JuanRodriguez
Elite Veteran
Location: Rochester, New York
My Posts This: Topic Forum | First Test Flights !!It's been a month since I started this thread. It has given me great pleasure building this machine and seeing the end results come together nicely !! Irwin and the QWW crew were very helpful in answering any questions "quickly" (pun intended !) and with taking care of some very minor issues already documented here.....
I need to clarify something before proceeding.... As stated above, I started this thread about one month ago..... My attitude was that I would build the machine at a leisurely pace and in my "spare time" (yea, what's that ??) as to not be in a hurry to just throw things together. In reality, this machine can be easily put together in less than half of the time it took me to complete... probably less than a week for the average builder, for sure....
That being said, I had the opportunity to test fly the machine yesterday afternoon..... The OS 50 fired right up without hesitation (no surprise there), followed by a decent "range test" with the motor running. With all systems go, the Q50 lifted off at three quarter stick (as expected) and settled into a smooth hover....The only mechanical adjustments needed were one turn on a ball link to get the tracking perfect and about 3 clicks of forward... Not sure if the forward trim was due to the rather windy conditions...Motorwise, the OS was initially running too rich and took several clicks to lean it some before making some power.
The first tank was flown without the canopy while making adjustments to the motor, followed by the TJ Pro to get the headspeed to about 1750. I'll probably bump that up a bit more later on....
Second tank with the canopy in place was spent on doing some forward flight, slow and fast, to get familiar with the feel of the machine then followed by some non-agressive type of aerobatics..... My buddy Al got to fly it as well....By the end of the second flight, the weather had deteriorated to the point where the wind and visibility were as such that to continue to fly would not have been fun.... The white canopy was blending in so well with the storm clouds overhead that orientation (other than just hovering around) would have been an issue...My body and fender buddy, Rodney, is going to be doing a "custom" paint job on the canopy rather than using the decals included in the kit.
My first impressions of the machine is that the Q50 is very SMOOTH, stable and predictable....One visual "smoothness" indicator I key in on in additon to the overall heli is the fuel in the tank. My Q50's fuel while in the hover was dead still....
In FFF, the Q50's tracking was excellent, despite the windy/gusty conditions. Without naming brands, other 50's I've flown do suffer in that respect. One 60 I had a while back was so "pitchy" in FFF that I decided to get rid of it !!....I'm not sure what the difference is with the Q50 other than the head design and tight tolerances which result in an absolutely slop free setup. Unlike some other 50's I've flown, the Q50 also sports an 8mm head spindle as well as a 4 mm flybar. The BC6- Flight Monitor showed absolutely no glitching during the flights.
If it sounds like I'm pleased with the machine, you are right !!
Here is the basic setup....
OS 050 SX-H (to be replaced with a Hyper when I can afford it)
TT50 Muffler (I would like to see a Curtis pipe on this)
JR 811's for all except tail (8311's in the future ?)
JR 10X with PCM 649 Rx
Dean's Whip
Fut. 401/9253
TJ Pro Gov
Electro-Dynamics 1700 NiCad (custom with 2 leads)
BC6-Battery Monitor/ Glitch counter
SAB 600 Fiberglass Mains
Wildcat 30 % Fuel
Here are a few pics I took of the "event".... Additional flying reports to follow......
Completed heli ready for blades...
Spiral wrap to protect the wiring agains chafing on the carbon frames...Neatness counts, in my opinion.....
 
Just in case, a "before" pic..... Can you see the grin on my face ??? 
Q50 in a stable hover....
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Good luck Juan and please keep us posted on your new arrival
so that's a far as I got.
