HK450 Build

[jmtyndall]

Not ready to fly a 450 yet, but, I am looking for a fun summer project, so I am looking at building an HK450 kit. Just checking to see if I'm on the right track, or if I should swap out anything on the order. Parts listed here:
HK-450GT PRO V2 3D Belt-Drive Helicopter Kit (Align T-Rex Compat.)

Turnigy Typhoon 450H 2215H Heli Motor 3550kv (450 class)

TURNIGY K-Force 40A Brushless ESC

3x Turnigy MG90S Metal Gear Servo 1.8kg / 13.4g / 0.10sec

HobbyKing HK-922MG Digital Metal Gear Servo 1.8kg/ 12g/ 0.07sec

Hobby King 401B AVCS Digital Head Lock Gyro


OrangeRx R620 Spektrum/JR DSM2 Compatible Full Range 6Ch 2.4Ghz Receiver w/Failsafe


HK450V2 Pinion Gear 3.17mm 11T/13T (Align part # HZ052 - H45059)

3x Turnigy 2200mAh 3S 25C Lipo Pack



Any opinions?

[paedbo]

get some spare parts. I have a hit or miss when it comes to hk helis. sometimes having to mix and match parts to get slop out or get vibrations down. Their bearing quality seems to have gone down too. Most of my problems with their kits seem to be head and tail related.

I prefer the tarot kits over the HK kits.

[jmtyndall]

What kind of parts? Planning on getting another main gear, I hear they come warped most of the time.

[rotceh_dnih]

gears are moslty ok i fly them without issues but im yet to get a straight main shaft from them othen then that for your first 450 sized heli you will enjoy the Hk450GT just get a better gyro the new line of HK401b's are super sensitive IMHO , you have to run them at a gain so low it just dont feel right , the assain GA250 is around $10 and it great for learning as well as some 3d like flips and rolls ect i have 2 and mostly sports fly with backflips and maybe a 3 sec inverted hold with alittle fast backwards flight and it holds up very good i think you'll out grow your 450 heli before you out grow that gyro!

about the only other thing i might change is the esc , ive starting using the YEP range of esc's from HK and love them to death the soft start is Soo good i dont even have a normal flight mode anymore just 3 different flat curves to suit different styles

but hey i learnt to fly on a $100 RTF 450 titan with plastic gear servos and all so hey everything in your list is better then that

[qcman]

Overall looks good I agree go for the ASSAN GA 250. I had a 401B & the 250 is much better. I have likely 400 flights now on my 450 GT & it has been a champ. I just dirt napped it last night but will get her fixed back up this week.

Its a solid heli for the money. I have some Tarots now & they are nice but for the money the HK is a good value.

Cam

[boykster]

I'd swap your chosen ESC with a YEP45a - great ESC

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html

I also prefer the nanotech batts over the standard turnigy ones

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=11944

[jmtyndall]

Is this the Gyro you guys were talking about?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...MEMS_Gyro.html

Easy swap, and cheaper to boot. Same with the ESC.

[rotceh_dnih]

That the one mate , lol yea its funny its cheaper but it sure is better same for the esc they are proven!

here's a vid i did an hour ago of my beater 450 with a GA250 on it, i did he video just to show it can be pretty solid .

Trex 450V2 Light 3d (2 min 3 sec)

[paedbo]

See if u can get tail shaft or whole tail assembly as spare. Many times I get slightly bent shafts. If u get the whole tail. Get a few tail shafts too. Align tail shaft will not fit the Hk tails the belt pulley is too wide on the aligns. Unless I got a bad batch? Hk main blocks have been hit and miss whether the hole is centered and our last 450 gt also had a bad swashplate that wobbled and had to be replaced.

Get spare ball links and a ball link resizer. There's always either a tight one or loose one.
Other than that I can't think of anything else.

If u plan to go fbl in the future they have a decent $11 head you can get for it. They have it listed twice once as rjx head for $35 but if u look around you will find an $11 version.

[jmtyndall]

So when I order tails be sure to get hk ones not align? The swash I can get align though right?

[paedbo]

ive never used align swashes. copterx or exi both worked with the hk. yeah tail shafts and or whole tail assemblies. the tail assembly I think is $9 but they are out of stock often.

