Looks like Align is going to release their flybar-less conversion for the Trex 700 (90size heli) soon.  Here is a test video.



Look at the last minute of the video, where they show the head of the heli.  There are only the main blades; no flybar  and no flybar paddles. The functionality (mechanical mixing) provided by the flybar is now being replaced by an electronic setup (the picture of the device is also shown).  Other brand had this for a while, but Align entry into this market will make it mainstream. 

Soon, fixing damaged flybars after crashes will become a thing of the past for heli flyers !

One more..

Adarsh - You mentioned that you are going FBL here :

http://www.rcindia.org/for-sale-completed/raptor-90-for-sale/msg17303/#msg17303

Which model did you get ?

Hi Anwar,

I got myself a Trex 600 nitro with a Mikado V Bar system.  The align was cheap but after reading reviews i read a mixed response, some says its good, some says its still got bugs which has to be set right.  So i though instead of struggling, i'll go with the proven one.  So thats why a Mikado.  what i've read about mikado is its a very safe system, bug free and its been used since years.  So thats why mikado!

Its all assembled now, now got to program the v bar and it'll be ready to fly for this sunday.

Regards,
Adarsh

Mr.Adarsh ,i am sebastian i do bought a flybarless  heli 5oo trex electric with mikado and gyro guai. we anwar tried to programe but its not fly6ing proprly, now we adithya also progamed, its failed.now its with me in kerala.heli is fully upgraded.all aluminum.Sebastian.

@Adarsh - That's interesting.  The best 3D flier on our field upgraded his Trex 700 to the Align 3G system a month or so back, and he is extremely happy with it.  I will read up on why some people are unhappy with it, as I am planning to put the same setup on my Trex 700, which is currently in the process of being setup.

@Prakkat - I thought it flew pretty well when I tested it.  BTW, there is no Mikado part on that Trex 500, just a GAUI 3 axis gyro. For lack of time, I could not do anything more than try to hover it.  It was pretty stable in the hover, but could be tweaked more, which we did not have time for.  BTW, Captian Yasin from whom you brought the Trex 500 came to me last week with a Trex 450 pro with the same Gaui flybarless gyro, but with a KDE-Direct head upgrade.  After setting it up, that also flew beautifully.  He is a scale flier, so only did some test circuits with it.  I am awaiting his new project, a JR Vibe 500E !

So what happened after Aditya put the Trex 500 back together ?  It is not flying properly at all ? I hope it is not pilot error

Offcourse its not the pilot error its the problem off the person who set it up/ capt yashin put one more gyro other than 3 d gyro , so pulled out it and given the conections through gaui gyro when then its work some times i dont know, when adiytha was in kerala, he was short of time.i was 8 helis to setup. un remember the trexx 6oo we crashed in jakkur. its still in the box, in pieces,he was here for 2 days. thanks, sebastianm

Kunjai - There is no problem with using a separate tail gyro even though the GAUI-365 has built in tail stabilization. I had that working fine in my testing here, which you also saw.  And the separate tail gyro he was using is a good one (Mini-G from Curtis Youngblood, who is one of the pioneers of RC helis).

I will take a look at it next time I visit.

@Sebastian: whats happening on the fbl 500 exactly?  I think your best bet would be Anwar to set it right or next time you're coming to bangalore, get it over, i'll get it right.

@anwar: As i said, i read mixed response on the align3G, so went for mikado.  I have another brand new 600 in the box which i'm planning to convert it to fbl and will try out the align this time.  But will wait for few more months before i buy the align.  And more over, the mikado heli engine is new and got to do the running in, so not much pushing around, i dont want to have 2 good helis which i'm going to runin! :-)
so by the time the align fbl is ready for test flight & runin the mikado will have already been runin and will be rocking :-) 

OK.....  My 600 with the Mikado flybar less is All ready to test fly!  Wish me luck

Regards,
Adarsh

The best !

Please do post pictures and videos !

