KDS Spare Parts availability.

[Gunnergolly]

Hello and Merry Christmas.

Just wondering what the spares part availability is like for the KDS range of helicopters ?.

Who are the main suppliers in the UK/Europe ?, it seems that Modellbau UK is the only place that has the Agile 5.5 and 7.2 in stock along with a small quantity of spares.

I'm assuming the KDS servos are rebranded ones so where would i obtain new servo gears for them if i ever required them.

I believe that the support is very good from KDS, however the spare parts availability would have to be reliable before i would even consider purchasing one.

What i wouldn't want is a really nice helicopter out of action for weeks whilst waiting for a limited number of spares to become available.

KDS might not have the Align supply chain at the moment, but i'd like the option of having at least two or three reliable suppliers.

Typically it takes about a week for spares to arrive for my TDR from Germany ..... which to me is acceptable for a non main stream helicopter.

I'm not looking to buy a KDS at the moment but i have to admit to liking them, any information on my above questions would be much appreciated.

Regards...

[bigpops]

I bought my kit from Rob at agile-heli.co.uk

He does carry spares, though you'll have to email him what you want and he'll tell you if he has what you need, or how long it will be if he has to get it. He's also offered to take parts from a new kit if I was desperate. He hasn't got around to cataloguing all the spares and putting them on the website yet.

Other than that, there are suppliers in Europe. I've ordered from ercmarket.com in Belgium, and their service is top notch, though shipping is UPS only and about £12.
area51-rc.es in Spain carry the Agile line, along with agile-helicopter.cz

In Asia, there's hawk-rc.com They're really good. Shipping always seems to be about 5 working days for standard post from Hong Kong.

I have the 5.5, and after Terry at our club saw it, he ordered the 7.2, from area51. He's supposed to be letting me fly it, but with the weather, that hasn't happened yet.

[Gunnergolly]

Thanks for your very useful post bigpops.

At present i can't justify another 700 class machine, but the Agile would certainly get my consideration....

I'd probably go for the combo kit, hence my question about KDS servo spares availability.

The combo kit suggests a 120A ESC, however from what i have read it's been suggested that a 160A ESC would be a better choice... for those of you that have a 7.2 would a 120A ESC suffice for a sports flyer ?.

[ChrisB]

I flew my 7.2 on a helijive 120 with the Align 800MX motor swinging 710 blades and it performed fine,sport and mild 3d.

I did however upgrade it to a Kosmik and Pyro 800 motor,this was due to me having sold my Logo 700 and wanting to re assign the gear and not because of any issue running said items in the Agile 7.2.

I deal with the stockist in the Czech Republic and they have been brilliant.

http://www.agile-helicopter.cz/en/

[bigpops]

Terry, who has the 7.2 was running the KDS motor with a Castle 120. He doesn't do 3d per-say, but he does fly flat out and does lots of flips and fast flight.
With the 120, he had a mid-flight shut down. He asked me to touch the ESC and was like touching a boiling kettle, even after a mild flight.

With some holes cut in the canopy, it might have been okay, but he has since changed to the Edge 160 with the fan and it stays very cool now.

[Gunnergolly]

That KDS motor must be some monster then !!!, as im currently running a Turnigy 500KV SK3 motor along with a HeliJive 80HV on my Goblin 700 and managing 6:30 flights (@1950 rpm) using 4000mAh batteries.

I'll do some more "googling" for an alternative motor for the 7.2 because for my style of flying i'd really be more interested in running a lower headspeed and trading off some power for more endurance..... i already have a Castle 120A HV in my spares box doing nothing.

I had my reservations about using a HeliJive 80 in a 700 class helicopter but the motor only comes down touch warm and the HeliJive ESC absolutely cool... plenty of power tho.

The Goblin manual says that for general sport/3D flying then a 80Amp Kontronic with a Heatshrink is fine and so far im really impressed.

.... however i can't have one of these Agiles yet !!!.

Thanks for your replies...

[bigpops]

I reckon you can use a 120 quite easily if you use less of a monster motor.

An Align 750MX would easily do for 1950rpm and will work comfortably on a 120A ESC. Or the Turnigy SK3 are about the same sort of power, if you'd want to use one of them.

[Gunnergolly]

Yeah those SK3's are surprisingly good motors for fifty quid.

Im using an SK3 530Kv/Castle 120 combination in my TRex 700, accordng to the logs the average ESC temp is around 67 degrees and once again achieving 6:30 flights easily.

So im sure it would be a good motor/ESC combination for the 7.2..... well for me at anyway .

Trying to source replacement gears for them KDS servos seems to be a bit problematic, i would probably be happier using a more common servo.

[milly0812]

You must fly scale to get 6.30 in a 700 rex with that setup lol ? I'm lucky to get 4 mins with my TSA 700 and I'm no smack pilot. A clubmate Shauny ran the castle 120 and sk3 560kv and he was the same

[bigpops]

I don't know. Running a lower RPM makes a massive difference to current draw. For example, on my 5.5, I've had 5 minutes at 2400 on the head. Up that to 2500, and I lose a minute of flight.

I've had 6 minutes out of my 7HV, using 3500mah out of a 5000mah pack (I use a current sensor) at 2050rpm (vbar governed) on the head. I was just doing my normal routine.
A loop, a couple of inverted climbouts/tail slides, some aileron tic tocs, maybe a 4 point one in there somewhere, a piro flip or two and some smooth backwards/forwards/inverted circuits.

I'm using the stock Compass motor (SZ4926) on that.

[milly0812]

I'm just putting a 7hv together and will be trying the vbar gov as I couldn't afford a Kontronik this time so that's interesting to know mate

[p4ddy]

I'm no smack pilot.

??? umm yes you are, you smack your heli's into the ground loads so stop telling porkies

[ChrisB]

Agree on the low headspeed stuff,run smaller packs also and see an even bigger increase in duration due to less weight.

[p4ddy]

......

[Gunnergolly]

Yeah i'm just experimenting alot these days with running lower headspeeds, the TRex DFC i'm finding that im struggling with the tail authority at anything less than 1900 RPM.

With my TDR i can achieve 8 mins easily running at 1300 RPM (4000mAh-HeliJive 120-Pyro 700-52) and i still have good tail control so i plan to reduce the head speed further, however when i idle up to 1750 she can certainly move !!.

I spend most of my time these days learning piro circuits along with inverted circuits both forward/backwards so i really don't need high head speeds at the moment.

The Compass 6HV Ult seems to be efficient as i can achieve 6:30 with that one too using a mixture of two headspeeds (1600 and 1900).

My little Forza i get 3:30 mins..... it takes me 5:00 minutes to squeeze the tight fitting canopy on !!!.

My personal opinion on the subject of headspeeds is that most people are maybe run higher headspeeds than what they actually need and could probably achieve the same with less whilst gaining extra flight times.

Just my thoughts ...