Mikej
08-31-2007, 05:14 PM
Guys,
Having pestered a number of people for info prior and during purchase I thought that it was only fair to give a bit of an update on my build. Some background – I have been flying for about 6 months mainly micros (HB King 2, Trex, Mini Zoom) and making slow but steady progress – I am happy doing lazy eights and on the verge of cracking nose-in. I am also have occasional lessons on a Raptor 30 and really appreciated the value of larger machines for their stability but also ability to handle winds (living in the UK can be a bit windy – especially during the winter !!).
With this in mind (and having watched Sir Bob’s videos) I purchased a Light Combo (kit + ESC + BEC + Lipos + Servos + Gyro), I have also purchased the CNC levers, long motor shaft, new motor mount, plus a plethora of hex-head screws, Trex 600 landing gear (two-types !!), Raptor links etc. etc. etc.. Most of it came from Fung and service was excellent as usual. I have subsequently bought the short-boom upgrade.
I started in the finest Finless tradition by stripping my heli down to check things out, shoe-gooped my bearings (love that phrase), and put the body back together using nylocks – they fit perfectly on the countersunk hex-heads that hold the frames together – have these always been hex-head as I had a feeling that they were cross-heads so bought 20 hex-head screws to replace them – doh !.,
Since I have the CNC levers it was easy to set up the servos – no messing about with offset balls, but Gaui seem to have lengthened the servo link rods – they were about 2 -3 mm longer than the manual said and I have ended up with a Raptor link on one end of each and a Gaui on the other, I could probably have used the Gaui links on both ends to be honest – but I originally built them up with the Raptor links and by this time my thumbs hurt so I wasn’t about to change them !!. These are now known as "Gaptor" links
I then went to work on the head – I had better luck than Bob as I didn’t have problems with flashing / casting marks, but my links were also very tight. I have replaced the top links with the Raptor rods with Gaui links, and replaced the links on the rod from the swash to the blade grips with Raptor links and then set up the head as per Bob’s instructions. One thing that I have done (again as per other’s comments) is replace all of the self-tappers that were holding on the balls with button-headed hex screws – most of the self tappers were only holding on by 2 threads and one actually fell out as I started to unscrew it.
Fitting the motor with the new longer shaft and modified motor base plate is a pain - the longer shaft and bearing makes it more difficult to remove the motor plate without lifting by the motor, which inevitably moves the motor
Other than the issues with the self-tapping screws I am very impressed with the kit so far – nicely engineered – it feels like quality equipment and so much nicer to work on than micros !!.
Cheers,
Mike.
P.S. don't worry about the poor fitting of the flybar arms - this has been corrected
Having pestered a number of people for info prior and during purchase I thought that it was only fair to give a bit of an update on my build. Some background – I have been flying for about 6 months mainly micros (HB King 2, Trex, Mini Zoom) and making slow but steady progress – I am happy doing lazy eights and on the verge of cracking nose-in. I am also have occasional lessons on a Raptor 30 and really appreciated the value of larger machines for their stability but also ability to handle winds (living in the UK can be a bit windy – especially during the winter !!).
With this in mind (and having watched Sir Bob’s videos) I purchased a Light Combo (kit + ESC + BEC + Lipos + Servos + Gyro), I have also purchased the CNC levers, long motor shaft, new motor mount, plus a plethora of hex-head screws, Trex 600 landing gear (two-types !!), Raptor links etc. etc. etc.. Most of it came from Fung and service was excellent as usual. I have subsequently bought the short-boom upgrade.
I started in the finest Finless tradition by stripping my heli down to check things out, shoe-gooped my bearings (love that phrase), and put the body back together using nylocks – they fit perfectly on the countersunk hex-heads that hold the frames together – have these always been hex-head as I had a feeling that they were cross-heads so bought 20 hex-head screws to replace them – doh !.,
Since I have the CNC levers it was easy to set up the servos – no messing about with offset balls, but Gaui seem to have lengthened the servo link rods – they were about 2 -3 mm longer than the manual said and I have ended up with a Raptor link on one end of each and a Gaui on the other, I could probably have used the Gaui links on both ends to be honest – but I originally built them up with the Raptor links and by this time my thumbs hurt so I wasn’t about to change them !!. These are now known as "Gaptor" links
I then went to work on the head – I had better luck than Bob as I didn’t have problems with flashing / casting marks, but my links were also very tight. I have replaced the top links with the Raptor rods with Gaui links, and replaced the links on the rod from the swash to the blade grips with Raptor links and then set up the head as per Bob’s instructions. One thing that I have done (again as per other’s comments) is replace all of the self-tappers that were holding on the balls with button-headed hex screws – most of the self tappers were only holding on by 2 threads and one actually fell out as I started to unscrew it.
Fitting the motor with the new longer shaft and modified motor base plate is a pain - the longer shaft and bearing makes it more difficult to remove the motor plate without lifting by the motor, which inevitably moves the motor
Other than the issues with the self-tapping screws I am very impressed with the kit so far – nicely engineered – it feels like quality equipment and so much nicer to work on than micros !!.
Cheers,
Mike.
P.S. don't worry about the poor fitting of the flybar arms - this has been corrected