Cheap 500 scale heli...Any suggestions?

[UPGl2AYDD]

Originally Posted by Jonnyheli

Hey, as Mike said, the HS 82MGs work well, but these are Micro servos. The 500 takes mini servos. You can fit the 82s with brackets. I would choose the 225s because the extra size probably means they will cope with stress better.

Nope believe it or not these micro's specifically work in a 500 flawlessly. They are about the only servo you can use in a HDX500/HC500 aside from the recent INO Labs and if you've seen some 3D pilots wring'em out they handle beautifully.

I even was hesitant myself initially too but they really proved themselves. Hitec's are honestly the best money can buy on a smaller bird, 500 and smaller. Though on a 600 and up I haven't seen much good (didn't Andrew have a Hitec issue in his 600?).


The Align ESC's offer really sweet soft-starts but since Jonny's build they've become riddled with issues so I'd not spend a lot of money on one (they average $100 a piece on a 500 sized). Alex's failed, mine failed, and many others. It was an epidempic almost with the flood of complaints - hence why Align packages Castle ESC's with most of there kits now!


+1 Dave, MKS Produce the best servos, and in fact most of the other top brand servos are MKS manufactured. The Outrage Torq servos are MKS if that means anything. You pay marginally more but very much worth it.

[giorgos_cupra]

You guys are great!

I will use jonny's motor in the first post.After reading Dave's post on the battery configuration,i have to rule out the 1800KV motor.I want to go with a 6s setup.Probably 2-3 zippy 6s 5000mhA.This will also help balance the heli better with the fuse on it.

ESC.....hm.....i'll go with the esc that has the best soft start.The soft start in my turnigy is nearly absent!My belt used to literally kick when i was powering it up.Also a programmable card would be nice.I'm sick of all that beeping

The MKS servoshave the same price as the hitecs in Greece.So there is no difference price wise,and if you guys say they are better,then that's the way to go

Problem still remains though....I haven't received a response from rc aerodyne yet....

[Tomstoy2]

MKS has one hell of a reputation. Amazing for a company that has zero dollars spent on advertizing. That's how they keep the price down. Reputation is all word of mouth, and very well deserved.

Dude, you got me thinking,,,,,, I have an old HDX frame, and damn near every part, electronic and otherwise to build it up. Perfect in a fuselage. Been eyeing the Heliartist MD500 in black/gray. All I really need is the fuse,,,,,,, got 6 months with nothing to do,,,,,

[giorgos_cupra]

The best promotion comes from the mouths of the users,not from a shiny advertisment on the internet or a magazine

Tom that's awesome man!You got everything,i say go for it!!I wanted to say this to Mike too who was thinking about a scale project....i know you guys are in to 3d and stuff but flying a heli the scale way is completely different.Has another beauty to it!It's like when you see a blackhawk in the tv doing a rescue on a creek,or a huey moving fast in the desert carrying soldiers with m60s.You just admire the way they fly,they way they move,take off,banking everything!

You may say flying scale is just boring....Well,i wont....It's a great challenge to fly a model the way a real heli does.Even a hh gyro makes a great diference!

Last but not least,it's the image you get from a full scale heli!It's just awesome,to me at least....I say go for it!You wont loose anything....Instead you will gain

[UPGl2AYDD]

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

MKS has one hell of a reputation. Amazing for a company that has zero dollars spent on advertizing. That's how they keep the price down. Reputation is all word of mouth, and very well deserved.

Dude, you got me thinking,,,,,, I have an old HDX frame, and damn near every part, electronic and otherwise to build it up. Perfect in a fuselage. Been eyeing the Heliartist MD500 in black/gray. All I really need is the fuse,,,,,,, got 6 months with nothing to do,,,,,

Screw off Tom, reading and tossing my opinion out for giorgos and seeing Jack's recent little scale build has had me on the cross about doing a small E scale too, now you jumping on the wagon of contemplation also isn't helping. Wouldn't be feasible if I contiuned doing my 50E night build at the same time but ah.. we'll see!

