TIG Blades ROCK! 500mm Hobby City...

[Drew816]

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=6593&Product_Name=TIG_500mm_Carbon_Fiber_Z-Weave

Took a week for them to arrive from Hong Kong, they are the very FIRST set of any blades I've had that come out of the package perfectly matching one-anothers weight! As mentioned by others, the carbon weave is a Z pattern and kind of all over, I think it looks cool but they're not as pretty as Radix/Youngbloods, MS Composites or RotorTechs for example.

How do they fly, well keep in mind I've only been flying the 500 Woodies but in comparison, MAN these blades kick some serious A$$!!! I'm still shaking a bit from the flight, first time I really could wring out the Gaui at the local Park with no obstructions or issues and PHEW I was sweating! The blades are much more responsive than Woodies, they were tracking perfectly out of the package whereas the 500 Woodies I'd get them in track, fly around and they were out again (flexy buggers!). They were predictable, flew solid, I did some really ugly racetrack patterns and high energy figure 8's (learning in the process I REALLY need to upgrade my tail servo!!) and these blades were spot on.

I installed some Day-Glo Orange sticker-stuffs on the bottom of the blade (rebalanced and checked weight of course) just to help with orientation; I like the combination of White on top, Orange on the bottom; not perfect but better than stock for me anyway.

For $45+shipping (so in my case $62), they're a pretty good deal. I have a set of Helimax 530's on the way, getting them via my LHS so I don't have to pay shipping so those will be $45 and I'm looking forward to spinning them up as well. I kind of hate to be flying Carbon blades as they're 1) much more expensive then Woodies and 2) if you wreck you're more likely to do additional damage to your bird but MAN, it's like flying a different helo with these on.

Here's a few shots; I tried to pick shots that gave some 'view' of the blades. The first you can just barely see the orange under the blades and the Gaui looks pretty 'tough' just on it's own; the second shot you can see some weave and a "Fleet Shot" is always nice to have.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p218/Drew816_photos/HPIM1859_small.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p218/Drew816_photos/HPIM1864_small.jpg

[mysticmead]

that's what I was wanting to hear...and I like the price.. now can ya get a shot of the weave?

[skigolfmike]

Looks good! We ought to get together and fly sometime.

[JaggedEdge]

Cool! Thanks for the report. Every time I fly CF versus woodies I'm amazed at how much quieter and more precise the heli is.

[Drew816]

The picture Hobby City's website is pretty accurate, maybe not quite as 'polished and glossy' but close. Buy and Fly, they're pretty tough to beat for the money IMHO!

[vicrc]

Those are the original RCP blades that was changed out to standard CF weave pattern that is now the RCP 2, thats my thoughts anyways. I love the RCP 2, probably will like the RCP as well, I am trying a set of MAH 500 and dont like them as much because they are 70 grams heavier than the RCP 2.

[Drew816]

Just came back from another Park Flying Session, 3 flights, one 10.5 minute flight on my Pro-Tek 3000's and my last break-in flight on my Zippy's (6.5 min) and 6 minutes on my G-Force 2250 T-Rex 450 batteries.

MAN these blades kick ass! I recognized that my DS821 wasn't up to the task of dealing with the tail rotor so I used a little more 'stick' than I'm used too and that helped but I look forward to my Atlas 20-GMD arriving and we'll see how that helps out. Overall feel is really good, I was hitting some pretty tough stall turns and these buggers were tight...

And again, I'm doing what most would consider very intro level sport flight; badly coordinated Figure 8's, Racetracks, general Forward Flight, hovering practice, a few punch ups, that's about it. I REALLY pushed it today though, still shaking but feeling a little more confident. MAN I love the size of this bugger, I got lofted by a thermal at one point (the soaring Hawk above me you'd THINK would be a tip off!); not sure how high I got but it was up there and had it been a 450 I think I'd have been screwed. With the Day-Glo Orange underside of the 550 I could keep her oriented and bring her down safely; phew, it was a bit scary as she did NOT want to come down.

[mysticmead]

that's one thing I have noticed with CF blades on my hurri....it will loft on you real quick... last time I was out it was climbing rapidly while in a hover due to the wind gusts.. as soon as the gust passed the hurri would SLOWLY settle back down..guess that's a good thing when it comes time to auto

[istandalone]

that looks like the weave that came on the original RCP 500mm carbons, that came in the xes kits late last year.

[Wazzer]

Sorry Thread Hijack!

Hey Drew

What heli do you have inside that Hughes Fuse?

Looks nice, cant be your 450 surley?.... its huge!

[mysticmead]

yeah... that's his 450... he's mentioned it a few times... and isn't it amazing that a 450 can get so big when it gets wrapped in a 500 fuselage

[Wazzer]

Man that looks cool

Parking it next to the hurry really shows the size of it.

I wonder how big a the A109 would look as its quite a bit longer than the H500's

I am presuming that with all that extra weight (plus two flight batts) that the heli would be quite stable in the air?

What sort of head spead would you be running with a scale fuse like that?
Flight times?

Come On Drew I need some more info! you have really whetted my whistle as they say!

Look like the next time one of my mates goes to Singapore they will be bringing back a large Cardboard Box!

JB....... whens your next trip?

[mysticmead]

oh yeah Ben... I know you used to be a male model and all.... but did ya read drew's sig??

Heliartist 500D - T-Rex 450, double battery setup, Scorpion V8, Align 35X ESC, 401/9650 and HS-65's

[Wazzer]

Yes I Saw that just after i posted the question :DOH

just popping over to the scale forum for a bit see ya later!!

