Post by Jerrymac on Sept 3, 2012 2:39:26 GMT -5
I have an old Helipro Blackhawk 450SE that was my very first helicopter, purchased about 4 years ago. It was an RTF model and the only thing I ever really changed on it ( minus crash damage) was the RX, gyro, and rudder servo. Even then, I put a cheap Telebee gyro on it and a Hitech HS50 sub-micro servo on the tail.
After 4 years, and many hundreds of flights, the tail started wandering around badly this year in the few times that I have had time to go out and fly. It is nearly impossible to find parts for it now, so I was thinking of just retiring it and getting another 450 sized helicopter as I like the size for warming up before flying my larger helis.
I did a little "Jerry-Rigging" on the tail pitch lever and slider to remove the slop and it flew even worse, with the tail wandering badly. I disconnected the control rod at the rudder servo and moved it back and forth and found no binding. I was just about ready to give up and retire it for good when I grabbed the rudder servo horn and gave it a little twist. It moved back and forth about 10 degrees each way from center.
This poor little servo has been through a lot, lol, from a dozen or so crashes, to having the case fall apart on spool-up and the gears all falling out. I crawled around on my hands and knees at the field and found all the gears and put them back in. That was about 3 years ago. I also have been running it on 6 volts and just realized today that it is rated for 4.8 volts only.
Anyhow, to add to this long story, I had a spare, new in box HS50 that I installed today and took it out to the field along with several of my Gaui's. The little BH 450 flew just as good as it did 4 years ago. Guess I won't have to retire it just yet.
Thanks for reading my long rant.
Jerry
After 4 years, and many hundreds of flights, the tail started wandering around badly this year in the few times that I have had time to go out and fly. It is nearly impossible to find parts for it now, so I was thinking of just retiring it and getting another 450 sized helicopter as I like the size for warming up before flying my larger helis.
I did a little "Jerry-Rigging" on the tail pitch lever and slider to remove the slop and it flew even worse, with the tail wandering badly. I disconnected the control rod at the rudder servo and moved it back and forth and found no binding. I was just about ready to give up and retire it for good when I grabbed the rudder servo horn and gave it a little twist. It moved back and forth about 10 degrees each way from center.
This poor little servo has been through a lot, lol, from a dozen or so crashes, to having the case fall apart on spool-up and the gears all falling out. I crawled around on my hands and knees at the field and found all the gears and put them back in. That was about 3 years ago. I also have been running it on 6 volts and just realized today that it is rated for 4.8 volts only.
Anyhow, to add to this long story, I had a spare, new in box HS50 that I installed today and took it out to the field along with several of my Gaui's. The little BH 450 flew just as good as it did 4 years ago. Guess I won't have to retire it just yet.
Thanks for reading my long rant.
Jerry