Bender
Heliman
Location: Timmins, Ontario,CANADA
| I'm just in the process of building mine. That tail group had me wondering and I'm glad I checked with you guys.
My first concern was that the tail blades don't track when you spin the assembly using the belt as a sort of zip cord. Also, lots of vibration. Aren't you supposed to balance the tail?
The other thing. Those plastic blades are heavy. So, I assume they do this as that would make them indestructible,, no? No, it appears that they self destruct.
So, what about carving new blades from hardwood? Something I can and have done with the old Competitor. This would make the blades lighter and that would present far less centrifugal force on the holders.
My other concern with the tail is the small travel allowed by the tail rotor bellcrank. I can only get a smooth 3/16" before it binds. Is this all that's needed?
But YES, that plastic center hub looks like a disaster just asking for it. One look and I ordered the metal hub. In my opinion, the metal hub should be stock.
The other concern with the head is the method of retaining the flybar paddles. My old competitor had you screw them on and set screws were only used to set the angle relative to the shaft. Those paddles too are heavy and I can only imagine the forces applied to that little set screw at full rpm.
Finally, I went and got a new set of small allen keys/wrenches and found that when trying to really tighten a setscrew up, the wrench would slip. That was 1.5 mm. No, I don't think I;m using the wrong wrench as 2 mm is way too big. So, I took a 1/16" wrench and it too wouldn't fit but the chart says it's real close to 1.5 mm so i just dressed each flat lightly with a small file and now, with a little wiggle, it goes in. And HOLDS when I tighten the screw. No more little snap, snap when it slips. Anybody else have this problem? The wrenches/keys I bough were made by Grey Tools so they should have been right and good quality.
BTW, I chose the MX for the metal frames because I intend on installing a Norvel .06. Already got the LiteMachines clutch adapted to take the correct pinion. The rest looks easily doable,,, at least on paper. 
All this aside, and my LM of five years ago was my last heli, I was very much impressed with the quality and fit of MOST of the parts. I'm no dummy, (I hope) and I'm managing, but NO instructions. A far, far cry from the absolutely flawless instructions for the LM heli. But the MX exploded drawings are excellent and go a long way to getting the machine built.
Sorry guys, but no smoke, noise and fury takes the fun out of it for me. Not to mention I'm too cheap to get into all that electric gizmo stuff,,, yet.  |
