Ok, I know many of us arent Donald Trump...so we cant go spend gobs of money for a heli.
So how do you build a decent heli without breaking the bank?

Normally, cheap and good dont belong in the same sentence.

But.....

For those of you getting into helicopters, that want a decent helicopter, there are options.
And Ill share a secret option that Ive used now for a while. This setup is the cheapest I could build one, while still retaining a respectable amount of "good".

I like the 450 size helis. So Im going to be going off that premise.

First off, you will need a heli kit. Align is nice, but you dont have to spend that kind of money for a trex.
Trex clones can be had for very cheap, and many are just as nice as the Trex, and fly the same.

Goto nitroplanes.com and order a Exi 450 kit. They are $29 bucks. DIRT CHEAP. Shoot....order 3 or 4 at that price. That way when you kill one, you can toss it in the parts bin, and put all the equipment into another one. Or build two or three of them for backups.

The next most critical piece of equipment is the Gyro. You dont need a Futaba 401. Ive tried a bunch of different gyro's on the market, and I finally found one that in my opinion is actually better than the 401, and much cheaper.

Its the DCTRUM GY48V AVCS Gyro. You can get them at http://store.rcsupersales.net/servle...sh-1017/Detail
I really do like it better than the 401. For one, it's encased in anodized metal, so you can top mount that thing without worrying about a flybar paddle smashing it into a bazillon pieces.
Secondly, its a AVCS gyro....the workings are identical to the 401. Thirdly, it just plain works, and its cheap at $36 bucks. Ive since stopped buying the 401, and put these on all my heli's. Why spend more for the same thing, and yes....it will run digital tail servos.

Next, for the servos.

Servos in general are finicky devices. And when combined with low quality, can be a nightmare. Ive tried lots of the cheap garbage out there that weren't worth the plastic they were made out of.
But....amist the garbage, I found a couple that actually arent too bad for helis.

T-Pro SG90 servos from nitroplanes.com - They run $5 bucks a pop, and Ive been using them in my heli's for a while now. Even with a couple of bad hits, they havent failed once. Surprise Surprise.
For the tail....the EXI D113F digital. $10 bucks at nitroplanes.com This too is a really decent digital tail servo, and it also fits the Trex type tailboom mounts perfectly. Use the round servo arm. It will be smooth as glass.

Speed controller....I use the Exceed RC's 30A ESC - $14.95 from nitroplanes.com

Motor....Exceed RC Optima from nitroplanes.com - $32 bucks.

Lipos... Any ol' 3cell 2200mah lipo. Ive been having good success with the "lightmax" 2200 20C Zippy packs that I picked up for $20 a piece.
You can try these....which are probably similar...http://www.nitroplanes.com/83p-2200m...p-111-20c.html

So lets look at your total for a Exi 450
$156.95....minus reciever.

That's as cheap as I can do it, and still keep the quality at least good enough to actually fly the crap out of it.
I have heli's with this exact setup, that Ive been flying for over a year. No problems at all.

Now please bear in mind...this is the lowest cost FUNCTIONAL heli.
Its not the super hot, best thing out there....it is what it is.
So if you are looking for a low cost option, that will just plain fly....this is your best bet in my opinion.

You got my attention! I've been flying B400s and while I'm not unhappywith eflite,the thought of building one for that low of price is very interesting. Especially when you talk about putting them into a fuselage and doing generalscale flight. Thiswill make it more affordable to build scale helis. Thanks for sharing you research.


-Jesse

You can get those T-P SG90 servos from Value Hobby for only $3.65. They also carry some decent 'lesser expensive' batteries.
Heck, you can get T-P MG 90 servos for $7.65 if you prefer metal gears.



http://www.valuehobby.com/index.php

As I've mentioned, Ive been flying this setup for a little over a year now. It would be perfect for scale jobs.
One thing you could do too, is weight the flybar heavy, and it would fly really scale too.

On a side note....
hobbyparts.com has fiberglass/plastic scale fuselages for the 450's. Hughes 500's, Bell 222, and even some nice agusta bodies. I've been thinking about building a scale heli myself...probably a hughes 500MD in solid black. You could pretty much build a scale heli for a little over 200 bucks...49 for the fuselage, and 156 bucks for the guts.

This is a great post bdavision! How many newbies to this forum would serve themselves well buy following this advice before buying their first heli!?!

I had purchased an E-Razor from nitroplanes. I was advised by NP to visit rcdisscussions.com. to find out which spare parts to order as a crash kit. There were several forum members that advised me to send the heli back. Many did not like it because it was not a T-Rex clone, which limited this models owners to only E-Razor parts. There were also complaints about the quality control of some of the parts. However, there were a few that had nothing but good things to say about the E-Razor. After following all the threads for several weeks, I decided to return my ER before that option expired.

