Build Problems With the Swift 16 Kit.

[Mav]

I just got a Swift 16 kit about 3 weeks ago, and I really have not got very far in building it because all the problems with quality and missing parts. (Like blade grip not drilled all the way thru, missing washers, Ball links not threaded and feathering shaft off center making the blade grip bind.) I was just wondering if anyone else has had these kinds of problems when building your kit... I think on Tuesday I am going to send it back and get something else. I have been building RC heli’s and Planes for 20+ years and really never seen this. Yes missing parts here and there but bad quality and missing parts is not a good combo. All I have been doing is waiting for the mail and fighting Century to fix there problems. I am just wondering if it is just me!!!

Mav

[warpspeed]

Yep, I had all sorts of issues w/my 550 carbon, but a manager at Century saw my thread here complaining about it and took it upon himself to make everything right. I simply sent him a list of everything wrong/broken and he replaced it all without hesitation and included a full set of bling as well!
I'd contact Century and see if you can't get the same results.

[Mav]

Well At least I know it is not just me ...

[JustPlaneChris]

It really makes me sad to see this kind of post. I had zero issues with my Swift 16, but that kit was purchased last May. Looks like their QC had gone down the toilet since then. :(

[Mav]

Chris
I was very excited to get this Kit as I have read all the Forums here and others, about how they had fixed all there problems.. when I called about the blade grip they wanted me to send to defected one back for review , i dont have a problem with that but they would not send another till they got it or I payed for another.. After telling them ok that I will send the whole thing back and waited for 3 hrs for a phone call back that they said they would send me another .. It took a week to get here and today when I went to put the head together it was another problem that made the bgrips bind.. So I think I would like my $320.00 back and I will go get something else..

Yes it is very upsetting to me too as money does not grow on trees any more ..

Mav

[RAV50]

Hmmm...the first Swift 16 I built (three years ago) had a few issues - non related to the build, but all related to shaking on spool up - after they sent me the V3 landing gear all was great and has been ever since.

Then with my Swift 550SE. durring the build I found it was missing the spacers that go behind the cyclic push/pull bellcranks. One phone call to antonio - and I had them a couple of days later.

The last two Swift 16 I built (another for myself and one for a friend) where built last month - no issues at all.

Maybe yours is an old Kit? Who did you get it from?

I would call Antonio, I bet he will sort it all out ASAP.

Blade grips binding on the Swift 16? That is a simple rotor head to assemble with no binding. I understand, on the first production run of the 550SE, that was a problem with some as the CNC metal yokes as some did not have deep enough damper seats. But I have never heard of it on the Swift 16???

Even on my Swift 550SE. In static form, their seemed to be a bit of binding initially, as the dampers seemed to rub on the inner radial bearing of each grip. But in practice the centrifugal forces pulled them out enough that there was no binding in flight. Later, after a few flights, and the dampers had all seated properly, there was no binding even statically.

[Mav]

The kit was bought from Helicopter world 3 weeks ago. I have talked to Antonio, he is the one that wanted me to send the blade grip that was defected back or buy them before they would send out another, till I said I wanted my $$$$ Back. Then they changed there toon on that one.. Maybe I did get old stock who knows.. there seems to be a lot of problems so far and I have not got very far..

Mav

[JustPlaneChris]

Blade grips binding on the Swift 16? That is a simple rotor head to assemble with no binding. I understand, on the first production run of the 550SE, that was a problem with some as the CNC metal yokes as some did not have deep enough damper seats. But I have never heard of it on the Swift 16???Believe it, Rav. It's been reported at least twice now over on RCG in my "Tales of the Swift" thread. A batch of spindles went out that were drilled off-center, and at least two builders got tail booms with holes mis-drilled causing the tail assembly to be 20 degrees off from the main shaft, plus missing parts, etc. It really does make me sad to see this happening.

