Hawk Pro Update

[907Heli]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm loving my Hawk Pro even more now and thank a couple people who really helped me out. Motorotor and Dennis P. for lots of help with my noob questions on setup and Motorotor for pointing out the washer mixup on the feathering shaft. That really woke this bird up! Forgive me for not remembering who, but someone else had suggested removing the flybar weights and I finally did today. This was something that I had done to my 450 size heli and loved it so it made perfect sense. Well between fixing the binding in the head and pulling the weights it's turned into a whole other heli.

I hovered my hawk inverted for the first time today!!

Unfortunately I don't have pictures, but I'm finally getting the cyclic response to do flips, loops and rools and enough pitch authority to do inverted hovering, all with relative ease. Now power management with a .32 is a challenge but I like it. I finally understand why it's such a popular heli. This thing flies beautifully, especially considering the small amount of money invested. The only thing I really want to change is to add the constant drive tail upgrade so I can feel better learning autos.

Thanks again for your help.

[Dennis P]

That is great news,glad you are enjoying the hawk

[Ontaeronut]

very nice to hear. I too love my hawk now that all the bugs have been worked out if it. Can you tell me what removing the flybar weights do to the heli?

If your down in power, I have a OS 37 here that needs a carb, make me an offer.

[hirobo fan]

great, on your first invert.

I to have a hawk pro well its really a raven now but anyway that do fly good. when I was learning to fly about 15 years ago I started with a hawk sport and loved it.

[907Heli]

Originally Posted by Ontaeronut

Can you tell me what removing the flybar weights do to the heli?
.

It lessens the effect of the flybar. It basically makes it respond to stick movements faster but takes out the dampening effect. It's much twitchier at hover now but it responds so much better. Before the weights were all the way out by the paddles (stock setup) and when I tried to do a roll or flip it was like I was dragging an anchor. It would go part way and then the flybar would be fighting the rotation and it would sort of stop and start falling before it would turn all the way over.

Now when I pull back or over it just flips or rolls. I'm not running insane head speed so it's no hard smack roll rate by any means but it's finally fast enough to do barrel rolls, flips, loops, continuous flips, inverted hovering etc. I'm ordering a set of KBDD paddles to try as well. I think the stock paddles are very heavy and the KBDD's should improve it even more.

I fly my Blade 400 with KBDD paddles and the weights removed and I love it. The extra twitch at hover doesn't phase me at all but the difference is greatly noticable doing maneuvers. The Hawk doesn't roll as fast as my Blade but I'm not expecting it to. My Blade is running 3100 rpm head speed lol.

If you are good enough that you want your Hawk to be more aerobatic and less trainer, I'd definitely recommend moving the flybar weights up towards the head or removing them completely. If you only adjust them, make sure you adjust them perfectly equally to maintain balance.

[907Heli]

Originally Posted by hirobo fan

great, on your first invert.

I to have a hawk pro well its really a raven now but anyway that do fly good. when I was learning to fly about 15 years ago I started with a hawk sport and loved it.

Thanks

It's not my first time inverted with a Heli, that came last year, first sustained hovering was just a month ago. This was just the first time I was able to get my Hawk inverted. I had so many problems setting it up and never really got it to perform that I was seriously doubting that it even had the ability. Turns out that the guy that I bought it from had done some things wrong. Once the other freaks here pointed me in the right direction it's been all smiles with my and my Hawk.

Honestly, the only reason I even considered getting a Hawk was the deal I found on Craigslist. The guy really hooked me up on a never flown kit with a mildly used .32 engine. I basically added cheap electronics, fixed the head, painted it three times and I fly the snot out of it. My flying buddies have a Trex600N and a Thunder Tiger X50 both flybar. I have more fun with my Hawk than they do because I've got about a third of the money invested and I can just have fun with it. I've got the confidence now to really wring it all out of the Hawk and my face still hurts from smiling when I fly it.

I kind of think that learning on a .32 might actually help in the long run as I have to learn better collective control and power management than my friends with their big motors. Hopefully I'll get some good habits down so that when I upgrade to a .55 or .90 It'll serve me well.

[MotorRotor]

Sounds like you are now ready to step into the N640 or the E640 for even a bigger smile.

After the Hawk with a low power head and a bell mixing system designed for slower cyclic, you will find either of the 640's to be kitty cats in the hover while being tigers in cyclic.

Like the hawk they do so at a relatively low cost and yet are also easier to build.

[907Heli]

I would LOVE to build an N640!! That's on my list of models to consider when I move up. I'm not really into the electrics. I really like the nitro's but what I really want is a gasser. Now that O.S. has that 15HZ I'm thinking about building up a .90 around that motor. I really like the Avant helis, but they're kind of hard to find used and new price is up there. The N640 is still at the top of my list though. For a guy on a budget, it's hard to beat that size of heli for that price. I do know that I'll only buy flybarless and CCPM from now on. The old Hawk style linkage is a pain in the butt. I was thinking about putting a cheap flybarless system and head on the Hawk just for fun lol.

[MotorRotor]

Today, for those already with some good flight experience under their belt, I would also recommend the FBL version. That said, you would not want to experience it with a cheap, low performance one.

As for an FBL Hawk, did you see this thread here from a fellow who has done so:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=539232

As soon as Iet some time I think I will put the CN2517A head on mine and give it a shot.

As for 90 sized gassers with the OS15HZ, there are a number of threads in the gasser forum here about it, and it seems to have a good deal of problems at the moment, so you might want to leave that on the burner for awhile longer. I have always been a fan of OS heli engines, but in this case you may want to wait until OS has addressed these issues.

[Lieutenant Dan]

bar weights, that was me, glad your happy

I agree, it's a fun heli to fly, and if you are light on the throttle it should fly close to 20 minutes

[907Heli]

That's right, thanks a bunch L.D. I was out flying again tonight and the extra control has given me so much more confidence. I was flipping, rolling, hovering inverted, making inverted passes again.

First full down AUTOROTATION!!

I've been really hesitant to even try autos and somewhat fearful of flying this heli without knowing how to do auto's. I started doing power recovery autos last week and today I hit the throttle hold and did three autorotations all the way to the ground. Major personal milestone.

Thanks again for everyone's help.