Motor updates

Both the G500 and 7HV got new motors in August 2016.  The G500 has a new XNova 4020-1200 in it which pulls hard and quiet.  That solved an untraceable noise issue that I had for a couple months, and a super hot motor issue recognized by Ron on his visit.  New motor was $170 after $15 discount coupon at AMain.

Slick looking motor

Even matches the canopy!

Then after Ron left, the 7HV had superheating issues with the motor, esc, and packs!  Deduced that the motor was defective, certainly not overworked by my style and frequency of flying that heli.  I installed a new Scorpion 4525-520kv today.  When I removed the stock Compass motor, the mounting housing end of the motor basically fell off the can, and I found a magnet jutting out loose from the can.  Jeez, poor quality.  Anyway after a few issues were resolved, the Scorpion is in the heli and ready for flight.  I had to add three 1mm thick washers at each of the four mounting bolts holding the motor to the aluminum motor cage, to give appropriate spacing for the pinion within the cage.  New motor was $275 after $25 discount coupon at AMain.

That should not fall apart like that!

See magnet sticking up in center of pic?

Three 1mm washers at each mounting bolt location

ESC wires rerouted over top of ESC due to shorter motor leads that require center exit from motor

Back on track!

Well, actually this reports on yesterday's flying, lol, but I am caught up with this post.  Flew the G500 and X5 twice each yesterday.  Flew the G630 three times.  All are doing great.  Really back in love with the G500 due to the powerhouse XNova motor on it.  Runs silent and so dang strong.  I don't need much power since I fly slow and very beginner big sky.  But I pumped the throttle from slow forward flight to do a huge loop, and that heli shot off like a rocket, wow!

With all three helis, I did a number of flips to inverted, then 180 turns, straight sections, followed by either a half loop back to upright, or yet another 180 and straight section.  This is getting me closer to coordinated turns as I get comfy with managing speed and height with elevator and throttle.  I also get to correct lines with rudder, and drift with aileron.  Fun, getting better and not so scarey!  Very good feeling to make some progress...this is such a brain game.

Oh, I flew the Factor after a long layoff, for two flights.  Flies better than I recall, because I remember kinda hating the aircraft.

Still catching up!

Must be a lazy bones because I just am not blogging the same day as flying!  I think I flew three times more since the last post, including a day with Tad last Thurs on his day off.  My usual SOP of around 7 flights each day with helis, rotating among four (X5 left at home due to falling back in love with the G500 with its new XNova motor), so that is 21 total, or 5 per heli...G500, 7HV, 690SX, and G630.  I have had probs with the 7HV overheating...the motor, esc, and batteries come down super hot, so actually I have flown that a little less than the others.  Gear train seems smooth.  The can on the stock Compass motor is shifting such that it touches the bottom motor housing...burn marks from overheating are self evident.  Thus after much consideration, I blame the motor as the cause and have ordered a new Scorpion motor.  $275, arg!  Lucky I had a $25 coupon for AMain or it would be $300.

Been flying various Stars a couple flights on each day too, including the StarStream, Aerostar 40, and MiniStar.

Catching up!

I have not been blogging because Cousin Ron came for a visit from July 29 till August 8.  Out of nine days of his stay, we flew eight!  It is too hard to remember exactly what i flew how many tome, but this will be close.  I flew all five helis over the 8 days, and typically had an average of 7 flights each day.  That makes 56 total flights distributed over five helis, so that makes about 11 flights per heli over the period.  I also flew the Star, Ministar, and Starstream during someof those days.

Ron put all my helis except the X5 on governor mode in the Castle escs.  Seems to work fine except i am having a possibly unrelated overheating issue with the stock motor in the 7HV.

On one of the first flying days, Ron detected my Quantum motor in the G500 overheating.  Combined with the weird noise issue in the heli, which i have noted in other blog entries, i decided to replace the motor with an XNova motor like Ron did.  The motor came from Amain in just two days.  It solved the noise issue and is just lukewarm to the fingers after flights.

Here are a few pics from the 8 days we flew:

Great flying conditions AND NO JB work!

I have neglected to enter my flight log the last few times.  Flew Thurs, putting on 4 flights of the X5, 4 on the Star, and 4 on the StarStream!  (NOTE to self: on 07/17 I added two very thin washers on bottom motor mount flanges to give more neutral thrust...stock setup has too much down thrust as exhibited by plane diving slightly on sudden application of full throttle.)

On Saturday, I flew the Aerostar 40 three flights, X5 4 flights, and 7HV 5 flights!

Then today I flew the MiniStar 6 flights X5 4 flights, and 690SX 5 flights.  It was good flying conditions each day.  No harvest work witnessed on Sat and Sun, and today I duly noted that the harvest machines are NOT even located at the field now.  Only the mowers and sprinklers are still there.  JB must have moved ops elsewhere for now.  HURRAH!

I actually tried to fly turns inverted today with the 690SX.  Kinda hard to see because I was too scared to try lower.  I feel like I will have a brain fart and not even know how to recover, so I need to be high enough to allow my brain to think!  Slight success because I made half a circle twice, and lesser arcs a few more times before bailing out to upright.  I guess it is a start.  I attempted left circles today, with left aileron and opposite rudder.  So much to think about with elevator and throttle to coordinate.  Upcoming plan....practice, practice, practice.

Another good day

While JB was harvesting, they were on the far south side of the sod farm, so flying was possible and easy.  Flew the X5 4 packs, 690SX 3 flights, and the StarStream 6 flights.  All went well.  Did not like the 9x4.7sf prop on the StarStream (no guts), so I upped it to a 10x4.7.  That was good and torquey and slightly more efficient on the packs compared to the 9x6 prop provided with the new plane by Dick.  Plane had seemingly same top speed with the 9x6 and 10x4.7 but the latter was punchier so I am sticking with that for now.  Flight times still are about 3.5 minutes though, nothing to brag about.

Surprise company

Jer and Ariel joined me at the field early this morning.  Jer flew my new StarStream for three packs and loved the design by Dick.  I got in three flights on it too, and also 3 on my X5, as well as the Logo 690SX.  Nice to have no JB workers at all while we were there a couple hours.