700LE "must dos" during build?

[J-S-Q]

I found that the tail blade mounting bolts were too short on mine -they didn't quite make it all the way through the lock nuts so I replaced them with longer bolts. I've heard of one or two others having the same experience so perhaps some kits had the wrong bolts in them?

Another very minor mod I did was to use a longer bolt for mounting the tail 'control lever' on the tail case and add a lock nut to the end of it. I've read about someone having this bolt come loose in flight causing a crash so I thought it was worth doing this considering it costs about fifty pence!

[trillian]

LOL let's start a new thread: How to bling a 700 to death / raise the amount of money in the air to the price of a Vibe SG

Most people probably choose the 700 because it's cheap. That you can improve it by spending ridiculous amounts of money is obvious. But the original question is more interesting: What is "essential".

In my opinion, a header tank is "essential", because the stock clunk picks up too much air when the tank gets empty.

I was just about to comment that I thought the LE kit was supposed to already have all the upgrades. I am tempted to make a list from this thread and add up the costs but I'm too lazy and it's not really relevant to me anyway....so I should probably just... not say anything... Doh!

[Andy from Sandy]

I built my 700LE stock, except for changing the tail blade bolts as already stated they do not go all the way through the nylock nuts.

I have not used loctite on any of the shouldered frame screws or on the bolts holding the engine bearers and the engine bolts. If when you strip the model down you knacker the odd screw then think about upgrading.

The supplied links are not the same as when the 700 was first introduced.

Make certain there is no end float after doing up the feathering spindle bolts.

I glued the bearings in the plastic engine bearing block so they can't rotate against the plastic. This has been an area of concern for some as the block has worn and the clutch and bell wobble about resulting in a stripped main gear.

I have fitted a header tank.

I did thoroughly clean all bolts and metal parts that were loctited.

After the first couple of flights the nylock nuts used to secure the boom came loose. As this model uses a torque tube and the boom is pinned I changed the nylocks out for standard nuts and loctited them. The grub screw holding the tail hub on has come loose. I have lost one bolt that is used to secure the head block to the mast. Maybe I did go a bit light with the loctite. Since re-doing them they have not come loose again but I make a point of checking these very regularly now.

Strip the tail hub completely and thoroughly clean it. Throw the supplied 3 x 8 bolts away and replace them with similar or 3 x 10 will fit. On mine those bolts had been done up too tight and the whole assemble was full of loctite.

If after an exploritory flight you find the boom support bolts have come loose use red loctite.

[Andy from Sandy]

On the maiden flight I set the headspeed to 1800. The head damping system is very hard and the model didn't like it. I had to increase the speed to 1840 for a stable model. I am using an Align 91H (black head) and Align 90 pipe combination. The model flys very smoothly indeed.

[p4ddy]

Reading through this thread makes me ask why so many of you guys still choose a Trex 700???

I thought the 700 suffered from tail grips coming off in flight???

[Si Goodchild]

...I thought the 700 suffered from tail grips coming off in flight???

Apparently a potential problem with the alloy tail grips if you overtighten. Not an issue if you have plastic tail grips, better bolts or don't overtighten. Or all 3!

[jamiem]

Wow, this thread should be enough to put anyone off of buying/building a 700!

[squeaky pete]

700LE "must dos" during build?

N9, build,add a carbon sleeve one the elevator link, go fly, enjoy, job done

[Jamin_00]

N9, build,add a carbon sleeve one the elevator link, go fly, enjoy, job done

Took longer than I thought for a comment like that lol

[squeaky pete]

700LE "must dos" during build?

true tho

[Jamin_00]

we all know the pros and cons of the 700

[squeaky pete]

700LE "must dos" during build?

Oh yes, dnt get me wrong, they rather mental when runnin properly, might be getting one as a back up model

[Si_B]

Check everything, build it stock and enjoy.

You will probably break something before it wears out. My Trex is standard apart from the quick uk links (had original wonky links on which I didn't trust) and the -1 main gear (just replaced as the original was looking worn.

No other upgrades, flies great. You can get carried away with replacing everything which might potentially fail, still will not guarentee that nothing will !!.

[Jamin_00]

All I did to mine is the clutch block and the booya mounts.

Everything else is sweet

I would like to have a back up 700

[chris jones2.4]

use a fuel magnet, no need for a header tank then.

the tail upgrade is nice but go for the quick uk version, bluddy stiff, thats about it i think, flies pretty nice outta the box but just a little bit of bling to help it fly a bit better. lol ;D