Lama 400D

[OcalaGary]

Well....I am back home for a week. I put my Helipal training gear on the stock 400D and took it outside for a quick test hop. It seems very stable....even in a bit of a breeze we have today. I thought it lacked power untilI remembered that the 2403 xmtr supplied had some sort of a throttle limit switch....which for this fixed pitch application should have been turned off. So...once I had the switch off...my throttle was no longer limited and the sky was the limit. So...maybe on a calmer day, we'll go out in the large cul-de-sac in front of the house and try some more.

My MD-80 (clone) camera made a popping sound shortly after being placed on the charger.....so Dane Chin at RTF is going to evaluate it and send me another .

Now...on to a test flight (outdoors this time) with my SR120.

[whirlydude]

Originally Posted by OcalaGary

Well....I am back home for a week. I put my Helipal training gear on the stock 400D and took it outside for a quick test hop. It seems very stable....even in a bit of a breeze we have today. I thought it lacked power untilI remembered that the 2403 xmtr supplied had some sort of a throttle limit switch....which for this fixed pitch application should have been turned off. So...once I had the switch off...my throttle was no longer limited and the sky was the limit. So...maybe on a calmer day, we'll go out in the large cul-de-sac in front of the house and try some more.

My MD-80 (clone) camera made a popping sound shortly after being placed on the charger.....so Dane Chin at RTF is going to evaluate it and send me another .

Now...on to a test flight (outdoors this time) with my SR120.

Sweet lookin heli you got there! I don't know if you had a chance to trim it out yet, but it may need some adjustment before flying. I posted on another thread some of the things to look for and do before flying. I needed to level the swashplate a little, and then do some fine tuning once I hovered it. End result should be a handsoff hover with no vibration to speak of. I can stop 50 feet in the air scratch my nose with my right hand while the heli just sits there and hovers. There are a couple of adjustment screws on the rx, and you may need to adjust them once you get going. The extent gives you more servo throw, which I know you will need sometime down the line. The other is sensitivity, which helps for vibration. It doesn't seem to effect the gyro control very much, but more for vibration. If you have it too high you will start to get a little tail vibration, but you can experiment with these settings until it's to your liking. Happy Flyin!

[OcalaGary]

I did get it from WOW. they claim to test fly and trim/adjust all helis before they ship. I did go out in the front yard later for some more flying and did pretty well. had a bit of a gust come up and push me around....but I seem to have some good control over it. Just need some more time. I am going to replace those tail boom struts. They come undone it a hard landing. I also have another battery coming because they seem to take SO LONG to charge.

[whirlydude]

Originally Posted by OcalaGary

I did get it from WOW. they claim to test fly and trim/adjust all helis before they ship. I did go out in the front yard later for some more flying and did pretty well. had a bit of a gust come up and push me around....but I seem to have some good control over it. Just need some more time. I am going to replace those tail boom struts. They come undone it a hard landing. I also have another battery coming because they seem to take SO LONG to charge.

I think on most helicopters the boom support rods are fasten to the ends. Whether being glued, pined, or threaded they are solid so they can't come undone. I first noticed they were loose when I was installing thread loc to all the screws going into the metal parts. I was thinking of applying some ca, so they can't come undone. I haven't had any issues yet with them, but it wouldn't hurt to make them solid.

[OcalaGary]

I'm trying 5 minute epoxy, after roughening the ends of the rods and inside the clevises. Super glue is a bit brittle when cured and I fear may just pull loose again.
Also there seems to be some sort of a rod between the side frames that the forward clevises attach to. It has some sort of a small pulley looking thing in the middle that does not appear to have any purpose except to make it extremely difficult to slide the battery in from behind. I have some training gear fastened between the skids...for now...which makes battery installation from below impossible. So, I'll just attach the forward clevises with small nuts and screws.

[OcalaGary]

I got in some more flight time in the cul de sac this morning. Good hands off hover....but very little response to cyclic inputs, even in high rate , and when the wind eddies occured the heli was at their mercy. Back inside, I gave the extent pot a 1/2 turn tweak toward + (does anyone know how many turns it has in it?) Big improvement in forward flight...as well as other directions. Battery was still going strong.....but it does take a long time to recharge, so I'm waiting for another one to arrive.

[whirlydude]

Originally Posted by OcalaGary

I got in some more flight time in the cul de sac this morning. Good hands off hover....but very little response to cyclic inputs, even in high rate , and when the wind eddies occured the heli was at their mercy. Back inside, I gave the extent pot a 1/2 turn tweak toward + (does anyone know how many turns it has in it?) Big improvement in forward flight...as well as other directions. Battery was still going strong.....but it does take a long time to recharge, so I'm waiting for another one to arrive.

