My First Fuselage

[caseyjholmes]

Got the red FC3 fuse today. Beautifully painted and seems very strong. Says it weighs 90g's.
I didn't like how the yellow one looks but the red one is HOT! Looks great in person, probably doesn't look anything like it in the photos but oh well. Looked good enough for me to buy it!

I'll get more pictures up as the assembly continues. Looks simple.
I'm gonna convert my second rex 250 to aluminum pulleys and a new belt before I put it in the fuse for longevity.

Will get more pics later.
At first glance, it appears as though the fuse will fit in the case if you remove the lid, but I could be very wrong about that!

[caseyjholmes]

Few more pics for your viewing pleasure.
It really must be seen to be appreciated IMO. It has "sexy curves" and "sharp cheeks" the photos won't catch.
The canopy/lid thing is held in place by a sturdy pin and magnet system. I dig that part.

[My 2 Cents]

Sweet me likes
Does it feel heavy?
Thanks,
M2C

[SidewaysLS4]

Nice!

[kyalamikid]

C'mon Casey, how does it fly! You have had it for a few hours now, and no vid!!!

[caseyjholmes]

Originally Posted by kyalamikid

C'mon Casey, how does it fly! You have had it for a few hours now, and no vid!!!

Haha
I gotta pull a few things off the heli and replace before I install the fuse just for piece of mind. I probably won't fly it every day, and I'll try to expect it to last a while in one piece so gonna make sure all is done right. You know me.. I like to take my time and be overly picky about this and that.

Metal f/r pulleys and a new belt later and I'll have it flying. Maybe an upgraded tail servo so I don't have to worry about the 420 going out if it decides to. I do wanna just slap it on but I want to make sure it stays together for a while with no mechanical failures. Some of these guys that are pretty good with assembly get hundreds of flights out of their scale birds with no issues.

Looks like the manual says to just pull the boom supports off, open one half of the tail case and slide the boom and half tail case in, then put the tail shaft back in and finish the tail. I think I left a tiny piece at the hobby shop.. a little bendable thing they call the "pipe mount". It goes between the boom and tail on the fuse. I Can probably just use stacked up double sided servo tape instead. No problem.

The fuse it pretty light I guess. The 250 won't have any problem lifting it, I know that for sure. It's 90 grams, I've seen people add more than that in their build without a fuse..

[caseyjholmes]

Got the new metal pulleys in.
Since the fuselage calls for removing the boom supports, I also installed an aluminum boom block. I'm gonna go with the stock servo. If it gives me trouble I'll replace it.

i have to test fly the airframe now in "fuselage mode" before I actually install it in the fuse.
Then I just remove the three screw to the tail box and the four screws to the landing gear and slide the completed heli into the airframe. Then install the LG screws and the three screws to the tail housing again.

Only things I may have to move my ESC.

Should be done with this one sooner than anticipated. More pics to follow shortly.

I think adding all this weight from the fuse will actually make it fly better in the wind. You're also removing things from the stock airframe making it lighter by a small amount before you add the fuse.

Will have to cut up a custom foam blade holder to fit the fuse boom.

[caseyjholmes]

First flight in.
Still have to glue the horizontal stabilizers on with epoxy though.

Flies fine at 80%. The fuse does load it up good though. You can feel the juice drain and you have to add more and more stick.
Have not tried it outside at 100% yet.

WARNING! don't fly it without the canopy cover on! Also make sure your rear foam to fuse and boom insulation is seated very good! I made a custom foam insert and glued it in the tail plug slot. Without these two critical pieces the fuse will vibrate hard and hit spinning head parts. I took a bit of paint off the top of the fuse and learned the hard way. If you want the paint to stay on your fuse, take my advice

Only a little chip though. I CA cured the chip and it should be OK from now on.
Here's some flight pics. Will put more pics of the assembly up when I Get the fins on and a flight video. The heli shouldn't have any problems lifting this fuse. Might warm the heli up a bit though!

Made two little pinholes in the fuse for my antenna, otherwise no mods at all were required for the fuse besides a custom foam insert. The little air scoop is in a good spot to promote cooling.

[helidude3]

looks nice, but I do not have a second rexy I would add a fuse to. One more thing to get...

[SidewaysLS4]

Cool! Congrats!

+1 on the second 250 for a fuse here, lol. Really thinking about a 500E. Planning on using the vaporware HK250 loaded up with cut-rate electronics for that...hey, I'm looking for maybe 3500 tops headspeed, it should work...I think.

[caseyjholmes]

Hovered at 100% in the living room. It has the power to flip with the fuse on for sure. There's still room in the nose for lights or a tiny ebay pinhole camera or something too.
Congrats Align, you've opened up a whole new class of heli! It actually works pretty good! Sorry I forgot to glue the fins on still. Having too much fun with it to wait around for glue to dry. I had to balance the completed rotor head to remove all vibrations and now it's almost silent and flies silky smooth.










I used red foam from a Spartan gyro box




Antennae routing

[kyalamikid]

Originally Posted by caseyjholmes

First flight in.
Still have to glue the horizontal stabilizers on with epoxy though.

Flies fine at 80%. The fuse does load it up good though. You can feel the juice drain and you have to add more and more stick.
Have not tried it outside at 100% yet.

Great going Casey. I m keen to see how much flying you can do with the fuse on, as this looks quire light and aerodynamic...

[scm6079]

Thanks for taking the time to post all the pics - really nice looking.

[tourerjim]

Now I've seen your pic's heli flying I'm going to get one I have a spare 250.

[caseyjholmes]

Finz!
I'll try and flip it on video next post
The light hits the fin funny so it looks crooked, but I can assure you it's straight as an arrow.

All Up Weight is 422 grams with align battery and battery straps RTF.

[caseyjholmes]

OK, last update.
It does flips and rolls. I'm sure I could loop it too.
It was very windy outside today though.

Setup:
Stock 205 plastic blades
stock batman tails
All stock electronics
16T set screw pinion
pulleys and boom clamp upgraded
100% throttle
+-11* pitch
stock tail pushrod
Cheesy old run down Kong Power "25C" lipo in video.
Flight time was around 3 mins, haven't checked the batt yet. Started to lose 3D power quick but could have hovered another minute maybe. Still needs a little work on my setup.

[helinelly]

nice 1 casey
so was it heavy or what...............................
looks cool tho

regards helinelly

[brentonasmith]

thanks for taking the time to record and show off the fuse great stuff