Flybarless Hawk Pro bit the dust

[907Heli]

On only the second flight of my Hawk Pro since converting it to flybarless, a ball link popped off on the head and the blades turned sideways coming to nearly a stop almost instantly. I leveled out and hit throttle hold just to watch it come to a nice bounce on the grass from way too high. Broke the frames, upper and lower, didn't seem to hurt the tail at all and the head seems fine. I have been waiting for months for main shafts to come back in stock and the kit is out of stock too now. I would like to fly it again but I think I'm done with the Hawk. I am debating on getting maybe an N640 or just finding a used Trex or something to build cheap. My love for the Hawk may have just met it's match. I don't have pictures but when I get home in a couple weeks I'll add a couple.

[Dennis P]

Sorry to here that as it is crappy to lose a heli to mechanical issue ,much better to dumb thumb it in I feel. The blade turning sideways is odd as I have lost a pitch link before and my blade just feathered out to neutral. It took almost full pitch to land but all went ok. I was running Rotor techs so it may be a blade CG thing I guess . If you need a mainshaft I have one here on the wall.

[MotorRotor]

Originally Posted by Dennis P

Sorry to here that as it is crappy to lose a heli to mechanical issue ,much better to dumb thumb it in I feel. The blade turning sideways is odd as I have lost a pitch link before and my blade just feathered out to neutral. It took almost full pitch to land but all went ok. I was running Rotor techs so it may be a blade CG thing I guess . If you need a mainshaft I have one here on the wall.

Yes, the Rotor Tech blades will always feather when a link pops off or power is lost.

Many other blades (specially some low priced ones) are very chordwise tail heavy. These will make the blade much harder for the servos and links to keep under control as the blade will always want to rotate in a manner to add pitch, which the radio gear will constantly have to fight. This will also cause them to rotate 90 degrees when a link is lost.

Also of note is that the forces on the link from the blade grip to the swashplate is more then double on an FBL system then they are on a flybar system. That is why and FBL system needs a stronger swashplate, stronger links and control rods and much stronger servos.

Sorry to hear of your mishap. What blades where you using?

Time for a heli specially built for FBL. I am sure you will love the E640.

[907Heli]

Since I haven't been flying that long I've been using very cheap carbon blades. Once balanced they seem to fly just fine. I have been looking at getting better blades since I hadn't been crashing much lately. The blades are actually fine. They basically stopped spinning, as did the tail, and the whole thing just dropped like a rock. I don't even think it bent the main or feathering shafts. That was a shock. The RJX head seems pretty beefy though.

I can't quite decide which way I want to go. I will probably part the hawk out to fund a new model.

I like the looks of the N640 a lot, and the reviews are great. I still don't get a good feeling from Century though. The mainshaft for my hawk has been out of stock for months. I looked at a new kit and it's out of stock too. I had been debating upgrading to ccpm and the constant driven tail but for the price I might as well get a new model. Something from the last ten years at least lol.

[Para1911A1]

Sorry to hear about your crash. I have a Hawk Pro I'm thinking of going fbl. What head are you using?? Was looking at the RJX, not sure though

[907Heli]

The RJX head is great, a buddy of mine is flying one on his Trex 600N. I liked it so much I got one. It's very robust and parts are cheap enough. It's got a huge feathering shaft. I recommend it. I don't think the control links are long enough and I didn't have as much thread engaged as I thought I did. I believe that was the cause of the failure.

I was using the Hobbyking Beast X knockoff. It was actually pretty easy to set up and seemed to fly okay for the threee minutes I got to use it.

[Para1911A1]

Thanks for the info. I bit the bullet and ordered the Century FBL head and CCMP kit last night. They had 10% off for the 4th of July sale. $208.00 for both. I am using AR7200BX. This is the same head that they have on the N640 Radikal. Did you decide to rebuild yours?? I guess we'll see what happens with mine. Is anyone else still flying the Hawk Pro out there??

[Para1911A1]

Hey Aksport,

What's up with your Hawk FBL?? I cancelled my conversion. I called them after waiting a few days, and they hadn't shipped yet, and could not tell me why. Going back to FBL my Hirobo Sceadu 50. I'm just going to fly my Hawk Pro as is until I get the Hirobo flying.

