pgoelz
Veteran
Location: Rochester MI
My Posts This: Topic Forum | OK, after going through the wringer to get an undamaged fuselage, I find that there are a couple problems with this otherwise fine looking fuselage. All comments below apply to my attempts to mount my stock Trex 450SE (GY401 / 3 X HS-65 / S9650) in the fuselage. I am open to other comments..... has anyone successfully flown this fuselage?
1. The heli chassis mounting method is funkey at best. You are supposed to screw a couple thin ply mounting plates to the bottom of the chassis. Then you are supposed to glue these to glued stacks of spacers in the fuselage. This makes the chassis screws inaccessible and not removable from the heli chassis. The mounting stacks screw to the fuselage but the rear two screws are not accessible with the chassis in place. That makes the chassis non removable.... and probably un mountable. By fabricating some small brackets and screwing the spacers to the fuselage from underneath through small holes drilled in the fuselage, I think I can make it work.
2. The rear cyclic servo hits the inside of the fuselage and prevents the chassis from being centered and mounted high enough. I removed the servo and reinstalled it with the mounting ears on the inside, spaced further inwards with a couple small washers. This helped but the servo still hits slightly. It puts the linkage at a slight angle but this does not seem to be a problem.
3. Even with the re-mounted cyclic servo, the chassis cannot be mounted high enough for the flybar to clear the top of the fuselage at more than about 50% of the available tilt because the servo case still hits the inside of the fuselage. I am very worried that at least on spool up and spool down, the flybar will hit the fuselage and damage something. This would be a non issue if I had the bucks to pop for a multi blade flybarless head....
4. My tail boom mounted Futaba servo hits the inside of the fuselage in any location and orientation that I can place it in. In correspondence with RCMachine, they claim it will fit but they have not stated whether they are talking about a small servo like an HS50. I can get it close, but it still biases the boom to one side and places stress on the boom and the fuselage.
5. As has been noted before, the fuselage is quite heavy. Looks great though. I would not be at all surprised to see hover currents in the 15-20 amps range. More info if I ever get it flying.
My hope was to be able to change between regular pod and boom and the Hughes fuselage without modifying the heli itself. That does not seem possible. Has anyone else actually installed and flown this fuselage? Any input?
EDIT:
Just heard from RCMachine. He says the fuselage is "original from Align" and that "parts are fit W/O problem". Huh? He claims that he has sold "many" and no one has complained. He also sent me a couple links to basic heli sites that would help me "play heli" and suggested that I get help from "someone who know to assemble heli".
I think I'll shelve this project for a while unless someone has some good suggestions. I am not willing to make the needed changes to my Trex right now. Maybe I'll find an older SA version and fit it some day. $150 wasted.... so far, at least. Too bad too. The fuselage is plenty big.... maybe too big. But it is too small in a couple critical places where another 1/4 inch would have made all the difference in the world. I'll bet it was designed for the 450 with mechanical mixing. And frankly I am tired of all the struggle I went through to get this one and all the partial communication with RCMachine. Maybe in the spring I'll come at it with a fresh attitude. Sorry Darth.... should have done it your way  Maybe I still will.
Paul
Paul Goelz
Rochester MI USA
http://www.pgoelz.com |
