safe landing

[akshaw]

I just though I would share this little story with you guys. At the outset I should mention that I have the DD tail mod on my honeybee as outlined on www.bladecprepair.com . After flying around in the field awhile I decided it was time to go (well, almost). So I flew my honeybee down to the parking lot and, once there, couldn't resist taking her for a spin around the parking lot (nobody was there--just tons of asphalt). So I flew some circuits and figure 8s and for fun I put her into a fast pirouette when all of a sudden, something black goes flying off the tail and there was a total loss of rudder control. Well the tail blade had flown off and she was spinning furiously and going down! So I tried as much as possible using the cyclic to keep her level while as she was spiraling toward the ground. I was thinking for sure, there are going to be broken parts and hell to pay. But when it hit the ground, it did a hard bounce on the skids and to my amazement, nothing was broken. Whew. I'm thinking the reason it flew off was that I hadn't used locktite and also I had tightened the grub nut with plyers since I couldn't find an alan wrench small enough to fit. Well, live and learn, and a little bit of luck can help too!
:)

[Ken448]

Good to hear it came out in one peice! The right tools go a LOOOOONG way! INVEST in a good set of allen drivers, you'll never regret it! I use Integy Drivers like these on eBay. Despite what others say about Integy's stuff, I like the drivers, and have never broken one of them.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Team-Integy-6-Piece-Hex-Driver-Set-w-Alloy-Handles_W0QQitemZ260003936207QQihZ016QQcategoryZ44 028QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You wont use all of them on a heli, but if you have a car or truck, you WILL use them all! Since Im into all RC vehicles. I use them all the time! Aside from that, with the colored handles they are easy to chose which one you need opposed to a pile of little allen wrenches!

[Gary JP4]

It might not be the locktite as Ken has mentioned. You can also grind two flat spots on the shaft where the set screws will contact. This will hold much better than on the round shaft. All you need it two little spots so everything else stays round. I taped mine up to an SAE size, 2-56 I think, and replaced set screws so I would have tools too.

Ken. What size are the stock GWS set screws?