New Old build

[nightflyr]

I was ask to give my impressions concerning the Mars480 ...

I had seen a post where one was giving as a replacement helicopter to a pilot who had either crashed or had his primary bird stolen....

I watched the video of it and thought it was an interesting design, but my understanding was that the kits were no longer available...
At that point I dismissed the idea of trying to find one..

Well about a week later on the sales forum I see a Mars kit up for sale, so after a few PM's
I was lucky enough to acquire it.

Now ..not knowing exactly how the kits come, when it arrived I saw it to be a GF version which didn't bother me any.

Reading through the assembly manual I was pleasantly surprised on how this machine was designed.

It took a weekend to get everything built up and set...

My only concern was the landing gear and the amount of movement and flex, though from what I have read up is that newer kits have an improved design.

Overall I found it to be a very well made machine, maiden it this past weekend found it to be quite stable and fun to fly..

[praetorious]

Welcome to the Club!
I saw the same for sale post where you bought your kit. www.mars480.com has kits, spares and accessories. The landing gear is pretty brilliant, if you land hard on it it collapses, absorbing some of the energy. You can replace the sponge thread used in the joints with a stiffer silicone tubing and remove the flex. The biggest thing to watch for is that the tail blades don't scrape the ground. There are 2 types of stock tail blades, one with 10% more wing area than the other.

I love your electronics placement, makes sense . The bird is stable, but because of the MFS head, it is an extreme aerobat. Carry up your swash percentages and be amazed!

Have fun with that wonderful bird!

B.R.
Amit

[arquitron]

Welcome! Nightflyr,

Good to read you had fun flying your MARS. I just built one myself, it was my first built and I am in the process of tweaking the electronics to get them ready for the first flight. What are your ESC and motor specs?

I have read some of your posts and they are quite interesting and motivating specially "The laboratory has been buzzin again". Any words of wisdom for a newbie?

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by praetorious

Welcome to the Club!
I saw the same for sale post where you bought your kit. www.mars480.com has kits, spares and accessories. The landing gear is pretty brilliant, if you land hard on it it collapses, absorbing some of the energy. You can replace the sponge thread used in the joints with a stiffer silicone tubing and remove the flex. The biggest thing to watch for is that the tail blades don't scrape the ground. There are 2 types of stock tail blades, one with 10% more wing area than the other.

I love your electronics placement, makes sense

Originally Posted by praetorious

. The bird is stable, but because of the MFS head, it is an extreme aerobat. Carry up your swash percentages and be amazed!

Have fun with that wonderful bird!

B.R.
Amit

Interesting design I will say, but as I found out nothing every is as good as it appears,,,
After flying it today I noticed the swash bearing retaining ring had fallen out of the swash
If I can't reinstall it ...I'll replace the entire swash .

As to the component placement... just where everything wanted to be...

Originally Posted by arquitron

Welcome! Nightflyr,

Good to read you are had fun flying your MARS. I just built one myself, it was my first built and I am in the process of tweaking the electronics to get them ready for the first flight. What are your ESC and motor specs?

Originally Posted by arquitron

I have read some of your posts and they are quite interesting and motivating specially "The laboratory has been buzzin again". Any words of wisdom for a newbie?

I had an old ALIGN ESC in my spares box along with a 3500Kv motor, but it appears that neither the motor or ESC are up to the task..so I ordered up a couple of 60A ESC's along with a pair of new motors to try out.

Oh the "Lab".. yes well ... I was never one to fly a stock equipped machine So the "Lab" allows me the venue to work out side the box.

As to" words of wisdom"...... take your time.... and learn each step of the way.
Even crashing will offer you information when you get over the frustrations of it.

[arquitron]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Interesting design I will say, but as I found out nothing every is as good as it appears,,,
After flying it today I noticed the swash bearing retaining ring had fallen out of the swash
If I can't reinstall it ...I'll replace the entire swash .

Can you post pics of the swash incident? Any thoughts on what swash will you be using to replace the original if unable to reinstal the retaining ring?

[nightflyr]

Tried several methods to reinstall the retaining rings with out success ....there must be a special tool needed in order to get the ring to seat properly...

As you can see the swash bearing retaining ring is sitting on the top of the upper main shaft bearing and mast collar ...




This is what I found when I removed the head and main shaft...






For the time being, and just out of curiosity I have fitted a Tri-Head assembly to test once I receive the new motors and ESC's..

[arquitron]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Tried several methods to reinstall the retaining rings with out success ....there must be a special tool needed in order to get the ring to seat properly...

As you can see the swash bearing retaining ring is sitting on the top of the upper main shaft bearing and mast collar ...

For the time being, and just out of curiosity I have fitted a Tri-Head assembly to test once I receive the new motors and ESC's..

Wow, I did not catch the fallen retaining ring when you posted the pic at first. Out of curiosity I would like to see the bird flying with the Tri-Head. Will you be posting videos?

I also see you did some mods to the landing claws. What did you do and why?

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by arquitron

Wow, I did not catch the fallen retaining ring when you posted the pic at first. Out of curiosity I would like to see the bird flying with the Tri-Head. Will you be posting videos?

I also see you did some mods to the landing claws. What did you do and why?

Once the new motor and ESC arrives, I'll try out the Tri-Head.

