My New HDX500 is Comming !

[cyanide1973]

hey john heli . Would you be able to add some spacers to make the battrey cage wider? Also can you get the canopy on with them the way they are?

[aussiemick]

I am just about to fit the batteries to my new HDX500, I will be using my trex450 4S tp2100ProLites as 4S2P. They do not fit between the frames by about 2 mm so I am going to space the front battery bar thingys apart about 2mm / side. I will need to adjust the canopy centering pins on a lathe but the whole thing shouldnt take more than an hour to fix.

Mick

[John Heli]

It should be possible to adjust the frames. But my solution works. The lower battery does not hit the ground, fixed very good and is not under the canopy. I plan to switch to 4s1p soon, so I will not make modifications to the frames.

[Wirestealth]

Waiting to buy the tail servo !!! canopy painted

dont :arggg: it was my friest paint job!


http://helimania.no.sapo.pt/Fotos/10-3dx500.JPG

http://helimania.no.sapo.pt/Fotos/11-3dx500.JPG

http://helimania.no.sapo.pt/Fotos/12-3dx500.JPG

http://helimania.no.sapo.pt/Fotos/13-3dx500.JPG

http://helimania.no.sapo.pt/Fotos/14-3dx500.JPG

[TN-REX]

Very Nice. I flew mine yesterday in the garage (it was raining) and it hovered great. A Lot more stable than my T-Rex.

[aussiemick]

I have just finished my HDX500 after receiving the kit on Monday. Final weight is 1730grams including 2 x 4S TP2100PL. CG is spot on cant wait till the sun comes up and I can take it for a rip around the sky.
I have a set of TREX 450 Gorilla Paddles that I am keen on giving a go, so first a test flight with the stock paddles then a quick change over and the GG Paddles get a go.

Mick

[TN-REX]

Is that the carbon boom from HeilDirect? How is the fit and finish?

[aussiemick]

Yes it is from Helidirect. The fit is spot on, as is the finish. Not sure how well it will stand up to abuse, it is fairly lightly built. A much better looking boom than the one that comes in the kit.
Mick

[SwTaArRs]

i ordered mine it will come in one week i hope. i would like to ask you something. as i see from the manual heli comes with pr assambled parts like frame, rotor head, tail rotor. is this parts' build are ok? for example do i have to check them for locktight
thanks

[Wirestealth]

Hi ! my motor is getting very Hot what is the timming for the Motor that come with the Kit ? I have High Timing and allready test mid timming and is hot too!

Thanks

Nuno

[petmen]

55 degree or 60 is normal.

[Wirestealth]

i going to see temperature tommorow!

[aussiemick]

I got to fly my HDX500 yesterday for the first time.

I flew battery pack one for 8 minutes and returned 2960 MaH
I flew battery pack two for 9 minutes and returned 3200 MaH
Both flights the batteries were slightly warm, maybe 10-15degC above ambient. I am confident of getting 10minutes out of a pack, we'll see what happens once everything is sorted. The hottest part was the motor which wasnt so hot that I could keep my fingers on it after the flight, maybe 50degC. ESC (Align 100amp) set to governer on performed well.

The tail didnt hold very well at all even though I have the 68mm Carbon blades from HeliDirect. Every big pitch change gave me a 45 deg left turn and when flying a fairly messy funnel the tail would weathercock.
I had a fairly short output arm on the 9254 (8mm) and that wasnt giving me much travel so I set the limit of the gyro to 140. I have since replaced the output arm and the ball is at 11mm gyro limit about 105. If I want a longer arm than that I will have to flip the rear boom block on upside down so that the push rod doesnt rub against the calmping section. Not a huge problem, so I may just go ahead and do it.

I am going to hunt down some longer 2.6mm bolts (M2.6x20) so I can put a spacer into the rear landing gear and get the tail out of the dirt, I have extended the tail fin by 18mm by using the bottom bit of a carbon Trex fin glued to the side of the original fin, you can hardly see that it has been done. As soon as I can find some material to make a new fin from then I will get right into it.

The heli was alot less responsive to cyclic than what I am used to so I will be trying to speed up the cyclic response a bit. I have replaced the stock paddles with a set of Gorilla Gear Paddles from the Trex but I only did this last night, so yet to see how much twitchier it is. I found that I had to remove all expo that was in the model memory after copying it from my Trex (saves alot of frigging about). I am sure I will be able to find a 3mm flybar rod that is a bit longer than the stock one if it still feels a bit sluggish.


