Header tank ordered

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It's a girl!

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New 2in1 switch

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SOLD - Align T-Rex 450

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SOLD - Traxxas T-Maxx

I just sold my T-Maxx nitro monster truck. I've had some fun with it in the last years, but most of the time I was just trying to tune the engine, which proved to be some pretty hard task. So I decided to sell it to finance a new project next spring which will probably be a gas buggy. More power, more fun, less time spent tuning!

2in1 problem...

After reading about it so many times, I knew it would happen some time, and this was today. I was at the field with my 600NSP and as I was switching the 2in1 unit to ON, the lights on the unit flickered. After that, I could make the lights flicker again just by touching the tiny switch.

I decided not to fly and that I would have to take the 2in1 apart to clean it and maybe consider a replacement, because this thing just can't go wrong in flight.

I think I might have a little fuel on the 2in1 while fueling my heli, maybe this is what caused it to glitch, but anyway, this is too risky to stay like that.

More on that later.

My new DIY radio battery pack

I finally ended ordering some Sanyo eneloop cells to make my own new rechargeable pack for my DX7. I used an old AA battery tray that I had laying around from some old project and it happens to fit just exactly in the DX7 so here is my brand new pack:

I think it looks just awesome!

DX7 battery pack

For a while now, my DX7 battery does not keeps its charge for a very long time. I used to get easily 10 flights with a single charge and now I almost have to charge it everytime I go out.


So I started looking for a replacement battery for it and apparently, the easiest (and cheapest) solution is to buy some AA cells and make another pack myself. I will go to my local costco later today and see if I can buy some NiMh rechargeable AA cells to make another pack.

Stupid fuel magnet

Today I was flying my 600 and all of a sudden, the engine started to act weird. The sound wasn't right, but I couldn't tell what was wrong and as I was approaching to land the heli and look at it, the engine just died! Luckily, I was able to handle this first forced autorotation from about 25 feet without any problem.


I tried to start it again and it wouldn't start unless I gave it a lot of throttle. Then I just couldn't make it to idle, it was like if the needle was suddenly like 1 more turn leaner....

After looking at everything on the bench, I easily found the trouble, my fuel magnet foam simply desintegreted and a lot of it was stuck in the fuel filter.. making the mix somehow a lot leaner because it was preventing fuel to pass freely through the filter!

I pulled the whole fuel line apart and cleaned everything. I was happy to find that the align 3-way filter can be dissambled and cleaned.

So now I will throw this fuel magnet away and get an OS bubbleless instead. I don't want to think of what could have happened without the filter, foam in the carburator/engine can't be a good thing!

I figured that while flying, the governer was trying to maintain headspeed, but it was suddenly so lean, that it had to lower the throttle so low that it just cut the engine.

So it was my last flight with a stupid fuel magnet!

Repaired blade

There's nothing like knowing something is wrong to begin to worry about it. Sometimes it's better off not knowing!


Since I noticed the chip on one of the main blades of my 600, I started to worry about it. Many people adviced me not to fly this particular blade and a lot also told me that a helicopter blade just can't be repaired, but I couldn't help it and I gave it a shot anyway.

I cleaned it very thoroughly and I filled the hole with some epoxy. After it was dry, I sanded it and polished it with my dremel tool and some compound. Here is a little before/after:

I admit it's not pretty but it looks good and feels very good. I'm very confident that repaired this way, the blade is almost as good as it was at first. I may have lost some performance, but probably not that much and certainly not anything that I could notice.

So even after doing the repair, it took me a long time to decide myselft if I would fly it again or not, but I finally made my mind and decided to go for it. After all, I repair things all the time and I never hesitate to use it when I'm confident in my repair.

So after rebalancing the blades and making sure one more tme that everything was fine, I gave it a shot. I actually had 4 flights with this blade today and it flew just right! On the first flight, I only hovered it from a safe distance and landed it many times to check the blade and everything looked fine everytime. I then flew the heli for real and did my usual routine.

So even if I must admit I'm still not 100% confident in those blades, I decided I will keep it as a spare set and I will continue to fly it while I'm waiting for the new blades I ordered.

Lipo alright

After my last flight with one of my lipos for my T-Rex 450, I reported that it was really hot and a little puffed after landing. It also did not last as long as normally. So I was a little worried, but since it's a AirThunder which is supposed to be resistant to puffing and over dischargind, I still had a little hope.


