450 Huey Build

[Raygun]

I have not mounted this yet it is a search light made from two aluminum Cuban cigar tubes so is the rocket launchers. It is really bright!!! Now I wish I had a DX7 so I could turn it on remotely..

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[19000rpm]

Great pictures! That light is super nice!

[akent]

That is looking really nice!
I thinking about doing a build like yours with my 450!
I love the Huey and you have done an outstanding job with yours!

That spotlight is amazing!
Kent

[Solitaire]

Yep, a work of art, Ray.
I'd like to see some pics of how you linked the tail. One of the pics has a servo mounted to the body just below the swash. Feel like adding a description?

[Raygun]

Sure I made a floor out of bass wood and a micro layer of fiberglass I mounted the tail servo there and machined an elevated plastic mount I used a Sullivan CF flex cable and Du-bro 2/56 ball links. This makes the servo access-able and brings more weight off the tail. The floor is held in place by the landing gear bolts. Ray

[19000rpm]

Aug 13, 2011 17:11:03 GMT -6 Raygun said:

I have not mounted this yet it is a search light made from two aluminum Cuban cigar tubes so is the rocket launchers. It is really bright!!! Now I wish I had a DX7 so I could turn it on remotely..

Then you'd want a DX8 so you could make it rotate. Wait a minute, with the DX7 you could turn it on and make it rotate on the same channel. But I'm sure you'd find at least one more thing to put on the 8th channel.

[Raygun]

I have been thinking ( dangerous as it may seem ) But one time I built a long flex shaft for my dremal using a speedometer cable it worked great. I was thinking I wonder if I could use a speedometer cable in a plastic tube and make a flex driven tail rotor that way there would be even less weight on the tail you could drive it off the main or use a separate motor. I don't know if there would be any real benefit but it feeds my curiosity.. Ray

[Dave]

OK Ray I smell another build coming in the future

Dave

[Raygun]

That might happen Dave I am always looking for some new challenge I think I am going to have 19000 take my Huey and have a second set of experienced eyes and hands look at it before any flights. I am still tweeking and measuring stuff to try and get it close I spent a lot of time doing that to my DDVP 180D and it flew perfect the first time.. Ray

[Doozer]

I still want to see side winders and a Pellet Cannon with a little Jarhead door gunner. You can do it!!

[Raygun]

Aug 16, 2011 15:56:26 GMT -6 Doozer said:

I still want to see side winders and a Pellet Cannon with a little Jarhead door gunner. You can do it!!

OK Doozer does anyone have a DX7 or 8 for sale???

[ronp]

No surprise a great job Ray, let us know when you get her up, up and away.....ron

[19000rpm]

Here are some pics of Ray and his Masterpiece. He turned it over to me to double check the set up and do the maiden.

So far everything looks good. I'll post on the maiden later.

[akent]

Looks great!
I don't think it will have much trouble lifting that wood off the ground, either!
Kent

[19000rpm]

Yes, it does look great. Impossible to see how really nice it is unless you have the chance to inspect it in person. It's the kind of engineering and execution that you associate with the highest level of modeling.

The transport board has hand made spring holdowns for the skids. Now that's going the extra mile.

The Maiden:
Objectives: Basic checkout of functions and settings:

I set up the maiden in my parking structure. It's a good environment for checking out set up without outside influences coming into the equation.

Spool up was smooth with no vibrations. As I went past half throttle it was light on the skids and I let it slide around to see how the cyclic was operating. Nice with no apparent skew in any direction.

As I brought the throttle to lift off there was a momentary tail twitch of about 15 degrees that disappeared as the heli lifted off.

It required a little more throttle than I'm used to so we may look at the throttle curve later on.

I flew it less than a foot off the ground for a few minutes and was impressed with the low amount of ground effect.

The next phase was hover out of ground effect. The heli was very stable. A minimum of effort was needed to keep it in one spot.

While hovering I was getting minor port nose drift and I trimmed it slightly. Though, as I rose to about 7 ft., it started to drift starboard. This is a torque induced and I think maybe the inexpensive gyro may be factor or even some of the metal in the upper structures of the garage affecting the Gyro. More on that after I test it out of doors.

Next came some some small figure eights. Nice and smooth. The DDVP tail works flawlessly. Plenty of authority.

I landed it as soon as the power dropped off a bit. When I removed the battery it was a little on the warm side, not hot, and that may only be because I was hovering quite a lot.

All of the flashing lights, even the ones that aren't supposed to flash, sure adds to the realism as does the sound; which is unlike any 450 I've heard. Ray and I are speculating that it could be attributed to the fiberglass fuse reverberating the blade noise. Anyway, it sounds neat!

Next step is to get it outside for a little real world testing and hopefully some pics and video.

It's been a real honor and a joy to fly this beautiful bird.