Originally Posted by davef45

tnx mumilove, i'll change the RX and the motor (however, the motor is dead, becausa a car lamp connected to the esc dim perfectly.)

i have never heard an issue like this, (blackouts during the fly) reading forums. Disappointed.

The blackouts may have been caused by the main motor drawing too much current and the MOPS was shutting down the power.

Originally Posted by mumilove

Well... it hovers almost perfect.. see this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPtSyxIKgJA

On low altitudes, i have no problem.. it's only when i reach high altitudes, like 20+ ... the heli will only move forward, right and higher... if i give it 100% cyclic for reverse or left.. it will stand still for moment then start to move.. like it's trying to build momentum.. but with right or forward.. it's like instant movement.

Again.. it hovers great and on low altitudes there is no visible difference between the cyclic orientations.

Can you get a photo of the servo horns when the heli is bound and all sticks are neutral? (no throttle) It is possible that the servo's are not correctly centred and this will cause one direction to have more authority than the other.

Both servos should be level to the ground when bound and at rest.

My F45 Aileron Servo (front) was off center, and gave much stronger right throw than left, even though the servo travelled equal distances in both directions. After centring the arm, it now is more even.

To adjust the servo centre position you need to unscrew the arm from the servo while it is bound then reattach it so it is level. The reason you need to do it with the heli powered on and bound is so the servo can't be moved by hand.
Once this is done, you will need to adjust the linkage from the servo to the swash to maintain its level. Do this by removing the link from the swash end, and rotating it like a screw. Looking from the top, clockwise is shorter, anti-clockwise is longer. Also be sure to make complete turns as the link only goes on one way.

Originally Posted by davef45

tnx mumilove, i'll change the RX and the motor (however, the motor is dead, becausa a car lamp connected to the esc dim perfectly.)

i have never heard an issue like this, (blackouts during the fly) reading forums. Disappointed.

It is also possible that the power wire is loose somewhere, and occasionally loses contact from vibrations. Make sure the battery is fully plugged in and not loose, as well as the wires where they connect to the PCB are well soldered.

With heli's of this price, it is common for soldering to be sub-par.

Originally Posted by BThirsk

Try increasing your throttle to about 80%. When you are getting up high, there is more wind movement. To counteract that, you need to increase throttle as you give forward or reverse cyclic. This will keep the flybar from counteracting your cyclic movements.

Well... that's what i'm doing.. but the thing keeps climbing...
Yesterday i thought i had it... but today it happend again...

I made my wife hold the heli while i was testing some stuff.. forward cyclic was giving way more power than reverse.. the same with right and left..

I'm training the throttle + reverse trick on my v911 and it works just great.. even with fff... giving a little throttle makes it move more in direct line...

But the f45 is really hard to control once you are above 15 meters - imho.

I regularly flew my stock F45 well above 100 meters and I have had times where I felt trapped at high altitudes. I found I had to throttle up a lot and use a combination of aileron and elevators to initiate a dive to get back down. Now that I've upgraded the main motor and adjusted the weight slightly forward I find it much easier to handle a small Ind at altitude.

Originally Posted by mumilove

Well... that's what i'm doing.. but the thing keeps climbing...
Yesterday i thought i had it... but today it happend again...

I made my wife hold the heli while i was testing some stuff.. forward cyclic was giving way more power than reverse.. the same with right and left..

I'm training the throttle + reverse trick on my v911 and it works just great.. even with fff... giving a little throttle makes it move more in direct line...

But the f45 is really hard to control once you are above 15 meters - imho.

If you hover it in no wind, does it stay in one position, or drift.
And as Slothy89 mentioned, make sure the servo arms are level at the neutral position. If they aren't, level them and then readjust the swash to level.
I center them a little different, though.
I usually pull the servo arm off when the Heli is not powered. I then bind it and install the arms when the servos are in the neutral position. I have had a servo damaged before when moving will powered up.
After you have the servo arms level and the swash plate as level as you can get it, hover it and adjust until it well stay in one place with out drifting. That's as good as you can get it.

Been away for a couple of weeks (holiday). Catching up on things F45!

Aust Post has advised - I think - that my BL converters are being held. Hopefully this will let me join the group trying to catch up with Hinnerk's 100% FBL tail conversion.
Glad to see the paperclip mod is proving useful (and maybe improved on). The dogbone guides - and the skids - seem to be the only major design flaw. Yet another use for the oversize paperclip I've found is as a main head to shaft pin (my retaining bolt sheared off with an overenthusiastic application of EH200 power, and had to be drilled out). Works well.

Mumilove - think your heli may not be quite right. Attached is a shot from my F45 at just under 100m (in 6kts wind): control was just fine, visibility (and orientation) not so hot. But no real problems.

Finally, a present was waiting: after firmly settling for the Blade 130x as the step up to CP, discovered my family had paid for a Trex 450 plus as a surprise. After two days, can hover reasonably well: but all hail the training kit, normal mode, expo, and D/R!
I did think it would be bigger (actually smaller than F39 I started on). But getting there, even if the 'fun' of the F45 is conspicuously absent.

Originally Posted by OldOz

The dogbone guides - and the skids - seem to be the only major design flaw.

