It's taking some time..

[pgkevet]

It's reminsiscent of building my spectra G.. the same order of superb quality and engineering and a huge parts count. And since I bought it second hand and didn't build it originally I do have to refer to the manual a lot.

I'm at the stage of having dismantled and cleaned and putting back together that all gears are in and the main shaft. All bolts including the servo mountings are s/s excepting jesus bolts and grub screws. S/S grbscrews I find a bit soft for good tip grip. I;ve got the right-hand fiddly carbon bits to replace and then it's gear mesh setting then locktight all those bolts, put the engine back and check settings..so almost there but very slow at a couple of hours an evening.

I can build a trex in one long session and setup the next evening but no way would that be possible here.

If I was still earning then I think i would simplify all the wiring and lose the gryphon reg and fancy bits because it just adds bundles of wires.

Doubtless I'll be posting pics when finished just to show it all sparkly.. but that'll be a few evenings yet..

[JoeBailey]

You can't beat the old machines for build pleasure, loads of parts and at the end a supurb flying heli thats completely different to the feather weight ones we fly now.

I'd love to get hold of a stratus air frame and convert it to electric. The frame almost looks like it's designed for electric.

Joe

Ps' don't forget the pics :D

[trillian]

Yeah there are a few parts that are a bit of a mystery as to how they go together until you open the manual.

The Avro is pretty much a no compromise design where everything is made to achieve someone's vision. It's like a complete airframe made by QuickUK. And I think I remember hearing that in fact a lot of the parts are made by Quick UK.

I have always loved how everything is chunky and sturdy, all the link rods are like double the thickness of the normal size links, the frames are two huge CF slabs.

[pgkevet]

[QUOTE=JoeBailey;1004626]You can't beat the old machines for build pleasure, loads of parts and at the end a supurb flying heli thats completely different to the feather weight ones we fly now.

I'd love to get hold of a stratus air frame and convert it to electric. The frame almost looks like it's designed for electric.

Joe

Ps' don't forget the pics :D[/QUOTE]

Try a pm to Vetequk..think he has one rattling around his attic he might part with if he's even rebuilt it from the ding 2 yrs ago. I swapped him a new boom for it for something...

[pgkevet]

[QUOTE=trillian;1004629]Yeah there are a few parts that are a bit of a mystery as to how they go together until you open the manual.

The Avro is pretty much a no compromise design where everything is made to achieve someone's vision. It's like a complete airframe made by QuickUK. And I think I remember hearing that in fact a lot of the parts are made by Quick UK.

I have always loved how everything is chunky and sturdy, all the link rods are like double the thickness of the normal size links, the frames are two huge CF slabs.[/QUOTE]

The thing about helis of that type is not just the solid construction but the quality of things like bearings. I haven't found one in this rebuild that has more than a little cosmetic discolouration..all are still silky. As for solid carbon... nothing like the bottom frame of the spectra - a solid 4mm chunk with another adjustable 2mm engine base-plate. And when you look up the dry weight of the Avro it's a suprise that it's lighter than you think. Avro claims 4.6kg compared to a trex 700n at 4.2kg

[trillian]

[QUOTE=pgkevet;1004698]The thing about helis of that type is not just the solid construction but the quality of things like bearings. I haven't found one in this rebuild that has more than a little cosmetic discolouration..all are still silky. As for solid carbon... nothing like the bottom frame of the spectra - a solid 4mm chunk with another adjustable 2mm engine base-plate. And when you look up the dry weight of the Avro it's a suprise that it's lighter than you think. Avro claims 4.6kg compared to a trex 700n at 4.2kg[/QUOTE]

Those weights must be without blades and electrics or something. Mine weighs 5.5kg ready to fly but without fuel. But it doesn't feel heavy in the air like the Predator did. Which reminds me, I really need to get that beast back together.

[pgkevet]

Dunno. the only one I found weighed (apart from yours) was posted as 5.6kg... so it may well be airframe only.. but that was from blitz own site. I've never weighed mine.
Gassers in the air are just heavy..it's that engine lump..although I can tick-tock spectra it's balletic rather than ballistic.
My predator was much the same.. I got shot of it 'cos it was a real pain to fix with that stacked frame and monkey metal soft parts. A nice bird but I felt let down by cheap metal and really dated design.
The spectra is just smooth... you can sneeze and have the rotors spin. I need to get that back in the air if I can solve why the engine keeps cutting inverted (and it's not the clunk)

[pgkevet]

A whole hour and a half fiddling with just the fan shroud but it feels solid and good now and no sign of any fan chafing and the fan hub is dead centre and blades even height throughout. The design is nice from the viewpoint of a quick engine drop but when you've had both sides off or adjusted/replaced the fan it really is a bit of a mare to shim and centralise. It'd also be a lot easier to replace the screws in the plastic with a screwdriver that holds them but stainless isn't magnetic and I didn;t have one of those screwdriver spring clip attachments that will do that.

Just the tail to attach, a battery to solder up and it's check the set-up time. But 8pm is make up the hens late supper and let that cool..they'll go back to their coop around 8.25pm tonight for lockup and it's fox-watch at dusk until they're locked up (wife is away - usually her pets)

[trillian]

Yeah I found adjusting the fan shroud a bit tedious and fiddly, it took ages to get it right. There are only a few minor things about the Avro that could have been made a bit more user-friendly and that's one of them.

I just spent a couple hours swapping out the Reactor regulator for a Gryphon on the Rave and re-routing all the wires. It doesn't have as much space provided in the front frame area for electrics as the Avro but unlike the Avro there is a ton of space inside the canopy.

[pgkevet]

Folk forget/didn't know quite how narrow that avro frame is. As you say there's tons of room for electricals so the canopy isn't an issue..apart from being a biatch to put on!

[trillian]

[QUOTE=pgkevet;1005690]Folk forget/didn't know quite how narrow that avro frame is. As you say there's tons of room for electricals so the canopy isn't an issue..apart from being a biatch to put on![/QUOTE]

Yeah, it requires a certain ritual to get the canopy on and once you get the routine down it's not too bad but it is certainly the most difficult of all my helis. :frog:

[pgkevet]

Pics after the cleanup.
Irritatingly he fired up first squirt of the starter, ran well albeit the idle was a bit high, died when I pulled it back too far and now won't restart. It'll be something silly like a contaminated plug (I hope) although continuity is fine. But I put him away for today after running the starter for a long time and getting a bit peed off.
You can see the simple alloy clips... strips of 500 boom metal sheathed in heatshrink and just folded around the bottom frame
[ATTACH=CONFIG]58696[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]58697[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]58698[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]58699[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]58700[/ATTACH]

[trillian]

Yeah that's looking pretty civilised now. Is that a cline regulator? It looks like an OS SZ. I have the really simple SZ with the blue head, no pump or reg, in the Dyna-X and it runs great.

[pgkevet]

[QUOTE=trillian;1006525]Yeah that's looking pretty civilised now. Is that a cline regulator? It looks like an OS SZ. I have the really simple SZ with the blue head, no pump or reg, in the Dyna-X and it runs great.[/QUOTE]
Well spotted! I managed to get a spare diaphragm for it too while the going was good... hopefully still in the spares box.
I also did a test piece of the muffler with some honing compound..so when I'm in the mood I'll buff the whole of it to a rich shine.
Just need to get the darned thing started/flown and officially signed off as fixed: then time to troubleshoot my Spectra and see if I can finally figure why it keeps cutting out inverted (and not the obvious causes so far)