Clone 500 for parts?

[pilate74]

Anybody ever buy a clone for parts? I live 400 miles from the nearest hobby shop that has trex parts. I was thinking about copterx 500tt kit. I will buy align stuff for the critical parts. I hate that if I need a small part it takes a week to get here. I am flying a trex 500esp.

[Larry227]

I haven't thought of that but wondering where you're ordering from that takes a week to get parts. I just picked up an order at my Idaho PO Box from readyheli that I ordered on the night of the 27th. RH shipped it out on the 28th and it was in my box today at lunch.

[Suburban92]

order from Heliproz over 100 bux you can get NEXT DAY for as little as 9 bux


NEXT DAY

[flerpie]

Originally Posted by pilate74

Anybody ever buy a clone for parts? I live 400 miles from the nearest hobby shop that has trex parts. I was thinking about copterx 500tt kit. I will buy align stuff for the critical parts. I hate that if I need a small part it takes a week to get here. I am flying a trex 500esp.

Gotcha beat. The closest hobby shop is 1500 miles from me.
I order most of my parts from The Opposite Side Of The Earth.

I've found that most of the things I'd replace right off the bat exist in
any Align or clone kit. Plastic this...plastic that...plastic battery tray.
Plastic receiver shelf. Yuk. So buy a clone for parts and you'll just
have doubles of all the plastic.

I get my consumables from all over. Ebay for tail booms 6 at a time for like $10.00.
Unless you're going with KBDD for tail blades or CF then gets several
sets of tail blades.

I hate waiting for parts too. You should see my hoarde
An entire heli for parts still ain't a bad idea it just doesn't fit with
what I usually do. I get metal stuff and upgrade when crashes occur.

[flerpie]

Besides....go ahead...get a clone for parts.
I dare you. You know you'll end up building it as a flybarless....LOL
Seriously though, I could prolly build 2 helis from all my parts
so it would have been cheaper in the long run.
What the heck, I get more shiny things this way.

[morebeer]

Readyheli comes in the next day for us in FL, I don't imagine it will take much longer for you. PerformancePlusRc has the best prices and Helidirect will match their prices, if you rather go with them.

FWIW, I had to go online with Hobbyking's CS and cancel my order for a cannibal kit HK 500 after two weeks waiting for the thing to get in stock to ship. Talk about waiting for parts! The difference in quality is pretty apparent as well, I think.

[skyhigh3d]

Which clone manufacturer do you guys think is closest to Align quality?

[flerpie]

I like HK and Tarot. There will always be something to deal with no matter
who it's made by. A whole clone bird would be a nice way to get spare side
plates and a whole FB rotorhead. Burn throo 2 of those then go FBL with
a KDE head or some such.

[pilate74]

Originally Posted by Suburban92

order from Heliproz over 100 bux you can get NEXT DAY for as little as 9 bux


NEXT DAY

If I order from heliproz south on Monday I can get parts by Friday. I always forget something and have to order more stuff. If I had a complete helicopter It would help with my lack of ability to order all the parts I need.

[morebeer]

Originally Posted by pilate74

If I order from heliproz south on Monday I can get parts by Friday. I always forget something and have to order more stuff. If I had a complete helicopter It would help with my lack of ability to order all the parts I need.

I've been grounded for a couple weeks now after a bum (clone) ESC cutout and I wasn't able to auto in safely. Between waiting for parts from Helidirect and a Phoenix ESC (plus waiting for the USB programming card to ship off backorder from Castle Creations), I've had plenty of waiting and dreaming about flying and waiting some more.

It is just the nature of the beast until you get the skill level to where you don't crash as frequently and you have a collection of spare parts for whenever you need them on the spot.

I don't mean to sound more knowledgeable than I actually am, I just mean as far as I've seen in my limited experience in the hobby, there are no shortcuts. Whether you get parts from a kit or individually, I think it will be a washout. Consider that for the money, you may do better getting the specific parts needed versus a collection of parts in a complete kit, many of which you may not use.

My experience with an EXI 500 tail rotor was catastrophically disappointing- even after replacing the screws in the blade grips.

[sergbaja5t]

I pulled the trigger on 2nd fhh helikit from rc aerodyne .as a spare. come to find out it a lot of extra alum bits like radio tray,batt tray etc. not bad 138 bucks. agreed that esental stuff comes from align though.

[rhansen]

I'm flying the 500 FHH ($138 version), and am really happy with it. There are pictures of it in my profile. I was lucky enough to get one of the free fuselages before they ran out.

It isn't a kit where you can take the head and tail out of the package, slap them on, and go. The quality of the components is there, it's just that I had to disassemble and reassemble everything. Some screws had Loctite, and some didn't. Some screws were too loose, and some we overly tight (ie. resulting in binding). I would have done the same procedure with any kit, so it wasn't a big deal. Everything was silky smooth when I was done. The only thing I had to replace was the main shaft. Turns out it was the cause of my slight wobble on startup, and tail hunting. I rolled it on a flat surface and couldn't believe how wonky it was. Looked like someone drilled out the center with a corkscrew. I read a build review on the 500 FHH, and the author said he got 2 bad ones in a row. Maybe they have a problem with main shafts, but I'm tickled pink about everything else.

With the prices that RC aerodyne and XHeli charge for parts, I agree that you may as well get the main shafts, feathering shafts, tail booms, and main gears from Align.