Quick 50 Pro Heli Kit....

[DebianDog]

I am getting excited...

[DebianDog]

Any updates?

[JuanRodriguez]

I have the boom assembly, along with the C.F. boom supports, fins, etc.... installed. Need to mount the canopy, make up the push rods and set up the radio....

So, not too far from test flying...

I'll update later with more pics.... :)

Time availability is still killing me.... good thing I have the internet at work so that I can take a break here and there !! :D

[DebianDog]

Skip out early ;)

[mike5334]

Juan,

What paddles does your Q50 have?

Also, can you check the length of the link between the flybar and hiller arm? On both of my Q50 and Gas Her, the link was too long.

[JuanRodriguez]

Hi Mike,

Sorry for taking so long to respond..... for some reason, I didn't get a notify through email that you had responded to this post...

I'm not sure makes the paddles.... they are black and have the Quick logo engraved on them... I can send you a pic if you would like....

I'll check that measurement for you later when I get things finalized.... I'm thinking that the manual's push rod lengths are a recommended starting poing and then you work from there...

[WayneBrown]

How much is Irwin paying you for the build?

[JuanRodriguez]

:D


PHOTO-1...Push rod assembly made easy with a link tool chucked up in a drill. Links were made to order using a caliper with the Vario "posts" which are attached to the caliper jaws....

PHOTO-2....May be hard to see in this photo but for mounting the canopy, I installed a setscrew ground to a point at each of the four canopy mounting stand-offs.... The canopy can then be slipped on to place and adjusted as needed. The sharpened setscrews not only held the canopy in place but also gave me a slight "bump" on the outside of the canopy to mark for drilling... This canopy comes already "pre-painted" so shining a light from the inside to get your mark is more difficult....


PHOTO-3... Here you can see I have drilled the first two mounting holes on the left side and the canopy is temporarily held in place by two 3 mm SHCS's while the rest of the alignment is checked and marked for drilling.....The trick to getting a nice canopy mounting job is to take it slow and mark and drill one mounting point at a time..... that way, minor adjustments and a more accurate job can be done. I used a very sharp hand reammer made by Dynamite (popular with the car guys) to "drill" the holes.... very easy to get the hole started in the proper place and the size to exactly what you need.

The rest of the assembly has gone relatively smooth..... all that is needed now is final radio installation and programming followed by some test flying !! I'll keep you all posted !!

[JuanRodriguez]

First Test Flights !!

It's been a month since I started this thread. It has given me great pleasure building this machine and seeing the end results come together nicely !! Irwin and the QWW crew were very helpful in answering any questions "quickly" (pun intended !) and with taking care of some very minor issues already documented here.....

I need to clarify something before porceeding.... As stated above, I started this thread about one month ago..... My attitude has been that I would build the machine at a leisurely pace and in my "spare time" (yea, what's that ??) as to not be in a hurry to just throw things together. In reality, this machine can be easily put together in less than half of the time it took me to complete... probably less than a week for the average builder, for sure....

That being said, I had the opportunity to test fly the machine yesterday afternoon..... The OS 50 fired right up without hesitation (no surprise there), followed by a decent "range test" with the motor running. With all systems go, the Q50 lifted off at three quarter stick (as expected) and settled into a smooth hover....The only mechanical adjustments needed were one turn on a ball link to get the tracking perfect and about 3 clicks of forward... Not sure if the forward trim was due to the rather windy conditions...Motorwise, the OS was initially running too rich and took several clicks to lean it some before making some power.

The first tank was flown without the canopy while making adjustments to the motor, followed by the TJ Pro to get the headspeed to about 1750. I'll probably bump that up a bit more later on....

Second tank with the canopy in place was spent on doing some forward flight, slow and fast, to get familiar with the feel of the machine then followed by some non-agressive type of aerobatics..... My buddy Al got to fly it as well....By the end of the second flight, the weather had deteriorated to the point where the wind and visibility were as such that to continue to fly would not have been fun.... The white canopy was blending in so well with the storm clouds overhead that orientation (other than just hovering around) would have been an issue...My body and fender buddy, Rodney, is going to be doing a "custom" paint job on the canopy rather than using the decals included in the kit.

