RC India

I did not want to start this thread, but the problems I faced were so high that it deserved its place on RCI.

Heli - http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10811&Product_Name=HK450_CCPM_3D_Helicopter_Kit_(Align_T-rex_Compat.)_Ver._2

Servos: MG14 X 3
Gyro HK401B
Tail DS480
Plush 40A
2215 4000kv motor.
AitTronix 7ch RX

MY new HK450 V2 (yet to be maidened) has become a Vibrating machine rather than an RC Helicopter  :giggle:. The tail was vibrating like no tomorrow, tried replacing part by part - No USE - replaced it with a new piece.

Body is also vibrating. Will check the main shaft and update the thread.

As of now I request every one stay away from this HELI.

So I thought I will do this Anti-vibration mod to the HK401B to avoid the slight drift I was facing on my HK450 MT. Let me see how it goes.

http://sergio.salvi.ca/2009/10/18/mystery-gyro-g401b-modifications/?src=hk

Can someone please give heads up on mount tape/metal sheet/mount tape way for Gyro mounting? What metal sheet to use etc?

I blame it entirely on YOU :giggle: 

I flew my brother's HK 450 V2 plastic kit (total cost around $120) even yesterday, and there were no issues. OK, it was not near-perfect, but for that prize, I should be jumping up like how this guy talks about air travel ("You are sitting in a chair... in the SKY!") :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LkusicUL2s

??? ;D

Nah, more and more people are facing the tail vibration problems. I am following the HK450 thread on RCG closely and noted that many are dumping the V2 as spare parts.

OK here is how it goes.

This is not my first heli. I have experiance building and fixing the MT thrice. Initial and after 2 crashes.

1)First the problem was that the tail boom had no slits on both ends so I had to dremel down the slit to the other end as well to fix it at the tail boom.
2)Secondly the tail rotor used to wobble - not vibrate. I replaced the tail unit from HK (the v1 version ) and used the same stock blade grips and slider. The wobble had gone but the vibrations were there. Again the stock tail shaft was not bent.
3)Yesterday I recieved the v1 blade grips and the slider and replaced them the vibration is totally gone from the tail.
4)There seems to be some vibrations on the body, I havent cheked the stock main shaft. Many complian they are initially bent. Let me see.

As the saying goes what you pay is what you get.  ;D

Now what would I have possible done wrong on the V2. My MT is infact running smoothly after 2 crashes and fixes.

The vid is damn good! :D

Another problem noted. The small tail gear that meshes with the auto-rotation gear rubs the plastic bearing holder  ;D

I never knew (or needed) a slit on both ends of the tail boom for a V2.  The slit is needed only on the front side, from what I remember. If there is such a notch that enforces the need for a slit, the tail case would never rotate  (it can only slide out) ! 

The gear alignments on these helis were never great to begin with, but they worked well enough not to cause issues. They have become better with the newer ones, but some warp in the main gears and/or tail gears is very common.

To begin with HK450 V1 Plastic (now sold as spare part has a notch in the tail)
The 450 V2 Plastic has a slide on the tail just like the other end.
The MT does not have anything at the tail end.

I have a V2 and MT. For MT Iam using the loctite trick.

For V2 since there is a slide pin just like the other end. It requires 2 slits. And the First few helis that sold, came with tail booms with just one slit.
So the boom never went inside the tail completely. If you read the reviews at HK, many complained that the tail boom was long and they had to cut it short, the fact is they did not realize the missing slit.

I dremeled downed a slit, But unfortunately the tail section had huge wobble so I had to replace the tail unit with the V1 spare I had. Problem solved.


I dont see much of a problem with warped gear. Of course they had slipping gear issue which eventually got fixed on the V1 and MT.
But V2 Plastic is a different franchise. It totally comes from a different manufacturer and has its own issues.

OK words are useless, I will post a pic wait.

The arrows indicate the rubbing gear to the plastic. I did not replace it cause once it wears out slightly, it should keep quite.  ;D

Please bare with my bad cable management pics.  ;)

Connected my Assan RX and ran the head a full speed w/o main blades and noted that there was some metallic dust on the servos and swashplate. The ball links are a little tight fit and

1)I believe that these ball links are slowly settling down loosening them self. Is this common? PICS attached.

Also I have a big 12.5 grams long wire 7 channel RX and a small wire 4.7 grams 6 channel RX as seen in the pic. Both have the same range of 300 to 800 meters and 200 meters is all I need.

My QUESTION is that. I dont want to place the Gyro on the boom holder as there are chances that the the Gyro will be shattered in case of a crash and I am afraid to mount it on the lower side of the Boom holder as it might fall off due to vibrations.

2)Will it be OK to place the Gyro in the place where I have fixed the RX in the pic. Or is the gyro more sensitive in sensing if I place it on the boom holder (1.5 inch far from the center so more movement in case of yaw)

3) If I CAN place the Gyro near the RX then I cant use the bigger RX. I have to use the small ASSAN RX as shown in the pic (the small wire coming out of the white RX). Now my question is, can that small antenna pick up the signals as it is surrounded by the metal case of the 450 body? OR I should use the long wire antenna and mount the gyro back on the boom holder.  ???

EDIT: The plastic servo tail mount were crappy. replaced them with the metal ones from EBAY.

What a CRAP I invested on. This a crap DONT buy it. buy the MT instead.

Buy the GT Pro "belt edition" instead ;)  Seriously, the upgrades are really worth it, if your situation permits !

BTW, I had warned you initially itself about how good an idea it is to go for an MT instead :( 

Missed this post earlier :(

Well known issue of metal shavings. You have to clean the parts before assembly/build.


Yes.  They do ease up later on.  Unless they put huge load on the servos, it should not be an issue.  You have to make a judgement call by moving it yourself, and "sensing" the pressure/force required.


I have the gyro below the boom mount, so do most people I know.  If you are worried about it falling off, some velcro strap helps.


The antennae will come out of the back if you can rotate the RX by 180 degrees.  That is what I did on the V2s. The Pro ones have no space to handle the RX, so I have them on the sides, which is also an option for the V2.


Known issue.  I mentioned the same in the review of my brother's HK 450.

I have tons of V2 spares. cant switch to GT Pro now. Well soon I am eyeing a 500 GT or a ALign TREX 600 nitro.

Fianlly Its complete.

Cost of the Heli = 28 USD. COST of spares / upgrades before the maiden = 32 USD. Total = 60 USD. Also the time wasted finding out issues on this HELI = 150 USD. Is this really worth it? NOT AT ALL.

Attaching the PICS.

1)Pic 1: Complete Heli. Ready to fly. Parts replaced are

Main blades,
Tail blades,
Entire TAIL ASSEMBLY,
Tail Servo Holder
Tain boom and boom support holder is metal upgrade and horizontal fin is Carbon fiber. I am using the same tail vertical fin.
Main gear drive.
5 Screws are from Align.

2)In this pic you can see that the Auto rotation shaft is wider than the main shaft. This means I had to tighten the jesus bolt but still there was some play when the head was rotated. If I left this at this stage, the jesus bolt would have totally eaten the main shaft hole in as less as 20 flights.

3)In this pic you can see that the Gyro is mounted below with 2 layers of foam and the Gyro has been moded in a special way this time. If it works, I will post the tutorials.

4)No space for a big RX. so I have put the smaller Assan 6 channel RX. Have to do the range test before I Maiden.

Iam confident this thing will fly really well.

PROS: Nice Head, and body. Good landing gear and canopy.

CONS: Rest is CRAP and I have replaced everything.

Conclusion: After the maiden. Wish me good luck.

