Rock and Dan go Scale

[Dan]

Rock and I haven’t made any large purchases in a while. We’ve been flying the Blade mRS around the house and that amused us for about 2 days.

[Dan]

Now we’re pretty bored and trying to find some direction to go in. Our flying has progressed with the T-rex 600 Nitro Super Pro and 600 ESP to mild 3D and we can perform flips, rolls, loops, inverted pirouettes, a few tic-tocs (but we lose altitude and stop after 4) and general fast flying in any upright orientation.

We’re in our mid 50’s and don’t have the motivation or reflexes to go much farther and we’re not interested in competing with 6 year olds for a world title. But we love helicopters and we’re looking for a challenge that our old eyes and reflexes won’t limit our success in.

[Dan]

I think we found it when we were at IRCHA looking at the scale models. We decided to build a nice scale 50 size Huey. A Bell HU-1B, not the new UH-1Y twin engine version that Thunder Tiger sells. In doing a little research we discovered that it was going to be pretty costly and thought maybe we should take on something a little less expensive first and get some hands on experience with scale helicopters before jumping in with both feet.

[Dan]

We decided to buy a used Raptor 50, rebuild it and make it the mechanics and then find a nice clean fiberglass body that we could get un-painted, fit it to the Raptor and finish it.

[Dan]

We got this 3 year old stripped Raptor 50 frame for $150.00 and ordered a full set of bearings from RC-Bearings.com. They sell the complete bearing set for the 30/50 Raptor V2 for $46.99. We’re hoping that by starting with all new bearings and a new belt we won’t need to take the mechanics out of the body for a long time.

As our 3D flying got better we found ourselves up-grading the gyros and servos in our 3D machines. We now have 2 nice sets of digital swash servos and 2 Futaba 401 gyros in inventory which should work very nicely in scale projects. We also have in inventory an almost new Hyper 50 engine and a tail servo from our short lived Vision 50 experiment.

[Dan]

We decided to purchase the Century Helicopters Bell Long Ranger 50 size body. It is available un-painted for about $170.00 and Century claims it will fit the 50 Raptor without any modifications. It is also a very popular helicopter and there are a lot of great paint jobs out there on the full sized ones that we can use for ideas.

[Dan]

At this time we like this paint job. I was talking to my friend Crash, I mean Schluterdude, and he said he’d like to do this paint job on the body for me. He has had formal training in paint and body work and I’ve seen some samples that are very impressive. Also if he can do finish work anywhere near as well as he does metal fabrication work it will be perfect. He is a perfectionist.

[schluterdude]

...I’ve seen some samples that are very impressive. Also if he can do finish work anywhere near as well as he does metal fabrication work it will be perfect. He is a perfectionist.

awww, stop it dan, you're making me blush!!!! :rolleyes:

[blax1]

Awesome stuff Dan, looking forward to this :cool:
It might even bring Rappy1 outta the woodwork, he luv's Longer Rangers............ ;)

[vermonster]

I had a feeling Rock was going to talk you into scale.:cool:

From what I've read those Century fuses are an awesome fit. :D

I haven't seen Schlutercrash's paint work, but I did see pictures of his body work and it's awesome. He does do nice work.

[schluterdude]

I haven't seen Schlutercrash's paint work, but I did see pictures of his body work and it's awesome. He does do nice work.

that Z was the project from hell!!! it was uber hot the entire week! at least it made the filler set up quick... whoever owned that car prior definatly had some hack fixes (put on a lower quarter panel the total wrong way!), but schlutercrash, i mean, schluterdude to the rescue!!!!

just too bad pictures don't let you feel the curves. she was niiiiiiiiiiice when i was done. a shame my friend didn't understand that what we were doing was just about as close to doing the horizontal poka with a car as you can get. i think i owe that car a dinner...

[jschief]

Will Rock be able to fly in it. Or is the heli not big enough.

[Dan]

Will Rock be able to fly in it. Or is the heli not big enough.
Can Rock fly in it? I’m not sure. Rock is 1/6th scale and the Bell Long Ranger is 1/8th scale. We might be able to stuff him in there or maybe a temporary foot removal like we do when he flies the Heli-Baby can get him in there. Maybe we should just have him parachute from the Ranger. That would be easy.

