Discussion PiccoZ, GyRotor - post your mods - part 1

[beachBOYken]

hi

ive recently ordered a picoo z heli off of play.com, does anyone know if they are the legit copy or some knock off?

i did not relise there were knock offs so im sure hoping its the real mccoy

cheers

[RacerX208]

Ipal's Chinook has been posted on the Toolbox. Thanks Ipal! Enjoy!
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www.piccoztoolbox.no-ip.com

[Hogster]

Here's my little PicooZ

And here's how I came to own one:

The guy who sits opposite me at work was given a PicooZ for his birthday. Knowing that I fly larger model helicopters he asked me to see how I found flying it. 5 minutes later I grabbed my car keys and was off down the local model shop to pick up one for myself!! These things are insanely fun!!

However, me being me, I didn't want to have a stock PicooZ ... ohh no! So I started looking on RCGroups for threads on the PicooZ, and sure enough, this thread came up (amongst others) ..... "arhhh I can't wait to get home so I can start modding this thing" I thought

First thing I did was to change the channel from A to B - the guy's one at work is A and mine was A initially, meaning we couldn't fly together ... now we can Then I set about stripping the body off (harder than I thought) so I could make my own undercarriage and canopy for it. I made the undercarriage from 1/4" flat CF cut into 1/16" strips (ie. 1/16" wide by <1/32" thick). The skids were made from 1/8" balsa wood. All the joints were made with CA and microballoons (similar to the baking soda idea I saw earlier in this thread ... or it might have been another thread).

Then I set about doing the canopy .... argh what a time-consuming process! I started looking for plastic/polystyrene balls in our attic to give the heli a Schweizer-300-esque look to it .... but it actually just looked strange So I found myself a sheet of normaly white polystyrene and started to mark, cut and sand it. Many hours of messy-white-stuff-everywhere work later, and here's the finished result:




(until I took this photo I didn't realise it leant to one side )



It flies really nicely at the moment, although usually after a heavy landing or after charging the battery the trim will have gone awry ....

Otherwise, the most fun I've ever had for £25! Even beats my Mini IFO I think (which cost much more than £25)!

A BIG thanks must go to the guy who bought my work colleague one of these for his birthday! Otherwise I probably wouldn't have looked into getting one


David

PS. One thing I don't like is the nose-weight I have to use .... my goal by building my own canopy was to remove the need to have nose-weight ..... not 100% successful .... From what I've read, my options are to stick with the nose-weight, add a scoop to the front of the canopy, or fiddle with the tail rotor?

PPS. The AUW is 10g.

PPPS. This is the main heli I fly!

[Hogster]

Hmm that canopy didn't last long! A few too many unplanned landings made it crumble

I've now scrapped that canopy, reinstated *part* of the old one, and added two supporting struts to give the canopy some strength. Since taking these photos I've also painted (coloured with a permanent pen) the skids black. Looks sweet!





All the ballast is now *inside* the canopy (blutac), and I've also added a fin made from clear acetate - she flies beautifully!


David

Edit: LOL .... looking at those photos, it's hard to believe the fin is there ... but it is, trust me!

[Hogster]

Here's a video of me flying my Picoo at work

Flying the PicooZ in the office (3 min 41 sec)

The guy filming was the guy who got me into this whole PicooZ craze


David

PS. What's happened to this thread? Seems it's completely died! Was it something I said?

[RacerX208]

I think everyone is trying to get in the last minute outdoor flying....that or they have become entangled in the Parkzone Cessna Centurion craze
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www.piccoztoolbox.no-ip.com

[Hogster]

Ahh that's fair enough I guess

Here's a shot of my PicooZ as it is now ... this little sucker is taking up so much of my time!

Extra mods since the last photo include: Canards on the front made from thin acetate sheet (the clear stuff that is often found at the front of ring-bound documents), no more blutac in the nose (the battery has been moved further forward into the foam), main shaft support bracket made from thick acetate (see attached image .... it's made the heli much quieter!), and a painted canopy

I really need to re-make the undercarriage as it's been repaired quite a few times and is started to look a bit ugly


David

[dz1sfb]

Originally Posted by Hogster

Ahh that's fair enough I guess

Here's a shot of my PicooZ as it is now ... this little sucker is taking up so much of my time!

Extra mods since the last photo include: Canards on the front made from thin acetate sheet (the clear stuff that is often found at the front of ring-bound documents), no more blutac in the nose (the battery has been moved further forward into the foam), main shaft support bracket made from thick acetate (see attached image .... it's made the heli much quieter!), and a painted canopy

I really need to re-make the undercarriage as it's been repaired quite a few times and is started to look a bit ugly


David

David,

I really like the way your bird looks with the cut-off canopy and the carbon/???? skids. It is a perfect candidate for Ball Bearing/Carbon Fiber rotor shaft mod. You could dump the reinforcement bracket. The BB/CF mod makes these birds quieter and lighter. I got mine from Indoor Flyer in the UK for less than $10 shipped to the USA. Here is the link;
http://indoorflyer.co.uk/index.asp?f...&productid=135

You would get a double benefit with this mod - reduced wieght (-plastic bracket & steel rotor shaft) and quiet operation. I can barely here mine with the body off (stealthy). Just FYI!

Nice work!

Happy BFR,
Ken

[Hogster]

Thanks Ken!

At the moment the guys at IndoorFlyer are on hols until the 3rd Sept .... otherwise I would have ordered them on Wednesday!

Seems there's nowhere else I can buy thin CF and bearings in the UK:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=728092




David

[dz1sfb]

David,

I cannot believe how cheap these items are there. I shopped around at bearing suppliers on our side of the pond, and could get these bearings for no less than $13 each.

Good people at Indoor Flyer

Ken

[andrewm1973]

$13 each - Ouch.

I sell them for $10 for a pack of 10 bearings.

[foam and tape]

my only mod I have ever done is remove the bottom winglets of the piccco Z looks like a Ah-66 flies great some thing to do if youre bored

[zorahk]

I have a problem, I just bought a picoo today. Havoc heli actually but same thing. I tried to turn the tail clockwise 30 degrees so that it flew foward. problem is i maybe turned it to far and then i heard a snapping sound and now the tail isnt as "tight". Can I open this bird up and fix it with superglue or what?

[DWJL511]

Hi All,

Here's my first attempt. I know its not much, but it's a start





Ok latest pix here -- added the legs.

[b36roxs]

new havoc battle helicopters are here they look like th cobra they have landing gear and a infared shooter on the nose box set comes with 2 there kewl