What second hand T REX?

[lbl25a]

Tempted to spend some Birthday money on a T REX as everybody raves about them, mainly out of curiousity to see how it compares with my SJM 400. There seem to be a few new and almost new going very reasonably on ebay at the moment and it seems that I might get one fully equipped for about £150-250. But which one to opt for?. 450 SE V2 is top of the range but is there really a big difference between that and the 450 SE V1 or the 450 S?

[Sesame]

YES. I bought a secondhand V1. flys ok, but not great, stuck a V2 head on it completely different heli, very smooth and stable. well worth the cost of the upgrade.

Just so you know you can get a V2 head between £90-£120 depending where you buy.

[Tim Procter]

Must agree with Tony's comments above, The SE v2 is a much better heli to fly and well worth the little extra you pay for it.

Don't forget you get the new improved 430XL motor which is bigger than the V1 motor along with the improved head and the beautiful sleek looks it has.

[andylinney]

get the V2, tis lovely

I plugged mine into the floor at the weekend and got away with just a main gear, blades, flybar and main shaft - she's a little toughy...

[Sesame]

They sure are I think the most expensive smash ive had was £50 and that was a weally hard one. super little helis, and as my thread of a couple of weeks ago can vouch the 500 is just as tough.

[Pipistrelli]

I fly and have setup several TRex's for others and they all fly very well and most importantly, they are cheap and easy to fix if crashed. Most hobby shops carry Align spares.

Currently I have a 450x (the original Rex). That I use as a hack, cost me £100 and is worth everypenny. This airframe is so reliable. I have had a few crashes and not counting blades, each repair must have cost under a tenner (I class blades as consumable items anyway). It tends to be booms, landing gear and the odd link or lever in the head.

My latest aquisition is a 450SE V2 with all the better electronics. This is an absolute dream to fly, very smooth, stable and controllable, so you do get what you pay for.

My advice is, if you can afford the SE then go for it, if not go for a 450S and when you break any plastic bits (because you will!) upgrade them to ally. The more alloy and carbon bits you have the stronger the airframe is, so you will do less damage in future 'incidents'.

Everyone usually wants the best bling there is, but if you can't afford it then you can do this hobby justice with the value-for-money option.

Hope this helps?

[David Drew]

Pip,

That sounds like superb advice.

I have an XL with a mixture of ali & plastic bits to the head & control gear.

I notice that if I grab a paddle and waggle it (rotating it along the axis of the flybar) I get a lot of slop.

It seems to come from the std (plastic) swash & the two mixer arms on the slider. These are metal parts. The main shaft is new.
Q1 Which swash do you use for minimum play / max wear?
Q2 Do you use any special bearings or bolts in the mixer arms?

Appreciate any help

Cheers

David

[robgt]

The metal washout base (slider) helps to lose some slop in the head - the metal swashplate helps some more.

Cheers,
Rob

[Pipistrelli]

David,

My hack is the 450X and has a mixture of alloy and plastic parts, I never had any problems with the plastic tail gearbox, but I got an ally one for £12 from ebay. I also broke several bits of the standard head, so I invested in a microheli one with thrust bearings, all other running gear is standard align, even the standard plastic swash plate!

When I assemble the head (either metal (with loctite) or plastic) I always tighten up the screws to remove as much slop as possible, but not that it restricts movement, all linkages need to be as loose as possible without any excess play, its surprising how this will tune-up the head!

However, I did end up with so much wear on one of the head ball links that it would pop off during flight, the heli was still very controllable, just felt a little more vague. Since this happened I replaced all the plastic ball link ends with the black plastic XL type, these seem to be much more positive & hardwearing than the Grey 450X ones!