AXIFLOW RK-40 - worth anything?
I was cleaning out my attic today and found a new in box AXIFLOW RK-40 ducted fan kit. Did a bit of digging and found it's either identical to, or a rebranded Kress unit. Everything is there and in excellent shape. Is this worth anything? Worth building up and stuffing into an airplane? Any F-86 or P-80 kit it might fit into? I've got a NIB K&B .45DF engine with tuned pipe that could turn it -or another fan unit....
Posted on: 4/5/2008 2:30 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "RC Jets"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=7335616

RE: Shortening servo/gyro wires?
You guys are going at it the hard way. Head over to [link=http://www.hansenhobbies.com]Hansen Hobbies[/link] and pick up some new connectors and a crimp tool. Should take less than 2 mins/connector to pull the pins, cut the wires to length, crimp on new pins and insert 'em back into the connector.
Posted on: 12/10/2006 12:48 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5096645

best price for Revo 3.3
Looking for the best (translation: cheapest) place to pick up a Revo 3.3. Looks like the best price I've found online is $464 but the shipping is almost $40.. Where is THE place to find one of these beasts??
Posted on: 12/8/2006 5:53 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Traxxas Monster Truck forum"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5091630

RE: How to hook up my ESC to my brushless motor?
Brushless motors run on AC, not DC and therefore there is no positive or negative.
Posted on: 11/10/2006 6:44 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Brushed/Brushless motors, speed controls, gear drives"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4980402

Long(er) 3mm prop adapter??
problem: Got a Hyperion Yak55 ARF for my Bday. I cannibalized one of my foamies for the electrics.. Got it all installed and discovered the prop adapter for my E-Flite 400 outrunner is about 1/4" too short to get the prop clear of the cowl without some significant "modification" to the structure. Anyone know where I can find a long(er) prop adapter for a 3mm shaft?? The local shops have been of no help.
Posted on: 11/10/2006 4:45 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Brushed/Brushless motors, speed controls, gear drives"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4980033

RE: Should we be concerned about the T-Rex 600 delays??
It's just like any new product to come to market. It'll take time to ramp up production enough to meet the demand. All the reports I've read of late indicate it's a very good flyer. I decided late last week i was going to buy one, made a few calls, ordered Sunday and received my kit yesterday. I'll start the build tomorrow morning but poking through the box it appears as if the parts are well made and aseembly should go pretty smoothly. If it flies as well as my SE, I'll be a happy camper.
Posted on: 7/15/2006 1:38 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4503601

RE: BEST BRUSHLESS FOR BLADE CP
I'm having excellent results with my E-flite 370 3600Kv BL motor w/8T pinion. I'm running a Thunderbird 18 ESC and 3S 1320 LiPos and get about 21-22 mins of flight. main motor barely gets warm. Haven't tackled the BL tail motor mod yet, but sometime this summer I will. Yes, it will require another ESC - I'm looking at a Feigao 12mm BL for mine and will go with all separates and ditch the 4-in-1.
Posted on: 6/20/2006 11:38 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4413178

RE: BCP upgrades = no lift
[quote]ORIGINAL: AJ DRAGON Hi The aerobatic kit was designed to be used with Li-po batteries. I have the aerobatic kit also and I can tell you that in order to get the Blade CP off the ground with the symmetrical blades you have to use Li-po batteries. The reason the motor comes with a 9 tooth gear is so you do not burn it up when you hook up the li-po. [/quote] Naw, I flew with the syms for months on the stock battery and stock motor. Never tried it with the 9T pinion tho. Now I run brushless with an 8T pinion and a headspeed of about 2100 RPM. Flies great. Lower the pitch at full down. That'll increase head speed. Higher headspeed will allow you to run less pitch and still get the same amount of lift. Having said that, the 3C LiPo really makes a difference, especially with the brushless main motor.
Posted on: 5/26/2006 1:47 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4319041

RE: wobble wobble
How do you know the main shaft is perfectly straight? Did you pull it out and check it, or are you just eyeballing it? Easy way to check it is to pull the shaft and roll it on a glass table. If it makes clicking noises as it's rolling, it's bent. If you're seeing the top of the shaft "wobble" as it slowly rotates, the main shaft is bent. The good news is a main shaft is only $6 and takes about 5 mins to install. Or, you can straighten it and do the glass table bit again. I've stuffed my Blade into the ground lawn-dart style a couple times and have *NEVER* bent any plastic pieces. Main shafts, flybars and feathering spindles yes. I'd suspect the main shaft before I'd even think about any plastic pieces.
Posted on: 5/26/2006 1:39 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4319020

