RC Heli in Korea

   Well, it was finally clear today for about 3 hours. I spent all but 10 minutes of it in the air. The hadn’t come since last night and the wind had finally died down. I brought my heli to work today in the hopes of maybe moving a class to another time so that I can fly. It has been hard latelynot being able to fly, so in the hopes of maybe a chance to, I took my GL 450 to work.

   A student called in sick. Great! No worries about not covering a class then or at another time!

   Took out the heli to the back parking lot where there is more space to hover high and maybe do some flying about. I had forgot to check the screws in my excitement. I had put it off the last time I took her hovering. Well, I paid for it. After flying around and feeling good about myself, the battery had started to lose its power, so I brought her in. As I was coming in, a blade started acting funny! It seemed to have grown longer! Magic? Nope, a loose screw had that up its sleeve for me. About a foot high, I was scared that it would do the funky chicken on the pavement.  I hit the throttle hold. Almost saved her, but alas… a side strike. One blade had been demolished and the other was scarred for life. Threw them in the bin immediately. Kinda frustrated that I didn’t do a checkup.

   One of the blade grips moved when pulled. After closer examination, the threadlock had come loose and the side strike had bent the grip shaft… I think that is what it’s called, but don’t quote me…..! Ah-Ha! It was the feathering shaft. Got it!

 Here, look for yourself…..

 

   Well… the moral of this story is what Mr. Mazakari has been saying all along….” Check your screws for threadlock!”

   Will do sir!

   I flew the Lama this morning after its modifications were completed last night. There are no problems with the flight after the modifications, but the tail does vibrate from the rotors. I wish that the boom was solid, carbon outside and light plastic inside so that there is less vibration. The battery case then can be moved a bit forward to even out the C of G.

   Other than that, it works great. The new motors are also a plus in that they don’t get in the way of the CNC swash plate. With the old motors, there was a problem where the swash plate would get caught up in the soldering on the tops of the motors. The new motors have the soldering at the top, but centered more to be away from the movements of the CNC swash plate.

   I haven’t gotten the new white blades that are supposed to be more durable than the older ones. They were out of stock. Once they get them in, I will upgrade those, too. I think they are supposed to have more of an angle so that there is more lift power….. we’ll see.

Hey all…. just got done building the Extreme Mod for my Lama. It looks a thousand times better than the old kit. Here are pics of before and after…..

 

 

I wrapped the Rx wire around the boom cause it won’t get any interference from the tail drive. Well…. there is no drive… nor a belt to cause any probs. Plus, she is only flown indoors.

Here is a pic of the new motor. As you can see, the tops are rebuilt so that the swash plate won’t be interfered with by the soldering on the old motors. There are also new clips for the soldering to be done on so that it isn’t so exposed.