600 UH-1N Twin Huey- ARF Bundle - Build and Impressions

[F106DeltaDart]

Hi DeltaDart, I look forward to see your write-up of the mechanics and assembly. Your photos look good!

Thanks Alpha! Things have been pretty busy, so I am just getting to the mechanics again. First up was installing and shimming the metal gears for the torque tube. The kit includes some nicely machined metal gears to replace all of the bevel gears in the Chaos 600. For the tail pickup, I did change the gear arrangement up a bit. If you are sticking with stock (CW) rotor rotation, the following will not need to be changed, and can be ignored. However, I wanted CCW scale rotation on the main rotor. So, I pressed out the one-way bearing with an arbor press, and pressed it back in upside-down. However this also reverses your tail rotor direction. For highest efficiency (and scale) the innermost tail rotor blade should always rotate up, into the rotor wash. To make this happen I had to move the tail bevel gear from its stock position (above tail output bevel gear) to below the bevel gear. This was easily done by extending the flat spot on the shaft using a dremel cutting wheel.

The gear positions were then adjusted using the included shims. Gear mesh should be tight, with just a bit of backlash between the 2 bevel gears. The gears were the lubricated with synthetic grease. All metal to metal joints will require lubrication to reduce wear. Another item of note to those building this kit, is that sets of specs are included. The Chaos mechanics are wider than the Trex 600 ESP it was designed for, but the spacers allow them to be stretched to the larger size. These are the blocks shown on the inboard side of the tail shaft bearing blocks in my photos. Also of note, is that the builder will need to secure the bearings inside the tail bearing blocks with a retaining compound. Otherwise they are just floating in the blocks, and can easily be knocked out.

Finally, for the main shaft, the kit includes 2 sets of bearing blocks, but the frames have provisions for a third below the main shaft. Even though the stock 2 should be more than adequate for scale flying, I elected to add a third using Trex 600 spare parts: http://www.aligntrexstore.com/Bearin...1-_p_1556.html. More to come soon.

[Alpha]

Hi DeltaDart, I look forward to see your write-up of the mechanics and assembly. Your photos look good!

[F106DeltaDart]

So, I brought the UH-1N and the rest of the scale heli fleet out to the TX Scale Championships today, and it was great! Excellent weather, great people, and some incredible aircraft! Now just to get this machine finished!

Looks great! I really like the black on the rotor assy. I may do that myself. Looking forward to your write-up on the mechanics as mine are still in the box. If you don't mind, please post any tips you may have on the raised tail as there are some spacers in there that I have no clue where to put. I sure wish Roban would start including some sort of instructions on assembling and setting up their 600 mechanics.

Will do Icepirate! I will post photos and a detailed write-up of the assembly of the mechanics. Waiting on a few parts to come in from Motion to continue work on the mechanics.

[icepirate3]

Looks great! I really like the black on the rotor assy. I may do that myself. Looking forward to your write-up on the mechanics as mine are still in the box. If you don't mind, please post any tips you may have on the raised tail as there are some spacers in there that I have no clue where to put. I sure wish Roban would start including some sort of instructions on assembling and setting up their 600 mechanics.

[F106DeltaDart]

Looking forward to seeing it assembled - looking very good so far. I thought that you had set yourself a bit of a harsh target for completion - been there and got the tee-shirt. I once worked day and night for a week to get an ME109 finished for a club airshow and likewise, only had it out for non-flying display on the day. Promised myself that I would do my best never to repeat the exercise(much to the family's relief) ;)

Thanks Cyclone, it’s definitely been a rush to try to get it out (even for static) this weekend. I honestly think I’m maybe 50% through the build. I threw together the mechanics today, and will definitely need to completely redo them later. Also found a few issues with the servo linkage geometry that will require some rework. Anyways, after about 8 hrs of work today, here’s where it stands for static display:

[Cyclone 7]

Looking forward to seeing it assembled - looking very good so far. I thought that you had set yourself a bit of a harsh target for completion - been there and got the tee-shirt. I once worked day and night for a week to get an ME109 finished for a club airshow and likewise, only had it out for non-flying display on the day. Promised myself that I would do my best never to repeat the exercise(much to the family's relief) ;)

[F106DeltaDart]

Cool heli!

One request: Next time you post photos, could you please put something in the foreground (such as your transmitter), to give a sense of scale?

Thanks for posting this thread! :Cool:

Here you go, TX added for scale! I just finished painting the dark green and it’s starting to look the part! It won’t be ready for flight Saturday, but I am trying to get it prepped for static display. Tomorrow I will add a few more details such as the wipers and pitot tube, and trim out the cockpit windows a bit.