[Drew816]

Hey Wazzer, just look at my signature block and the 500D is described there... You male models, come on already Zoolander, Can't you reads too good? ;) :YeaBaby: :rolling:smokin:

Yes, that was a joke! As for the helo it's an Align T-Rex 450 in a Heliartist 500D fuse; it's a hell of a lot bigger than a stock 450 I can confirm for you! Which I really like, I want a 'bigger' helo so I can more easily see the darned things and the colour scheme and general setup of the 500D makes it pretty easy on orientation while flying. Right now I have a nasty vibration in the drivetrain I can't seem to isolate, I think I'm going to have to pull it out and setup it back up as a regular ole' T-Rex to figure out what's going on.

Do you REALLY need to replace the main bearings after a wreck? Maybe that's what's happening here, everything else seems to be balanced and setup correctly...

As for the size in comparison, the A109's are a bit smaller but still pretty good sized (just not as tall), the EC135-145's are close but not quite as big and then there are Darth fuses and others out there I can't speak to about size as I've never seen them in person or in direct comparison. However on this thread several pages later you can see some of his work. So here's a thread on RC Groups about the build plus an AWESOME shot of my buddy Don flying a full scale 500D and perching himself on a rock formation; what a nut! Nice 500 as well...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=864443

(http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=864443&highlight=n23cp)

[skigolfmike]

I had to replace the top main shaft bearing after my last (first and only so far) crash. it was very notchy and I felt it was better to replace it. I have ceramics coming.

BTW, I had one of the local heli guys salivating over my 550 last night. He was begging to fly it. I did let him fly my souped up Blade 400, which he was really impressed with. I told him the 550 was even better.:thumbup:

[mysticmead]

now he just needs to get one...and then join us in here...

[Drew816]

I killed my TIG blades today, still not sure what happened but the honest explanaton is likely that I "Rookied Out" and hit the stick the wrong direction when the helo was coming at me. I looked down after it hit and I had the stick in the right direction and the helo really did just SINK in a slight turn with a bit of a tailwind but I don,t think my energy level was so low it stalled; it was wierd. A co-worker was with me and when it went down he too said "...what the heck!?!" It just didin't look "right" but let's face it, it's a 99.89% chance it was the jerkie on the stick that was the issue.

MAN this isn't going to be a cheap re-build and no Carbon blades for me for a while. Arrgghhh... I was running a hollow main-shaft and it "ovalized" and locked the mainbearings in place; I had to split the frame halves to get then out and of course I don't have any as spares.. RHeli order already placed and back to the 450 for the time being I guess. PERFECT weather over the next few days too, daXnit!!!

[Mikej]

Bugger - tough luck Drew :(:(

[skigolfmike]

Ouch - that sucks.

Sometimes the heli can get stuck in it's own downwash. When that happens it takes a lot of collective to stop the sink. First time it happened to me it was like WTF.

[Drew816]

Sometimes the heli can get stuck in it's own downwash. When that happens it takes a lot of collective to stop the sink. First time it happened to me it was like WTF.

Well I was descending and coming around so perhaps that's what happened; downwash build up mixed with de-acceleration and a slight turn all at the same time. That probably mixed with a bit of a tailwind and a 'not so coordinated' turn or approach on my part...

It was weird, it just kind of stopped, flopped and rolled over dead and what sucked was I was unusually low since my intent was to approach myself slowly coming forward so this all happened about 8 feet off the ground so when it 'flopped' I had NO room to recover, it just died.

Note to self, keep the forward speed up and be MUCH more careful with the downwash. ARGGHGH!!! What's more painful is I'm ONE PART away from being able to fly, stupid main bearings! And the other thing that stinks is as I've mentioned before my DS821 on the tail just isn't really up to the task and I've even debated flying the Gaui as it was because it was 'difficult' to keep coordinated; so when I got back from the Park with my Gaui in bits what should be sitting there buy my new Atlas/Hyperion 20GMD Servo for the tail.

Oh well, time to dust off the Heliartist 450 and get scooting until parts arrive, and I've now got some Gaui downtime to clean some wiring up, tweak, install the new tail servo, etc.

Happy Flying ya'll!

[mysticmead]

you'll get the parts soon enough from RH... they'll take good care of ya. now remember, the heliartist 450 is a pig and flies heavy.

[Drew816]

now remember, the heliartist 450 is a pig and flies heavy.

But it's a preddy pig... ;)

Just got back from flying it; the trick with it AND likely my wreck yesterday was once again a lesson re-learned, KEEP YOUR ENERGY UP!!! I think I just got the Gaui into a sink and downwash situation with a tailwind and it just 'stalled' or flopped. With N23CR since she weighs so much you REALLY have to get on the throttle and be a lot more active; it's good training all the way around as this thing will SINK like nobodies business and I feel a little more confident now having put three successful 'sport flights' on this thing. I was really pushing it beyond what I probably should have been, it did great, didn't look too 'scale' with that type of flying but it did look GOOD and that's all that matters! :YeaBaby:

I'll need to do a 'post flight maintenance check' on her and insure all is ok; and I'm working to get the Gaui ready for it's bearings so all I'll have to do is drop those buggers in and tighten her back up. I suspect the RH parts will arrive Monday or Tuesday at the latest so I should be back up and flying by early to mid next week with WOODIES for a while; phew! I really need to throw away the dead TIG blades as everytime I look at them I get a sick feeling; but maybe they're a good reminder...

Happy Flying!

[mysticmead]

if the parts shipped yesterday... you should have them tomorrow :D.. and yes, the 450 is a pretty pig.. have often thought about doing that to my 450..IF I ever bother fixing it..

[neonbjb]

Out of curiosity, what did you guys end up doing to get the blades to conform with the stock plastic grip bolts? (I believe I read earlier that the stock bolts were smaller than the holes in the TIGs). I was thinking of drilling my grips and getting a new bolt at home depot but I'd like to retain the ability to use my stock wooden gaui blades.