Bummer....

[jiminator]

Well, one less Srimok in the air. Hadn't flown it for quite awhile so this last week figured time to put some air under the rotor. The 1.05 fired up on the 3rd crank. Walked over to my heli pad and gave it a bit of throttle to warm it up a bit then lifted off. Clicked it into id1 and checked all the controls then proceeded to do some lazy figure 8's. I noticed kinda like a glitch/jump at one point into the flight and so brought it back into a hover in front of me and did another control check. Clicked back into normal then into id1 then id2. Did a few small pitch pumps all appeared to be fine. So off into another lazy circuit and as I was coming out of a banked turn my controls ceased to function.

Only about 20 feet off the deck at this point, kept trying to regain control and ran out of space so I hit TH. Big crunch... thud. Rats my fav heli is now in pieces. Boom, boom supports and torque tube all snapped off as a unit. One of the pitch links on the tail pitch slider reversed itself and the tail fin broke but apparently nothing else on the tail section is damaged. Will take out the tail shaft and spindle when funds permit and check them for staightness.

Main blades of course were trashed. Main shaft is straight, gears all without chips or stripping. No damage to servos, fbl unit or pipe and engine. Only real damage on the frame is where the plastic nose piece pulled one of the frame bolts thru the CF on the left side frame. Plastic nose piece and canopy were irrepairable but seemed to have provided a nice crumple zone and took the hit.

Actually very impressed with how well this heli crashed. This was actually my first crash with a 700 size ship. Had to happen sooner than later I guess. Upon hooking up the vbar and checking the flight files I had a whole bunch of "servo not responding to input errors". Those aren't the exact words but basically it looked like I lost power somehow. I keep thinking I should have cycled the receiver battery before using because it has been a few months since it was used last.

Looks like sometime in '17 Ben will be getting a parts order

[trillian]

Damn, that's a drag! It's a terrible feeling to realise you have no control. The only time that happened to me was many years ago when I was using the NiCad and NiMH packs to power the rx and I had a brown out due to a sudden drop in voltage and realised I was then just a spectator. (This was an old Kalt Alpha Baron gasser)

My only crash with a Kasama was on about the tenth flight with the Faifa and I was trying some new tail blades and in a hover both tail blades flew off. Of course it began spinning madly and I hit TH and tried to set it down but the tail caught the ground just hard enough to snap the boom and this stripped the crown gear, bent the tail shaft and a few other tail parts. It wasn't so much a crash as just a hard landing.

[Sage]

Sorry to hear that.

It happened to me in the past.

I had returned home form sea after almost 5 months contract.
Charged two Rx 2S 3500 mAh lipo (dark blue Outrage Rx LiPo) batteries. Noticed nothing wrong while charging them.
Took my lovely FB Srimok (HV set up) out of the transportation bag. Checked all the parts, screws etc. Cleaned and oiled main and tail shafts.

Next day went out to the field to see my Srimok back in the air again.
2 flights with first rx battery and than switched to Rx battery #2.
Did very slow 8 shape figure eight just 2 meters over the ground to enjoy the view. No vibes, just very smooth cruising and suddenly noticed same kind of glitch/jump in the end of that figure and quickly brought it into the hover few meters in front of me.
While it was hovering it tilted to one side, so I brought it back, than it tilted to the other side and while I was bringing it back the control become very 'soft' and just in seconds heli tilted left and hit 'mother earth'
When I approached the heli cyclic servos did not respond to any tx input.
First what came to my mind was burnt servos or what ?
Soon after I found that 1 cell in 2S LiPo died. It was close to 1.5 volt.

Luckily not big damage. Canopy stands bent taking most of the impact force. Boom broke, tail shaft bent, one of the landing pipes bent, canopy badly crashed, main blades and that would be it.

I wish you to bring that beautiful helicopter back in the air as soon as possible.

[jiminator]

It will be rebuilt When I walked up to the crash site all the servos responded to input so I'm pretty sure it is a bad rx pack that just didn't have the oomph for a second or two. I've already swapped the 1.05 into my Trex 700n as I'm kind of wanting to try something different in the Srimok. We'll see as the OS was trouble free once I figured out it needed to be one turn more open on each of the needles.

