Trex 450 Agusta A-109 body (Align)

[tz250w]

Has anyone done one of these yet? I just got mine a few days ago and am in the process of painting / fitting at the moment.

[daniel reese]

I havent but Ive been talking to a few that have.

Seems like you'll have to work out a way to make the windshield and upper engine cowling a one-piece affair that can be removed to swap batteries. Otherwise there isnt enough room to get the battery in and out.

The tail rotor gearbox (Align metal one) needs to be totally disassembled in order to get the body over the boom and for that, the molded lines are not quite in the right place, I think you'll have to cut further aft but Im not sure- just be sure to check for that. If you have or were to use the MicroHeli metal tail gearbox, you can dissassemble just the critical parts (remove the tail rotor drive shaft) without the difficult dissasembly of the Align metal tail...or use the plastic Align tail either one would be much easier than the Align metal tail with all those frustrating little silver tubes that never stay where you want them to.

There's no included lower vertical fin or tailrotor protection, even though there IS such a thing on the real helicopter. Others have had success in making them from combinations of carbon fiber rod and thin ply or sheet balsa.

Some have been able to retain the stock boom supports while others have not bothered to even try. There is an included foam block to secure the boom in the fuse but that has quite a bit of flex to it. Just something to think about.

Sorry I cant offer any first hand experience but I hope this helps some

[tz250w]

Yes, that helps. I've been trying to figure out a way to mount the battery from the bottom as they already left a BIG hole there... Removing eight screws for the upper cover each time to change a battery doesn't sound like much fun and lots of scratches, worn / broken holes. I'll probably glue a little ply behind the screw holes for more bite. I'll probably use my stock plastic tail case (mine is an S-CF bird, though I have an SE metal tail in a package).

Already have a plan for a lower vert fin, balsa sandwiched in 1mm ply with a length of piano wire wrapped in noiseless tube.

Made my stickers up this evening and printed them on glossy sticker paper. They'll go on tomorrow before a clear coat (if the weather holds...) and then I may be able to post some updated pics.

My "cough" (not very original, I know) basic plan is something like this...

[BlackTitanium]

I find that changing the batteries, accessing the bottom hole and the side window holes, to be manageable,
as long as you're mounting the battery to the battery tray.

I've added 8, 7gm lead weights in the nose of the fuselage to balance to center of gravity.
I opted to use the weights instead of adding modifications to mount the battery further forward.
Mounting the batteries further forward, would make it more difficult to change batteries.
I use Flight Power EVO25 2170's.

The horizontal stabilizer flaps like a hummingbird!
I added a carbon fiber rod, under the horizontal stabilizer wing, to stop the flapping.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5616/dsc0957pa1.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5293/dsc0958da9.jpg

[tz250w]

Good advice, I noticed the stab was pretty flimsy!

I'll probably add weight as well, it is scale after all so wild aerobatics aren't really at the top of my list. Or I could go back to my larger battery (2500) if I can get it in the hole.

[tz250w]

Well, I've got some paint and stickies on it... I decided not to go all out with weathering and such as I want to get it in the air as soon as possible and I'm an impatient bastard. :)

I made the stickers with my printer after searching long and far on the net for some high enough res images to make them from. The white is the standard pearl out of the box, the "orange" "bright orange" Tamiya spray, the blue stripes are cut from thin adhesive sheet and the tail protector is made from an old woodie drilled to accept a piece of piano wire (covered with noiseless tube) and attached to the fuse via a strip of carbon, some two sided tape and a couple of screws. I figured it would probably be the first thing to break on a hard landing so I didn't want to make it too permanent (easier to repair...).

Got the frame built up and it will go in tomorrow. Once the epoxy has dried I'll try inserting the Trex and see what other headaches pop up.

Oh, and yes I need to paint the exhaust, apply some window panels, spiffy up the landing gear, find a way to insert a battery without ripping the whole nose off... etc, etc, etc. Weekend is coming too soon!

[tz250w]

I've been messing around with it for a couple weeks and finally mounted the mechanics yesterday and test flew it. I ended up running four packs through it I was having so much fun! :dribble:

I still have a lot of detailing to do. I need to smoke the windscreen paint or decal the side and upper windows, exhaust mount the horizontal stab etc... I also though about making pods for the rear wheels but I think I'll just leave it as is for now.

With a 2100mah 3S, a 5 cell (6 volt) RX pack (don't want to fry my ESC) it weighs in a 1.1kg. With the separate RX pack mounted in the nose on a piece of ply I can slip the lipo right in the bottom access hole and it sits right under the main mast between the frame and the fuse bottom. Balanced out perfectly and is easily adjustable.

I made the lower tail fin out of a broken woody blade, some piano wire partially covered in noiseless pipe and used screws and two sided tape to attach thinking that it might give way on a rough landing and save damage to the main fuse...

Flying was fun and smooth, dropped my headspeed way down to hover at 40% throttle and still have plenty of power to punch out. Nice to have a Trex that I can actually see!