I’ll take a hard look at the space and weight when I get it built but I’m pretty sure Rock is designed for a 90 size scale helicopter and who knows, that might be next.

[Dan]

Well Rock was very excited when I got home tonight. There was a very big box here.

[Dan]

But when we got it open we found it contained another very big box.

[Dan]

But once we got it un-packed it was one very cool body and just about the right size for Rock.

[vermonster]

Thanx Rock for keeping us posted. Now I'll have to bring the laptop to my daughters wedding in Connecticut this weekend. I wouldn't miss this for the world. :D

[kcgraves]

This is going to be priceless. :D Keep us up to date on the progress Rock.

[schluterdude]

wow, she came more assembled than i would have thought! i thought you were going to have a separate boom and body, and each of those halved! lucky man!

but how do you fit in your mechanics? i assume you just laid the top piece on...

[DVS]

Sweeet another Dan and Rock build thread. :D

[vermonster]

wow, she came more assembled than i would have thought! i thought you were going to have a separate boom and body, and each of those halved! lucky man!

but how do you fit in your mechanics? i assume you just laid the top piece on...

Here are some pictures TJ. Take note on how this goes together you maybe painting my fuse. :D


http://www.centuryheli.com/products/fuselages/funkey/LRanger46/index.html?currentid=184

[schluterdude]

ahhhh.... it all makes sense to me now!!!

as i like to say R.T.F.M....

Read
The
F*****g
Manual

amazing the answers you can find if you just open your eyes!!!!

[Dan]

When Rock stands next to the body you can really see that he is 1/6th scale and the helicopter is 1/8th scale. I don't think he'll be going for a ride when this is done.

[Dan]

We've been going over the instructions and some of this stuff is very simple and there aren't very many steps to fitting the frame to the body.

[Dan]

Steps 1, 2 and 3 are very straight forward but after that it gets a little fuzzy.

[Dan]

In step 4 they say to glue in some pieces of wood and to drill a bunch of holes at very un-clear locations in the main body section. In step 5 they say to do the same thing in the removable nose section. In step 6 they say make sure that the holes you drilled in step 4 line up perfectly with the holes you drilled in step 5. Then in step 7 they say make sure you sand the entire inside of the body before you do anything. This has got Rock and I once again standing around scratching our heads.

[Dan]

We've gone ahead and completed steps 2 and 3. Step 2 was to install the Manifold on top of the body.

[Dan]

Step 3 involves removing excess material on the main body section that is left over from the manufacturing process. The material needs to be removed in order for the mechanics to slide into the body. With that done we were able to put the mechanics inside the body to see how everything fit.

[Dan]

With the mechanics in position the boom is not in an accessible location to mount the tail on. The mechanics cannot be temporarily moved back so I think the tail and boom will need to be assembled and fed back into the frame. Assembling that and hooking up the tail linkage will be like building a ship in a bottle.

This is why it's always a good idea to read the direction thoroughly before beginning. I'm reminded of an old Get Smart episode where Max needs to de-fuse a bomb. Someone is reading the directions to him and says "Find the red wire, do you have it?" Max say "Yes". "Next cut the red wire -------but first".

[schluterdude]

didn't you say something in an email about switching the side of the tail rotor???

allot of those wood pieces at the top are for tying together the body and the front cab, aren't they?

i think you and rock need a couple vodka tonics. then everything always seems to fall into place...

[Dan]

didn't you say something in an email about switching the side of the tail rotor???

Yes I did and I've decided to forgetaboutit.

allot of those wood pieces at the top are for tying together the body and the front cab, aren't they?

They are all for tying the two pieces together so we need perfect alignment.

i think you and rock need a couple vodka tonics. then everything always seems to fall into place...

What else would we be doing?

You need to hurry up and get here because Rock is looking at me like I'm stalling.

