Hello - I just purchased a V1 kit !

[FR4-Pilot]

Thanks Dave!

Yea, I hear ya. Better parts are on the horizon ... I have to 'space out' my expenses, if you know what I mean

That G110 is going to get old real quick, so my guess is the 401/520/Quark will come first. I have an HSG-5084MG sitting here, but I don't think it will do much good with that creepy piezo gyro. But I may just put it on anyway since that HS-55 is rather slow and weak for the tail ...

Got some rolls of velcro ready to go too ...

-John
(keeping fingers crossed)

[clicky]

+1 for velco straps. Original MT's (TT's) are fantastic. I've got them even for cheap HK 450 clones!

Also, if you are going to pay $$$ for good gyro (spartan), add 10-20% more and buy microbeast (beastX's FBL). It just goes fantastically well with MT. The best part is that you don't have to buy expensive FBL head - MT head is easy to be adapted for FBL

[FR4-Pilot]

Cool Clicky - thanks for the info! I'll go and check that out ... I'd like to experiment with flybarless.

-John

[FlyAndFix]

Personally, I'd put the G110 back on the B400, and move your 401 to the MT. The MT is a better flying heli so put you best equipment on it.

Just my $.02

[Lynbird]

+1 I agree since you already have the 401.

[FR4-Pilot]

Okay, seed planted

You guys are going to force me to pick up a used GY401 now ...

-John

[FR4-Pilot]

Wow! It almost wasn't worth the effort of removing the head to level the swash & center the servos.

All I had to do was add 8 clicks of subtrim to the aileron & elevator servos - that's it! I had to put my bifocals on and get uncomfortably close to see the microscopic gaps that were there. Perfectly level at Lo, Mid and Hi stick. Servos at 90° at Mid stick. All travel adjusts left at 100%

Surely I've missed something ... even the 8 clicks seems like splitting hairs.

Curious - why didn't TT go with nylocks on the two Jesus bolts? I'll probably use green seeping threadlocker on that bottom one ...

-John

[FlyAndFix]

edit

[FR4-Pilot]

Balanced and installed the Align 325s. Needed one sticker on one blade. That blade's pitch rod also had to be shortened 1 full turn. I swapped blades first to see if it was a pushrod thing - nope, the blades are slightly off pitch from each other (like 1°, 2° or so). Tracking now looks excellent (only tested at 50% throttle though). Pitch is +10, 0 and -10. I have to say I'm impressed with the lengths of the pushrods as specified in the instructions. I only had to tweak one because of the pitch difference between the two blades. I'm sure with a good set of CFs I'll be able to return that pitch rod to it's original specified length.

Also re-mounted the tail servo as per instructions (I was trying to minimize how much it stuck out, but I couldn't get the ball on the inner hole without bumping the servo). I'm going for increased resolution of the tail servo, reduced binding, reduced effects of the creep (piezo gyro), reduced mechanical gain and increased gyro gain. The GY401 will be much better, but for now ...

-John

[FR4-Pilot]

(side note)

With all of those great little clips and "T" mounts protruding from the frame it turns out to be a snap to mount these LEDs (EZ-NAVs) that I originally designed for the much smaller Quark SRB helicopter. They fit on the B400 too, but mounting them on the MT is 10x easier with those frame hooks. Not shown is a flashing tail strobe LED. It's wires would have to be lengthened since the tail boom is much longer and will require a custom modified mount scheme.

Not that I'll be flying at night anytime soon ...

-John

[B335]

Just don't get drawn into admiring the lights instead of concentrating on flying

Been there. Lights now banned from mine.

[nwjhawk]

The tail servo would be a little safer on the other side of the boom in case of an errant blade or flybar. Not saying that you'd ever crash , but my latest inadvertent landing resulted in a dent in the boom directly above the tail servo (among other things).

[FR4-Pilot]

Hey B335 - Absolutely. Actually, I've never flown these larger helis anywhere near dusk where I would need help seeing them. The little Quark is a different story, but it's got foam blades and a 2200 max head speed

Hey Jim - good point. Since the rotor disc is lower/closer to the frame/canopy than some other helis I guess it's a good idea to protect against potential collisions wherever possible.

How's your MT doing by the way, besides your last landing - what happened?

-John

[nwjhawk]

All I can say is that the MT is pretty resilient and I'm getting pretty good at rebuilding the head. These darn figure 9s are killing me. I can do loops and rolls all day on the sim without crashing, but when it comes to the real thing, my brain and fingers go into lockdown.

[FR4-Pilot]

Lately when trying to go inverted my hands will shake uncontrollably (but never on the sim, of course). To the point where I have to land as I notice the heli jerking around, which is faithfully following the servos, which are following my thumbs.

Apologies, but what are figure 9s? Are they loops or some other circuit pattern?

Got the motor's shaft filed and everything put back together just as it got dark today. Two motors in the pics - top one is modified; bottom, untouched.

If all goes well tomorrow will be the cold maiden test "hover" in the backyard. Looking like 32°F and about 7mph winds are being foretasted. I'll make some radio/curve adjustments tonight.

-John

[nwjhawk]

Figure 9s are like loops without the 'oop' part. Unfortunately, they're part of my circuit pattern lately. Can't say I'd recommend them to anyone.

[FR4-Pilot]

Not the weather conditions I'd normally fly in, but I'm back to work tomorrow and wanted to get this first flight in the books

I decided to try out the throttle & pitch curves as per page 44 of the manual (normal mode only, I didn't switch into idle up today). I can't really say if I like them or not as it was a bit windy and I was chasing the tail around pretty much the whole time. The GY401 is on it's way, so maybe flight #2 will be with everything the same except for the Futaba gyro.

This heli is a lot quieter than my Blade 400. Very smooth collective. Needed a little more cyclic response (but I have the dual rates and swash settings a bit on the conservative side). The tail needs some tweaking, but I'll wait for the better gyro (and weather) to get here before I start on that.

Big Smiles Today

-John


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tX_m95zrYk[/ame]

[FlyAndFix]

Nice!

[3D Dave]

Congrats John!

Once you put that 401 on there and increase the headspeed, that thing will be super smooth and stable.

I don't recall if your tail servo is an actual "tail" servo but a 9257 will do wonders on the tail (with the 401).

Also, I noticed that you increased the cyclic value on the TX. If you are flying with dual rates on, there's no reason to increase the value in the radio. Just turn dual rates off.

[FR4-Pilot]

Thanks guys

Looking forward to that 401. A better tail servo would be next.

I'm going to go over the dual rates & swash mix settings too - did a bunch of "what if" tweaks and am not sure where I left everything ...

-John