Myself, and others that I have heard from have it set to the highest setting. I went as far as I could to the plus side, then turned it back just a bit. So you can experiment with it, but I don't think it will harm anything by setting it to the highest. One wants as much throw as you can get in both directions from the servo without binding.
I don't think you would have to worry about binding on the swashplate, but you could turn it back just a touch like I did.

I time all my flights, as to leave around 20% in the battery when finished. This saves on the battery, and will hopefully last longer. The 1500mAh battery I fly for 8 to 8/12 minutes, and then charge. I have talked to others that were flying the 1500mAh for 10 minutes, but it's 8 for me. I have 3 1600mAh packs that I fly for 8 1/2 minutes, but this is what my timer is set for. Once the timer goes off, it may take a few seconds to bring the heli in and land. So somewhere between 8 to 8 1/2 minutes to land with the 1500mAh batteries, and 8 1/2 to 9 minutes on the 1600mAh packs.

[OcalaGary]

Well...I went back out and took my chances in a bit of wind. I believe I must have over corrected with left cyclic and it fell on it's left side from about ten feet up. Had the training gear on, but one strut of the stock skids has broken (I have some tougher ones coming from RTF) also one of the upper blades broke off at the holder Other than that all seems to be Ok after a thorough examination. I removed all the blades and ran up the motors and cycled the servoes around. I did need to shorten the link between the flybar and upper blade holder to get things level...but it may have been that way originally as I didn't see anything bent that would cause that. I had a set of Airy blades and have put them on, but have not tried them yet...til the loctite sets. I'll see how I like them before I order any more spare blades. On a postive note...my epoxy fix on the tail boom struts has held up.

[whirlydude]

Sorry to hear about the accident, but it happens to the most experience pilots also. When you spooled it up afterwards also check for wobbling on the inner shaft (upper blades) and the outer shaft. If either one has a wobble they should be replaced.
What I have heard is the airy blades are not as stiff as the stock blades, which causes them to flex a little more when flying. This may increase the chances of a blade strike, over the stock blades. The stock blades are stiffer, but more brittle than the airy blades, is what I have heard.
The link from the flybar to the upper blade holder is for adjusting the tracking of the upper blades. I don't know if that is what you meant by level, but that is what it is used for. When hovering and looking at the upper set of blades, you want to see one blade. If they split where you see two, than it needs to be adjusted to get as close as you can to one blade. When you replace the blades remember to balance them. Some of them can be off, which will cause vibration.

[whirlydude]

I have ordered another flybar for the 400D, in which to experiment with. The flybar seems awfully long, but is needed for the stability of the heli. It seems being this long, when one has to slow down fast, or has a harder landing sometimes the flybar will come in contact with the lower blades. For this reason, I'm going to shorten one of the flybars as much as I can, and still try to maintain good stability. Others have said, one can remove 30mm, and still maintain good stability. (15mm off each end) It doesn't seem like alot, but this is where I am going to start, and go from there. Maybe by adding heavier weights with a shorter flybar will help maintain stability, but this is what I am going to experiment with.
I have also installed an Xtreme inner shaft with the extened upper head for an added 15mm of distance between rotor blades. I haven't had any problems with upper and lower blades touching each other, but it's just a precautionary measure. I was having problems with this on my cx coaxials, so I made the change for the 400 as well.

[OcalaGary]

I put on my new Super Skids and the Airy blades and so far things seem to work well together. I'm not sure if the original blade snapped before or after the crash....it happens so fast. I do have two new sets of the originals for my spare kit. I noticed that Super Skids also make Super Blades and am wondering if anyone has tried them...or if the ones they offer are proper size for the 400D?

[whirlydude]

Originally Posted by OcalaGary

I put on my new Super Skids and the Airy blades and so far things seem to work well together. I'm not sure if the original blade snapped before or after the crash....it happens so fast. I do have two new sets of the originals for my spare kit. I noticed that Super Skids also make Super Blades and am wondering if anyone has tried them...or if the ones they offer are proper size for the 400D?

