Helicopter PHOTO Gallery and Discussion: Post Yours

Agreed, I also like it better than I thought
... I think what makes it is the decals, just the finishing touch it needed ... IMHO

If I might offer a suggestion, something I did for the interior of my scale heli.
... I painted the wood and the interior of the body flat black ...  In fact I paint the inside of ALL my Canopies black

EDIT: For PICS, Flat Black Inside and painted with a large brush, no Spray Bombs we're harmed LOL 

     
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You are right, and I did think about painting them. I think I need to fly the thing before I do though. As my spouse pointed out, "how are you going to see it"?

You know wOOd, I would have done it but laziness got the best of me. To paint the exterior, I had to remove all the lights which was no trouble but I had the wiring all glued and fastened down in the inside and I would have to had to remove it all and start over.    I did paint the interior of the removable part of the fuse and a bit of the frame work aft of it. Now that she is nearly finished, further painting of the insides will have to wait until there is some reason to pull the mechanical bits out again.

Another but minor problem with painting blades is the paint don't hold up well due to the high RPM ... They will start to look fugly real quick.
... And they might need balancing after painting, but only if allot of vibration is noticed after the paint.

[quote author=GPBill link=topic=284.msg16268#msg16268 date=1363361596]You know wOOd, I would have done it but laziness got the best of me. To paint the exterior, I had to remove all the lights which was no trouble but I had the wiring all glued and fastened down in the inside and I would have to had to remove it all and start over.    I did paint the interior of the removable part of the fuse and a bit of the frame work aft of it. Now that she is nearly finished, further painting of the insides will have to wait until there is some reason to pull the mechanical bits out again.[/quote]

Got ya, yup it would be allot of work ... I did my painting before the heli installation

No, no video yet but she does fly. ;D
Getting her in the air proved interesting. First the head speed was way to low. After cranking that up some and getting it in the air, it was still very twitchy. I thought I had 30% expo set in the TX and I did, but the wrong way. That is likely the reason I wrecked it in the first place.   

Very nice Bill, and a test flight already to boot!  Are you running 3S or higher on that model?

I want to see some backyard hovering video.

I disagree.  I think this is a function of your surface preparation.  Cleaned with 'Dawn" or similar de-greasing dishwashing detergent and a little "Scotch-Brite" fine surface scuffing has always worked for me on slippery RC car bodies.

Regarding being able to see them if they are flat black: Add a military drab yellow or red to about 1/2" to 1" of the main blade tips would help keep them visible and maintain a military look.

I disagree.  I think this is a function of your surface preparation.  Cleaned with 'Dawn" or similar de-greasing dishwashing detergent and a little "Scotch-Brite" fine surface scuffing has always worked for me on slippery RC car bodies.

Regarding being able to see them if they are flat black: Add a military drab yellow or red to about 1/2" to 1" of the main blade tips would help keep them visible and maintain a military look.
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Your entailed to disagree but every blade I've painted and seen around around net ALL after a short while will loose the paint due to the RPMS and the abrasive nature of the crap floating around in the air, even more more so if flying in a dusty environment! No matter how well the paint is applied it's like flying in sand paper. Look at the 1:1 real live birds, airplane propellers and helicopters blades and after a time they will show the wear no matter how there coated.

A couple points come to my mind:
- My money says none of us have had main blades that lasted long enough to show "wear".
- You guys are _trying_ to paint a weathered look, so if/when the paint chips it will look more realistic.

The blades on the 600 have been on since the heli was almost new and the originals are in the box still unscathed.
Knock on wood. 

Yes!  ;D

Jury is still out on painting the blades. Should have just bought the Align black blades instead of these.  :

I could say that I've had the blades on my JR 500e for three years. 

You saw me get 4 minutes out of my last set of new blades.

I can remember a time when 4 minutes of flying was 8 sets of main blades for me. 

Incorrect, my GAUI blades show "wear" and my Trex 450 Blades show a little

However I might agree with your second point, it's an esthetic choice for sure

Nevertheless we're talking about painting, so black on black or dark colour on
dark colour is much better than white on black or light on dark or dark on white or
black on white or King Crimson on Black Sabbath to which is JUST evil ... LOL

The heli is scattered in bits all over the work bench again.  :
No crash, just doing what I had been procrastinating about doing all along. I mentioned on another thread that this bird was getting a NAZA controller minus the GPS, so I had to take it all apart again to sit the controller between the frames on the bottom. While sitting up the NAZA I noticed again how poorly the Hitec servos I was using centered and were buzzing a lot. Since every thing is apart and easy to get at, I ordered a set of the Align DS515M servos and should be able to get finished up again early this week.

I thought you were too busy flying.

Not in this weather. 

The heli is in one piece again and flies pretty sweet with the NAZA. Next bit of sunshine I'll get some video.   

Any photos?  Let's see those shiny new servos in their new home.

There pretty well hidden but here ya go.

I've got a bit of a tail kick back in one direction and oddly enough it seems real soft in the other.  ??? 
Other than that she flies quite well.

Oh yeah!  Those fit really nicely.

Regarding the tail kick: is it mechanically binding somewhere?  Are you overdriving the tail pitch mechanism to the end of it's travel?
Once I had a issue with my Blade 400 when the tail pitch arm reached the outside of the travel near the blades.  The pushrod could get the mechanism out there, but it felt like a cam when trying to pull it back.

It flew fine before the NAZA install so I assume just some tweaking in the software should fix it.