Uniquexme's CopterX 450SE V2

[uniquexme]

yo guys, here is my new heli CopterX 450SE V2 (direct clone of Align Trex 450SE V2)

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This is whats in included in the heli kit. Opening up the box, u find 2 boxes of parts, with mainframe and rotor head already factory assembled, but myself i check and threadlock every single screw. There is also a decal sheet for those who wanted to show off ur CopterX. :P

Overall, i find that for the price of this CopterX, i m quite satisfied, even though the quality u might find not as close as Trex, since its almost half of the price of it. CF main frame seems to be a little rough on their cut edges, and for the rotor head, it seems that they are just overcoating them with blue color, running a scratch over it will remove the paint!!

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Canopy is another thing that i think they could have focus more on since its the showing off part of the heli. Painting wise, its smooth, but there are those scratches line all over, and their paint i feel are easily to peel off, esp on the edges. It comes with pre-cut on the bottom canopy for battery wire connection, but again, its rather rough on their cutting.

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Blue Blue Blue CNC rotor heads!!!! haha.. its my 1st heli with CNC heads, kind of excited about it.

Main blades and flybar weight is NOT included in my kit. (maybe more, but i have just started to build it last nite)

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Ok. here's my electronics setup for this bird. Must admit that i really like the full size alum casing with a huge CopterX logo on it, quality wise i feel its superb. M using Hitec HS-65MG servo x 3pcs, Futaba gyro GY401 + S9257 servo. I wasn't sure if a UBEC can put the voltage down, so i get the Align Step down regulator for the S9257 servo since its NOT using 6V.

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Checked and thread lock all screws on the whole rotor head just to be safe. I found that most of the screws (NOT all) comes with factory threadlock, which is cool. Hmm elevator linkage movement seems to bind a lot, i try to loosen the screw on the washout block linkage, but it doesn't seems to help. Another thing is that the manual says the see saw linkage (horizontal alum pieces with linkage connected to the washout block linkage) needs to be of different length, left side shorter than the right side, but i think we can't change the length rite? so need some advise here.

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Mainframe installation. i simply remove each screw, threadlock, and pop it back, leaving the tail boom block loose 1st. And upon finishing, i realize that the tail pulley screws are being blocked by the bottom frame, so its advisable to remove the upper and lower CF main frame and get that tightened 1st, but for me, i leave it as it seems already comes with thread lock. oh yah, all screws on the main frame aren't factory threadlocked yet. oh, another tip would be to fit the canopy post 1st when u detach the main frame. 8)

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Fitting the rotor head, gear and main frame!! Careful when remove the main gear as there is this small collar that is to be attached to the top of larger gear, as my frenz's kit doesn't comes with it, but luckily mine has it.

well, so far so good for me, will come back again tomorrow when i do the rest of the build.

[PilotSmith]

Let us know how it turns out. What prior heli experience to you have?

[uniquexme]

well, i have a honey bee FP, Lama V3, and King 2. just a newbie actually. :smokin:

[kgfly]

Nice job on the build thread, looking forward to watching the rest. I recently replaced a few items with CopterX parts (cnc mixing arms, cnc tail grips, cnc boom block). Fit and finish was very good and I have been very happy with them on the handful of flights so far.

[JasonJ]

That is coming along nicely. If this where my helicopter and I had found out that the blue color on the cnc bits was paint, I would strip it all off and polish the bare aluminum. Of course, I am not a fan of the aluminum bits being colored, but that is me.

[PilotSmith]

Hey Jason,

Are the CopterX head parts painted blue vs being anodized? I really don't like the blue color. My tail is the Align grayish color that matches the boom. I really wanted my head to be natural aluminum color or gray. Do you have any experience stripping the color off parts? I plan to disassemble the entire CopterX head when it arrives and put it back together before using it. Any tips you can give about stripping the color off would be appreciated.

[JasonJ]

I have not directly handled CopterX parts, so I do not know if they are painted or anodized. I based my comment on what the original poster said about scratching the "paint" on his parts. If it is paint, then it is a simple matter of stripping the paint off. I have a Cannondale mountain bike that I stripped the paint off of (shaved a pound of weight off). It is an aluminum frame, I used spray on paint stripper, rinsed the mess off, and polished the frame. All I can say is if a person is to do this on a helicopter head, they would need to completely disassemble it, remove anything plastic, rubber, and all bearings/bushings. It would be a fair amount of work, but worth it is you do not like colored parts. If it is anodized, I know that heating with a propane torch turns blue anodized parts to a titanium color. I found that out by accident heating an anodized inner shaft head on my Lama V3 to remove a stubborn screw, and the whole thing turned titanium colored. Propane does not create enough head to affect the metalurgy of the cnc parts especially since it was only exposd to the heat for a few seconds, but at the same time I will not go on record recommending this. You do it at your own risk.

The only reason I don't like colored parts is they make the model more toy-ish in appearance to me. I think a nice painted canopy is all that is needed, everything else should be subdued. That way my 750 dollars worth of helicopter looks more classy than the neighbors 200 dollar helicopter (not that I have any neighbors that fly). Again different tastes for different people. Some like the bling, some do not. I wish upgrade parts were offered in plain aluminum along with the colored parts.

[PilotSmith]

I wish upgrade parts were offered in plain aluminum along with the colored parts.

