RE: G26 funfly
The airplane is actually up for sale (locally. I'm not shipping this pig anywhere..). I won a funfly with it about a month ago. Its proven to be a nice little sport plane. Real solid and just like I said when I built it, pretty good at most things, not great at any one thing. When I've done these before I was able to get them to come out a bit lighter. I think a better job of selecting wood would have helped. I just used what was in the balsa box. Anyway, I just looked around and can't find my tape measure anywhere!!!!! Sorry, I know that's lame. When it turns up I'll try and do some measurements.
Posted on: 9/21/2007 9:55 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Profile and Fun Flying Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6398500

RE: Which servo gear material is best for heli's?
Everybody's different, but I like Nylon because the gear sets are so much cheaper. Metal ones break too, and when they do you're gonna pay..... I don't think that happens all that much with small servos like the HS 65's, though...
Posted on: 8/10/2007 6:09 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "RC Helicopter General Discussions"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6221970

RE: Battery's For New 50 Titan Build???
I have just changed my Titan over to the Duralite setup. Its so easy to use, provides better performance and is a no brainer for all day charge free flying. Plus, it can handle the loads of any servos you want to throw in.
Posted on: 7/28/2007 12:34 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Thunder Tiger - Raptor 30, 50, 60, 90"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6166877

RE: 450 Maintinance intervals?????
Noah, I liked the way it flew fine. But it has some cheaply made parts on it. If you changed all the plastic links you'd probably be ok. At first I thought it was great. But then there was the crash, and when taking it apart to get my gear out I found it wasn't up to the quality I'm used to. So the last few days I've been flying my Titan. It even sounds like a better helicopter. So smooth and quiet. On the Knight, the pushrod material, the screws, everything is like designed for the lowest possible cost. I could put mine back in the air for not too much money, but I won't because I don't want to chance another failure wrecking my onboard gear. So it was a $260 experiment. The 3D is probably better than the sport, but I'd still change those links out. I'm just glad to be flying something that holds up better. I think it flies similar to an Evo. I wish I had gotten an Evo...... But for me its back to Raptors. Simple and reliable.
Posted on: 7/27/2007 4:39 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6164116

RE: 450 Maintinance intervals?????
Be aware, too, that different helicopters require different blade tension. For the trex its pretty loose. Raptors like it a little tighter. I don't know what it is for the mini titan. As for other parts, one of my crashes this year was due to what I feel is a manufaturing defect. On my Knight .50 sport the material used for the links is very soft and cheap. I had one let go in piro flips. I've had a few bearings go bad due to wear, but not much more than that. Usually what I find is things working loose over time. So I just check for tension on bolts, etc. On the trex I've had a few screws into balls work loose, even though they were locktited. You can feel the tension in a screw or bolt without having to really turn it. You just get used to what feels right.
Posted on: 7/27/2007 2:05 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6163582

RE: CNC head
Yeah, Noah said it pretty well. I good tx makes it a much better helicopter. When you're ready to work on aerobatics, upgrade to a trex or mini titan, something with a belt briven tail and a little more quality. I love my CPP, but its what it is: a fun little heli to fly in the basement on rainy days or in the local gym with friends when its snowing. Lots and lots of guys have followed the upgrade trail with the CPP. A few months later we see them in the trex forum regretting the huge expense for something they've outgrown. I got the GWS DD tail for mine. I think it helped. I remember saying it did when I bought it. But now I'm not so sure. Sounds cooler, though. The CPP is great at FFF and stall turns. I like the way it rolls. If you're really good at collective management its pretty good at flips and flying inverted. I think for aerobatics you really need the HH gyro and the brushless motor. These two upgrades plus the separate tx make it a pretty formidable helicopter. I never went that route, choosing to by a trex instead. The whole trex thing is a little like the Raptor thing. A bit tiresome to hear after awhile. But you only hear it all the time because its true.
Posted on: 7/27/2007 11:02 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6162908

RE: tail wont hold in 3d
cool! When I started to get a handle on that everything suddenly became easier. Good job!
Posted on: 7/27/2007 12:27 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6161771

RE: 450 Maintinance intervals?????
Rafeal might know better than me.. I haven't had one break yet. You want to keep them loose. I like to just about be able to touch the sides together with light pressure.
Posted on: 7/27/2007 12:23 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6161762

RE: 450 Maintinance intervals?????
[quote]ORIGINAL: Rafael23cc [quote]ORIGINAL: AeroDave I go over mine pretty regularly. I oil moving parts and main shaft and tail bearing at least once a week. I like to clean them, too. This gives me a chance to spot things that are coming loose or need attention. Having said that, I've had two crashes this summer from in flight failures and I'm the carefulest guy, maintainence wise
Posted on: 7/26/2007 4:25 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6159969

RE: Got my new Trex450sa last night =)
Save the CPP's for small space indoor winter flying. You'll find trex's can semm pretty big in a small area. That's all I use my CPP for anymore. I'm always glad I kept it though, when those situations turn up.
Posted on: 7/26/2007 1:06 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6159170

