Going Ballistic!

[trillian]

I guess I am turning my Rave ENV into a Ballistic. I have ordered the kit and I would think I'll have it later this week.

My Rave started life as a flybarred model and then last year I converted it to flybarless and now this is the logical next step so it should be interesting!

[Planehazza]

Take pictures!

[GIXERMAN]

had a ballistic 700, one of the best flying models ive had, sold to a friend and he smashed the sh.te out of it.

[SaneAdam]

The Ballistic is fantastic. Slightly irritating battery loading compared to something like the TT E720 and E700. But it easier than most with a nice sliding battery tray that is quick and easy to to line up and fit. It just needs securing with thumb screws. I use bolts though as i found the stock thumb screws are very cheese like and don't last that long. I may have been over tightening them though to be fair, but better safe than sorry when securing battery trays.

It is very solid and predictable in the air…. i push my flying pretty hard with it compared to my others. It inspires confidence. I think its proportions give it great presence. It is very tall, although just slightly shorter than the ENV. Not the lightest model, but it does give it a planted connected feeling. Especially in wind.

It is one model i think i would never sell. It just flys too good.

[trillian]

The Ballistic is fantastic. Slightly irritating battery loading compared to something like the TT E720 and E700. But it easier than most with a nice sliding battery tray that is quick and easy to to line up and fit. It just needs securing with thumb screws. I use bolts though as i found the stock thumb screws are very cheese like and don't last that long. I may have been over tightening them though to be fair, but better safe than sorry when securing battery trays.

It is very solid and predictable in the air…. i push my flying pretty hard with it compared to my others. It inspires confidence. I think its proportions give it great presence. It is very tall, although just slightly shorter than the ENV. Not the lightest model, but it does give it a planted connected feeling. Especially in wind.

It is one model i think i would never sell. It just flys too good.

Yeah I had to really think through the whole battery fitting situation and had to move around some bolts, replace a few with lower profile heads etc. so that nothing would snag. Figured out the best placement for the straps. I was wishing the frames were spaced just a tiny bit wider but now I am looking to move over to slightly smaller packs anyway.

It will be nice simplifying it with the direct to swash servo setup and I think the Ballistic frames are bound to be a bit stiffer because the ENV frames have a gap where the engine mount is catered for. So, it should be making a good thing even better (and maybe a tiny bit lighter, we'll see)

[George J]

Sheryl

You will really like the Rave converted to a Ballistic, its a far superior design for an electric than the ENV. My stretched 635 is by far the best electric i've had yet and i'm pretty sure if you asked Maj he'd say the same about his. Really strong heli and fly's like it's on rails, very good decision on your part and I know you've been thinking about doing this for a while now.

In regards to what Adam was saying about the thumb screws that hold the tray in, if you line them up properly they really only need to be done up just snug and i've not had one come loose or damaged the threads yet, I agree that they're not great though.

[trillian]

Sheryl

You will really like the Rave converted to a Ballistic, its a far superior design for an electric than the ENV. My stretched 635 is by far the best electric i've had yet and i'm pretty sure if you asked Maj he'd say the same about his. Really strong heli and fly's like it's on rails, very good decision on your part and I know you've been thinking about doing this for a while now.

In regards to what Adam was saying about the thumb screws that hold the tray in, if you line them up properly they really only need to be done up just snug and i've not had one come loose or damaged the threads yet, I agree that they're not great though.

Yeah I'll just have to see what the situation is on that tray when I start getting it together. I have only seen them in pics but it looks like a really clean and logical layout overall and tidies up most of the niggles about the ENV. I'm really looking forward to it.

[trillian]

That was fast! The kit arrived today. Many thanks to Budd at QuickUK. It looks like pretty much just the frameset, new servo linkage, canopy etc. but there's no pushrod for the tail. Does the ENV rod fit? I would have thought it needs a shorter one with the servo mounted on the boom. Anyway, there's a manual on a CD in there so I'll have a look a bit later.

[Bluegarry1]

I just love my Ballistic and its by far the best heli in my fleet. If you need any help just drop me a PM or phone me on 07931 368820

Garry

[PeteStewardson]

Nice on Sheryl.

My 635 is still sat in the box. Was hoping I'd have cleared the sale of the 500 by now as I have a Rave 450 and the Ballistic 635 to kit out. Haven't started either build as I think I'm going to get hold of the metal bearing holders for the Ballistic and the frame stiffeners for the 450 before starting them.

I think I saw mention on HF about cutting the tail rod down, but I'm guessing it'd need re-threading to do that.

[trillian]

Hi Pete,

The metal bearing holder is really just a bit of 'future proofing' because the plastic ones are fine it's just that over time they can deform but prob only if you fly quite hard. I just got the top one and it took all of about ten minutes to swap out. Doing the Ballistic conversion will be a good opportunity for me to check all the bearings but the one I removed was still silky smooth.

[PeteStewardson]

ENV Tail Boom Servo Mount & Pushrod - HeliFreak

Knew I'd seen it somewhere, you apparently just chop a bit off the tail control rod.

[trillian]

ENV Tail Boom Servo Mount & Pushrod - HeliFreak

Knew I'd seen it somewhere, you apparently just chop a bit off the tail control rod.

Thanks. It does look close just at a glance. I still haven't looked at the manual and I'm sure that is explained.

[PeteStewardson]

I'll be interested in hearing about the tail rod as I'm very tempted to put the 700 boom on my ballistic. I think the boom pack comes with the Rave Env rod so will need to mod it in the same way

[trillian]

Last week I did the tail mounted servo and today I have changed out the frames and it's nearly complete now. I just have to get the right fittings to convert the 140 degree swash to 120 and then get the servo linkage connected, tape down the FBL unit and get a buffer pack as I will be using a BEC this time.

I will be eliminating the 2s LiPo and Gryphon reg setup I had the before which will simplify the wiring quite a bit. I'm keeping the AR7000 for now as it is all setup to work with the Total-G.

All the frame bits fit perfectly, everything is nicely finished, the battery tray slides very smoothly. The front ESC tray is very configurable so I am easily able to mount it in a position that suits the massive size of the Kosmik and where the wires reach to the right places.

I think the only thing that will require getting out the drill is setting the rear canopy mounts so that I can use my ENV canopies.

So, I have gone from this;



To this: