Flying blind

I made the mistake of trying to fly with my glasses instead of my contacts and I made this decision on an overcast and sprinkly day. I don't see as well with my glasses.

Took the freshly rebuilt HK500 FBL up. It went about as good as one might expect. Lost orientation, limited heli skills, yeah, a mess. I dragged the new canopy over for the pic, it having gotten tossed far afield. I know I need more sim time, but I want to get comfortable with flying the actual heli. I was doing fine, 4 min in to a nice basic flight, sometimes having issues getting the tail around. I was outbound, a bit far away, and lost control when I wasn't sure if she had turned nose back in, she drifted and I made things worse. That was the end of that.

I already have most of the rebuild done. I have to order a new belt, it broke in the crash as the tail boom separated.  Replaced the main shaft, the feathering shaft is fine. The tail shaft will need replacing. Lost a control rod, replaced it. The canopy took quite a lot of damage, glassed in some repairs.

The tail boom is 461mm long. The tail belt is labled as 400mm. Not sure how that works... We'll see.

I also brought out the MXS-R with its 30cc DLE. Took a bit to start, haven't run it in a while. Took it up and even that big plane was a blur, not enough orientation in this light with my glasses. Landed, called it a day.

Disappointing.

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.