Introduction

The Hiller series RC helicopters from RcBaazar have made it possible for many RC enthusiasts in India to have their own electric helicopters at an affordable price. The Hiller Beginner 450 kit is an excellent choice for those who are new to RC helicopter. From my personal experience, the three core factors that lead me choose this product are :

1) Affordable and value for money deal
2) Excellent customer support by RcBazaar
3) The package is delivered in max 3 or 4 days without any "customs" hassle.

Since I foresee that there will be more and more RC enthusiasts(read - beginners on Hiller series), I decided to do a detailed build log of Hiller Beginner 450 CCPM. This is a clone of Align Trex 450 series and I am sure some one will benefit from this and also I can share my personal reviews and experience about Heli building. I belive the build procedure for other clones are also similar. I have referred to the Align Trex 450SE-V2 manual while building this helicopter.

I am not an "expert" when it comes to heli building, but I have read as many articles and viewed as many videos before I had started building the heli. I will be completing the build over a period of time as this is not my proffession, but a passion. I will only build a heli in a step-by-step procedure, after learning the basics and then researching the best practices and build the heli. I will try to go as deep as possible while building the helicopter, and I will try to add as many images as possible, as I believe a picture is worth 1000 words (also, I am lazy to type ).

Before I begin, I would like to point out few factors about Hiller Beginner 450 CCPM.

1. This is a beginner, cheaper, fiberglass frame, RC Heli kit.
2. This may break easy if not handled with care.
3. The bolts are not the best, they will strip very easy if you rush through the procedure.
4. Most of the core parts are made of hard plastic instead of metal and this is to reduce the price of the kit, but if built correctly, will make an amazing RC helicopter thats worth every rupee you spend.
5. Excellent kit to purchase if you are a beginner and would like to experience the first step of RC Heli - The build itself ![/li][/list]

Also, I would like to mention few tips and suggestions from my personal experience while building this heli.

1. The frames have rough edges. Please wash (use mild bathing soap) and dry the frames before you sand the edges. Use any type of sand paper but dont over do it.

2. My kit did not have enough number of bolts with speaciality washers and I believe I was just unlucky. I counted and I believe we should have a total of 34 screws and washers for this kit. My advice is buy an extra set of washers and screw set. Its worth it and not a waste of money.

3. The bolt head will strip very easy. I feel they are made of some soft metal ! and I have managed to strip a couple of them.

4. Always have allen keys (1.5mm - 2.00mm - 2.5mm HEX Drive) from different brands. I have noticed that they vary a little in their dimensions and will ACTUALLY help you remove a stripped bolt because their dimension is slightly bigger than the other hex driver.

4. Use a surgerical gloves while building your helicopter. The rubber gloves has excellent grip on most of the small and precision built components that are used in this heli.

5. Use a pair of tweezers instead of your fingers to pick and place the tiny components. Once you get a hang of this, your build speed will increase dramatically. Its a personal experience.

6. Use loctite [threadlockers] on metal to metal joints and Super Glue on Plastic to Plastic joints. "Loctite" and its uses are discussed extremely well elsewhere in this forum or can be found easily on google. I have not used loctite or super glue on my build, as I will be dis assembling this kit soon for upgrading.

I chose to build the frame in 5 steps.

1. BUILDING THE INNER FRAME.

2. BUILDING THE TAIL BOOM HOLDER

3. BUILDING THE OUTER FRAME

4. COMBINING THE INNER FRAME AND OUTER FRAME.

5. FIXING THE SKIDS.

The final frame should look like this.  



My build table  



I prefer to sort the screws so that it will be handy while building and will also make the build process faster.  



Please make sure you have all the important components before you start the build.  

Specialty Washers



Aluminium Spacers



Metal Tail Drive Gear Assembly





Plastic Main Shaft Block



Tail Gear Bearing



Tail Boom Holder





Plastic Motor Mount.



Canopy Holder



Frame Mounting Bolt



Anti Rotation Bracket



1. BUILDING THE INNER FRAME.

I prefer to begin by fixing the canopy holder to the inner frame. The canopy is the last thing that goes into the RC heli, but I believe the canopy holder should be the first component to be fixed in. If you try to fix it later after completing the frame, its a little challenging experience.



Fixing the plastic main shaft block.



Likewise, fix the other side also. This will give a strong hold between the two inner frames will help to have a strong platform to work on.



Fix the lower Plastic main shaft block.



Now fix the Frame Mounting Bolt.



After the frame mounting bolt, fix the battery holder platform



2. BUILDING THE TAIL BOOM HOLDER

The components that "form" the tail boom holder



Place the Tail Gear Assembly as shown below.



Place the hexagonal plastic tubes (7 no.s) inside the tail boom block as shown.



"Close" it using the other half of tail boom block



This is how it looks from the side.