Upon hearing about this, a friend of mine gave me an old T-Rex 450 XL. The heli is in excellent shape, but replacement parts are hard to find and upgrades will probably make it too expensive to update.

I started looking @ EXI. They have a couple of nice looking kits! I was considering the EXI 450 Pro Carbon Fiber or the 500 version of this same kit. However, I was already getting advise that there were some QC issues with some of the parts to these "metal rotor systems" and need to be upgraded to TR parts. Considering that I would be replacing metal parts before I even fly the bird, I was finding that just getting started with helis was going to cost more than I figured.

This $29 dollar kit may be the answer for someone at my skill level. At this price, even if some of the parts fail, the repair cost should be low. It sounds like you've made all the mistakes for us here bdav, so I think I will follow this advise.

I would like to ask you a couple of more questions about this kit if I may. Is this a TR clone? I learned that not all EXI kits are based on TR design. Are spare parts for this kit even available for a kit at this price, or do you just buy spare kits? If available, will any of the spare parts I buy for this kit also be usable with the higher priced kits such as the 450 kit I mentioned earlier?


BTW, I'm fairly new to this forum, is there a "spell check" here? I'm not seeing it.

Thanks, blufrog



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Yes, spare parts are plentiful. The Align 450 SA, SE parts fit the EXI with no problems, so you can use either Align Trex parts or Exi parts.
I have not had any fitment issues.
One of my helis has a EXI frame, with a Align swashplate, EXI metal head parts, Align Blade grips, Align Blue Gears, Micropro tail unit....
I even had one of the EXI 450's with a old MX400 head on it for a while.

That's one of the reasons I prefer the Trex/Exi 450 size heli. You can get parts just about anywhere.

They even sell a metal head/metal tail unit combo for $36 bucks.
http://www.hobbypartz.com/exicncmerohe.html
They are so cheap, I keep an extra set in my heli case. That way if I do have a crash...I just unbolt the head, swap it out, and keep on flying. I repair the other one later.

Now regarding compatiblility....
The Exi 450 is identical to the Align Trex SA version. The Trex SA, and SE stuff will fit the Exi.
The Align Trex Sport Edition has many simularities, and some parts will fit between the two. The biggest difference is the head block is wider on the Sport Edition, so you might run into some tweaking there.
As you mentioned the XL and X versions of the Trex are the older versions that are getting hard to find and are well on their way out.
The Pro versions of both are a bit different. Some of the head parts are compatible, the tail is not. The Pro versions have a torque tube (fancy name for shaft/gear driven) unlike the non-Pro versions which use a belt drive setup.

Personally, I hate the Pro's torque tube setup. On the belt driven version, if you get a boom strike...you just swap the tube. On the Pro version, a tail strike usually takes out the entire torque tube, and sometimes destroys the tail gears. Those torque tubes are WAY more expensive than a old 2 dollar tail boom tube. The other issue I have with the torque tube is if you clip the tail blades on the ground, or snag them in grass it strips out the gears. To replace it you have to tear down the entire tail gear box....it sucks. But some people really like it. Personal preference really.

Here are a few pics of my most "confused" 450. It doesnt know whether its a Align Trex or a Exi, or what.

This perticular one started as a Exi 450 kit....the $29 one.
Its been in a few mishaps, and I just tossed on whatever part was available at the time to get it back up and running. So it has a wide variety of mixed up 450 parts just to show how compatible they are.

The head block is Exi,
The mixing arms are Exi.
The Blade grips???? I dont even know what they came off of.
The swashplate is Align
The flybar paddles are Align
The main shaft is a MX400...LOL I had a surplus of these from back in the day...so I just keep using them.
The frame is Exi
The tail boom is Align
The blades are some cheapo $17 carbon fibers I picked up at Hodges Hobbies.

It flys just as well as any of the other 450's I have.

Hi bdavision, I went back to xheli and looked at this kit. I noticed there was no landing gear or tail boom supports in the photo. Are these parts that will need to be ordered seperately?

I also see there is a EXI 450 SE kit for $49.00 they claim has the "new body frame". What would be the "pros &amp; cons" of ordering this SE kit, or the 450 Pro CF Belt (I see they offer a belt drive in the pro version) Drive kit vs the 450 plastic version 2? Would any of these kits be easier to upgrade later? If spending a little more money now will save money later, I would probably be wiiling to do so.