[NoFly]

I started building mine last week. I got mine from towerhobbies it the newer kit with the
Metal Fin Set and Metal Support Frame. I have not seen other Swifts up close but I think
there may be a issue with my Flybar Control Arms. The arms are not level when I tighten
the set screws on the flats spots on the flybar. They are offset several degrees downward.
Is this correct? Or should they be 90 degrees to the set screw holes?

Carlos

[grwarlock]

The only issues I have had with my 16's was the 550 motor and ESC. The stator on the 550 came loose and killed the ESC with it. I had to threaten to send my Swift 16 back and let them return my total money before they decided to exchange out the 550 and ESC to a 600+ and new ESC for the 600+ ( I paid the differance ). I had Zero issues with the 16 or 16 carbon on building.

Let it be known they did replace the 500 and ESC when they failed under warrenty. The new one did the same and thats when I had a issue with the 550 and ESC and was not willing to test the waters again and crash my heli due to faulty batch of 550 motors.

The do make one awsome flying swift 16 heli and carbon model, there worth it just elect not to go with the 550 motors.

Like Chris I do hate to see that you are having missing parts and build problems, Ill be glad to help any way I can if you need.

[GyroAl]

Re: the flybar control arm flats.

They may be doing this now, so that the arms are "down" (like the flybar control yokes in their larger nitro and gasser helis) This may align the control rods on the washout arms so they have more of a 90 degree relationship to the flybar arms.

The first time I came across this was many years ago with my MinAir contest X-Cell Pro 60.

[NoFly]

Re: the flybar control arm flats.

They may be doing this now, so that the arms are "down" (like the flybar control yokes in their larger nitro and gasser helis) This may align the control rods on the washout arms so they have more of a 90 degree relationship to the flybar arms.

The first time I came across this was many years ago with my MinAir contest X-Cell Pro 60.

OK, I have not had time to continue the work on my swift. Still building frames and
tail sections. I'll look at the flybar concern once I start to setup the head.

Thanks
Carlos

[Mav]

Ok I Now can reply to what happened . I called them and talked to Antonio and he told me they could not refund my Money, So I asked to talke to his superior and got to talk to Paul. He told me that they would not refund my money and would only replace defected parts. So after after an hour on the phone and him reading the forums plus explaining to him that I did not want to wait everytime I find something wrong with the kit. Then the excuse was I started the kit and the warrenty was for replacement only I told him that the kit was all in the closed bags but the head. So he talked to his boss (which when I ask to talk too he told me he was unreachable and I would not be able to talk to him because he did not have to let me talk to him.) So I Finally got an RMA # and returened it and got the refund.. I have to say here I dont think I will ever buy another Heli Kit from century as the customer service (When you have a major problem really lacks) it is ok for stuff that is small, and the quality for the kits are sub par.. I am not here to slam them just to let my story be told...


Mav

[warpspeed]

Sorry to hear that Mav. It's beginning to sound like Century doesn't care if they never sell another helicopter. Too bad really....there's already not a lot of choices in the .30 size electric class.

On the bright side, you've got your cash back.:thumbup: So what's your next choice?

[RAV50]

Too bad mav, you may have missed out on having a great flying 550 sized electric just over a few relatively minor niggles.

I have two and a number of others I know have Swifts and they are great helis.

Warpspeed

I have had far bigger niggles with a number of far more expensive helis I have owned in the past 20 years, from manufacturers such as MinAir, JR, Align, and always managed to get passed them and into some great helis.

If I had judged these manufacturers solely on the one such kit I had received from them, I would have deprived myself of some great flying helis over the years.

Heck, I have had more issues with some expensive cars I have owned and with some "must have" video games also...no manufacturer is perfect...as is no builder. So sometimes crap happens...that is part of life.

As long as Century keeps making the great helis I own and have owned from them, at such great prices, I know they will be around for a long time. That is probably why they have been around now for over 20 years....simply because there are so may of us that have been so pleased with what we have bought from them.

[BladeMaster]

RAV50 Now who lying ????