RE: Blade CP burns out DD Tail motors
I'm running the GWS F50H motor (NOT the F50 - it'll only handle about 6v) and GWS 4530 props cut down to 3.75" on my CP. I can hover an entire 3C 1320mah battery without cooking the 4-in-1 or the tail motor. The motor does get hot after 22 mins of work, but not so hot you can't leave your fingers on it for several seconds. Prior to cutting down the props, I couldn't fly more than about 5 mins before the motors would be VERY hot. I suppose you could run the GWS 3030 props and tweak the propo/gain, but my LHS doesn't stock those. They do stock the 4530s and it takes about 5 mins to cut them down (I use scissors) and balance them. Not sure if it matters, but I run a brushless main motor on mine and have the head speed up around 2100 RPM.
Posted on: 5/26/2006 1:31 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4318997

RE: Trex build and tutorial videos - FREE
No hurry at all Fin... I was just antsy to get to 'em and the helifreak admins were taking their sweet time validating my registration. :) I burned a lot of bandwidth at work today suckin' 'em all down to my computer so I could watch 'em as I work on my SE after hours... Again, THANKS for making these videos. I know they take a lot of time and effort and I know I speak for a lot of others when I say I appreciate your efforts to share your knowledge.
Posted on: 5/16/2006 2:20 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4283163

RE: FUTABA 9CH TRANSMITTER
[quote]ORIGINAL: barracudahockey http://www.trextuning.com On the 9C with the SE the swash type is sr-3 and if you are using the Align speed controller reverse the throttle channel BEFORE you hook it up and turn it on. [/quote] Cool, thx 'cuda! I'm hoping to start spinning blades up tomorrow after work.... I'll try smallplanes' setup as well and go from there.. Hopefully I'll get it close on the 1st try and avoid the frustration I went through getting my Blade CP to fly well on the 9C.
Posted on: 5/16/2006 2:15 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4283157

Canopy Painting
Going to paint my SE canopy in the coming days and wanted to know if there were any special tricks to keeping the paint on the plastic? Should I follow similar procedures as are reccommended for the Raptor canopies? i.e. a few light coats of adhesion primer, followed by bumper primer then paint/clearcoat? Thx!
Posted on: 5/15/2006 12:57 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4279018

RE: New trex owner questions
[quote]ORIGINAL: barracudahockey I ran a Futaba 146iP with hs56 servos (get some spare gearsets) a 401 /9650 and Thunder Power 2100 15c lipos [/quote] I opted for the same setup, but HS65s...
Posted on: 5/15/2006 12:52 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4279008

RE: Trex build and tutorial videos - FREE
Since RR has nuked Bob's videos, any chance they can be available here instead of now dead links?
Posted on: 5/15/2006 12:50 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4279002

RE: Cyanoacrylate - The Demonic Possession
hahaha.. I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you... Oh, who am I kidding, I'm laughing at you. :) I once CA'd my Blade to my leg tacking down some cracked blade covering... Did I mention I was wearing shorts at the time? Not sure which was worse, the pain of tearing several dozen hairs out while removing the blade, or having to rebalance the blades 'cuz of the hair stuck to the one.. lol
Posted on: 5/15/2006 12:46 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4278991

RE: FUTABA 9CH TRANSMITTER
On the same note, how about a 9CH and an SE? A good starting point would be VERY much appreciated...
Posted on: 5/14/2006 10:54 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4278674

RE: Mini tools? ..... Damn it. I need smaller tools !
Yep, that's the "big" set I got.. I can get most loctite'd fasteners undone with 'em. Guess I have strong fingers... probaboy due to being married for almost 14 years. <grin>
Posted on: 5/13/2006 12:37 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4272259

RE: Trex 450SE - Any assembly "gotchas"?
Welp, got it all together and am getting the wires dressed down.. Found quite a few ball links in the head that didn't feel like there was any thread lock on them and one of the flybar mixer arms was REALLY stiff. Someone at the factory forgot a washer. Had the right one in my junk box and solved that issue in about 5 mins. Took about 5 hours start to finish to get the mechanics built up and the servos installed. Cool little machine.. I'm hoping to have the wires dressed down in another hour or so and then start to fine tune the mechanical setup. Honey! Look what I got you for Mother's Day!!!
Posted on: 5/12/2006 7:53 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4271326

RE: Mini tools? ..... Damn it. I need smaller tools !
I found some surprisingly decent mini tools at Radio Shack. I bought three different kits; the Precision Slotted Screwdriver Set (6402968), the Precision Phillips Screwdriver Set (6402969) and the 17-Piece precision Screwdriver Set (6402978) - All three for about $25. This "combo" gets me slotted screwdrivers in: 1 mm 1.2 mm 1.4 mm 1.8mm 2.0mm 2.4mm (x2) 3.0mm (x2) 3.5mm (x2) Phillips: 1.4mm 1.6mm 2.0mm 2.4mm 3.0mm 3.5mm #00 #0 #1 #2 Hex: 1.5mm 2.0mm 2.5mm Nut Drivers: 3.0mm 4.0mm 5.0mm I haven't used them much, but they seem to hold up ok so far.
Posted on: 5/11/2006 11:21 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4266123

