Welcome to my RC Heli Blog

I hope to chronicle my build of a super affordable TRex 450 clone helicopter, complete and ready to fly for less than $200 USD! including a decent charger, transmitter, battery etc.
I intend to use cost effective parts to create something on par with its Align heritage!
I then plan on upgrading parts as they wear out or break (crash!).
At some stage in the future I intend to do similar with a TRex 600 Clone.
I used to fly a TRex 450 SA, which I had many dollars invested in. It flew well and it taught me to how to fly and setup rc helis.  I used a JR X2610 computer radio and had expensive align servos and esc. Gyro was a Telebee which never worked that well.

Upgrades II

Well i've been doing a few more things to the heli.
Firstly I have bought a Corona DSSS 2.4Ghz module and receivers, this gives a better signal and improved reception over the stock Turnigy module/receiver.
I managed to pick up the module with both an 8 channel and a micro 4 channel receiver which I intend to put in a small flying wing or similar.
This module/rx combo along with the digital servo's has bought a new kind of smoothness to the heli and is definately to be recommended.
My Hobbyking order has arrived and I have fitted the DIY backlight kit to my Turnigy 9x transmitter. Makes it a lot nice to use/program in low light conditions etc.
The carbon flybar paddles look really good, can't really notice a difference in handling but they do look the business :)
Recently I've put in another order with Hobbyking for a few items:
Assan MEMS Gyro
XT60 Connectors (for spares)
HXT900 gear sets (for my old damaged servos, probably put these into a plane)
The MEMS Gyro has the best type of sensor that Gyro's can come with, this should make the Heli even better. Hopefully I will be using this in a 600 sized electric heli at some stage!

Upgrades

Done a few mods to the heli since the last post.
Have upgraded a few bits as below:
Align V3 headblock - Stronger and better than HK one
Align V3 Tail boom and Tail drive support - enables me to also fit the one piece Align tail drive gear as you need to have split bearing holders.
Corona DS-919MG Digital Servos on Cyclic, super fast and strong metal gears. Make a huge difference to the smoothness of control.
A couple of sets of Fibreglass blades as spares.

Have a few things on order from Hobbyking specifically:
11 & 13 Tooth Pinions
Carbon Flybar Paddles (look really well made)
Turnigy 9x LCD Backlight Kit (this will be awesome! and only $5 USD, just waiting for stock)
New Gyro tape (as it was cheap)

Crash

Had a bit of a mishap.
Was doing some fast flight out the back of my house and somehow managed to misjudge a low turn, I smacked the heli in the side of my shed, only just caught the edge of the roof.
Broke both blades and bent the flybar, cracked the main rotor hub and broke two servo's.  The main shaft is badly bent too but thats about it. Not too major and its amazing how long the HXT900 servos have lasted given a couple of ground strikes and nearly 100 or so flights!
New parts on the way as well as a full re-setup of the swash etc.  Should be up and running in the next week or so.

New Canopy

I found an old airbrush while tidying up my garage, so I made an adapter for my compressor and tried to think of something to paint.
So I bought a new white fibreglass Align canopy and did a bit of masking and painted it up in an Orange pearl with chequers.  All painted details no vinyl.
Pic to come.

Flying

I've been flying a lot recently, doing a lot of big sky flying mainly.
Lots of fast circuits and just flying around.
Looking at doing a few minor jobs on the heli such as replacing the swash as it has a fair bit of play now.
Also looking at getting a screw pack as a few screws have been stripping there hex heads from being screwed/unscrewed.
Would also like to re-mount the gyro on some decent foam or gel type tape just for the sake of it.
Have replaced the skids with the 450 Pro skids after cutting the old ones down to use as a spacer. Pro skids have a different fixing.

Parts

I bought some Align one piece links for the head, these are called V3 parts as they are an upgrade for the 450SEV2.
Simplifies setup, just needed to resize them a little as they were a bit tight. Well worth the $7!

Yet more flying

I've been flying at least once a day for the last month! :)
I've now progressed back into forward flight and covering a lot larger area than before.
Will be getting back into aerobatics over the christmas break when I can get some decent time to have a fly.
I've put on some fibreglass blades and can't tell any difference between them and the carbons to be honest, so fibreglass it will be from now on. Especially for $12 a pair!!!
No real accidents to report, and everything seems to be holding up quite well.

