Must Have Not Been a Good Night to Fly

[skigolfmike]

Or how many helis can we take out in one night.

bikemike, gcopas and I all went to the local park to get in some heli flights. I brought my B400 and 550, Mike brought his T450. George brought his B400 which I was going to setup.

First I'm flying my Blade 400. I took all the night stuff off it and getting it dialed back in. It's actually flying pretty well. I finish the flight and go to change the battery and I pulled one of the wires off the deans plug. Down one heli.

bikemike goes to fly his T450. he's been having static discharge problems and he thinks he's got it fixed. We reprogrammed his CC35 with the latest software and he got it going. It was flying really nice. At the 3:00 mark it rolled inverted and it went in. We figured out the Jesus bolt broke.

So, I got out the 550. It was flying great. Flips, loops rolls, a little inverted hover, slow figure 8. About 4:00 in there's a loud BAM and a lot of vibration. I've lost the tail and it's flipping over. Turns out the tail exploded. Yeah, the Gaui CNC tail sheared the bolt off right at the hub.

I don't' know the extent of the damage yet. It's not good, blades, flybar, boom, landing gear, fin and the TR pieces. I'll get it apart tonight and figure it out. Dang, I just put in an order for new batteries from ReadyHeli today.

So, I'm sitting here working on my 550 and drinking the last of my Lowenbrau, I'll have it flying again by the weekend.

[mjdee14]

So, I got out the 550. It was flying great. Flips, loops rolls, a little inverted hover, slow figure 8. About 4:00 in there's a loud BAM and a lot of vibration. I've lost the tail and it's flipping over. Turns out the tail exploded. Yeah, the Gaui CNC tail sheared the bolt off right at the hub.

I don't' know the extent of the damage yet. It's not good, blades, flybar, boom, landing gear, fin and the TR pieces. I'll get it apart tonight and figure it out. Dang, I just put in an order for new batteries from ReadyHeli today.

.

Well that really sucks and doesn't say much for the Gaui cnc tail.....I think I'm sticking with the trex 600 plastic tail and hub.....takes lots more abuse on a trex than we can give it on a 550.....

have another beer and just hit the "paypal" button....parts will be here by Thurs...!!

[mysticmead]

I think I figured out where ya went wrong... you drink Lowenbrau!!

[xodarap1]

:YeaBaby:

[skigolfmike]

Beer is for Thursday night after golf. Usually Bud Light, Michelob, Miller Lite,... The Lowenbrau has been in the fridge for a long time. (Daughter bought it for me.) As they say, any port in a storm.:cheers

It's not that bad. I have most of the parts. Actually the blades came out almost intact with only one ding. I may try to repair it and keep for backup. The boom looks pretty straight too.

I also found I bent the feathering shaft and broke one of the tail supports in addition to all the other goodies. Plus the tail slider is twisted with the plastic parts busted. I got it mostly apart. I definitely want to shoot a pic of the tail rotor to send to ReadyHeli. They or Gaui need to design REAL thrusted TR grips and hub.

[mysticmead]

go get a 6 pack of Killians red... much closer to what beer should taste like (damn all those years in Germany).. I got spoiled on real beer so I started brewing my own :D

[skigolfmike]

Isn't that a Coors product? Too many people pee in Clear Creek, which is where they get their Mountain Spring Water from. (Don't ask how I know that.);)

[mysticmead]

bah.. they boil the water... after it gets filtered.. it's clean.... ok... how about a nice Sam Adams

[gcopas]

I was there and saw it all....3 down & none to go.

As I posted earlier, SGM flew in the dark last night...ausome sight

Saw my first 2 crashes up close & personal..:bawl

Hope it doesnt hurt too much on the rebuild.

thanks for inviting me

Newbie George

[Drew816]

Sam Adams is brewed under contract by Stroh's; BUT anything will do after an adventure like that.

I had one of those days a while back, crunched or messed up all three heli's within minutes; luckily nothing all that damaging and more the lack of pre-flight work before I got to the field but DAMxIT, I only have SO much time!

Rebuild, preflight over and over, replace that Gaui tail setup and enjoy!

[Jungle Bob]

I can't believe that beer is being discussed here, do you guys know just how painful that is for me???? I had a liver complaint (not alcohol induced!) eleven years ago and can no longer process alcohol! So, no beers for me booohoooo, change the subject quick!!

[Drew816]

Sorry to hear that JB, I had Hep B years ago so I'm a lot of 'talk' but I drink very little... Of all the things you might have to give up in your life, there are worse things; I've come to live with the 'limitation' myself and like other vices it frees up even more money to spend on tasty Helo parts so...

Ya'll have a good one, off to sleep for me.

[skigolfmike]

OK JB. I'm officially on the wagon until Thursday night. Plus I left the remaining beer in the fridge.

As far as it goes parts wise, it didn't come out too bad. It could have been a lot worse. I had to drill out the busted bolt out of the TR hub, so that was the worst of it.

