Decisions,

[CLM]

Well I plan to get a 30-50 size heli, and seem befuddled with the couple of choices I have available. I ham looking at the Century Hawk, and Raven(Raven is kinda spendy), or the Kyosho Caliber 5 (the 30 is ugly!) the JR ships are a bit beyond my price range.

I like the shaft drive tail on the Century birds and the Kyosho is out of stock from our distributor. The shaft drive from the Century helis are what I am leaning towards due to the shaft drive as opposed to belt... Opinions?

Chris

[tdswan]

I have a shaft drive and a belt drive heli. Hmmm.....the setup of a belt-drive is definately easier. As long as the tension is right, it's pretty much trouble free. UNTIL winter. The trouble is that the aluminum tail boom shrinks when it get's cold. The belt will get too loose. Once you re-adjust for the cold weather, you bring it back into the house after a day of flying....guess what! You guessed it! When it warms back up, the belt is stretched tight like a.....well, like a tightly stretched thingy. :p Some guys will adust it to a happy medium and continue flying but IMO, this isn't the safest thing to do. It's your call.

My shaft-drive heli was, well let's just say "picky". You need to be a lot more precise on the setup. You can't just throw it together with the number of shims the manual says and expect it to be right (like I did first). After a couple of bearings burning out and some reading on other forums, I discovered I had my tail transmission shimmed wrong. I also had some trouble aligning the beveled gear that goes to the auto hub. These were both due to a vague manual and to my being unfamiliar with a shaft-driven tail. This would have all been avoided had I saought help on the forums first before assuming I had it right in the first place. Each specific model is different and you may not run into the problems that I did, so don't let this sway you at all from a shaft tail. They're nice once they're set up properly and would probably be less apt to fail as compared to a belt.

Again, once the shaft drive tail is set up, you'll like it. Just be picky and make sure nothing is binding or seems too tight and things will be fine.

Now I feel like I've scared you away from a shaft tail. Don't look at it that way. Just some setup advice if you decide on the shaft. I know a guy who has 2 shaft-drive tail heli's and he's never replaced a tail gear in either of them and one is over 4 years old.
Good luck.

[heli-cuzz]

I'd go with a belt driven tail on a 50 size or up. The 30 size is a great learning heli, but they just don't have enough power for my taste in flying.

Like td said, set-up with a belt is easier. Belts give you a smoother operating tail drive system. The Caliber50 is has dual belts{maindrive+tail drive} that makes for a smooth running heli. I've had no probs in the cold weather{I've flow in 5 degrees fahrenheit} with the belts loosening up.

[CLM]

I'm not really trying to avoid the Kyosho it just happens to be out of stock at our wholesaler and I'm impaitient. ;)

I guess I just want to know if it's worth it to wait or if the century is comparable in quality.

Chris

[tdswan]

Century makes a very nice machine. Mine is well-built and parts are relatively reasonable. They also are quick to make upgrades and design changes when a weakness is found. They don't just ball-up tons of upgrades and changes in a V2 type model. Another guy at my field has a falcon 50 and he's been flying it for 4 years and has only changed the normal things like bearings and such over that time.

[CLM]

Well I think I'm going to go for the Century, I like the design they have, now to decide if the Raven at twice the price of the Hawk is the way to go, or just go Hawk and turn it into a Raven over time :)

Chris

[heli-cuzz]

I'm sure you'll be happy with either decision. :D