I checked out the metal head/metal tail kit @ hobby partz. Have you been happy with these kind of upgrades from EXI? I know some fliers recommend buying T-Rex for all upgrades, but if these less expensive parts will do the job (I wont be doing any inverted grass mowing just yet) I would like to keep my cost on such upgrades low at this point. Actually, I don't know that I will ever be interested in doing extreme 3D flying, so I may be able to get by without the most expensive upgrades for now.

blufrog

I dont know about the xheli ones because I've never ordered from them.
I always got them from nitroplanes. I know the ones from nitroplanes are complete airframes.
Here is the link. http://www.nitroplanes.com/exi-450-r...er-kit-v2.html

They say its the plastic version....but what they mean is that some of the head parts are plastic.
Its identical to the Trex SA version, which has a metal frame, metal head block, plastic mixing arms, and a dual material swashplate (half metal/half plastic).
Their description is confusing when they say plastic version, as its not all plastic.
You can look at the close up pics in the link above to see if its what you are looking for.

With the one from nitroplanes, its already mostly assembled just like the Trex SA.

As for the SE kit....The SE is all metal...no plastic parts. So that would be the difference there.
The PRO CF would probably be a clone of the Trex Pro which is carbon fiber frames, and a slightly different metal head from previous versions.
You probably wont notice a difference in flying either the half plastic/half metal or full metal heads. The difference is just bling in reality.
Maybe just a tad better in durability with the metal ones.


As for the metal heads....
I cant tell any difference between the EXI metal head and the Align metal head. They both fly the same.
The only difference I can see between them is that the anodizing is a little bit lighter on the EXI stuff, where as the Align parts are just a bit darker.
Ive heard of people saying the metal is softer in the EXI head, but Ive not found this to be the case.
I wouldnt hesitate to use the EXI head parts any day of the week.


Funny story....today I pulled out my spare parts bucket, and started browsing through it....
Come to find out, I had almost an entire 450 in spare parts....so I built another 450..LOL All I need is some skids.

Also guys....

I just hit that xheli site.....

They have the DCTRUM gyro for $12 BUCKS!!!!!

http://www.xheli.com/60p-dy-1017.html

So that knocks it down even cheaper.

I would steer clear of X-heli if I were you. Do a search on here for them and you will see that their reputation is the lowest on the planet.

You get lots of mixed opions from inexpensive Clone dealers.

Sometimes the cheapest does not always get you far. Although I have several friends who started on the cheaper plastic one, the metal versions seem to last longer.
If you think your gonna tinker, get going then go bigger, sure, plastic may be fine. In the end, if your a beginner, you crash and you end up replacing more plastic broken parts than on a metal head. That's been my experiance dealing with mine plus other people's.
I've owned up to 5 (have 3 now) 450's and have built or setup about 15 of them for friends and just aquantances.

Here's a bang for the buck list of parts:

[link=http://www.mycoolheli.com/450RecommendedSetup.html]Clone 450 setup[/link]

Depending on how much you spend (batteries etc), you can often find some of the parts cheaper at [link=http://bit.ly/9zFxM2]HobbyPartz[/link]

Hey dditch, Good to see you......I see you visit other forums too! Thanks for posting this list! I'm curious...... why do you recommend the 450 SE Carbon Edition over the 450 Pro CF Belt?

Both of you and bdavision make good points here! Until I had read this post, I was just a phone call away from the Pro CF. I love the looks of all that carbon fiber and metal! However, bda has brought up some very practical considerations. Yes, if I order three copies of the $29 dollar kit, I will have spent more than enough to get the Pro CF. But, I will have all the replacement parts i will need for the first few weeks.......hopefully. Getting all these parts at such a low price is really such a great bargin! Also, knowing that I do not have a great deal of money hanging on my next wrong move may help me get over those early flight jitters! I like the whole concept!

Once I get to where I know what I am doing, then I can consider upgrading this kit, or maybe just buying the Pro version then. So bda, I'm going to go back to your first thread in this post and make my list. Is there anything else i should add to this order? Are any little parts that two extra copies my not be enough? What about screws.....are the ones that come with the kit what you use?

Dditch, I will refer to your list as well. I think you mentioned a tool kit i will need. If you think of anyhting else I should consider, pleas let me know.

blufrog

Okay bdavision and dditch, here's my order list! I'm orderingparts recommended by both of you. In some cases, I opted for slightlybetter than base, but mainly I selected items that I could get from xheli. I'm trying not to pay multiple shipping charges. I have the Spektrum DX6i, for which I will have to order the receiver elsewhere.
I also have the batteries.

