joizeex

Yea i think it should work fine. Besides, i'm only going to use this throttle curve for initial hovering and learning, not actual flying around, so the pitch will be well under 10 degrees. I'll step it up 10% after every 5 tanks or so.

chazdraves

Hmmm... I guess I had no idea. Good to know.

- Chaz

joizeex

So yesterday i received yet another package (from helihobby). This one included training gear, fuel pump, main blades for training, Rx switch, cranklock tool and starter.

I ended up ordering CF main blades and not wooden, for training for $35. From the looks of it, the quality isn't as good as the MAH blades i have, but it's still better than wooden ones.

Starter batteries turned out to be 1500mAh each, not 700 as advertised on site, so that's a bonus. There's identical kit from another brand sold for $110 vs this one for $65.

Installed the Rx switch, but the battery plug will have to be trimmed to fit into this JR switch. Unless i can scavenge an old JR plastic connector only.

I set up basic stuff using only one servo, such as channel reversal and co-pilot initial setup. It was annoying to keep switching the one servo between chans, but i got it done. The rest of servos are coming tomorrow...i did not expect one of the most important things for the kit to take this long shipping...LAME! [&o] Still need to get starter shaft.
Total cost for heli (gift) + everything is ~$1600 so far.

Question: should i use REVO mixing when not in HH mode?

chazdraves

Add up quick, don't they?

I should probably let someone else field that as I never fly in non-HH; however, I don't know why you couldn't use Revo if you wanted to (in non-HH). Just make sure you don't enable it until after you've trimmed the gyro out and that it's only enabled in HH mode.

- Chaz

joizeex

Seriously, i paid $1600 for snow tires+winter rims for my real car.

"and that it's only enabled in HH mode"
Don't you mean "it's only enable in NON-HH mode?" I thought you don't need to REVO mix in HH...
I'm basically going to use non-HH mode while i'm learning to fly with the co-pilot off, so that i can get good at controlling everything. Hence i'm wondering if i should just learn with no REVO mix. I'll use HH when i get into advanced maneuvers.

chazdraves

Yeah, sorry. My mind has been spotted in three unique locations earlier today. Needless to say, I'm having a hard time keeping track of it.

NON-HH

- Chaz

joizeex

here are some pics with mounted servos (final 4th package came today!), receiver/copilot and copilot A/E sensor with bubble level. S3151 seems harder to turn with power off than other servos, wonder why. not that i keep messing with them in such manner.

haven't connected linkages to servo wheels yet. btw, how tight do i screw in the servo attachment screws? just to where they start to squash the rubber grommets a bit?

i'm going to follow raptor technique in setting up linkages and end points. won't be able to do it this weekend though, as i'm driving to visit my parents and friends in north NJ. finally gonna play with my RC cars though!

badazzbusa

My Feedback: (1)

Good deal and yes, just tighten the screws down to compress the rubber. You don't want the servo to be able to move around freely but don't strong arm it either. Have fun breaking (playing with) your rc cars.

joizeex

So on Friday i had some time to setup the collective servo linkages. I installed the biggest servo wheel that 9252 comes with and drilled holes at 12.5mm from center as per manual. Didn't even have to adjust endpoints, as 100% endpoints on my Tx corresponded EXACTLY to min/max swashplate travel without binding.

Now, for ailerons and elevator, rods A and B are not parallel like for collective, which means that the holes will have to be drilled at an angle theta that i marked in the screen shot from the manual. My question is, how much of a difference in linearity of controls will i see if i just drill the holes directly on the line that goes through the center (marked as Neutral in the pic)? That angle theta looks very small, but does it make a very noticeable difference?

joizeex

so i stayed up till 3:30am on sunday night and got throttle and rudder linkage/endpoints, gyro limit all set up.

today i ended up measuring everything out for the elevator rods and drilled the holes in the wheel at an angle as per manual. everything seems to line up and is symmetrical. i did have to add some trim for the elevator, as i couldn't get servo wheel to line up perfectly at 90 degrees.

i overtightened the tiny bolt that holds the pivot ball to the servo wheel and it snapped [&o] The kit has NO spare bolts/screws whatsoever! I was gonna measure out aileron linkage tonight and drill the wheel and would've been done with the physical build! i'm so peed off right now. 1 tiny bolt is holding back the completion of this kit. Bolt is a M2X8PH, anyone know where i can get that? don't feel like ordering just the bolts online and doubt Home Depot has something this small.

HELP!

Patto

Yeah, that sucks. I've gotten to the point now where I have just about every single size screw, bolt, nut, etc. because that has happened to be so many times that I've gone out and bought sets of them to make sure I can come up with a replacement WHEN that happens again!