I took the RX out last night to prevent me from flying it again till it's finished...

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta01.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta02.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta03.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta04.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta05.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta06.jpg

I should add that I had to enlarge both sides of the tail rotor case access holes and add a piece of dense foam between the tail boom and the side of the fuse opposite the tail rotor to keep the blades from striking the side of the fuse. Other than that, the fit was quite easy.

[tz250w]

Added the canopy, some fake windows / exhaust, the horizontal fin and put it up in the air for a friend to snap pictures today.

I ended up having to run the antena out of the body as I couldn't get good range with it inside. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta07.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta08.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta09.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta10.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta11.jpg

http://www.motomaniac.net/trx850/hosted/max/Heli/agusta12.jpg

[kgfly]

Wow! Great looking heli, nice job. Thanks for sharing the build.

I ended up having to run the antena out of the body as I couldn't get good range with it inside. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Good excuse to upgrade to a DX7 or at least an XPS module for your Tx (looks like an Eclipse7 ?)

[tz250w]

Unfortunately, the 2.4 stuff hasn't been settled yet here in Japan. It's coming, but probably not till early next year. My TX is an Airtronics RD6000 Super, no module so I'll have to upgrade everything. But yeah, I really want one...

[crazyerick]

Really truely amazing job! Can you tell me on what you printed the decals? Which printer you used etc.

[tz250w]

Really truely amazing job! Can you tell me on what you printed the decals? Which printer you used etc.

Here it's called "photo label" or something like that. Basically photo paper with sticky stuff on the back. It comes in A4 size, (I'd imagine you would get it in "letter" in the States) and is available in clear as well.

I used clear for the "Stars and Bars" and "U.S. Coast Guard" and white for the USCG emblem (printers don't print white, so you need a white background...

My printer is an Epson PM-G820. Nothing special.

Let them dry well before you cut and apply, then a coat of clear over them seals the ink.

Let me know if you need the files I made up for them.

[vpacho]

Since it is possible to do this? I´m sorry for my bad english my friend. Thank you very much.

[tz250w]

Since it is possible to do this? I´m sorry for my bad english my friend. Thank you very much.

Hola!

I used a flat strip of carbon for the base plate. It is attached to the fuselage by two sided tape and two small screws (so it will break away in a hard landing). The main part of the fin is cut from an old Align wood rotor with piano wire for the skid (covered halfway with noiseless pipe).

Hope this helps answer your question (my Spanish is terrible!).

[vpacho]

Thank you very much tz250w.

[tz250w]

You're welcome!

If you have any more questions, please ask. I'm sure somebody here speaks Spanish and can translate. :thumbup:

[Judah]

Great looking Paint Job!!!!! Is this the all white Agusta from Align that I see on their website? I assumed you painted the outside of the Heli on tope of the white? Did you have to do some priming, sanding on the original white paint job? I was wondering becuase I was looking to get one and do different paint schemes on it. Any comments tips would be very helpful. Thank you and again you did an awesome job on this!!!!

[tz250w]

Yes, the white is the original pearl it comes with. No special prep other than to make sure all oil, fingerprints were gone. If I were to do it again I'd probably hit it with something like 800 grit sandpaper where I applied the red (orange). I got a bit of wrinkling in a couple places due to heavy coats.

I was in a bit of a hurry to get it in the air but fairly happy with the "rush job".

Glad you like it. :)

[Hurriken]

tz250w,

Fantastic looking 109a!

I ordered the same fuse, and a Esky Belt CP to stuff inside this morning. The wifes probably going to kill me, I just got a Honeybee King 2 last week. I was going to put the Bell 222 fuse on it, but thought the 450 size would be a lot more stable, at least my rex 450 se is. Thank goodness I sold some of my old heli equipment on Ebay last week to fund this project!

I've had a 109a die cast model in Coast Guard trim in my office at work for the last year, and admire it every day. Just got a wild hair this week to do a scale project this winter.

Your bird is very inspiring! Thanks for the tips in the post.

I would be interested in the artwork for the decals if the offer is still open. Did some searching around today for some stock decals but didn't have much success.

Keep us up to date on your progress, really looking good!

Ken

[kingkahuna]

tz250w

I just finished my 109 and I found it to be quite tail heavy... I made a battery mount out of ply and glued it to the ply frame. I still think it is just a touch heavy in the rear still, I am going to try it out anyway. I ballenced mine by the fly bar and just looked at it in a mirror. If you ballence yours by the fly bar and set it down on a table does your rear wheels touch first?

[vpacho]

Already end of the mine. What you have here.

[Super-Hornet]

Hi all

Would like to share to u all my MH-68A Stingray (Align A-109). Some of u might seen it before in other forum.

SH

[screwbirds]

Yes, but I still enjoying to see them again :D

[kingkahuna]

Here is my 109 after a rebuild from a 75ft crash.

[Madani]

Here is mine ;)