As to the landing gear, just placed some semi rigid foam to reduce the movement a bit

[praetorious]

Whoa, that's bad news about the swash. I've never seen that happen before. Looking at the pictures, it appears to be a retaining ring and a ring from the bearing? I have an old swash which I took apart, the bearing is pressed in rather tightly, perhaps you could fiddle around with really small screw drivers to press the rings back in.

You can buy a new one for 24.99, which is a few dollars less than a 450 pro swash.

Sorry about what happened,

B.R.
Amit

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by praetorious

Whoa, that's bad news about the swash. I've never seen that happen before. Looking at the pictures, it appears to be a retaining ring and a ring from the bearing? I have an old swash which I took apart, the bearing is pressed in rather tightly, perhaps you could fiddle around with really small screw drivers to press the rings back in.

You can buy a new one for 24.99, which is a few dollars less than a 450 pro swash.

Sorry about what happened,

B.R.
Amit

I'll be tinkering with it, a bit of a surprise, but not too concerned over it.
And I do have a few replacement head assemblies on hand to swap in place of it for the present.

[arquitron]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

Once the new motor and ESC arrives...

What motor and ESC did you order? Can you give us the specs.? Thx.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by arquitron

What motor and ESC did you order? Can you give us the specs.? Thx.

A couple of 60A HobbyWing ESC's


Hobbywing Pentium 60A Electronic Speed Controller
Our Price:$21.99


And a set of these..

Hobbymate 2840 Brushless Motor For Rc Helicopter





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• Our Price: $16.00

• SKU: HB2840L
• Manufactured by: Hobbymate

Add to Cart: Tell a friend

Hobbymate 2840 Brushless Motor
***For 450, 480 size Electric Rc Helicopters
***Great Power, low current consumption, high effeciency.
***Lower temperatures
Specification:
Kv：3600rpm/V
Shaft Dia：ø3.175mm
Weight(about)：76g
Working Efficiency: ＞90%
Unload current（11.1V):3.0A
Max current：48A
Max Watt：440W
For: 450-480 range rc helicopter
Lipo battery: 2S-4S
Motor Gear: 12T/13T/14T
Motor Screws：3.0mm

Motor installation Dimension:
H-H Dis：16.00/19.00 Hole Dia: 3.0

More Pictures:




Comes with copper pinion gear, 12T or 13T
Screws
Bullet connectors
Shrink piple

Package in color box

[apollo7]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

I'll be tinkering with it, a bit of a surprise, but not too concerned over it.
And I do have a few replacement head assemblies on hand to swap in place of it for the present.

Hello nightflyr, glad to hear you like your new rotor-machine. sorry you didn't get to enjoy more of its stability before changing the head.

you may want to contact mars480 and ask to consider warranty for the swash. Its worth a shot. there pretty cool about warranty issues.

good luck be with you.

[nightflyr]

Originally Posted by apollo7

Hello nightflyr, glad to hear you like your new rotor-machine. sorry you didn't get to enjoy more of its stability before changing the head.

you may want to contact mars480 and ask to consider warranty for the swash. Its worth a shot. there pretty cool about warranty issues.

good luck be with you.

Didn't consider warranty because I purchased the kit (although brand new) second hand off the forum.
But I'll give it a shot...nothing to loose

[arquitron]

[QUOTE=nightflyr;2699834]A couple of 60A HobbyWing ESC's


Hobbywing Pentium 60A Electronic Speed Controller
Hobbymate 2840 Brushless Motor For Rc Helicopter






I like the price and specs. I may get a couple of these too for spare. Thx.

[nightflyr]

Hello Richard,

Thank you for the thorough explanation, and pictures of the apparent defective swash. mars480.com will be happy to replace swash-plate under warranty.

For warranty Replacement:

Please return the defective swash plate, along with your complete address;

TO: mars480.com
25 E. Lester Rd.
Apopka, Fl. 32712

OR

Place an order for any parts you may need, and I will include x1 Multi Purpose Swashplate Set part# GPM003 @ N/C with your order.

I'll look for an order, or the defective swash in the mail.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
If we can be of further service, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Thank you
Dave Young

[praetorious]

Trust me guys, Dave Is amazing. He will help you however he can.
I live in Barbados in the Caribbean, there are no hobby shops here, so if something goes wrong, it's a long wait for shipping, which on average is 60 or so dollars. There is also no free port, so we get taxed nastily on items. Dave ships fast, get things in 2 weeks tops.
I had ordered a Lingo V8, and it had a dead phase out of the box. I emailed Dave about it and the results of a continuity test and the motor's behaviour, troubleshooted the ESC and confirmed it was the motor. When I checked my inbox, he notified me that he had shipped out a new motor, free of charge. I got my motor in around 8 days.

One of the best things about owning these models is the experience with mars480. Dave treats his customers better than royalty.

[nightflyr]

I must say that was unexpected, I did end up ordering a batch of spares, and curious to see how it flies using the stock head.

And after researching the site, and depending on how it flies... I think I will pick up another one or two of these birds

[praetorious]

It flies beautifully with the stock head. I prefer machines with the MFS heads over the traditional ones.

[benwhite22]

That's just the shield on the bearing coming loose. I've not seen this on my Gazaur but it does not render the heli unflyable.