T-Rex 450 AP Heli Pictures Thread

[skeletor]

There seems to be a lot of people with T-Rex 450 AP helis now so I thought I'd start a thread to post pics of your birds.. just birds only, no AP shots required. :wink:

I'll start it off with my Stock 450 SE w/ Askman mount painted fluro orange (from HD). also painted the canopy with the same stuff, makes it very easy to see up high (as easy as it can be to see one of these little things anyway :roll: ).

I tried the foam dampning but eventually just added a pair of oil shocks I got from the LHS for under $20. it works well because you can preload the shocks to balance the cam. Blades are from Joe at Tech-MP.com 335's. never had to trim a set of them and the track very nice with weighted tips right out of the bag.

post away, pics and descriptions of your T-Rex 450 AP birds. :cool:

[skeletor]

this is my new WIP 'SuperRex 395' AP bird based on the HDX 450 G-10 SuperFrame, motor is the Medusa 28-40-2500 (I have 10t, 11t, and will also have 12t pinions soon, aiming for the low 2000-2200s HS), ESC is the Jazz 40-6-18, got a couple of TP Extreme 2070 4S packs, Blades are MS Comp 395 CF syms, Microheli head block and blade grips w/ thrust bearings, HDX see saw and flybar cage, (I had to shim this to get it to fit on the microheli head but it seems ok now :cool: ).. Align washout block, HDX levers, Microheli swash. that's all I've got so far, I have some 5mm tool stock bar to make a couple of longer main shafts which will lift the blades away from the boom, or I might go with a stock main shaft and trim it down on the TX :? . I have 6' of 12mm alu tube stock for booms, and a couple of longer kevlar 3mm wide belts that I got from mcmaster-carr.com, it needs dome work but the SuperRex 395 :lol: has potential. I may even open out the boom blocks or something for the bogger boom.. Anyway, I hope to have it flying in a couple of weeks.. should be interesting.

I am also looking for ideas on how to make a front camera mount for this size bird, the underhung is ok but the weight seems a little high from the LG.

rich.

[MasterCrash]

[quote="skeletor"]this is my new WIP 'SuperRex 395' AP bird basedquote]

I have a simple low quality setup that requires no extra battery power [3s1p] etc.. This does require some soldering and cappy remounting to eliminate interfeirence. The body of my MX400 is so similar to a TREX 450 SE it is irelivent to notice. I will posta seiries of pics to help explain my journey to Flight Videos.

Lets start withe the cap forwarding to make room for the cam and distance the cam from radio electrics. The closeups are a challenge for this crapp camera 99 bucks at officemax, http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/9/26616311843.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3486337)

I used 1/2" carbon flats to do the job very impact resistant :) .
Now extend the 9Volt wire supply line with bell wire, twist it and wrap in foil then cover with tinfoil or wiremesh then cover with [unshrunk] half inch shrinkwrap or any rubber insulator, must be carefull not to allow large surfaces of metal to vibrate against one another to aviod flicker in video, we ARE transmitting these videos to a receiver remember that.
http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/9/26616311927.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3486346)
Remember I have the rubber shrinkwrap pealed back to expose the foil/tape wrapped wires to the 9v battery.

Now for the pain!!! We have to insulate the TV transmitter cam from radio/ESC and Motor inductance witch is sure to be found in the high amperage wires such as the Battery supply lines[11.1 volts/25 amps], and the motor feed lines also. These cause wireless videos the biggest headakes, the rule is "Keep the cam 2" away from all of this". and Insulate with a firewall made of foamrubber wrapped in alum foil.
Here is a pic of the foil wrapped firewall: http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/9/26616311940.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3486342)

Now lets counter act the access weight by installing the 9v square battery in the back of poor overweight choppy, some you have gyros and servos on the tail, as I do, but I extended the back bottom plate also and extented the lenth of the tail boom another inch and made room for all!!!
http://img1.putfile.com/thumb/9/26616311848.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3486341)

I use a laptop with the TV cams receiver and a computer capture card most of the time, heres a picture of it, not much but you get the idea.
http://f5.putfile.com/5/13321260146-thumb.jpg (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=2598115)

Sometimes I use a VCR recorder and a Sony Watchman to monitor tuning and record when I feel the analniss of dealing with a computer and MicroSoft's clanky software headakes will interfear to much with my flying.
Hence forth the accidents on my putfile websight :shock: :arggg: :badair:

I still get 8 minutes flight time with cheap generic 2200 mah lipo [EPower] 12C battery pack 3S/1P !! 33 bucks, a CC35 ESC and an Align 430-LF motor with 11 tooth pinion and a power curve of 100/90/100 in 3D
and 33/90/100 in normal, head speed 1900 rpm ESC/BATT run cold Motor gets only slighty warjm to the touch, You can not do inverted with this setup, I would have to move to a 4 cell pack to do that, but hey I am into videos more then 3D what the heck you have not the time to do it all hey?

http://www.putfile.com/cowboy6591

Check out the Video of my first attempt to go inverted with this setup :
http://media.putfile.com/Low-res-WMV-file-LooseCannon
My forst Pirouette http://media.putfile.com/MyFirstPiroet

Or browse through all of them including my flying under the influence video http://media.putfile.com/Flying-Under-Influence

One note, The Video cam and reciever [1.2ghz] are about 50 bucks from amazon dot com but Walmart has a 2.4 ghz cam with crystal controlled reciever for 90 bucks, I am afraid to move from the 1.2 ghz system because I am running the 2.4ghz spred spektrum radio/receiver system from horrizonhobby, , the Flying under Influence video shows the nucience of retuning the analog receiver all the time or else you get lines and scratchy pictures, this is a pain, maybe I will pop for the 2.4 ghz and hope the Spred Spektrun Radio system lives up to it's name or will I be posting another crash?
One thing for sure, If you fly with a cam you have something to show for your crashes and burns besides a credit card bill :glasses2: :twisted:

Hope this input is helpfull to the "Conservative" types out here that want videos for the least cost. Some argue that strapping a hand held cam to chopper is cheaper, maybe so untill you want to post those files on the internet or convert them to dvd or video files, then you have to have a computer anyway, if all you have is a desktop computer and not a laptop like me, then a VCR/Monitor combo will be your reciever of video's choice then capture the output of the vcr to your desktop then edit to desire, this is a tad cheaper Desktop versus Laptop computer about 500 bucks, but through in the 50 dollar tape recorder, the pocket TV for monitoring[100 bucks], and that 500 bucks is chopped down to a 350 dollar savings, personally a laptop direct recording makes more sense.
ONE THING FOR SURE!! Strapping a hand held camera to the chopper does benifeit Higher Quality videos but at a cost of beefing up your helicopter to a higher watt motor and a 4 cell bttery pack, and possably more heli upgrades. But a 5.1 megapixel video cam will give super videos compaired to my amature videos here.
MasterCrash
AKA ; Scott

[askman]

keep it under 2000rpm. without thrust bearing, I would worry about pulling the grips out due to bearing failure. how heavy the the new blade? force on the bearing is mv^2/r V and R is based on Center of gravity of the blade.

[skeletor]

The MS Comp 395 blades come in at 43g each, compared to 19g for the 335 woods. That was why I got the microheli blade grips with thrust bearings.

[askman]

the small thrust bearings are not really rated for that high a load if you want smooth control. still it will be safe. you have about 2.7 times the load at same head speed with that blade vs woodie.