A Newb's 700E F3C

[Mustang Fever]

I got on those with a pair of wrenches, and tried to make them tighter and I couldn't do it, so I'm thinkin they did a really good job at the factory. I'm gonna leave em alone.

[Mustang Fever]

The beast rules. The setup is really intuitive, and I had no problems. Got a blue light at 6 degrees pitch on the dreaded step J, and everything worked perfectly right from the start. Got three very short hovers in tonite, just checking response and making adjustments. It will really scoot compared to the F3C, so I've dialed it down quite a bit. I'm still using 1500 RPM on Normal. I don't really want to set it higher as the response is peppy enough, and the tail is holding good with the 115 mm blades.

It's a bit too sensitive for me, a function of the #2 pot setting, "direct cyclic feed". The description in the book of how they behave when it's set too high matches mine,"overcontrols your cyclic input" so I've dialed that down a bit for tomorrow's flights.

The tail bobs up and down a little (pitch axis). The book says this is due to the cyclic gain (#1 pot) being too high, so I've dialed that down a bit more.

The only gripe I have is related to Align: the pitch links are too long. When everything is dead bang on with servos/horns/etc, there's still about 3 degrees + pitch when in step G, the swashplate servo centering routine. I had to grind about 3/32" off each end of both pitch links before I could shorten them enough to get the blades at 0 deg during that step.

Carrying this thing around is so much easier without that flybar.

[Hoosiermo1]

I have to agree with your impressions as I also converted my f3c with the beast. I also found it to be extremely stable with the stock f3c blades.

[Mustang Fever]

Hoosier: I might try some F3C blades someday, as well.

Ended up dialing cyclic gain and cyclic forward down a bit more, and the tail bob and overcontrolling is gone. I returned the "dead band" setting to the factory one, as I like to see instant response when I move a stick. Shortened up my rudder pushrod as well, by about 1/4", and the tail drift is no more. I just love putting this thing in a hover(in a breeze) and letting go of the sticks. Awesome.

I ended up raising the Normal RPM to 1650 and idle up to 1750 Bumped the motor timing up to "high" as well, in the Castle. Motor runs a lot cooler.

[Mustang Fever]

I set pot 2 (cyclic forward feed) down to about 730 before the latest flight, and I'm here to tell ya, guys, flybarred helis do not compare to the Beast version 3.

This critter is so much easier to fly than my F3C was, and holds position in the wind so much better, that I am truly amazed. It is MUCH more stable than my F3C. Pot 2 is the secret- it allows you to set the control response to where you're most comfortable. That and good setup, anyway.

I'm now running 1600 head for normal, and 1700 for idle up. Seems about perfect for this old Newb. Slowy cranking up the headlock gain, now at 55% on the 6EX, planning to try 60% on the next flight.

[Hoosiermo1]

You should also look at the beast x forum there is a tuning guide as a stick that's very informative. I was able to run 73 gain in my 700.

[Mustang Fever]

Yeah, I've been hanging out on the beast x setup page. Got a lot of useful info from it, and my settings are posted there.

[Mustang Fever]

I've set this one up so that the canopy can stay on unless I need to repair or replace something under it, and the CG was really easy to get:

-Went with some lightweight, easy to see tail feathers and the CF wrapped boom, which is lighter than the aluminum one.

-The above, and mounting all the electronics in the nose allowed me to get the CG right on the mainshaft with the twin 4000 nano packs even with the rear strap slots, so it's only sticking out in front an inch or so.

-Rx pack charge connector (with the on/off switch) and a connector to get at the ICE link on the right side.

-Got this from someone else's picture: by putting the battery wires in the center of the tray, they can stick out the left side. The ICE is mounted on the pad where the Rx pack would normally go, so it's wires reach through the big frame slot. Batteries now load easily from the rear, and no removing the canopy to do the connect/disconnect. Only thing I had to do special was make up some 4" motor extension leads. I used 4mm bullets on them so they just plugged right into the existing wiring.

-The Beast is on the gyro pad, and I can access it for adjustments through the approx. 1.5" hole in the canopy.

[erni66]

I got a F3C 700 and I wana know if I can upgrade it to DFC head and if I can use the stocks blades grips with the DFC head?
Thank u for ur help guys.

[Mustang Fever]

I don't think the blade grips are interchangeable. You'd need the DFC upgrade kit, which includes the head and the shorter mainshaft, plus a 3G system. It looks to me like you'd have plenty of clearance between the 700mm blades and the T/R, but that's something you'd want to check yourself, and drop down to some 690s if there's any doubt.

If I had it to do over, which I will some day soon, I would have gone with the skookum and bought a bigger radio so I could have the bailout feature, but the beast works ok and it was cheap.

[Hoosiermo1]

Originally Posted by erni66

I got a F3C 700 and I wana know if I can upgrade it to DFC head and if I can use the stocks blades grips with the DFC head?
Thank u for ur help guys.

If your f3c is a v2 with the bolt on grip arms. Instead of the one piece grips, then yes you can use your grips with the dfc upgrade.

[Mustang Fever]

You're all gonna love this- I found something to blame my crash on. Took awhile, but here it is:

The week I crashed the F3C, I was using the same transmitter to fly my electric Arrow from Manistique Lake. I think it was a couple days after the crash that I noticed something odd about the rudder on that airplane. Maximum stick movement would cause the rudder to kick back towards center before it got all the way left or right.

I didn't think much of it, guessing I had a bad servo because this airplane has had problems with water getting into the electronics bay. (since corrected)

Got home, changed the servo, and no help. Same strange rudder kick. Old Futaba S3004 servos, both of them, not the best when new. Made a note to try an HS325 HiTec. Before I did, something made me think transmitter. Tried the rudder test on Snoopy, my H9 Camel. Same problem. Whoooooaaaaa!!!!!!

Sent the Tx to Futaba to get fixed, and am flying the 700 on another transmitter.

I'm pretty sure this precipitated the crash, as I had the stick hard over to the left, trying to turn away from me when it was trying to go behind me. Instead of turning away, it got all crazy and went across just in front of me and hit going left to right.