My first impressions of the machine is that the Q50 is very SMOOTH, stable and predictable....One visual "moothness" indicator I key in on in additon to the overall heli is the fuel in the tank. My Q50's fuel while in the hover was dead still....

In FFF, the Q50's tracking was excellent, despite the windy/gusty conditions. Without naming brands, other 50's I've flown do suffer in that respect. One 60 I had a while back was so "pitchy" in FFF that I decided to get rid of it !!....I'm not sure what the difference is with the Q50 other than the head design and tight tolerances which result in an absolutely slop free setup. Unlike some other 50's I've flown, the Q50 also sports an 8mm head spindle as well as a 4 mm flybar. The BC6- Flight Monitor showed absolutely no glitching during the flights.

If it sounds like I'm pleased with the machine, you are right !!

Here is the basic setup....

OS 050 SX-H (to be replaced with a Hyper when I can afford it)
TT50 Muffler (I would like to see a Curtis pipe on this)
JR 811's for all except tail (8311's in the future ?)
JR 10X with PCM 649 Rx
Dean's Whip
Fut. 401/9253
TJ Pro Gov
Electro-Dynamics 1700 NiCad (custom with 2 leads)
BC6-Battery Monitor/ Glitch counter
SAB 600 Fiberglass Mains

Here are a few pics I took of the "event".... Additional flying reports to follow......

Photo-1 Completed heli ready for blades......

Photo-2 Spiral wrap to protect the wiring agains chafing on carbon frames...

Photo-3 Neatness counts, in my opinion.....

Photo-4 Just in case, a "before" pic..... Can you see the grin on my face :D ???

Photo-5 Q50 in a stable hover....

[DebianDog]

Good Job Juan :thumbup:

I actually saw two fly this weekend at Fredricksburg.

http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=15626

One went in hard but only broke the blades the other flew a bit heavy even with the hyper 50 in it (in my opinion). I guess the good news is they are durable!

[mike5334]

That they are durable, and they do fly heavy. I managed to play wack-the-boom with my Q50 yesterday during an auto. The only damage was the boom ... nothing else broken or bent. :)

I'm considering getting a OS 60 heli engine for the Q50 and adding some 620mm blades. Weight would go up by 4oz, but the extra stump pulling power of that 60 engine would easily make up for it. Besides, the Q50 is physically a 60 sized ship already. :)

Everything you said about how it flies, Juan, is exactly how mine flies. You are going to love it!

[JuanRodriguez]

Thanx, Dan.....

I hope to add to the comments once I've had the chance to fly it some more..... My other buddies will have a go at it as well.....

Mike,

Thanx for your comments.....

Have you looked into what it would take to convert it to a 60 ?? Just for "future" reference.... :wink:

[JuanRodriguez]

I had the opportunity to fly the Q-50 some more on Sunday and I have to say that the machine is flying SWEET. The weather was HOT and rather windy/gusty but the Q-50 seems to handles the wind very well. During my last flight, I was having so much fun (literally) with it that I lost track of time and ran the darned thing out of fuel !!!

Yep, a real "emergency" auto followed.......I was able to save the machine with absolutely no damage !!! :D ...... During the previous flight I had done a few "practice" autos to get a feel for the machine and boy am I glad I did !!

I hope everyone had a good weekend with an opportunity to do some flying yourselves

[DebianDog]

Yep being ready for an unexpected auto is always a GOOD THING

[JuanRodriguez]

"Luck" was on my side as well on this one !! Too windy and gusty to fly my plank again... (Ultimate with a YS 110 Supercharged) but comfortable enough for the heli stuff....

I almost always end each heli flight with 5 or 6 "intentional" autos.... just for fun plus the practice aspect.....

