The Vibe Flies!

[jimmyd]

What an awesome machine!
http://www.jimmydacey.com/Helis.htm

Rolls like it's on a string, and tracks like a laser!

JimmyD

[terrybeb]

A stunningly beautiful creation you've built yourself there. :thumbup:

[jimmyd]

Thank you!! :)

[Hulley]

Damn goodlooking Vibe! :thumbup:

[Stricker22]

I dig that canopy, nice bird Jimmy-

[jimmyd]

Thanks for the kind words… I really love the Vibe; it’s just a pleasure to fly. Coming from the Raptor world I’ll admit that flying without a header is a spooky concept to me. So far I’ve flown it down to only having about an 1/8 of an inch of fuel in it so I guess its ok, but it still worries me.

~Out
Jimmy D

[BarracudaHockey]

Thanks for the kind words… I really love the Vibe; it’s just a pleasure to fly. Coming from the Raptor world I’ll admit that flying without a header is a spooky concept to me. So far I’ve flown it down to only having about an 1/8 of an inch of fuel in it so I guess its ok, but it still worries me.

~Out
Jimmy D

Same here, but I ran it out of fuel twice :(

I'm fitting a header.

[jimmyd]

Well Andy what you said just put me over the edge. I installed the header last night.
I really hate to lug the extra weight around but I just don't want to worry about it any more...
Jimmy D

[jimmyd]

So I had a little mishap with the Vibe Sunday…
I was doing my usual routine rolls, flips, backwards circuits and such. As I was doing some backwards stuff the tail gave a little twitch, so I stopped and did a couple of piros and climb-outs to test the tail. All seemed well, so I contributed the tail twitch to the wind as it was rather blustery that day and head back out. I go into cool little trick were I pull the heli vertical and do a climbing back flip that leaves the heli pointed nose down skids toward center field, then do a half roll as the chopper falls and fly out. Well as soon as the back flip was complete the tail servo failed completely!
The Vibe is in a vertical orientation and pirouetting pretty fast. I hit hold instantly and begin stirring the cyclic stick like mad trying to get the now inverted and falling heli upright. My flying buddies said that I did a perfect half piro-flip, which I’ve only done on the sim, and they are ugly! With about 15 feet to spare I manage to get the Vibe skids down but it cost me all my head speed, and the heli pretty much falls from about 3 feet up. Of course the blades went into lead-lag, hit the boom and knocked the heli over. Total damage was: Boom, one Boom Support, a broken link, flybar and the front skid strut. I’ll replace the main shaft and spindle on general purposes but I think they are fine. I’m really thankful as this could have been a catastrophic crash!! I think the key was that I was quick to hit hold, didn’t panic and that I got really lucky!
Side notes: The servo that failed was the LogicTech 6100. That servo had survived a very hard crash in my old Raptor and was a year and a half old with hundreds of flights on it. I love this gryo/servo combo!! I was amazed that the torque tube and gears survived, but the boom hit was pretty light. I’ll post some pictures tonight if I can. Oh one last note, the canopy was not even scratched!! Woo Hoo!!

~Be Safe!
Jimmy D

[Stricker22]

Ouch, that sucks Jimmy. Nice job though as it sounds like it could have been much worse. You need to throw an 8900G in and forget about it.

Canopy is ok right?

[jimmyd]

Yeah the canopy is still perfect!
New parts are already on the way thanks to HeliProz and Esprit Models!! The Vibe will be back in the air Saturday at the latest. :)
Sorry, I'm still in love with the LogicTech it'll take a lot to get me to change. I'm blaming the servo failure on the mechanic (me) for not checking it out more thoroughly after the big crash in the Raptor.

Jimmy D

[Hulley]

Sorry to hear that. I heard that our birds are pretty tough!

[EatMorePizza]

:noteworthy WOW Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

I postd a thread http://helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=80298 to help me pick out my next heli. Then people started hinting me to check out the vibe. So I did and I found your heli. I'm going to consider it highly and Im going this week to my LHS.

[BarracudaHockey]

Here's a review with a pretty good video at the end.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=1007

[jimmyd]

Hey Pizza, You really can’t go wrong with the Vibe!
Of course everyone will tell you that whatever they fly is the best so I’d tell you to just go look at one in person if you can, it’ll sell itself. The parts quality and design are impeccable! It’s just fun-to-fly and a pleasure to build!

Have fun!
Jimmy D

[KillerKanopies]

You should be proud of yourself for sticking with it all the way to the end. Some would have given up and started walking to the crash site long before it arrived there.

[jimmyd]

LOL!! I never looked at it like that... Thanks!
Jimmy D