Pre-production Twinn-Rexx build pictures

[Gra55h0pper]

Joe Orlando (www.tech-mp.com) was kind enough to sell me a pre-production kit version of the Twinn-Rexx!

Guess nobody is really interested in my build experiences and pictures? :wink:

[Gra55h0pper]

Well, OK then... The before picture...

[robwil]

It will be awsome to see this getting built as i have seen these featured in a mag

[good2win22]

I am very interested in seeing and hearing how this bird comes together. Keep the pics and experiences coming.

robwil, which mag did you see the twin rex featured in?

[good2win22]

I forgot to ask about the fuselage, what's the word on it?

[Gra55h0pper]

No fuse yet. I think Joe is still working on it.

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

What is this heli?

[Gra55h0pper]

The bird is coming together very well! I decided to test fit the complete assembly first as my pre-production kit doesn't have a full manual yet (it did come with a set of build notes though). Also, I wanted to check for proper fit before applying any loctite. Using the pictures on the tech-mp web-site, it's easy to determine what goes where.

Only thing to take care about is that two spacers and 4 nylon washers need to be installed between the mainframe aluminum tube and the left frame plates (front, rear, front drive shaft bearing block and rear drive shaft bearing block).

Everything fits great!

[Gra55h0pper]

Some more test-fitting pictures...

[robwil]

i saw it in model helicopter world where it began life as a twin dragonfly but was changed to trex parts because of problems getting hornet heads. the issue was oct 2006

[kgfly]

This will be fun to watch, thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by LITHIUMSTATIC

What is this heli?

Take a look at the tech-mp website, there are photos and videos of the TwinRexx in development.

[Funky]

Keep the pics coming, the more the better. Any word on when the production kit will be available? What electronics do you need to make it work? Sorry about all of the questions, but I would love to have one

[rotorblade]

What is this heli????

Its called a CHINOOK baby. AKA a SH**HOOK.


Oh heck yeah Kick a**.

I will definitely getting one of these things.

[Gra55h0pper]

Funky,

Not sure when the production kit will be available. That's something for Tech-mp to decide.

For electronics, you need a mixer with 2 CCPM outputs with DCP (Differential Collective Pitch) capability. This means that when applying elevator, a different pitch will be applied to the front and rear rotors causing the heli to tilt forward or backward as desired. Tech-mp has such a mixer, called the TH-2. See their web-site for more information.

Grasshopper.

[Gra55h0pper]

Finished installing the drive shaft as well as the two main shafts. Not tightening any frame parts till now definitely made sense as it allowed me to make sure the frame and bearing block "set" to the shafts rather than the other way around which could cause the shafts to not rotate smoothly as well as excessive wear on the bearings.

I simply loosly tightened everything first. Then checked for smooth rotation and the proper (very minor) play in the gears. Then tightened things repeatedly a small amount at a time.

Things run pretty smooth! Everything fit perfectly! Assembly was a breeze so far! I'm a very happy man! :mrgreen:

[Gra55h0pper]

Couple more pics showing the center 2 drive shaft bearing blocks...

[good2win22]

Looking good!!! Keep up the good work.

[Funky]

Looks sweet!! Can't wait to see this one flying.

[Gra55h0pper]

Couldn't resist... Decided to make my first upgrade... :mrgreen:

I noticed that the main drive gear on the new Trex SE v2 is more true, solid and generally stronger. Though possibly not really necessary, I decided to upgrade to it as I had one of these gears anyway. As the gear in the Twinn-Rexx needs to drive the load of two main rotors instead of one (no tail rotor though) having a somewhat stronger gear provides a little extra "piece of mind".

Only thing to note here is that the front-rotor on the Twinn-Rexx rotates counter-clockwise (CCW) where the rear-rotor rotates CW. As the front-rotor is driven by the gear and runs opposite to the rotor on a regular Trex, the one-way bearing needs to be extracted and installed "upside down". Guess most of us (unfortunately) have experience how to take the one-way bearing out of its sleeve... :mrgreen: If you don't, Align has a special little tool helping you do this, or there are other posts describing ways using e.g. a drill-press.

The pictures show the change. Note the difference with the drive gear picture shown before...

(Note: it will likely be a while before I can post on the next build step as I have some very busy days at work ahead of me. Besides, I really want to enjoy this build, so pls understand that I'm not in a hurry... )

[Gra55h0pper]

Does anybody know whether any of the real Chinooks come with a retractable landing gear? It seems real easy to me to convert the LG on the Twinn-Rexx to retracts (a potential future mod), however, I seem to recall Chinooks having a fixed gear (???)