I recharged it and after testing it again, it looks like it's back to normal again. It flew normally today and it wasn't too hot of puffed when landing. So I guess so far so good, I will continue to monitor this pack closely, but I think it' still good after all. I have about 40 cycles on both of my pack now, but with good care, it's supposed to be able to handle over 100.

First replacement parts on Trex-600

After a few more flights today, I noticed that the tail blades on my 600 are now busted. Those were the original tail blades that came with my NSP kit, so it was Align CF tail blade, btu because of the rocky ground where I fly, the heli sometimes lifts some tiny rocks while spooling up and I think I also might have accidently touched the tail blades down while trying some autos, so the tip of one of the tail blades is now split open. CF is a great material, but not really resistant.


Also, after practicing some moderate high autos, I noticed that I lost the two back landing skid rubber grommets.

So this afternoon, I went to my LHS ready to order some tail blades and skid grommets and to my great pleasure, they had it all in stock!

So I just installed some brand new K&B neon yellow tail blades and I replaced the missing skid nuts. the tail blade they had were only 84mm instead of the original 95mm, but it said fits any 30-50 nitro heli, so I'll give it a try. Anyway, they were pretty cheap and I though that plastic tail blades would probably last longer than CF in my flying grounds.

One more thing that begins to worry me a little is that a few flights back, the main blades hit smoething pretty hard (probably a little rock) while the heli was on the ground. I heard a weird noise... Since then , this is a little crack on the edge of one of my main CF blades. I didnt worry at all at first and I flew several flights with this crack since then, but I'm just scared that this crak can grow bigger with time. I'll try to see if it can be repaired, I heard of some epoxy blade reparations for minor cracks, because I'm not really in the mood to spend another 100$ on some new main blades only because of this minor crack, but I also want to be sure it's ok to continue to fly it like that...

A few more flights

Yesterday, I was out with my 450 and my 600. I flew my 2 450 packs and then I started the bigger one. It was a wonderful day outside and 5 wonderful flights as well. I am now up to speed with my T-Rex 600 and I can do everything that I was doing with my 450. The engine is now well tuned and I really love my new heli :)


It was also my 100th and 101 flights with my TRex-450! So far so good...

Only one drawback of my day, my first lipo pack ofr my Trex 450 didnt last very long and after the flight, it was really hot and a little puffed, even though it's a Air Thunder and not supposed to puff ever... I charged it this morning and I will give it one more try soon to see if it's really dead or it was just a glitch. It was it's 40th cycle...

SOLD - Kyosho SandMaster II

I sold my old Kyosho SandMaster II nitro buggy. I didnt useit in the ladt few years so I decided to sell it while it was still worth something. It was still in perfect working order so it wasnt too hard to sell it for a reasonnable price.

Maiden Flight

I was finally able to make the maiden flight of my 600NSP a few days ago. After rechecking everything, it seems that my problem was a glow ignition issue after all. I noticed that the contact of the black wire of the 2in1 wasn'nt good enough on the engine mount screw. I removed it and fixed it on another scre and now the current that goes through the glow plug during igition is better.


So I now have done 4 flights with original settings. (needle 1.75 turn out). The heli flies really well. I get a lot of smoke and everything went just fine so far. On my next flight, I will start to lean the needle a few clicks to begin the final tuning of the engine.

There was a weird vibration during my first flights, but I think it is because it was windy out there. In fact, it's been very windy here in the last days. I am now waiting for a calm day to go out agin and see how it goes without any wind.

So, the maiden flight is now done and I really enjoyed it! I can't wait to fly her for real and do some loops and stuff, but I am a patient guy with my helicopters and I don't want to rush anything.

My new toolbox

Now that I have a bigger heli, I needed a bigger toolbox to carry all the tools and parts.


So I bought a myself a brand new plastic toolbox and I fixed some padding inside to be able to carry my DX7 safely.

Here are a few pics of my new helicopter toolbox:

Not a good start

Today, I was finally ready for my maiden on my 600 nsp. I was planning on runnign 2-3 tanks to get started with the breakin of the engine, but it dint went as expected.. the engine never actually even started!


Everything was checked at least twice during the build and seems to be alright, but the engine just didnt start :

My needle was 2 turns out minus a few clicks (supposed to be the correct setting for breakin) and my throttle idle is per finless video. When starting, fuel was going through the carburator, but just no explosion. The fuel clip was open and after a while, I removed the glowplug to see a lot of fuel in the piston, maybe too much. I ran the starter for a while with the fuel unplugged and the glowplug revoved to clean it out and retried, but still no luck. I also tried with a manual glow igniter instead of the 2in1 and still no luck. I tried the glow igniter directly on the glow plug in my hands and the plug goes red, so it works.

