500 trex 500 Apache project

[JEXFIRE]

Heres a quick video of a project i've fallen in and out of love with and has been sitting on my bench for awhile. Finally get some work done on it. Let me know what you all think

Trex 500 Apache mechanics - YouTube

 

[Tony]

You put tape on it? OMG are you kidding me!!!!!

hehe, had to do it.

Heli looks great bro! can't wait to see the first test flight. And I surely can't wait to see it in the air in that badass fuse!!! One thing I would add for a true to scale look is the 4 blade tail. But I'm sure that is already in your plans lol.

And thanks for the props. I do ramble on sometimes, but I try to stay on point. You should see the videos BEFORE I edit them lmao. I spend about 6 hours going "nope, that's not needed... Why did I just say that... Ugh, dead space..." hahahaha. Oh, and your Gov is on. Just in case you didn't know hehe.

 

[JEXFIRE]

A 4 blade tail would be awesome but I think I'll stick with the two blade for now. There's already quite a bit of cash tied up in this thing haha.
And now that you mention it, that governor light is on....should it be off? I've still gotta do the flight mode settings. This heli will never do 3D obviously but I do want it to be nice and stable and a breeze to fly. I've got my rudder gain at bout 35%-40% on my JR radio to start. And also I think I want bout 75% throttle in idle up 1 for cruising around on attack runs! We shall see. ..

 

[Tony]

The Gov really doesn't matter on an electric unless you get the brushless sensor. I would just run a slight V throttle curve to keep a steady head speed.

As for the 4 blade tail, you may find that you NEED it with that 4 blade head. Not only does it add a scale look to the bird, but it also give more authority to the tail. Because you are now spinning double the amount of blades, you have double the drag in the head thus double the torque required to keep the tail straight. Just keep it in the back of your mind. If you see that the tail is not wanting to hold that well, then it may be a worthy upgrade that is not just for looks. Can't wait for the test hover video!

 

[wolfman76]

Can't wait to see this bird finished also i wouldn't mind ferrying that same fuse but going blue thunder heli with it... Great job!!!

 

[Whirlybird]

Awesome! One of my favorite scale helicopters

Looking forward to more video!

 

[JEXFIRE]

Thanks all. We shall see Tony. Maybe i could try some 600 size tail blades? May look a little goofy but if it functions who cares. Wont get much done this weekend I think, the finance and I have last minute wedding things to do.

 

[danhampson]

the real apache has a cascade tail. ive made a test one out of 450 clone parts. in uploading a short video showing it i'll update when its uploaded.

 

[Slobberdog]

Dan that looked sweet,

 

[danhampson]

the only hard part is working out the length of the shaft that has to be fabricated, with a belt drive the pinion has to be removed from the original shaft and fixed to the new longer shaft but with a torque tube a small spacer/bush has to be made to hold the gears in place in the tail box.

 

[wolfman76]

That is cool dan

 

[JEXFIRE]

Pretty slick Dan! I've seen various rc Apaches with cascade tails on YouTube ....but no idea where they came from

 

[danhampson]

I'll see if I can dig it out and take some close up stills for you, you will get a better idea of how its done I made mine out of a spare hub, grips and a couple of links but the principle is the same.

 

[JEXFIRE]

ok i need some guidance. did some test spool ups this morning and the gyro tries to compensate and tip the heli over. ive started with Tony's recommended settings in the 5th video of the 3gx series. where do i need to go from here? have to wait for it to stop raining to get it in the air

 

[Tony]

I would go back into DIR mode and verify that your E-Rev and A-Rev are correcting in the correct direction. Sounds to me like one of them is backwards. Another thing to remember, the 3GX does not like it when you touch the cyclic before it lifts off the ground. But you must make sure the correction directions are correct. At all times when you are checking them, the swash should try to stay level. If it's tilting in the same direction as you are tilting the helicopter, then it needs to be reversed.

 

[JEXFIRE]

ok did all that and found AIL direction was backwards. i swore i set that right! oh well, didn't break anything. also upgraded to 4.0 and redid DIR and rudder settings just to be sure everything is as it should be. did a test spool in the garage to almost mid stick and let it sit for bout 15 secs and it did not seem to want to tip. now if it would just stop frickin raining........
oh and when you're ready to disconnect you're heli from the computer whats you're process? i unplug the batt then unplug the usb. is this correct?

 

[Tony]

You always want to close out the software on the computer first, then unplug the wire from teh gyro. I have left mine on (the heli) and never ahd any adverse effects from it. But, if you unplug or shut down the heli before closing out the software, you should get a warning to close out the software on your computer. 4.0 may be different though.

Glad you were able to save it with that being reversed. I couldn't save mine when the elevator was reversed. Hope the next flight goes smoothly. And if you are tired of the rain, send it on over here to Oklahoma lol. We need it.

 

[JEXFIRE]

can get it off the ground now but the tail is wagging all over the place! belt is tight, gain is at 40%. may need bigger or more tail blades

 

[Tony]

Lower your tail gain down about 5% at a time until it stops wagging. My gain on my 450 is all the way down to about 32

 

[JEXFIRE]

we have flight! i was lowering the gain in the wrong channel....like a dummy....because i wasnt paying attention haha. but i've got my flight mode settings to where i can fly it around. going to take it to the park tomorrow where theres more room and hopfully i can get some video if theres someone else there. got my collective dampning at 70%, cyclic at 50%. flip rate and travel limit are all about 50%. i will do more adjusting from here. with four main blades this thing does climb! but the gyro holds it almost rock solid at 38%.
one thing i don't like is if i flick the rudder stick right it will rotate and SNAP back to where it was originally instead of staying put. but if i do it oh so slowly it stays where i pointed it. like i said, hopefully its not raining in the morning and i can find a camera man to hold my phone for me to get some video. one step closer!