RE: 450 Maintinance intervals?????
I go over mine pretty regularly. I oil moving parts and main shaft and tail bearing at least once a week. I like to clean them, too. This gives me a chance to spot things that are coming loose or need attention. Having said that, I've had two crashes this summer from in flight failures and I'm the carefulest guy, maintainence wise, I know. Keep an eye on your links, to make sure they're not getting too loose. Check the tail belt often. Once in awhile take the blades off and make sure the bolts into the spindle aren't backing out. Even with locktite, you never know.
Posted on: 7/26/2007 1:01 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6159156

RE: tail wont hold in 3d
Ken, I'm not sure of the real cause of your problem, but I would try to make sure you're inputting collective in tic tocs before cyclic. Hit the collective to change direction with no cyclic. After it begins to move in the new direction add collective to make the arc. This will bog the head much less making it easier for your gyro/tail servo. You'll find with this technique you don't really need full collective at all, which will help keep headspeed up even more.
Posted on: 7/26/2007 1:21 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6157645

RE: Raptor 50 Titan Discussion
I flew my Titan today for the first time in a long time. VERY nice to be back!
Posted on: 7/25/2007 6:06 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Thunder Tiger - Raptor 30, 50, 60, 90"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6155850

RE: are these servos and gyro good with the 30 v2?
For a 30, I think the 148's will be ok. The 3003 needs to go, however. I used a 240 gyro on a couple of 30's a few years back and it worked fine. I think when these items fall short (240 148's) its time to upgrade the helicopter to a 50. THe 401/9254 is a great combo, but truly not needed for learning FFF, loops rolls and stall turns. When you get serious about backwards flight, etc, you'll be more inclined to need it. All information recommended in the last post is good, just not really needed at this stage. You can tell if your heli is 29 ball bearings if its called the sport version. I also ran the TT39 a lot and really liked it. Take your time breaking it in. Run the low end a bit lean and the high speed rich as it tends to run hot. Keeping the low end a bit lean will keep it from quitting when carrying it to the flightline. I just used to set my idle a bit higher than I would on my O.S.'s
Posted on: 7/25/2007 2:40 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Thunder Tiger - Raptor 30, 50, 60, 90"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6155051

RE: Battery's For New 50 Titan Build???
I think it definitely depends on what servos you're going to run, too. In my titan I use analogs and I use a 1200 mah nicad. On my Knight 50 I use digitals and a Duralite li ion 4300 mah with a 5.3 volt regulator. The extra capacity is warranted because of the high drain of the digitals.
Posted on: 7/24/2007 7:59 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Thunder Tiger - Raptor 30, 50, 60, 90"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6151878

RE: trex 450 se esc and motor
Watch the Finless videos on helifreak.com Step by step on how to solder the whole thing.
Posted on: 7/24/2007 12:24 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6148566

RE: So I splurged on some Carbon...
try this: put your other blades on and see if it goes away. IF so, you've got a defective blade. If not, you've got some other problem. But I wouldn't ignore the vibes....
Posted on: 7/23/2007 11:43 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6148410

RE: full alum head upgrade????
got it.. mixing levers and plastic see saw. If you get those in metal, plus you really should get the metal head block (not the grips, just the block) you should be good to go. So far nothing on my heads has bent and I've hit pretty hard a few times.
Posted on: 7/23/2007 9:52 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6147938

RE: full alum head upgrade????
Tolla nailed that one in a different thread. I can't remember what he said...... Mixing levers and..... Tolla? There were two items he said break easy. Seems to be common to the plastic trex heads. Hopefully he'll chime in. In themean time I'll look it up.'get to your PM in a bit...
Posted on: 7/23/2007 9:49 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6147924

RE: So I splurged on some Carbon...
yikes! SAB's are very very good blades. I don't know what it could be. I won't even venture a guess because I really have no idea. But to pose a qustion, could there be another variable other than the new upgrades? Any assembly issues? Dumb question, did you get both head spacers back in? Unfortunate. Very sorry you're having trouble. Any time I've changed blades, paddles or tr blades its been (once I was sure they were balanced) a bolt on and fly affair.
Posted on: 7/23/2007 9:14 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6147781

RE: First loop attempt ... first BIG crash
sheesh! I don't know how you could think I said anything about how to do a loop in that post..... But it was a pretty good description of how to setup idle up. I did a 200 foot loop last night with my Knight 50 without ever going into negative pitch. Nice and round, looked great. Sorry you crashed, and I understand you're funnin and not blaming us. It usually takes awhile to find what works for you in these moves. Keep at it, you'll get it!
Posted on: 7/23/2007 5:45 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6146958

RE: Official T-rex 450 XL SE Thread
yeah, the pro woodies actually work quite well. I found, however, after about 10 hard flights they were weakening. They started flexing more and I noticed the head bogging with the same collective management. That's when the tail became a problem. You need to know, however, that I was pushing them really hard. Prio flips, fast tic tocs, inverted drops with a smack stop at the bottom. For loops rolls and stall turns they would be ideal for a long time. That's why I used them for backwards inverted. No real stress on the airframe, just orientation practice. Interestingly, I found the included "carbon" blades from align to be much flimsier and they exhibited these unwanted tendencies right from the start. Now I've put my 13T back on with the XL motor and Mav E series carbons. Its ballistic!
Posted on: 7/23/2007 1:29 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6145943

