A word of warning with the HK heli kits. The hex bolts supplied are supposed to be 1.5mm but they seem to be just a fraction bigger. You may find your self rounding either your hex driver's head or the bolt itself. I had to build a dozen 450s and 10 250s last year and found I was going through a driver per heli. If they do round off you can carefully grind them down to fresh metal again to get a little more time using it. With luch you can get two grindings on one driver. I got fed up with buying all types from HobbyKing and Ebay until I found out they were all coming from the same factory. Forget any claims that they are hardened, vanadium or any other fancy name. They are not. They are all the same.

I then bought a couple from the US and I'm happy to say I haven't worn out the first one yet. I got them from www.miponline.com The price was great compared to the cheap and nasty ones. About $7.00 US I think, plus freight which wasn't excessive.

Maybe HK has changed the bolts by now I don't know, but if it's a problem for you then these will fix it.

Regarding the screws, I remember discussing this here long back http://www.rcindia.org/tools-materials-and-building-techniques/hex-driver-set/msg38026/#msg38026 

EDIT: A good thing that you reminded of it.

@VC, I just weighed the CF training skid and it was 35 grams with lemon sized sponge balls at the end and aluminium hub at the center. I think you can go easily upto 50 grams. The only problem would be, if you bring the heli down fast, then you may not be able to stop it quickly if its heavier, eventually banging the heli to the ground. And more heavier I used I felt that there was a slow tail drag in one direction along with a tail wag even with a decent head speed. Again I dont have anything to prove the drag and I used to use cheap gyros. This drag/wag used to go off once I removed the skid. Hope this helps 

Oh Dear! I do apologize for mentioning something that was mentioned almost 2 years ago. I guess it's possible a few members weren't members that long ago and I doubt anyone would bother to read every post since the site's inception when joining. I guess it does prove my advice was sound :-) Now I'm wondering if I should read every post ever made to make sure I'm not posting something that's already been posted. I'll be back in a few years :-)

Hey Propfella, no need to apologize at all. I am sorry if I put my words in a wrong way earlier and hurt you  . My only intention was to link the 2 threads. And yes you were right with the screw size. I myself stripped a lot of screws before I realized the mistake    

There is a reason why these landing skids have an angle. A beginner would get scared if the heli goes up quickly and eventually tend to bring it down and bang the heli to the ground. My first crash was in the same way. Thats the reason why training skid manufacturers tend to give an angle as seen in the pic below. It may not be necessary but its helpful. I have seen it helps the heli bounce back into the air if you bring it down fast. If an angle is not possible on a home made skid, then atleast sponge balls at the end should  help. I have kept both HK500 and 450 in the back to give an idea.

Holy Mother of God! No wonder my Heli was going all over the place and just REFUSING to stay in one place. My home made landing skids weighed 150 grams!!! Talk about being a dimwitted noob............ so much to learn.

VC, With the tail drag, I meant there was a change in the yaw axiz AS IF there was a slight rudder input given constantly. Regarding the heli REFUSING to stay in one place - Thats how helis are  


I have the solo pro 180 FBL heli got free from hobbyking during the gift season, and believe me, the moment i lift it up from the ground, it moves away a few feet. Thats a long distance for its size. Some time lower head speed helps keep the heli stable.

Just re weighed the skids. It is 114 grams. If the suggested weight is in between 35 - 50 grams and mine is more than double + the fact that it is not going to be 'perfectly' balanced, it is definitely going to play havoc with the flight characteristics. Just ordered 2 sets of CF skids from dealextreme.com.

I would suggest something like this, you can google for much lower prices if available:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-Big-Training-kit-With-Alum-Metal-Center-For-450-Heli-/180555273285?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a09eed445#ht_2667wt_1163

If its a plastic hub at the center, they tend to break. Thats why my first crash happened.  > There were some comments on this video on another forum that it was my mistake that I pulled down fast. But it was my first day and mistake tend to happen. An aluminium hub is the way to go and will last forever. Now I use the skid for maidens (both 450 and 500 as its strong)



My idea of keeping the Training skid light was that you could stop it easily in case you try to come down fast. Nothing wrong in going for a slightly higher weight.

Sounds like you trod on a mouse's tail :-) I'm amazed the 450 is still so popular. It seems to have been around for so long. I can't remember when I first started building them. It took a while but the Hobbyking 450 is just about on par with the actual Align it copied. My last order was for 6 of them and everyone wanted them yesterday. I vowed no more after I finished but then got an order for 6 250s. Luckily that was the time HK sold the kit without electronics for $19.95. The deal was so good I bought an extra 4 250s and 4 450s Just after I finished them off the sale price dropped dramatically and I sold the 250s for $70 fully built with everything fitted ready to fly and the 450s for $80.00 also ready to fly. I then vowed no more helis and now it's all planes.

