Eric Hartley

Hi The Align 150 is certainly nowhere as robust as the Blade 120sr and I am on my 4th u/c with the Align. Hindsight is wonderful as I should have gone with the Blade mcpx for first micro cp together with the Spectrum Tx. Therefore I have consigned the Futaba 14sg to fixed wing only and have purchased a Spectrum DX6i which is far more user friendly for a newbie in helicopters. In addition have bought the Blade mcpx brushless which is far superior in build quality to the Align and so far no broken parts! Its probably my own fault as most forums recommend the Blade and Spectrum combo. and this is just a warning to newbies who may make the same error as me.

Hi I think I will have to purchase the Spectrum in order to operate the E flight Blade copters. The Align 150 micro was not up to the build quality of the Blade 120sr and the Blade durability seems a lot better. When looking through the various forums on helicopters the Spectrum system seems to be the way to go. The Futaba 14 sg is probably ok for fixed wing which of course I still fly.

Hi Yes unfortunately I purchased the Futaba 14sg which rules out the E flite Blade series. Should have gone Spectrum. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Hi On thinking through the matter I think it will be better to go for one of the proven controllers such as Beast X or 3GX MRS.

Hi I've been using an APM2.6 board with a quadcopter for aerial phtograpghy and have recently moved into the world of helicopters. Most time has been spent on the Phoenix sim. and I have purchased a TREX450 plus which is ready to fly once the weather improves. In the meantime so that I have some knowledge as to the workings of a helicopter have decided to have a go at building the HK450 with DFX fbl conversion. With regard to a control board was wondering if I could use the APM 2.6 as according to the mission planner there is the option for helicopter as well as multi rotor. I have looked at the Arducopter manual and it provides details of the wiring connections etc. but there is no real detail on installing the board (bearing in mind the limited space on a 450) whilst there are numerous videos on multirotors which I found useful when setting up the quad. Has anyone successfully installed this system on a 450 and if so any useful ref. points.

Hi Just purchased an Align 150 for indoor use (compatible with my Futaba 14sg Tx) having had some considerable use with my Blade 120sr and use of the Phoenix sim. However when spooling up the Align it skids across the floor to the left and I am reluctant to give it any more throttle in case it continues its direction to the left. I can't imagine that its an aileron trim issue as the model is fresh out of the box. I have certainly not experienced this on the sim. with cp models. Any ideas?

Hi I've recently purchased the Trex 450 plus and am in the process of setting up the Tx for beginner mode. The pitch curve for normal is suggested at 44,52,74,84,93. On my old T6EX Tx this is straightforward however on the 14sg the preset pitch curve reads -100,-50,+0,+50,+100 therefore to get the curve mentioned above what do I input? Edited By David Ashby - RCME on 17/01/2014 10:24:14

Hi I've had the Blade 120 SR for about 1 month and whilst it flies a treat it has had 3 tail motor replacements! flight time is around 6mins. after which the tail motor is very hot so I tend to leave it for say an hour before having another flight. On around the 6 to 8 flight the bird starts to spin around 1 min. into flight which is solved by replacing the motor but at around £9. per motor it is becoming expensive. Is there a better tail motor on the market? Or would it be better to look for another model altogether say the new Align 150 which although a lot more expensive has brushed motors and CP.(incidentally I'm looking at Align because I can bind it to my Futaba 14SG Tx.

Hi I've been onto the Helifreak website and a doc Ron seems to have sorted for me. As a matter of interest he advised me to try the advanced option when setting up the Tx and any reversing of channels to be made on the sim. not the Tx. and it now seems to work albeit in idle up mode only and not normal mode!

Hi I've recently decided to have a go at flying helicopters and already have a phoenix flight sim. which I have used for fixed wing and more recently helicopters. The Tx I have plugged into the sim. is a Futaba T6EX which works fine but I thought to try the Tx I use in the field which is a Futaba T14 SG. Whilst I appreciate this model is not listed according to the sim. you should still be able to calibrate etc. Unfortunately I am unable to get the Tx to work on the sim. and was wondering if anyone had any ideas or had encountered similar problems?

