New Dune

[acidkindred]

Just ordered a Dune kit. Looking forward to the build.

Esprit had one left in stock for $600. Hard to pass up that deal.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[trillian]

Yeah we had a similar deal going on over here a while back and I think it has had a very positive effect in getting new Kasama owners, myself included, and have more of these machines out there.

I hope you like the Dune, I don't need to say again how much I like mine. I kinda watched from a distance at them for a long time and then once I got one myself I quickly became a huge fan.

[acidkindred]

How would you compare the Dune to the 90E? I went with the Dune because of the smaller size.

I'm thinking about going for a low head speed setup with 6-cells. What motor, ESC and batteries would you suggest? Two 3-cell in series or just one 6-cell on top or the bottom?

I like slow, relaxing sport flying with long flight times. I'll need to figure out what the sweet spot will be for the head speed and what pinion to use.

[trillian]

My take on the Dune as compared to the Faifa is that it seems to me the Dune takes the design concept to the next logical step, it is further simplified and refined.

The Dune feels like a smaller version of the Faifa with the lowrider head and shaft. It's like a smaller TDR in the way it handles.

Regarding blades, it depends on the kind of flying you do. What I like is smooth and precise 'big air' and some F3C style moves. So I tend to like heavier blades and I like the feel of light disc loading. I've tried a few different blades on the Dune but like the Radix 625s best so far so those pretty much stay on it all the time now.

I think it can probably be really good as a low headspeed machine on 6s but I haven't tried that myself.

I'm running mine as a 12s and I currently have a rewound Align 600mx motor in it now that is supposed to be about 420KV. I'm flying at about 1600 for my idle-1 right now and at that speed it doesn't really feel like a 'low' headspeed, it's still quite punchy. I have Radix 625V2 mains and Edge95 tails and I usually use 2600/2700mah packs. I don't know what the max possible flight times are yet as I only just started using this motor but I think it should do 7 minutes comfortably, maybe more.

Someone said Mr Kasama has flown the Dune at 1200 rpm. If you could run in the area of 1300-1400 I would venture to guess that 10 minute flight times would be easy, maybe longer.

Perhaps someone on here has flown the Dune at those types of headspeeds and can chime in.

[acidkindred]

"Someone said Mr Kasama has flown the Dune at 1200 rpm. If you could run in the area of 1300-1400 I would venture to guess that 10 minute flight times would be easy, maybe longer."

Probably somewhere in that area would be the head speed I'm looking for. I fly my Synergy at about 1350 rpm and get close to 10 minute flights on 3,500 mah 6-cell packs on a 12S setup with 600mm blades. I'd need to calculate the head speeds using the pinion the kit comes with running 6-cells to determine what KV motor to get and how many amps I'll be pushing to spec the ESC.

[BenScoobert]

Originally Posted by acidkindred

"Someone said Mr Kasama has flown the Dune at 1200 rpm. If you could run in the area of 1300-1400 I would venture to guess that 10 minute flight times would be easy, maybe longer."

Probably somewhere in that area would be the head speed I'm looking for. I fly my Synergy at about 1350 rpm and get close to 10 minute flights on 3,500 mah 6-cell packs on a 12S setup with 600mm blades. I'd need to calculate the head speeds using the pinion the kit comes with running 6-cells to determine what KV motor to get and how many amps I'll be pushing to spec the ESC.

at 1550rpm it will still do all you ask, but in virtual silence, 1550rpm is as low as you can go on 12s with 520kv and jive.

[trillian]

It looks like you'd need something like 640kv for those headspeeds on 6s.

Not sure what the amp demands would be but I think pretty low. My Triabolo is the heaviest electric heli I own and it runs in the range of about 30-35 amps average (12s) at around 1300. So at a very rough guess, considering a smaller and lighter heli running only slightly higher headspeed on 6s, my guess would be not much more amps. Probably a 100 amp LV ESC would give you enough headroom for the occasional transient peak.

[jiminator]

I'm running Rail 606/96 blades on my Dune. Using the Pyro 700-52 with a Kontronik 80hv. I think my ID1 is around 1800ish. I did tach the headspeed but just can't remember the exact number. Flying sport and lots of FFF. After 6 minutes of flight I usually put back around 2000 to 2100 mah. Using Glacier 6s 4400 packs in a 12s configuration. Seems to be a very efficient machine.

[acidkindred]

Received my Dune kit today.

Fondling the nice parts, making sure everything is there, then test fitting.

