Century E640 finally done and test flown

[Dennis P]

Well I finally finished up my E640 and got it out for it's first flights today.I will start by saying I am very impressed with the heli.The build was straight forward,all parts fit well and it fly's great .I only have 5 flights so far but plan on one more tonight
I am running the Century 565KV motor with the Castle Ice2 HV esc on 10S 4000mah Spyder packs.I use a Western Robotics HC bec.The flybarless is handled by a Skookum 720 controller.Servos are Aitronics 94774 on cyclic and Futaba BLS251 on tail.I am using the new 610mm Rotor tech FBL blades.The heli runs very smooth and my last flight was 7:30 secs with 4000mah put back in to the packs charging in parallel.As you can tell by that and my motor and cell count I do not run a 2400 head speed as I prefer a smoother ,slower flight style (To old to keep up?).My last flight was 2/3 of the flight at 1850 and the rest at 1700.I will be pushing the heli harder as I get more time on the heli so my battery consumption will increase,but I see no issues with 8:30 flights on this setup at 1850rpm unless you are doing constant tictocs.I did loops rolls ,stationary flips and rolls,a few tictocs,some fast backwards flight ,some steep approaches where shot ect.The heli felt great in all situations.I can honestly say I have never felt so at ease with a new heli ever.I added some pics to possibly help anyone building one with some ideas on electronics and battery wires,and if you come up with better ideas please post them.I first tried bring my pack leads up through the frt and ended up with a jumble.I then built the current series jumper and have the pack leads in the middle.That is about it for now,I will add more info as I put more time on the heli.Feel free to ask questions and add to the thread.Take care and enjoy your new E640

[Jamesppp]

How do the vibes look on the Skookum logs?
good looking heli

Jimmy

[tutelarRC]

Nice! This heli is on my wish list.

Out of curiosity, why did you put the battery-ESC connection so far forward? One of the great things about this heli is the ability to slide the battery in from the back without removing the canopy. Your setup forces you to remove the canopy...

I will be following this thread to learn from all the current E640 flyers.

[MotorRotor]

Looking great Dennis!

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by Jamesppp

How do the vibes look on the Skookum logs?
good looking heli

Jimmy

Have not had a chance to check them yet,was into flying it will the sun was shinning as it is snowing today.As for visual it was smooth ,tracking was good and fins solid,but will be checking into viewing the logs.Thanks

Originally Posted by tutelarRC

Nice! This heli is on my wish list.

Out of curiosity, why did you put the battery-ESC connection so far forward? One of the great things about this heli is the ability to slide the battery in from the back without removing the canopy. Your setup forces you to remove the canopy...

I will be following this thread to learn from all the current E640 flyers.

Yes it would have been nice to have the EC5 plug back farther,but as I stated I first tried putting the wires out the frt but that caused a wire jamb up frt.In that attempt I cut some length off the ESC wires.I do not beleive they would have came back far enough to unplug though.I can unplug at the series plugs without pulling the canopy though.I just do not like hitting the deans with the spark.That is why I have the EC5 up frt.I sure have no issue pulling the canopy though as I am use to it on every other heli I have had.I run no switches on my gassers so I pull the canopy to plug in the receiver batts and or ignition each flight.See now you can look and see what you want different when you put yours together Take care and get it off the wish list and onto the order list

[Dennis P]

Well here is my first addition to my thread.Flying has been going great with the E640.I have upped the gains on the skookum and still solid no wag or bobbles.The heli is a joy to fly but a bugger to see in darker sky's.It may be my aging eye's also but I need some bright contrasting colors.Not sky blue and white.I must say it is a beautiful canopy.The white landing gear bows look great but it all disapears in the sky.I am use to the glowing orange frt on my Radikal gassers,plus the large silver muffler on one side and a chrome air cleaner on the other.I had a neon orange canopy on my logo 500se that showed up great and that is what I am going to be looking for for my 640 also.For now I am doing the tail fin in neon orange trim tape and cutting out all the lightening holes.I may add something to the frt of the canopy.If the sky is great the canopy shows fine but today scared me a few times.Just lovin this heli though.
Bring on the bright optional canopy's CENTURY !!

[ngin]

Originally Posted by Dennis P

Well here is my first addition to my thread.Flying has been going great with the E640.I have upped the gains on the skookum and still solid no wag or bobbles.The heli is a joy to fly but a bugger to see in darker sky's.It may be my aging eye's also but I need some bright contrasting colors.Not sky blue and white.I must say it is a beautiful canopy.The white landing gear bows look great but it all disapears in the sky.I am use to the glowing orange frt on my Radikal gassers,plus the large silver muffler on one side and a chrome air cleaner on the other.I had a neon orange canopy on my logo 500se that showed up great and that is what I am going to be looking for for my 640 also.For now I am doing the tail fin in neon orange trim tape and cutting out all the lightening holes.I may add something to the frt of the canopy.If the sky is great the canopy shows fine but today scared me a few times.Just lovin this heli though.
Bring on the bright optional canopy's CENTURY !!

