Nitrospazzz
08-15-2005, 12:10 PM
I recently went to the SWARM funfly near Miluakee, WI and saw a new micro heli. I was flying a Hornet 2 and a Raptor 30 at the time. My Hornet 2 was flying good but the tail was getting worse and worse because the tail drive was starting to twist. I saw the MaxiR heli buzzing around the sky with tons of power and it looked stable too. I walked down and talked to Pete about it and he let me take a look at his two MaxiR's. I was very impressed with the overall construction, lack of glue, and head design.
I ended up ordering a MaxiR a week or two after the funfly when the tail drive in my Hornet completely broke. I figured I would give this one a try. I ordered from http://elektrorc.com/ and had my MaxiR within two days. I took the gear off my Hornet and used all but the motor. I picked up a AXI 2208/26 for the Heli.
Build
I have built a Raptor 30, hornet 1 and a hornet 2 in the past. The MaxiR went together in about one day build. The instructions were somewhat unclear on some parts but having the schematics sitting infront of me helped a lot and it went together pretty good. Some of the shafts needed to be sanded down a little so the bearings would fit without the use of a hammer. Everything lined up good and fit good. I needed to sand down the frame a little to get the tail drive to line up right on the main gear.
The tail is a closed gearbox and it took a while to get it running smooth but once its setup I think it will work as is for a long time. Its a great improvement to the Hornet tail...man couldn't stand that thing. The head looks like its off of a 90 or some expensive heli. Everything is smooth and it works great.
My gear:
- Berg 5 Mini
- HS-55 on cyclic
- HS-50 on tail
- E-tec Lipo 1200
- Castle Creations Pheonix 10
- AXI 2208/26
- Futaba GY240
Flying
I figured that this would be a very very touchy helicopter so I stuck some homemade training gear on it for the first few battery packs. It was suprisingly stable and once the tail was setup it hold perfect. No wag, no hunting, it just sits there. Once the training gear came off it was even better, no vibration, it just hovers perfect.
This heli has gave me a lot of courage to try new, and possibly stupid things. I tried doing some FF in my driveway and it performed flawlessly, me on the otherhand...I'll get to that later. The climbrate of this micro scares me. I did a couple hover them punch collective real quick and it shoots up 10 feet in no time at all. I can't go higher in the driveway because there is trees in the way :( I am no where able to push this heli and I don't know many that could. It flies great, it was a fun build and I am impressed.
Crash Testing
Well you remember the part about me trying FF in the driveway. Well that didn't turn out so good. I got switched up coming around in nose in and gave the wrong input then overcorrected. So I tried to just set it down and forgot I was in 3d mode. So it set down real fast and I had a boom strike. Just ordered parts a minute or two ago and prices are great. The heli held up real good for hitting the ground as fast as it did. I have done the same on my Hornet and it was a expensive crash (75+, dang $50 blades). On the MaxiR total cost was about 45...with shipping :) Cheaper to crash than my raptor.
Overall
I am very impressed with this helicopter. It is a pretty easy build and it flies wonderful. I had no problems with vibrations, or tail wag. LAheli has done a good job working the bugs out of it so far. Once they get the quality control a little better on some of the shafts it will be even better.
If anyone is looking for a out of the box 3d micro heli, I don't think you could do better than the MaxiR.
I ended up ordering a MaxiR a week or two after the funfly when the tail drive in my Hornet completely broke. I figured I would give this one a try. I ordered from http://elektrorc.com/ and had my MaxiR within two days. I took the gear off my Hornet and used all but the motor. I picked up a AXI 2208/26 for the Heli.
Build
I have built a Raptor 30, hornet 1 and a hornet 2 in the past. The MaxiR went together in about one day build. The instructions were somewhat unclear on some parts but having the schematics sitting infront of me helped a lot and it went together pretty good. Some of the shafts needed to be sanded down a little so the bearings would fit without the use of a hammer. Everything lined up good and fit good. I needed to sand down the frame a little to get the tail drive to line up right on the main gear.
The tail is a closed gearbox and it took a while to get it running smooth but once its setup I think it will work as is for a long time. Its a great improvement to the Hornet tail...man couldn't stand that thing. The head looks like its off of a 90 or some expensive heli. Everything is smooth and it works great.
My gear:
- Berg 5 Mini
- HS-55 on cyclic
- HS-50 on tail
- E-tec Lipo 1200
- Castle Creations Pheonix 10
- AXI 2208/26
- Futaba GY240
Flying
I figured that this would be a very very touchy helicopter so I stuck some homemade training gear on it for the first few battery packs. It was suprisingly stable and once the tail was setup it hold perfect. No wag, no hunting, it just sits there. Once the training gear came off it was even better, no vibration, it just hovers perfect.
This heli has gave me a lot of courage to try new, and possibly stupid things. I tried doing some FF in my driveway and it performed flawlessly, me on the otherhand...I'll get to that later. The climbrate of this micro scares me. I did a couple hover them punch collective real quick and it shoots up 10 feet in no time at all. I can't go higher in the driveway because there is trees in the way :( I am no where able to push this heli and I don't know many that could. It flies great, it was a fun build and I am impressed.
Crash Testing
Well you remember the part about me trying FF in the driveway. Well that didn't turn out so good. I got switched up coming around in nose in and gave the wrong input then overcorrected. So I tried to just set it down and forgot I was in 3d mode. So it set down real fast and I had a boom strike. Just ordered parts a minute or two ago and prices are great. The heli held up real good for hitting the ground as fast as it did. I have done the same on my Hornet and it was a expensive crash (75+, dang $50 blades). On the MaxiR total cost was about 45...with shipping :) Cheaper to crash than my raptor.
Overall
I am very impressed with this helicopter. It is a pretty easy build and it flies wonderful. I had no problems with vibrations, or tail wag. LAheli has done a good job working the bugs out of it so far. Once they get the quality control a little better on some of the shafts it will be even better.
If anyone is looking for a out of the box 3d micro heli, I don't think you could do better than the MaxiR.