At the end, after recleaning everything to make sure there wasnt too much fuel inside, I tried to start it with the glow igniter on and the fuel clip closed. It ran for about 2-3 seconds and died, which seems to indicate a flooded engine earlier.. this is weird.

I will give it one more try this weekend...

Hello from San Francisco!

Just wanted to say a little hello while I'm in San Francisco. I'm here for a computer convention called JavaOne. The convention is pretty cool, but I miss my girlfriend a lot... and my helicopters :)


My 600NSP is almost ready for it's maiden 3000 miles away from here, so I can't wait to get back and finally lift her up!

I'm coming home tomorrow, so the maiden flight should be really soon.

Stop-motion video of my 600nsp build

I just put online the video I made from the 700 photos I took while building the kit. Be sure to check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fUfxsMEvJY

Trex 600 NSP almost ready for maiden

All the mechanical setup is now done on my Trex 600 NSP. All the pieces are put together per the manual. I still need to make some adjustments and finish the radio programming, but visually, the heli is complete now.


Hopefully, it will be ready for it's maiden flight anytime soon.

Build going smoothly

My 600NSP build is going smoothly. I'm going slowly and thoroughly to make sure that everything is put together correctly. I also read a lot of post, watch videos of others (finless in particular) and ask around on the forums everytime I'm not 100% sure of something.


So far I've completed the head and almost all the mechanics. All the servos and corresponding links are in place. I also began to program my DX7. The governor is in place and everything is programmed to achieve 3 different headspeeds (one for each flight mode).

The engine is installed and the throttle servo is in place. The throttle curves are programmed in the radio, along with a cut switch mix (thanks to finless one more time).

So a lot of work has already been done and so far everything went very smoothly. What's left for now is the tail assembly, the gyro and the corresponding radio programming and putting the head assembly on and trimming everything for correct pitch.

Right now, I think I have like a couple of weeks more of work before I can finally take her out for it's maiden flight.

First out of town flight of the year

Tody the weather was perfect so when I got back from work, me and my girlfriend decided to take a ride to see my grandma. It was a wonderful little trip and of course, I had my trustworthy Trex 450 in the trunk and I took it out for a couple of flights in the field in front of my grandma's house.


It was a little cold, but around 7pm, there was no wind at all and it was 2 wonderful flights.

Head completed!

I completed the head today assembly today. Thanks to the Finless videos, everything is going very smoothly.

Next: Main gear and fan assembly!

Trex 450 flight log

2 normal flights at the local park today. Weather was wonderful and it was really cool. Nothing else special. Some mild 3d and sprot flying to the entertainment of the kids at the park.

Package arrived!

Earlier today, I was very excited to see online that my package was in town and that it would be availble for pickup at my local post office by 5pm.


So I headed for the post office right after job, but unfortunatly, I couldn't get my package yet, since it was a COD package and the post office only accepts cash money! I though I would be able to pay using a credit card, but apparently it isnt possible.

So I headed all the way to my bank (it wasn't closed yet!) and I withdraw the required money and headed back to the post office right away. Again, it wasn't going to be the good time, because the women who was there earlier was out for lunch and the kid who was replacing her during this time was a complete newbie and he didn't know how to manage a COD package! Grrr....

Anyway, I got home for dinner and I returned to the post office for the third time right after and I was FINALLY able to retrieve my precious package!

I just unpacked everything carefully and I took several pictures of everything, since I plan on posting all my build process in detail here.

I still have one more package to receive with some accessories, but I now have all the main parts of my soon to be T-Rex 600 NSP. (servos, gyro, receiver, heli kit, engine, etc.)

Stay tuned for some building details...

Here are some photos of all the parts:

2 great flights today!

The weather was great today so I took my T-Rex 450 out for a few flights. Everythign went really smooth. I did some sport and mild 3d flying like always and it was really cool!

Order placed!

After many months of lurking the forums and reading all I could about nitro helicopters, I finally ordered myself a brand new T-Rex 600 NSP today.


An exhaustive list of everything I ordered is available on my T-Rex 600 NSP page.

I should receive everything somewhere next week or the week after. I plan on documenting my build here on my blog, so stay tuned for more info in the next weeks!

Back in the air

After installing a new flybar and some new main blades, I was back in the air with my TRex-450 earlier today.

Everything was fine this time. I flew my 2 packs without any problem. It was a bit windy, but it was manageable.