[907Heli]

I went to work for two weeks the day after I crashed it. It's still sitting in my truck while I look at align 600's on the for sale forums. For the price vs. Performance, a new kit is in the works, not sure which. At some poin t ill be selling the good parts of my hawk. It still has a sentimental value but when I get another kit I think the attachment will fade.

[907Heli]

Just priced parts, it's 105 for parts, 199 for a new kit. Didn't seem that bad but century parts aren't the cheapest. Still debating. Anyone need hawk parts? Someone buy this bird so I can move on. The good news is heliworld finally has some parts back in stock, and a limited stock of kits.

[Para1911A1]

I just traded a 400 I had for a Align 600 nitro pro airframe & motor. I plan to build that and my Hirobo Sceadu while I fly my Hawk Pro. I guess at some point I'll get rid of the Hawk too. I also have a place in my heart for the Hawk. Century Helicopter World used to be on my way to work. The first Hawk sport I bought in person. I like their stuff, but its just too hard to get. 5 days to ship parts that are "in stock" on your website is just too much.

[Para1911A1]

Hey AKSport,

I just saw a Hawk Pro Kit new in the box on Ebay, no bids, starting at 150. If you are interested.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Century-rc-h...item2a40410eb3

[907Heli]

Hey guys, I finally got back home and posted my Hawk Pro in the classifieds for parts. Engine and head are listed separately if anyone needs parts. Thanks for all the support from the Century guys in here.

[Para1911A1]

Is that what you got? 600n? How do you like it? I just got the ECCMP kit for my Hawk Pro.

[907Heli]

Honestly, I loved my Hawk for what it was, but it's like getting off of a horse drawn wagon and into a ferrari. The difference is night and day. I'm flying the same fbl system that I had on the Hawk but the moves are almost automatic now. The lack of ccpm is in my opinion the biggest drawback to the hawk. The lack of power was taken care of with the Toki .40 engine but the controls still didn't react like the trex does. It was harder to set up because of all of the slop in the controls, and it just felt numb in comparison. I'm really a much better pilot that I realized, because of the heli. In three flights I was inverted and doing tic tocs with a precision I could never do with the Hawk.

Not meaning to bash the Hawk, I really did enjoy flying it. It was a fantastically stable heli for me to learn on and I'm very glad I bought it. However, in my quest to improve my skills into the 3D arena, it's really not the best heli. The big push over the edge though was trying to get parts for it. I never really wanted an align, but I got a fantastic deal and now that I'm flying it I wish I had gotten one sooner.

So, need any parts? I have most of a hawk for sale. I'm not trying to make any money on it, just trying not to lose on shipping.

[MotorRotor]

Originally Posted by Aksport

Honestly, I loved my Hawk for what it was, but it's like getting off of a horse drawn wagon and into a ferrari. The difference is night and day. I'm flying the same fbl system that I had on the Hawk but the moves are almost automatic now. The lack of ccpm is in my opinion the biggest drawback to the hawk. The lack of power was taken care of with the Toki .40 engine but the controls still didn't react like the trex does. It was harder to set up because of all of the slop in the controls, and it just felt numb in comparison. I'm really a much better pilot that I realized, because of the heli. In three flights I was inverted and doing tic tocs with a precision I could never do with the Hawk.

Not meaning to bash the Hawk, I really did enjoy flying it. It was a fantastically stable heli for me to learn on and I'm very glad I bought it. However, in my quest to improve my skills into the 3D arena, it's really not the best heli. The big push over the edge though was trying to get parts for it. I never really wanted an align, but I got a fantastic deal and now that I'm flying it I wish I had gotten one sooner.

So, need any parts? I have most of a hawk for sale. I'm not trying to make any money on it, just trying not to lose on shipping.

And I bet you would have even found a bigger difference if you had gone to the Radikal N640.

[907Heli]

You're probably right. I really considered the 640. I never planned on getting the align but I couldn't pass up the deal. I got a complete running heli with a bunch of spares, full electronics for the same cost as a bare N640 kit. I haven't discounted an N640 for the future, I still really like the size, but it didn't fit my budget right now.