geoffs crash and learn

 

WALKERA #83 NITRO POWERED ENGINE

           

Part one: - THE PACKAGE HAS ARRIVED 

The helicopter arrived well packaged from heliguy.com.

Inside the package the helicopter is fully assembled, the transmitter, 240v charger with adapter to charge both transmitter and receiver batteries together, selection of Alan keys and gyro pot screw driver and instruction manuals are held firmly in place in a moulded plastic packing.

A check over all the bolting and screws revealed all is well.

The build quality is perfect the frame is a mixture of carbon reinforced fibre and aluminium and no sharp edges to be found

.

The tail boom, tail rotor and rotor head are all aluminium.

The tail blades are plastic.

The main rotor blades are plastic.

The canopy appears to be a fibreglass / reinforced plastic.

So time to power up and check out the electronics.

The transmitter supplied with this heli is so small compared to my futaba 6exh and feels really comfortable to hold.

There are no crystals as it uses the RF modulation system with an 8 model memory function.

You need to supply the 8 batteries for the transmitter.

The battery and receiver are already installed on the heli.

All of the controls work perfectly in the correct direction and without any binding (and this is factory settings).

Gyro is heading hold and is switched using channel 5 on the transmitter.

Ok one minor adjustment so far and that was to the paddles as they were dipping down, loosen off one grub screw turn paddle to set horizontal and pinch up grub screw again, that easy.

After contacting walkera about the fuel % I was informed I would need 30% nitro but to get that where I live would take a week and with a very large price tag.

So down to the experts (two local model shops) and made enquiries the engine is an ASP 15 and does not have piston rings.

I was recommended to use 10% nitro or even better 15%.

So 15% it is.

I bought cool power 15% at £17.65 a gallon (us gallon) (3.78 litres).

Next purchase a glow plug heater £16.95

Now all I need to do is start it but that’s down for another day as the programming of the transmitter needs to learnt first. The package comes with two manuals, one for the heli and the other for the transmitter

Part one over part two to follow: - first fuel and engine run.

Part 2: -FIRST FUEL AND ENGINE RUN 

Two fuel lines run from the tank to a) the engine b) the exhaust but other than that there’s no visible way to fill the fuel tank, so removed fuel line from the exhaust and filled it this way(looking into a “T” piece to allow fuelling without removing the fuel line each time).

The other concern is the fact there is no valve to cut off the fuel from the carburettor? But these are only a couple of quid and easily installed.

Ok today 11-06-07 fuelled her up and connected the heater to the remote plug wire and gave it aprox 15 seconds to heat the glow plug up, using my battery drill with extension shaft I turned the engine over whilst keeping a strong hold of the rotor blades, WOW it started up first time all be it a little fast.

So using the mixture control which is easily accessible I reduced the idle down to a point where it was just catching the clutch at which point it cut out.

Tried again but awkward to start this time, but it fired up, then cut out as I reduced throttle.

I managed to run 400mls through her this way just to ensure all was ok.

There seems to be a lot of oil coming out of the exhaust which suggests to me that the engine is not running hot enough to burn the mixture correctly.

Next on shopping list is a hotter running glow plug.

Quite possible the fuel I’m running is too low in mixture % age but I’m not too concerned about this as with the engine being new it requires running in and that little extra oil should prevent any seizure.

So now I’m happy it runs, the way to start it is give a little throttle and it starts first time every time then reduce the throttle to give a steady tick over.

Now i spin her up to give a good head speed the difference between the electric and nitro becomes evident, soo much power.

Ok I had to do it………… heli gets light on the skids and starts to pull left as usual so what the hell give it more throttle and see what happens.

So up she rises (don’t forget I have not flown a nitro before and I have not changed any factory settings) pulling left slightly and back, so down she comes adjust trims slightly and throttle up, now in a nice stable hover and how sensitive the controls are.

Touch tail to move it round and it’s straight to where you want it and holds perfectly, bank left or right and she responded immediately same for forwards and back.

Took her up to 15 -20 foot straight up with very little tail movement, then down straight again very little tail movement.

Refilled tank with 300ml of fuel and started her up again, this time I didn’t need as much throttle to give me a start (things are starting to bed in, i.e. clutch, motor etc) and now to run  the tank dry, up she went no hassles at all into a nice hover aprox 3 foot up not even a twitch, ran the tank dry to a point the engine cut out still 3 to 4 feet above the ground and she dropped gently to earth landing on both skids almost as if the engine was still running (cant count it as my first auto gyro though).

So there you have it so far. From delivery to its maiden flight and all with factory settings. Apart from the fuel mixture which I think may be the initial problem this helicopter did exactly as it said on the box. Walkera #83 RTF.

A few specifications now: -

HELICOPTER

Main rotor diameter = 900mm

Overall length end of boom to tip of canopy = 820mm

Tail rotor diameter = 175mm

Engine = ASP 15

Weight  = 1100grammes without fuel

Receiver battery = 4.8v 1300mah ni-mh

Receiver = rx-702

TRANSMITTER

Wk-0703

7 channel rf modulation 35mhz

fully programmable with 5 point throttle curves and 3 point pitch curves for normal flight, fast flight and 3d flight.

Watch this space for further updates during the run in period including any and all adjustments I make, the heli manual and transmitter manual.

SAFETY NOTE

Caution nitro fuel is highly flammable and must only be used for model aero engines.

Refuel only in a well ventilated area away from any sources of ignition.

Before starting ensure you have a tight grip on the rotor head as the initial drag on the clutch is quite large (tank of fuel loosened mine off quite a lot).

Ensure all switches on the transmitter are set in the normal flight mode before starting.

Once started move obstacles you have used in the start procedure away from the area.

Stand clear and start flying.