Successful maiden and a couple of questions

[AusAnt]

Well I finally got the build completed on the 500 3d - it went together mechanically very easily, but the programming and setup stumped me for a while, this being my first heli other than a nitro one 20 years ago (yep, they've changed a bit since then :smokin:

A couple of local hot pilots met me at the field and checked it over for me before test flying it. Everything went great, and I have now put a few packs through it, still with the gumby gear on though. So thanks to Alvin and Ken for their help.

I've attached a couple of photos - I went for the most visible scheme I could think of without spending a fortune on paint :roll:, it seems to work well.

So the questions are; do I need to ground my tail boom. I have read a fair bit about this in the past, but am not sure if it is required on the 500 with plastic frames, and if so, exactly how do I do it?

After reading on here about not having the tail belt tension too tight, I slackened it off so if you push in on the side of the belt behind the gear, you can push it in maybe 1/4". Is this right?

I have read about putting graphite on the tail belt to reduce static - do I need to do this?

Just in case my setup affects any answers, it is;
500 3d
Tango 45-10
Jazz 80-6-18
Hercules 5A BEC
FP Evo 25 6s 5000Mah
MAH 555mm mains
stock tails
DX7 / AR7000
JR 8717
GY 611 / 9256

And BTW, I have set up the heli with heavy paddles and in the least aggressive setup holes, and it is ROCK SOLID :clappp It is so easy to hover and it just locks right in there. I am totally stoked, and it looks like all the sim practise has helped too!

Thanks for your help everybody,

Ant

[OICU812]

Congrats on your maiden and glad you are liking the logo so far, keep us posted. Once you find you optimum setup for you please post it in the Logo power systems and setups thread at top of this forum. :)

You are running spektrum no need to ground anything imho. :) Also belt tension is hard to describe, but about 1/8to 1/4 behind gear about an inch just in front of pulleys. It is normal if you are pushing the heli to hear the belt slap within boom once in awhile no worry.

[hopntod]

Nice one Aus.Paint looks good too.
Todd

[AusAnt]

Thanks for the responses guys,

looks like all I need to do is practise :wink:

Ant

[surfanarchist]

Very nice! What kind of paint did you use and how did you apply it?

Man, I wish my lawn was as green as the grass there in BC.

[Flybar-less]

Ant,
Did you have a static electricity glitch? I am going to try some dielectric silcone lube on the belt. All we had was TriFlow, which helped reduce it on my 600 3D.

[AusAnt]

Surfanarchist,

I love how green everything is in BC too - makes a very pleasant change from the drought in Australia where I am originally from.

The paint I used is Krylon Fusion. This is a paint specially for plastics, and is available pretty widely in North America. I get it at Canadian Tire, but I believe it is available at places like Home Depot and Wal Mart in the US. This was just a really simple fix for me on this plastic canopy, otherwise you would have to be very careful with primers and the like for more agressive paints. So it is simply wipe down the canopy with rubbing alcohol or similar, and spray the paint on. The only problem I had was that this paint must have some sort of agent in it that keys into the plastic, and when I faded the orange over the yellow (after about a week as I was busy), the orange made the yellow wrinkle under it. So next time I will either mask it for sharp lines, and not paint one colour over the other, or I will make a wire coat hanger stand to hold it so I don't have to touch it, then as soon as the yellow is finished, I will just hold a piece of cardboard an inch away from the canopy to get fade masking, and spray the orange straight away. Overall the easiest way to paint though - would be all over in an hour or two.


RJohn,

I haven't had any static glitches, but I just read of a couple of people who thought they were getting them even on 2.4Gig, and I think they were talking about putting graphite on the belt. Anyway, it doesn't seem like anybody on here has had a problem, and that's a reasonably large sample group, so I don't think I'll do anything at this stage.

Ant

[surfanarchist]

Ant,

Thanks for the paint info. I'll give that a try. I have not artistic ability at all so I'll probably just mask and do some two or three tone scheme.

[DebianDog]

Congrats! I used your pic as your Avatar cuz I like the colors too! :hug:

[AusAnt]

Thanks Dan, you really are the video overlord :thumbup:

Colour scheme came in real handy today when I tried my first circuits with an overcast sky and a backdrop of dense, dark green forest. I'm loving this heli :happyd

Ant