Other than that all went very well. This heli is MUCH more stable than the Trex450 thats for sure. I reckon I'm going to enjoy owning this heli.

Mick

[aussiemick]

So an update.

I have installed a set of Hurricane 550 landing gear. It is 20mm higher and about 10mm wider than the stock gear and in my opinion looks heaps better. I have installed two little spacers into the rear gear to raise the tail a bit more. The tail now sits 55mm off the floor.

I flipped the rear boom block upside down and that has allowed me to use a 13mm centre distance servo output arm for the tail. This allowed me to reduce the gyro limit to about 90. This falls within the normal operating range, me thinks. I will hopefully get to go for a fly on thursday and I'll see if the tail holds better.

I installed a set of align trex450 paddles (the heavier and larger of the two new shaped paddles). I am hunting down a QuickofJapan 3D flybar, it is 3mm in diameter and 325mm long (existing is about 290mm long). will probably go to different paddles once a 3mm flybar is in, but for 3mm flybars there are heaps of paddles available.

Mick

[Heli Joe]

Hi there !!

Maybe we could speak german but i'll stay here in the forum with english.

I have also a HDX 500 SE since a couple of weeks. I also use 3S 4000 mAh from Turborix 15C and I think it is enough power for the Hdx. Some of my friends are flying with a ECO8 ( allready now - but i think they will change also to the HDX soon because it is no comparison to the HDX) and also with 3S and they have also no problem. So I think that should be ok.
I have also Carbon 68mm Tail Blades ( in my kit there was still 68 mm Tail Blades in plastik ) and i am very happy with them. I had also the problems with the tail that it was moving left-right.( Only at the first flights. There it was also moving up and down ). But I have a different gyro and tail servo in use. GY 400 SMM from Cocon and this one is not really a 401 from Futaba but for the price of 35 USDollar is it very perfect.

[Rudy C]

Hi Mick and Joe. Thanks for your info on the HDX500. I have been flying mine for about 3 weeks. I,m very disappointed in the slow cyclic responce of this bird. Let me first tell u what i have in it K Kora 15/12(910kv),Hitec85mgs on cyclic, stock ESC60amp at medium timing 24revco hard pinion 401-9254 combo 68cf blades. Lots of power. 4S max amp battery turning a 3000Headspped for about the first 3minutes ofr flight. Total 6 min flights. I also had to take out expo and gave full servo travel. Tried the new so-called lite paddles from HeliDirect.(junk) they where larger and heavier than the original white ones. I have been using the basic Trex450 paddles and its still slow. Almost lost it just doing rolls. I guess I'm just used to my Trex and Logo. Please post if u come up with any solutions. One more thing, On high rates the links on the flybar trap hit the bottom of the blade grips. Checking this against the other helis shows that that head measurement is not as tall(long) as the others. Can u let me no if u have the same problem...........Thanks RudyC :arggg:

[aussiemick]

I flew mine yesterday and it is much better. although not perfect yet. the tail held MUCH better, it gives a slight kick to the left on full pitch punchouts but it is now much less. I think I will be able to get rid of this.


Flight time 6:30 2480MaH used.

I am going to turn off the govenor, the align govenor just doesnt do it like the Jazz I have on my trex450 (might have to get a new Jazz for the HDX500:) ) I think the govenor is giving me the tail issues..??

As soon as I can find one I think I will get a 22 and a 23 tooth pinion to try out. (readyheli are out of stock of the 22t.) I will also buy the longer QuickEP8 flybar (325mm) .

Still all in all very happy with my new heli.

Mick

[SwTaArRs]

Hi all.
I got mine today. First I had a shock because the box says it is a 3DX-500, but later I figure out the heli inside is really HDX-500. I haven't ordered my electronics yet. so I have plenty of time to work on chasis. I think I will do it in "Finless" way ;). Unscrew everythnig, be sure everything is right and threadlocked. Maybe I will shoot some videos.

[aussiemick]

I got a Hurricane 550 flybar in the head now, it is 3mm diameter all the way out. The original flybar is 295mm long and the H550 is 350mm. I just drilled the holes in the Align paddles out to 2.5mm and screwed the paddle on to the flybar, voila finished. Now just have to wait to get time to give it a fly, hopefully it will speed the cyclic up a bit.