The only thing I haven't had a go at is the cars and trucks but they are available just about everywhere now. Way overpriced in my opinion. So they are off my shopping list :-) If anyone dared to run one of the nitro trucks around here the police would jump on them for noise pollution. The same reason I have a 5 foot brand new, never been wet 120mph fuel boat and another brand new nitro Miss Budweiser sitting in it's original box. Luckily my electric boats are OK. How are the noise pollution laws in India They are getting worse here almost daily.

We had a guy arrested here a few months back for flying his 500 down the main street with a camera attached. He flew sraight past the police station and wondered why they grabbed him. Silly boy, he didn't go quietly and ended up losing his whole kit.

Noise pollution laws?   What the hell is that?  Iam not aware of any such laws. Even if they did exist, our cops are too busy with other stuff.  

Oh BTW, 450s are great. They are cheaper to operate, less dangerous than 500s, more stable than 250s. A sweet point for budget beginners. 

Not sure if this was posted here earlier, but came across this cool application that will help you configure a HK450 before you purchase it.

hk450-configurator

Ebin

I guess anyone starting out with helis now, should start with flybarless. No use investing in old technology.

what is the main difference between flying a flybarless heli then the heli with flybar....  and which one is the  best  start off with 6ch

Refer this website which helped me a lot to learn the basics as I am a beginner.

Difference ->Flybar & Flybarless


The flybarless is becoming popular now and the prices are reducing. It is also easy to assemble a flybarless rotor head for a beginner. I am not sure about the flight characteristics as I am not qualified or experienced enough to comment the concerns to a beginner.

I would suggest you read through the following links which I googled for you just to help you once.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

Flybar or flybarless ? For me its a personal choice, and I choose Flybar as I want to learn them in deep, how they work before spending time on simulator and then on a real heli.  

Ordered my first heli today Though I did some research on the items to order, unfortunately didn't see this sticky before I place the order. The list of items I ordered are these,

Hobby King 401B AVCS Digital Head Lock Gyro   1      
Straight ball link pliers 5mm   1      
HK-450GT PRO V2 3D Belt-Drive Helicopter Kit (Align T-Rex Compat.)
R/C Helicopter Pitch Gauge   1      
450 Size Heli Main Gear Set (2pcs)   1      
450 Size Heli Ball Fixed Ball Linkage Rod Set   1      
HXT900 Replacement Gear Set   2      
HXT900 9g / 1.6kg / .12sec Micro Servo   3      
HK450V2 Pinion Gear 3.17mm 11T/13T (Align part # HZ052 - H45059)   1 (intent to begin with the 11T)      
Turnigy Typhoon 450H 2218H Heli Motor 3450kv (450 class)   1      
HobbyKing HK-922MG Digital Metal Gear Servo 1.8kg/ 12g/ 0.07sec   1      
450 Size Heli Red Tail Blade (pair)   1      
450 Size Heli Yellow Tail Blade (2pairs)   1      
325mm Carbon Fiber Main Blades   1      
HK450 Pro Swashplate Leveler Tool   1      
TURNIGY Plush 40amp Speed Controller   1      

I have couple of nanotec 1800 with me (which I use on my HK YAK55 EPP) to begin with. Am soo excited to have my first heli   I hope this is enough for me to begin with. After fiddling with my correHcopter few times, I found out that I could do some basic stuff as well as some flips and inverted flying with T-Rex and other 3D helis on SIM!!! hope that is enough to start with the actual thing  I went through the whole sticky and found few items not matching with the suggested setups. Any how, the order is placed and I will have to start with it.

Couldnt keep the Joy (of ordering my first heli) to myself   just wanted to share with you guys.

All the best

Thanks Rajath

1800 seems kinda small battery and will run out soon. You need to add some weight at the nose to keep it balanced.

Hm.... thanks vinay. I was looking for at least 5 mnts of normal flying. In that case I will use a 800mah 2S with a BEC (which I have handy) for the Rx. That should add the weight and servos wont drain the main battery What do you think?

Logically a good idea. But I wouldnt do that considering too much wiring. Feel free to try out what feels good

"feel free to do what feels good" is my other name will try it out. Being a beginner 3D (plane) flyer, I hate to add dead weight.

Just ordered these from rcbazaar as spares per advice earlier for shop pickup during my visit.

RZB559   Landing skids - Hiller 450 Pro   1
RZB560   Screws set - Hiller 450 Pro      1
RZB566   Belt - Hiller 450 Pro      1
RZB548   Tail boom - Hiller 450 Pro      1
RZB529   Feathering shaft - Hiller 450 Pro      1
RZB530   Tail shaft - belt version - Hiller 450 Pro   1
RZB562   Links with rods - Hiller 450 Pro

Do I need any thing else? Couldn't find the ball end reamer there Guess I have to order from hk and wait.

Just received my 450  will build her once am done with the Prox260.