RE: Blade to stable to fly.
My CP out of the box was a squirrely little bugger and had all the typical head binding issues. Once I got it all working smoothly, it flew ok - well enough in fact for it to wrap itself around a piece of rebar holding up a sprinkler head on slope in my back yard. After the rebuild and a few upgrades, it's almost to the point you can hover one handed. It took me an entire weekend to get it set up to fly this well, but it was worth it. Take the time to really set it up well and it'll become a lot easier to fly. The BH head upgrade made it a lot more responsive as well. I agree about G3. Perfectly setup helicopters with perfect pitch curves are cake to fly. I could hover the helis in G2 and G3 right away. Couldn't do so on the real thing. Set up the heli, burn a lot of electrons and it'll become a nice flying little machine.
Posted on: 5/11/2006 11:11 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4266076

RE: Learning to fly a helicopter. Is the fact that I'm....
[quote]ORIGINAL: barracudahockey Don't try to flare when you land! [/quote] Unless you're in an autorotation. :) I'm no expert having just got back into helis about 8 months ago after a 10+ year absence from the hobby, but here's my $0.02: I flew planks a long time before I flew helicopters. One thing a lot of average plank drivers don't do is fly the tail. They seem to forget the rudder is back there. I fly full scale planes/helis (5x the hours in helis vs planes) so I always tried to use the rudder on my planks to stay in coordinated flight. (no slipping and/or skidding unless I meant to) With a helicopter, you're going to HAVE to use the tail rotor control. Yes, a HH gyro will help in a hover, but you're going to need to fly the tail in turns etc.. If you've only got a rate gain gyro, you're going to need to fly the tail all the time. Your thumbs will be busy and a sim will help a LOT in creating muscle memory. Remember, *SMALL* movements.. Large movements will have you chasing the heli all over the place. Check out Radd's lessons. Nothing will help more than actually burning fuel whether it be nitro or electrons. Bigger helos will hover more easily than a micro. They cost more when you wad 'em up. (and you will) Be patient and try not to expand your flight envelope too fast. By all means experiment on the sim, but try to work on the fundamentals as much as possible. When the proverbial lightbulb goes on above your head, the monotony will go away and you'll actually start having fun. My 1st trip around the back yard in forward flight almost had me giggling like a schoolgirl. My 1st landing on the picnic table was a kick too. I second the comment about setup. Setup is everything. If you get your heli's setup really dialed in (and these forums are a great place for help in that regard!) flying it will be much much easier. The sims kinda lull you into a false sense of security because the helis are perfectly set up and dialed in for you right outta the box. It took me a full weekend of tinkering to really get my Blade CP dialed in and now it flies really nice. I imagine my new Trex is going to require a similar amount of fiddling to get flying well. Not an issue for me as I'm one of those guys who like the precision tinkering these little machines require. If your credit card can handle it, I say go for it and good luck!
Posted on: 5/11/2006 11:02 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4266053

RE: Trex 450SE - Any assembly "gotchas"?
Showed up this morning about 10:30. I got familiar with the parts and read the manual several times to get familiar with the assembly. Looking forward to starting assembly tomorrow after work. [quote]ORIGINAL: Mark D Take ALL the factory installed screws out on EVERYTHING including the head and apply Loctite to them. I had a bad experiance with a factory instaled screw in a ball link departing the from the swash plate during my test flight [/quote] Yeah, I'd planned to disassemble all the prefabbed pieces and Loctite everything as I assemble tomorrow night. My tail rotor motor fell off my Blade CP a couple nights ago while I was hovering at about 8' in the living room.. (22' cathedral ceiling) Made things "interesting" until I got it down to the floor. Thankfully no damage other than a broken TR prop. [quote]Get the Align 2mm driver tool kit as well and dont try to use the tools in the kit you will jut round out the soft screw heads if you do.[/quote] Already have a bunch of good hex drivers and hadn't planned on using the hex keys in the kit. [quote]ORIGINAL: cooperd Go to this link and download or view on-line the videos. This is really great stuff! Lot's of excellent tip and how toos! http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_4032741/tm.htm[/quote] I've got a bunch from runryder saved already. I'll have a look at those as well. I'm already cross eyed from watching the dozen vids I have. [quote] I'm putting together an XL. Dump the locking compounds that come with the kit and buy LOCTITE! 222 is red and can be disassembled easily. 242 is blue and a little stronger and more difficult to disassemble. Seems like people are using either, perhaps preferring the blue. [/quote] My experience is opposite with Loctite. The red requires a little heat to break the bonds loose and blue comes apart with just a little extra "grunt". In any case, I've got blue and Permatex green in my toolbox so will be using that for assembly. Thanks!
Posted on: 5/11/2006 1:26 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4265139