I have some Revco pinions (22,23,24) coming in the next few days so will be able to test out different pinion sizes. I also got a Optical tach to be able to know what this thing spins up to. I didn't feel like reaching under the disk and using my little propeller tachometer.

Mick

[SwTaArRs]

i started building mine today even recorded it.
anyway, the manual is wrong some points, main blade holders showed as backwards, i corrected by looking at some trex rotors, pushrod measurements are totally wrong, for example manual says use 30mm rods for cyclic but what i have is 3 pieces of 40mm and these are very long to fit. and also manual has some wrong pushrod end for flaybar cage to washout. well i sorted it out by watching finless radios they helped me to help myself :)
except its a very good heli. i didnt have to take apart the frame screws are locktitghted, head is also good but you have to take out the flybar cage, at least to install the pushrods

[aussiemick]

I got to fly mine on the weekend, it has been pretty wet and windy here for a while.

Changes made:
22 tooth revco pinion, heaps quieter!! Holds head speed very well thru full pitch, didnt get a chance to tach HS though. Running 100 90 100 TC, head speed seemed "up there".
80mm tail blades to fit the Eco8 from MScomposties, tail is ROCK solid. success!!
Longer Fybar, still sluggish in cyclic! Am thinking of getting the bits to change over to a 3dx head.

Down side to it all, the little arm/linkage driving the rear swash pin came loose in flight, mangaged to save it though, thought I was getting major glitching landed and there the swash just floating around at the back. so I got a 3 min flight and had to put it away for the trex. I think it is the hardest bit on the heli to work on, I will have to remove the head so i can remove the drive gear so i can get a driver into the grub screw.

While I have the head out I will be filing the slot for the flybar so that the flybar can tilt further (only talking about filing out 2mm off the corner of the slot on an angle) and see if this does anything for the cyclic.

Mick

[altruhtra21]

Hi Mick.

First: thanks for the help with the pinion.

You put a lot of work in this heli, but the more I read, the more I just want to put on a shelf and use it as a nice design piece.

I paid a lot of money for it ( 499 Euro ( 680 US Dollar)) just with blades and motor, but I couldn´t resist because it was a very good looking heli, and I hoped for support buying it here.

But that was a mistake.
The only comment when I asked for a different motor pinion was: The 24t works fine and no one needs something else.

I do not expect to do 3d with this anymore because I think the cyclic will always be to slow I think. I just want to fly it as a stable heli but for this, the 24t is just to much.

I get about 2500 HS with 50% ( Governor mode ) on my esc and the motor is getting much to hot.

I am just unhappy with the support and the heli and I am thinking more and more about byuing a heli that´s worth the money

[Helibelly]

Hi altruhtra21, Readyheli sell pinions for the Lepton which will suit the HDX/3DX. The stock HDX/3DX motor is very poor apparantly, I think the best motors are Hacker or Hyperion. Just how slow is the cyclic on the HDX? I have a 3DX almost built, and I hope the cyclic performance will be o.k., although I am not too pushed about 3d, just need a bigger bird for improved performance in normal Irish windy conditions.
Eric.

[aussiemick]

I do think that I will get the heli to a pont where I am really happy with it.

It flies very well, super stable and predictable. I had a play with it last night on the bench and managed to squeeze the cyclic up to 7' from 6' so hopefully that will help.

The kit only cost me us$298 delivered, so putting a few dollars into the tweaking of it is OK in my book. So far I have spent $10 for the landing gear $2 for the flybar, $8 for the pinion, the paddles cost $5 (but I got them as a gift), and the tail rotor blades cost $30 (ouch). The hyperion cost me about $100 and so far it is going well, it really likes the 22t pinion but I think the HS is still very high in idleup.

My mate has the 3DX version and he is extremely happy with the whole heli. Says it flips and rolls faster than his trex, and is more stable.

I would say get it off the shelf, get maybe the 21 or 22 tooth revco pinion. Tamiya make pinions for their cars at .6Module and all different tooth counts, I think it would require drilling the bore out to 5mm but that is no great drama.


I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying tweaking and seeing the results of what I am doing.

Mick

[Helibelly]

Hi Aussiemick, great to hear your friend is so pleased with his 3DX! I too got my 3Dx for a similar price to yourself, and the heli seems extremely well built, can't wait to fly it, but I really think I need more practice/learning time on my trex first, to calm the nerves!
Eric.