Certainly you can find something, right? Don't go to Home Depot for it. Look in the phone book for a hardware or fastener shop or something similar. There's a store where I live called Eugene Fasteners. They have every type and size of screw, bolt, etc. that you could possibly imagine. I'm sure that in NJ you have 20 similar shops at least!!

Just take that one of the screws around until you find someone with an exact replacement. It probably won't be that hard if you start with the phone book. Heck, you could go look and then go fly after you get it and install it.... =)

badazzbusa

My Feedback: (1)

Any hobby stores near you, like Hobby Town or something? If you can't find one local, I've gotten screw packs from helihobby.com before.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

We just recieved an EVO 50 for a kit review, look for it in a couple weeks in the helicopter section of the RCU Magazine.

joizeex

That's great news 'Cuda, too bad it's gonna be after i got everything together hehe. I'm looking forward to reading it and maybe i can get some info on the setup, so i can run something similar.

Today is a good day, as i found some slightly longer bolts that fit, at a hobby store some 20 miles away! I got aileron linkages setup now

Basically the physical assembly and major Tx/Rx setups are done. I got end points, gyro gain/limit, piro rate, expo, basic throttle curve, co-pilot settings set up. Have to zip tie all the wires. Need to setup a pitch curve and get a starter shaft and fuel and it's ready to be tested in some experienced hands and have some Tx settings fine tuned. Can't wait!

Patto

Looking forward to hearing the flight reports. A buddy of mine just maidened his Sceadu 50 with an O.S. 50 Hyper and Spektrum DX7. He couldn't figure out how to get the gyro in HH mode with the DX7, and he found it was a pain to hover without it, (plus he's really new and too stubborn to let me help him get it trimmed). So, it didn't do much.

Maybe you can get us a video of your maiden flights?

joizeex

hey guys. the heli is fully setup now, will upload few more pics soon. basically from the time my gf presented me with a wrapped gift to full completion has been exactly 2 months. that's including 2 weeks of travel to Japan and 10 days of waiting on parts, plus some weeks where i didn't have time to work on it.

i still haven't had a chance to fly yet. was looking for a nice field out here, of which there are plenty, but they all belong to farmers [&o]

however, my coworker told me that i can fly it on her ranch, and there's also a huge field that's owned by one of the townships, so either location is what i'll use. the local aircraft club has a field, but its gate is chained up unless it's an official club event. i want to be able to fly on any day, after work too.

so anyone living in this area, please let me know where else i can go without having to deal with club schedules and what not.

badazzbusa

My Feedback: (1)

You might want to check with the club. There is a club here that has a gate across the field but when you join they give you the combination so you can fly anytime.

chazdraves

Ditto here. New members get a key to the gate. Worth a shot!

- Chaz

Patto

I strongly recommend joining a club. The comraderie you get is well worth the money you pay to join. I'm guessing that if you get in contact with the president or treasurer you can join and get a key so you can fly anytime you want.

-Pat

chazdraves

^--- That's a good point as well. I know for myself that it's sometimes difficult to keep an interest because I don't have anyone in this town or area flying helicopters, but I know for a fact it would make a huge difference for me to be around other folks that are in the hobby.

- Chaz

joizeex

yea, i'll give it a shot. i signed up for AMA last week, so i'm waiting to get it in the mail. can't join without AMA proof.

in the meantime, my buddy who has a century hawk pro with a .40, and I are going to try those other places. i actually ended up spending some 5-6 hrs readjusting his heli, tuning the engine and setting up additional Tx functions after his last crash (he's new too). it's kinda funny that i know enough now to be able to help someone else out with at least setting up and engines.

Patto

I crashed a few times before I got the helicopter guru at my club to help me out adjusting the gyro, throttle, and pitch settings. After that, my Raptor became a whole lot more fun. It's also a lot more fun to share the experience with other enthusiasts, and I've found that it gets somewhat lonely and not as rewarding when no one is watching...

-Pat

joizeex

one thing that i haven't asked yet: i don't suppose i can use my Trinity 20% fuel for cars with the heli, can i? I mean, the engine doesn't seem to be different from the ones used on cars, unless there's something i don't know about...

Patto

The Sig heli fuel I use has 22% synthetic oil. I think the lowest you would want to go would be 20%. Someone with more heli experience may want to chime in on this one. If you don't get an answer, before you try it, go ask in the main forum. You don't want to ruin your engine. They may not look different, but I'm guessing that they are.

-Pat

chazdraves

Last I checked, so long as it was 18-20% oil or more, it didn't make a lot of difference. I was using 10% plane fuel in a Venture 30 for quite some time.

- Chaz