Tarot 450 Pro v2 FBL - Unboxing

[Skitals]

My 450 Pro V2 super combo arrived yesterday. Everything looks good, small crack on the tip of one of the sides of the canopy. I will probably just trim it off and trim the other side to match.

I ordered on 1/11 from hobby-wing. Order was shipped 1/16, and delivered 1/23.

I will start to build it later this week, but I need to work on the mcpx a ton more before I even think about flying it

[Vinno]

Wow is the quality on par with align? The first pics in the thread look like a 100% copy, now i know why align has the annoying logo on every single page of their manual.

Nice to see a barebone only kit, would it be wise to buy a barebone kit of tarot and replace parts as i crash my align, not sure if align sells barebone kits only.

[heliphlier]

I am not sure about the barebone kit but I was able to put an Align 450 pro together minus the electronics for a descent price by purchasing the frame and other necessities from an eBay store
V2 Frame w\extended gyro plate and 3GX platform- http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALIGN-T-REX-...ht_3639wt_1059

Tail- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Align-T-Rex-...ht_4152wt_1059

I switched from Align flybarred head to Tarot FBL head and ZYX unit and I am very pleased

[Lanman]

Overall the quality is good. I had a few issues with mine. I had a bad motor mount, a bad main shaft, and my Pentium ESC died before it left the ground. I replaced them with Align parts and they fit perfectly. The main shaft bearings on the Tarot 450 Pro FBL are not the same as the Align counter part which means the upper & lower bearing holders are also different. I don't know if you can replace the bearings & holders with Align parts and still have a proper fit. The bearings on the Tarot are larger OD and not as tall, but the ID is the same 5mm. The Tarot main shaft looks like an older Align design as it uses a collar with set screws instead of the new main shaft with shims. Regardless, the new Align shaft with shims fits very well.

One of the problems with ordering the Tarot is that it comes from China. Have an issue with your order or receive defective parts, and you could be in for a long wait. Getting them to replace defective parts is very difficult and time consuming. Your best bet is to go into it knowing you could be replacing parts right out of the box with Align parts at your expense.

Overall I'm pleased with my Tarot. This is my first collective pitch build so it's been a learning experience and I've had a lot of fun with it. Knowing what I know now, I would have bought the bare bones kit and purchased my electronics separately. Not knowing what I was doing or what to order, the combo was the right purchase for me at the time.

Originally Posted by Vinno

Wow is the quality on par with align? The first pics in the thread look like a 100% copy, now i know why align has the annoying logo on every single page of their manual.

Nice to see a barebone only kit, would it be wise to buy a barebone kit of tarot and replace parts as i crash my align, not sure if align sells barebone kits only.

[BC]

Im thinking having a distributor in the usa will make things better, http://tarot-rc-heli.com. When they get the combo kit in stock, (mid feb) Im going to give it a try. The prices seem in line with the china shops.

[Lanman]

Maybe I'm wrong but their website looks questionable to me. Not much there for product or company information. They have a San Diego address but 1234567 as a phone number? Looks like the site was thrown together from a basic template without any effort, which could say a lot about the business. Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by BC

Im thinking having a distributor in the usa will make things better, http://tarot-rc-heli.com. When they get the combo kit in stock, (mid feb) Im going to give it a try. The prices seem in line with the china shops.

[BC]

Originally Posted by Lanman

Maybe I'm wrong but their website looks questionable to me. Not much there for product or company information. They have a San Diego address but 1234567 as a phone number? Looks like the site was thrown together from a basic template without any effort, which could say a lot about the business. Just my 2 cents.

Because they are brand new, give em a little time. Heres an email reply I got from them,

Thank you for contacting Tarot-rc-heli.com, We will have inventory 1 week after Chinese New Year...around Feb 10th and we will have 450 fbl combo kits and as for the 500 will carry kits as well. We posted the website about 2 weeks ago and didn’t anticipate the website being noticed so fast on the web. We are working hard stock all things Tarot ...Please if you have any other questions please feel free to contact us
Thank you
Dave

Thank you,
Tarot RC Heli.com

[IKnowNothing]

Originally Posted by BC

Because they are brand new, give em a little time. Heres an email reply I got from them,

Thank you for contacting Tarot-rc-heli.com, We will have inventory 1 week after Chinese New Year...around Feb 10th and we will have 450 fbl combo kits and as for the 500 will carry kits as well. We posted the website about 2 weeks ago and didn’t anticipate the website being noticed so fast on the web. We are working hard stock all things Tarot ...Please if you have any other questions please feel free to contact us
Thank you
Dave

Thank you,
Tarot RC Heli.com

I've been communicating with Dave from Tarot RC Heli as well. He gave me a quote on the 450 super combo and a bunch of spare parts and it was essentially the same exact price as it would have cost ordering from China. The bonus is shipping time will be next to nothing, you have "local" support, better spares availability, and he usually responds within a couple hours...Best of both worlds!

