I'm using an 11tooth pinion on my hdx but I'm using the high power medusa motor. It works great and is quite stable. But I don't know what motor you have, so your mileage may vary.

3550kv Align 430L
FYI

Man, I love my HDX 450... Now if I'd just get the nerve to FLY it! LMAO...

Was great fun building, programing the radio, etc.. for a first 'real' heli. But looking at how pretty all the bling is and then spinning it up after flying an AXE CP for months.. I'm scared to be honest! lol. Don't know if the Heli scares me, or the sales slips from all the components is doing it.

(Actually I just bought a battery for it so I'll take her up once the wind dies down here..)

The mechanics are rock solid compared to that disposable AXE CP. Was my first build and first radio setup but I followed all the HeliFreak videos, checked, re-checked... checked again.. It's dead on and I know it!

Odd thing tho, I took it to the LHS for their 'Heli and Plane' guy to inspect and he started *****ing about being at zero pitch at center stick.. Well, I programmed it that way for 2 reasons and someone let me know if I'm wrong..

1) When flipping to Idle Up the pitch curves match perfectly so it won't go shooting into the sky with the higher throttle.

2) My G3.5 has all the models set that way, and after the ### hours spent on the SIM, it only makes sense to at least be close to how it is setup.

Am I wrong? I have negative pitch set to -2deg in normal mode for below center stick since I won't be hitting the Idle Up unless in positive pitch mode in the first place.. but for Idle Up I have a nice arc'd curve with center stick being 0deg and full positive/negative being +11/-11 deg. (Non Idle-Up is set to +10deg -> -2 below center stick)

Dave

Hey guys,
Today I did my first nose in landing in the front yard!!
The front yard is where I only fly in my comfort zone, because there are cars and houses and people roaming all over the place trying to interrupt my flying. I am now able to take the heli 30 feet out, turn it around, and bring it back nose in for a landing, all without feeling too nervous or anxious.

Sweet Sam! Now if I can get a wind-less day, I'm ready to take the plunge. I think I've got enough time on my AXE CP and the SIM ... it's just getting over that "Oh my god.. THIS costs money, unlike the SIM" nervous lockup. lol

I just don't want to ruin that pretty HDX450 on the first flight, so I've been abusing the SIM and the AXE every night for the last couple weeks. I'm gonna bet that the HDX will be a breeze compared to the AXE tho.

Keep going!

Dave

Well I got the guts up to try inverted, and it worked! I've been doing 3D on the sims for awhile now, but was just too afraid something would go wrong in real life. So yesterday on my second pack I flipped it to Idle-up, and did 2 FF loops, and 1 stationary backward flip. First thing I noticed is that my CG is off. It tries to roll during the turn. Second thing I noticed is that my tail held very well . On the stationary roll, it was a semi-close call, maybe 2 feet from the ground while inverted, and had to full power out of it. The other two were very smooth, for a first time anyway. I think what happened on the stationary is that the rubber band holding my battery in broke, and threw the CG off even more. I'll have to get some velcro for that. So yeah! First invert!

Hey congrats on that!! I don't have the guts to do inverted. No way...
I hope I can do a loop soon if I can get to a nice size park. I can't try anything new out in front of my house with people, cars, and houses all around.

Hi all. I'm new to helicpters and forums but been a plank flyer fir awhile.
Anyway, I'm having a problem setting up the head on my HDX450 SE V3. The links were not assembled on the head when I received the kit. I assembled and dimensioned the links per the HDX450 ASE V3 manual, page 17.

Following Finless videos provided with the kit concerning centering the servos to 90 degrees and setting the radio parameters as in the video, the washout arms were nowhere near parallel. In order to make them parallel I had to increase the length of the links from the servos to the swash to 54.5 mm (measured end to end). Finless said his measured 50mm. 54.5 causes the washout block to strike the bottom of the head when I give full pitch. Apparently this head is different from that in the videos. What gives? What are the proper lengths for all the links?

I've seen on Helifreak.com where someone else has the same problem. The link is http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=34837. This fellow set his links as follows: servo to swash-51mm, swash to upper control arms-48mm, flybar to washout-31mm, upper arm to bladegrips-27mm.

I'm about to try these settings but wonder why I've not seen any other mention of this problem with the HDX450 V3.
Helidirect doesn’t have an answer. Did anybody record their link lengths?

I didn't even measure my lengths I dont think. I just made them all even, tried to get everything level, with full travel. As long as you have all that, it doesn't really matter. Just get it how you like it, and don't stress over getting it the exact mm someone else did. Just check for general levelness, full travel, and no binding, and you're golden!

