Any Cal5 owners out there?

[heli-cuzz]

I bought a new Cal 5.

Does anyone know of any issues that need to be dealt with during set-up?

I own a Cal 30 and am very pleased with it's performance to date. Hoping my new 50 will live up to and exceed it's baby brothers performance.

[tdswan]

When ya get it, post some pics of the build and such. I was teetering between a Caliber 5 and the gasser before I bought it. My next 50 will probably be the Caliber. I especially liked the belt drive between the motor and pinion. I'll bet it's smooth as glass without the engine vibration transferring directly to the main gear.

[heli-cuzz]

It'll be here this afternoon. :D

Pics later tonite. :cool:

[cbflys]

I've been flying a Caliber 5. I love it. I posted some of the things you need to watch out for on runryder.com. Look under Kyosho and the topic Caliber 5 Head Observations. It flys great out of the box. Also, some people have been noticing some problems with the tail rotor shaft bearings wearing out their seats. You may want to read up on that too.

Chuck

[heli-cuzz]

Thanks, I'll have to check it out @ RR. I just started assembling and there were a few things I didn't like. The tail mounting screws should be a nut&bolt and not those cheesy tp screws. I tried one and it was an instant spin-out, so I'll use the nut&bolt set-up like my Cal 30 has. I checked the factory assembled half and everything appears to be in check. I'll have it up this weekend. :D

[cbflys]

Be careful with nuts and bolts for holding in the tail boom. The plastic is pretty soft and the nuts will most likely spin in their seats. In general, don't over tighten any of the screws that interface directly with the plastic.

A few other things... The tail blades are pretty flexible. You may want to replace them with some stiffer ones. Get rid of the z-bend on the tail pitch push-rod. Thread it for a ball link.

Like I mention in the RR forum, most important thing is to watch out for interference between the washout arms and the swash plate when setting up your linkage.

[cbflys]

To save some time, I've copied the post I made in the RunRyder forum ...

I've just finished building my Caliber 5. I've also read just about every thread I can find on various forums regarding linkage bindings and such on this kit. Here are some observations I've made ...

With the linkages setup exaclty as per the instruction manual, and my collective servo ATV set at 110%, I get 24 degrees of pitch change. There is an extreamly (and I do mean extreamly) minimal amount of binding in the control loop between the collective servo and collective tray. I consider this negligable because the flex in the linkages and servo wheel seem to more than absorb this (I can't actually see the flexing, but it must be there). It works very smooth with no strain on the servo.

With the left/right and fore/aft cyclic servo ATVs set to 100%, I get binding (or more correctly, interference) at full negative collective when the cyclic is moved to full aft and full left or right simultaniously. The wash-out arm link hits the ball mount molding of the outer swashplate ring. What I did was reduce the cyclic ATVs until the binding was resolved. I still seem to have a good bit of cyclic throw so I don't see this throw reduction as being and issue. Additionally, I moved the balls on the mixing arms to the outer most hole in order to get more cyclic authority. Naturally, I re-adjusted the pitch linkages to get 0 degrees pitch at the mid-collective point. So I have +/- 12 degress of pitch available. Another thing to watch out for is the "nubs" on the bottom of the swashplate hitting the top of the frame at full negative collective with cyclic inputs. If it weren't for this, you could get even more pitch.

I haven't flown the C5 yet so I don't know how responsive this setup will be. If I find that the engine (an OS 50 Hyper) can't drive 12 degrees of pitch, I will reduce the collective throw in order to get back more cyclic throw if necessary.

[heli-cuzz]

Thanks cb :D

[heli-cuzz]

Just finished the eccpm linkage. She's ready to fly. :cool: Very easy to set-up, need to find a better way to screw on the ball link ends. My fingers are killing me now. LoL
I'll post pics of the build soon. Now for the decals. :cool:

[Rotor Ruiner]

I recently built a Cal 5 with an OS 50 Hyper and loved it so much, I went out the next week and bought another full kit just so I will never have to wait for spares. Mine also has the swash interaction issue at around 11.5 to 12 degrees negative pitch. We all know that the stock TR blades are way to flexible - I gotta deal with that next. The only complaint I have with mine is that the inverted climbout rate is slow. I know it is a tuning/setup problem. I just can't seem to find it. The next thing for me is a Revmax - hopefully that will help. Other than that for the price Kyosho put out a amazing heli kit. I would like to try stuffing a 50 Hyper in a Cal 3, that would be a rocket. Can't wait for someone to come out with aluminum blade grips.

[cbflys]

Hey,

Nice to see all you Caliber 5 guys chiming in.

If your inverted climb-out is much different than your up-right climb-out, it's probably not engine tuning. If they're both poor, then it could be. Check your pitch/throttle curves and make sure your head speed is not changing much. There is also some flexing in the linkages / etc. which will be more evident if you try to pull too much pitch. The OS .50 is a strong engine but it will not hold the head speed with 12 degrees of pitch.

Let us know what you find out.

Chuck

[heli-cuzz]

This is the first flite of my Caliber50, seeing how well the upward thrust is. I think it's pretty good here. It's much better now with a gallon through the engine. It's inverted thrust is equal to if not better.

Click here to watch MOV00011-37 (http://media.putfile.com/MOV00011-37)

[heli-cuzz]

Same tank, I love the 50 sized heli, now I want a 90 :D

Click here to watch breaking-in (http://media.putfile.com/breaking-in)

[cbflys]

Looking good. I agree - my engine became real sweet only after about 5 -6 tanks of fuel. Now it never misses a beat. The OS 50 Hyper has to be one of the best engines I've ever owned. You should have a real good time with this machine. You may want to check the RunRyder forums under Kyosho - alot of good advise there on this heli.

[heli-cuzz]

I have a revmax on the way. Delivery date is 9-06-06 :D

[superflyer]

This page really heploed me. I just bought a Caliber 5.