Stratus Conversion Notes

[3DME]

Hello

I just finished an Extreme to Stratus conversion. Here are some things you will need.

1 MA# 120-8 Tempest One Piece Middle Bearing Block

2 MA# 122-46 Tempest Clutch Bearing Block

3 Longer Rear Canopy Mounts. I made some but I think the tempest ones will work.

4 You will have to shorten the tail control rod by 32mm or 16mm on each end.

5 I put a 2 3/4 silicon Oring in the fuel tank lid instead of RTV so I can remove the lid. I will take some to Tim next week. If you want one I can send it to you as I have about 10. They cost 2.50 each. They seem to seal the tank well but I am still testing.

If I think of anything else I will post.

Mike

[WayneBrown]

cool thanks!
I need those and a few others before I do mine. I can tell you after seeing Pete smack his in Tampa last weekend they are strong! T/R servo lead came undone while doing a low flipping piro. Damn it hit hard, but a boom kit, and mainshaft,spindle, and blades were the only damage.

[r2160]

Hey Guys

New guy here!

My Stratus conversion with my brand new extreme are on the way, hopefully be here in the next week or so. Being new to this forum, is there somewhere I can post the build including pics? I intend to do a full review for all to see as I have built a few furies etc now.

thanks
Glenn :mrgreen:

[3DME]

Hello

Whats up Lamebird? I met you at the orlando fun fly. We were BSing on my tailgate at the end of the day Saturday.

Conrad told me about Petes mishap. I was wondering how hard it hit and what the damage was. I was also wondering how well the stratus would crash. Looking at it, it looks like it would damage the frames. But when you hold the assembled frames in your hands, they are very strong and stiff. I can tell you the stratus is the lightest Heli I have ever owned. It weighs in at 9lb 10oz.

Mike

[3DME]

Hello


I also have the leftovers from the conversion for sale under in the helicopter classifieds.

Mike

[steve9534]

Did you save a pound? <G> steve.

[3DME]

Hello

No, you are a funny guy. I actually I saved 12oz just like Tim said I would when I saw the prototype in Birmingham.

I have pictures, want to see? See I am a funny guy too.

Mike

[Zilly]

Hello

I just finished an Extreme to Stratus conversion. Here are some things you will need.

1 MA# 120-8 Tempest One Piece Middle Bearing Block

2 MA# 122-46 Tempest Clutch Bearing Block



Mike,

MA tld me I would only need 122-46 to convert my new Fury to a Stratus....they did not mention 120-8 :?

Chris

[3DME]

Hello

I can tell you I converted an Extreme to a Stratus and I needed the 120-8. If you dont have a 120-8 you will need one. When I took the Heli to MA, Chris said the Stratus is designed to use the 120-8. The stock Extreme comes with two seperate bearing blocks, one for the main shaft and one for the front of the tail shaft. The problem with the Stratus conversion is with the front tail shaft block, of the three holes in the block only one lines up with the holes in the Stratus frames.
I am sure you will need the 120-8 unless MA changed the holes in the Stratus frames.

Mike

[capebob]

My Stratus conversion hasn't arrived yet because of the tank issue. The new tanks were due in last Thursday and MA said that they would ship my kit out to my LHS on that day. Since I live only one UPS day away I had hoped to get it on Friday, but Monday will be soon enough. I was lucky enough to think to order the 120-8 along with my conversion, but I didn't order the Tempest canopy mounts. I do have material to make them. Question ; how long should the canopy mounts be?

Thanks,
Bob

[FuriousOne]

Hi all,
I just converted my Fury Extreme to the Stratus and have attached some pictures. All in all it wasn't too bad. Just make sure that if you're converting a Fury, then get the Tempest clutch bearing block and be ready to shorten the T/R pushrod.

Thanks.

Ken

[FuriousOne]

Here's the other side!

[3DME]

Hello

Ken, by your picture you will need the new tank, the one you have will leak or blow the lid off. MA has the new ones I think.

