Raptor E550 in Funkey Hughes 500E

[stevehonn]

Here are a few pictures of the Hughes 500E I finished earlier today using Raptor E550 mechanics. I took the pictures just before taking it out for its maiden flight since painting, I flew it in primer just to make sure it flew okay. With the original E550 i was using an 11T pinion which gave a headspeed around 2130-2300, too much for scale and I needed to run around 75-80% throttle to keep a reasonable headspeed to avoid the tail vibes. While I was painting the body I fitted a 9T pinion and it's worked out fine, 95% throttle gives 1780 headspeed.

During the build I fitted a Raptor 50 tail boom and belt as the 550's boom is only 30 size and it's the 50 size Funkey body. Just sliding the battery pack to the front of the tray balanced the heli nicely. I will experiment with 600 blades when I get the opportunity, the stock 550mm blades are okay but I'm hoping the smaller pinion size will allow the larger blades without hitting flight times too much. I used to get 7 minutes of heavy sports flying on my TP 5000 packs running a 2130 headspeed and ended up putting around 3800mAh back into the packs so I'm hoping for a similar performance. Performance with the 500 blades isn't bad considering the extra weight added although I'm trying to decide whether to change from my normal 3D pitch & throttle curves, inverted 500 anyone :)

I had quite a few problems painting the fibreglass and eventually ended up stripping ALL the paint off and starting again, this time using an acid-etch primer first. All the paint was from rattle cans as I don't have any equipment to spray any other way, plus I have to spray outdoors then bring it in to the warm - there must be better ways.

[Wazzer]

You did a great job with the paint from rattle cans!

Is the paint scheme based on a real heli or is it of your own design?

[stevehonn]

It's based on a Venezuelan 500 but also seems to be very similar to the Hughes 500 body Align have for the Trex 450, I picked it because I tend to fly far and wide and visibility was important.

[badriM]

dear steevhonn,

I want tu put my raptor 550 e in a funkey fuselage. I dont understand how it is posible to mount the tail of my Heli in the fuselage.
Even I put of all the tail tube+tail case in the fusselage. And after i try to mount the tail tube on the mainframe, in this case how can I fit the two bold on the mainframe ?
Even i put the tail box after mounting the mainframe+tail tube in the fuselage and after the tail case and my problem is to put the belt in the tail box.

Do you have a method for fit your tail ?

Thanks

[stevehonn]

I'm using the stock plastic tailcase which is fitted after the boom is slid down the body. If you have a one piece aluminium tailcase then I'm not sure how you would fit it.

I had three good flights with the Hughes 500 on Sunday, running Align 600mm carbon blades instead of the usual 550 blades with the E550. Headspeed was around 1750rpm and the motor, battery and ESC landed barely warm at 6 minutes with only 2980mAh taken out of the TP 5000 6S packs, performance was ample for scale. It went down so well at the club that two fellow flyers are now buying 500D fuselages :)

[badriM]

thank you very much,it was my problem, i have a Kazama tail case. I try with the plastic one and it will be OK.
In my case i receive the box today and expect used TT engine and the 550 blade with 6 S 4000 evo.

Greats from Belgium and have a good fly



PS : your heli is a superb machine

[woz]

Steve , it worked out really well! great job.
I finally got the hurricane into the 500e funkey fuse with out too much trouble.
I started the thread in the hurricane section rather than here (why ? ) anyway go and have a look thought it turned out pretty OK !!

[stevehonn]

Woz, nice job! I sold my Hurricane 550 to a friend of mine who was looking for a set of mechanics for an Augusta 109 Power so hopefully he should be able to get this up in the air later in the year.

[dbo]

Because you used a E550 mechanics this thread caught my attention.

What modifications did you do to make everything fit/install in this fuse?

I looked at some threads where a Trex 600 was used, however, the underlung flybar seems to be a frequent issue of concern. (My opinion is that a longer custom made shaft is the best solution.)

This isn't a issue with the raptor, but obviously I am curious if the E550 has his own problems?

I understand that you will need to purchase a Raptor Titan Boom and belt to get the right length.

Are there any other modifications ?

Thanks.

PS: The final result looks great.

[WillJames]

That is awesome Steve!! Thanks for sharing.:thumbup:

[stevehonn]

I actually used a Raptor 50 boom and belt and had to cut around 38mm from the boom of the fuselage, if you use a Titan boom and belt this shouldn't be a problem.

I had to carry out very few mods to get it to fit, the kit came with fittings for the Raptor, Hirobo Scedeau and the Century Raven and by mixing and matching parts I was able to use the Raptor mounts for the rear mount with a pair of alloy stand-offs supplied and made some new holes for the front mount, againg using fixings in the kit plus a couple of pieces of ply. The upper mounts needed slightly more work, the mounting point on the mechanics used on the Raptor 50 doesn't exist on the E550 and so I used the bolts holding the motor mount plate and added ply formers to the existing supports inside the fuselage and drilled holes to suit the new position, pretty easy.

I've ended up using 600mm blades with a 9T pinion which gives around 1780rpm headspeed which avoids vibes in the tailfin. With this setup a 7 minute scale flight but with maybe the odd loop & roll(!) uses 3700 to 3800mAh out of my TP 5000 packs and everything lands nice and cool.