If he gets his shipment in, I'll place an order, if he doesn't, I won't.

[mtuccio]

I recently received 4 of these kits in my shop and have been putting one together on the side just to evaluate the quality of the kit. A few nights ago I finished the kit and this is what I can report:

1) Overall quality of the components is very good to excellent and the fit is very good. The main shaft and the feathering shafts are not the best that I've seen but they would work for most until the first crash. (I would replace these with Align ones if I was building it for myself).

2) The torque tube that was supplied in the kit had a slight bend at the end which I decided was not worth trying to straighten so I opted to replace this with another that I had in the shop.

3) One of the turnbuckles supplied with the head had a bad thread on it so I threw it in the bin and used a spare that I had.

4) The kit has little if any loctite on any of the parts so you need to take everything apart and reassemble it before you can fly it. (This is the way that I like it and prefer to inspect things as I build them up....)

I have been busy on a couple other projects but will post a few pics later on tonight to show you the results of the build. I haven't decided what to do with the electronics yet and was thinking of doing a build and set-up thread on this over the weekend. Let me know if people are interested.

[Lanman]

Thanks for clearing that up. I'll keep an eye on what they have going on. It would be great to have some place closer to home carrying the kits. I've been using cnchelicopter.com for parts and so far they've been quick and responsive. They don't carry any Tarot kits though.

Originally Posted by BC

Because they are brand new, give em a little time. Heres an email reply I got from them,

Thank you for contacting Tarot-rc-heli.com, We will have inventory 1 week after Chinese New Year...around Feb 10th and we will have 450 fbl combo kits and as for the 500 will carry kits as well. We posted the website about 2 weeks ago and didn’t anticipate the website being noticed so fast on the web. We are working hard stock all things Tarot ...Please if you have any other questions please feel free to contact us
Thank you
Dave

Thank you,
Tarot RC Heli.com

[Lanman]

I think a build and setup thread would be great. The build itself isn't different than any Trex 450 Pro build. I find find the actual setup very difficult only because this is my first collective pitch heli.

The ZYX gyro doco is poor at best so if you've never performed a setup of a FBL heli with this gyro, it's tough. It took me a lot of Internet searching and reading to finally get a clue as to what needed to be done. Although there's no better way to get an in depth understanding than having to dig deep for the info. Not that there isn't some info out there but it's not from a beginner's perspective. Most of it seems to be written by experienced 3D fliers for 3D experienced fliers.

Originally Posted by mtuccio

I recently received 4 of these kits in my shop and have been putting one together on the side just to evaluate the quality of the kit. A few nights ago I finished the kit and this is what I can report:

1) Overall quality of the components is very good to excellent and the fit is very good. The main shaft and the feathering shafts are not the best that I've seen but they would work for most until the first crash. (I would replace these with Align ones if I was building it for myself).

2) The torque tube that was supplied in the kit had a slight bend at the end which I decided was not worth trying to straighten so I opted to replace this with another that I had in the shop.

3) One of the turnbuckles supplied with the head had a bad thread on it so I threw it in the bin and used a spare that I had.

4) The kit has little if any loctite on any of the parts so you need to take everything apart and reassemble it before you can fly it. (This is the way that I like it and prefer to inspect things as I build them up....)

I have been busy on a couple other projects but will post a few pics later on tonight to show you the results of the build. I haven't decided what to do with the electronics yet and was thinking of doing a build and set-up thread on this over the weekend. Let me know if people are interested.

[Ranger71d]

Thanks to all for the reports on your build experiences. I have the kit now, arrived earlier this week and I'll begin building this weekend. Your reports gave me a lot of good info on parts to check. I got the bare ones kit, as I plan on using my own electronics.
Going to double check bearings, both shafts, the TT.
I do like Tarot's not using locktite. I prefer to break the kit all the way down myself. My first build was an HK kit and I still can't get some of their thread lock broke loose.

[mtuccio]

Originally Posted by Ranger71d

Thanks to all for the reports on your build experiences. I have the kit now, arrived earlier this week and I'll begin building this weekend. Your reports gave me a lot of good info on parts to check. I got the bare ones kit, as I plan on using my own electronics.
Going to double check bearings, both shafts, the TT.
I do like Tarot's not using locktite. I prefer to break the kit all the way down myself. My first build was an HK kit and I still can't get some of their thread lock broke loose.

+1 on the HK loctite comment. One trick I have found is a small butane mini torch doesn wonders to get things loose. Just apply a fair amount of heat to the screw head, insert wrench, and turn.....