[schluterdude]

You need to hurry up and get here because Rock is looking at me like I'm stalling.

lol!!!

well, are you stalling?????

don't worry, i'll work so fast once i get there rock's head will start to spin! i'll just have to give you to an honorary supervisors position. make it look like a NYS job. two people watching while one works! :D

[Dan]

Well Schluterdude I'm not stalling, we just still have a ton of work to do on the mechanics. So if I don't get to the body stuff until you get here it's not because I'm scared, at least that's what I'm telling myself. Today we checked and changed bearings, installed the swash and tail servos, installed the gyro and regulator, we also put on the new main blades and tail blades. We're determined to fly these mechanics and get them tuned in before we install them in the body.

[Dan]

The muffler I have won't work in the body and the lime green fluorescent paddles that are on it now won't go too well with the paint job we have in mind. We also need a new throttle servo and a new 7.4 volt LiPo flight battery. I guess we're not getting this done without spending a little more scratch. Schulterdude warned me that the paint costs could top $100.00.

[schluterdude]

easily top 100 if we use the colors i was talking about... i'll get a quote this week and let you know...

[cbflys]

For the colors that you need very little of, you can go to your local auto body shop and see if they have them there. Most will gladly sell you (or even give you) a small jar of paint.

[schluterdude]

i used to work in the industry (both collision and hot rod/restoration). i know my way around a paint shop ;)

i'll try and get dan the best deal possible. the problem lies in pearlescent colors... solid colors are relatively cheap. but, particularly the white we were going to do is going to wind up being a tri-coat panel. i agree that very little paint will be required, but, i know the blue that i suggested to Dan runs about $250 bucks a quart (i painted my Z that color 2 years ago, and, another industry where the cost only goes up). i'll need less than a pint for the bird, but, i'll have to find the smallest amount they're willing to sell. sometimes, with certain colors, mixing small amounts just doesn't work out right. it should, since they are all percentages and ratios, but, it just doesn't.... i tried mixing a couple ounces of "Go-Man-Go" orange to paint a model SuperBee once. just couldn't get it to look quite right, because of the volume...

[schluterdude]

forgot to say that i have some of that blue paint left over though... enough to spray the body. hopefully someone has a mis-pour of a nice red color for the stripe, and maybe the white as well... so it'll just need the mid-coat clear and pearl for the white, primer and clear coat....

[vermonster]

forgot to say that i have some of that blue paint left over though... enough to spray the body. hopefully someone has a mis-pour of a nice red color for the stripe, and maybe the white as well... so it'll just need the mid-coat clear and pearl for the white, primer and clear coat....

Hey Schuluterdude do you do airbrushing? :cool:

[Dan]

i used to work in the industry (both collision and hot rod/restoration). i know my way around a paint shop ;)

i'll try and get dan the best deal possible. the problem lies in pearlescent colors... solid colors are relatively cheap. but, particularly the white we were going to do is going to wind up being a tri-coat panel. i agree that very little paint will be required, but, i know the blue that i suggested to Dan runs about $250 bucks a quart.


Paint costs topping $100 won’t be a problem, topping $300.00 is a problem. I’m glade you’re getting a quote because if the costs get crazy I think we should go with normal cheap red, white and blue.

[schluterdude]

like i said, i have the blue, so that isn't a problem... they will usually cut a deal on mis-pours. the only thing that would be full cost would be the pearl mid-coat, primer, and clear. but, we won't need much, so i'll do some hunting this week and let you know what i come up with....

Vermonster - if i knew how to draw, i could airbrush :)

[Dan]

Rock and I spent an hour going through every copy of RC Heli Magazine we have. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m missing issues 1 through 6.

We remembered an issue where Dr. Tim showed us how he attaches the wood braces into the bottom of a fiberglass fuselage. We also remembered a 2 part story on installing the mechanics and painting an unfinished fiberglass fuselage. We found them and will use them for reference as we build. We also noticed that there is very little about scale helicopters in the magazine.

At least ¾ of the Scale Shop articles are just pictures from shows and not How To articles like we were looking for. I guess I need to be sensitive here and acknowledge that the magazine needs to cover areas that are of the greatest interest the greatest number of subscribers.