3 EXI 450 Plastic kits.............................89.10
1 Alpha 400 Brushless motor.............15.00
1 Volcano/Proton 30A ESC..................14.70
1 Detrum Gy48v Gyro...........................12.75
3 EXI digital 9g servos..........................23.10
1 Raiden DS-16 Tail Servo..................24.95
1 AC6 Balance Charger.......................54.95
1 EXI tool kit............................................35. 00
1 Lipo Meter............................................. .3.26
1 EXI Swash Plate Leveler.....................4.70

By ordering (3) 450 kits, i feel like I should be covered for a couple of crashes, but if you think I should stock up a ball links or something.......or anything I left off , please let me know.

Thanks for all the advise, it made the whole process much easier!

blufrog

That looks good to me.
I still think parts are better than kits.
You see this link?
http://www.mycoolheli.com/EXI450SpareParts.html

Most of my crashes on a 450 last year averaged $12 with the worse being $20
If you flop it over on soft grass or pavement with a metal head, your likely just blades and the shafts (main, tail, feathering, flybar).

I do recommend the SE carbon over the Pro cause you can use the 9g micro servos on the tail without mods. You can make your own adapter for the Pro though.
A belted pro is still pretty good heli. I also find the SE carbon to be easier to mount your electronics.
HEY, [link=http://bit.ly/9zFxM2]HobbyPartz[/link] has free shipping right now so order the misc stuff from them and the kits from Xheli!
I've been noticing my Stuff has been taking a day or two to ship lately. I just ordered an RC car from [link=http://www.nitrorcx.com]Nitro RCX[/link]

Well okay, I'll take another look at that SE!  One of the things I like about the $29 kit is that i don't need to know what parts to stock for a crash.  By having two extra kits on hand, i will have the part no matter what I break.  Once I get passed that crash stage then I can either upgrade or buy a better kit.

Free shipping is good!  If they have the parts I'll do it!

So your into cars!?!  I used to race 1/8 gas road course back when I was single and had money!

A friend of mine used to own a hobby shop with an indoor off-road course behind the shop.  Very nice.....there just weren't enough local racers to support it.

Thanks dditch, blufrog

dditch, I just looked at the xheli site. the 450 carbon se is out of stock. unless you order it with the case which i already have. so it looks like my decision will be between the 450 plastic or the 450 pro cf.

i know you like the se because you can use the 9g servo on the tail, where mods would be necessary on the pro, but i was planning on using the ds-016 for the tail. would mods still be necessary to the pro for that tail servo?

i just ordered from them today hopefully everything will be alright, i did a search here and didnt come up with anything, would u link me plz u got me worried now

I've seen people make a bracket out of metal or spare circuit board fiberglass to adapt a 9g servo to the Pro tail.
No reason a good 9g servo can't handle a Pro tail. Just won't hold as well as a mini servo. My Jr 290 though holds well for a 9g servo. Pro has the weighted tail so that takes som eof the load off.

Thanks dditch, I was going to order the Raiden DS-016, but xheli is out, so I'm ordering (4) 9g. I'm sure that will work for me until the DS-016 is back in stock.

Is a swash plate leveler something i should include in my order? What about a blade balance?

nissanlove, my experience with xheli hasn't been too bad so far. I had ordered a E-Razor which i decided to return, They gave me a complete refund even though I offered to take a credit......and they did this very quickly!

I'm not doubting jerrymac!I've only had this one experience, but so far so good! Good luck!

Until you get into inverted, I don't think a swash leveler is a big deal but you can get it.
Some metric hex drivers for sure. The one that they sell that is a $8 kit where the spare drivers go into the handle (portable kit) is nice. Don't get the ones where the driver metal is black. That stuff sometimes is soft metal. Blade balancer is something you should have.

Its often easier to replace feathering shafts if you have 2 x 1.5mm hex drivers.  If you dont..you can always have a spare (2mm I think) long screw to put in where the rotor button screw goes to "bite down" on the shaft so you can remove the blade grips from the shaft without it just spinning.

I dont have a blade balancer.  I just use one of the grip bolts to bolt both blades together (level I might add) and then suspend the blades between 2 stacks of cds on the edge of the bolt.  I saw this somewhere online and it works and is cheap (FREE!)

Okay, thanks dditch and atv!  I saw a banner while looking for parts "EXI Tool Kit  $15.00....reg.$35," but when I go to tools at xheli and hobbypartz I don't see it.

This is the kit I have. Its not on sale for 15 bucks though.

http://www.xheli.com/nowwi2newfrt.html

It comes with 2 x 1.5 drivers for feathering shaft removal.