A new storm blew in (lotta pics & questions)

[EKron]

Well, sometimes a bargain is just too good to pass up so there's a new Hurricane soon to be beating the Arizona air into submission!



Didn't mean for it to happen, just intended to buy a few spare bits. Wasn't exactly sure what was in the kit but I've had servos and a motor and bunch of other parts sitting around waiting for me to build another plastic fantastic and decided what the heck!

Came in a bigass box with pics of the plastic version on one side and the CF framed version on the other. Not what I was expecting compared to the red box that came with my other Hurri.



What is this beast? It is kind of a mutant. It came with a torque tube tail for 500mm blades. Shown below with a 500mm stretch kit and next to an unpolished 425mm boom. Included in the kit were 425mm blades. They're fiberglass I think and due to the weight, believe they are for FB, not FBL.



It came with electronics I'll never use (for sale cheap!) but I'll hang on to the motor to try some day if I do decide to stretch.



It came with a 42 front main and included in the kit were 13, 14 and 15T pinions. More on the gearing later. I replaced the old style 19T OWB with a new one.



So, I'm using Align DS525M servos all around but may replace the tail servo down the road? I've had these servos sitting around for months. I yanked the Robird FBL gyro off a new 450 that I've been slowly building and purchased a Castle Edge Lite 75 ESC after realizing the CC ICE 75 on my other Hurricane was just too big to fit anywhere. I also picked up a CC BEC Pro just because.

Having the CNC pitch and roll arms and elevator lever already on hand, I realized the the motor was still too close so I used an extra spacer to move them out. With the Secraft servo arms, the geometry is pretty spot on.



Question: Does anybody know the number of poles in this motor? 10?? What should I use for timing and PWM rate in my ESC? Initially I set the timing at "normal" and PWM rate to 8.

I've replaced all the button head fasteners with socket heads and added some Quick UK washers to spread the load on the CF frame better and admittedly for a bit of bling. I ran out but more will be here tomorrow. I've also tried some red Secraft aluminum socket heads and need more of them too. Still things to do but she's coming right along.



I'm using T-Rex 700 skids attached with zip ties and Quick UK ball link ends. I'm using a homemade lower canopy mount. I decided to replace the 500L TT tail with the 425 belt tail and purchased the CNC tail block for it. Running the Gaui metal pitch slider, Align metal arm and X5 plastic tail grips with KBDD 72.5mm blades. Homemade CF tail rod and since I was so happy with it, got another HeliOption gimble swash too.



I've got twins!



I didn't have another CNC boom support mount but one will be here tomorrow. I'm running an FR-Sky SBUS receiver I made a mount for and have mounted at the back of the frame. Getting the electronics placed and wired was really hard to figure out.



In fact, it was a struggle. The tail servo is not mounted the way it is supposed to be at all. I used one of the servo mounts from the plastic frame to mount it backwards in the hole for a full sized servo but with the CNC tail rod conversion kit, it all lines up pretty good.



So, here she is almost done in all here glory with my trademark mirror polished boom and supports. Not too bad for an old bird, eh?



And a few shots of her twin sister for a nice family vibe.









One thing that does concern me is the angle of the tail boom. My plastic Hurri has spacers on the rear skids but the new kid doesn't and it is really noticeable. Because the tail blades hit even in low grass, I'm sure I'll be putting spacers to raise the boom up but then I'll have to figure out how much that throws the mast off from vertical and how much it will affect the Robird unit. Have I mentioned I hate FBL? I have a full new CNC head that I considered using but thought I should make some effort to move into this century.

Any thoughts on this? (The boom angle, not FB vs. FBL)



500 boom in this one


So on with some questions...

On my plastic model with a 1400KV motor, I'm running 15-50-19-61-14 gears which gives me this on my phone app and pretty much matches the RPM's shown in my ESC logs:



I thought with the 1470KV motor, it might be wise to go down one on the pinion, which gave me this:




The head speed was pretty close but it dropped the tail speed down so I went with a 14T tail belt drive gear instead of the 15T it came with. I'm losing a couple hundred RPM's on the tail compared to my plastic Hurri but the tail on it is a monster so I hopefully won't notice?



With a 15T pinion and 50-19-61-14, things look pretty nuts? I thought this was a bit much?



Could I get some opinions on my gearing please? I can barely fly circuits but always fly in IU2 with a flat 100 curve ungoverned. Any other comments about my new build are welcome too.

If I can figure out the damned FBL setup, I hope to maiden this weekend. I have run a few packs through her on the ground at 50% stick but that's it so far.

Thanks! Sorry for the long post and all the pics but I'm excited. This is the first brand new heli I've purchased except for my micros and quads.

--Elisabeth

[Jerrymac]

Very nice looking bird, just like the others you have posted piccies of. I saw that sale over at AlleRC when I was ordering some parts for my lil Gaui 200 and thought about buying one, but, my hand started shaking violently when I tried to hover my mouse over the 'add to cart' button. Besides, I only fly FB with belt tails, so really wasn't interested in a FBL helicopter to set on the shelf and look at.

Lets see, I think there were some questions scattered among those photos, so, let me offer my unprofessional answers. Geez, I forgot the questions.

I wouldn't worry about adding spacers to the rear skid mount to raise the tail a little. I have never seen anyone with a FBL helicopter pull out a level and set it on the ground to see if it was perfectly level before setting their helicopter down to take off. I doubt that having the helicopter resting with a slight forward tilt will cause it to self destruct on spool-up.

Gearing. I run a Z20-1470 on one of my 425's with 14-50-19-61 and it flys great. Has more than enough head speed and tail authority running stock 70mm tail blades. I did have a 15T pinion on it and it didn't fly any better, just shorter flight times, so I switched it back to a 14T.

Good luck with the maiden flight.

[Mikej]

Elizabeth,

You want to get your FBL unit perpendicular to the main shaft when you install it on the heli, but you do not need it to be flat when you power it up before flying (I have even powered up with the heli lying on it's side when it has been particularly windy).

I have that frame on my remaining Hurri (and on one stuck in a tree still) - it is excellent - the only area to look out ofr is that the bearings used on the OWB shaft are tiny and can wear quickly - HeadHunter did a great replacement.

Looking good.

Cheers,
Mike.

[EKron]

Thanks for the answers, guys.

So, 10 poles on that motor, ya think and timing and PWM rate okay?

On the FBL thing, Jerrymac, I hear ya. I've totaled my X2 three times due to some nebulous FBL setting and though it has been repaired and the setting supposedly corrected, I just can't bring myself to try and fly it again. Thirty bucks a pop for blades kinda pisses me off too but it looks good sitting on my shelf.

I've already converted my new Hurri to belt and if the FBL thing doesn't work out, I'm fully ready to go back to FB. Got a new complete, full CNC head assy standing by.



Trust me. I was tempted. At least with FB, you can take it off the bench and know it is setup right and going to fly. Not so much with the FBL stuff.

--Elisabeth