Hi I have flown fixed wing for a number of years and for a change built several quadcopters which have been fun to fly but mainly used for camera platform. For the last few months I have been flying an indoor micro (Blade 120SR which incidentally seems to burn through tail motors at a fair rate) and a Phoenix Flight Sim. with Futaba 14SG. I would like to try a collective pitch and was thinking of the Align trex450 plus - flybarless which according to the blurb is suited for beginners! Has anyone got any advice/suggestions' Eric

Hi Justin not a fluorescent light but in front of a computer screen. Eric

Hi Justin Youv've cracked it - touching the antennas has binded the receiver.

Hi I have gone into the link menu and accessed system and selected S-FHSS but the receiver will still not bind!

Hi I have recently purchased a R2006GS S-FHSS receiver which I am unable to bind with my T14 SG Tx! The FASST receivers are ok and I only wished to try the FHSS receiver for use in a park type flyer. According to the manual the receiver type is compatible with the Tx But it will not link. I Have depressed the link button on the receiver and held it down for 5 to 10 secs. but the red light continues to blink. Am I missing something?

Hi Just purchased a Twister 400s helicopter which uses a 7.4v(2 cell) 700mAh lipo battery. Looking for spares on the web there seems to be a better choice of 800mAh and 1000mAh batteries. However knowing very little about electric power (more used to ic) was wondering how critical the difference between 700mAh and 1000mah is ie. would a higher aMh count damage the motor?

Hi After many years of flying fixed wing rc (mainly acro wot and x'tra wot) have decided to have a go at helicopters. Dtring the last 12 mths. I have built and flown several Quadcopters which are ideal for aerial photography (Arducopter MPX 2.6 control board) which virtually fly themselves. I am looking for a helicopter that I will be able to use my existing radio gear with (Futaba 14SG) and after some time exploring the web have decided that the TREX450 Plus dfc (btf) seems to meet the criteria. Any advice would be welcombe. Eric

Hi Tony Removed dual rate settings on Tx and everything seems ok. Thanks again.

Hi Tony Me again! I've been operating my Quadcopter ok but this morning for some reason it would not arm. I have set the kk2 board back to factory settings but still no joy. I have been playing about with the transmitter (Futaba 14SG) dual rates so therefore tried on a 'new' model setting on the transmitter and duly tried to calibrate the esc's (Tx on and throttle full open then held to outer buttons on the kk2 board and connected the battery and received the appropriate bleeps but when I closed the throttle instead of receiving a bleep the motors spooled up!). Any suggestions /advice would be welcombe.

Hi Tony After all the messing about have realised that I set up the motors incorrectly ie 1 was spinning clockwise instead of anticlockwise and so on - this also accounted for the problem with yaw. Due to weather conditions have not taken it out but carefully tried it in the garage and all seems ok. Thanks again for your advice and the video info which will be useful for fine tuning later.

Hi Tony What I forgot to mention was that when I did the receiver test the control showed ok on the board ie left went and right went right. However when I was testing it on the ground (low throttle so it would merely lift front and back port and starboard) when it beganto spin I tried the rudder control and noticed it was reversed and therefore reversed it on my transmitter and it operated in the correct direction! strange!

Hi Tony Thanks for all info. Have duly inputted the relevant settings and now await another fine day to test. unfortunately cannot test indoors as I have been banished by my better half following a pruning of her indoor plants with the props!

Hi Yes I have calibrated the board according to various guides on ut and got all oks. Maybe I should bite the bullet and just by a reputable kit such as DJI Naza F450 with Naza V2 flight control board! after all you usually get what you pay for. Eric

Hi I've recently decided to have a go with quadcopters and have had some fun with the ready to fly "Twister". Therefore though I would have a go with something a bit larger! the K450 kit from RC Legends with KK2.0 Flight control board. Everything seemed to go together well and the settings on the KK2.0 I obtained from the web on "beginner" settings. Tried out indoors on a tiled floor (obviously not full throttle but enough to check pith and roll directions. When however I tried to fly it outside on the airfield on applying throttle it began to rapidly spin to port and with a couple of clicks on the trim to starboard it began spinning in that direction! Does anyone know of the possible causes? Or should I stick with the Acrowot? Eric

Hi Malcolm Thanks for the info. Incidentally most impressed with the fibre glass parts - there is no way I could have produced anything like. Eric