. I forget where I first saw this heli, But I love it. I've e-mailed the Heli Operator to ask for permission to use the likeness and for some detail pics. I'm waiting to hear back from them, But they do have pics on thier website for download..... Here's an image of the heli I'm going to attempt to duplicate in miniature......enjoy.



Ken

Kdill2160

This is also my first attempt at a multi-bladed rotor head. I am not AFRAID...LOL This design is so simple it's amazing. I have an idea on how to balance the three blade set. ( I have not done this, this is my plan)

1) Mark the blades 1,2,3

2) Find the heaviest blade

3) Balance lighter blades to heaviest blade.

Tracking: ( I have not done this, this is my plan)

1) Label the blade holders and blades, I scratch a small number using a diamond scribe on the top of each blade holder. and use a ultra fine sharpie pen on the blades. This makes it easy to put the same blade back in the same grip if you need to remove one.

2) Use three different color tape stripes. one on each blade. I use yellow, white, orange. I can see these colors.

3) Spin up the rotor head at a reasonable speed. I figure to do this using common sense/ logic, if one blade looks to be riding way high and one blade way low and one blade in the middle. I'll bring the high and low blades to the middle one.

4) Ultimately I hope to have three well tracked blades.

If anyone has experience with multi-bladed rotor heads please feel free to add input as I would appreciate any help anyone can offer.

The design of the head is so very simple. It's beautiful. There is no guessing which link to adjust to track any single blade, THERE'S ONLY ONE LINK Per Blade! I don't think this could get any easier.

Kdill2160

Last night I assembled the main rotor head to allow the locktite to setup on the blade holder screws, again hardened SHC screws

Assembly is straight forward, three bearings in each blade grip keep the alignment perfect and slop is non existent. This again is a major improvement over the older 2 bearing hornet2 blade holder design. It is amazing how much slop the additional bearing removes.

I also assembled the swashplate to blade grip links, 35mm length edge to edge, a nice even number. The reason I point this out is that the swashplate to servo links are measured center to center. The links are high quality std. black plastic hornet links. The link rods are nice in that they have a small slot cut in one end so you can use a small std. screwdriver to just screw them into the links. Again high quality hardware. It's attention to detail like this that make any of the MS Composit kits a joy to build.

I need to assemble the swashplate to servo links, but here's a pic of the major head components.



Ken

Kdill2160

Small issue.....

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The provided link rod E175 m2x15 is a little too short for my liking. When the linkage rod is complete to the specified length 39mm center to center there are not enough threads biting on each side. For my sense of security, an addl. 3mm length added to the rod would probably be better. I will look through my H2 parts and see if I have a longer link rod or pehaps cut the head off a long 2mm screw. The provided part will probably work fine but I personally would like a few more threads biting in each link.

This is about the only part I've found to this point in the build that could use revision.

Well. I don't have a suitable linkage rod. I'll have to keep an eye out for a piece of 2mm all thread. (something I should have anyway). Back to the build.

Ken

Kdill2160

After assembling all the sub components: Link rods, blade grips and main head.
It's time to install the main shaft, main gear, and final assembly of the head and swashplate.

With MS Composit ball links there is a slight mold mark in the shape of a ring on one side of the ball links, this side goes TOWARDS the ball when snapping in place. This is important as your links will last longer and not FALL OFF easily if you put them on correctly. You may have to unscrew your linkage rods and rethread into the link to get the length you need and the correct alignment of the mold mark on the links to the balls. This is more difficult with the swash to head links because you can only use full turns if you want to keep things correct when adjusting length. With the servo links you can do half turns and re-fasten at the servo side. I hope I explained this well enough. If you have questions, I'll try and explain a little better.

Installing the main shaft is straight forward. There are two flats on the shaft, one is closer to the end of the shaft, that is the top. Put the clutch sleeve into the main gear from the smooth side of the gear and slip that assembly into the frame with the gear surface down. Slide the main shaft down through the bearing blocks into the clutch sleeve and secure the setscrew onto the flat. Leave it loose enough to move the shaft up and down a bit (within the flat on the shaft )you need to set the height of the shaft above the top of the bearing.

I use a depth micrometer, but a caliper with a depth gauge will work fine.
40mm must be proud of the top bearing. once you have that height secure the stopper ring.

Slide on the swashplate.
Install the anti-rotation arm but do not tighten the set screw yet.