RE: Official T-rex 450 XL SE Thread
Well, I flew with decent blades again last night and my gyro woes disappeared. I guess the flexing of the cheper blades bogged the head enought to cause the gyro to not be able to keep up. So last night I did very sharp tic tocs in all orientations, and tons of other things. No gyro problems. I switched to the cheaper blades, pro woodies, etc, because I was having trouble with backwards inverted and had a couple of crashes. I figured why spend the money breaking good blades on low stress practice? I was right. But now that that's over the good carbons are required. Live and learn....
Posted on: 7/23/2007 11:28 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6145477

RE: Crashed - Metal or Plastic Next?
Tolla's got the experience with those plastic parts. I would disregard what I told you in the other thread and get these two items in metal. I do run the plastic grips and really flew them hard last night. No problems. But everything else on mine are metal, so I didn't know which ones would be weak.
Posted on: 7/23/2007 9:18 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6145092

RE: full alum head upgrade????
Early on the plastic swash plates included with trex's would come apart, but that's been a long time ago. Other than that, I haven't hard of any problems with any of the plastic parts. I would stay with plastic.
Posted on: 7/23/2007 9:12 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6145077

RE: Official T-rex 450 XL SE Thread
[quote]ORIGINAL: consultjdm Aerodave, thanks for the post. It's interesting to hear how satisfied or not you are when using the equipment for 3D. I don't think I will be crossing that bridge for some time. I take it that it is holding great for normal flight though, still, right. JD [/quote] yes, normal flying is fine. Its only in really hard 3D that I'm having trouble. I'm
Posted on: 7/22/2007 4:14 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6142367

RE: So I splurged on some Carbon...
No, I didn't get in on the Hurricane thread simply because I have no experience with that line. But I know their .50 looks great, so the 550 electric should be good. That is a really interesting size. Very attractive, too, considering the much cheaper lipos than the trex 600. In reading about the Swift 550, its supposed to be a powerhouse. Its the same size as the Hurricane. I'll bet lots of folks will jump on this size class s the 600 lipos are out of reach for a lot of us. I mean, you can get one pack (it comes with that) and maybe two, but then you're into some money. The Raptor 50 or trex 600N allow you to buy fuel by the gallon. You can fly all day! Anyway, I'll bet the 550 class will be a big deal.
Posted on: 7/22/2007 12:33 AM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6140542

RE: So I splurged on some Carbon...
ok, lets start with the paddles. Material isn't that important. What matters is weight (lighter is more responsive) shape of the leading edge (sharper is more responsive, less stable) and position of the flybar hole. Towards the front is more stable less responsive, toward the middle is faster responding. That coupled with a sharp leading edge can cause the paddles to bite more and really wake up the cylic. Roll rates increase tremendously, etc. But they can also cause the heli to be more pitchy in FFF. Pitching up suddenly with no warning, stuff like that. Better for hard 3D, more problematic for drawing lines. As to the color of your main blades, many of the really good piolts i know prefer a white blade because the disc shows up in the sky better. I know one guy who turns his nose up at anything not SAB. And this guy is good. Really good. As far as stability in your main blades, you'll notice the heli being crisper, stopping and starting right now, with less wobble. The flexing cheap blades cause it to mush out in hard collective changes, and even simple moves like flipping to inverted. It won't stop as cleanly on the bottom. Finally, bigger flies better. My trex's are setup about as good as they can be, and I think they are rock solid. They're also small, which makes everything happen much quicker, and they don't have as much float or hang time. Even a Raptor 30 will kick a trex's butt in this kind of stuff. There is no substitute for square inches. The helis on the sim tend to be very optimistic in response. But even discounting that, there's no way a trex 450 is going to fly anything like a 600 or a Rappy 90.
Posted on: 7/21/2007 9:51 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6139950

RE: So I splurged on some Carbon...
Chaz, I was using cheap blades for awhile, working on orientatin stuff. Now that I'm back to thrashing it, I really had to put the carbon blades back on. The flexing of the cheaper blades can bog the head more. Its really annoying. You'll like it. Tic tos will be much easier. Your tail will be crisper and stop right on the money. SAB's are really nice. good call!
Posted on: 7/21/2007 6:47 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6139376

RE: Official T-rex 450 XL SE Thread
Id like to jump in here and complain about my gyro. I've got the 401/9650 combo. I've gone through everying conventional wisdom would dictate, but I still find the gyro letting go in hard 3D. Even if I run the gain high enough that its wagging when the headspeed increases, I'm still getting bowouts. Mostly in moves like tic tocs, or really really fast backwards. I'm practicing collective management a lot these days because I know using too much collective can cause this. Everything in my setup is as it should be. I'm just chiming in because of all the times I've recommended this combo as the end all and now that my flying is getting to the point that I'm pushing the gyro it sometimes lets me down. I put on decent blades again, as I found the cheaper stuff will flex too much and cause this, so after tomorrow I may be a happy camper again.....
Posted on: 7/21/2007 2:10 PM by Author "AeroDave" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6138658