Bell 222 Build (50-size nitro)

[Cletus]

Decided that I needed to build something as the building-bench was just there taking-up space (is there ever a need to justify buying a new heli?). I also wanted a departure from pod and boom helis, but wanted to stay Nitro powered. I opted for the Century Bell 222 50-Size, like the Jet Ranger, I always found the 222 to be such a sleek looking machine.
I will attempt to Photo-Document the build and give my impressions as I go along for those who may be interested in a similar project.
HARDWARE:
Century Bell 222 Fuselage 50-Size (pre-painted Blue Stripes ...I hate to paint)
Century Scale 50-size Mechanics
Century 50-size scale muffler
Century Retracts with wheels
OS .50 SX-H Hyper Engine
Futaba GY401 / 9254 Gyro & Servo
4x Futaba 9252 Servos (Thro, Collective, Aile, Elev)
3x Hi-Tec HS-225BB Servos (Retracts)
Spektrum AR7000 Receiver
JR 4500mAh NiMH 4.8v Battery Pack (Flight Control and Nav lighting)
JR 2300mAh NiMH 4.8v Battery Pack (Landing Gear Power)
Dual Futaba Heavy Duty Power Harness
NHP 600mm Carbon Fiber Main Blades
NHP 95mm Carbon Fiber Tail Blades
XTEC Industries Heli-4 LED 5mm Nav Lighting System
XTEC Industries LED 16mm Floodlight
NFSD1 Servo Slow Down Module (for retracts)
JR Matchbox (for retract programming)
2x 3300uf 25v Capacitors (power demand buffers)

All the stuff should arrive next week (while the lady is away) and the build will begin.

[dswitkin]

Nice, keep us posted. Isn't a 9252 overkill on throttle though?

[HarveyR]

Looks good. I have built the 222 with an Hawk mecanics and OS05, it worked out well. I bought the "kit" 222, so I did it all (cut outs, painting, ...). I painted mine all white.

In the end, besides preparing and painting the 222, adjusting the retracts must have been the longest part, as getting them all to lock out at the same time and to be full in also at the same time wasn't too easy. Maybe more advanced electronics could help (ATV for each servo).

It's a cool machine that always gets attention at the field however.

[Cletus]

I've got all my birds setup that way Servos, Gyros, Receivers, Battery Packs all standardized, less spares inventory. The DS821's for the retracts I have lying around the workshop since I bought my first DX7/AR7000 combo, just thought I would use them up.

[wren1702]

I have a good friend here on Helifreak who has a 222 with Trex 600E mechanics, Gimbal Lock is his screen name. The retracts were a pretty good challenge to get working correctly.

[Cletus]

Here are my first impressions as I build the kit and I have forwarded these comments to Century as well:
(for shipping reasons, I opted to purchase the Mechanics and Fuselage a few days apart)
The Mechanics arrived in an unassuming, brown, corrugated cardboard box containing the numbered plastic bags containing the parts and manual for the build. All the bags were taped together

The Fuselage arrived in a very impressive brown corrugated cardboard box measuring 52"x18"x11". Inside this outer box was another snug fitting brown corrugated cardboard box containing the fuselage kit. The fuselage parts were well protected with foam box-dividers, foam and tissue-paper wrapping of individual components and parts in plastic bags. The kit made the trip all the way to Trinidad, West Indies in pristine condition thanks to the excellent packaging.

Century Scale Mechanics:
1) Easy build
2) Good parts fit
3) Minimalistic mechanical design and execution. Although adequate, since this is a scale project and no 3D will be happening, if I had to do it again, I would have probably opted for a Raptor 50 mechanical system for this build.
4) Very skinny tail drive-shaft

5) A couple of minor missing parts (1 ball-link, 1 pitch-push-rod) and Century responded to my e-mail with a phone call to my office apologizing , an e-mail confirming shipment of the missing parts with FedEx tracking no. and all within 12-hours ...that's truly astounding!

BTW I began mechanical assembly after work on Thursday at 5:00pm and by Midnight I had it all up and functioning with swash-plate leveled, just awaiting the missing push-rod and link to do the pitch setup.

222 Fuselage:
The Century / Funkey Bell 222 (pre-painted) is really a nice kit to work with. Parts fit is very good and the paint work is phenomenal.
Some Recommendations for Century / Funkey (inexpensive to implement):
1)The Bell 222 Installation Manual should be made downloadable from Century’s website. IF that’s done modelers would know what’s involved in the build before they purchase. Like the fact that Century Scale SE, Hirobo Secadu and Thunder Tiger Raptor 50 Mechanics are readily fitted to this fuselage and in fact, supported by the kit manual.
2)On the painted kit, the lights should not be pre-installed but supplied in the bag of parts, giving the modeler the option to readily install LEDs.
3)The tail-fin should have a channel or tube leading from the tail-light to the tail-cone area so that modelers may readily snake wiring for a scale LED beacon in the tail-fin.
4)The wooden parts for the painted version should come loose in the bags and not pre-installed. Giving the modeler the option to fuel-proof the plywood parts before assembly. Also, makes testing and adjustment of the retract system outside of the model possible and easy.
5)There should be a note that the three-servo retract system does not readily support standard size servos and that mini-servos such as HS-225 are the drop-in fit.

[dswitkin]

Great post. Got any photos to share?