Would it be possible to put up a picture showing the precise area where the skids break off? Perhaps I can reinforce it with a bit of copper wire that I have. I usually land quite hard, and it bounces up a few inches but it seems to be holding its own for now. I have put in small sponge pads at the skids.

Originally Posted by OldOz

Yet another use for the oversize paperclip I've found is as a main head to shaft pin (my retaining bolt sheared off with an overenthusiastic application of EH200 power, and had to be drilled out). Works well.

Hmm.....I would have thought that the paper-clip metal wouldn't be rigid enough for that ?

Originally Posted by Lentar

Would it be possible to put up a picture showing the precise area where the skids break off? Perhaps I can reinforce it with a bit of copper wire that I have. I usually land quite hard, and it bounces up a few inches but it seems to be holding its own for now. I have put in small sponge pads at the skids.

Hmm.....I would have thought that the paper-clip metal wouldn't be rigid enough for that ?

I can't get you a picture right now, but it's usually at the point where the hollow aluminium tube bends at the front. Mine has broken here, and to be honest I haven't bothered to fix it. Flies just fine

But others simply replace the hollow skid tube with solid aluminium rod. Simplest fix.

Originally Posted by OldOz

Been away for a couple of weeks (holiday). Catching up on things F45!

Aust Post has advised - I think - that my BL converters are being held. Hopefully this will let me join the group trying to catch up with Hinnerk's 100% FBL tail conversion.

Finally, a present was waiting: after firmly settling for the Blade 130x as the step up to CP, discovered my family had paid for a Trex 450 plus as a surprise. After two days, can hover reasonably well: but all hail the training kit, normal mode, expo, and D/R!
I did think it would be bigger (actually smaller than F39 I started on). But getting there, even if the 'fun' of the F45 is conspicuously absent.

What a present. You should go away more often. You could have a real fleet.
You'll get to love it. I would still get the 130x. You'll learn more from that as it's not so intimidating when it's coming towards you.
Best of luck with the 450.

Originally Posted by mumilove

Well... that's what i'm doing.. but the thing keeps climbing...
Yesterday i thought i had it... but today it happend again...

I made my wife hold the heli while i was testing some stuff.. forward cyclic was giving way more power than reverse.. the same with right and left..

I'm training the throttle + reverse trick on my v911 and it works just great.. even with fff... giving a little throttle makes it move more in direct line...

But the f45 is really hard to control once you are above 15 meters - imho.

I find the best way to start into the wind is a quick shot of throttle followed by a full shot of elevator to drop the nose. Then you have to feather the elevator and throttle to maintain altitude and fwd speed. It's very easy to do a nose-plant starting into the wind (don't ask ). As you have already discovered, the F45 loves a large field due to the momentum on turns.

I am curious about your tx settings? And IME the elev servo arm mod and tx elev set to 100% helps some.

Originally Posted by slothy89

I can't get you a picture right now, but it's usually at the point where the hollow aluminium tube bends at the front. Mine has broken here, and to be honest I haven't bothered to fix it. Flies just fine

But others simply replace the hollow skid tube with solid aluminium rod. Simplest fix.

I drilled out the plastic legs slightly and installed the HBFP skids - very tough.

regards . . . g

Bthirsk -
I was most appreciative of your - and Balr14s - earlier advice, and had actually preordered a 130x before I left (as they were sold out - wonder why!). However, there's no way I can go ahead at the moment without causing some degree of upset in the OldOz home .
I'll have to bide my time on that one.

Slothy -
Totally agree aluminium rod is the best solution. However, using the horizontal stab supports with a coathanger wire insert works too: and I've found it handy to be able to swap between steel wire or Al, depending on the heli.
In my normal 20k+ winds, I use steel, with about 30g of putty in the canopy nose. This added weight is no prob to the EH200, and pretty well ensures I can pull the heli down under all but the worst gusts.

Risks, in fact, that I can't see me ever taking with a $300+ CP heli. F45 forever!

The 'green' skids -

Originally Posted by mumilove

I made my wife hold the heli while i was testing some stuff.. forward cyclic was giving way more power than reverse.. the same with right and left..

Hello !
Just one dumb question :
Did you check if one of the 2 loops on the rotor head is not broken ? (these are the loops where the links to the blades go through)
I broke mine several times and the symptoms where the same, heli difficult to control in one or two directions.

Roland

Hi folks, having great fun with my F45 so far. However, those 2 loops on the rotor head have broken and i have to replace the part. I have disassembled the rotor head successfully but I cannot figure out how to remove the flybar from the black plastic part. I tried to push out the pin from the side and bending the middle of the flybar to push it over the pin, no luck so far :-(

Originally Posted by Adrian1

Hi folks, having great fun with my F45 so far. However, those 2 loops on the rotor head have broken and i have to replace the part. I have disassembled the rotor head successfully but I cannot figure out how to remove the flybar from the black plastic part. I tried to push out the pin from the side and bending the middle of the flybar to push it over the pin, no luck so far :-(

The pin should push all the way out. Be careful not to lose it.

You could also try the Loop Reinforcing that others have done, as shown in the last couple pages.

Thank you... So I should be able to push it out... tried again with all my weight, that damn thing sits really tight. There is nothing securing it apart from friction? Removing the blade holders was a piece of cake, that other pin just lays in there and is secured by the blade holders themselves...