HDX 300 - Maiden Voyage Successful

[Dan MacKay]

Hi gang,

I have been building an HDX now for a couple of weeks or so and just had it up today for it's mainden voyage. This is how she looked after the first flight:

http://helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=12280

It has been a fun build with some minor annoyances. The kit comes fairly complete with some noticeable exceptions. It would have been nice to have the rear servo brackets come with the boom as well as the screws and nuts to attach it with. And that funky boom block! I had a dog of a time trying to get that thing tight, even with Bob's tape mode. But I persevered and finally got it tight. Other than that not too much to ***** about. I used the following hardware:

CC Mini receiver
HS55 Main Servo's
HS50 Tail Servo
G90 Gyro in HH Mode
E-Flight 20Amp ESC with BEC
E-Flight Park 370 4200kv
Thunder Tiger 1320 LiPo's
CF Main Blades

Here are some detail pics:

http://helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=12281

http://helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=12282

http://helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=12283

http://helifreak.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=12284

As for the first flight there were a couple of gotchas. First off after I did a radio check, control check and cleared the area, when I spooled it up there was no tail rotor input at all. Closer inspection showed that I had used incorrect set screws for the tail pulley. Pulled the black ones out and put the silver ones in and back in business.

Spool up two as soon as I got about to lift off the tail boom canted to the right. Loose tail boom..!@#$$%%%*. A half hour later, much cursing and swearing I was back in business again having had retaped the boom and secured it a little better.

Spool up # three. I did not have the throttle curve set up very well yet. Bob suggested using nine degrees of pitch. I used 10 and this thing is an absolute rocket! A bag and a half of power. It is awsomely responsive. I landed it a little hard with no damage done only because I was somewhat anxious to get it on the ground to reset things a little.

Spool up 3 four saw about a 10 minute flight of hovering, left, right, forward, back and a figure 8 or two. There was about a 5 MPH wind and I kept it about three feet off of the ground. I have to admit for the side of this bird the tail hold was excellent and the flight was pretty stable. I was very impressed.

Unfortunately that is it for flying for a couple of weeks as I am going away on a business trip. I will try and post up some video when I get back. I think I am going to have a lot of fun with this bird. Not as stable as my T-Rex but a first blush it is much more responsive.

Dan

[WilsonFlyer]

Question (and I mean this with all due respect):

What's an HDX 300 and what does it have to do with a Blade oriented forum section?

[Dan MacKay]

Hi.
Not a problem. Supposedly an HDX 300 is a *Blade Upgrade* when in fact it about the only resemblance is you can use the same head, blades, servos and battery. If you have done a brushless upgrade then you can as well use the motor and ESC. If this is the blade you have then what you toss is the 3 in 1 (or 4 in 1 depending on the route you went) buy a receiver and real radio, buy the kit plus a tail servo upgrade you Blade and voila! You have a Blade with a belt driven tail! Quite an upgrade.

Dan

[WilsonFlyer]

Sounds kool. I have a Pro with a G90 and a brushless motor (waiting to be installed).

Where can one get this HDX 300 and what's the cost? What are the catches? I'm already running my Pro on a 9C and a 14MZ.

[Dan MacKay]

Hi Wilson,

This is a cool build and as it turns out a very solid little performer. My 300 was done the same way Finless built his; completely from scratch and all new everything except for one HS55 tail servo so it was more expensive than it could have been if I was upgrading from a Pro.

All of this is available from Helihobby. Go to http://www.helihobby.com/html/eflight_blade_cp.html and on page two you will find the complete kit about half way down the page. You need all three items. As well you will need to order a tail fin and the tail servo clamps. So you can likely convert a Pro for about $100.00 and an afternoon or two of work.

Safe flying,

Dan