Daniel

[Cletus]

Hoping to get some photos up tonight.
Spent three hours today, working on the fuse ....measuring, fitting and re-measuring before drilling and cutting. Got my Nav Lights installed (repeatedly whacking the red light caps on the fuse with a screwdriver handle, releases the set on the cyano used to hold them in place, allowing holes for the LEDs to be drilled and the caps refitted). Got the mechanics fitted in the fuse, the hardwood base-runners epoxied in place on the hull, holes drilled for the mounting bolts, and cutouts in the hull for the fan airflow ventilation and the exhaust hole. Some more cutting for push-rod, swash-plate and tail-rotor shaft clearance will be done over the next couple of days while the HS-225's and replacement parts are on the way.
The mechanics are a pretty close fit in the fuselage (just to change the glow-plug, one has to remove the rotor-head, upper fuse, tail boom assembly and pull the mechanics out. So I plan to break-in the engine, and do the setup adjustments by flying the mechanics a bit prior to fitting in the fuse (needle-valve adjustments, fueling, charging, glow-ignition (using a glow-plug remote connector) and access to the power switch can be accomplished through an open starboard window.
She's a pretty good looking bird!

[Cletus]

Here are some general photos:
Sensible packaging, small box held the mechanics, scale muffler, retracts and some parts for a friend, big box held the 222 fuselage of course:


In the box, minus packing material:


A look at the mechanics:


Another view of the mechanics:


Century Scale Muffler

Hardwood base runners epoxied to the hull and cutouts for exhaust and fan-discharge ventilation. Those are some of my nav lights wiring.


Here's one really sweet fuselage:

[GyroAl]

That is really looking SWEET!

[j54983]

really, really NICE.

[Cletus]

Originally Posted by HarveyR

Looks good. I have built the 222 with an Hawk mecanics and OS05, it worked out well. I bought the "kit" 222, so I did it all (cut outs, painting, ...). I painted mine all white.

In the end, besides preparing and painting the 222, adjusting the retracts must have been the longest part, as getting them all to lock out at the same time and to be full in also at the same time wasn't too easy. Maybe more advanced electronics could help (ATV for each servo).

It's a cool machine that always gets attention at the field however.

What head-speed should I be shooting for (hover and idle-up)?

[Cletus]

You would not believe what a PITA setting-up the retracts on this thing is!
Spent the entire day and still can't get it right ....taking a break and will get back to it.
The mechanics is ready test-fly. Have a couple of tanks through the OS50 Hyper so far. Hoping to test-fly and trim the mechanics tomorrow and get enough fuel through the engine to complete break-in.

[Cletus]

Test flight of the mechanics went extremely well. Tracking is dead-on and very little trim needed. She got off the deck and flew smoothly on the first try. Used a Raptor 90 Skid-set and cobbled-together a vertical fin from piece of scrap PVC sheet to keep the tailrotor from hitting the ground (no skids, fins or boom supports come with the Century Scale Mechanics). Needed some tailrotor pushrod adjustment to neutralize the tail in Rate Mode and that was easily accomplished. This thing is stable and smooth in hover and flight! ...I could not resist shooting some autos with it even, SWEET!
Engine all broken-in and setup for a head-speed of 1550-RPM in normal mode.
Still catching my A$$ with the damned retracts. Ok, I'm beaten into submission ....just ordered a JR Matchbox as the Port Servo on the mains needs to be reversed and being able to set individual endpoints for each servo will sort-out the woes going on here. Had to do some cutting, grinding, filing, sanding, to get the retracts fitted and working smoothly (Dremel to the rescue). Although this is supposed to be an ARF kit, it is a builder's kit and is very fiddly, especially the retract system. Does not look viable to slow-down the retract system to the 2.5-seconds that I would like. The retract system needs some momentum to effectively lock at the ends of travel. I may however, get away with a 1-second cycle time ...that will have to do.
The mechanics mounting hole as per the instructions on the front port side, is obscured by the scale muffler and there's no way to maneuver a wrench or any kind of driver in there. The front-most hole has to be used instead and the hole indicated in the instruction now has to be plugged.
Xtech Nav Lights and Flood Lamp fitted and look very good.

[dswitkin]

Do the retracts use two or three servos? I'm wondering how many channels it would take to fly the heli with everything on its own channel.

Daniel

[HarveyR]

Is used two servos. I just have a Y arness, and it works well, although a little tedious to setup.

[Cletus]

Instructions call for three servos. I am using 3x HS-225BB

[Cletus]

Originally Posted by HarveyR

Is used two servos. I just have a Y arness, and it works well, although a little tedious to setup.

Harvey:
What headspeeds are you running?

[HarveyR]

Instruction says three? That's strange, mine says two, besides, there's nowhere I could put the third, there's only two planned locations (front and right). I also read somewhere in the thread (I think) that standard servo's didn't fit, but in mine they do (I have C507 or something).

For HS, I'm really low, I've never measured, but I'd say maybe around 1300/1400 (basically I'm as low as I could wihtout it bogging down and getting too "dangerous"). You can see it's really slow and that the pitch is high (to keep it in hover), but it makes the sound nicer and the cyclic response more realistic I find. It kind of looks "heavy", like a real heli. For example, I've got to be really carefull flying it, for example if I come down in a steep descent, I have to pull back up quite soon or I'll hit the ground.

[Cletus]

Having a problem with the JR 4.8V 4500mAh NiMh I got from Heliproz. It's just not holding enough charge even though I broke it in as per the recommendations. I have two of these same batteries in my Bergen Intrepid Gasser and one in my Raptor 50, no problems, I can fly all day with them. Three flights, just flying the Century Scale mechanics and the pack is exhausted!
heliproz has not responded to my complaint yet ....unusual for them, I spend a lot of money with them every month and they're usually good at responding and dealing with arising issues ...we'll see