armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Hello all.

I have gotten back into scale and figured i would pull the trigger on one of the 500 size fuses. I will post pics of progress as i go and im not in a big rush. I was impressed with the Fuse for the price somethings are lacking but overall if you have built scale helicopters before you will be fine. I have to say Cliff over at rc aerodyne is great in backing up the product and fixing any issues. The pics below are of the stuff ordered and box contents.I have started with painting the rockets and holders I did not like the color they were. hope you enjoy Mike

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Alright i went ahead and painted the landing gear and the rockets, and pods. I went with a different color of olive drab due to not being able to completely match the paint on the fuse. I do not want to repaint the fuse either, so i will see how it looks mocked up. Here are the pics below with everything painted and dried ready for assembly. I am looking for a good 3mm led kit for lighting. I really liked the curtek systems but they are no longer available.

gmscholl

RC Aerodyne kits are not a "build" in my opinion, they are an "assembly". Somebody else made it, all you got to do is assemble it. You want to get involved in a "build", you need to purchase some plans and material and "build". I grew up assembling model cars, but the true test of skills was always in the ability to gather up the materials and "build" a true custom built model. I truely applaud your desire, but if I was voting at a build-off, I will ALWAYS vote for a custom build over an assembly. My admiration goes to the dude that cuts and assembles from bottom up.

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

gmscholl

You are correct about that, and the ARF has killied the hobby in my opinion. I am not new to the building process and have built many of kits when i flew planks. I am simply giving guys a log to look at when they assemble their Apache as the instructions are less to be desired. I for one could care less on you giving me a vote in a build-off. I like to find a helicopter to model and make it look as real as the full version as possible. I will change the thread as not to offend anyone with a build thread. I enjoy the hobby and love helping people out. The helicopter I built below used eveything from a wooden doll head,wooden disks,automotive brake tubing for the skids,balsa wood blocks for the floats on skids and a slew of other parts I modified to make the things that were not sold at the time. The skids were built by jestrr and i used curtek lights when they were available. I applaud you for your approach engineering apache with century arf mechs to fly it. you did a great job on it, so dont come on this thread anymore unless you have something postitive to say. take care and happy flying. mike

jkpape

Good grief! FYI, There's some stuff that needs to be modified so that it can be assembled.

jkpape

Glad to see a build. I've got one that I've started, but it's on hold at the moment. I had issues with changing the main gear. I had to turn down the dia of the flange of the oneway brg holder to fit the gear (Full House Heli). There may not be an issue with the trex.There's also an issue with mounting the main landingear to the fuse. I haven't messed with it enough to come up with a solution. Before I can go any farther, I need to buy a mtr, esc, gyro, and servos.

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

jkpape,


I willl use t-rex one way bearing as the FHH will be my sons first 500. I will let you know my findings on the fit this weekend, as i only get to work on it during that time. The landing gear is fixed to the helicopter with the supplied cap head screws. The ones on the bottom that mount inside the fuse have a blind nut on them.They should have given you another set of blind nuts for the top. I have seen pictures of the landing gear up close and looks like most just screwed the extra cap head screwa with the kit in it and put a few drops of ca on the inside. I have a few blind nuts and other stuff laying around so i will just put the blind nuts on the top as well. I have went through the screw kit that comes with the fuse and as far as i can tell the 4 cap head screws are for the landing gear, I will put up pics on the stuff this weekend for you to see as well im not trying to insult anyone just trying to help.

mike

jkpape

Mike, the issue I found with the landing gear is that the mtg position with the blind nut is not sq with the mtg hole in the landing gear. I'm thinking I will have enlarge the hole in the landing gear to compensate for the misalignment. I had to turn down the dia of the flange of the one-way brg .025 in.

Also you will need to drill & tap the main drive gear (#40 drill bit & tap with 3mm x .50 tap). The gear is already pre-drilled, but too small dia for a 3mm x .5 tap. One more thing I came across is the alignment holes in the tube for the tail rotor assy don't not match up with the tail rotor assy I haven't fixed that yet. I'm up to my eyeballs in a bathroom remodel.