Flying and more Flying

I've been flying most nights for the last few weeks.
Confidence has returned and I'm now doing lots of low circuits and general flying here and there.
All of this has been done in quite a small area. I will soon start to get it really cranked up in a bigger space for some decent fast forward flight.  Once that becomes easy again i'll move into doing some light aerobatics :)

Mishaps & Spares

Since getting the heli flightworthy i've had a few minor scrapes of the blades.
I bought some main shafts from Trademe but they weren't straight so decided to send them back and get a spare belt instead.
I went to Hobby Hangar and bought myself some new Align mainshafts that are considerably better made, and straight!  I also picked up a few main gears as I noticed that mine had a few teeth that were a bit broken.
The heli is now considerably quieter and wobble free.

Goodies

I decided to buy a few items, some spares and a battery alarm.
2x Sets of Fibreglass blades which are very similar to the carbons i'm currently using.
Bought from DuncB on Trademe.co.nz for NZD$12 a pair!!!!

Some spare main and feathering shafts, always useful to have around.
A Yeah Racing Lipo Alarm which in my opinion is the best looking alarm you can buy! Most look a little homemade in appearance. Also bought from PugSpeed on Trademe.co.nz for NZD$10.50!!

Flying

Well I've been flying a lot, here are some pics my wife took while doing a little hover practice.

Flying and Update

Well I've been flying as much as I can, getting at least 1 flight a day under my belt.
Confidence is slowly returning, and I expect I'll be back doing circuits and mild aerobatics in no time.
I've updated the page tabs at the top of the blog, i've filled them with info on setups, manual downloads etc.
Take a look and see if you can find anything useful.

Maiden Flight

Got up reasonably early, did a preflight check after doing a light oil with some Triflow.
Installed the battery, canopy and started to spool it up.
Cyclic needed a few clicks of right and forward to correct, tail seemed pretty steady with the gain set to 72% on AVCS mode.
Lifted off a little to check the handling out, then dropped it down and spooled down to make sure everything was still okay, and it was.
Did a few more hovers and a little bit of a circuit and it feels great, can't really tell the difference between this and my Align made heli to be honest!!!
I'll post some pics soon.

Gyro & CCPM/Radio Setup

 Made sure my Gyro linkages were mechanically setup perfect as this can cause trouble later on.
Ball is 7-8mm from centre of servo arm, 90 degrees to rod as per the V2 SE Manual.
Check for full movement and set the limits on the gyro so you don't stall and burn your servo.
I then spent the rest of the night setting up pitch and throttle curves, if you have trouble with these please check out Finless Bob Whites video series in the Heli Setup tab at the top of this blog.

Build Complete

The build is now complete, I bought some velcro and canopy grommets from HobbyHanger.  I tried fitting the canopy and had a heap of trouble trying to get clearance to servos etc.   Seems I bought a canopy that only suits the old TRex 450 XL!  Its substantially narrower and will not fit a V2!
A trip to HobbyHanger and the purchase of a new albeit a little expensive, prepainted TRex 450 SE canopy.
Fits a treat and came with stickers etc, personally I think it finishes it all off and gives it an air of class!
The differences can be seen here:

Wiring Complete

My Flexo PET finally arrived, which is the special nylon overbraid for the protection of my wires.
Takes a bit of skill to put on the wire, you have to remove the servo plugs and then I used a portion of the tip of a pencil to spread the braid, then followed that with a straw. Finally once its all pushed onto the straw you feed the wires through the straw and slide the straw out.  Then you cut some small pieces of Heatshrink to stop it fraying and shrink them on to the ends.   I used a contrasting blue to match the servos.

All of the wires are now braided except for the motor and main power leads, they aren't really needed as they are tucked away neatly.

More on the build

My HK410B Gyro arrived today. I decided to do the "2 Minute mod" to it.
Took it apart, hot glued the internals and checked the soldering.
Installed the gyro on top of the tail boom holder with the supplied gyro tape.
Shortened the leads from the gyro to the tail servo, the esc to receiver lead and neatly tucked things away.
Installed the motor with some longer fixings, and cable tied the receiver in place.
Still waiting to get my PET wire covering to really make a neat job of it all.

 

Next jobs: finish the rest of the wiring, get some velcro for the Lipo, fit the canopy properly...

Construction Begins

I started construction straight away, most of the frame was prebuilt so just a quick check of the screws etc and it was soon complete.

The tail and head were pretty good, linkages were preset at the correct lengths as per the Align TRex 450 SE manual.  Loktite was applied to almost all of the screws, always worth checking just in case.

Package has arrived

4 Days from Hong Kong is not bad!

Some people have had trouble with missing items from Hobbyking but i've never had any issues in 3 decent size orders.