Place it between the two inner frames carefully. Don't over stretch the frame while doing this, as it can crack the frame.



3. BUILDING THE OUTER FRAME



Fix the base plate to the one of the outer frame. Make sure the base plate is facing upwards. (Easy - The skid screw holes should face below  )



The INNER FRAME and the OUTER FRAME




This is how they will look after they are fixed together.



I prefer to begin fixing them from the tail boom block as there are total 6 screws over there and will give a good grip and hold to the frames as we proceed ahead. Place the aluminium spacers between the frames using a pair of tweezers and screw from one side.



3 on each side, similar method of fixing.



all 6 screws. now that gives a strong hold between the inner and out frame on the rear end of the frame.



Now this is the most challenging task for me. I always have a little difficulty in fixing the lower frame mounting bolt + aluminum spacers between the inner and outer frame. I started using the tweezers and it was getting easy



Fixed the anti-rotation bracket. (Wish I had extra specialty washers)



Fixing the receiver tray below the tail boom block



Fixing the heli landing skid.




Frame Done !  









The next step is Rotor Head Assembly ! ---- to be continued.

I must say excellent pics...good job

Well done ebin.. great..pics and great information to biggners,,,
u rocks..
its very usefull for all heli lovers..
welldone again.

how did you post such huge pics ?

excellent shots BTW

Thanks. I use www.photobucket.com to host my photographs and post on forums.

Outstanding! This one is going to be one of my all time favourite threads. Not only as I have one waiting to be build but also due to the professional quality of the photographs.

I have always noticed a strong connection between Aeromodelling and Photography! Great pictures and details.
I'm sure a lot of beginners can take help from this!
Good Job!

Yes 100% quality post and should be sticky as well. Waiting for 2nd part.

Sorry for the late post on the second part of this one man show. I was having an extreme busy schedule at work so had to sit late night documenting the process. The entire build process slows down a lot as I am alone in this setting up camera and the lights, assembling the build, focussing for the camera, holding the parts still while waiting for the camera timer clicks the shutter, then putting the camera back...I am not complaining and its actually fun for me, but thought I will mention some "behind the scenes". I love this and I wish every RC heli enthusiast go through a complete and deep build process. You learn a lot while building it than what you learn while reading about it.

Alright, so finally managed to squeeze in time and done with the Rotor Head Assembly. I believe this is the most complicated process for a first timer but the most rewarding. The Hiller Beginner 450 CCPM has the assemble linkages [both A and B] as a "moulded" version, so there is no need for any measurements. Also, they are named as A and B as Algin manual refers in the same convention  

Before I begin with the build log, I would like to mention few facts I found while going through the build process.

1) This is a "Plastic" version and the build quality is not best, but extremely good for the money you spend. The rotor grips are not smooth and I feel the washers are rubbing against the rubber damper rings. I believe this can be fixed by adding an extra washer in between. I couldnt try it as I didnt have any extra washer at the time of building.

2) The bolts on the feathering shaft are very "delicate". I feel they are made of some soft metal. They strip very very easy and I managed to strip both the bolts twice. I had to use an oversized allen key to remove the same. Lots of frustration. So make sure you are extremely careful while removing or attaching the feathering shaft.

3) The Hiller Beginner 450 rotor head is similar to the HK450 V2. They dont have the thrust bearing but just a washer. Refer --> HK450

4) Some of the screws on the flybar cage, washout base, swashplate are loctite-ed. As the parts are made of plastic, please be careful not to melt them while heating to break the loctite. The plastics are not that bad and they wont melt as easy, but a word of caution. [I did not remove two ball links from the swash plate as I didnt want to melt anything on it and since RcBaZaar is running very low on
stocks, it will be a stupid thing to melt parts.]

5) Loctite and Super glue to be applied where ever needed. Metal to metal contact - Loctite. Plastic to plastic contacts - Super glue. I have not used loctite or super glue as I will be dis assembling this again for upgrades.

My build procedure consits of 4 steps and I follow this so as to minimize the chances of "wrong moves" while assembling and end up removing the entire assembly just because you missed or put a wrong linkage on the wrong ball link. The build procedure is about the building of the following three components and then fixing them together. To begin, I spray deodorant [any brand] on it [No they weren't
stinky] as the alcohol content in it will clean the oil traces in the parts. Kindly note again, there may be other build procedures and this is purely based on my experience and may not be the best one.



My build process consists of the following four stages.

1) Plastic Main Rotor Head Assembly

2) Flybar SeeSaw Assembly

3) Flybar Cage Assembly [Washout base assembly]

4) Combining the above three componenets.


Plastic Main Rotor Head Assembly

The components






















1) Place the 4 rubber dampers [two on each side] into the plastic head






2) Place washer on the socket screw and screw it on one end of the feathering shaft.



3) Push this feathering shaft through one of the rotor grip. Refer to image.