I have the head rebuilt. Now I just need the rest of the parts to put it back together.

gcopas saw all the carnage. I was going to setup his Blade 400 and fly it, but I think he wanted to leave with it still in one piece. Under the circumstances, I don't blame him.:DOH

[mjdee14]

I can't believe that beer is being discussed here, do you guys know just how painful that is for me???? I had a liver complaint (not alcohol induced!) eleven years ago and can no longer process alcohol! So, no beers for me booohoooo, change the subject quick!!

You have to drink too much beer and you pee alot......smoke weed or use helicrack....much quicker...

My wife is recurperating from back surgery and they gave her Morphine pills.....maybe I should try some of those and fly !!! might chill me out....:cheers .... Oh sorry JB for the beer anicons....ya right...:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers:cheers :cheers

[skigolfmike]

Did I mention that I just moved my throttle hold switch, so, in all the excitement, I could not find it. I might have been able to eliminate some of the carnage if I had hit throttle hold while right after the tail blew.

[mysticmead]

what...JB can't drink beer??? what the hell did he drink in the UK... we know it wasn't water.... seriously though... I USED to drink a lot... back when I was younger and in the military... then one day... I stopped. I do like a beer every once in a while.. but a 6 pack is safe in my fridge for 4 months... or longer. Hmmm... maybe if I slam a couple beers and then go fly I'll be calmer.. naaaaa I'll still crash it.

[Jungle Bob]

Dang, we are going to have to think of another excuse for our whacky behaviour here...seems like we are a bunch of lightweights on the alcohol front! I get by on coffee (lots of good quality black gold) and a drink here called 100+ (isotonic as we sweat alot at work) keeps me going. That and the main lining heroin!

[mysticmead]

lol... I knew it... you're a heroin junkie!

[Jungle Bob]

how else did you think I got this crazy! Helicrack wasn't doing it for me so I started mainlining, now I can fly inverted......without a helicopter!!!

[mysticmead]

Hmmm... started mainlining and we haven't heard from Ben in a while... do you have him out turning tricks for you to support your new addiction? or did you sell him outright to the sex slave market?

[ke6d]

Well that really sucks and doesn't say much for the Gaui cnc tail.....I think I'm sticking with the trex 600 plastic tail and hub.....takes lots more abuse on a trex than we can give it on a 550.....

have another beer and just hit the "paypal" button....parts will be here by Thurs...!!

I have been flying with the plastic Trex 600 tail grip for a long time after finding out that the Helidirect metal tail is kicking once in a while after I decided to go above 2000 rpm.

I have been test flighting my new Scorpion 1210Kv motor at 2300 rpm all week. The Hurricane is so much "alive" at this headspeed, especially during fast tic-toc. The T-Rex 600 tail grip works flawlessly.

I decided to drive to GrandRC to pickup a Kasama metail tail grip for the T-Rex 600 for $60.00. It is beautiful. I will let you know how it flies :)

[FlyawayClyde]

I have been flying with the plastic Trex 600 tail grip for a long time after finding out that the Helidirect metal tail is kicking once in a while after I decided to go above 2000 rpm.

I have been test flighting my new Scorpion 1210Kv motor at 2300 rpm all week. The Hurricane is so much "alive" at this headspeed, especially during fast tic-toc. The T-Rex 600 tail grip works flawlessly.

I decided to drive to GrandRC to pickup a Kasama metail tail grip for the T-Rex 600 for $60.00. It is beautiful. I will let you know how it flies :)

Yes please do let us know. I am building a CHP CF bird next to my stock plastic one and am looking for a great tail piece.

[neohp]

how many beer could have been drunk with all the money that the gaui faulty tail cost.....
CNC or plastic, it's the same piece of design error... that's sad...

I went at last with the quick-uk raptor tail hub+grips. I don't have to worry about my tail now. I'm sure it will be the same with your kasama...

[ps61785]

Yes...please let us know how the kasama tail works as I am very curious if it will be flawless like the original align piece...if it works one will be on the way soon...

[ke6d]

Yes...please let us know how the kasama tail works as I am very curious if it will be flawless like the original align piece...if it works one will be on the way soon...

I took the Kasama tail grips out of its package yesterday and reloctited the grip screws. I must say that the tail grips are beautiful. It looks like a piece of jewelry that one would wear on the neck instead of attaching to a machine's tail :) After installing it on the Hurricane, I measured the tail rotor disk. It was the same size as the T-Rex 600 plastic tail grips. While there was noticeable play on the T600 tail grips, there was NONE on the Kasama grips.

I took the Hurricane and flew it pretty hard today. Tic-toc, tail slide, backward circuit, inverted circuit, flip, rolls and pretty much every thing I know how to do. The new tail performed flawlessly.

With my current skill set, I could not tell the difference between the Kasama tail grip and the T-Rex 600 plastic tail grips. Both of them work very well for me. So, if you like performance and have the extra dollars to spend, get the Kasama tail grips ($60) If you are budget conscious, go with the T600 plastic tail grips ($16)

Cheers,

Dan

Attached is a picture of the Kasama tail grips mounted on Helidirect tail case and slider.