todays crash

[moyesboy]

A horrible gusty wind, up to 35mph, enough to rock the car.
But crash nothing to do with that. The wind was actually quite fun.
On the Raptors third (larger .60 size) tank, half way round the (new to me today) slow pyro circle it got a bit far away, and it was a bit late and darkish and i lost it - 3 near recoveries, oh, er..,hum, and it slammed in on its side.

Tail boom
Vertical fin
Servo frame in bits
Main frame in loads of bits
Shattered main gear - one way and tail drive OK
Dent in the hatori 555 and stripped thread,
cosmetic crack in the crank case where one muffler bolt goes.
elevator seesaw,
one undercarriage leg,
Main, feathering spindle,
flybar,
one oval link,
several servo arms (but servos check out OK),
1 pair radix 600,
one cracked not useable TT ultralight paddle (suprised at that).
Crack in 560 case (but it works),

I reckon I'll send the gyro back for a service and new case as CSM charges are usually pretty reasonable.

Total spare cost (as I have various bits leftfrom the last crash over 6 months ago) is 120+ but more than half of that is the radix blades. not as bad as I feared.

questions:
Are the paddles matched pairs? ie throw the single one (if so I'll get a different colour).
Is there a carbon 3D vertical fin available seperate somewhere that is a bit longer than the std TT one? (for more tail blade clearance on the ground, and cut away for 3D)
For now I think I'll make one out of an old carbon trex main blade.

[raptorheli2]

sorry to hear about your mishap....one thing to note. if your in this scenario again hit thro hold and take your punishment if you can't fight it at a decent height i think is best way to end if you must crash.

paddles you will be ok changing just one but you buy a pair of paddles so keep the spare one thats left as a spare and use the new ones.

try quick uk for the fin or perhaps a different make of heli?

cheers

[Ade_Law]

agreed, if its going in the then your better to get on the hold before it actually hits

less energy in the model and no more going into it either.

Ade

[moyesboy]

This was one of those
"I know I'm going to save it, oh er, now I've got it, oh err..."
I was so sure of saving it...but actually I didn't.
It stopped instantly anyhow - no ground run - t'hold as soon as impact - there is no instant stop on the DX7.

So after two crashes I will have spent about the same as a new raptor with inferior gear on it.
I'm still happy really!

[Steve]

A very experienced heli flier at our club gave his TRex 600N (the belt drive version) its maiden flight today. First flight did all the usual trimming and tail push-rod adjusting. Second flight, the gyro mounting pad split through its centre leaving the gyro completely loose and only held in place by the wires!

He managed to keep it flat and level and got it down on the strip with no damage, despite the tail wagging all over the place with very little directional control.

The pilot is an experienced flier and he fancied trying something different for a change with the gyro for this heli, so he got the JR770 one that is equivalent to the GY401.

The gyro is brand new, so as a word of warning, I'd say that the mounting pads are a load of poop!

Good save though for the heli.

[SlamDunK]

This was one of those
"I know I'm going to save it, oh er, now I've got it, oh err..."
I was so sure of saving it...but actually I didn't.
It stopped instantly anyhow - no ground run - t'hold as soon as impact - there is no instant stop on the DX7.

So after two crashes I will have spent about the same as a new raptor with inferior gear on it.
I'm still happy really!

Video on helifreak.
http://video.helifreak.com/?subpath=...7cutswitch.wmv

Duncan.

[colin n]

Vertical fin

remenber its only a piece of sheet carbon, u don't have to get a raptor one. i used a 60 size xcell one on mine which gave me plenty of clearence with 95mm blades on the back. u may have to drill a 3mm hole but its no hardship.

other than that the Carbon extreme vertical fins are available separate are about 20mm longer and u can get the from skyline.

[3dx]

Glad I'am not alone Moyesboy,my 600E went in almost the same as your's yesterday afternoon- 3rd flight and on the ball thinks, lets try some tumbling loops, all goes well until the model passes overhead, instant confusion and last I saw,it was inverted I guess at a distance of about 100ft and maybe 20ft in the air, could'nt upright it so hit hold and watched it go in

Funny,but the damage was quite light:
main boom
blades( cheap ripmax glass ones!)
main shaft
feathering spindle
and 2 servo control arms( I guess the plastic does'nt like the cold)
main gear wheel

Seeing as I had most of the spares from my last crash purchase( why don't other makers follow Align's practise?) this crash was well cheep
On a serious note though,this crash did raise a few questions: is there any other way of making the heli more visable? my problem being I think my eyesight is not what it used to be( wearing varifocals at the moment) ,the other option being to wear specially selected glasses for distance when flying helicopters, of course it could also be that flying in winter with low clouds and generally dull weather does'nt help!!

[moyesboy]

The vid was good.
Once I'd logged in logged out cleared cookies, logged in and hit thel ink rather than pasting it.
sometimes helifreak doesn't work how you expect. the search doesn't sem to work at all.

[HuskyD]

Unlucky mate, but lucky the damage wasn't massive.
I had a close one with the TRex450 the other week. Exact same conditions, very poor light and it was too far away really to see well. I was flying inverted and about to do an inverted loop, I changed my mind at the last moment and got a bit heavy on the sticks, then next thing I know is I'm fighting to keep it in the air and to see it. I resigned myself to it going in so hit throttle hold and calmed down enough to try and get it upright for the crash. Split second later it's exactly where I want it to be, upright and I knocked it back out of throttle hold about 5ft off the ground. Saved! I couldn't believe my luck and didn't push it anymore so landed and packed up for the evening. Too close a call, I wonder if I'll learn my lesson from it though.

[J3DI]

Hey, same here. Knight 3D went in after my thumbs got mixed up doing piro funnels. Managed a few then 3rd flight completely cocked it up, heli went in sideways but hit hold before impact. Damage:
Blades, flybar, mainshaft (banana), 1 set 8301 servo gears, undercarriage, double link and a couple dinks on my nice glass 3D canopy. Can't wait to get back in the air and have another go!