She flies

[blvdbuzzard]

Well I got my first flight yesterday. Was windy, 10 to 15 with gusts even higher. Not the best for a first flight and the first helicopter flight in many years. So I started off with my Old well used trusty Cypher 450. It too has been sitting for years. So I did a hover flight on the 450 to warm up the thumbs and see if they still knew what to do.

Plugged the battery in, carries it out. spooled up. Was lite on the skids and she wanted to fall over to the left. Got to about a 45 degree lean, pulled throttle stick down. Note to self, to much negative pitch setup. Spooled up again, got lite on the skids and start to lean again, gave a little more throttle and she straightened up and lifted off to about a foot. I gave a little more and she was floating around 6 feet up.

I flew for what seemed like an hour. But it was about 2 minutes. Set her own and took my first breath.

So now I have the first flight done. Next is to get used to her and setup GOV mode with the HW 100amp ESC.

For being windy and gusty the helicopter seemed really stable. Not drifting and being pushed around. It just sort of sat there. Surprised how stable it is. This is my first FBL helicopter. Looking forward to better weather so I can get a few more flights.

Are the ball links any special size? After all the rookie setup mistakes mine have become a little loose. So I want to replace them and try the turn buckles on the servo to swash plate.


Buzz.

[Rdavis007]

Nice, It is my first bird. Still getting comfortable with hovering. It is a very stable bird. keep up the good work. I also wondered the same about the ball links but have no answers.

[FlyingFiz]

Go to the HH website, go to "heli's" and include the discontinued helis (top right hand corner drop down menu) and in spare parts for the 550x there are tons of spares, just buy the whole set of replacement linkages. If you have your old ones on the heli finally set up at the right lengths, then pop them off and make up a replacement set EXACTLY the same length and only put on once when you are comfortable with the exact length. Nice and tight! Also have a look at the holes that you click the ball link into, one side is always just a tiny tiny bit bigger than the other side. The bigger side is to be pushed onto the ball.

Align actually have them marked with a letter, and the letter goes to the outside of the heli from memory, but you need good eyesight to see the letter and the different size holes for that matter.

Cheers,

Phil

[blvdbuzzard]

Thanks. I have a set of links for the swash to servo and the swash to blade grips and a set of turn buckles on order. Just want to try them out. Always wanted them on my other helicopters.

The bug has bitten pretty deep. I went through my old, I mean real OLD fleet hanging on the wall. I have (2) 450's ready to fly now. Just went through the setup of a gyro, clean another up and after replacing a bent tail shaft and tail blades it is ready to fly. Hoping for better weather and for my lipo chargers to come in before this weekend.

Buzz.

[manphil]

Congrats Buzz.

The 550X is a great bird.

Welcome to the team.

Phil.

[blvdbuzzard]

One more flight. I did three test flights on my old 450's I got them flyable this weekend. So now I can get the big bird in the air.

Thumbs are really rusty. Only did some hovering. Trying to re-learn how to fly. Simple stuff, right side, left side. Did not even try nose in. Just watched it hover.

After the the flying, I need to start all over and learn to fly again. Should not take as long but I am starting from scratch.


Buzz.

[FlyingFiz]

Hey Buzz,

Its a perfect bird to learn how to fly again, it is the most stable and solid heli I have ever flown. Enjoy!

Phil

[HeliWobbles]

Sim time is the cheapest insurance that I know of.

Sim til you are bored and distracted.
If it is still in the air then you have developed automatic reactions instead of having to think about it. Those are the best skills to have.

BTW- try the balloon-pop game (Phoenix); it will really raise your skill levels. Pick a 450 heli in the sim that's a bit more "squirelly" so that flying the 550x IRL will feel like a walk in the park. 450's make a good warm-up bird at the park too.

Good luck.
Ted

[blvdbuzzard]

Been siming a lot. I have just the free heli-x right now. Tried to load my "OLD" Real Flight but will not load on WIN10.

Funny thing is my thumbs work pretty well on the sim, all ready inverted hovering, but they seem to shake when the real one is in the air. Might be the wallet screaming at them.

I will be flying it again this weekend. Weather should be good.


Buzz.

[Mike680]

Originally Posted by blvdbuzzard

Are the ball links any special size? After all the rookie setup mistakes mine have become a little loose. So I want to replace them and try the turn buckles on the servo to swash plate.

Why guess? They're cheap and Horizon has them in stock. Also, that 100A ESC is a little on the light side for the 550X. It might be fine for now, but I can easily see it shutting down on you if/when you start pushing it. I'd go with at least a 120A ESC. I routinely pull peaks of 150+A on mine.

[blvdbuzzard]

I ordered 2 link kit's, titanium turnbuckles and some Align links from Amain. All new links on now. They do snap on tighter then the ones I had abused. The Align links are shorter compared to the Blade links. They would have about half the link on the threads for the turn buckles I bought. I just used the Blade links that screw on about 80% of the plastic link.

It is different than when I was good at setting up my Raptor. This was easier and harder. I think this one needs to be more accurate then the ole rappy, yet the FBL walks you through the setup.

I am not sure I would need a120 amp ESC. I am more of a pattern / sport type flyer. I doubt I will ever be the stick smacking hard core 3D guy. Thumbs just can not keep up. Plus my budget priced batteries will not give that much.

Buzz.

[HeliWobbles]

Many people believe that 3D is where max amps are pulled.
I only fly sport but I still see peaks of 160 amps. Loops and speed runs are probably the ones that do the most damage where full pitch is applied for a couple of seconds.

Having a 100 amp speedie is like having drum brakes on a Ferrari, one day "Miss Daisy" is going to use that power and it may well cost more than was saved.

Just my 2 cents.
Ted

[blvdbuzzard]

I will look into the larger ESC. Hate to re-learn auto's the hard way. I used to be pretty good at them. Been about 12 years or so since my last one so I would say I am rather RUSTY!!!

It maybe 2¢, but it might save me a lot of "$"

The reason I don't think I would need a larger ESC, I am barely able to hover it. It will be a while until I get into forward flight. I am flying on the sim trying to re-learn my skills. I do think I may need one in the future as I get into forward flight. That will be a while though. With two shaky flights so far, may not even pull 30 amps.

I will keep an eye out for a sale on the ESC for the future hard core sport flying


Buzz.

[Mike680]

A $160 Hobbywing 120A ESC would be perfect for a 550X. Rock solid governor, strong internal BEC and just a great cool running ESC overall. I'm currently running a Castle Phoenix Edge 120HV with the Castle 20A BEC in my 550X, but it will be replaced soon with that Hobbywing ESC. I've already replaced two Castle 50A ESCs (450X and Gaui X3) with the Hobbywing Platinum 60A V4 and they're awesome. Pretty expensive for what they offer, which is a lot, too. The Hobbywing ESCs run so much cooler than the Castles and that alone is worth it to me.