Scale OH-6A "Cayuse" (450 size)

[danhampson]

Ive been to my LHS today to pick up some things for my new project that has been in the pipeline for the last few months (reading scale forums and researching the OH-6A)



for the build so far i have a Trex 450 pro v2 and all the parts to repair the airframe.
The gearing on the pro is going to be changed for trex 450 se gears so that the head speed can be reduced to around the 2200 mark
a 4 blade head and temp blades (ive got another head on the way in black instead of grey that includes scale blades)
heliartist MD500D fuse
nav lights
m134 mini gun
and alot of bits and bats for the mods on the fuse.

So far i have had a play around with the tail mechanics so that the tail blades are on the correct side for an OH-6 (opposite to the trex standard tail) and so far it seems to work well but test flights will tell.

I will be updating this thread as the build progresses


The look im aiming for is this


this particular helicopter lives not too far from me (about a 50 min drive) and is the only working one in Europe.
Here is a link to there website if anyone is interested in the restoration process or just wants to have a look at some more images.

 

[Slobberdog]

What did you have to do to the tail mechanics Dan,

 

[danhampson]

ive had to cut another slot in the boom at the front and flip it, pin the boom, change the side of the ball on the servo arm and reroute the tail push rod (keepin it all smooth was the hardest part) it was pretty easy really i had some direction off my friend madphil (he's big into scale, 450's ec135, huey, 500 md500 TOW, a Vario 800 gasser in a huey body and some micros he has put in small plastic airfix type kits)

 

[Lee]

Very nice. Look forward to the build. Its one of my favourite helis.

 

[danhampson]

cheers Lee, Im hoping to have the mechanics done and a coat of primer on the fuse this weekend the the fun can start, ive got quite a long list of mods that have to be done to the fuse to change it for a 500D to 500C

 

[danhampson]

i got a bit of wrenching in last night

ive got to do the 3gx setup and am waiting of the 11t pinion to arrive and then the mechanics are ready for test flight #1

dry fitted the skids to see how much they have to be shortened

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Very nice Dan

 

[danhampson]

cheers graham the skids have got to be lowered to make the body sit like this


then i can start to build the risers for the mechanics to screw the the fuse.

 

[danhampson]

started to get the fuse ready for rubbing down, the top of the dog house is a bit rough so in going to give it a skim with some filler to neaten it up a bit.

 

[danhampson]

making really good progress today,


getting the primer on opens a whole world of other jobs to do. so i think im going to start with raising the bottom of the rear windows
Just thought that i would weight the fuse i should have done it before i masked it up. It weights in at 333g/11.5oz.

 

[danhampson]

The start of an OH-6A

 

[cml001]

This is gonna kill... Keep post'n bruh!

 

[danhampson]

This is gonna kill... Keep post'n bruh!

thanks. ive been planning this for quite a while, i think thats why im getting so much done and i used to work in aircraft body shop helps.
I wasnt happy with the state of the masking on the windscreen after i had handled it so ive removed it.
also made a start at filling the voids in the windows.
calling it a day now guys its getting late here

.

 

[philmill]

Looks good Dan , Keep the pictures coming .

 

[danhampson]

got a bit more done this morning quick rub down 800 grit wet & dry, remasked windows, and check over the window filling. window filling has worked well i use some 300gsm card and made a backer that glues to the inside of the fuse and then an insert that goes from the bottom of the original window to the bottom of the new window, i painted all the card with some 15min epoxy and left to dry,




just remembered i had not posted what i think is the best purchase for this project i just hope its not too small.

 

[cml001]

Im curious about the mechanics... Exactly how did u the the tail blades on the right side and how do they work?

 

[danhampson]

To turn the tail i removed the boom from the frame leaving the tail box on and cut another slot in it approx the size of the original
and replaced. After that I drilled a small hole in the boom block and screwed a self tapping screw to hold the boom in place. Once this was done I swapped the side that the rudder servo ball was on and rerouted the pushrod to give smooth movement.

 

[cml001]

So what direction do the blades now spin... From the left side view of the heli?

 

[danhampson]

The tail blades spin counter clockwise and the mainblades normal direction. I would like to have the mains going counter clockwise, but I can only get scale blades for clockwise rotation due to them being semi symmetrical. There are some compromises that have to be made on a model this size if it were a 600/700/800 then spin make some semi symmetrical blades that run counter clockwise

 

[danhampson]

Double post