Originally posted by Westsider
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Thanks man! Hoping to get it back up in the air soon, hopefully with some in flight photos. -
Congratulations Delta, that is soooo very cool. Very happy for you! Your patience is a lesson to me. Outstanding effort.Leave a comment:
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I'm not a helicopter guy but it looked pretty good to me. Congratulations on the successful flight.Leave a comment:
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Thanks Prowler!Originally posted by Prowler901 View Post
Got a video of it in the air today! Was really cutting things close. Even leaving work 30 min early, I only made it to the field about 20 min before sunset. I recorded 2 videos, the one below and a second flight with a walk around of the aircraft. And the second video only turned out to be about 3 seconds since my iPad ran out of space.. Hopefully I can get a longer video and more photos next time.
As for the flight, I do still need to make some adjustments. The cyclic is very sensitive, so it may seem a bit twitchy. Tried to do some hovering in front of the camera, but I hovered on the wrong side of the iPad.. Anyways, it is smooth and was plenty of control authority for scale flight. I flew 2 flights for a total of about 6 minutes with ample reserve. As for overall impressions, man it looks cool in the air! I can't wait to get things adjusted and go flying some more.
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I had a major realization yesterday that should help get things moving forward.. Originally, the Apache was meant for belt drive, and I converted it the torque tube using some spare drop down gears from the 500 Blackhawk/Bell 212 mechanics. The drive gear looked like the exact same machined brass gear as the belt drive gear that came with the Apache, so I never gave it a second thought. So, I dug around through my parts drawer and found the original gear. Sure enough, it was 26T vs the 31T gear that I was using from the Blackhawk, and I promptly installed it in the Apache.
After I got back from work today, I took the Apache out and got it spooled up and... SHE FLIES!! No more problems with tail authority at all. Did some basic hover work and slow forward flight with no issues at all. Next time its off to the RC field with a fully charged battery to start messing around with forward flight :).
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Well, I did technically get it in the air yesterday night, by maybe 3-4 inches. It would appear my predicted head speed was on the low side for maintaining tail rotor authority, even with the 4 blade tail rotor. When I lifted off, it would hold fine through the pull to pitch, but just as the chopper leaves the ground I would run out tail rotor and have to set it back down. I switched to a 14 tooth pinion, which helped a noticeable amount, but I was still bottoming out tail rotor to hold a hover. I will try a higher tooth count pinion to see if I can get things sorted out. Just have to wait on another order now.Leave a comment:
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Thanks Alpha, you're a much more brave pilot than I, that sounds crazy! I'll be happy just to get it into a 3 ft hover and do a few basic maneuvers to check out the FBL settings. Fingers crossed for liftoff tonight!Originally posted by Alpha.MotionRC View PostLeave a comment:
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May good weather be on your side and a minimum of surprise out-of-nowhere TFRs, my friend! Have someone point a flashlight at it for a night ops maiden... we used to fly 3D at night with multiple super bright flashlights trained on the helo at all times. Hair-raising, but fun!Leave a comment:
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Just found out that there is a TFR in the area tomorrow. Figures, the only nice weather scheduled for this week and we get a no fly zone.. May have to try for a maiden tonight if there is a break in the winds.Leave a comment:
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New motor installed and is ready to go! I missed the window for flying this evening, and the forecast for tomorrow has 17mph wind.. so maybe maiden will be Wednesday? Took the opportunity tonight to get a photo with my other chopper projects as wellLeave a comment:
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Fixed my issue, only to find another. A swash phasing adjustment fixed my control issue, and I pulled power and got it light on the gear today. However, as soon as I started pulling pitch, RPM rapidly decayed. It would seem that the little Xnova 890kv was just not up to the task of lifting such a heavy machine. I wish I could download ESC data to check on it, but of course the Talon 90 has no logging.. I decided to order a Scorpion instead: http://www.scorpionsystem.com/catalog/helicopter/motors_4/hk-32/HK_3226_900/. Same KV and shaft diameter, much more power. Hopefully this will finally get this bird off the ground..Leave a comment:
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Finally got everything setup for the first flight last night. The new ESC barely fits in the fuselage.. Got my swash phasing set, tail rotor throw calibrated, and all directional checks looking good. So, I decided to try my first hover. I throttled up and got the rotor to full speed and pulled pitch. As soon as I was expecting it to lift off, it sharply rolled right, and the blade tips contacted the concrete. I hit throttle cut immediately and got it back on its gear, and went through my swash setup again. Inputs and phasing looked good. So, I decided to go for a second try, and it ended with the same result. Not sure what is going on. Thinking that it would be the narrow wheel base combined with the raised tailrotor, making dynamic rollover very easy. Anyone ever dealt with anything like this? I'm wondering if a degree or so of left mast tilt (like many full scale helis) would help mitigate the issue... I may also try flying on our fabric runway from the club. The reduced friction should allow it to skid sideways (rather than catch and flip) much more so the small foam tires on pavement.Leave a comment:
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Finally finished up the last of the paint and decal work. Time to start setting up the mechanics while I wait for some gearbox parts. Might also take a second look at actuating the Horizontal stabilizer.Leave a comment:
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Thanks guys. Got the weapons finished up tonight. The Apache finally has some teeth!Leave a comment:
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