:roll:

[Al Austria]

I started building mine last week. I got mine from towerhobbies it the newer kit with the
Metal Fin Set and Metal Support Frame. I have not seen other Swifts up close but I think
there may be a issue with my Flybar Control Arms. The arms are not level when I tighten
the set screws on the flats spots on the flybar. They are offset several degrees downward.
Is this correct? Or should they be 90 degrees to the set screw holes?

Carlos

Sorry, kind of a late reply.

Although I can't tell you if Century updated how the flats are offset, I've been angling my flybar control arms down for YEARS. It adds clearance between the balls on the arms and the bottom of the blade grips under extreme cyclic deflection. Like GyroAl says, you'll see that Century as well as Miniature Aircraft implements this with their "closed loop" style flybar cage.

[iflymyhelishigh]

Man... and I was going to buy a Century .30 nitro... I hope mine isn't like this :(

[NoFly]

Al

Thanks for the response. I got my head setup and everything is fine with the flybar
flats. I'm getting somewhere around +10.5 and -10.5 on the Pitch.

No problems with this latest kit build except with a stock blade. One of the blades
did not come with a correct plastic root cover. I could have called Century but I went
with some Funkey 550 CF blades for now. The woodies make great paint
mixers ;).

Carlos


Sorry, kind of a late reply.

Although I can't tell you if Century updated how the flats are offset, I've been angling my flybar control arms down for YEARS. It adds clearance between the balls on the arms and the bottom of the blade grips under extreme cyclic deflection. Like GyroAl says, you'll see that Century as well as Miniature Aircraft implements this with their "closed loop" style flybar cage.

[n2wizard]

Quote
No problems with this latest kit build except with a stock blade. One of the blades
did not come with a correct plastic root cover. I could have called Century but I went
with some Funkey 550 CF blades for now. The woodies make great paint
mixers ;).

Carlos
end quote


Carlos,
I had the same problem with a set of blades . Pried the root cover off the smashed up set ,cleaned it off and used it. Not good.:thumbdown:
Herman

[aramsdell]

Sorry to hear some more Swift 16 horror stories. I have two Swifts and I love them for what they are. They are reliable and cheap and easy to repair.
That having been said , I too have had more than a few issues with Quality Control of their parts. What predicament does that leave them in? How many parts do they actually make here???? I bet most are shipped in from China. They are stuck selling them here.

I've had issues with the landing gear, feathering spindles, misthreaded flybars, flybars with flats misaligned, several more too.
Landing gear break everytime you land rough??? mine was. it would shatter where the skid went throught the gear. Solution: Raptor 50 gear. I bought 2 pair a year ago. I still have one set in the bag because they don't break.
I will keep flying the Swift 16 model for some time to come, so long as the parts are available. They are cheap, apparently in more ways than one(sometimes). I try to keep one of most everything hanging on 4' of the pegboard over my workbench. One Swift is a helicam and I don't want to be down when I need it flying.
There were problems for a while, and may still be, with Tower Hobbies selling what was probably a large number of much older ARF Swift 16's. I bought my first from Heli-World. My second came from Tower. It was an older model than Heli-W's. The L-gear was the older version-tall and thin. The frames were thinner and not set-up for the third bearing block option. The plastic head was a binder too. I'm over it.
The real part is the flying. This bird on 6S and 550 carbon blades is SCARY for me . I've tried all kinds of mods on mine in the last two years. Going for extras cyclic by using a hollow Hirobo mainshaft cut and redrilled gave extra collective and cyclic throw.

If you want some ajustablitiy then get the aluminum bell-mixer arms from the Hawk-Pro??? highly ajustable. This is one bling part that Century should advertise . Their bling doesn't do anything but bling.

Like I said they have their problems. I'll still get the occasional crap part, I'm sure. The machine I have built though is what counts. For not that much more than a T-Rex 450 arf you get a .30 size arf. that has a presence and feel to it that means business. Try flying it in your basement and you'll understand.....

I'm actually ordering some spares tonight.:Owned