450 Agusta A109 build

[Andy Mc]

Thanks Dave - appreciated, at least i have a few things to consider before/whilst doing my setup, i also have retracts and lighting to install, never done either before so looking forward to it, i was thinking of maybe leaving a short usb lead plugged into the v-bar so that i can access it later instead of removing the entire heli, not sure if that will work though.

Was it difficult to get the lighting in? as i have 5 led lighting system, one needs to go in the tail section, and i was just looking at it thinking how the hell?? lol anyway should be fun doing it all.

[dillwhacker]

one needs to go in the tail section, and i was just looking at it thinking how the hell??

I did an LED in the tip of the tail of my 109 and it was a bit of a mare TBH.
I drilled down through from the outside 5mm for the LED, but there was a re-inforcing rib half way down.... so I had to get an extra long 5mm drill to get through that.
It's almost impossible (to me) to poke the LED up from behind, so I soldered wires to mine, glued it up a bit with hot glue, then poked the wires down from above till I could grab them in the boom, then carefully pulled till the LED was positioned and secured it with CA.
I'm sure there's a better way, but I couldn't think of one!
Good luck!
T

[Andy Mc]

I did an LED in the tip of the tail of my 109 and it was a bit of a mare TBH.
I drilled down through from the outside 5mm for the LED, but there was a re-inforcing rib half way down.... so I had to get an extra long 5mm drill to get through that.
It's almost impossible (to me) to poke the LED up from behind, so I soldered wires to mine, glued it up a bit with hot glue, then poked the wires down from above till I could grab them in the boom, then carefully pulled till the LED was positioned and secured it with CA.
I'm sure there's a better way, but I couldn't think of one!
Good luck!
T

Awesome, thanks Trev, i was along the same lines as you, that's great advice, i was basically going to cut the cable near the jr connector, pull the cables through the 5mm hole (somehow ) and then resolder on the other end (where all the electronics are), then realised i still need to get the led to clip into its bracket thingy.. mmmm, think ill try your method, either way it sounds like a mission... but the rewards will be good..lol

[dillwhacker]

Yep, it's a PITA.
I would forget the black plastic LED clip - just get it in position, then secure with CA and smooth it off with hot glue if needed.
If the LED ever needs replacement....you will need divine intervention dude...
Good luck !
PS watch the tail on these scale thingys - it's usually weak as fook or worse - don't try piroflips low
T

[Andy Mc]

PS watch the tail on these scale thingys - it's usually weak as fook or worse - don't try piroflips low
T[/QUOTE]

lol yea, well i just fitted a 3 blade rotor head on the donor, and spooled her up earlier, was hovering ok, but very very twitchy, with a bit more throttle she started to wag somewhat, so yea i'm not even in the fues yet an already got tail issues bleh!

[Cobradave]

I decided not to put one in the tail for now for the reasons discussed, may come back and do that later. On the align kit I had to put the two side lights on the end but at the back of the retract pod as otherwise they would not have gone in because of the retracts. Again I had to drill through from the outside and then on through the balsa wood to get access to the inside of the fuse. Feeding the wires through and then hot glueing was a Bit tricky as well.

[Andy Mc]

I decided not to put one in the tail for now for the reasons discussed, may come back and do that later. On the align kit I had to put the two side lights on the end but at the back of the retract pod as otherwise they would not have gone in because of the retracts. Again I had to drill through from the outside and then on through the balsa wood to get access to the inside of the fuse. Feeding the wires through and then hot glueing was a Bit tricky as well.

Yea had the same issues on mine, as the main landing lights (forward facing) were mounted in the front of the pods, creating zero space for the anti collision lights, so i also mounted them back a bit, but closer to the horizontal stabalizers..looks ok

[Andy Mc]

Ok, i've built the fues etc.. heli inside, broken landing gears just from weight of heli (cheap crap), repaired them, struggled some more, dremmeled here there everywhere,tore hair out list goes on, she's had a hover test flight this evening, and am happy atm, final thing to do, something really simple, the horizontal stabalizer fins, do they vibrate quite alot from the fues? not too sure what to attach with, i have 5min epoxy, 30min epoxy and araldite? wha'ts better to ensure they stay put.. or anything else you can recommend?

tks

[dillwhacker]

I just used 5 min Devcon epoxy - no stress on them and no vibes that I'm aware of if setup is good.
Wet n Dry to remove the gloss / gel coat obviously.

[Andy Mc]

Wet n Dry to remove the gloss / gel coat obviously.[/QUOTE]

ahhh, yea didn't even think of that! cheers for the tip.. i'll do the gel coat rub down and epoxy.. i have some filler for any gaps and when i have some time try touch it up with some paint.