TrumpetRhapsody.. I followed your advice concerning the link sizes. Got everything leveled out nicely. Got the motor in and am working on the tail. Thanks for the calming advice.

Does anyone know the diameter of the stock motor shaft that comes with the kit? I am trying to find an 11th pinion to try out, but the LHS does not have any that fit. Anyone know where to get one online?

No problem suttc. Feel free to take some pics and post them for us to look over if you're unsure. Never hurts, plus the eyecandy is nice [8D]

I think the stock diameter is 2.3mm, not 100% though.

I'm lost with my decision. You can get a T-rex SE V2 ARF for about $40 more than the HDX ARF. I really like the look of the HDX, the servo layout looks better, the tail assy looks better etc... My question to you all is, is it better? is the motor any good compared to the 430xl? I cant make my mind up on this.

Where can you get the V2 for that little more? The hdx is like $300, was on sale for $230. The Trex V2 is like, $400-500 yeah? Anyway i don't know about better. The motor is pretty powerful, can't say how it compares to the XL though, never used it. Trex is the top of the line, but for the money, I LOVE MY HDX!

It is pretty rear but on ebay you can find a new v2 with gy401, s9650, hs65hb, and of course the speed controller and battery for $630. Now you can get the HDX for $200 (ebay reserve), GY401 $138, S9650 $65, HS 65HB x3 $75, Speed Controller (align 35a x) $55, Battery $60 (again align 2100 22c) = $593. Dont get me wrong the T-rex for this price is not common but here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ALIGN-T-REX-450S...QQcmdZViewItem

Remember the HDX come with motor only (so i believe)and the T-rex comes with spare blade, esc, motor and battery which is about say $120 excluding the Motor and including "wooden blades" (HDX comes with carbons also so unfair to price those).

However im still drawn to the HDX.

Ah i see, yeah thats a pretty uncommon price with all those Xtras for the Trex V2. That makes it much more tempting. If it's only that much more, i'd go Trex to be honest. I love my HDX, but I got it b/c I saved so much rather than going with a Trex, and it flies just as well (in my opinion).

Here are pictures of my hdx450 in it's new costume! I got a blue and a red canopy for like 9 bucks each, and VERY stong Metal landing struts from heliwarehouse.com. They delivered quickly and the products were great. The struts even have setscrews to keep the skids in place, NO MORE GLUE!! I am happy I also haven't crashed in over a month now.

Wow those look fantastic! I might have to snap one of those up, now only to decide which color...

Why did you go with metal landing struts? The stock are flexible right, so more crash resistant yeah?


EDIT: I still can't decide if I want to match the CNC head and go all blue themed, or add some red to the mix. Have you flown with both yet? Which is nicer for keeping orientation?

I have flown one flight with each so far. I like them both a lot, but when I first flew the red the canopy was vibrating too much so I was just hovering. I have since fixed it by cutting out just a bit of the canopy so it touches much less of the frame. The vibration is pretty much gone now for both of them. For me the red will probably give better orientation just because the boom is blue, but they are both fun to fly and look great (much better than my lopsided white canopy). About the landing gear, I don't know. They are really tough though, compared to my old Helidirect metal struts. I don't know who makes them, but they feel like the cnc parts in the head strengthwise, as opposed to the old struts which were thin and flimsy feeling aluminum. They are cheap, so just buy it and try it out for yourself!

hey guys, here's a short video of me flying my hdx450
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6v3iJQ3CP4

Very nice flying! You're pretty ballsy to be flying over those cars like that! It sounds like you have a really high headspeed, do you know what it's running? Looks like you have your curves tuned in pretty well too, care to share?

My headspeed is about 2700-2800 I believe. My pitch curve (normal mode) is: 42, 45, 50, 75, 100 and throttle (normal mode) is: 0, 55, 75, 90, 100
Your mileage (errr headspeed) may vary.
Oh and I'm using the medusa motor with a CC35 (boy does this thing scream!!)

I've been debating the pros and cons of 3/4 stick hover versus 1/2 stick hover. How do you guys have yours setup? I just recently changed over to half-stick hover (for normal FF) and I love it. I've been scheming a way to get the 3D curve closer to midsitck hover as well...

Well I finally got around to installing my BEC this morning, and fired it up in the house. It seemed to work well. Batts need charging and it's raining, so the field test will have to wait. After I make sure the BEC is working I'll try using the ESC governor.

So, helidirect has been out of flybars for a month or two now, so I give up. How would the trex450 200mm flybar work in the HDX?