I spent a long time building my Heli-Baby and restoring my Schluter Superior while documenting it in these threads. And while those threads had over 20,000 views the magazine did not print a single picture of that work even after I submitted the finished pictures to them. I think they are correct in not wasting space on vintage helicopters because there are only a handful of people still flying them. Out of almost 1000 pilots at IRCHA there were only 5 flying vintage aircraft. I know because I was there looking for them.

I know there is a greater interest in scale helicopters because there were at least 100 of them at IRCHA. The number of articles that can be written about them in general has got to be few but there are a lot of kits out there now. In fact I would venture to guess that there are just as many scale bodies coming out each year now as there are new 3D helicopters.

So Rock and I think all of you manufacturers of scale helicopters and scale bodies should be sending samples to RC Heli Magazine for review, and advertise them in there for crying out loud.

And you guys at RC Heli Magazine, if you don’t want to deal with scale stuff just send the stuff on over to cbflys, Rock and me and we’ll send you the reviews.

[vermonster]

I know there is a greater interest in scale helicopters because there were at least 100 of them at IRCHA. The number of articles that can be written about them in general has got to be few but there are a lot of kits out there now. In fact I would venture to guess that there are just as many scale bodies coming out each year now as there are new 3D helicopters.

So Rock and I think all of you manufacturers of scale helicopters and scale bodies should be sending samples to RC Heli Magazine for review, and advertise them in there for crying out loud.


Are you sure you weren't at the Colatina( http://colatinaexit.com/) when Rock talked me into going scale. Seems like he had the same conversation with you that he had with me.

[cbflys]

Didn't Jim Innes do a scale article a few months back?

I will 'officially' put in the request for more scale stuff ...

[vermonster]

Paint costs topping $100 won’t be a problem, topping $300.00 is a problem. I’m glade you’re getting a quote because if the costs get crazy I think we should go with normal cheap red, white and blue.

What ever color(s) you guys have in mind I'm 100% positive this is going to draw some attention. :D


I will 'officially' put in the request for more scale stuff ...

Cool thanx :D

[schluterdude]

cool chuck, get their butts in gear!!!

it's a shame the colors probably won't look too interesting in pictures because of the camera i have. i'll try and steal a buddies camera that has some awesome resolution when i spray it so you guys can see what's up with them...

[Rappy1]

Here in New Zealand the auto paint shops can mix up any car/bike/heli colour you wish and have it stuck in a spray can. The paint is of a much better quality than you buy in your auto parts store and is great for doing small applications like rc. Although its probably not upto lasting 20 years on a car it is fine for models so long as you put the effort into the sanding and prep work. Make sure it gets a good clear coat. I cant remember the type of arylic clear coat i used on my heli but it is a softer one. Shuttler may know the type, its a 1:1.5 mix with thinners. My lazyness meant my heli was sitting for around 4 months with nitro and oil from the exhaust after the last time i flew her over that period with out any stains or damage to the paint work.
I have had a recent change in r/c direction and doing some boating so have just finished the hull of my boat, I gave the boat the same paint process except this time instead of automotive primer i used marine grade and the finish came up perfect. If i was to do the longranger again i would use the marine grade stuff as its much thicker and built for use on fibreglass.
As to mounting the tail housing its the worst part of the build. I installed mine with the boom mounted and tension correct then just removed the tail rotor ass, and reinstalled BEFORE mounting the frame to the body. You need as much tail boom sticking out as possible to be able to mount the tail box back on. I am unsure on the length difference between the titan and the standard tail booms, but if the titan looks like it will fit, i would go with that.
I also left the exhaust off mine. I am sure it would be fine with it but when you have the blades on it looks so close. You will love flying with the body. It really has a different look to fly after flying pod and boom. Perfect if you have failing eye sight haha

[Dan]

Rappy1, that is great input. Where have you been? We haven’t heard from you since June.

I’m wondering if when you assembled the tail box you needed to remove the main shaft in order to slide the frame back into the body far enough to allow the boom to be exposed behind the helicopter. That would mean installing the main gear and belt to the main shaft through the windows once the tail box was on. That goes back to my building a ship in a bottle analogy.