When the engine out situation came up, I guess instinct took over and it just happened.....you don't have time to think about it.... so I guess the "repetition" paid off !! :)

[JuanRodriguez]

Hi all,

After a soggy start to the weekend (Saturday a washout), I made it out to the RAM's "open house" funfly in Macedon. I had asked Ray Stacy to have Kyle fly the Q-50 and was prepared to capture the flight on video.

While in the hovering pad before the flight, I was in the process of checking the tracking after making some link changes to the head. The tracking was right on. I was also making some adjustments to the headspeed on the TJPro from 1750 to 1900. As I spooled up during one of the test hops, I noticed a tremendous vibration !! I immediately shut things down to see what was going on. Well, one of tail rotor blade grips was lying on the ground next to the back of the machine !!

Upon inspection, it appears that there was no loctite on the screw that attaches the grip to the hub. The other blade grip was fine. I could "feel" it as I removed the second bolt and could see the remnants of the loctite on the bolt as well. I degreased both screws, replaced the link that had been damaged while flopping around and re-assembled the whole thing.

I have to say that I have never liked factory "pre-assembled" parts (or ARF's) and will kick myself in the butt for not taking the time to make sure the tail parts were properly secured....THAT IS CLEARLY MY RESPONSIBILITY !!! I've been in this helicopter thing long enough to know better !!! :oops: ..... I consider myself "lucky" THIS TIME.....as the incident happened on the ground and no damage resulted.

So now I'm "ready to go".......or so I thought. Later in the day I got the opportunity to fire the Q50 up again (in between the planks flying) with the thought of having Kyle fly the machine. Ray took it up first to see what the machine was like. A a minute or two into the flight, the motor (OS 50) sounded like it was sagging. Ray made a turn nose in to land so that we could richen the mix a bit and all of a sudden we both heard a "pop" and the engine immediately died..... Ray did a very nice job with the auto but flying was obviously over for the day when we discovered that the "pop" both of us had heard was a friggin hole being blown into the top of the piston !!!

I don't particularly believe in "fate" but I guess my "master plan" did not work out.... There will be a next time for sure.....with a Hyper as a replacement.....

Hope you'all had a nice weekend....

Till the next time.

PS- Who the heck is the Murphy guy anyway ????

Later when I get home from work, I'll post a pic of the nice paint job my buddy Rodney did on the canopy. That canopy has survived two "emergency" autos !! :D


[/b]

[DebianDog]

Did it look like this?
http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/0ef7aa742268df115505670b8589ffd9.jpg

[JuanRodriguez]

How did you guess ??? :lol:

[JuanRodriguez]

:D

[WillJames]

Cool to see Kyle wearing his Team JR shirt. Nice kid and great flyer!!

[JuanRodriguez]

Nice kid and great flyer!!

Couldn't have said it better myself !!

Kyle put on a few demo flights with his R90 at the RAM's open house that would just simply knock your socks off !! He's getting better and smoother with every flight.

[JuanRodriguez]

Update....

It's been a month since my last "update" to this thread and this will probably be my last....

The Q50 continues to fly well and I'm getting more comfortable with it each time I fly it. It certainly is "different" from other machines I have owned and flown in the 50 size category. The Q50 is definitely a little heavier than my R50s and both machines certainly have their own flying characteristics.... The Q50 is precise, very stable in the hover, tracks very well in forward and fast forward flight and is more capable than I will probably ever be when it comes to aerobatics.....

This past weekend was our Northeast Helicopter Jamboree. Although today is a washout, we were very lucky yesterday to have been spared by the rain. It was threatening all day long along with some nasty cloud cover.... but the high winds did not kick in. The attendance was pretty decent by both pilots and spectators and a good time and lots of flying was had by all.

I asked Curtis if he could take a moment to take the Q50 for a spin. The following link is a video of the flight. The video quality is not great so when you go to the site, click on the smaller screen option, bottom right corner of the video window....looks much better that way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdP_ejybJRc

I hope you all enjoy the video and that your summer flying has been great.