I was personally eyeballing those Apache fuselages... Mmm 600 only, but a 450 as well. I ain't into no more 450's, the last one cured me with his explosive tail seven flights in. Maybe my night 50E will have to be a scale? :o

I think Master Jack needs to bitch slap me... lol

[Jonnyheli]

Well if you really want a good soft start. I think I'll withdraw my reccomendation on the Scorpion. My experience, the soft start didn't work. Unless I programmed it wrong. It was a while ago when I got that ESC, and now I've sold the 450 so I can't check the settings. But I'm sure I did put it on the softest start. Also, mine used to get really hot.

Again, the Align ESC soft start is really good. But as Mike said, they have been known to release the magic smoke on a few occasions.

The Align ESCs I've had have been really good to me. They are always cool after flights, easy to program etc.

Jonny

[giorgos_cupra]

Mike i love your responses man!!!I bet my house that you and Tom as a stand up comedy couple would rock this world!!!!

Don't fight,there is room for everyone!I'm extremely glad the scale world is attracting so much people

Mike a 450 is too small for a scale heli in my opinion.The smallest i'd go is a 500.

I say leave the .50 as is.Because i know you,you re gonna strip that fuse down in a while and start doing tick tocks!!!

Sorry to break it to you,BUT YOU NEED ANOTHER HELI

[giorgos_cupra]

Jonny didn't read good things about the align....The smoke thing you guys are saying.Also i read the same about scorpions....I'm leaning towards the hobbywings...But i'm not dead on yet

[Jonnyheli]

Originally Posted by giorgos_cupra

Mike a 450 is too small for a scale heli in my opinion.The smallest i'd go is a 500.

Same.

Originally Posted by giorgos_cupra

Jonny didn't read good things about the align....The smoke thing you guys are saying.Also i read the same about scorpions....I'm leaning towards the hobbywings...But i'm not dead on yet

Hobbywings sounds good.

Jonny

[Tomstoy2]

Come on now, Mike! All I need is a fuselage, really. All I really need is a motor. I have one, but it's the 4s, don't want more batterys. I got a fb head, a Quark, the servos, and a CC esc doing absolutely nothing.
How can you fault me?
The problem lies is that I know myself. Once I start a scale project,,,, well, stopping seems to be an issue.
Spent years scratch building a 1/4 scale fw-190d, retracts, working center bomb release, detailed cockpit, the works.

GC, this much I will recommend on anything that goes on a scale bird, better be bullet-proof as access afterwards is a real bitch!

[UPGl2AYDD]

Cheers giorgos, I think me and Tom would probably do well... Wouldn't you say Tom? LOL Me and Tom are always bantering, sometimes I think our humor is a bit to much to swallow for some though... COUGH...

Yeah, your right, you got a lot of "left overs" from all your upgrades upon upgrades. But as you've already relized, just getting the fuse and heli together is breaking the ice. Before long you'll have CNC retracts, lights, and all sorts of goodies.

Sorry I missed the soft-start thing. To be honest Soft-start is a pretty "rare" feature on a lot of ESC's. Scorpions are great but said to have a selective soft start you could say. The Align's have AMAZING soft-starts but dammit, they just smoke and fry way to commonly now and days. Hobbywings, well, I've had a few. The 450 models were crap, the one I had for my 500, freaking awesome. Never had an issue with her, but the soft-start was miserable compared to Aligns. But I considered it acceptable.

At least you can compensate for a lack luster softstart with throttle curves and ease while throttling up initially. Castle seem to be the #1 leads on the market, but putting the chips down for one can be a stretch. I know all to well I just dished out more for my 50E's ESC than I wanted to even envision in a nightmare, almost as much as some nitro engines... LOL

[Jonnyheli]

Put it this way. My Trex 500 and 250 never 'sees' normal mode anymore. It's TX on and throtle hold on... Heli on... Put heli on ground, straight into Idle 2 (100 flat), throttle hold off, and let soft start spool up for me

ESC comes back cool, you wouldn't even know it's just had a flight! The only bad thing on my Trex 500 is the motor. It's the older Align one which could do with a change out now... Or at least some new bearings.

