RunRyder - What usually breaks in a major/minor Hornet crash?

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e-MS Composit Hornet > What usually breaks in a major/minor Hornet crash?

johnny b
Senior Heliman
Location: Central Coast, CA

Just wondering, as a noob.

In a minor mishap, what do you usually have to replace?

And in a major plow-fest, what's the damage like?

11-01-2005 Over year old.

Gary Jenkins
Elite Veteran
Location: Wilmington, DE

motor pinion and main shaft, blades & gear.

11-01-2005 Over year old.

e_razote
Heliman
Location: Chicago, Illinois - USA

So far, I've broken a skid, landing gear leg, tail boom, rotor blades, boom supports, tail fin, tail push rod, tail boom, and canopy. Of those, the most likely to break are anything related to the tail assembly (minus the actual transmission box - though I've seen tail gears strip), skids, canopy, and rotor blades (of course, unless you're unsually lucky - went for a year without replacing them once!)

Parts to watch are:

- Any pins that hold the links together or hold the head and mainshaft in place
- The main head and tail rotor shaft (they can bend out of shape)
- Pinions and gears for signs of wear and tear or stripping
- Bearings on the most stressful parts of the helicopter (i.e. shaft, tail rotor... etc)

These parts shouldn't fail for most of the life of your heli. After a crash (any) you should double inspect these parts before taking to the air again. However, if you've seen Eric Larson's "Pool Video", you'll see that Hornets in general are pretty tough (and he flies his pretty much stock)

If you're vigilant, you should be able to spot more than 75% of problems BEFORE you take off by doing a quick preflight inspection of all moving parts and control surfaces.

11-01-2005 Over year old.

Fit
Senior Heliman
Location: Temasek

I crash frequently over the past 20 months that I have had the hornet.
For the most part I fly on grass and am quick on throttle hold if I know I am in trouble. I won't try to save it instead i just hit hold and bring it down.

For minor crashes usually I can fly it again with no damages.

For major crashes:

- main shaft
(MS ones are like butter, just use a flat surface and a mallet to knock it back straight. Now I use walkera main shafts exclusively. They are much much stronger than any other main shafts that I have tried such as MS hardened shafts andTitanium main shafts)

- bent brass inserts

- boom
(CF shatters, I use K&S aluminum tubing which is soft. provided the crash does not kink it I can bend it back to shape on the spot and fly again)

- blades
(CA the CF blades back if its a clean break)

- broke off the plastic balls on the swash or bell hiller
(replaced with brass screw on balls from Tamiya)

- pivot pins on the bell hiller mixer
(2mm screws act as replacement pivots)

- bent flybar
(rebent it if its not too bad)

If I am late with hitting hold additional parts would be involved mainly the drive train:
- main gear
- front conical gear

Throughout the whole lifetime of my hornet, I have yet to replace any of the head parts. This is probably because my links are free and can pop off easily in a crash. Also I ditched the plastic servo tray and used 3mm balsa which breaks away in a crash saving the servos and head parts from breakage.

Another thing to note in all crashes the tail end is untouched. Never needed to replace the bevels after a crash. In fact I have never boken any parts on the tail through out its lifetime as well

Hornet X3D : GY401, 9CHP, AXI, MS116+____Evo 50, 50SXH

11-01-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

mattijs
Senior Heliman
Location: Keerbergen Belgium

The stock carbon blades break very easily but my kok composite blades have survuved numerous crashes and even a boomstike!!!

Every crash, even a minor one will bend the mainshaft. You can just hammer it straight, rolling it on a preferably glass surface and hammering the high parts (don't hammer on the glass though)

Mostof the time the pinions go, if you have a metal pinion on the motor the main gear will go so having a plastic one can save you some grief.

Rarely ever does the tail get damaged.

Also, strangely , my canopy has survived alot of crashes. It does break slightly but i always glue a small piece of lexan or plastic to reinforce the fracture...you hardly see it anymore afterwards.

I have never ever broken a servo or it's gears in maybe 20 crashes so i might be lucky as every body is complaining about that.

In general i'd say that eventhough people complain about the hornet spare parts cost, most crashes are fairly cheap, some cost nothing if you straighten the main shaft that is.

Remember that the mainshaft will be bend no matter what, i have been lazy about it and just flown it but there always is an increase of vibration.

11-02-2005 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

johnny b
Senior Heliman
Location: Central Coast, CA

Good to know. One of the things in these threads is there was a lot of griping about spare parts cost. Then I saw BladeX's thread on "Poor Man's Hornet" and started thinking there are ways to fly these little micros without going broke.

FWIW, my little FP Esky is almost indestructible, now that I have the basics down pretty well. Minor crashed don't faze it, and even if I plow it in, I'm fast enough to cut power, and I haven't broken anything in 70+ flights (and lots of crashes).

11-03-2005 Over year old.

Nick T
Senior Heliman
Location: West Sussex, UK

All sounds good, but I would advise that you dont ca broken (even cleanly broken ) blades as if they come off/shatter at 2300rpm+ at eye height you, or another unfortunate, may never fly anything again.

Nick

11-04-2005 Over year old.

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e-MS Composit Hornet > What usually breaks in a major/minor Hornet crash?

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