The next thing you need to do is set the height of the rotor head above the top bearing. Use a caliper, longer skinny jaws are best. This height is set to 29.5mm The rotor head is secured by a set screw as well and you need to adjust within the flat on the shaft before securing in place.

This is fairly simple but an extra hand is helpful while juggling the caliper and
heli and tightening the set screw. HONEY! help....

After the rotor head is secured slide the anti rotation arm up to the head, don't tighten til after linkage rods are connected and you've aligned it with the linkage rod.

Although not specified in the manual, it may be a good idea to use a bit of locktite on the set screws used on the rotor head, clutch sleeve, and stopper ring.

Here's a pic of the completed 3 blade rotor head.

Kdill2160

The hole in the bearing block where the anti-rotation pin is glued needs to be placed .05 mm further away from the main shaft. The swashplate rubs against the anti-rotation pin. THIS may be my fault because I glued the anti-rotation pin in place before checking the fit of the swashplate.

It is a precise fit and not much wiggle room, so I don't think it much mattered that I did not check the fit. If the mold was changed by .05mm it would make for a brainless assembly.

One saving grace is BOTH bearing blocks are the same. So I will pull these and see if there's enough wiggle room to glue in place and provide the correct clearance for the swashplate. Here's a pic of the clearance problem. I hope you can see it.



Ken

Kdill2160

Servo arms installation & adjustments are fairly straightforward.

I started by centering the servos and selecting the best fitting servo horns.
In this case I'm running Hitek HS-55 servos on collective/cyclic. Due to clearance restrictions the X shaped horn is used in my install. I used the longer of the two sides (yes, 1 is longer by approx 1mm). these are single hole servo horns. I had to ease the opening in the servo horn just a very small bit to fit the clevis pins for the supplied MP Jet links. They swing freely with no play.

Ball links on the swash were a good fit, not quite free swinging but a good fit right out of the box. I did not size the links in any way. I will leave them alone.

After installation of all links and centering of the servo horns at mid stick I went through the process of setting up the basic eCCPM setup in my Futaba 9CHP Radio. Once this was done, I did a visual inspection of the swash and how level it was front to rear and side to side. The main blade grips have NOT been adjusted yet.

The supplied link lengths were very accurate. I needed to adjust two of the servo links 1/2 turn each to level the swashplate. Not bad.

My next steps will be to install the pinion on the motor and install the motor to the frame. I may wander a bit from the manual but basically I'm going in order. I just wait til the very end to install the tail boom & tail servo linkage.

Here's a couple pics after the servo horn installation and basic radio setup.





Ken

Kdill2160

I will not cover the radio setup of this kit except to describe my Pitch and throttle curves when finished. All pilots use different radios, servos, RXs so I cannot possibly cover all installs. This is a basic eCCPM setup and you should be familiar with building and setting up a micro eCCPM Helicopter before purchasing a kit of this type.

I am an advanced builder, NOT an advanced pilot. I do not fly 3D, I fly basic circuits, figure 8s, and stall turns etc. I can spot land like no one I've seen.
I learned to fly on Realflight G2 and a raptor 30, I also flew micro fixed pitch helis. I've owned/ flown century hawks, a 30 size Century Bell 222, 30 size 47G, Raptor 30 and several MS Composit Hornet 2s, I now fly a Hornet 2 and Blade CP. I also have 2 SJM400s I'm in the process of building. This is my first attempt at a micro scaler and first attempt at a multi-rotor head.

When I succeed you will see it. If I fail you will all see it. But I think this kit is not beyond the skills of any builder who has built and setup a eCCPM heli.

I like scale type flying and this model suits my love of micros, MS Composit products and my fav full scale heli. How could I resist.

I think I'm alot like other people in this hobby and therefore my build will be similar to what you should expect to experience if you build this kit.

Ken

I don't expect that this heli can fly 3D. That's one thing I love about it, no one will expect me to flip it upside down

Kdill2160

Well, I'm sitting here wanting to continue but I need a few more components to complete the build. I am waiting on my MS-116 ESC for the AXI. And I'm not sure If I'm going to run the Hiteks. I like this kit alot and I've been waiting for some Futaba s3110 servos to arrive at my LHS so I think I may put those in this machine along with a GY240 or 401. I also might switch from the Berg 6 DSPIII RX to a Futaba R146iP RX.

I did start on the graphics for my paint job. All of the Wihite & Black lettering will be cut vinyl graphics, the red will obviously be paint.

