Landing Gear Setup. Transmitter and Receiver

[Jon Saunders 1]

I need help programming landing gear on a blade 450/Airwolf fuselage. How do I program the landing gear on the transmitter and how do I link it to an AUX Port on the receiver to the transmitter? Which AUX port can I plug the micro servo into?? I'm new at this and this is the final step with my build. Any help with this would be great. Thank you

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Frank Skilbeck]

Jon - as Percy says what radio are you using? as it's a blade 400 the instructions will have been written around Spektrum, is that the radio gear you are using and if so which set, transmitter and receiver.

[Allan Bennett]

Welcome to the forum

As others have said, more specific information about your equipment would be helpful.

You say you're new to this. Does that mean this is your first heli? If so, I would hope that you have an experienced heli flyer who can help you by checking your assembly, test flying it, and helping you learn how to fly. A 450 size heli with a scale fuselage is not a good one to start on.

As for which channel controls the landing gear, it won't do any harm to plug the gear servo(s) into any spare AUX channel (bearing in mind that channels 1-6 are probably already used up by the primary flight controls) and see which switch on the transmitter activates them. If your transmitter has programming capabilities, you should be able to tell it which switch you want to control which AUX channel.

Leave the main and tail blades off the heli while doing any tests and checks.

[Jon H]

If you only have a 6 channel radio you are going to be out of luck with the retracts as you do not have enough channels as you have 3 for cyclic, 1 for rudder, 1 for throttle and 1 for gyro gain. That is your full 6 so you would need either an upgrade to your radio or a gyro with no remote gain function. But, even if you find a gyro like that, you may not be able to convince your radio that you can use retracts on the gyro switch.

I also agree with Allan. Remove the blades when fiddling. In fact with the blade 400/450 series just remove the entire head/mainshaft assembly as its only held in by one bolt through the main gear at the bottom. If you have a spare shaft (or an old bent one) you can just drop that in to stop the main gears falling out.

 

Edited By Jon Harper - Laser Engines on 24/12/2015 08:22:48

[Jon Saunders 1]

It's a blade 450 3D rtf with a spektrum dx6i transmitter. I was told a 7 channel transmitter will do the trick l. I have flown smaller rc helicopters as practice but they are your typical up down forward and back Walmart type helis I've flown and this larger heli may be too much for me to handle. My local hobby shop will be installing my fuselage to the heli and setting it up to fly. They also said they will instruct me on how to fly it without destroying it. I realize I have a lot of practice ahead of me but I have to start somewhere. Should I start with a simulator? Will a simulator teach things such as pitch curve and throttle curve?? I've heard mixed reviews about simulators. Thank you for welcoming me to the forum.

[Jon H]

The blade 450 is a good machine but it is not suitable for someone at your level (or at least what I believe your level is).

I taught myself to fly helis using the blade 400 and it took me the best part of a year and that was with another year before that of smaller helis and 20 years of model plane experience. By the sound of it you are trying to run before you can reasonably crawl and I would very strongly recommend you reconsider your plan. I have flown a blade 450 and it is much more powerful and not as forgiving as my blade 400 was. Its a great heli but not for beginners and while the settings can be turned down a bit it is what it is at the end of the day.

You do not mention if you fly with a club or if you are going it alone? I would strongly recommend you join your local flying club and get some tuition on flying model helis before you try and fly with a scale body on it.

I don't wish to be dramatic, but you could kill yourself with a 450 size heli so do take care and if you aren't sure then stop and get some help. Also are you in the US by any chance (you mentioned walmart and we don't have them in England)? If so there are new rules out for you guys governing the operation of models and you need to be in compliance with those or you face a hefty fine.

Also be aware that some (not all by any means) retailers will try to over simplify things in order to make a sale, so always be a little cautious following their recommendations

If you need more assistance let us know

[Allan Bennett]

I learned on a T-Rex 500 after getting my eye/brain/finger coordination sorted with a Twister Bell 47 for over a year. So I can't say you won't/shouldn't learn with a 450, so long as you're careful about it.

But one thing I would say is, don't install the scale fuselage on it until you can repeatedly hover a full battery without any problem. I had quite a few minor crashes with my 500 while learning, and in each case I damaged the tail boom and a few other bits. It's cheaper and easier to repair if it's just in pod-and-boom form.

[sean smith 1]

Leave the fuselage off the model until you can fly circuits. A pair of crossed sticks with training balls is a good idea to start with, lets you low hover without tipping over.

[Frank Skilbeck]

Some good advice above, and getting back to your original question with a Dx6i and a collective pitch helicopter you use all the available channels for the flight controls, Throttle, Pitch, forward/back cyclic, roll cyclic, tail and Gyro gain not leaving any for additional features, so for landing gear you'd need a minimum of 7 channel Tx and Rx.

Whatever you do, please go careful with your heli, you will find the 450 about 50x more responsive than the Walmart type, crossed stick with training balls is a great idea and keep it to small low hops to begin with. Make sure your local hobby shop keeps lots of spares in stock.