First out of town flight of the year

Tody the weather was perfect so when I got back from work, me and my girlfriend decided to take a ride to see my grandma. It was a wonderful little trip and of course, I had my trustworthy Trex 450 in the trunk and I took it out for a couple of flights in the field in front of my grandma's house.


It was a little cold, but around 7pm, there was no wind at all and it was 2 wonderful flights.

Inverted hovering without idle up = BAD!

I was out at the field today with my TRex-450 and everything was going fine. After a few minutes of flight, I landed the heli to make a minor gyro adjustment on the radio and I was right up in the air.


The heli was about 20 feet in altitude and I decided to go for some inverted hovering. As soon as it got inverted, the motor began to slow down and the heli was falling!

At this precise moment, I was thinking about some mechanical problem and I could't understand why my motor was failing. So the heli went all the way down.. inverted!

It all ended with a light crash, when the heli hit the wet grass blades first. It looked like some really not wanted inverted auto and the heli fell not too fast.

I went over to gather it and fortunatly it didn't hit very hard. Only the blades (which were already lightly scratched anyway) and the flybar are damaged.

This is only then that I realized what just happened. I simply forgot to flip the idle up switch so as soon as I went inverted and started to lower the throttle stick, the power to the motor simply decreased!

The good news is nothing is wrong with the electronics, it was simply a pilot error. But now I need some new blades and flybar!

No more bad vibration

I received my new metal housing earlier this week. After installing it, the bad vibration was gone!


Looks like I had the right diagnosis.

My T-Rex 450 is now ready for some flying action.. the only problem is winter doesn't really want to go away right now over here... Actually, it's even snowing right now as I write those words :(

So my T-Rex 450 is still grounded, but only because of weather.

Bad vibration on my T-Rex 450

Recently, I noticed a bad vibration at slow headspeed on my T-Rex 450. I can even see it wobble a little while looking at the main button. This is weird because I didnt crash or anything.


Someone told me I should suspect the main rotor housing, so took the whole head apart, leaving only the swash and the main shaft on and I gave it a try. I watched the main shaft closely while it was rotating at low speed and I couldn't notice any wobble nor vibration at all.

From this point, I started by installing only the main rotor metal housing, I screwed it to the shaft directly without the seesaw or anything else and I redid the test. This time I could easily see the housing wobbling at low rotating speed!

From this experience, it seems clear to me that my housing is a little bent or something, because it wobbles with only this piece on. It's weird, because I didnt crash at all, maybe I bent it while working on the heli or transporting it.. anyway, I'm gonna replace it and see if the vibration goes away.

I will post the results when I receive the new housing...

In the meantime, here is my main suspect:

First flight of the season

Today the weather was wonderful outside and I decided it was time to take my TRex-450 out for my first flights of the season.

There is still plenty of snow all over the place up here in Canada at this time of the year, but it's melting pretty fast these days and it's beginning to be hot enough to be able to stay outside bare-handed for a while without freezing!

It was about +12 celcius this afternoon and it was quite comfortable. The local neighborhood park where I normally fly my 450 was still covered with about 3-4 feet of snow, but I placed the heli in the street behind my car for takeoff and I flew over the snow while standing in the street :)

I flew my 2 packs and everything went very well. I was a little rusted after not flying (except for mCX and simulator) for a few months, but after a few minutes, I was back doing some mild 3D loops and flips.

Like often when I fly at this park, a few kids stopped by and watched me flying.

So my flying season is now officially opened!

Cordless nitro heli starter

In preparation to my future nitro helicopter, I was looking at my old plane starter and I decided to mod it a little to use an old Align 3s 11.1v lipo pack that I don't use anymore on my T-Rex 450, because its a little puffy and it wasn't lasting really long.


After reading several posts on this subject from people saying that a 3S lipo pack had enough power to start a 50 nitro heli engine, I simply cut the wire of my old plane starter and soldered a dean plug to it at about 2 inches and I used my dremel to remove some plastic on the bottom of the starter to make some room for the lipo pack that I strap to the starter using some velro bands. I also soldered the other part of the dean plug to the old starter wire, so I can still plug it to my field 12v battery if needed.

It looks pretty cool in my opinion and I tried it on my old .75 SuperTiger plane engine and it works very good. Since I dont have a nitro heli yet, I can't be absolutly sure it will work ok, but I really dont see why it wouldn't work.

Anyway, it was a really easy mod to do and it didn't cost me anything because I had all the required parts laying around.