[Diggiz]

Just to confuse you more, I had a hk450gt and hk450 v2 and both have crap main gears, They are oval not round and reek havoc, also the tail drive unit. Repalce both of these with align. They rest of my helis were 99% HK and were great, I did however replace main shaft with align after I used up my hk shafts, But apart from that they are a pretty good cheap heli and are a blast and take a hammering.
But I know ech person has their own experiences with HK stuff, And i would change to yep 45 esc cheap and very good and also the GA250 Gyro, Other than that have fun.

[hopkin]

I finished my first 450 build (HK 450V2) a few months ago .I was pleased with the kit ,seemed well made etc, however mine had a bent main shaft and the first time I spooled up testing it took a tooth off the main gear ! It took while for me to work out why the tail kept kicking out ! Align main shaft is now fitted . I bought HK main gear replacements , One of those lost teeth as it spooled up ! Also the swashplate bearing is very sloppy , not too much of a problem at the moment as I'm still at the hovering stage,but a replacement is neede . So far spares I've needed are flybars, tail drive gear , feathering shaft , tail rotor shaft (careful with these the ones I got are shorter than the originals which were on back order) ,blades, Align dampers ,the ones fitted were c**p , one way bearing shaft, landing skids were v.soft,easy to straighten , but one fell apart! Most of my spares I source on Ebay,eg : gogo.rc .I'm using 4x HXT 900 servo's , they work o.k. but don't seem to last long ! So I'll need to upgrade soon.

[paedbo]

how do the hxt900's not last long? I have a 450 that I just changed out HXT's for digitals. They were in service for 3 years (well 2 of them were one died last year).

Crashes will strip the gears but its $0.99 to replace the gears.

[wooly]

This GA250 gyro appears to have a BEC lead on it, am I right in thinking you don't need to use it with an Align ESC?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[hopkin]

Main problem with my HXT's is wires coming adrift ,they seem to break at the solder joint .I've managed to repair a couple but the last one I did had a bit of chatter. I've only damaged the gear once , when it toppled and the blade struck the ground.

[jmtyndall]

Been away from thinking about a 450 for a while. Decided I'm going to go flybarless. I like my little MCPX so much, and don't like flying the flybar helis in the sim. I like to make vary fine stick movements and the flybar helis seem to need a little more...inspiration to get to move.

Going to change the heli kit for the HK450 TT FBL, and the gyro will be changed to a ZYX-s.

[jmtyndall]

Alright, final post before I actually get to the interesting stuff. Waiting on a package from HK. Picked up an unbuild HK450 FBL kit from the classifieds. It came with 3 HD-1810MG cyclic servos, and a DS-329MG for the tail. It has a Turnigy H223 2900KV motor. I ordered all the tools, a zyx-s flybarless system, and a YEP 40A esc from HK to get it build.

If anyone knows which trex manual to use for this, that would be awesome. It says that it's a "pro" but the pro manual is for a flybar heli, and I don't know how setup will differ. Next post will be me actually building.

[jp0160]

Originally Posted by jmtyndall

Alright, final post before I actually get to the interesting stuff. Waiting on a package from HK. Picked up an unbuild HK450 FBL kit from the classifieds. It came with 3 HD-1810MG cyclic servos, and a DS-329MG for the tail. It has a Turnigy H223 2900KV motor. I ordered all the tools, a zyx-s flybarless system, and a YEP 40A esc from HK to get it build.

If anyone knows which trex manual to use for this, that would be awesome. It says that it's a "pro" but the pro manual is for a flybar heli, and I don't know how setup will differ. Next post will be me actually building.

If it's a pro chassis it will use a Trex pro manual. Not sure if the HK450 FBL is DFC or not, so not sure which manual to use for the head. Here's a list of the current T-rex's it might help you find the right one to compare.

http://www.helipal.com/select-by-bra...4gnentqnd7fsq6

[jmtyndall]

Doesn't look like a dfc head. It has a set of mixing arms(I think that's what they are) and four balls on the swash.



Also, looks like my kit is missing the mainshaft, so I'm on hold for that.

ETA...bought the mainshaft, looks like I don't have blade grip screws...I have a feeling I'm in over my head. I don't even know the things I don't know!