Acrobat Voodoo 400 build thread

[Chris Nifty]

It seems the 400-14 is discontinued. Now available are the 400-13 & 400-15. I took the 13 as My target headspeed is low.

[Chris Nifty]

Well it's been a long time dreaming about it but I finally got a Voodoo 400 on Tuesday and maidened it today. What can I say but simply superb!

Mini Pyro 400-13 (13t)
YGE 120LV
MKS DS9660a+
MKS HV9780
AR7200BX + JR DSMX sat
Edge 473's
Revo Diamond 3700 60C 4s

[jiminator]

Nice ship Chris! Think I'll try and find a 400-13. Jim

[Chris Nifty]

Thanks. I got mine from World of Heli, who also supplied me with the heli - very good to deal with.

[ChadL]

World of heli is where I got my kit and spares. Very good to work with.

Congrats on the maiden Chris. It really is a fantastic heli. Love the cano by the way. I imagine it has good visibility?

[Chris Nifty]

Thanks Chad, btw, if it wasn't for this thread I might never have discovered these Stefan Plöchinger creations so thank you for that.
When the canopy arrived I was worried maybe it was a bit much, but since there's nothing else visible on the heli it really could use help in the visibilty dept. The two flights I had yesterday were on dusk and I could see the bird easily and the package does look spectacular in the air. The pic doesn't do the canopy justice - it's stunning in the flesh, ( thanks to Fusuno).

[jiminator]

Found out that Mikado USA has the 400-13 in stock just in case anyone wants to know. Does a pinion come with the kit?

[ChadL]

Mine came with a 16 tooth. The 16t gave me a bit higher head speed than I wanted so I also purchased a 13t, and 14t pinion.

When I ordered my kit I didn't think to check if I could specify which pinion is included. You may want to look into it.

[Chris Nifty]

When you order a kit you need to specify which motor pulley/pulleys you want as well as what color canopy.

[jiminator]

One more question. What headspeed are you guys aiming for? I'm kind of addicted to low to medium HS myself.

[Chris Nifty]

After seeing video of the 400 flying at 1800 rpm I reckoned that was about what I would be looking for. I chose the 13 tooth because with my experience with YGE gov store I calculated that I could get a max governed headspeed of around 1900 which would do me. I have my idle 1,2 & 3 set at 75%, 80%, & 85% throttle. I tached idle 1 to be 1675 rpm and that feels super low to me on this bird. Idle 2 & 3 I haven't tached yet but 2 feels real nice and 3 is plenty fast for me. I estimate that idle 2 is maybe a little under 1800 and idle 3 is just under 1900.

[jiminator]

Received my kit. Looks like a mini TDR. Seems like Spin blades are all that's available in the size required at the moment, unless you order the German ones listed earlier in this thread. Anyone have any other options? Tail blades as well. what are good ones to go with? Jim

[Chris Nifty]

I'm running Edge 473 fbl blades at the moment. I tried SAB 465's because I like the SABs in other sizes on other birds, but this time I preferred the Edges for the Voodoo - they're more crisp and give it the lightest disk loading, and I got the flip/roll rates up to how I like by upping the endpoints in my tx to 122%.
If you build your bird very light, then the SABs could be good, but I consider mine to be built not as light as it could've been as I use an aftermarket canopy, have a lot of wires which could be shortened and possibly could've used EC3s instead of EC5s.
Stock tail blades are very good, and they're a funny size so I don't know what aftermarket ones would fit.
Here's a link to some Edge mains -
http://www.rcbits.com.au/content/edg...arless-version

[jiminator]

Thanks Chris. Think I'm going to try a set of RJX's. Found them at a vendor here in the states. Don't know if shipping from Australia would make buying the Edge's economically viable!

[Maldeen]

Originally Posted by jiminator

Thanks Chad. Still planning all my parts. Probably going to go with mostly the recommended setup. The motor is the one thing I haven't decided on yet as the 400-14 seems to be hard to find in the US. Other motor I'm looking at is the Scorpion 3226-1400. I like the Kontronik governor. Hopefully this will all work nice together with the HC3sx I already have. Might be awhile before I get my bird together but I'll post up when I do.

Had the same issue when buying my V400 here in Germany. The "new" 400-14 for the V400 is the 400-13. This is what the creator of the Voodoo, Mr. Plöchinger, told me. So I bought the 400-13.

[jiminator]

Got almost all of my parts together for the build. Maldeen, glad to hear Stefan recommended the 400-13 as that is what I ordered from Mikado USA. Also picked up a Koby 90lv. Servos I kinda cheaped out on and got a set of Align 510's and a Promodeler tail servo. When I'm working again I'll fit something different on there but my Align servos on my Trex 700 have held up well for 2 years so we'll see. Buddy Rc finally got Glacier 4s 4000 mah in stock so I picked up a set of those. The FBL I have planned on using is an HC3sx with an Ar8000 receiver but... I sure like that AC3sx Stefan sells. Might have to wait awhile for that. Parts quality is really impressive. I'm planning on getting the canopy painted just like my TDR. Big and little brothers. Jim

[Chris Nifty]

Looking forward to the maiden report then

[jiminator]

This thing is a jewel. Its like working on a swiss watch. After all the bigger helis I've built lately it took a bit of getting used to all those tiny little screws. One question. How tight should the tail belt be? Should have this all buttoned up as soon as the miniV arrives. First flight hopefully next week.

[Chris Nifty]

Sure is nice to work with quality components.
Tail belt like the motor belt should not be tight at all. Due to the width of the belt it won't slip even when run very loose.
Motor belt should have 5mm deflection.

[jiminator]

Like others have said, this heli is superb! I used the trex 500 settings on the vbar as a starting point. Flew two flights just making sure everything was functioning fine. Really crisp and responsive and with the recommended power train it really is fast. Haven't pushed it hard yet because the batteries are new too and I'm not a 3d flier yet. It really is a mini TDR. I set it up with a 14t pinion and set the throttle curves at 55%, 65% and 80%. Headspeed was measured with a tach at 1960, 2130 and 2260. As I get more flying time on it I'll fiddle with the settings a bit but as it currently is its hard to imagine how it could be improved. One tip for any mini vbar users: face the wire socket to the rear for two reasons. Its really hard to plug the servos in facing forward and the non socket part of the mini v barely clears the canopy. Mine actually touches the canopy slightly. The socket part of the mini v actually tapers in and shouldn't be a problem. If I'd only have test fit the canopy before sticking the vbar in place Really looking forward to flying it some more.