RE: Are helis that fun??
Helis are a kick in the a$$! Sometimes they're frustrating beyond belief - particlularly when you're trying to get 'em trimmed out properly. Once you get one flying really nice, they're a blast. I've been doing "pinnacle approaches" to a little stub wall in my entry way with my Blade CP and flying almost to the ceiling in my living room (22' ceiling) and then coming down to land on the piano bench. Early morning when the wind is really light I take it out into the backyard and buzz around. Haven't managed to land on the patio chairs (yet) but I keep trying. If you don't like to tinker and don't have the patience to get the setup correct, they might not be for you.
Posted on: 5/10/2006 2:58 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4262761

Trex 450SE - Any assembly "gotchas"?
UPS is delivering my 450SE tomorrow and I want to get building. This is my 1st Trex, but not my 1st heli build but I'd like to know if there are any "gotchas" in the assembly before I dive in. Thx!
Posted on: 5/10/2006 1:52 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "T-Rex heli"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4260994

RE: Electric Raptor
[quote]ORIGINAL: -pkh- If you scroll down to the bottom of the HeliHobby page below, you'll see an eRaptor conversion kit listed: http://www.helihobby.com/html/raptor_heli.html This is supposed to convert a Raptor 30/50 to an electric. Is this what you're talking about? I haven't seen this conversion kit anywhere else, and HeliHobby has had it listed as "out of stock" since I first saw it, so I'm assuming this is a new kit and not available yet... [/quote] A conversion kit that costs more than an entire Raptor kit?? More ammo in my argument to sell my 50 and get the new Trex 600 this summer...
Posted on: 5/8/2006 9:29 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Thunder Tiger - Raptor 30, 50, 60, 90"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4255990

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
[quote]ORIGINAL: Dennis Flora Im still not on that nose in stuff either. The few times I whipped it around, I got confused and munched. It's gotta be nerves though, cause I fly all over the place, and nose with ease on the simulator. It can be quite frustrating... [/quote] This is caused by the financial factor being a very real thing as you "burn" electrons versus twiddling pixels. On the sim, I can do all kinds of inverted stuff and fly nose in as long as the heli is moving forward a little bit, but put the real thing in the air and the most I'm willing to risk is forward flight.. Go figure..
Posted on: 5/8/2006 1:59 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4252782

RE: Adjusting Blade CP to use Futaba 9C
I've finally tamed my CP/9CHP setup. Wow, what a difference a decent radio makes. Still messing with throttle/pitch curves and some Revo mix, but it works great. It's like an entirely different helicopter now. Can't wait to get it really dialed in and get some FFF in...
Posted on: 5/8/2006 1:52 AM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4252770

RE: 4 in 1 issues?
[quote]ORIGINAL: fireman2059 I have Blade CP and I thought I had the 4 in 1 set up nicely. But I am noticing that when I spin up, the nose reacts also. More throttle the nose goes left, and vise versa... less throttle - nose right. [/quote] As you spool up, the nose will yaw to the left due in reaction to the clockwise (as seen from the top) rotation (torque) of the main rotor. Conversely, the nose will yaw right as you remove torque. [quote] I've played with the Pots and still can't figure it out. I've even turned the gain up and down, fooled with the proportional. and still can't figure it out. This is my second 4 in 1 and I would like to avoid having to buy another one.[/quote] You've got to get the proportional dialed in 1st.. The 4-in-1 needs to know how much tail rotor to apply as the torque changes. I'd set both pots right in the center of their travel and begin adjusting from there. Porportional will be set right when the nose doesn't move much at all as you come up to hover power. Once you've got that set, start adding gyro gain until the tail wags, then back it off a little bit. [quote] Are these characteristics normal?... is this something I have to deal with? If I remember correctly the original 4 in 1 didn't do this. Should I try a new tail motor? I've been through a lot of them. Please help!!!! [/quote] Yes, you're going to need to deal with the problem, or learn to fly it "old school" style.. The new 4-in-1 has nver been tweaked for your ship, so it's not going to be a plug 'n play deal. it's gonna take some tweaking. (I'm going to be doing a similar thing with mine as soon as I figure out why my idle up curves aren't working right) Dunno if you need a new tail motor or not. Try adjusting the 4-in-1 and see what happens.
Posted on: 4/25/2006 11:34 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "Electric RC Helis"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4207264

RE: Adjusting Blade CP to use Futaba 9C
hehe, yep.. I know what I want to do, but just haven't figured out the radio enough to mke it do it. (9CHP in my case) throttle and pitch curves? Easy to figure out. Idle ups? Easy. Revo mix? confusing... Still RTMF-ing as this is my 1st computer radio...
Posted on: 4/23/2006 11:08 PM by Author "Skiddz" in the forum "E-Flite Helicopters"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4202476