[ridgerunner]

Cool heli!

One request: Next time you post photos, could you please put something in the foreground (such as your transmitter), to give a sense of scale?

Thanks for posting this thread! :Cool:

[F106DeltaDart]

Looks great! Are you planning on going with the stock main gear/pinion? I went with a helical 118 main and 10 tooth pinion and got around 1590 rpm at 100% throttle curve without governing. I'm really curious why MRC went with the 4025-1100kV instead of the 4025-890kV they recommend with the conversion huey. I'm assuming it's just a stock issue as CC website doesn't even show the 890 in stock.

Thanks for the tip on the doors! Will try that on my next day off. Am waiting for more paint (I of course didn't order enough) so there's no hurry.

Thanks! Yes, planning on using the stock gears. I have a few different pinions on standby in case I need to adjust headspeed.

[icepirate3]

Looks great! Are you planning on going with the stock main gear/pinion? I went with a helical 118 main and 10 tooth pinion and got around 1590 rpm at 100% throttle curve without governing. I'm really curious why MRC went with the 4025-1100kV instead of the 4025-890kV they recommend with the conversion huey. I'm assuming it's just a stock issue as CC website doesn't even show the 890 in stock.

Thanks for the tip on the doors! Will try that on my next day off. Am waiting for more paint (I of course didn't order enough) so there's no hurry.

[F106DeltaDart]

Finished spraying on the gunship grey, looks much better now! Have to resupply on masking tape after all that painting..

[F106DeltaDart]

Always happens when you are on a tight schedule:( Looking good though - really impressed by what you have shared so far.

Thanks Cyclone! These things definitely tend to happen on a tight schedule. Hoping to get the correct gray painted on tonight, and maybe get masks applied for the dark green. For anyone else who is planning to try their hand at this camo, I found that Cybermodeler has a great little paint guide: https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraf...profile5.shtml.

How did you remove your cabin doors? Mine slide back about half way and don't feel like they will move anymore without breaking something. Haven't been brave enough to force the issue but would like to remove them before painting the interior. Just in case you aren't aware, the door hinges are pretty weak and will break in time. There are some aftermarket ones I noticed on another site that I may get. If I find the link I will certainly share it.

The doors are held in by 2 tabs that slot into a track at the top and bottom of the doors. With them about 1/2 way through their travel, you can pull down and out and the top tab pops out of the track. Then the whole door comes of pretty easily.

Also, for those Pilot figures, the Huey comes in at 1/9.25 scale, so the 1/6 pilots are significantly too large for this build.

[icepirate3]

How did you remove your cabin doors? Mine slide back about half way and don't feel like they will move anymore without breaking something. Haven't been brave enough to force the issue but would like to remove them before painting the interior. Just in case you aren't aware, the door hinges are pretty weak and will break in time. There are some aftermarket ones I noticed on another site that I may get. If I find the link I will certainly share it.

[Cyclone 7]

Always happens when you are on a tight schedule:( Looking good though - really impressed by what you have shared so far.

[F106DeltaDart]

Thanks for tip on the pilots! I was definitely surprised by the size as well, really makes my 500s look small! Today was a long day of masking and painting. Aaaand it needs to be re-done. I painted the grey today, and the paint color came out too light. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until AFTER removing the masking. Time to redo all the gray in darker Gunship Gray for the next try.

[icepirate3]

I was going to do this build but after seeing the actual size of the fuselage I decided to sell it and stick with my 450 size Huey. Just a heads up: If you are planning a pilot and crew Big Lots stores carry a line of 1/6 military figures that are pretty nice for just $15 each

Thanks for the heads up on the pilots! I too was a bit surprised on the size of the fuselage but have come to like it.

[JDLightnin']

I was going to do this build but after seeing the actual size of the fuselage I decided to sell it and stick with my 450 size Huey. Just a heads up: If you are planning a pilot and crew Big Lots stores carry a line of 1/6 military figures that are pretty nice for just $15 each

[Cyclone 7]

Diving right in, I can't wait to see your finished result!

That cockpit really is stunning. The main console is molded as a single piece in resin, then it's mated to some wooden parts, backed with the decal, then hand painted at the factory.

You don't have to do much of a selling job on me - I'm already taking a look at my savings' balance ;)

[icepirate3]

I am also working on one of these. Wish I had known they were doing this bundle though, would have saved a bit of $ but it's all good. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

[Alpha]

Diving right in, I can't wait to see your finished result!

That cockpit really is stunning. The main console is molded as a single piece in resin, then it's mated to some wooden parts, backed with the decal, then hand painted at the factory.