Speaking of paint, what kind of GLOSS airbrush paint can you use on this type of plastic fuselage? I'm not sure of the exact type of plastic used. I will contact Henry and find out.

Not sure but I believe the Futaba servos are a little shallower and may allow the use of a little longer servo horn. This will allow for closer to 90 Deg. alignment of the linkage rods. With the short servo arms the elevator linkage is at a pretty severe angle and there seems to be a small amount of interaction on the cyclic servos. I hope it was not my thick fingers mixing the cyclic movements.

I did NOT notice any interaction on pitch changes.

I think this interaction is caused by a combination of the 2 different length linkage rods and the severe angle caused by the shorter servo arms.

I am NOT an expert in these matters, this is based on some research done by me on the subject. If anyone knows more about these issues please feel free to add to the discussion.

I don't think this will be a problem in flight, the interaction I experienced is minimal. And the fact that your always on the sticks with any heli I doubt you'll notice it in flight. A few clicks of trim may set things right.

Here's a pic of the graphics so far: need to tweak the smallest lettering a little.

And a couple pics of the servo horns and linkage angles.







Ken

Kdill2160

Installation of the motor is very simple. But pay attention to the manual, you need to install the motor pinion on the motor shaft AFTER mounting the motor to the motor mount. The manual specifies there should be 0mm gap between the bottom of the pinion gear and the flat surface of the motor mount.

I used a piece of very thin celophane stretched across the motor mount to see when the gear touches it and I stopped there.

Here's a couple pics, before mounting the motor pinion and after.





Ken

Kdill2160

Mounting the motor in the frame is very easy. After installing the motor pinion to the specified depth on the shaft you end up with full contact of the motor pinion to main gear when installed in the frame. Gear mesh is adjusted by loosening the two motor mount SHC screws and sliding the whole mount up or down to acheive the proper gear mesh.

Here's a pic of the motor after mounting in the frame.



Ken

Kdill2160

Whats really interesting about the main gear/pinion setup is there is no means of preventing the main gear from sliding down the clutch sleeve other than the motor pinion and tail rotor drive pinion. This is a neat setup because it looks like there is no way to loose gear mesh unless the motor mounts and tail boom mounts both slip downwards.

The other nice thing I noticed is a much coarser gear pitch on the main and tail rotor drive pinions than the fine gear pitch of the Hornet 2 main gear. Much Better.

Ken

Kdill2160

It's so very close to being done I'll post a couple pics of its current status....

I finished installing the tail rotor hub, pitch slider assembly and and tail blade grips. Installing these final parts of the tail rotor assembly is by the book. Just follow the manual and you will not have a problem. One thing I found is it's easier to install the bearings in the tail rotor gear box before anything else. Slightly out of order if you go by the manual. Be very careful when applying the Locktite to the blade grip screws. You do not want to get any in the small bearings. With screws this small I put a small drop on the very tip of the screw, enough to cover 2 or 3 threads only.

I like this tail rotor setup much better than my Hornet 2, the blade grip bearings make an immediate noticable difference while setting up the tail. The two piece shaft/hub is much improved over the original pressed on hub.
(I have had the hub come loose!)

I have the metal tail blade grips for my second kit to go along with the metal main blade grips. These and the clear windows are the only upgrades I was able to find so far from MS Composits for the squirrel. Henry did mention that they are working on a metal swash for it. (I can't wait).

Here's the promised pics. In one you can see I did a preliminary clean up of the wiring for the initial test flights. After everything is dialed in I will go back and shorten all the servo cables and clean it up for installation into the fuselage.

I did not glue on the small retaining ring yet for the tail control lever, I am going to use a small bit of JB weld on this one as I have not had good luck using CA on this part. I'll put it up to cure overnight before touching it. If you use JB Weld be careful it's really sticky stuff. The manual states to use CA.

Really the only thing I'm waiting for before first test flight is my new MS-116 ESC. It should be here tommorow or thursday.

I will balance the blades and dial in the gyro and radio settings on thursday and hope to make first flight friday or saturday. We're supposed to have storms here tommorow and into thursday so I'm not in a real hurry.

Something to note about the three bladed rotor head, the collective works opposite of a hornet, the swash moves up for positive pitch and the main blade grip links are on the leading edge of the main blades.

On a side note: I almost purchased a new ESC called "Cool Runnings" to try because I can hardly wait. But I'm trying to show some restraint in my purchases lately. (SURE I AM) Anyhoo, does someone have one of these "Cool Running" brand ESCs? How is it? Which motor are you running on it? Have not been able to find out too much about it yet. But what I have heard is good.

