Hi guys, this is my first attempt at sort of scale?? Having never done this before I will give you a run down on what I encountered.
To start , when I unpacked the fuselage I found that the TAIL was severely cracked and one of the landing struts was wrong. That situation has been resolved thanks to CRMODELS for providing the correct phone number.
well I wasn't going to let that stop me. I started with all the wood they provided , what a chore, I finally got the mechanics positioned ccorrectly, after re doing them about 3 times . I did epoxy and wrap the standoffs with some dryer sheet , for the added strength, thanks CR. The next thing was painting the windows , that went smoothly.
Mounting the mechanics was a buggar, seems I would get it set thinking I was ready to go BUT NO, the tail shaft was off, went about this about 4 times and finally got it right
Having the mechanics in ( temp ) I started to tacle the tail.
Since the tail boom is a little shorter than a normal 500 size heli I had to cut 1" or 2 1/2 cm. off the end of the fuselage, no problem... On the funcopter you have to cut the FIN and a tab that is attached to the tail rotor mechanism , you also have to locate and drill 2 access holes so you can reattach the tail mechanism. I would give the dimentions but I'm sure other people may do it differently.
If you look closely at the pics you will see how I attached the ( broken) tail. I did fabricate 2 1" long wood wedges that are glued in ,one on top and one on the bottom to help steady the tail fin. Also , the tail fin does have to be removed to access a access hole I didn't want to drill through the fin.
Well guys that's about where I'm at until the new parts arrive, I will keep you posted

No problem buddy, looking good!
Problem solving and custom building mounts etc is the fun of a build
I had that fuse it 250.
Great color scheme

Not too bad at all for your first scale heli. One thing you must get used to is cutting or adding to the original chassis to make it work in the body you are using. As an example with yours as I see it.

I would have moved the main shaft to the correct scale position, which may have had you remove a bit more of the boom, but not too much more. The battery tray would have come under the knife to reduce it so that it would not interfere so much with the nose of the heli, as I think that is what you have done, so it does not contact the window. If I am wrong, no problem, as it is not in front of me to measure, but that is what it looks like from this the pictures posted. I do like that the tail rotor is actually on the right side for a change. I don't know how the original is done but it is a nice touch.

There is lots to be found out about scale and I am also learning one build at a time. It will look great in the air and if you can add some high visibility striping to the blades, it will really look good in a turn. It would also match your tail rotor, which is a nice hi-vis scheme. Just about all my regular pod and boom heli's have hi-vis tail stripes on them. Take care and have fun doing it.

Don

Keyrigger, you were right on the money... to be honest ,I was a little nervous about CUTTING the air frame (just in case I wanted to reuse it in the FC original fuselage. As it turned out ,with the MD500e ,because of the pointer nose there is plenty of room inside.And yes ,I have the same color pattern on the main rotors as on the tail.
The one thing that does concern me is , should the main rotor shaft be tilted FORWARD just a little or should it remain at 90* in relation to the doghouse??
Anyone is sure welcome to chime in on this.
Since this is a FIRST for me ,I have no idea how this bird will handle
Please keep in mind that the landing gear are not epoxied in yet and the fuselage tends to sit back on them ( tilting more to the rear ).
So, lets go to the pics!!!!!

The original MD500 had a 5 degree tilt forward on the main shaft so if it looks about that way, great. The idea is that when the floor in the body is level with the ground (passenger compartment), there is less of a tendency for the passengers to feel they are falling forward as they fly. Helicopters must have the rotor tilted in the direction it is moving so the build in tilt allows it to go forward with the main floor level. It also makes it easier to take off and land if you pay attention to the rotor level rather than the landing skids. Last tidbit, move the skids forward so that, at the most, you have 3/4" sticking out of the rear skid. Don't worry, if you balance on the main shaft, you will not need the long skids poking out the rear. It also looks wrong compared to all but the float equipped versions, lol. Take care.

Don

PS: The skid thing precludes that you are putting the main shaft where it is supposed to be, not way back. If you are committed to having the main shaft where it is, you may have to leave more skid out the back than you should have needed.

Given what you said, I was already rethinking the shaft position, you just confirmed my thoughts I'm thinking about another 1/2" off the tail.
Thanks
Ray

Ray:

It will help with the looks of the heli and you will get a bit more build time on it. Whatever else happens, you will have fun when you get it airborne for the first time. Take care.

Don

Well guys, progress has been slow,,,, BUT!!!!! It is done and I think I learned quite a bit.
REALLY want to take it outside and maiden it but were having 45mph gusts and temps in the 20's. I do want to thank you guys for the constructive sugestions .
It helped alot.

My next project will be to step into the CHAOS world. A 600 e is on the menu.
Will couple that to a EC-145.

Having really only flown FP , I gotta jump into collective pitch.That should be a charm!

Here are some final pics for this project;

OH, I did spool it up in my office and everything seems fine . NO excessive vibrations.

IT wants to FLY!!!!!!!!!!!

Ray

Ray I just bought an EC-145 last night so I will def be able to answer any questions you will have about the raised tail

CR, I'll be PMen ya tomorow about some sugestions on a C-600 or 700
Ray

Originally Posted by Bearpilot 10

CR, I'll be PMen ya tomorow about some sugestions on a C-600 or 700
Ray

Sounds good, send it to my email.
Thanks

I built mine using a plate that I designed and installation was simple.

The pilots look cool!!

What mechanics did you use??