Looking forward to '17 and getting this beautiful ship back in the air. Thanks for commiserating.

[jiminator]

Getting close to the rebuild so a couple of questions. What do you use to clean out the one-way bearing and which grease to use to repack it? And, how do you get the key out to separate the main gear from the crown gear? When I assembled them it was a really tight fit. Thanks.

[jiminator]

Got my first order for parts in with Kasama UK. Upon further inspection I found the main shaft and head spindle were bent. It was very hard to see but as I rolled them down a piece of glass there was a slight wobble in each. The tail spindle was bent too but the tail shaft wasn't. Still amazed by how well it held up in the crash. I guess the desert floor cushioned the impact somewhat. Really looking forward to rebuilding my pride and joy

[trillian]

Glad to hear you're on the way to getting it going again.

Generally speaking it's pretty difficult to have main and spindle shafts survive a crash on a 700 size heli. You just never know though, crashes can vary so much.

[wadders248]

I crashed mine recently due to the elevator servo failing. The heli pitched-back, so I hit TH and landed tail first. The boom took all of the impact and even the tail blades looked reasonable. The main blades were toast, but the canopy just had a bit of mud on. I honestly thought it was going to be destroyed!

[jiminator]

Was this your Srimok wadders? Sorry to hear that.

[jiminator]

Is everything okay at Kasama UK? Placed my order on the 12th and it still shows processing. Ben responded quickly to my emails and then nothing. Hoping that everything is okay.

[Raptorapture]

It is Easter holidays.

[jiminator]

Ah, makes sense. Thanks.

[jiminator]

Got a bit of work done today. Starting to look like a heli again!

[wadders248]

Originally Posted by jiminator

Was this your Srimok wadders? Sorry to hear that.

Originally Posted by jiminator

Is everything okay at Kasama UK? Placed my order on the 12th and it still shows processing. Ben responded quickly to my emails and then nothing. Hoping that everything is okay.

Yes, that was my Srimok

I've taken the opportunity to strip it completely and replace anything that's necessary. I've also got a new set of servos to use. It's my fault really, because it was well overdue some maintenance. I reckon nitros needs need stripping completely every year, though this one hadn't been crashed in over two years, so I just kept flying it. I didn't realise how many hours I had on it until I looked on my Jeti

I've still got spare frames, canopies and parts to re-build it 2-3 times. In fact I've got a brand new kit for sale, as I've got so many parts!

As said it's Easter hols here, so I'm also waiting for parts from other retailers, though they're probably off flying!

[jiminator]

I keep telling myself I need to get a crash kit together but it never happens. Until Esprit stopped carrying Kasama it was easy to get parts and only took a couple of days. Oh well, can make new friends this way across the pond. Only broke one part Ben didn't have in stock (m3x40 threaded rod that holds the anti-rotation bracket and rear canopy mounts in place) Will probably get that from the factory or wait for my next parts order from the UK. Really enjoying the rebuild. Jim

[jiminator]

How long do the Easter holidays go on for?

Edit: Yippeeee! Looks like my parts are on the way.

[wadders248]

Originally Posted by jiminator

How long do the Easter holidays go on for?

The school holidays are two weeks at Easter, so people often take the whole time off work.

[jiminator]

Got surprised today with delivery of my parts. When I checked delivery status in my account last week it still showed processing, I think, on Tuesday. Ben must have come in on vacation then and filled some orders. If so, that is over and above good service. Thanks Kasama UK

[jiminator]

And almost complete now. I have a set of Radix 710 flybar blades I'm going to break it in on when the time comes. Wouldn't mind trying a set of VTX 697's once I make sure all is working okay. Only question I have is... do the washout arms have to be 90 degrees to the main shaft when at mid stick? At full positive collective they bump into the links on the bottom of the head. Only time this could be an issue is at stick positions I'll most likely never encounter but just wondering if I should drop the washout base down a bit.

[wadders248]

That's the inspiration I need to get mine rebuilt!

I've never noticed the washout arms causing a problem, though I've been running the low rider head for a while, so they're mounted to the head block.

Just be careful with those satellite cables running near the frame edges. I've found with nitro that the frames turn into a carbon saw and cause electrical shorts.