Nothing better than that new heli smell!

[watdazit]

I have just taken delivery of my Dune and started the build. This heli just exudes quality from the fit and finish of the aluminium parts, the carbon frame and down to the quality of the washers supplied. I have only changed one thing to date and that is the ball on the tail lever arm to servo. The standoff of the ball was 5mm and the angle of the rod to the servo ball was very acute. I put a 15mm standoff ball on the lever so it now pulls in a straight line. This is probably related to the servos and the amount they stand out from the frame and not to the supplied equipment. I cannot see, looking at the strength of the arm, that the increase in the lever moment by increasing the length of the ball is going to be a problem. I can certainly see the value in the normal retail price and feel even luckier I managed to buy one at less than half price.

[trillian]

Originally Posted by watdazit

I have just taken delivery of my Dune and started the build. This heli just exudes quality from the fit and finish of the aluminium parts, the carbon frame and down to the quality of the washers supplied. I have only changed one thing to date and that is the ball on the tail lever arm to servo. The standoff of the ball was 5mm and the angle of the rod to the servo ball was very acute. I put a 15mm standoff ball on the lever so it now pulls in a straight line. This is probably related to the servos and the amount they stand out from the frame and not to the supplied equipment. I cannot see, looking at the strength of the arm, that the increase in the lever moment by increasing the length of the ball is going to be a problem. I can certainly see the value in the normal retail price and feel even luckier I managed to buy one at less than half price.

I have a BLS251 on mine with the ball facing inward on the servo arm and the link rod is at a mild angle, nothing problematic. There's about 3mm clearance between the bolt holding the ball on the arm and the top of the bolt heads holding the servo on, so arguably it could be slightly more square with a tiny bit longer standoff on the servo arm. My guess is that your solution will be fine because the lever it's attached to is quite sturdy and the torque needed for the tail is fairly low.

Yeah everything about the kit is just finished to perfection. Maybe it's psychological but I always think I can feel the quality of the engineering in flight :-) I'm very fond of my Kasamas.

[watdazit]

Two of the plastic ball connectors split when screwing them onto the rods going from the swash to the main blade grips. I have been unable to locate replacements locally so I have substituted Align ones H60251 http://www.rccrewhobbies.com.au/h60251 from the 600 DFC head which, even though I praise Kasama quality, are better than the Kasama ones in that they have a stainless steel reinforcing band on them. Expensive substitution though but considering I cannot find Kasama ones a good solution. I did look at using normal ones from my Align 700 spares but I had to drill the hole out to fit the 2.9mm link rods and this did not leave a lot of plastic annulus left.

[BenScoobert]

Originally Posted by watdazit

Two of the plastic ball connectors split when screwing them onto the rods going from the swash to the main blade grips. I have been unable to locate replacements locally so I have substituted Align ones H60251 http://www.rccrewhobbies.com.au/h60251 from the 600 DFC head which, even though I praise Kasama quality, are better than the Kasama ones in that they have a stainless steel reinforcing band on them. Expensive substitution though but considering I cannot find Kasama ones a good solution. I did look at using normal ones from my Align 700 spares but I had to drill the hole out to fit the 2.9mm link rods and this did not leave a lot of plastic annulus left.

We have these coming in soon. If you just want 1 or 2 packs of these I can just put them in an envelope to save £$£$.

Even though our website automatically quotes larger amounts we can still manually calculate the shipping. It is very hard to have precise calculations as everything is a different size and weight.

[watdazit]

Originally Posted by BenScoobert

We have these coming in soon. If you just want 1 or 2 packs of these I can just put them in an envelope to save £$£$.

Even though our website automatically quotes larger amounts we can still manually calculate the shipping. It is very hard to have precise calculations as everything is a different size and weight.

Thanks Ben. PM sent.

[watdazit]

Excuse me acidkindred for using your thread to ask questions. Seems relevant though.

There is piece of aluminium in the kit. Can someone tell me what it is for?

[BenScoobert]

Originally Posted by watdazit

Excuse me acidkindred for using your thread to ask questions. Seems relevant though.

There is piece of aluminium in the kit. Can someone tell me what it is for?

It's a tool to take the tail grips off

[Sigma Golem]

Where can I get the DUNE in the states for 600 bucks?

[BenScoobert]

Originally Posted by Sigma Golem

Where can I get the DUNE in the states for 600 bucks?

Check esprit if they have stock. If not we can ship one to you for that price.