Any advice you can give would be helpful.

[Rappy1]

I been hibernating over winter you see. but really the over the top nitro fuel prices here have got out of hand making you cringe each time you fill the tank on the raptor. i feel sorry for those .90 guys.

However back to your build
I think removing the tail box and sliding the mechanics and boom in seems the best way to get a tidy finish. I have seen other peoples ones for sale here in NZ and it looks like they have had to drill 4 holes that line up with the boom mount, but when you look at its not so neat. with mine i figured that to get the nuts on the tail housing where you have the two nuts and bolts over the tail boom you have to change it to a self tapper. I am woundering if i could of got away with just gluing the nuts to the plastic but from what i remember i may have even had to trim parts of the tail box so it would fit clean in the tail without touching the fibreglass. I would suggest trying to fit the mechanics fully before painting, so if any work needs to be done you dont have to worry about spoiling your nice new paint work

As for your idea if it works go for it. The issues i think with that way is trying to get the boom mount tightened when inside the heli and also the tail servo control rod. if you can find a way around that you will be fine

[Dan]

Rock and I think we have the details worked out on how to fit the nose of the canopy to the main body. Using mini clamps and clothes pins we can get a nice tight fit.

[Dan]

By holding the two pieces together like this we think we can use a drill bit in our Dremel tool and drill through both parts at the same time. First we need to epoxy plywood backing to the lips that the holes need to be drilled in so this won't be happening tonight.

[Dan]

This seam looks perfect but we can't work on this anymore tonight because we're packing tonight because tomorrow right after work Rock and I are headed to the NEAT Fair which is an all electric RC event held upstate New York. We're registered as pilots and will be flying Friday morning so this needs to wait until Monday.

[vermonster]

Perfect! Have a safe trip and don't forget the camera...........;)

[Rappy1]

Looks good Dan!
On the left side get the screw holes as close to the outside body as you can. Depending on the muffler you use it hits on that fibreglass join. having the holes close to the body will allow you to shave the fibreglass off that you need without needing to drill new holes. I think it pays to buy the century scale muffler.

[Dan]

Thank you Rappy1, I’ve ordered the Scale Century Muffler and I’m hoping that it gives me good clearance on the Port side of the body.

I also think I’m going to get away with installing the boom and tail without making any extra holes anywhere. I think it was just a puzzle that Rock and I needed to noodle out. We’ll go through the steps in this thread when the time comes and see if I’m correct.

[Dan]

So Rock and I are back from the NEAT Fair and Schluterdude is in town. We're working hard on about 3 different projects but right now we're drilling the holes to attach the nose of the Ranger to the main body. We put a 3mm drill bit (really a 1/8") in the end of a X-acto knife handle so we could very carefully twist it through the fiberglass. We marked our holes where we wanted them on one surface and then drilled them by hand.

[Dan]

Rock told us he'd show us how it's done.

[Dan]

Then we clamped the parts together and using our existing holes as guides we drilled back through the other piece of the body.

[Dan]

Once all of the holes were done we epoxied the wood doublers in place behind the holes with 30 minute epoxy. We're done for tonight.

[Dan]

BUT FIRST------------we needed to sand the surfaces where we planned to epoxy the doublers. I forgot to take a picture of Rock doing the sanding but I assure you we did first sand every place we epoxied a doubler with 150 grit paper.

We’re taking a little license here because we decided we wanted to hold the nose on with Rare Earth Magnets. We want to be able to remove the nose after every flight without messing with a bunch of wood screws. In order to make this change we upped the number of alignment pegs from the 4 that came with the body to 6. With 6 alignment pegs and 6 sets of magnets we think we’ll get a great fit and a nose that is easily removable while still rock solid when in place. I ordered the magnets today and they should be here this Thursday.

[olhippie]

This stuff is great Dan! You and Rock keep em coming.

[cbflys]

Dan, if you don't want to wait for your magnets - I have some here ...

[Dan]

Thank you olhippie, I'll be posting my progress. And thank you Chuck but we have plenty of time for the magnets. I really don't need them for a while.