Here is what it looks like:

Which gyro?

As I'm still trying to fix my mind on all the parts for my next Trex 600NSP, I'm having quite a dilemma right now about which gyro to choose. At one point, I was all about the Futaba GY611, but then I started to read more and more stuff saying that even if it's still a pretty decent gyro, the 611 is not the latest generation anymore.


Apparently the Spartan is the one to have these days. Of course, there is also a lot of other possibilities out there, including the Solid G and the JR770 so it's really hard to decide since they all seem good and they are all in the same price range from what I read.

Yesterday, I came across the new Futabe GY520 http://www.futaba-rc.com/radioaccys/futm0807.html
that is due to be released any day now. This one really got my attention, since Futaba is a well established company and they alreay own a great share of the gyro market. From what I understand, this is gonna be the next killer gyro, but I'm wondering if it is safe to buy it as soon as it gets released. I will probably order my stuff pretty soon, so I'll be monitoring the release of this gyro in the next weeks...

decision.. decision!!

Recycling an old PC power supply

In the October 2008 issue of RC Heli magazine, there was a great article about modding an old ATX PC power supply into a multi purpose 12v power supply.

Since I read this article, I wanted to give it a try and in the last days, I finally had some spare time to do it. I followed the article carefully and a few hours later, I have this great 10amps 12v power supply:

It was a really easy mod. All I had to do was cut some wires inside the power supply and solder some leds, a swicth and banana plugs. I decided to do it the fancy way using leds and stuff because I already had all of that in my toolbox, but some could do this same mod without all the bling and still get a nice cheap power supply.

PC power supplies are often rated at least 10A and many of the recent ones are even rated at 15-20A. So if you have one laying around or if you know someone who is getting rid of an old computer, chances are you can get yourself a great 12v power supply for almost nothing!

The ironic thing is that I don't even need a 12v power supply for my RC stuff, because I only use the Align lipo charger/balancer that came with my T-Rex 450 and is already has a 110V cord, but it could always be useful and I couldn't resist doing this mod :)

Almost there...

Today I've been resisting the temptation to get my TRex 450 out and fly for the first time of the year. The temperature is starting to warm up a little and it was aroung +5 celcius outside, so the idea of flying my TRex 450 went through my head, but I resisted and I think it was the right choice, because it was a bit windy and even if it's warming up, it's still a little cold. I really dont like getting my fingers cold while I'm flying, because it makes my reflexes weaker and I'm more prone to crashing.

2in1 or not?

These days, I am reading as much as I can on the internet concerning the Align TRex 600 NSP and my mind is now almost set on what I will buy, but there is this 2in1 thing that just keeps bugging me. The 2in1 unit that comes with the NSP kit seems awesome. I really like the glow starter button, but the more I read about this unit, the more I read bad things about it.


The Align 2in1 unit doesn't seem to be a very reliable piece of electronic. Apparently, the on/off switch easily gets corroded and a lot of people are reporting crashes dus to this unit. On the opposite, many people also say its working fine for them, so I'm a bit confused here.

From what I read, the replacement of choice for this unit is a Fromeco Arizona regulator paired with a SwitchGlo. This way, you get the same functionnality and some piece of mind, but there is a cost to it, which is approximatly 200$ CAD more, so right now, I don't know yet what I'll do.

The only thing that is sure is that I will get the 2in1 anyway, since it comes with the NSP kit, but will I use it or just sell it on ebay? Not decided yet...

Nitro Bonus!

I had a meeting today at my job with all the other employees and the president of the company. This was the annual meeting where the president exposes the financial results of the company for the last year and he also confirmed to us, that once again, we are all going to receive our annual bonus because the company met its objectives for 2008!

This is great news for me, because I'm gonna spend this money on a new nitro rc helicopter!!

Aaaarrrggh

Today is the day of the month where I get angry about postal services. I happen to work just on the other side of the street of a large shopping mall and several days a week, on my lunch break, I cross the street and take a walk in the mall.


This little walk almost always takes me to a bookstore and today, I noticed that the brand new edition of my favorite magazine, http://www.rchelimag.com/, was on the shelf of the bookstore while I didnt recieve my copy yet. I subsribed to the magazine a while ago because I wanted to save some money, but since then, I must deal with the fact that I get my copy many days after the local bookstore has it. I live just a few miles aways form the bookstore, but I always receive my copy after them, go figure!

This story repeats itself every month, at least now I know that the new edition is out and I will keep looking for it in my mailbox everyday until I finally get it!