MX2 Build!

In the previous post we unboxed my BliztRCWorks MX2 Pro from bananahobby.com, my first purchase form them, though I have made several purchases from their cousins Nitroplanes, xHeli and Hobbypartz.com, whom I love buying from! Here's what it looked like on their website:

Sweet!

This was an easy build, maybe 2 hours, mostly problem solving. There were the usual issues, screws that don't fit mostly. It came together relatively easy, but to fly I have one issue, a major design problem with the prop cone to overcome...

The build started with the main gear which took all of 5 minutes and was uneventful. The next step was the tail assembly. It also went together pretty quickly and easily. The parts fit together well and the mini pics were accurate, or so I think. The control horns went on easily and the clevi were easily adjustable. The preinstalled decals however came up short as you can see where the tail joins and the decal misses...

This thing is really big...

Took the Orange receiver and satellite off the corkscrewed EXI 450 (more on my plans for that later) fitted forward of the battery section. I later had to extend the battery tray by cutting out the left post as the 4S battery I have are 3300 mAh and I think it was designed for 2000 mAh (odd, as it is still waaay tail heavy even with a 3300 mAh shoved as far forward as I can get it. Still need to solve that problem too...).

Here's the problem that has an easy solution that's not available to me... They must have made a design change and not told each other. The nose cone goes on with an M3-30mm machine screw which is way too short. Or actually, its long enough, but can't reach far enough. The chamber for the nose cone screw is supposed to be one size all the way down, but they narrowed it half way down, so the screw can't make it to the end of the channel. Only 10mm of the 30mm screw is past the end of the channel. It needs another 10-15mm to secure into the propshaft...

You can see the step off that shouldn't be there.

A longer M3 would work, but, Home Depot doesn't carry less then M4 and Lowes' has M3 but not a 35-40mm one. Drove around town, no joy. So, what the hell... I think I can shave a little off sides of the narrow chamber, hopefully centered, and get the 15 mm I need, but I worry the walls will be too thin. I poured some Gorrila polyurethane glue in the cone so it would expand up and offer some support. Nothing to lose, will end up buying a new cone either way. Still curing, wonder how this will turn out.

Jack-Jack (The Incredibles) is in the cockpit. No cone yet of course. You can see the Orange satellite just forward of the cockpit on the right. I put some blue electrical tape along the flaked up seam. I forgot to take pics of the wing installation. A CF spar runs across half the width of the wing. I had to struggle to get the wing set screw in on the left side, it just wouldn't pass. I probed it and managed to find the center. On the right the screw popped out of the bottom of the fuse, so I probed the left side down through the fuse and then passed the screw backwards to clear any detritus blocking the screw path and re-thread the nut if needed. It seemed to need both, and I was then able to pass the screw and set it properly. In all that I just forgot to take the pics...

 All in all she looks pretty good, but man, she's big!

Had to shuffle my Stearman over to make room. She takes up some space! 

BlitzRCWorks MX2 foamie, Hobby King Orange receiver and sat, stock servos. Can't say what the ESC or motor are as I can't get to them without really working over the cowl (and I tried). Can't wait to fly her!

Wrote to bananahobby.com and we'll see if they can help me solve the nose cone problem!