Hey Thanks for the Advice I was thinking about going for this one but now I think I will go for a MT or a GT Pro

Best of luck for your Maiden

Hellyflyer

Thanks, will see how it goes.

hi mate,
you are right about the pricing :)
 this is not too bad a frame but most of the mechanics are not good.
it works out to be a good 'barebones' frame if you have a big total crash on your good 450. new frame for 30 not bad value and rebuild the busted one's elictrics and mechanics into this frame. I use mine as a testbed for my fly bar less heads :)
as a foot note............the main gear is veeerrryyy soft and strips at the slightst excuse :(

regards
don

Guys, as I said earlier, I modified the mod given in the above link to my own likings. No hot glues and no sticking the board to the top. My theory was totally to reduce vibrations going to the circuit and it turned out very very well.

http://www.rcindia.org/helis/hobby-king-401b-sponge-mod/

Flew my V2 today and My God! What a pleasant it was to fly. It was just like smooth soft and glitch free. The Gyro was holding ROCK SOLID against extreme gusts of wind. Did some inverted hovers uppp in the sky and some elevator flips. Will try to get it to face level next time as it was extremely windy today.

ya vinay i forgot bring my camera yesterday  >:(,or else i could have taken some good videos
and bad news is im moving to indore on official work tommorow and ill be back after 15 to 20 days till than no RC :'(

Bad to hear that, I was expecting to see u at jakkur this sunday.

I had my first crash on this a month back. It destroyed the main blade holders and other stuff. So that means even the head was good for only 1 crash.

Pros:
Smooth head.
Cheap.
Can get lot of spares for 27 USD!  ;D

Cons:

I had to replace everything on the tail side and the main gear.
Cost went beyond MT kit price.

Conclusion: Since the cost went beyond MT kit before the maiden, I suggest you guys buy the MT.

Vinay - Who is flying this ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlpVHLhN-pc

Myself a few months back ;) BTW its not the V2 plastic, its the hybrid V2(parts from diff helis with MT base). I was about to post the link here, but you did it for me.  ;)

Vinay, The way you were progressing when I last saw you fly, I was expecting a lot more in this video. Don't stagnate like the rest of us. We need some people to break the barrier in India.

Rajesh, I was flying that heli after 2 months gap and Havent flown since few months now. The way to break the barrier is to have a field next to the house. In bangalore, we dont even have space for a flower pot. And I have to travel literally 30 km and wait for the plane fliers to clear up a bit, before i even spool up. Which is like I have to wait till 11.30 AM. It aint easy.  :(

Jakkur is a closed case. Now Hoskote will be flooded with water and fliers as well. You know how it will be, dont you?  ;D

:( I thought with the 450 you should be able to fly at more places. That is one of the reasons I got a 250.

In hoskote you shouldn't need to wait for plane fliers to clear, there is enough space for multiple fliers.

Hope they have made the runway in the northern part of the lake bed, else it will be inaccessible in a couple of weeks.

Sir, First give us some company, will surely fly well  ;D Waiting for a radio to be released is not a reason to escape.

"Radio to be released" ?

No, if you are thinking I'm waiting for 18MZ. I have made my sensible choice already and will be
putting up the 72MHz gear for sale soon.

And what would that be? 8fgh, 10chg? JR9 series?  :o

+1  :)

"Sensible" sounds intriguing and strong ;D

Not quite true. It still needs as much space a 500 demands. Also,  I dont want to crash, so I need to fly at a height when practicing simple moves. That's where the 500s size/visibility comes in handy. Its not the 450s crash cost iam worried about. Its the rebuild time  :banghead:

250 would be too unstable to practice high HeadSpeed maneuvers. I want to get into 500s very soon.

I have 3 quarks and 5 High end tail servos sitting idle along with a HK 500 with align upgrades parts enough for 3 crashes. Have to start making use of them.  :banghead:

Did I mention 2 torque tube kits of HK 450s  ;D

I didn't want to buy DSM2 that JR gave up on.
10CHG is outdated too and not the best for heli's.
Will all Futaba radios be outdated soon when they come out with telemetry ?

A Turnigy 9x looks "sensible"  ;D

Hey, one of them is mine...

What the ....  :o Now you sud be kidding, Iam pretty sure you are not gonna fly those expensive helis on those TXs. Now would you?  ;D

Nah, your tail servo is in the office in the sealed box.  :)

 :giggle: I did get a turnigy 9x thinking I'll fly foamies with it in the mean time. That never happened.

Now this is what will fly my helis.