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HeliHobby . Ron’s HeliProz South . Century Helicopter

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Kyosho Caliber 30 & 60 - Concept - Nexus > Upgrades for Concept 30SR-T
 
 
FSFirst
Heliman
Location: Auburn Hills, Michigan

Did any of the old Concept line of Heli's come standard with all of the following: autorotation clutch, metal mixing arms and a better style pitch slider (not the one held together with the clip like mine has)?

What are the upgrade part numbers for the mentioned above parts so I can upgrade my SR-T?

I'm going to a Heli show at the Midwest R/C field here in Michigan this Sat and want to find another old Concept to have as backup.

What would be a resonable price to pay for a used Concept w/o motor or electronics?.

Or should I just go for a used Nexus?
05-30-2002 Over year old.
 
 
concept1
Key Veteran
Location: Youngstown, OH

the SRX has the parts, mixing arms h3118 ($16) pitch slider h3122 ($19) I also recomend the metal mixing base h3115 ($25) the arms are a must as with the pitch slider. I have a Dx upgraded to a modified SRX and a real SRX unmodified, on my Dx here are my upgrades
new VR head with 530 blades,long boom, Zeal metal hiller, mtl mixing arms, mtl mixing base, SRX pitch slider, pitch arm( forget who's) zeal swash plate, zeal titanium mast, century aluminum ionized clutch, helimax hp fan, metal balls all around, macs pipe, on order are ksj paddles. I highly recomend the clutch also, it now flys as good as any raptor, except not yet happy with the roll rate, but i believe the ksj paddles will take care of that. I just fly it, very little to no mantenance with this heli. Check ebay for kyosho upgrades, they will show up eventually

Jon
05-30-2002 Over year old.
 
 
FSFirst
Heliman
Location: Auburn Hills, Michigan

Thanks Concept1. I'm adding these parts to my order list.

Any suggestions on the autorotation clutch?

Also I put a 6mm hex starter on the fan but don't use a one-way bearing yet. I'd like to find one because I'm sure once the engine fires it's not good to load the starter briefly.
05-31-2002 Over year old.
 
 
kyoshokamper
Senior Heliman
Location: HOUSTON, TX, U.S.A.

srt upgrades

The upgrade list for an srt is really too long to list. It would be shorter for you to sit down with an owner of a stock or upgraded srx and go through the differences between the birds one by one. I'll give you a quick summary of the lineage.

First came the Concept 30 dx, then the Concept 30 se, then the Concept 30 srt and finally the Concept 30 srx. I don't believe that there was ever a 30 sr. Basically, your bird was designed as an improved version of the dx for training. It was designed with a longer main shaft to avoid boom strikes and longer tailboom and blades for greater stability like the srx, but was built with the unsheathed wire tail drive, no autorotation bearing, the original single thrust bearing tail hub, wigglely servo frame, and taller more visible canopy. Hey I guess they figured thats how they would pay for the revisions. Your srt is a hybrid nearly halfway between a dx and an srx. I say this because of the longer blades and boom just like the srx. But the similarities stop there as mainshaft, servo frame, tail system, hardened bevel secondary gear, pitch slider, mixing base and arms are differences that come to mind.

Depending on where you are in your flight skill level you might consider only upgrading as you crash and just spend the money on fuel. Here is a trick. That plastic pitch slider with the silly little clip can be improved slightly enough to give the clip greatly improved holding power and sllightly more range temporarily while you learn. Remove the main blades and the clip and get an old exacto blade with a dull or broken tip and spin the head while tracing a groove into the black plastic with the backside of the #11 exacto blade. (Basically turn the mainshft into a temporary lathe) Make sure that it is up tightly against the bottom of the slider. When you are done it will take a decided effort with a small screwdriver to resecure the inner notches of the clip into you newly milled groove and you will hear them clik in place! Next remove the mainshaft and pitch slider and grind down the excess lower portion of black plastic with a flat file on a flat table. This entire procedure will yield you a more secure pitch slider with about 4-5 degrees more range. Simultaneously it will teach you how to hustle and work your bird into shape without necessarily spending a dime. BTW I would replace the aluminum mainshaft collar with that black steel one because it will fail (split) with repeated use. There are many many many other tricks that I could tell but the point is really to direct you to someone with an srx in hand and sit down with him or her with experience and review the numerous differences. Good luck guy.
05-31-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

There was most definitely a 30 SR; I just restored one. Basically, it was a "stretched" SX, with a longer boom and 515mm wood blades (the SX used the 500mm foamies), and I think it came with the improved tail pitch slider too.

I've had every version of the Concept 30 except for the SR-T, and the SR, IMO, gave the most "bang for the buck". You got metal ball links everywhere instead of those steenkin' Z-bends, and the blades were of four-ply construction, and it was produced in Japan. The blades that came with my SR-X and a couple of SR-T's I looked at were two-ply, with some really cheap and brittle heat shrink. By that time, production had been moved to China; mainland China, by the looks of the shoddy moldings, etc.

