Shogun V2 Tail Upgrade

[helishack]

Last weekend I decided to try an upgrade to my Shogun V2. I added the following Align/T-Rex parts:

Aluminum Tail Unit - HS1108T-78 ($38.95)
Tail Boom - HZ030T ($7.95 - it comes with two booms and servo mounts)
XL Tail Drive Belt - HT1003T ($10.99)
Tail Rotor Pitch & Control Lever Set - HS1175T ($11.00)
Tail Holder Set - HS1176T ($10.99)

About $78 in parts + a tail boom clamp that I fabricated out of a small piece of sheet metal. Except for fabricating the tail boom clamp, everything simply snapped into place cleanly in about 5 minutes . I had to mount the belt in the tail unit and pull it through the boom - that's about as hard as that part got.

You can use the stock tail rotor blades and main rotors if you're tired of spending money at this point. I'm using Align 315s (woodies) and it's a whole new machine! I also have some 315s (woodies) that were cut down to 285 (std. Shogun size) for use before the tail mod (or else you'll suffer a boom/tail rotor strike due to the shorter length of the original tail boom), and they were the first great change to this heli.

I have to say, even with my cheap little PG-03 rate gyro, this thing flies like a DREAM (fast reverse flight also). I was getting tired of trying to get the right revo mix and with this mod, the heli behaves as I always wanted it to. I wish I had done this from the start, but I'm a few months into helis so I've been spending time on the simulator and working on my flying technique.

This is my first serious mod and I'm very happy with the results. Biggest benefits;

1) Tremendously improved performance
2) I can get T-Rex parts at literally any LHS (and usually cheaper than the EF Shogun parts). Tired of being tied to Hobby People if I need something quick for this heli.

I know, should have bought a T-Rex to begin with. I'm into mods and trying to "better" things - so this was a challenge. Btw, I got the Shogun for about $50 from a frustrated guy, so all-in-all, this is still a decent deal on a dollar-for-dollar basis.