I thought Schluterdude would be drilling out the wood doublers and epoxying in the pegs but he's not even looking at the Ranger. He's determine to finish the T-Rex 700 and start breaking in the new engine so he can fly it this weekend.

[Dan]

That left Rock and I to work on the Ranger tonight. We got the parts in from Century which included the scale muffler they recommend. I'm sure that it's the scale muffler for a different helicopter but because it is so narrow it will work great in this body.

[Dan]

This muffler fits so tight to the body that it interferes with the throttle linkage. Rock and I had already set up the throttle but we needed to do it again moving the ball to the back side of the carburetor arm.

[Dan]

Here the muffler is installed and the throttle is working correctly. But all Rock wants to know is what I'm going to do with all of these wires. Tomorrow Rock, tomorrow.

[Dan]

Well tonight both Schluterdude and I had 700 fever. I think we have it set up now so we went back to working on the Ranger. Schluterdude started hand drilling the plywood doublers and I finished. Then we inserted the pegs. Rock supervised.

[Dan]

The job came out very neat and exact.

[Dan]

When we slid the 2 parts together they were a perfect fit.

[Dan]

The next step was to clamp the two pieces together with a lot of magnets and make sure we had perfect alignment.

[Dan]

Then we inserted the pegs half way in.

[Dan]

While they were in this position we mixed up epoxy and coated the ends of the pegs and the remaining exposed wood.

[Dan]

Then we pushed the pegs in flush with the wood doublers and waited for the epoxy to set up.

[Dan]

Next we very carefully measured and marked the bottom of the helicopter with the positions the instructions said needed to be drilled in order to bolt the mechanics to the skids, through the body.

We then took the bottom off the Raptor frame and placed it on the bottom of the body to see if the holes lined up.

[Dan]

The holes were very close but not perfect. We centered the frame bottom within the instructions marks on the body and remarked the holes. Then we drilled one hole so we could place the mechanics inside the body and use one screw to check alignment.

[Dan]

When we did a test fit using the one hole we drilled the main shaft was dead center where it exited the top of the body.

After that we went ahead and drilled the other three holes.

[Dan]

At this point we removed the mainshaft and pushed the mechanics as far back as we could into the body. The boom stuck out far enough to mount the rubber grommet and the tail assembly. We took a measurement and used a sanding tube on a Dremel to make a slot for the tail mechanics on the boom of the body.

[Dan]

Then we screw the mechanic in place and sanded the scale body’s boom cap to fit over the Raptor tail assembly.

[Dan]

Here we re-installed the mainshaft just so we could admire our work.

[Dan]

Here we stuck the tail fins on and put Schluterdude in the picture so you could get a better idea of the size of this machine.

[jschief]

The heli is looking good, Dan.

I like to look at the scale heli's, just looks like to much work to do.

[schluterdude]

surprisingly, it's actually half way easy... it just takes some thinking outside the box and some time. we havn't really done anything yet that has been really "out there" as far as skill levels. i think these funkey fuse's are a great first project, either painted or unpainted.

[Dan]

I test flew the Raptor mechanic this past Saturday and I was very impressed with the helicopter. I had never flown one before and didn’t know what to expect. I had put the Raptor canopy back on it but had left off the tail boom supports. I was looking for any vibration.

That helicopter was rock solid, no vibration and tons of power with the Hyper 50 engine. I was doing loops, rolls and flips within 3 minutes of having it in the air. The tracking felt better than my T-Rex 600 Nitro machine which will make it great for scale flying.

The only change I want to make is I’m going to add a governor. It is one great machine and with the new bearing kit I got from RC-Bearings.com I think it will fly great for a long time.

[vermonster]

I was just going to ask if you were going to test fly it. :D Did you consider a rev limiter instead of a governor?

[kcgraves]

That helicopter was rock solid, no vibration and tons of power with the Hyper 50 engine. I was doing loops, rolls and flips within 3 minutes of having it in the air. The tracking felt better than my T-Rex 600 Nitro machine which will make it great for scale flying.


My first nitro was a Raptor 50 Titan. I still love to fly it and after 200 tanks it still flies beautifully. But since then I've become a Hirobo lover. I was thinking of selling the Titan but I just can't part with it. It flies too well and the parts are cheap.