[mtuccio]

Originally Posted by Lanman

I think a build and setup thread would be great. The build itself isn't different than any Trex 450 Pro build. I find find the actual setup very difficult only because this is my first collective pitch heli.

The ZYX gyro doco is poor at best so if you've never performed a setup of a FBL heli with this gyro, it's tough. It took me a lot of Internet searching and reading to finally get a clue as to what needed to be done. Although there's no better way to get an in depth understanding than having to dig deep for the info. Not that there isn't some info out there but it's not from a beginner's perspective. Most of it seems to be written by experienced 3D fliers for 3D experienced fliers.

I agree that a build thread on a Pro is kind of pointless since Finless has already done a great job on this one! I will see what I can do in regards to the ZYX set-up and such. I should note that I have never set one of these up through a transmitter and highly recommend that you get a progrsmming box or a USB adapter if you already haven't. This device makes field changes a breeze in that you can land, plug in the box, make changes, un-plug the box, and fly away. The changes are instantly accepted by the unit so it really makes getting your gains dialed in easier......

[mini73]

Originally Posted by mtuccio

I recently received 4 of these kits in my shop and have been putting one together on the side just to evaluate the quality of the kit. A few nights ago I finished the kit and this is what I can report:

1) Overall quality of the components is very good to excellent and the fit is very good. The main shaft and the feathering shafts are not the best that I've seen but they would work for most until the first crash. (I would replace these with Align ones if I was building it for myself).

2) The torque tube that was supplied in the kit had a slight bend at the end which I decided was not worth trying to straighten so I opted to replace this with another that I had in the shop.

3) One of the turnbuckles supplied with the head had a bad thread on it so I threw it in the bin and used a spare that I had.

4) The kit has little if any loctite on any of the parts so you need to take everything apart and reassemble it before you can fly it. (This is the way that I like it and prefer to inspect things as I build them up....)

I have been busy on a couple other projects but will post a few pics later on tonight to show you the results of the build. I haven't decided what to do with the electronics yet and was thinking of doing a build and set-up thread on this over the weekend. Let me know if people are interested.

I would be interested i( Im sure others would too) in pics of your progress and any comments on the kit that you are putting together. I agree with the whole lock tight thing. I have put several heli's together and I always take part what ever they have to together, inspect and put lock tight on it when I put it back together. I ordered my ZXY 3 axis Gyro from CNC helicopter and got it fast. Since I am waiting for the heli kit to come (Got the whole tracking issue fixed now and I am able to track it), I went ahead and ordered the programmer box from CNC also. I watched a video of someone setting the gyro up with the transmitter and have concluded that you are not able to access everything with the transmitter while setting the settings from what I heard. You are able to go through all the choices with the programmer box and figured this would be easier and would be easier to change or adjust while at the field.

[TaterTot]

I have an update coming with more pics if I can ever get over this cold...

I have had a couple of things come up with the build that I want to discuss...

Hopefully over the weekend I will get the pics up...

[mtuccio]

Here are a few pics of the mechanical build I mentioned in my earlier post. I should note that I have used the new locking head piece offered by Tarot along with the break away links on the grips. These items did not come with the kit that I bought so don't think that you got short changed or anything.....

I will figure out what electrics I want to try in this machine tonight or tomorrow and then start a thread that focuses on the mounting of the electronics and the setting up of the ZYX unit....

[Hot_Wheels]

where did you get the break away blade grip linkage from?

[mtuccio]

Originally Posted by Hot_Wheels

where did you get the break away blade grip linkage from?

I have gotten these from a few different sources over in China. The channels in which I buy parts / helis from are not the same as the general population and I'm not allowed to just give out contact information.

I did some searching quick online and it looks as though Infinity has the best price on these but they are out of stock at the moment.

I also have no idea if these are really going to be any better in a crash that is why I installed them on this machine. Once I had done some flight testing on the unit I was planning on intentionally doing a controlled crash just to see how the head piece and the grips hold up. It might sound a bit crazy but when you build and sell these helis to people you need to understand what parts break and what parts help. This way I know what parts to stock up on in the shop......

[mini73]

Finally! My kit arrived today after not being able to track it and waiting! Got everything except the ZXY programmer and that will be here most likely Tuesday. I still will be able to get it together without it anyways. As with all my heli's that I build, going to take apart everything, wipe all the bolts that go into metal off with some alcohol and reassemble it with lock tight. I even ordered a slant drive main gear and slant pinion to try out. I was just ordering some different things while waiting for it as I knew that I would get the stuff before getting the help kit due to it coming from china. This is buy first FBL heli so if there is any comments or suggestions please let me know. I am thinking about going ahead and turning my 600 nitro to FBL also. Looking forward to starting the build tonight!