Mike

[Zilly]

Hello

I can tell you I converted an Extreme to a Stratus and I needed the 120-8. If you dont have a 120-8 you will need one. When I took the Heli to MA, Chris said the Stratus is designed to use the 120-8. The stock Extreme comes with two seperate bearing blocks, one for the main shaft and one for the front of the tail shaft. The problem with the Stratus conversion is with the front tail shaft block, of the three holes in the block only one lines up with the holes in the Stratus frames.
I am sure you will need the 120-8 unless MA changed the holes in the Stratus frames.

Mike

Mike, I spoke to Tim Schoonard about this and he said that as my Fury kit is quite a recent one (September '04) the 120-8 bearing block is in the kit already as opposed to the older two part version which I guess is what you had.

Chris

[Zilly]

Hey Furious One can you post a picture of you Stratus with its canopy on so I can see how it looks?

Z

[buster1]

Furious one - how many hours did it take you to convert to Stratus,
thinking about converting my Tempest 3D,
Thanks,
Jeff

[Scrub]

Flew the Stratus today for the first time, 3 flights. First one was half
tank of hoover second half was forward flight during
which I trimmed the controls. Two major differences
between it and the Fury: One is the weight. A full 1
pound lighter than the Fury. 2nd and 3rd flight I did
some moderate 3D. I had the engine extremely rich and
didn't get the full power of the engine but I didn't
seem to need it. I noticed that stationary moves like
tic-tocs and piro-flips were easier to perform,
probably due to the increase of power to weight ratio.
Second major difference is geometry change. The heli
rolls nice with no pitchiness. There is no noticable
interaction when transitioning from stationary to FF
and exiting rolls and loops. I had my head speed set
to 1550/1650/1750 and was running very rich and
managed to squeeze 11 minutes of flying with three
autos. The last minute I spent hoovering over the
ground until the fuel ran out. The Fuel Magnet works
like a charm. I literally ran every drop out of the
tank! It only leaned out a second before the fuel ran
out. Auto's the same as the fury. I only did a few
including inverted and couldn't tell any difference
between the two.

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/6288fd0d2998e5597084f24f11741535.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/34ea3bb0ce6752d5c094eec069fd565a.jpg

[NolanManley]

Thanks for the report. Nice job on the build. The heli looks good. :D

I see you got the new fuel tank like what came in my kit. Thanks to Ray at RHR for getting mine to me Friday. Now if I can just have some time to build it!!! :arggg:

[EricLarson]

The black cap tanks work fine with the OS.

You need the nalgeen tank for YS or OS Cline setups.

[r2160]

The black cap tanks work fine with the OS.

You need the nalgeen tank for YS or OS Cline setups.Hey eric

What is the nalgeen tank and the black cap? I will be running the cline on a cspec when my stratus every arrives :dontknow

thanks
Glenn

[DavidH]

Glenn,
The fuel tank in the pictures above is the Nalgene tank. The cap and bottle have threads on them that are deeper and cover a larger area. The tank above is what needs to be used with the YS motor or the OS motor with a Cline Regulator.

The tank that has been coming with the Stratus is white plastic and has a black plastic cap. You can see it in the instructions for the Stratus on the MA website.
This tank will work with a motor than does not use back plate pressure to pressurize the tank. It will work fine with a system that uses muffler pressure.

David

[3DME]

Hello

Another thing that I did was to use the 121-2 pushrod kit. It is 2.5mm style with the grey link ends and includes all three bellcrank to swash links and the 4 longest links above the swash plate. My Fury came with a smaller diameter pushrod so I upgraded.

The part number 121-2 says for a Spectra but is the right kit for the Stratus. The 121-1 pushrod kit for the Fury does not have the right length bellcrank to swash link for the elevator. All three of the bellcrank to swash links are the same length on the Stratus.

Mike

[big dee]

Hi Guys
where do you get the nalgene tanks
thanks Darrel :D

[NolanManley]

Darrel, They're in the new kits from MA. I'm guessing if you order the YS version you get the nalgen tank.

MAN .. when did you go DOWN UNDER!? :shock:

[3DME]

Hello

I have a few nalgene tanks if anyone needs one.

Mike