dynodude
01-14-2008, 03:33 AM
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:)Hey all, Had some nice weather here this weekend and got some flying in so I thought I would post some impressions of some upgrades on my Diablo.
Ordered a new Scorpion motor because my original RCT motor was starting to show its wear. With well over 500 flights(mostly hovering/ learning) it was still making power, but I noticed my battery/ esc/ motor temps were increasing, and I was putting more drain on my batts. for the same amount of flight time.:confused: When the motor arrived(one day shipping. Awesome!) I was more than pleasantly supprised to find a beautiful set of carbon fiber main blades and the 220mm flybar.:happyd Visualy, these blades are flawless; The CF pattern is perfectly symetrical between both blades, the surface is smooth as glass, and the edges are well finished with no hint of edge flash or seams. Put them on the scale, and both blades were exactly 21.9 g each. Checked them for CG and they were both spot on, and when I checked them for balance they were perfect. That has never happened with any of the wood blades I use. I did'nt use any tracking tape on the blades as I had the tracking perfect from before, and quite frankly, they are just to pretty to put tape on. Bolted in the motor, blades and flybar, charged my batts. and went flying. What a HUGE difference. It felt like a completely different heli. First off, the Scorpion motor is awesome. Spool up was smooth and quiet, and for the same throttle curve, felt more powerful. The heli lifted at a lower stick, and did'nt seem to take as much stick to initiate FF. I'll have to tach it later, but it sure sounded like the headspeed was higher running the same 11t pinion as before. The blades performed stellar. Now, admittedly, I'm pretty much a nOOb. This is the first set of CF blades I have ever used, and I aint flying no "madd 3dz". My flying is mostly hovering and mild sport.(Fig.8's, medium FF circuts, stall turns and piro's) The thing I noticed most is how precise my moves got with these blades. You can feel the stiffness in these blades when you are flying. Turns and stops are much sharper, and it holds altitude like its on a stick. Tracking remained perfect. Hover stability improved with the 220mm flybar, and the cyclic response was smoother and faster in maneuvers without making the heli feel "twitchy". All in all, the combination of the motor, CF blades and longer flybar resulted in a more powerful, more stable, better controled heli that I felt more confident and relaxed flying. Additionaly, my motor, esc and batt temps went down and I was able to add 45secs. more of flight time even though I was flying more aggressively.:thumbup: Of course, it is no small bonus that all these upgrades are available from RCT. As with all thier products, the bang for the buck factor is about 2:1, and your heli remains 100% RCT, with thier legendary customer and product support. If you have been flying your Diablo or Skyshark for a while and are ready to take the next step in flying then I would highly recomend any or all of these upgrades.:YeaBaby: Personaly, I can't wait 'til these blades become mainstream, and if the line starts here, count me first and put me down for 2. Once again: "Thanx to Scott, and the rest of the crew at RCT for such a great heli that's a ton of fun to fly.":noteworthy Now, if i can just wipe this silly grin off of my face.:lol:
:)Hey all, Had some nice weather here this weekend and got some flying in so I thought I would post some impressions of some upgrades on my Diablo.
Ordered a new Scorpion motor because my original RCT motor was starting to show its wear. With well over 500 flights(mostly hovering/ learning) it was still making power, but I noticed my battery/ esc/ motor temps were increasing, and I was putting more drain on my batts. for the same amount of flight time.:confused: When the motor arrived(one day shipping. Awesome!) I was more than pleasantly supprised to find a beautiful set of carbon fiber main blades and the 220mm flybar.:happyd Visualy, these blades are flawless; The CF pattern is perfectly symetrical between both blades, the surface is smooth as glass, and the edges are well finished with no hint of edge flash or seams. Put them on the scale, and both blades were exactly 21.9 g each. Checked them for CG and they were both spot on, and when I checked them for balance they were perfect. That has never happened with any of the wood blades I use. I did'nt use any tracking tape on the blades as I had the tracking perfect from before, and quite frankly, they are just to pretty to put tape on. Bolted in the motor, blades and flybar, charged my batts. and went flying. What a HUGE difference. It felt like a completely different heli. First off, the Scorpion motor is awesome. Spool up was smooth and quiet, and for the same throttle curve, felt more powerful. The heli lifted at a lower stick, and did'nt seem to take as much stick to initiate FF. I'll have to tach it later, but it sure sounded like the headspeed was higher running the same 11t pinion as before. The blades performed stellar. Now, admittedly, I'm pretty much a nOOb. This is the first set of CF blades I have ever used, and I aint flying no "madd 3dz". My flying is mostly hovering and mild sport.(Fig.8's, medium FF circuts, stall turns and piro's) The thing I noticed most is how precise my moves got with these blades. You can feel the stiffness in these blades when you are flying. Turns and stops are much sharper, and it holds altitude like its on a stick. Tracking remained perfect. Hover stability improved with the 220mm flybar, and the cyclic response was smoother and faster in maneuvers without making the heli feel "twitchy". All in all, the combination of the motor, CF blades and longer flybar resulted in a more powerful, more stable, better controled heli that I felt more confident and relaxed flying. Additionaly, my motor, esc and batt temps went down and I was able to add 45secs. more of flight time even though I was flying more aggressively.:thumbup: Of course, it is no small bonus that all these upgrades are available from RCT. As with all thier products, the bang for the buck factor is about 2:1, and your heli remains 100% RCT, with thier legendary customer and product support. If you have been flying your Diablo or Skyshark for a while and are ready to take the next step in flying then I would highly recomend any or all of these upgrades.:YeaBaby: Personaly, I can't wait 'til these blades become mainstream, and if the line starts here, count me first and put me down for 2. Once again: "Thanx to Scott, and the rest of the crew at RCT for such a great heli that's a ton of fun to fly.":noteworthy Now, if i can just wipe this silly grin off of my face.:lol: