fbl vs fb

[gaurdian101]

everyone is raving about fbl and I don't have one yet I have align 500 esp that I'm want to buy the fbl head for so the thing is

1 can I use my stock servo's ds510 I really don't want to buy new servo'
2 the head buy the dfc head or the other style fbl head
3 I don't do 3d yet I still a newbie by far....can I use my main blades I have now or need to buy fbl blades..

anything special I should now about buying besides the head I have a guy going to sell me a beastx so got that.....my tail servo is a futaba s9650 and has a futaba gy520 gyro on it now any info on what to buy thanks ....

[rob78]

Originally Posted by 450 3d

everyone is raving about fbl and I don't have one yet I have align 500 esp that I'm want to buy the fbl head for so the thing is

1 can I use my stock servo's ds510 I really don't want to buy new servo'
2 the head buy the dfc head or the other style fbl head
3 I don't do 3d yet I still a newbie by far....can I use my main blades I have now or need to buy fbl blades..

anything special I should now about buying besides the head I have a guy going to sell me a beastx so got that.....my tail servo is a futaba s9650 and has a futaba gy520 gyro on it now any info on what to buy thanks ....

1) You can use your existing servos
2) I would avoid the Align DFC head just based on what I've read here. I have a Compass TracX head which is DFC, but behaves differently. I'm a big fan of how it flies and how it crashes (rarely breaks parts).
3) You can use your old FB blades, but expect them to be a little faster on cyclic response. You might buy a set of FBL blades and put your old blades to the side for spares. If budget doesn't allow for that, just use what you've got.

With regards to FBL controllers, you can ask that question and get 100 different answers. Most folks like what they're familiar with. I like the Ikon because it's simple to set up and it flies very well without lots of tuning. If you're on a budget, you might take a look at the Robird G31...they fly well with minimal fuss and they're about 1/3 the cost of an Ikon.

[MiataJohn]

+1 on the Robird. Great unit for the price and easy to setup.

[vtown nick]

I logged 30 flights on my flybar trex 500 pro and never had anything bad to report on it. It performed everything with knife edge exucition.

However, I was running a mega ton of cyclic pitch to get it to flip how I wanted it to and even with a good deal of expo it was super twitchy, 3,000 rpm head speed didn't help either. I really liked it but enjoy how a good FBL heli flys so it got a iKON and I went with the EFL head. I put it into the dirt hard within 10 flights and the pitch links flew off and saved all the servos. Dfc would have stripped them.

Flying this heli with a well programmed iKON there is no comparison at all between the two but that's because I have 3 banks all set to different styles so it's not a fair comparison.

A 500 flybar to me flew night and day better than my flybar 450 did. If it's already flybar try it out for a few flights at see. Some people still fly the hell out of them. My only real complaint was flying it 10-20 mph winds it would be all over the place and required a ton of corrections doing funnels and what not.

[Windmanquebec]

I would go with the EFL head also. I can get you the list of parts you need from the flybar ESP head. I just bought them last week. When I'll get home i"ll give you the exact parts numbers.

[MGPTWEGB]

+2 Robird G31

[gaurdian101]

thanks windmanquebec I'm going the EFL...and if you have the list of parts you ordered for the the flybar ESP head...I would love to start ordering them.

[Windmanquebec]

Here is what you need. You can still use the same main shaft
Align 500EFL PRO Metal Main Rotor Housing H50148

ALIGN H50150 500PRO Metal Main Rotor Holder

ALIGN H50152 500EFL PRO Metal Main Rotor Holder Arm

Align 500Fl Metal Control Arm H50180

Align Linkage rod(A) set H50130 - Trex 500 FL

[Gladius]

Originally Posted by Windmanquebec

Here is what you need. You can still use the same main shaft

You can use the same shaft, but the EFL shafts will give you better geometry on your head drivers, and drop the rotor disc a little. So go ahead and use the shafts you have now, but buy the EFL's for replacements.