Jonny

[Tomstoy2]

, Mike said "swallow",,,,,,,

[giorgos_cupra]

That's bad news about the soft start...Anyways,Mike you're right probably i could get away with it,with a very soft throttle curve at the beginning.I'll do some more reading on the hobby wing though.....Castle creations has top of the line esc s,but very pricey!If i had a 700e then i'd definately put one in!

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

, Mike said "swallow",,,,,,,

Damn Tom!!!!

[UPGl2AYDD]

There are a few versions of the Hobbywing. The Pentium and the Platinum. I had the Pentium, the soft-start as I said was OK, just no where like Aligns. Best way put, I never stripped any gears because of the ESC at least. The Platnium versions I've read have great soft-starts, but I never had one to know. I have to admit, the pictures I've seen of the Platinum, they are pretty sexy with they're enclosures, sortive like a Castle in a way.

Tom... lmfao As soon as I typed the word I giggled in my head and then asked myself "please god no one make the comment"... LOL

[Jonnyheli]

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

, Mike said "swallow",,,,,,,

Hehe, your right, he did say swallow

[giorgos_cupra]

Guys what do you think about the hitec hs82MG servos?They are entry level servos,adequate for sport flying and i think align suggests them in their t-rex 500 manual..

I did some reading and found out that nobody had problems with them...They may be enough for what i need.Remember,no 3d stuff,don't let yourself get carried away

Mike i'll probably go with the hobby wings esc.As the different version go,i have to do some digging and if possible see a video of the two in action

[UPGl2AYDD]

The 82's and 85's were what you were suppose to run in the HC500 (trex 500 competitor), and it did some pretty good smack 3D. Sport flying should be a blunt joke. They are in the Align Manual as well, 82's and 85's. I never ruined any of the six I had until I put carbon fiber arms on them and crashed so hard it stripped every gear and screwed up the POTs. Lesson I learned is keep those plastic arms, they SAVE your servos.

Do dig around, I only owned the Pentium (I believe 60A or 80A can't remember). Never had an issue with her, served me well and I ran two 3S1P's in series and a 6S1P on her and she never got hot. And I did as much 3D as I could with it at the time and it was in more crashes than any pilot would ever wanna keep count of. But as said the Platinum one is said to actually have a good Soft-Start.

Hobbywing are the only "inexpensive" brand ESC I'd run with. Turnigy may or may not me any good, seems to be a hit or miss. I believe Erwin is running one on his HK600, should ask him if you were considering.

[giorgos_cupra]

Mike that;s just awesome news about the 82's!!!!I was surprised i found them so cheap!I'll take your word for it and go with them.I also found them locally which is great!

I decided on the esc too.I'm gonna go with the hobbywing platinum 80/100.I read a little about it,spent some time looking the specs and looks pretty good to me.I found the esc too locally,but they don't have any stock at the moment.By the time though i ll start the project i'm sure they re be back in stock.

[Jonnyheli]

Yeah, giorgos_cupra, lots of people have used the hs 82mgs. It seems to be "the" budget servo for the 500.

I'm still put off by the fact that the hs 82MGs are Mirco servos. The hs 225MGs are Mini servos (which is what the 500 was built to take). For me, putting a set of micro servos on a 500 would take away it's pride. It spoils the fact it's a 500.

Also, the 225s are not far off the same price as the 82s.

Anyway, like I said I have heard so many people putting 82s on their 500s and have never heard anything bad so you've still made a good choice

I've never tried hobbywing ESCs but I have heard some good things about them. Can't really remember hearing any negative comments, so hopefully it will be a good one

Jonny