Here's a pic after installing the rest of the tail components and cleaning up the wiring.





Ken

Kdill2160

Electronics.......

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The complete electronics are as follows:

MS Composits EM300-34 Outrunner Motor
MS-116 Brushless ESC
Berg 6 DSPIII RX
MS-044 HH Gyro
HS-55 on cyclic
HS-50 on the tail
Custom Power Antenna
TP1320 3S 12C lipo is my planned first flight battery
Deans minis on the ESC + Batteries

I may leave this one as is and build my second kit with the same motor & ESC and all FUTABA electronics with the nice metal upgrades.

I plan on shooting video of my first attempts with this new heli and I will post it no matter what the outcome.(sure I will) Success or Failure. (hopes he doesn't look like a fool). No really I plan on showing some video.

Ken

Kdill2160

Premium hardware...........In the last small bag of hardware is this little gem.....It has a small spring that serves three purposes, It captures the screw, and holds the linkage rod firmly in place while you move the rod to make the static tail rotor adjustments and protects the linkage rod from gouging by the screw when tightened. Very slick.

All throughout the build I have been very impressed with the quality of the hardware used in every step. Every screw, nut and fitting is the very highest quality with premium fit & finish. I've tried to show this as best I can in the photographs, sorry I'm not a photographer. I think from what you CAN see it is apparent that I'm not just saying this. Really Nice Kit. If it flies as well as it builds it's a winner. For sure.

I'll have more pics & text tommorow, perhaps another update this evening.



Ken

fiddy_zen

hey Ken, nice job on the build thread- looks like a nice looking heli in the making. Will be watching to see how it comes out and how she flys and I wish you well. I too saw this heli on a website and thought how pretty it was- glad to see someone building it and sharing their experience with it. Good luck with the maiden. Paul

Kdill2160

No more excuses.......

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Well the long awaited ESC arrived today along with some other goodies. So I have no more excuses to delay first flight. If everything goes well look for first flight report soon.

I could not find any deans mini 3 pin un-keyed today so I am using a keyed 3 pin mini between the ESC and Motor. MS Composits did not have the matching barrels in stock to mate with the supplied motor connectors. I know Al's Hobby Shop has em, but I did not want to drive that far today. Plus I always wanted to try the mini deans on the ESC & motor, Now that I have em installed they are very nice and compact. When I use the barrel connectors it makes like a 3/4 inch long solid tube on EACH wire. These are very small in comparison.

And just so you know I'm putting some training gear on it , I picked up a set of e-flite training gear today at the LHS. I have not flown with training gear since my raptor 30 . BUT I am not bustin my squirrel up due to some dumb thumbs mistake until after it's flying correctly. Plus I'm having a patio poured this year and I'm still flying from the grass, although I use a "landing pad" My goal is to mainly keep the tail out of the grass.

Almost......

Kdill2160

Got Lucky.....
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When wiring up the ESC & Motor I got lucky and had the correct direction of rotation 1st time. I had the shrink tubing on the wires(un-shrunk) just in case I got lucky. Well I did... here's a couple pics showing the almost done squirrel. and a close up showing the connectors I used between the motor & ESC.

Just a little more work to do, need to dial in the gyro and confirm the tail rotor pitch is working correctly as well. Then on to balancing the main blades and tail rotor. Finally tracking of the mains and FIRST FLIGHT! Yes! I am so excited, when I spun up the rotor it seemed smooth & sweet.

More to come.......





Ken

Kdill2160

Stokes litter......

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I was not at all happy with my first attempt at a Stokes Litter(rescue basket)
So I did a little research and came up with this. I also modified its size to be closer to scale. I have a little more shaping and smoothing to do, but this is it. I like it alot. I sincerely hope you all do too..... A few more fuselage details and into the paint shop..... enjoy.









Ken

Kdill2160

Mostly done airframe......
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I have the tail boom mounted and just noticed something different from a hornet 2 or hornet x3D tail. Everything is upside down and mirrored.

So, it's not a given how I set my radio up, so I'll share a trick someone showed me a long time ago to make sure your rudder is working correctly.

Here's a pic of the mostly finished airframe, notice the tail rotor gear box is upside down.

Gimme a few minutes to hook up the tail servo linkage and we'll snap a few more photos.....



Ken