Help!! My Tail Boom Keeps Moving!!

[matty-boy]

Hi guys and gals,

What a great few days we've had for flying eh??!!

My Blade 400 has a bit of an issue. Each time I fly it, the tail boom moves 'in' (towards the heli) which means the tail belt loses tension and the tail loses authority. So far I've gotten away with it and not crashed but it's only a matter of time until I completely lose the tail rotor in flight....

Each time I land, I have to loosen the 4 bolts holding the tail boom in place, pull it out to tension the belt and do the bolts up again.

Why does it keep moving???? How can I stop this? The bolts are as tight as I can get them, but still the tail boom moves. The heli does appear to have a bit of vibration since my last BIG crash a month or two ago but I'd have thought that as long as the bolts are torqued up properly the tail boom should not be able to move.

Can anyone shed any light?

Many thanks in advance,
Matt.

[LaurenceGough]

Stick some tape around the boom . Normal sellotape, just a tad. Use as much of the available surface area as possible, even extending out of the boom clamp.

[scoobystig]

i used to super glue the boom in on my Twister storm (same heli)
just a drop stops in pulling in, but still allows you to break the seal should you need it out

[del19_82]

a single wrap of electrical tape onto the boom where it goes into the mount and all will be good. I had to do the same with my 450 Pro

[matty-boy]

Thanks guys! I didn't even think of using tape or glue! D'OH!

I reckon I'll try electrical tape and see how I get one. If this doesn't hold, I'll try glue.

Cheers,
Matt.

[AlastairC]

After having a tail in landing incident this happened to me at the weekend too (With the next takeoff being rather exciting). So will try the tape solution too. Anyway went through three packs with Boggy's settings without breaking anything so a good weekend :-)

[Boggy]

another neat solution is an extra tail servo mounting bracket with the "leg" cut off slid up against the main body.

[AlastairC]

Boggy... Great idea. Thanks for the settings for the blade 400. I know you did them a while ago but this last weekend made it so much easier to fly. Having just become a dad all the best to you and you family in the times ahead.

Cheers,
Alastair

[cjcj1949]

I went through the same problems on my Twister Storm when I started. It's a combination of tail first landings and a plastic body. I converted to a HK450 which holds the tail much better. The Twister and Blade 400 bodies are cheap though and I wish I'd bought a new one and swapped the bits over. I did use Boggy's suggestion to stop the boom going in to the body and it worked well for a while. The answer is to buy another body though before you lose the tail completely. I think I had two bad crashes because of the worn out body. You'll also be able to check the bearings. I'm afraid learning breaks a lot of things on a 450.

Chris