My 425 Build pictures

[ChrisRain]

hey guys, just thought i would post some pictures of my 425 build, just finished the build this morning so i found all the pictures i took and figured i would post a thread showing my build process.

heres the contentes of the box.


picture of the frame put together.


got skids on.


put the head together.


installed head on frame.


installed tail boom, not put tail together yet.


put the tail together...and yes, i do know the tail blades are backwards, noticed that they were backwards after taking picture.


Here's the helicopter finished with the canopy put on.


heres the heli again.



Didnt get any pictures of installing electonics, but the electronics that i have in the heli are
DS821's for cyclic
Align DS620 for tail
Spartan Quark Gyro
Align 100 amp ESC
Castle Creations 10 amp BEC
Hyperion 1400 kv motor.
Spektrum AR6200 reciever.
Zippy 2650 mah battery.
For the blades i am using 425mm Align blades.


This was my first ever build and it was alot of fun to build, didnt run into any serious problems which was nice. I can see why everyone tells you to build your heli instead of buying the RTF ones, building the heli really makes you confident so when you do crash you know what your doing. i am very excited to fly this thing for the first time, will definitely be posting a maiden flight video.

[PTcaflyer]

LOOKING GOOD !
you will have fun with it for sure! now that makes me want to build another one....need a 80a ESC and some assorted gubbins...Think it will be another...MID BOOM!
PT

[MicroMan]

Oh memories, there's nothing like building a Gaui. Congrats and good luck on your maiden hopefully soon.

[adam crosby]

Nice, how does she fly?

[ChrisRain]

Thankyou all for your replies.

Originally Posted by adam crosby

Nice, how does she fly?

Thanks, i havent maidened her yet, hopefully tomorow.
i will be posting a maiden flight video here in this thread as soon as i maiden.

[ChrisRain]

Just an update, yesterday i tried to maiden my helicopter. unfortunately the helicopter was never able to leave the ground. i have video of what happened...basically when spooling up the helicopter was making a strange noise, i ignored the noise and kept going with the throttle, i got to about 50% throttle and the blades werent spinning as fast as they should...so i powered down. then tried again, and the motor spun but the blades didnt spin at all. so i took it inside and after about a minute or so i found my problem, and the problem was that two little grub screws came loose that are holding one of the gears in the place. This gear is the one that is touching the motor pinion. anyways, i go to find my little hex key to take these out, put more locktite then try again...and well, it seems my allen wrench has dissapeared. soooo, after looking around the house for an hour i gave up, and decided i would just go buy myself some nice Align Hex drivers to replace my crap hex keys. If anyone wants to see the video that i got just say so and ill post. will hopefully get the problem fixed as soon as possible so i can get her flying.

[PTcaflyer]

Post it for sure!
It's all part of the build is'nt it?
We have all done something like this, paid the price to learn...and moved on !
PT

[ChrisRain]

Originally Posted by PTcaflyer

Post it for sure!
It's all part of the build is'nt it?
We have all done something like this, paid the price to learn...and moved on !
PT

will post as soon as it gets done uploading, shouldnt be much longer.
yeah, just feel very dumb for making such a silly mistake, i thought for sure i locktited all those little grub screws down. im just glad that i wasnt in the air when the grub screws came loose, would have been a bumpy landing.

[ChrisRain]

well, here is the video of the attempted maiden, will hopefully get the heli fixed at some time tomorow and get her maidened...i really...really wanna fly this bird.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AupYXy2TCmA[/ame]

[ChrisRain]

hey guys, well, today i did the maiden...it was definitely an interesting maiden flight. everything was going well, it was flying good, have a couple minor adjustments to make in the tail. and when i said it was an interesting maiden flight, i mean that by, i came extremely close to a crash. was doing a couple littttle punchouts to see how the tail held, and well i came close to the ground, gave a little throttle to do a little punchout and all the sudden the heli started spinning very slowly, anddd i wasnt telling it too, lucky i was close to the ground so i just chopped the throttle and the heli came right down on its skids. there is no damage to the heli. i immediatly saw the problem and it was that the linkage rod that connects the tail servo to the tail slider, well the little black things on each end, well the one that connects to the tail slider came off somehow? not really sure how it managed to come off, but its an easy fix.

there is bad news however, i did take video of the flight, but my hatcam was way off and the helicopter was never actually in the video.....soooooo ill charge the battery up, make my adjusments and go again...but this time ill try and get the helicopter in the shot.

[PTcaflyer]

...Put some CA in the threads on the links to help hold them in place...They should NOT be loose fitting threads at all...
Are you using a Keychain cam on your hat? That is what I use on a ball cap or velcro it to my tripod when doing hands off video...other than that, I use a Flipcam.
PT

[ChrisRain]

Originally Posted by PTcaflyer

...Put some CA in the threads on the links to help hold them in place...They should NOT be loose fitting threads at all...
Are you using a Keychain cam on your hat? That is what I use on a ball cap or velcro it to my tripod when doing hands off video...other than that, I use a Flipcam.
PT

Thanks for the tip with the CA, would hate for the linkage to come loose again during flight...i got VERY lucky that i was so close to the ground when the linkage came loose. i am using a keychain camera on my hat, i havent used it much so im still getting used to it and having trouble getting the heli in the shot. tomorow im gonna be flying alot so ill try and get some good videos of the heli flying. today i flew it four times and made a couple adjustments, mose of the adjustments were made to the tail and gyro. i now have the tail holding very well in punches and even with the really windy weather today the tail held perfectly, im very very glad i went ahead and spent the extra money for the Spartan Quark gyro.

[crickr1]

Congrats on the build! And your safe landing!! Can't wait for my425! No rush but I think i'm going to build mine in fall. Having fun learning my Gaui 200.

Lovin the GAUI

[ChrisRain]

hey guys, well i finally got to ACTUALLY fly my 425, went to the field behind my house and did a couple flips for the first time and did some forward flight, it has been extremely windy lately so i havent tried any other 3D yet. been messing with the pitches lately making adjustments but i think i finally got everything set to where i want it. also been messing around trying to get the swash perfectly level so i dont have to add any trim to get the helicopter stable. Just an hour or so ago i was flying to see if my adjustments made any difference and a dust-storm kicked up and the winds must have been blowing somewhere around 30mph...was very scary trying to land the helicopter in such strong winds, im very suprised at how much wind that this thing can handle, if i had been flying my 450 it would have been crashed in such strong winds. but here is a video of my helicopter flying...enjoy.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9FPk0uiIMc[/ame]

[PTcaflyer]

Looking Good !
on video it sounds like the RPM is just Screaming !
Great Job !
PT

[crickr1]

NICE!!!!

[ChrisRain]

Originally Posted by PTcaflyer

Looking Good !
on video it sounds like the RPM is just Screaming !
Great Job !
PT

Thanks!
This helicopter is just a monster compared to my little Blade 400.

NICE!!!!

Thanks man!

[ChrisRain]

hey guys, well this morning i flew my 425 after making some big adjustments to my pitch, adjusted it so i am getting alot more pitch out of my heli now. i screwed up and ended up having alot more negative pitch than positive, but i fixed that afterwards and wil test it tomorow. until then, heres a video of todays flight.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlv-Uv-wc1E[/ame]

enjoy.