Didn’t see a thread out there for the 222, so here one is. Last year, I acquired an NIB Mercy Air Bell 222 off of the other forum that a user had purchased new from Motion. It sat on the bench until a month ago. Over the last few weeks, I have gotten it assembled and in the air. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with it, but there are a few things to watch in the build.
Components in the build were:
Motor: Align 800MX 520KV
ESC: HobbyWing 130HV
Servos: Xpert R2
FBL: Ikon2 BT
No pictures from the build unfortunately, but here’s a list of the mods, issues, and changes that I’ve run into.
1. Retracts - The stock arrangements work fine, but are a bit complex. Be very precise on the setup! The bellcrank should not be imparting any torque to the retract on-ground. That load should be going through the wood stops that contact the struts. I would also recommend reinforcing the wooden tray that hold the main retract units. In its stock configuration it cracks fairly easily. I added a small 1/4” plywood doubler over the perimeter of the retract box where it meets the tray.
2. Tail Rotor Direction - this was not scale for a 222 in the stock configuration. In addition, it can also be less efficient and have slightly less control power. I elected to change this so that the inboard blade rotates up into the rotor wash. This was done fairly easily by relocating the upper tail rotor bevel gear to the lower side of the shaft. I also pinned the torque tube to prevent this from unscrewing the threaded ends.
3. Light controller - the Roban light controller gave me a bit of trouble at first. Initially, I had it on a Y harness with the BEC input and the flashing pattern seemed to change with every boot. I relocated it to the bind plug and it’s worked fine ever since.
4. Paint - the paint quality is good, but one of the critical paint lines is off in position. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge issue, but it would cut straight through the large MERCY AIR decal that goes on the sides of the aircraft. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll do there. Either I will order some smaller letters that fit in the white area, or I will squish together the existing letters a bit. Minor gripe, but the tail number is also incorrect. The included numbers correspond with a skid gear 222. N408MA or N406MA would be more correct.
5. Mods-to-come: Blade paint, Medical interior, wire cutters, and searchlight.
Overall, the aircraft flies very well. I’m currently governed to 80% to keep good tail authority. It is quite stable and well behaved even in winds. With the low tail clearance, a slight rolling takeoff and landing are recommended if possible. Attached are a few photos from my last few flights this weekend and last.
Components in the build were:
Motor: Align 800MX 520KV
ESC: HobbyWing 130HV
Servos: Xpert R2
FBL: Ikon2 BT
No pictures from the build unfortunately, but here’s a list of the mods, issues, and changes that I’ve run into.
1. Retracts - The stock arrangements work fine, but are a bit complex. Be very precise on the setup! The bellcrank should not be imparting any torque to the retract on-ground. That load should be going through the wood stops that contact the struts. I would also recommend reinforcing the wooden tray that hold the main retract units. In its stock configuration it cracks fairly easily. I added a small 1/4” plywood doubler over the perimeter of the retract box where it meets the tray.
2. Tail Rotor Direction - this was not scale for a 222 in the stock configuration. In addition, it can also be less efficient and have slightly less control power. I elected to change this so that the inboard blade rotates up into the rotor wash. This was done fairly easily by relocating the upper tail rotor bevel gear to the lower side of the shaft. I also pinned the torque tube to prevent this from unscrewing the threaded ends.
3. Light controller - the Roban light controller gave me a bit of trouble at first. Initially, I had it on a Y harness with the BEC input and the flashing pattern seemed to change with every boot. I relocated it to the bind plug and it’s worked fine ever since.
4. Paint - the paint quality is good, but one of the critical paint lines is off in position. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge issue, but it would cut straight through the large MERCY AIR decal that goes on the sides of the aircraft. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll do there. Either I will order some smaller letters that fit in the white area, or I will squish together the existing letters a bit. Minor gripe, but the tail number is also incorrect. The included numbers correspond with a skid gear 222. N408MA or N406MA would be more correct.
5. Mods-to-come: Blade paint, Medical interior, wire cutters, and searchlight.
Overall, the aircraft flies very well. I’m currently governed to 80% to keep good tail authority. It is quite stable and well behaved even in winds. With the low tail clearance, a slight rolling takeoff and landing are recommended if possible. Attached are a few photos from my last few flights this weekend and last.
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