MD 500 Defender Pantera

[breezer1]

Well, here it is ready to fly.
Pantera 50 E conversion stretched, MD-500 Defender fuselage by Thunder Tiger, Scorpion 4035-400, CC 120 ICE2HV, Quark gyro, JR 8411s on swash, JR 8717 on tail.

Thanks to Helipainter and everyone for the help!

[jbeech]

That looks great! Good job. Have you flown it yet? Did you fly it before installing into a fusleage? Or is this a pure virgin? Anyway, good luck.

[breezer1]

JB,
I did not fly the frame before installing it into the fuse as it was a flying nitro heli. I did the stage one E conversion and then I completely went over/ re checked and adjusted all my pitch curves etc. The tracking was a little off last time I flew it as a Nitro so I knew it needed a re-visit in the setup department. Everything is dead nutz now. When I finished the E conversion, I ran the motor/drivetrain up without any blades. Only the flybar and paddles were in place. I set up the CC 120 ICE2HV and my PRO BEC and checked it all out. The baby sings! I'm just went over everthing again and found a small bind in the tail rotor. Apparently, I had been a little too fast on the rudder stick while setting up the Quark end points. All better now. I'm waiting for the wind to calm down a bit before my hover test(s) and I'm working on getting all my batteries charged up. The CG with the two 6S 5000 batteries is also dead on. I think I'm ready.
I had posted questions regarding tail rotor diameter and 1400 rpm +/- headspeed. One post is in the Main forum, and the other is in the Scale forum. Helipainter aluded to needing at least 95mm blades and this was pretty much confirmed. I'm just wondering what you think about 105mm or 115mm. I've got the clearence to handle that length and more.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

By the way, your posted instructions for the E conversion were spot on. Thanks.

Breezer1

[jbeech]

The goal is the smallest tail rotor baldes, which will do the job because this wastes less horsepower. If the 95 mm don't hold when full pitch is applied, then consider either something longer, or more head speed to bring the tail RPMs up but putting too long a TR blade on her will sap power needlessly.

[breezer1]

JB,
I'll fly the 95mms and see how it holds. I'll post the results.
Thanks for the input.

Breezer1

[forvols]

Very nice! Can't wait to see some in air shots of it. It looks wicked just sitting on the ground. Will look killer in the air

[breezer1]

I put 105mm tail blades on and finally tonight there was no wind.
A thing to behold! The bird is solid, no tail wag, lifts off clean and hovers
like it is glued to a spot in the sky!
Could not fly and take pictures, but, Sunday is our club's, "First Fly" so
I will be getting pictures of her flying.
I could not get head speed either, but, it sounded like it is way under 2000 rpm
I'll do that on Sunday too.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

Breezer1

[breezer1]

Here are the flight pictures. The P50 mechanics in this Thundertiger scale fuselage is a sweet flyer!
A testament to the versatility of the Pantera design and quality.
This was a very satisfying and rewarding project. You just know as soon as it lifts off what a great
helicopter this is going to be.

[forvols]

nice! You guys are gonna make me finish my Stretched e-Pantera Jet Ranger if you're not careful!

Life seems to have laid siege to my free time/energy/motivation. I hope I get out of the funk soon because I've got a lot of catching up to do!

Good to see the Defender airborne! Thanks for posting

[helipainter]

good job breez!

got my 700 GRAPD out, dusted of, rebuilt and ready to give a go

[breezer1]

Well,
It has been a while getting done, but, I finaly got the video done to show the lights.
Took a while to get hooked up into You Tube, but, here it is!

YouTube

YouTube

I still have to do something with the blue batteries, and it looks bare without a pilot.
I'll have to look around Wally World for an action figure.

Breezer1

[forvols]

Excellent! Looks wicked nose in! Would hate to face the business end of that thing in real life!

Great job.

[jbeech]

Outstanding. Beautiful. Fabulous. Superb.

The blue is nothing a quick spritz of flat black won't cure. There's nothing sacred about batteries after all.

Action figure? I agree, that would add even more realism.

This is the kind of stuff that gets my juices going - far more than 3D ever does.

Good job! How about sending me a few photos and I'll figure out how to get them on the Audacity website?

Attaboy!

EDIT: you get RPM by downloading from the ESC, so there's no need for a tachometer.

[tintmaster]

Man thats nice!!! I am almost done with my MD 500E. I have it in pod-n-boom to get it flying and all set up 1st. I have a 5 blade head rotating CCW. I also flipped the tail on the left side as well. Check out this page:

http://rc.runryder.com/helicopter/t582769p1/

[jimmymc2286]

Great looking heli. I hope mine comes out that nice.