Joe

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Joe,

I looked at my gear and the blind nuts last weekend on mine and seemed to be good. I will look at theone way bearingissue this weekend to see what im going to have to do. I have heard some are good and some have problems. Have you mounted your supports for the rockets on the fuse, and if so does it seem beefy enough. I understand about other projects between military and honey do's I run out of time and always busy. I plan on putting a 4 blade head and tail rotor on it at a later date, but for now im going to run stock align servos and esc from my 500. When i go up to the four blade i will have to change the motor and esc. take care mike

jkpape

Mike,

I haven't done anything other than mechanics on mine. I'm thinking about going with the 4 blade setup also.

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Joe,

The tailrotor is an easy fix, just loosen the two small screws there, and a set screw. Then all you have to do is spin the tube for the hole to match up with the tail rotor assembly. I did that with mine tonight after i read your post. I do have an issue with the anti-rotation gear being too small for the one way bearing sleeve. I will have to turn that down and also will have to drill and tap the four holes on the main gear.I looked at the fuse and mine has a black fiberglass in the bottom for the mechs to mount too, but im going to put some ply or wooden rails in there as not to have any issues with the fuse cracking. I should get my light kit next week and will start putting the lights in the fuse before mounting the winglets.

mike

jkpape

Mike,

I got one of the machinists at work to bore out my gear to fit the bushing. It needs to be bored/reamed out to 10mm. I didn't have a 10mm reamer or drill at home, and didn't want to buy one. I'm hoping to get back on mine after the first of the year.

Joe

jkpape

Mike,

I'm pretty sure that bushing is hardened. So, it will be tough to turn down. You will be better off boring the gear to 10mm.

Joe

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

joe,

yeah that is what i meant to say was to bore out the gear. I am kinda suprised at all the work that needs to be done on the gear to get things to fit properly. I just have to find time to get to work on it for a solid day or two.I just measured mt gear and it is 9.82mm so guess im going to hold off until i can get some taps and a reamer to fix it. I will work on the fuse and get it ready for the mechs as far as detail work.

mike

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

alright,

Have got the main gear drilled and tapped out and the bearing in place. I also recieved my lighting kit yesterday from rc-lights and will test them out next weekend to see how they are. I got the 3mm kit and really impressed with everything that comes with it for 69.00.I still need to drill out the anti-rotation gear to 10mm it is 9.82mm.I have found paint that matched the fuse as well it just a olive paint. i am also trying to decide if im going to put the lights in the wing supports for the rockets like the A model has or put them in the engine pods like the d-model has. I think im leaning towards the engine pods so i can replace them if they burn out, There will be no replacing them in the winglets if they blow without have to do some major work, and removing the mechs. The lights mounted in the engine pods i could reach them from the back through the exhaust. I just know someone will see it and say you know that is not a true D-model.

mike

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Alright got alot done this weekend so here is the updated pics im going to use my full house heli for the mechs. I will go with a four bladed head and tail rotor, so after the first of the year i shold have all here. I still have to mount the rockets and a few other irems. I am really impressed with the rc-lights kit looks good i put the stobes behind the nav lights and they work great. here are some pics. mike

jkpape

I may have to put lights on mine now. Is the kryon spray can what you used to paint the the landing gear?

Joe

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

Yeah I used fusion paint, wanted to see how it would hold up.the paint is olive matched up pretty good.

Mike

BarbieDoll

Looks realy realy good mike.....Nice job.

armyrcer-RCU

My Feedback: (17)

well i finished the apache and it will sit until i find replacement parts for landing gear.I have had numerous issues out the box with this kit to include blade grips machined wrong my tailcover was glassed to the fuse so had to cut out.I contacted rca on the grips and that was fixed contacted them on landing gear and was told items were mailed. whatever method was used they should have been here already ijust sent an email a few days ago explaining i didn't recieve the parts and not to worry about another shipment as i would find something and make it work.I got no reply back on looking into why i did not recieve the parts I will look for other fuses with QC then what RC aerodyne sells.I think my fuse was either built on friday or right before lunch as some of the parts reflect poor QC mike