Mr, adrash all the best for the new venture, 600 flybarless , next week when i come i will bring my 500 flybarless terex. sebastian

Trex 600 flybarless with Mikado V-bar test flown, flew awesome but had to hold back on pushing her (brand new engine) two flights done till now, the first flight was tweaking with the trims and other things, the second flight was awesome, so smooth and so predictable!
Will post pics soon.

Ok time to change over everything to flybarless!     My other three 90s going for sale very soon 

Regards,
Adarsh

Great  

Where are the pictures/videos ?

I will wait for the price on the Align 3G system to come down a bit before going flybarless on the Trex 700.

I test flew (well.. hovered!) a JR Vibe 500E flybarless with an I2 head upgrade today (the heli belonged to Capt Yasin, a fellow RC flyer and full scale pilot for Qatar Airways), and it had the Align 3G flybarless gyro.  Held very very steady on hovers. Hopefully will be able to test more on the field soon.

The head is the best I have seen so far, with linkage length adjustments that can be done without having the snap the links off the balls.  Pretty much hand crafted using aircraft grade aluminium, and expensive too!

http://www.rc-tek.com/us_store/i%C2%B2-rc-fbl500a-pro-500-class-high-performance-flybarless-rotor-head-p2214.html

One interesting thing I learned today was that on the Futaba 14MZ, when you enable "Throttle Hold", you have set the hold throttle rate at 17%, instead of the 0% throttle usually set for electrics !

Will post pics a lil later, My flying was resticted to hovering and some boring circuits and some lazy loops and rolls, thats it.  Will take videos when its worth   

I'm using a Mikado Trex 600 Conversion kit for head.  It basically comes with mikado blade holders with the blade linkage extended out and the whole assembly above the swash.  Still needs a lot of tweaking, the first flight was to go hover, come back connect it to the laptop to setup, tweak it, go back flying again and test.  I think i did this some 4 or 5 times in all.  Then for the second flight i said to hell with the tweaking, let me enjoy flying it 
Will do it again next sunday!

Regards,
Adarsh

Pics 

Few more  

Some more 

Looks Awesome !!
Seeing a Flybarless heli for the first time. The head sure looks clean !

surely it looks clean and also if you are flying electric you will get an extra minute or more flying a FBL. and the controls are bit more tighter and responsive.. like a heli on rails... good one adarsh

Nice

What fuel are you using ? From the color, it looks like a branded blend.

Fuel is a home brew.  I use Klotz Synthetic oil, thats why that colour.

Regards,
Adarsh

Spent the last hour or so learning and setting up the Mikado Mini V-Bar on the same JR 500E of Capt Yasin. It comes with Mac software also !  The setup is a quick 11 step process, using a well written software interface.

I have to admit that it was one of the most (if not THE most) stable helis I have ever flown !  I am sold big time on the Mikado VBar technology

anwar also try the micro beast... its excellent and at a very good value..

The Capt has asked for my opinion on this, and I suggested (based on my research) that BeastX may be the best value for money.  Seems like the shop guys in the US suggested this one (and that shop sells both).

But at 60% the price of a Mini-Vbar, the Micro BeastX is certainly much more value for money.  The shop guys suggested that in terms of raw performance, the VBar is one step ahead.

absolutely true, microbeast is like v-bar 4,0  =  fantastic but v5 is a step ahead

was a bit if re learning from v4 to v5 but i wont look back

especially on my rave, the smaller heli the bigger difference

yes the mikado is good no doubt but for my style of 3d flying the micro beast was perfect and fits well in smaller helis (so does the micro beast x) and also the issue was to get a laptop to the feild and do the corrections was a bother (microbeast can be programmed on the feild like the aligh 3g)

i use control panel, works grate
no need for pc
and with v5 u have data log

and if u have problem and have a bluetooth u can c data log live when flying

 

What is the"Control Panel" and how does it work ?

its a lcd unit that you will have to buy seperately for programming on the feild... like the skookum ones...
http://www.rcmarket.org/v-bar-control-panel-pr-21417.html

maybe i was a bit unclear.

but to c live u need pc with bt