All-Things Speed Flying! Introduction Speed flying in helicopters has been around for a while now in various forms, but only in the last year or so has it begun to gain more widespread acceptance as a pastime within the hobby. The concept is rather simple: How fast can a helicopter travel through a course of… more »
You’ve finished your build and are ready to slide that shiny brand new canopy into place and you find out that while it may look great… it fits horrible! Maybe it rubs the main gear? Maybe it’s a chore to get your quick release mounts to lock in? Maybe it rubs your servos on the… more »
Many times in this hobby, I have found myself needing to drill and tap a hole. Whether this is because the previous hole is stripped and I want to install a larger screw or maybe I need to pin the tail case on to the tail boom. One situation I ran in to recently was… more »
If you’re like me, then you probably like to keep things in your fleet fresh and exciting. This can be as simple as a quick and easy mod to the frame that makes something easier or a new piece of bling to kick it up a notch. Well, next time you’re thinking about dropping a… more »
Blade tracking can be a thing of the past with this neat little trick. It just so happens that a Scorpion 5mm phillips driver is a perfect fit in the blade grip hole on 700 class helis. This works out great for checking zero pitch at mid-stick. They key here is to align the bit… more »
So you’re out at the field and forgot your swash leveler at home. You’re hosed right? Wrong! Most of us keep a couple zip ties in our field box and here’s a neat little trick that will put them to good use. Wrap one around the main shaft and pull it tight. Take another one… more »
If you’ve been around long enough in the hobby, you’ve personally experienced a failed carbon-fiber tail control rod or seen a friend suffer from such a fate. The typical failure mode is either pulling the link rod right out of the CF due to improper gluing or splitting the CF tube so that the link… more »
If you’re anything like me, you run your generator to death during the regular season without even thinking about performing regular maintenance. You may also be like me in that I’m a cold-weather bastard, not a warm-weather dick, so that I means I get a bit more down time during the winter months. So, what… more »
Making sure that the center of gravity (CG) of your heli is directly over the main shaft is a crucial part of setup. This can effect how flat the disk stays while the heli piros and, in some cases, can even cause the heli to drift if it’s way off. So whenever you change… more »
Ok, so you’ve heard the terminology before, but you never quite understood why someone would be using the phrase “disk loading” in relation to their heli, right? There is a reason, trust me… Let’s start with the basics…the math, that is! 😉 Disk loading is an easy calculation to perform. What you need to do first… more »