Though the colors and color scheme on the E640 is very attrctive of itself, I really like the more visible colors in the N640 canopies. I hope they will be doing some optional canopies in similar colors for the E640

[codfish124]

I have tried mine at lower HS and it is very smooth. I must agree with you about the canopy and the heli disappearing in the sky... My friend has the n640 and that canopy is very visabule

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by Jamesppp

How do the vibes look on the Skookum logs?
good looking heli

Jimmy

Well I finally looked at my vibration logs and for the most part they are between .7 and 1.0 .There are a few spikes from I guess flips and maybe some heavy cyclic and tail inputs.I do not really remember what I did on my last flight as I was not thinking about reading the log till half an hour ago. Anyway the spikes where 2.5 to abou 3.2 area and just fairly steep up and down ramps.It appears by the log to be a pretty darn smooth running machine,but I already new that but it is neat to view it also.The heli just keeps getting better ,now if the weather would

[Jamesppp]

Great low vibes. I thought
My Logo 500 3d was super smooth until I put the SK720 on board. I had tail spikes of 19-20!
replaced the tail parts and fiddled around and now tail and motor/gear interface is maxing at 3. So I'm happy. I need the self level for when I lose orientation
My first cp heli was a Swift. I still have it

[Dennis P]

Well I finally had enough little spooks in overcast skies or evening flying that I made a change to the canopy.I was about to start masking off the front of the canopy to do a orange 2 color fade around the nose ,when I thought will the nitro E640 canopy fit.I have one in stock and yes it does.So there is one on order to replace the kit one that I stole cause after flying it tonight it is not coming off.It is so nice to fly now that you can see it in overcast skies.I actually found it easier to see without the canopy on in the evening.Loving my E640 but would even like it more with a bright colored E640 canopy !!! Century . I must say that the paint and clear on these canopy's is great.You can flex the sides around pulling them on and off without ever putting a crack in the clear.My Funsano canopys would be full of cracks by now.Take care

[ngin]

That is great to know, but there are cooling cutouts molded into the E640 canopies, but from the pictures of the N640, I do not see any of these same molded cooling cutouts in the N640 canopies.

If that is the case, I would suggest that you cut some into the N640 canopy. They must have provided them in the E640 canopy for a reason.

[Dennis P]

It has already been done NGIN.I put a hole down in the frt as I cannot replicate the little scoop in the top.This hole allows airflow over the esc.The scoop is the only cooling hole in the E640 canopy.The stock scoop lines up perfectly with the 650A motors cooling fan which looks and I am sure works great.I will definantly install a new E640 canopy when some new bright ones are released.Old eyes and sky blue colors = pucker factor occasionally which could = rekit. The N640 really stands out great in the sky.

[ngin]

Originally Posted by Dennis P

It has already been done NGIN.I put a hole down in the frt as I cannot replicate the little scoop in the top.This hole allows airflow over the esc.The scoop is the only cooling hole in the E640 canopy.The stock scoop lines up perfectly with the 650A motors cooling fan which looks and I am sure works great.I will definantly install a new E640 canopy when some new bright ones are released.Old eyes and sky blue colors = pucker factor occasionally which could = rekit. The N640 really stands out great in the sky.

Could you possibly show a picture of the air intake that you cut into the canopy from the N640?

[ngin]

Dennis and Codfish

Do you guys have any videos yet?

Also Dennis, any pictures of teh cooling holes in the Nitro Canopy that you put onto your E640?

[Dennis P]

Nqin sorry that I was so long with a picture! Lambing,fencing and the Hobby Shop plus some flights have taken all my time up. Here are some really poor pictures,they make things look crocked ect but the holes actually look fine and work well.I added the color to the tail before the canopy change and it helped but nothing like the canopy does.Looking forward to some new canopy's from Century.I really like the shape and quality.No staring of the clear coat,light and great fit.Just need some brighter colors for the E640.Also some cooling holes up front would be a good idea.I will try and get some video shot.All I have is a I phone and 99% of the time I am flying alone .Oh well some day I will find a friend I will try uploading the pics later as I cannot connect to the picture upload presently?

[Dennis P]

Here are some better pictures at the flying field.I have been putting the flights on this heli and all I can say is it has been a pleasure so far.Thumbs up to Century on the best build and great flying heli right out of the box.

[codfish124]

youtube my name ngin

[DMehalko]

Just noticed the bottom of the radio tray is presing hard against the canopy causing a little warping and cracks, is this an issue with any of yours?

[codfish124]

i had that happen too