700 Xlpower 'specter' 700

[Smoggie]

The Loctite is hardly dry on my Goblin Black thunder and what do you know, the Fedex man just dropped this off:






I've not decided on the full build spec yet. The motor will be the Specter 4525 which is specially designed for this heli, ESC will be a Hobbywing Platinum V4 130A HV (because I have one spare).. after that I'm not sure.

 

[Admiral]

Looks great, I had never heard of XLPower until a week or so ago, obviously you had. I'll be watching the build with interset.

 

[Smoggie]

XLPower are a pretty new company, they have been making helis for less than two years and the 700 is brand new, only been available for a few weeks. I did a build review of their original '520' heli and liked it so much I had to give the 700 a try.

I've got the airframe built up now. I'll have to pause now because I dont have any servos or FBL for it unless i canobalose another heli. The build was pretty easy. There are quite a few carbon frame parts which fit together in a quite intricate way but it ends up in a very light and rigid airframe. the manual is quite basic, just line drowing pictures but the experienced builder should have no real problems. The main parts come dry assembled similar to how Align does it, and many parts come with screws loosly fitted to the appropriate holes, this helps a lot.

The only tiny niggle i had was that the tail blade bolts were slightly short so they wouldn't reach the nylon part of the Nyloc nuts. This could be dangerous for anyone who didn't notice the problem. I could have just used Loctite but I had some longer grip bolts in my spare screws tin, so I used those. I'll feed this back to XLPower, they are very responsive so i'm sure they will sort it out on future kits.

Sime pics:

 

[ssschmidt4]

That is a sharp looking helicopter!

 

[D.O.G.]

Another sweet bird to your collection Smoggie. I'm jealous but good luck on your maiden. Video please . I enjoy them!

 

[Smoggie]

I'll take a video for sure.

I've decided on servos. I didnt want to spend too much because my heli budget for the year is well and truly blown already. I was going to go for my trusty fall back option of KST DS815/805X (which are great servos).. but somone put me onto JX brand servos. These have a fantastic spec and are very well priced. What probably swung it though was the CNC alloy case


So the spec is pretty much fixed:

• Airframe: XLPower Specter 700
• Motor: XLPower 4525 500Kv
• ESC: Hobbywing Platinum Pro V4 130A HV
• Servos: JX BLS-HV7132MG on cyclic and BLS-HV7106MG on tail
• FBL: Spirit Pro
• Receiver: Spektrum SPM4649T + satellite
• Blades Funkey RotorTech 690 main and 105 tail

 

[Admiral]

Those servos look good value for the price, have you got all the components yet or are they still in transit?

 

[Geena]

You won`t be disappointed with the XL Power. Ra did a fantastic job in designing them, and they are very solid machines. I saw the prototypes at IRCHA 2017, and got to watch Ra beat the 700 like a rented mule.

 

[Smoggie]

I've now got all components except the servo which are in the UK and should arrive tomorrow at the latest. I was planning on a lightweight setup using 4500mAh batteries but I think it will be tail heavy with those batteries, so I might be forced to use my big old Turnigies at ballast. I've learned that for lightweight setups there is a carbon boom available that fixes the CG but ordering that on it's own from China is not economic on postage, it would cost $50 post for a $15 item

 

[Smoggie]

The servos arrived so i put in a late shift yesterday to get it ready for flight. Maiden today hopefully:

 

[Admiral]

Great build, love the attention to detail with the leads.

 

[Smoggie]

Thanks Keith, I am quite pleased with the way it turned out as I thought the wiring might be difficult but it turned out to be no problem.

Maiden flight went without issue. I need to do some tweaking of the Spirit to increase agility as the flip and roll rates are a bit slow right now but otherwise she flies really well. She looks good in the air, the canopy really stands out.

 

[Smoggie]

I put a battery through the Specter calibrating the ESC then a bit of gentle hovering etc.. so this is the first flight proper:

 

[Admiral]

Looks like it meets the brief, it's a keeper.

 

[D.O.G.]

Looks smooth and sound sweet flying Smoggie. You can see that bright orange color very well . Nice one!

 

[David H]

nice

 

[Smoggie]

Thanks guys. I got 4 more flights today and got the FBL dialed in much better. The stock settings have gains and rotation rates all set quite low. This is sensible because it makes for a safe maiden, but for optimum performance they can usually be cranked up a bit. Head gain went from 55 to 70, tail gain multiplier from 1.2 to 1.3 (will try 1.4 next) and rotation rates on cyclic and rudder from 8 to 10.

I also tried changing 'flight style'. Lower is more direct and 'robotic', higher is more flybar like. It defaults at 4, I tried 6 but didn't like it so much so put it back to 4.

Adjustment in the field is a breeze because the Spirit has transmitter integration so i can make any adjustment right on the screen of the Tx.

I also increase the throttle % slightly to give a little higher headspeed. For me she's just about perfect now, It's a great heli. Highly recommended!

 

[Smoggie]

I'm really liking the Specter 700. Europe now has a fully stocked dealer, Acrowood in Germany. Still no UK dealer unfortunately but you can have stuff in 3 days from Germany and post isn't too bad.

I took the opportunity to get myself the upgrade carbon tail boom. It's 45g lighter than the metal one which probably doesnt sound like much but the big advantage is that it allows use of lighter batteries and electronics while still having a good CG. I have some 4500mAh packs that were too light using the standard boom but will work fine in the Specter now.

 

[Smoggie]

I'm really enjoying the Specter, I can’t recommend it highly enough for anyone in the market for a 700. Here it is with my other current favourite this last weekend: