Darkside

[Rodney]

I remember when this forum used to be very full.
Hell now I dont think there are many left flying the darkside.
Chime and lets see who all there is.

[BobbySmith]

Hey Rodney you feeling lonely? HEHE :dontknow
I think was about 3 years ago when everybody went to the darkside am i right?
Bobby

[esmith]

I'm going to be flying a new Pred Max this spring, just need an engine and muffler. (on order) Lot's of Ravens and Preds around western Canada. I fly a 3d pro at our indoor events if that counts for anything. :lol:

-eSmith.

[pepper]

i'll be back someday :D

[lakespinner2]

I've got a predator gasser and second one 90 % finished if that counts.

[Helodad]

I love the Dark Side. I have faith more will follow. :glasses2:

RAVEN 50 In the da,house

[mplourde]

Hey guys,

I fly one Falcon SE III, one Humming Elite CP and I have just finished to upgrade my 3D Pro with all CNC pieces...

Good flying....

[929pilot]

Swift coming soon, motor and speed control already on the way. I'm putting together a combo that regular people can afford without breaking the bank. I'll start a new thread when I have something to report.

[DebianDog]

I just picked up another one!

[steve matteson]

Rodney
Still flying my three gassers. Two carbon / Hanson powered. One standard model with G23, V-blades, 105 carbon tail blades and all bearing upgrades on the main shaft. I had some problems in the start but now running all on GV-1 and learning some moves. Fuel cost are SWEET! 40 minute on 20 oz in the G23 and 20= min on the G26, camper fuel 3.63 a Gallon. I mostly fly ten minutes at a time..

[Rodney]

Cool info on the gassers.

[DebianDog]

I did a Gasser set-up video with Stator Gator and my "Condor" that may be helpful (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7602552192126289646) :glasses:

[steve matteson]

DebianDog
Saw the video. Good info. I have head speed setup on 13/88 gearing 1850 on the Hansons 26 with 720 rototechs. The G23 is running 13/88 and 1800 head speed with 720 V-blades.
:mrgreen:

[DebianDog]

Thanks.

Slightly OT: You know we counted the teeth on the main gear like 5 times and ALWAYS came up with 89! You can see the marks (every 10) on the gear in the video.

[MikeB]

Rodney,

Don't worry there are plenty of us on the Darkside, we're all building getting ready to take over. For me I have a Predator with a 70 OMI modified, and a big "donkey size" Century 90 silent power muffler. I am having a little problem getting the setup perfect. I'll get it, but if I can't; I'll come to you with my questions... :)

[Rodney]

No problem Mike. Ill be here.

[Rodney]

I am glad to see the post count going up in here. We are not all pros but we can still help and are very eager to help in any way we can. If you have a problem let us know so we can help. No problem to big except Money you are on your own for that one. But if you can spare some feel free to pass it on.

[MikeB]

Question,

How important is a pure mechanical setup, as opposed to using sub-trim?


mb

[bighands3d]

don't use sub trims mechanical is the best way not the fastest but much more consitant. The only thing you will need to use for leveling the swash at max and min pitch settings is the ATV or ARF's depends wheather your a Ford man or a Chevy on the radio system.

using the ATV and ARF to get the swash level and mantain a level set up.

[MikeB]

Thanks bighands, I'll start over and get a pure mechanical setup. Rodney, what servo horns did you use on your Predator? I'm using Futaba 9252 servos.

mb

[Rodney]

Use the 20mm round ones. the big ones. They work out very nice. When setting it up make sure you try every spline on each wheel before bolting on the get the best setup you can with our subtrims. A wheel might not line up even on one servo but will fit another right where you need it too. Take your time and work it out. Make sure you have all the servos centered at mid stick. Might use idle up if you done hover at half stick, some people dont. When you are done the push pull links should be the same length on each servo horn.

[MikeB]

Rodney,

I was going to use the 20mm Futaba wheels, but I bought the Century servo arm kit... I can't seem to get everything at 90* without using sub trims with the metal arms.

I'm still a beginner at this. My first heli was a Raven that I totaled when I came out of a tail slide, started into a fast right hand turn with main rotor perpendicular to the ground, and lost tail rotor about 25 ft up. Spun the Raven into the ground... not much left. Upgraded to a Predator, which is a little more complicated.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

mb

[Rodney]

Metal arms. If it were me I would not use the metal arms, sub trims are one reason.
The other is they, as with metal gears tend to break the servo cases as well. Go with the wheels they work very well. And you will not need sub trims.

[Steve Rogers]

Hate to sound ignorant but since I'm fairly new to Heli Freek whats the darkside??

Steve

[Rodney]

A few years ago the Century line of helis got the nickname Darkside.
Not sure how but it was called the Darkside.