Trex 450L DOMINATOR Build thread!

[Delarado]

Hi guys,

After seeing these at RCHA, despite not liking 450's, I just had to get one. Its like a mini 700 and it just forced me to buy it, so I thought I'd do a build thread!

I'm just about to sit down and start and will upload pics from my phone as I go along, so this thread will be being updated quite a lot! (Apologies for the spam posting, its just easier to do it as I go along rather than bulk uploading later!)

First off I'll upload some pics of the box/unboxing and flight pack.

[Delarado]

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The 6s align next to a 3s opti

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Canopy is well wrapped in some heavy duty bubble wrap

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As always with aligns you get a bag with thread lock, some tools and all the Velcro and sticky pads you need!

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Head comes pre assembled, but no thread lock so as usual everything needs stripping and thread locking. The head has the bearings either side of the thrust races with this model which reduces load on the regular bearings. Notice also the two fixing bolts on the head block in addition to the normal Jesus bolt.

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Head and swash are finished now, it's time to start on the frames. Finish is nice with no burrs or any unsightly edges.

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Starting to go together

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Frame mocked up with an old 450 main shaft

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3gx needs to be stuck in before the landing gear and bottom plate goes on

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Frame finished, I can't get the main shaft in though, it seems to be slightly thicker than the other 450 shaft which fits fine. Both measure 4.9mm, it must be a tiny difference. Can't be bothered to get out the proper measuring stuff though, I'm sure 5 minutes of wet and dry will fix it!

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Main shaft sanded down now and fits very snugly. I probably could have pushed it in before but it would have pulled the bearings out on removal which I didn't want!

Servos are in now, I like the new set up, everything is accessible compared to the older 450s!

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The bl460mx dominator motor is a nice looking little thing

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In it goes and we are looking more like a helicopter!

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Now onto the tail gearbox. Standard here except the hex parts extend out farther than the tail box, and there are holes in the frames for then

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True to form with aligns, the tail binds if you tighten the screws fully that hold the plastic links. To remedy this, I used the slightly longer screws that came in the tail blade grips in place of the supplied ones. They have a slightly longer unthreaded portion, allowing me to tighten the screws fully without any binding, rather than my usual fix which involves filing down the plastic links. The screws in the tail grips now are the ones that were originally in the Plastic links, but they are slightly too short so I will replace with some longer ones before flying.

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Now I'm waiting for the CA to dry on the torque tube, here's a quick pic of the rear tail box and then back to the frames. Nothing special here, except the same bearing arrangement as the main head in the tail grips, which is nice.

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Now time to label the servos with handy heat shrink

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Tail servo fitted

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Have now fitted the front tail gearbox to allow me to sort the servo wiring. There are some handy holes in the side frames for the wiring

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Down the side frame, with some holes to cable tie it all in, then behind the tail servo and into the 3gx

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Back to the tail now... The gearbox fixes in the standard align way, and the tail fin has nice blunt plastic around it

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The tail push rod is still metal, which I'm a little surprised about, I guess it is really small but carbon rod would have been nice for a bit of extra bling...

Now time to bind up my Tx and get my tail servo neutral point set so I can attach the tail...

A deans connector soldered to the esc, and a servo lead extension added to function as a remote bind plug since you can't really get to the 3gx...

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It won't bind to my dx18 however, so a little delay while I sort this out!

Sorted the bind issue, the satellite wanted plugging into ant.2 on the 3gx not ant.1! Now bound, upgraded to 4.0 and all servo horns installed in dir mode. Tail installed, and it's starting to look like a Heli!

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The main gear is nothing unusual for a 450...slant cut main, straight cut tail with a standard looking 1 way.

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Here's the pack mock mounted to its little tray...

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And the Heli is basically complete, now to set up the 3gx!

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3gx set up complete, and the Heli is built...

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Last thing, I cut some more tail blade fixing bolts down from some m2x16 bolts...

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So, after the build, thought I'd post a little update...funny what you should say about the maiden, as ive just been out in the garden for a ten second hover in the rain


She hovers nicely, seems very well behaved considering ive only just set it up. I levelled the swash plate by eye, then set 0 pitch with a gauge and did all the 3gx settings. You can access everything on the 3gx no worries, there are access holes for everything 3gx wise.


This heli has some nice touches, one of the most notable ones is how the tail gearbox mounts at the front. Its hard to describe, but anyone who has ever changed the front umbrella gears on a 450 will know how annoying it is to spread the frames far enough to get the tail box past the servo wires (if you have them routed there)


This new gearbox (to be fair I think its actually the same gearbox and different frames!) has a different mounting system, so it doesnt actually span the whole width of the frames. This means that you can pull the tail gearbox in and out just fine without worrying at all about it catching the wiring.


I also like the way the bearings fit in the head and the tail, they have changed it from my other 450. Everything seems smooth and fits nicely.


The only issues I have with it are the main shaft being slightly too large for the bearings (Could even have been down to temps! it wasnt a lot) and also the standard align crappy tail links. As mentioned earlier, if you tighten up the provided screws all the way, they pinch the plastic links and make the tail bind. Youd have thought theyd realise this and supply some different screws, or thinner profile tail links.


Anyway, I'm looking forward to flying this heli properly! Possibly tomorrow, I'm not sure just yet. Any questions on the build, fire away!

[cupracing]

Sweet, subscribed :-)

[zci_zr]

Sweet, subscribed :-)

Same here~~

[cupracing]

you don't hang about. ;-)

[forza]

you don't hang about. ;-)

Give it 2 hours and it'll be out for it's maiden :-)

Looks like a nice bit of kit so far.

[SaneAdam]

That motor does look very sweet tactile little thing. To be fair imo you cant knock Align for the quality of machining and finish to the components

[t-rex pedro]

Good thread, thanks for sharing.

Looks an excellent heli

Cheers

[247rememberme]

Be interesting to hear what you think it flies like when you get to that point,wonder if it`s gonna feel more like a 500 than a 450?Great build thread and photo`s

[Chris Boughton]

Awsome look forward to hearing how she flys!! Im getting mine tomorrow cant wait""

[super]

Can you access the gain pots on the 3GX ok?

[cupracing]

Looks awesome!

[Andy from Sandy]

None at fast lads.

2 at RCHeliGuru and I would assume you can use the BMFA5 coupon code.

[Kevinremi]

Looking good and thanks for sharing

[Jamin_00]

Nice build thread!!

I see Connor flying one at RCHA and it looked like a wasp on steroids!!