Scale Replica

As I "borrowed" the Futaba GV-1 governor from my Align Trex 600 Nitro I decided to replace it with the Align RCE-G600 governor.

 Installing it was very easy with the sensor bolting on to the outside of the frames.

Setup on my JR 12x radio was also easy using the governor function allowed me to change headspeed from the radio and have a different speed set for each flight mode.

Yesterday I test flew the Mongoose with the Futaba GV-1 governor in place and experienced similar problems to the CSM Revlock.

After disconnecting the Governor,  the problem still existed and turned out to be engine tuning related and after a few adjustment I got the engine dialed in and re-activated the GV-1 which performed fine.

 My next test is to re-install the CSM Revlock and see if it now works.

 So today I fitted a Futaba GV-1 governor that I had on my Align Trex 600 Nitro and did a breif test hover in my back yard.  The governor appears to be working fine which I will confirm next week with a more comprehensive flight test.

Having just installed a CSM Revlock and Stator Gator Governor on my Airstar Mongoose (see Workbench), I have just got back from my test flight with the Mongoose and unfortunately it was not successful.

I have programmed the Revlock as per the instructions and everything is responding as expected in terms of the LED including passing the sensor test.

However,  when trying to fly it for the first time,  the Revlock holds the RPM at idle.  I disengaged the revlock (set ATV to 0%) and flew fine,  then landed re-engaged the governor and then the head speed was held at about 1030 rpm and increasing the ATV had no impact on the head speed.  I even tried putting the RPM range on the Revlock up to 17+ and this caused the head RPM to be very unstable.

I am seeking help from both CSM and Stator Gator.

Stay tuned!

A good way to protect your cables when installing the electronics into a RC Helicopter is to add braided sleeving.   This also gives a nice professional looking installation.

 Here I show how I do this.

 So in this example I am using an antenna extention for my Spektrum radio.

 How do you tie cables to the helicopter frame when you only have one hole.

You could go through the hole and over the side of the frame,  but this would not be very neat or often practicle.

So here is what I do.  Imagine the piece of plywood with the hole in it shown below is the the helicopter frame.

So I received my new JR 12x radio this week and tried it yesterday on my Airstar Mongoose.

  I was already using the JR X9303 2.4 Ghz radio with this helicopter so all I had to do was rebind the JR R921 receiver with the 12x.

The first thing that I noticed that was different to the 9303 was the way the throttle trim works.  On the 9303, you can set your throttle curve to 0 if you like and the throttle trim can bring it lower than o to kill the engine.  On the  12x the throttle trim will only bring the  throttle curve to a minimum of 0, so you have to adjust your throttle curve to take account of this.

2.4Ghz Spread Spektrum radios are definite improvement over 72Mhz FM radios.  Worries about someone else turning on the radio on the same frequency and "shooting down" your helicopter are gone.

However, we soon forget about the bad old days of having to put up a peg with your frequency on the board at the local flying field. Now we have to deal with the decision as to which of the three main systems that are available on the market today, namely

This channel must be able to use a 3 position switch, preferably of the slider type to allow a gradual spool up.  The JR XP9303 has two, one on each side (Aux3 and Pitch).

As I have not used this helicopter for a long while I decided to sell it to a fellow flyer at the park I fly at.