Silly boy, of course they are offered in aluminum.

http://www.microheli.com/mhshop/index.php?cPath=84&sort=3a&page=1

I stopped counting when I got over $200 for the parts to put a head together! They do look nice in polished aluminum.

Over my hobby budget...

[JasonJ]

Okay...."I wish the parts were available in plain aluminum, and at a reasonable price, and included a free battery with every purchase, and I would wake up tomorrow knowing everything there is to know about flying".

Better? :)

[uniquexme]

manage to get my heli done last nite.

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Tail assembly has been done, but the alum washer for the vertical and horizontal fins are missing as shown in the manual.

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Almost done here.

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This is my buddy's heli. He wanted me to add this as u can see, one of the screws with broken head is stuck within the tail boom block. Note that this is factory defects, he saw it upon opening up the heli. CopterX, i think you would really need some quality control here, hope that they can do something about it, luckily mine is ok.

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The smaller main gear seems not to be rotating parallel to the ground, so when u turn the main blades, u can see that it moves up and down. M worried that the tail pulley might stripped off this way. Also notice that the gear mesh between this smaller main gear and the tail pulley, there is a big gap, now how do we adjust the gear mesh for this? help needed pls.

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Finally build but yet to install electronics yet. Canopy paint tend to crack when i fit the rubber canopy mounting nut, and worst still the paint on the edges actually peeled off!!!

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My collection of heli so far. haha.. My spiderman is looking after all my RC stuffs!!! :twisted:

[uniquexme]

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j52/uniquexme/100_3470.jpg
like i said before, my rotor head is not moving rather smoothly. last nite, i check over again, then i loosen the screw above so that it moves more freely, but somehow on the elevator, it seems rather rough, and also the tail slider, not very smooth, may i ask which area to check on?

[PilotSmith]

Have you checked your ball links? There is a tool to loosen them up if they are too tight. You can also squeeze the plastic ball head while it is connected to the ball. That will stretch the plastic a little to free it up. My Align tail was originally moving rough. It turns out I did not have it assembled correctly. Make sure the parts are on in the correct order. Also, check for burrs in the assembly. I had some burrs that made things feel rough. After I cleaned out the burrs and assembled everything properly it all moves very smooth.

[skid]

Your flybar paddles are on backwards.

[uniquexme]

Your flybar paddles are on backwards.

oh yah, now that u mentioned, i think i have it backwards. thanks for that info. keke.

[Finless]

Nice review so far.... Yes the #1 reason a new heli has a tight head is becasue all the links are too tight. My bet is you need to size them.

I have yet to see a straight main or lower main gear. Since they are molded plastic they alwasy have a little warp in them. Doesnt see to hurt anything. However if you tighten the bottom main bolt too much it does deform the lower main gear a little so make sure that is not too tight.

Bob

[uniquexme]

thanks bob. will try to fix it.

[uniquexme]

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Guys, for those who want to order CopterX CF blades, pls dun get the CB000002 CarbonHobby Carbon Main Rotor Blades 325mm, because they are NOT of 325mm. i m starting to hate CopterX or actually ehirobo for giving me all these troubles, i wonder how are they gonna deal with it.

In summary, here's what the problems that i have faced
1. main rotor blades that comes with the kit not included
2. main gear collar not included in some of the kits
3. main blade grips not of V2 (they are telling me that there are 3 batches of V2, and they one that i had is the 1st batch, come on...)
4. tail boom block with screws stuck
5. main shaft collar under the swashplate not included in some kits
6. alum washer for vertical and horizontal fins not included
7. the above blades NOT of 325mm

i think gonna faint as all my frenz are chasing and blame me for those defected and missing stuffs. If ehirobo is not going to do anything with it, i think this is gonna be my 1st and last transaction with them. But at least their sales are replying my emails, saying to send out the missing blades to me. hope that they do what they promised... fingers crossed.

[Wazzer]

Hi uniquexme i see you are based in Malaysia where abouts are you?

I live in KK in Sabah

[uniquexme]

Hi uniquexme i see you are based in Malaysia where abouts are you?

I live in KK in Sabah

m in Sibu, Sarawak.

[uniquexme]

guys, may i know the part number for Align V2 flybar weight? in need of one but i tend to see so many with different part numbers. thanks.

[PilotSmith]

I took my weights off and the heli flies great without them. If you can't get the Align weights and want to put something on just use a RC airplane wheel collar or something like that. But to me it seems like the weights are not mandatory.

[kgfly]

I think you have to buy this item to get the weights: Upgrade Set HS1139
http://www.wattsuprc.com.au/product_detail.asp?pid=HS1139

[uniquexme]

thanks guy, i spent some time trying to get a tighter gear mesh of the smaller main gear with the tail pulley this noon, but it seems it can't be set. i loosen the screws of the tail pulley bearing blocks, pushing them towards the front and retighten them back, but somehow its still the same. m sure it will strip off if i were to fly like that. so my question here is if its possible to set the gear mesh?

[PilotSmith]

My heli has the Align 450SA frame. It has no way to adjust the mesh of the tail gear to the gear on the main shaft. The only mesh adjustment you can do is between the motor and the main rotor gear. How much space do you have between your tail gear and the main shaft gear? I'm guessing the CopterX frame is an exact Align copy as far as the dimensions. :confused:

[uniquexme]

yeah everything is the same as align. i have about 2mm mesh. i m worried about tat.