I did three flights with the #1 450, with the Tarot FBL head, and one with the now sorted #2 one with the RJX head. Even with the crappy cyclic servos on the #2 heli, I prefer the way it flies - it's easier for me to keep my rolls more axial, and it just feels more locked in, even though cyclic gains are now at 30. It's a bit surprising since the longer grip arms of the RJX head are bound to cause more interractions.

The other thing that might have helped is that the #1 heli uses this 2500kv motor



whilst the #2 has this 2900kv one, which is more lively, even running at the same governed HS2700 ish.



I've yet to recharge the packs from this morning, to compare how much the motors used, since it's been a busy day, including a small fire in the attic, about fifteen firefighters in the house and now a hole in the bedroom ceiling and no electrical power until at least Monday! Good job I have two marine batteries and an inverter, so at least I have my internet connection and laptop for a while!

Originally Posted by 2Doggs

[...]

I've yet to recharge the packs from this morning, to compare how much the motors used, since it's been a busy day, including a small fire in the attic, about fifteen firefighters in the house and now a hole in the bedroom ceiling and no electrical power until at least Monday! Good job I have two marine batteries and an inverter, so at least I have my internet connection and laptop for a while!

I hope everyone is OK. Was this a LiPo fire?

Originally Posted by Dr.M

I hope everyone is OK. Was this a LiPo fire?

Thanks! It was an electrical short in some wiring to a ceiling fan in the bedroom! The house was built circa 1950, and probably in need of re-wiring! Nobody was hurt, and it could obviously have been a lot worse, just a bit of a mess to clear up and some contractors to organise.

Originally Posted by 2Doggs

Thanks! It was an electrical short in some wiring to a ceiling fan in the bedroom! The house was built circa 1950, and probably in need of re-wiring! Nobody was hurt, and it could obviously have been a lot worse, just a bit of a mess to clear up and some contractors to organise.

Man that's a real bummer 2doggs. Glad to hear no one was injured. Ed

I put one Pack threw my 450 airwolf last night.
I do not recommend this to anyone that is new to flying
I did not realize how much I depended on seeing every part of my Helicopter to fly it.
It was all over the place because I could not see the small movements in the bird so I could correct them before it moved.
I just wanted to get some pictures of her at night with my new lights on May try it again but do it a little earlier

dusk flite (2 min 9 sec)

You did well to control it - most night flyers have LED blades, making the rotor disk the main point of reference.

I had a lucky save this morning. On my 2nd pack in my #2 450, it threw a tail blade grip. I heard the tail belt screeching, and with the heli only 8 feet up, I flipped throttle hold and landed without any damage. That'll teach me not to do a pre-flight check, especially when I'm relying on threadlock to hold the tail grip bolts. My luck held, too, since I was even able to find the blade and grip, complete with the rogue bolt, in the grass about 20 feet from my landing.

I definitely prefer the way the HK RJX head flies to the Tarot one, and so I'm going to swap them out, along with the motors - the 2223 seems much stronger than the 2218, yet it doesn't seem to use more battery.

Originally Posted by Black_heart

I put one Pack threw my 450 airwolf last night.
I do not recommend this to anyone that is new to flying
I did not realize how much I depended on seeing every part of my Helicopter to fly it.
It was all over the place because I could not see the small movements in the bird so I could correct them before it moved.
I just wanted to get some pictures of her at night with my new lights on May try it again but do it a little earlier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfHDb3-2zGs

You did a lot better job than I did Black Heart. Flying at night with clearance lights alone sounds real cool I found out in a hurry that it gets real hair raising real fast Ed

Nope still no flying, still not charged any lipo's since i last flew, still working on the slabby which is coming on a treet & i've purchased a fair bit for it recently. Not even got the TX out for a go on the sim. I deffo wont be flying again during 2012. I reckon maybe by spring i 'might' order the bits to repair my logo 'might'.

How nice to see some blue sky after the rains! Yesterday I got my first airtime in over a week. This morning I hit the Berkeley Marina around 10:30 am, and was happy to see a powered glider in the air over the meadow where we fly heli's. A very nice guy and his lady friend were flying fixed wings, and we had a pretty good RC pilot's conversation in between flights.

Originally Posted by p4ddy

Nope still no flying, still not charged any lipo's since i last flew, still working on the slabby which is coming on a treet & i've purchased a fair bit for it recently. Not even got the TX out for a go on the sim. I deffo wont be flying again during 2012. I reckon maybe by spring i 'might' order the bits to repair my logo 'might'.

Don't know what you need for your logo, but I have found a lot of parts made by KDS fit. For a lot cheaper.

the rain died, the sun was supposed to come out but didn't, the wind as light. I took the afternoon off from work to fly. 4 paks tweaking my 450 SEV2 with 3x1000 FBL controller, she flew pretty nice and I got the gains set pretty well, tonight I'll go over all the screws and lube the bearings. I'm pretty happy with my $29 FBL controller

Then I got a pak in my EXI500, freshly repaired from her last boo boo. Once again, she flew great with no oscillations....smooth as a babies bottom...

Then I flew my little WL Toys Ladybug for 2 paks and my mCPx for 1 pak.

Rains start again tonight....felt good to fly.

p4ddy, shouldn't you put together a beater 450, should be able to do it for cheap and they fly pretty good if you take care and lube/locktite them they fly nice

Originally Posted by ewoodcox

... p4ddy, shouldn't you put together a beater 450...

Let us all remember Bower64, who had more 450's than he could count and always had something he could fly!

Hey! zen I met Bower64. He use to be just north of me. I wonder if he is still with us. I know he had a accident years ago putting him in a wheel chair and was still having all kinds of medical issues. I think he felt the 450 was as big as he could deal with in the chair for he did everything himself.

Bower64's 450 collection was up for sale on RunRyder not that long ago. Now I wish I had picked up one of his 450's to help him out and have a memento. Here is another ad for his Gazaur 480: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1780748

BTW: it occurs to me that, aside from size, a big difference between the 500 and 450 is the greater distance from the heli's center of mass to the rotor disk. I can sure see it and feel it during flight. This makes me think that a DFC head would make the 500 noticeably more agile.

Cost isn't the issue, (tail blades, tail pitch control) I'm just prioritising. I 'could' fly my airwolf but that will be like having a fag after giving up for 2 months lol.

DAM so Bower64 has sold up, I'm with mhills51...it would have been nice to have had at least 1 of this lot