Well, that's a thing I know now...

For a number of years now I have whined about off brand EC5s not going together right. I don't know how I got there, but I read a thread about EC5 gripes on one of the rc groups, and someone commented that the off brands often go in backwards from the Horizon Hobby originals, that is, you don't press them through the back, you instead rub the wires through the plastic, solder them, then pull them back through the front.

I just got two new batteries, so tonight I did that and they went together simply...

Damn.

HK500 has a new lid!

KILLER!

HK500 Tarot Swash

The washout arms came in from Amainhobbies quickly as always! They had M2 screws, but Tarot head uses M3 so I had to swap out the bearings. I only damaged one of the old ones removing them from the arms, but had several on hand.

Installed easily! Like the red among the black finishes.

No other adjustments were necessary but for zeroing out the control rods. Nailed it, no tracking error!

Everything checked out!  Took her out back and despite full swash movement -11 to +11 on the bench, she barely lifted off. Recheck and she was only getting +5. Reset the swash limit in the BeastX and that's fixed. Took her up and she has her positive rate now. But the tail control lever main bolt stripped, so I had to replace that and use a nylon lock nut opposite it, and now she is 100% ready! Have to run out to my wife's work party, so no further flights.

Time on the sim. Unimpressed  with my focus.

Align Trex 600e PRO

Oohh... look who got cleaned, lubed and bench checked! When did you last see a flybarred icon?

Making sure the 5S 5000 mAh batteries fit. I flew her 6S so I was pretty sure, but I don't have any 6S batteries anymore and don't need the power.

Since this pic I changed some of the velcro. I was kinda annoyed that the reciever pack is at 4V per cell, as it's been over a year since I flew her. But it's a LiPO so hopefully it's fully dischargeable and rechargeable.

Who doesn't love a flybar cage?

Sweet. 

HK 500 Repairs

Started the repair process of the HK500. Its done but needs new swash washout control arms as the originals took so much energy they twisted. 

Both of the washou arms are twisted.

Found this replacement pair at Amainhobbies for the 500x. Hope they fit.

I had to replace the tail shaft, main shaft, feathering shaft, tail control rod, the swash control arms, the washout arms  and the main blades. Not bad at all. I think its time to replace tha canopy though... once again excited about flying helis again!

UPDATE:   Went ahead and purchased a new canopy.

Pricing 5S batteries, again dismayed at the expense! 

Well, it's a start.

After several months of pouting and focusing on my new planks, I moved the HK 500 to the work bench. She will probablybsit there a while before I get around to actually fixing her. I need to tinr up that e 600's and the few 5S batteries I have. Try to get my heli mojo back.

Sweet end of summer day!

A day off, the promise of possibly awesome weather, yeah, we are going flying!

Just took the Pulse XT60 with its RCG-USA 20cc, and the Sbach with its Evolution 10cc.

Jay and Louis were there flying their helis. When I first went up there were a few winds up high, and the rotor at the south end was active, but things calmed down amazingly, and it turned out beautiful just as I had to leave.

So the Sbach is tuned and running well. There was a curious period where in idle when I moved her from the start bench to the ground and held her nose up. The fuel pump failed to maintain flow and she quit. This repeated itself. I decided to just fly her anyway.  After a long flight I held her up again and she ran on fine. She flew well, ran perfectly. She needed some DR/Expo changes. I turned the ailerons down from 40% to 35%, and the elevators to 35%, and she tamed right down with a bit more authority. With the higher expo I was over driving the sticks, and my style is a bit more subtle on the controls. The Sbach is always a twitchy wench, one has to pay attention as she is very unforgiving. Remember, I had to put vortex generators on her wings.  She catches the thermals over the dump parking lot and rises rapidly, and is sensitive in the rotor between the south end Ents and the rise of the landfill we fly on the top of an after rising over the lot, drops like a stone in front of the trees, and then rises again as she approaches the runway on the top of the hill. She isn't unique in this habit, but does seem more affected. Combine that with a tail wind on the base in front of the trees and a 90 degree crosswind on final, and it can take 2-3 approaches before we get wheels down. And then we are hauling ass, so we run out of runway fast. FUN!

She doesn't have a lot of power, is fast, but runs out of vertical fast. That's with the 13x8 two blade. I decided to look at the 12x8 three again, so will fly her that way.

Incidentally, at the field her power switch failed. Noticed that the vibration when the engine was running was making the light blink.. I had my suspicions this past week and today she was twitching her surfaces like crazy and the engine was missing. We figured out it was the switch with that blinl, so I was flying her by connecting the battery directly to the reciever. This evening I replaced it with another one, exactly the same, and she is behaving.

I also flew the Pulse XT60. she flew without any drama. She still sputters in the midrange, but idles well and has plenty of power! She wasn't bothered too much by the winds, but that Hershey Bar wing liftes in the crosswinds. 

I now have them in the normal rotation!