I didn't see where the Super Blades were for coaxials, but I may have missed them. If they are made just for single rotor fp helis they won't work. Since the upper rotor spins ccw the blades would not be mounted correct, and the pitch probably wouldn't be correct for a coaxial either
.
I installed the shorter flybar on my 400D, and added a couple weights to each end. The weights were small, so I thought I had better add a couple on each end, since I shortened the bar. The flybar ended up at 276mm from end to end, and I believe the stock one is 307 or 306mm, so I removed about 30mm off the bar. I hovered it, and flew it slowly indoors, and it seems to handle well. It is still very stable, but I want to get it outdoors for the real test. It has been too windy to fly lately. I am glad I ordered 2 packs of weights, because there was no info on them as far as weight. They were for the 400 class heli, so the hole diameter for the flybar was perfect. I had to ream a couple, because of a burr from drilling and tapping of the set screw, but they slid right on. So hopefully by removing the 30mm, it will prevent flybar to blade contact on rough landings, or fast slowdowns.

[whirlydude]

I got a chance to fly a couple of battery packs in the 400 this evening, and it was very stable and flew very well outdoors. I am having a little problem flying into the wind, which is not easy for a coaxial helicopter anyway. The heli has a rocking motion when flying into the wind. It slows then starts, and when I give it more throttle it wants to limb more than go forward. I have decided to change the CG, and make it a touch nose heavy to help with this. I have removed 20mm off the brass boom weight, which will lighten the tail, and hopefully help with the ff going into the wind. I haven't had a chance to fly it, since making this change, so I don't know how it will behave.

[whirlydude]

Originally Posted by OcalaGary

Well....I am back home for a week. I put my Helipal training gear on the stock 400D and took it outside for a quick test hop. It seems very stable....even in a bit of a breeze we have today. I thought it lacked power untilI remembered that the 2403 xmtr supplied had some sort of a throttle limit switch....which for this fixed pitch application should have been turned off. So...once I had the switch off...my throttle was no longer limited and the sky was the limit. So...maybe on a calmer day, we'll go out in the large cul-de-sac in front of the house and try some more.

My MD-80 (clone) camera made a popping sound shortly after being placed on the charger.....so Dane Chin at RTF is going to evaluate it and send me another .

Now...on to a test flight (outdoors this time) with my SR120.

Have you had a chance to try the MD-80 yet? I am very interested to hear how it's working out for ya. Keep us posted on results, and your opinion of the camera, mounting hardware, and ease of use.

[OcalaGary]

First off....it is not a genuine article but a clone. when i first received it, I plugged it into the little wall charger...some minutes later...the charger made a load POP and something smelled burnt. I sent it back to Dane Chin for evaluation and he said it worked OK but to charge it thru the PC USB cable and not the mini-charger. he neglected to enclose the CD and manual when he returned it so I'm waiting on those. I spend 3 weeks of each month away from home...so my next chance to play with the camera will be around Halloween.....also hope to be able to see the Shuttle Discovery launch on NOV 1st....if not from the front yard in Silver Springs, maybe we can get over to the coast for a better view.

[whirlydude]

Just an update on the changing the CG of my 400. Removing some of the boom weight has made the 400 easier to fly into a light breeze. I could actually removed a little more, and maybe will later on. By changing the CG it now flies ff into a light wind current without climbing as much as before, which is what I was hoping to accomplish. It still wants to climb a little as it flies forward, but not as much as it was. I am pretty happy with the way it is flying now, so I am going to leave it this way for now.

[OcalaGary]

A co-worker of mine really liked the 400D, so he ordered one. I guess he was new to "real" RC helis....for some reason (maybe the lack of a clear translation of the instructions) he switched the stick mode from 2 to 1 and then turned everything on....in the house! Of course with the right stick now being the throttle and spring loaded at half power, the 400D immediatley became airborn and proceeded to beat itself to death against the ceiling and various pieces of furniture. The damage to the heli wasn't too bad. Four broken blades and a mangled flybar. Of course the tailboom struts came off. It would have made a good Youtube video!!

[whirlydude]

Ouch! I hate to hear anyone starting out that way with a new heli. The good thing is no one was hurt, but his pride, and the inside of the house. I have done my share of dumb things, mostly with single rotor helis. One can laugh about them now, but at the time it scares the crap out of ya!

[Die2Fly]

My 400D attacked me. At the time it was not funny. But now i think about it, it was hilarious. What happen was i was flying my 400D, and i was at work so the lunch bell rang meaning go back to work. So i put my heli and the tx on the table to disconnect the battery. ok so the tx was to the right of me. and the heli was in front. The tx is still on so the heli is still binded. when I went to go disconnect the battery, My elbow hit the throttle and the heli went full force at my face. I tried to duck the 4 blades blasted my head, all 4 blades blew up. I jumped at the tx and shut it down. It was so bad. omg. I had cuts all on top of my head. I just missed my eyes. I started bleeding. it was embarrassing. Wish i had that on video.

[Die2Fly]

Hey guys. I made a walkera group so every that has walkera can share there pics of there helis and show it off.