How many of you have converted to FBL?

[flyingquisinart]

Just curious how many Pantera fans converted to FBL, and what mods did you do? Cheap RNFB? Change grips? Etc.. I changed mine over a pretty long time ago, running AR7200BX. Then just recently changed to Spirit because of the rescue feature, so I can learn inverted hopefully.

[Jermo]

I'm staying FB. I'm all about keeping it simple and cheap. For inverted I just fly higher up.
Jer

[rfauske]

Dont you fly inverted to cut grass like the rest of us ?

My pantera has a FB atm, hope to get a friend help me out with the motor as its my first and only nitro..

[tealc]

I was running the RNFBL and it flew very well. Had a Synergy FBL head and swash laying around, so I have put them on the Pantera. Not sure when I will get it all finished up (possibly today) so that I can fly. Have not had time and have not been in the air with it in over a year. I use the CGY-750 as my controller and like it. I just wish it had a bailout feature. I will say that I am tried of Real Flight and my daughters Nano CPX. I need bigger helis. I need my Pantera. Shoot, I even have all the parts to do a Stage II conversion on my other Pantera (although I need a longer belt, if I remember right, as I was planning on making that one a 700 size). Hoping to get some other projects done so that I can finish my Panteras.

[richmurphy83]

I am running a trex fbl head. Had to trim about 10mm fromn the length of the main shaft for it to fit.

[geomecc]

i am using rjx head on one and rnfbl on the other with beast x and Skookum 540 . the one with rjx head is being set up for sportsman f3n type flying.

[z_man_95]

I'm in the middle of doing the RNFBL and will be using a Spartan Vortex Nano.

[tkheard]

I'm building my P50 with flybar and Spirit. It may turn into an RNFBL; we'll see...

[Medic33]

Did the RNFBL change, loving it.

Except right now my SK720 hates my tail. Known Skookum issue, have a new 540 coming in to replace the old 720.

[richmurphy83]

Yeah I had a lot of tail gain issues with the 3gx I was ruining for a while. The beastx I am running now is butter smooth though.

[flyingquisinart]

I finally got a few relatively consecutive flights on my Pantera with the Spirit. The tail seems perfect (for my flying). No over or under shooting, and stops are quick but less harsh than with the BeastX. I really think FBL units pretty much do the same, but some are just easy right out of the box. Flight feels really good and predictable, albeit a tad slow, but that's after a flight on my X5, which of course is smaller and lighter. For whatever reason, the heli feels faster in FFF with this FBL than with the BeastX. Probably a function of the gain more than anything--tip the nose down and it stays down, giving it a locked in, faster feeling. What I'm aiming for is to have similar roll rates, etc between my 2 helis, although I'm not sure it will quite get there unless I crank up the head speed past 2000, which I won't do. I do need to speed up the tail though, it seems pokey compared to what I had with the BeastX. Pirouettes seem better with this FBL, but it could be my imagination, just getting more stick time 2 days in a row is quite a rarity, so it might just be that my comfort level is up.

I missed my mowed target today when doing an auto, and it all but disappeared into the grass. The thought of Velocorapors popped into my head.

[geomecc]

@medic what tail issue do you have? pm me maybe I can help

[MartyH]

I'm using the RJX FBL head and metal swash with no controller. Did it just to see how crazy it is. It';s not terrible but it makes you work. I'm probably going 4 blade without controller next.

[helihammer]

I've tried the RNFBL V1 and I would like try V2, so does anyone know where I can get Century CNLR 1021 ball links (or what I could use instead of them)?

I've searched everywhere, but I can't find them.

I did find these at Ron's

http://www.ronlund.com/rcheli-prod/H50131.html

They're a bit shorter than the Century ones, but I'm not sure if Century's links 18 mm length includes the threads or not. If it does, the ones from Ron's should work out OK (half a millimeter difference won't keep me awake at night).

-Dan

[helihammer]

Update: I tried the ones from Ron's. The threads didn't go into the grips far enough, allowing for plenty of slop as the balls moved up and down inside the grip.

I resolved this problem by getting a pair of Dubro 4-40 ball links and and drilling and tapping the grips for 4-40 threads. I happened to have some little steel tubes laying around (I don't know from what) to use as collars to slip over the bolts between the grips and the balls.

The only problem here was that the 4-40 ball links were too large to be threaded onto the pushrods I had (I think they were 2.2 mm), so I got a pair of 4-40 turnbuckles also. I left the smaller links on the swash, but I drilled and tapped them for the turnbuckles.

[helihammer]

Update again:

I tried the RNFBL V2 out and found it to be too sensitive as mentioned in this review:

http://www.audacitymodels.com/downlo...-HeliScene.pdf

I wish I would've read that before converting to V2!

I've since changed back to V1 and it's nothing but smooth sailing!

[Dr. M]

I fly FBL with a Trex600 head. It's a drop in replacement except you need to cut off about 8mm off the top of the stock main shaft. It's about a 2min job with a dremmel