How Tough Is A V120D02S !

[NRPatten]

Had a day off work so i thought i would got to my dads for a fly.
Took my TREX 700E for its maiden flight ( Hover ) My V450D01 and my V120D02S, Everything was going good the V120D02S was as stable as in the wind.
Did 1 battery in the V120D02S then asked my dad if he would like a go of it ( This is where thing start to go wrong ).
He started flying and lost sight of the heli and ended up crashing it on a dirt mound that was on a construction site now this is where it gets good, On this dirt mound was a 20 tonne excavator digging up the mound we ran over to the work site but i was to late the excavator got a bucket of dirt right from where to V120D02S crashed and dumped it on the other side of the mound was thinking this is it if the excavators bucket did not break the heli the tonne of dirt surely would have broke it.
So we started to walk back to the car and seen the excavator driver waving at us from across the field i ran back over to him and guess what he was moving some of the dirt pile and the V120D02S somehow ended up on top or the pile ( at this point i was thinking it must be snapped in half ) but it was in perfect condition bar 1 broken skid and lots of dirt.
I had a quick look over it on the way back to the car cleaned the dirt from all the servos ESC and blades and all seemed to be good so i put a new battery into is and spooled it up and it fly's just as good now as it did befor the incident.

So today i learnt a V120D02S is all most indestructible so after all that and about 20 other crashes all that broke was the canopy and landing skids.

I just thought i would share how robust the V120D02S is well worth the money in my opinion.

[jonbailie]

Good to hear it survived the ordeal It is quite a tough little micro. It's also a superb flier!

You should probably blow out all the dirt with a can of air-duster, or air-compressor. Then put a dab of oil in the bearings and metal moving parts. Should be good to go after a new skid and canopy

[Heli-opolis]

Holy indestructible Batman!

I would guess that it was a 'comedy of errors' that caused it to sustain such little damage but having done things to my 02S that while not as dramatic as your event, made me surprised to see things weren't as bad as I expected, I can appreciate the survivability of the 02S very much!

I think there is a heavy equipment operator that deserves a six-pack of his favorite brew!

Hell, considering what a BNF 02S would cost, make it a case!

[ChitownMatt]

"...bar 1 broken skid"

The skids, always those damn skids.

Seriously though, that's pretty amazing.

Its always impossible to judge damage from a crash; sometimes a stomach churning fight with a concrete slab does nothing when a tiny brush of the tail rotor to the carpet turns a gear.

Personally, I think one of the best things about the 02s is that it is infinitely repairable and fun to work on.

I've gotten to the point where I am like a Marine with his riffle. Put a bag of 02s parts in-front of me with a blindfold and in 20 minutes I could have a heli ready to go.

I'm kidding of course; in reality it would probably take me 35 minutes.

[Heli-opolis]

I bet that if you had a Blade bearing down on you with malicious intent, you could get your bag-o-02S parts together faster than that to defend your air space and the free world from an evil tyranny.

That's one thing I've never seen at a flying competition, speed assembly! Pick a bird, put its parts on a table in front of each contestant and see who can get it together and flyable the fastest.

Probably not something one would want to promote the practice of though as we get enough of that from the factory.

[GJacksonF3N]

To me the d02s is the one I'm repairing the most on mild to no crash. Not as durable in my opinion, but glad you are having good success with it.

[zadaw]

Originally Posted by inner3

To me the d02s is the one I'm repairing the most on mild to no crash. Not as durable in my opinion, but glad you are having good success with it.

If you get to this stage, it may be best just to get a new one and use the old one as spares. Once you have had quite a number of crashes, it becomes totally unpredictable which part is going to go next. Once, the swashplate disintegrated the moment I went inverted. Lately, I had receivers that just failed in mid-air.

It is a worthwhile heli to keep though. I took out my Trex 250 yesterday and had the first 3D flights. It basically flew like a lemon and was outclassed by the V120D02S in every way. There were so many things that were potentially wrong that it will take me a long time to sort it out.

[GJacksonF3N]

Wow are you serious, the v120 flies better than the trex 250? Maybe I should get another and just use that one for spares. About fed up with it. Sucks to have to buy a whole new Heli though! Right now my money has to go towards car stuff. Getting ready for car shows. Also may use the other money for the trex 450 if it ever gets fixed. If he was too busy to not have it working by next week I'm selling it. I bought it March 30th and have zero flight time on it.

[zadaw]

Originally Posted by inner3

Wow are you serious, the v120 flies better than the trex 250? Maybe I should get another and just use that one for spares. About fed up with it. Sucks to have to buy a whole new Heli though! Right now my money has to go towards car stuff. Getting ready for car shows. Also may use the other money for the trex 450 if it ever gets fixed. If he was too busy to not have it working by next week I'm selling it. I bought it March 30th and have zero flight time on it.

My 250 hasn't been flown for 6 months and the batteries are dying. I have had over 500 flights on it and my LHS refused to repair it saying that it is falling apart. He said that in any case, I have got more than my money's worth after 500 flights. I tried to fly it today and the belt snapped. I have only crashed my 250 11 times, that's far less than the crashes I have had with my V120s.

[NRPatten]

Originally Posted by inner3

Wow are you serious, the v120 flies better than the trex 250? Maybe I should get another and just use that one for spares. About fed up with it. Sucks to have to buy a whole new Heli though! Right now my money has to go towards car stuff. Getting ready for car shows. Also may use the other money for the trex 450 if it ever gets fixed. If he was too busy to not have it working by next week I'm selling it. I bought it March 30th and have zero flight time on it.

I'm not sure that a 120 will fly better than a 250 that has been set up properly but i am sure that if you crash a 250 you will have to repair something the V120 on the other hand 9 times out of 10 you can pick it up and there will be nothing wrong with it.

And with the V120 being very durable you will take more risk, And in the end it will teach you a lot more when you take the risk and learn from your mistakes + you get more flight time from a heli that is durable because if you crash your not spending the day repairing it you just pick it up and fly again.

[GJacksonF3N]

That's the one thing, because I'm working on some good stuff I have had more crashes then normal. But the risk will be worth it one day. I will probably try repairing this tomorrow during a break, but if its too bad then I will look at getting another one next pay day. But don't want to! That's a waste of money you know. For that price I can get a used trex 250, so I'll have to way the options.