Flasher 450 Pro Build

[Gixxer]

After building the Flasher 700n, I decided it needed a little brother, so I bought a 450 Pro kit and it arrived a couple of days ago.





The kit was supplied with the Phoenixtech 45A ESC and a tail servo.

The head came already assembled (apart from the flybar), but I stripped and rebuilt it anyway.

Here's the finished head.






The frame came assembled too, but I removed, loctited and reinstalled each screw... just in case, and fitted the skids.






Attaching the cyclic servos to the bearing carriers was a bit of a PITA. I had to reposition the servos twice to get the assembled unit to fit correctly in the airframe.





Finally got it to fit right with the main shaft sliding in and out freely.





The boom was fitted and the tail rotor assembly rebuilt, but unfortunately, the torque tube was bent, so rather than try to straighten it, I ordered a new Align one and put the tail rotor assembly in place temporarily until it arrives.





The head and main gears fitted, along with the tail servo (excuse the mess)





I know I shouldn't, but I'm using Deans connectors on it, because it means I can use the batteries I have for the Align starter.

Deans connector soldered to the ESC







... and soldered the plugs to the motor wires.





... fitted the motor




... and fitted the receiver and gyro, and wired it all up (temporarily)





... levelled the swash plate and fitted the blades





... and that was it... Job Done.





There's still a few minutes work to do on it tomorrow, but I'm going to call it finished for now.

[Chris Boughton]

Nice build thread. You could have bought my almost brand new trex 450pro bnf for £250!!!!

[rossb863]

nice one

[PeteStewardson]

Nice build thread. You could have bought my almost brand new trex 450pro bnf for £250!!!!

He could, but I'm going to take a guess this has cost about half that

[Gixxer]

Nice build thread. You could have bought my almost brand new trex 450pro bnf for £250!!!!

He could, but I'm going to take a guess this has cost about half that

Give or take a fiver, it did cost about half that

I only bought it because I had a spare 6 channel RX and wanted to use the LiPos for something other than powering the Align starter... and it looks kinda cute next to its big brother

[rossb863]

i defo need to get one of theese lyk

[scallybert]

[...]
Attaching the cyclic servos to the bearing carriers was a bit of a PITA. I had to reposition the servos twice to get the assembled unit to fit correctly in the airframe.

[...]

Finally got it to fit right with the main shaft sliding in and out freely.

It should be possible to: attach the servos loosely; position the bearing carriers correctly in the frames; tighten up the servos.

I'm pretty sure this is what I did on the Align 450 Pro. Possibly helped by having hex heads and using a ball driver on the elevator servo.

[Gixxer]

It should be possible to: attach the servos loosely; position the bearing carriers correctly in the frames; tighten up the servos.

I'm pretty sure this is what I did on the Align 450 Pro. Possibly helped by having hex heads and using a ball driver on the elevator servo.

It would have been possible (and easier) if I hadn't already rebuilt the airframe and installed the battery tray. Once that's done, there's no way in to tighten the bottom screws on the servos, so rather than take it apart again, I decided to struggle for 20 mins, but I'll know for next time.

I applied the finishing touches today and took it out for a test flight... and I can see why people use electric... the power is unreal!

I'm actually thinking of buying another one of them. It's an amazing little thing!

[PeteStewardson]

I always remove the battery tray, only takes a minute or so and then you don't have to take everything out to swap servos

I'm enjoying flying mine now, really helped me sort out my circuits.

[Gixxer]

I always remove the battery tray, only takes a minute or so and then you don't have to take everything out to swap servos

I'm enjoying flying mine now, really helped me sort out my circuits.

After removing the servos and bearing carriers the second time, I had a facepalm moment, but I'll be doing just that next time.

I'm hooked on this little thing... I've just set up a pair of floodlights at the front of the house and done another 2 packs... it's a really addictive little heli. It's not as stable as the 700, but the grin factor is something else... I have a smile on my face instead of look of immense concentration. I'm much less worried about crashing it, so it's easier to concentrate on having fun with it rather than concentrating on trying not to crash it.

I'm definitely going to buy another one of them... they're the price of a night out on the beer, and much more fun.

[paulsouthport]

Looks like a good kit.
Even the manual is a clone!

[CW.]

Even the manual is a clone!

I wonder how long it took them to remove the "ALIGN" logo from accross every page?

[PeteStewardson]

I wonder how long it took them to remove the "ALIGN" logo from accross every page?

It takes a while to cut out the bit of paper with flasher on it and glue it down before doing the photocopy

[Gixxer]

Looks like a good kit.
Even the manual is a clone!

I wonder how long it took them to remove the "ALIGN" logo from accross every page?

I have a theory on this, and I doubt it was Phoenixtech who removed the Align name... but I'll say no more.

[scallybert]

I always remove the battery tray, only takes a minute or so and then you don't have to take everything out to swap servos

And you can get the motor out that way - leaving it on the mounting, so no need to reset the gear mesh.

And the battery tray is cheap, if you strip a thread..