I've spent enough on parts that I probably could have bought 2 or 3 new kits by now

Originally Posted by stingeragents

I've spent enough on parts that I probably could have bought 2 or 3 new kits by now

I've spent enough on helis and parts in total to buy 40 kits by now.

Point is, (which I'm sure you're heard before) that you have to be dedicated enough with helis to follow through. I am not very good at flying myself, but have some spending money and patience. I flip and roll, FFF etc and am almost at the inverted stage, but it has taken a long time to get here. I imagine the ZYX will be problematic for either of my 450 or 500, but I am not worried about it.

Originally Posted by eagle777

Point is, (which I'm sure you're heard before) that you have to be dedicated enough with helis to follow through. I am not very good at flying myself, but have some spending money and patience. I flip and roll, FFF etc and am almost at the inverted stage, but it has taken a long time to get here. I imagine the ZYX will be problematic for either of my 450 or 500, but I am not worried about it.

It might be a little bit difficult to setup to some extent, but you're going to love what it does to inverted flight practice. It'll really pay of trying to tweak the unit though and this is not incredibly easy, yet not very hard either. It takes a little patience and knowledge.

Originally Posted by stingeragents

I've spent enough on parts that I probably could have bought 2 or 3 new kits by now

I stopped paying attention to how much I spend on the hobby...I'm much happier now.

My transition to FBL was pricey too. I had a vibration that was causing the ZYX to freak out....trashed blades, boom, shafts, and bought a 2nd RJX head block because I was sure my was bent.

Originally Posted by kdean

@evltoy

I know this is not about the 500, but it has to do with the flybar paddles situation. I took my 600 out today, with the new align paddles, and turned my expo up to 45%' The twichyness is gone when hovering, but when i try to fly around the expo makes things too unpredictable. Im switching back to the hk paddles...

I have sorted out mine!! After speaking to an expert 3d flyer and LHS heli builder at the field, he gave me some very good advice after watching my heli.

I ended up going back to my original cyclic angle of 6deg from 8deg (which guys here recommended). I didn’t need to go 8deg with the lighter paddles.

The heli is handling pretty much the way it was with the old HK paddles on 8deg cyclic with a little less effort in rolls etc. I still had to run 30% expo for Ali & Elv, but its now all good.

Next time I’m at the field he will be flying the heli to tell me what else I can do to fine tune it. Cant wait to see my heli in the hands of an expert 3d flyer & see what it can do.

I am building another 500, but this one will be mostly a Align 500pro. I got a good deal on the frame and tt tail, but I will be putting a tarot fbl head on. Not bad for $250 and I can call it a trex. lol!

Originally Posted by PHMX

It might be a little bit difficult to setup to some extent, but you're going to love what it does to inverted flight practice. It'll really pay of trying to tweak the unit though and this is not incredibly easy, yet not very hard either. It takes a little patience and knowledge.

Thanks, I'm hoping for the best. I'm installing the programming utility on my old laptop and will take that to the field also. I'll probably get the Tarot USB programmer box one of these days.

Originally Posted by mhills51

I am building another 500, but this one will be mostly a Align 500pro. I got a good deal on the frame and tt tail, but I will be putting a tarot fbl head on. Not bad for $250 and I can call it a trex. lol!

Nice grab mhills, was that here on RCG? Almost jumped at that myself when I saw it (or something like it) in classifides. Decided I'd keep the dough for upgrades and repairs on the one I already have.

Rishelman

A mix of parts. Complete frame on ebay $64. Complete tt tail at century-rc $66 and all the BS parts from Infinity Hobby for $70. All new in box. I need now is the tarot head for $42 Also picked up those spring servos from rc711

Tax return now gone

Originally Posted by mhills51

A mix of parts. Complete frame on ebay $64. Complete tt tail at century-rc $66 and all the BS parts from Infinity Hobby for $70. All new in box. I need now is the tarot head for $42 Also picked up those spring servos from rc711

Tax return now gone

Just an FYI. The Tarot head does not bolt to the main shaft in the same place as the 500EFL Pro (the Pro has a different shaft), so the head will be higher and the arms a strange length.

This head appears to be more compatible and I understand the quality is very good, but I don't have one, yet:
http://www.infinity-hobby.com/main/p...oducts_id=8095

Originally Posted by mhills51

A mix of parts. Complete frame on ebay $64. Complete tt tail at century-rc $66 and all the BS parts from Infinity Hobby for $70. All new in box. I need now is the tarot head for $42 Also picked up those spring servos from rc711

Tax return now gone

Another FYI. The 500 Pro frame is narrower than the 500 ESP so the TT kit H50092A has the wrong tail boom block and the front TT gear is the wrong ratio (mod and teeth).

I know all of this, because I built my 500EFL Pro from eBay parts and spares.

I just remembered the other thing that was different between the 500 ESP and 500 Pro. The undercarriage is unique to the 500 Pro. The mounting holes are closer together and the bridge at the top is narrower

For my 500 and 600 I keep flight logs of the number of flights, when parts were replaced, maintenance, and how I'm progressing. I was looking through my 500 log this morning and noticed how little I crashed compared to when I started out a little less than a year ago. I'm probably going to hit 200 flights on my 500 in the next week or so. Of course not much is left from the original kit but it's still the "same" heli to me.

Any of you guy keep flight logs? I know 200 flights isn't that much to some but it's a bit milestone for me. I'm at 70 flights since my FBL conversion....which is the same as my number of flights since having an "incident" (knock on wood!)

Originally Posted by beenflying

Another FYI. The 500 Pro frame is narrower than the 500 ESP so the TT kit H50092A has the wrong tail boom block and the front TT gear is the wrong ratio (mod and teeth).

I know all of this, because I built my 500EFL Pro from eBay parts and spares.

So you are saying that H50092A is the narrower (EFL) or wider (ESP) tail boom block? That's been on my list of things to do to the 500 for a while.