4) Put the aluminium collar onto the feathering shaft and push the rotorgrip and feathering shaft assembly into the plastic head. Make sure the aluminium collar is between the grip and the head socket.




5) Take the second aluminium collar and place it on the feathering shaft.



6) Slide the second rotor grip into this. Make sure the aluminium collar is between the grip and the head socket.



7) Place washer in the socket screw and put it inside the rotor grip and tighten into the feathering shaft using two hex drives or Allen keys.




fix the stainless stell linkage balls on the rotorgrips.



9) fix the two guiding pins.




10) fix the tail head.

Flybar SeeSaw Assembly

Components







1) Fix ball links on the two SF Mixing arms.





2) Make sure the tiny washers are placed on the screw.



3) Attach the SF mixing arms to the plastic flybar seesaw holder.




4) Place the plastic seesaw holder on the rotor head. Make sure the "threaded" hole is in alignment with the rotor blade grip balllinkage rod. Refer picture.





5) Screw the flybar seesaw holder into the rotor head. Do not over tighten.




6) Fix the assemble linkage [A] on the ball links.

* The make sure the groved side is pushed in first into the ball links.





Flybar Cage Assembly [Washout base assembly]

The components

The side with the "groove" that goes into the ball linkage



The flat side



The ball links on the control rod should NOT be facing directly to each other.












1) Fix the plastic washout control arms to the plastic washout arms

* Make sure the washer is in place on the screw and do not over tighten them. This will cause friction and extra stress on the servos.





2) Fix the stainless linkage balls to the plastic washout arms.



3) Fix the radius arm to the plastic washout control arm. Please refer the image or the Align Trex 450 V2 manual and fix it in the correct direction. This is very important.




Flybar cage Assembly [Make sure the flybar is put correctly. The ball links on the flybar control rod should NOT be directly facing each other when held parallel. This is very important.]

4) First put the assembly linkage rod "B" on the both flybar control rods.



5) Fix the plastic flybar control arm on the flybar control rod. Take the next one and place it on such a way that the ball link on the "rod" do not face each other directly.




CCPM Swash Plate

6) Fix the ball links on the swash plate.



7) Make sure the ball link for anti-rotation is also fixed.



Combining the above three components.

1) Connect the plastic washout base to the swash plate usning the radius arm to any one of the four ball links on the inside ring of the CCPM swash plate. Refer image.



2) Fix the other radius arm on the the opposite ball link.



3) Fix the main shaft rod. The side where the hole is on the longer length goes up. Tighten it securely using the nut and bolt.



4)Connect the assemble linkage "B" from the flybar control rod to the ball linkage on the plastic washout control arm. Just click it on in any manner and you wont go wrong if you have followed the earlier steps accurately.



5) Just slide the entire "wobbly" thing thruogh the main rotor shaft. Exercise common sense and refer the manual or you will "cross" the linkages causing more frustration and confusion.





6) Slide the lock ring with the "latch" on the ring facing downwards. Once it hits the "cut" on the shaft, it gets stuck slightly and tighten it ther using the two tiny set screws.



This is how it should look like






Next will be the assembling of tail rotor assembly.

Good assambly..ebin..450 made easy...let fly soon.
chears..

I must say, this post is truly the monogram of hiller 450 build. Simple technique, amazing pictures would certainly help any one build a hiller 450 kit. Outstanding job Ebin ( if i can call you so !)
So far it has been a an exciting, intriguing, challenging (some times frustrating !) journey for me.This forum is a real helpline for anyone interested in RC hobby. Now Im waiting for RCB's 7ch Tx with sim. I have to read and understand a lot about electronics before ordering them. All I need is time, precious time (which is difficult to get) and full wallet !.

My suggestions for other new-bees,

I managed to strip a couple of screws,so be very careful, use proper tools. I learnt it the hard way.
Have a good work space. so that you don't lose tiny screws or other parts.
Before putting in any screws, read the align 450 manual carefully and follow the above post for pictorial reference other wise you will screw up the build for sure !


   

nicely done 

Great work sir

Totally impressed with your knowledge and skills. Respect.

Really excellent and fantastic build. A very good and great help for beginners like me.
 

    nice work sir !!!

Dear Members,

I have a Clone 450 size Heli, I need to fix the tail assembly and need to do a proper testing and flight check.
Is there anyone in Bangalore who can help me out with this. Not for free of course.

Regards
Neil Savio | Bangalore

This heli is back on the market on our very own Amazon India.
https://www.amazon.in/DIY-450mm-Helicopter-Frame-Electronics/dp/B099DPRP8X

Hello sir
Iam bala from vishakapatnam
Sir wheare to buy sir.
Iam looking for Amazon but its not available sir plz tell me sir
Wheare to buy
Thanq sir

I've already posted the link.