That's when Kyosho and I parted company. The Japan-produced Concepts were delightful machines that gave me many hours of quality air time. The Chinese versions were cheapened considerably. Since Kyosho made several different iterations of the Concept for different markets, I'm not sure if Kyosho or The Evil Empire was responsible for the corner-cutting to improve profit margins. I do know that their desire to stop making royalty payments to Taya resulted in the demise of the Concept and the appearance of the Nexus; and we all know how THAT has turned out...

Steve
05-31-2002 Over year old.
 
 
kyoshokamper
Senior Heliman
Location: HOUSTON, TX, U.S.A.

srt upgrades

Bravo Steve, and thanks for stepping up. Glad to hear someone with a history book in his head like me. I've never seen a 30 sr but it makes sense that there should have been one. I didn't want to confuse the guy with too much info but now that you mention it, don't you remeber 2 versions of the original dx? One with the autorotation bearing and one without? And you are most correct that Kyosho is currently not in the game and blowing it big time with their shrinking customer base. The LHS that I'm associated with is trying to keep a decent variety of afforadable 30's in stock like basic hawk, raptor, venture etc. He would like to have a caliber 30 but can't get one until late June????? This heli came out before the venture and yet the venture arrived in force, 2 deep with a service pack full of goodies. Why oh why hasn't Kyosho stepped up to the plate. As much as I admire Kyosho and their history, I honestly think that they don't give a damn about the customer anymore and have laid down. Why else would you prevent almost all of North America from having access to your lastest seasonal product until darn near all the summer has past? If money and competition doesn't motivate the corporation, then nothing will!
05-31-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Helicopters are a very small piece of the Kyosho pie. I was told by a usually reliable source that Kyosho upper management, though knowing of their blunder with the Nexus and having tried to fix it with the Concept VR, are less than thrilled with the sales figures of the VR and, if the Caliber 30 isn't a large success, they may just get out of the helicopter business entirely.

Now, how's THAT for a juicy rumor??? The source is indeed real, and connected; but please keep in mind it is ONLY conjecture at this point.

Yeah, it's too bad they lost the big chunk of market share they once had. But the big Caliber is the first really innovative design they've produced since the original Concept. The Caliber 60 is indeed a work of art; but who's gonna drop over two grand on the initial purchase price of a model helicopter kit? Not too many folks.

IMO, their attempt at damage control to re-capture a portion of the "plebian market" (you and me) was a matter of too little, too late. Again IMO, they needed something to compete with mid-range ships like the Freya, X-Cell Sport Trainer, big Sluggo, etc., for the guys who are ready to move up but don't want/cannot afford the top-line 60s. The Concept 60 SR and SR II do fit into this niche, with one glaring problem; The Empire priced it up there with high-end 60s. Again, who is going to pay almost 900 bucks for a plastic helicopter???

Ah, well. It is easy for us to sit back and be armchair administrators. I'm sure there is much more to this saga than we know. Personally, I hope the Caliber 30 does well. If it is as good as some are claiming, I might get one myself. Even it does, as one fellow put it, look "like a Raptor 30 with a bad overbite"...

Steve
05-31-2002 Over year old.
 
 
kyoshokamper
Senior Heliman
Location: HOUSTON, TX, U.S.A.

srt upgrades

I agree with most of that Steve1. Isn't that a shame. The magic of the entire concept series is the inverted engine and concentration of mechanics into a fist sized ball well above the engine and just below the mainshaft. This design gives them superior resistance to damages and turns the lower frames into collision bumpers. However the pricing of the standard SRII is a bit high as well as the SRII graphite. I really pissed off at Kyosho for disapointing me an obviously loyal customer this way. I shouldn't have to call frekin Japan to get a kit that was released in Nov 01!
06-01-2002 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Late release...

Well, there are several ways of looking at that.

There is much, much more involved in bringing a new product to market (especially one produced overseas) than meets the eye. Helicopters are particularly bothersome, because of the incredibly large number of what are usually called Stock Keeping Units. This is a number assigned to every little nut, screw, etc., that is packaged as a replacement part.

Ace TT got caught short this way, when they weren't prepared for the galvanic response to the Raptor. They hadn't laid in enough replacement parts, and consequently some key parts were in short supply for a while. There were lots of unhappy Raptor owners.

Perhaps The Empire is making sure they have enough parts on hand to support the kit before they begin selling them. Perhaps there has been a last-minute glitch in the packaging for the US market.

Or, (most likely), they have done the Standard New Product Deal; announce it and tentatively advertise it LONG before you have made any plans to bring it in. If the response is satisfactory, THEN we'll import it. Which, of course, takes time.

Who knows? At least they have decided to bring it in; which is more than can be said for a lot of neat JR heli stuff that Horizon refuses to import, and won't even special-order for you.

Besides, you didn't really want to be a beta-test mule anyway, did you???

Steve
06-01-2002 Over year old.
 
 
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Kyosho Caliber 30 & 60 - Concept - Nexus > Upgrades for Concept 30SR-T
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