Very nice heli Dan with the mechanics in it. :cool: But we don't know how big Schluterdude is to really know the size. :D

[cbflys]

But we don't know how big Schluterdude is to really know the size. :D
That DX7 looks twice as big as Schluterdude's head ...

[vermonster]

That DX7 looks twice as big as Schluterdude's head ...

typical digital camera..... Here's Schluterdude running a T Rex 600 nitro heli.... :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg0-e00Hd0E&feature=channel

[schluterdude]

what are you saying chuck, i have a small head??? lol! :rolleyes:

chuck was there having fun with his frenzy the day i was flying that 600. too bad i wasn't flying closer when dan was filming, so you could see it!

[Dan]

Did you consider a rev limiter instead of a governor?

I will in fact be using the Align Rev Limiter, not a governor. For $65.00 they work great and are a breeze to set-up. That’s what I’m flying on both my 600 and 700 T-rex’s.

[cbflys]

what are you saying chuck, i have a small head??? lol! :rolleyes:
Nope, Dan has a VERY BIG DX7

[Dan]

Once again we find ourselves at odds with the instructions and we’ve decided to make a few changes. We need to install an upper body brace to make sure there is no vibration in the upper part of the fiberglass body. The instructions say to remove the studs which hold the canopy supports in place and install them in place of the rear upper bearing block screws as seen here.

[Dan]

Then they want us to drill holes in the body that line up with the new location of the canopy braces and attach the body to the supplied aluminum mounting pieces now threaded onto the canopy studs. This is done with the included machine screws.

We don’t like this because the body is so thin at this mounting location that you can see light through it. We think that just in handling the heads of the machine screws will pull through the body. We want to install large 1/8 inch plywood doublers on both sides in the attachment areas but if we do the included aluminum mounting pieces won’t fit in the left over space.

[Dan]

We’ve decided to make our own frame extensions out of plywood so that we can use the canopy mounting locations already on the mechanics. It will also leave room to epoxy doublers to the inside of the body at the mounting locations.

[Dan]

Using this mounting location we are only moving the mounting hole back by an inch but it gives us a stronger mount that can’t crack and the ability to adjust the mount in order to get perfect centering.

[Dan]

Now it was time to bolt the mechanics back in the body. We cut a 2.5mm push-rod and placed it between the new wood braces. We made it a length so it could touch both sides of the body while still being held by both braces. Then we put paint on the ends and slide it back and fourth in order to mark the locations for the screw holes on the body.

[olhippie]

That looks like a cool fix Dan! Good thinking.

[blax1]

That looks like a cool fix Dan! Good thinking.
Same old story if it isn't to Dan's liking, it soon will be........ :cool:

[olhippie]

The master at work!

[HeliChick]

Wow Dan and Rock you guys are doing an awesome job! :cool:

BCB and I would like to know if you can adopt us?!!
we'll move in, sleep under the pool table and build heli's all day!
please!! LOL ;)

p.s.
after my last fiascos (don't read chuck) of flips and rolls
the 450 and 500 are still in ned of tlc. they fly but still gotta tweak them.
track blades, set pitch, etc, so i haven't done too much flying lately.
if we get a break in the weather i hope to see you guys out there soon! :D
anybody hitting the heli phenom in Mass next wknd?

[DVS]

HeliChick good to see again here on the forum. :)

[HeliChick]

HeliChick good to see again here on the forum. :)

Thanks DVS!! It's good to be back!

I forget my password too often and try to login from my phone so i have to remember to get on here from the laptop more often. I love Dan and Rock's posts! :)

[Dan]

Rock and I are down to the last step before we ship the body out to Schluterdude for painting. We just need to epoxy the rest of the magnets in place. The problem is last Friday I twisted my knee and by Sunday night I couldn’t walk. I went to the Doctor for x-rays on Monday and they say I’ve torn a ligament. I haven’t been able to get down stairs to work on the helicopter all week. I got a strong knee brace now and went down there this morning before leaving for work to see if Rock had made any progress.

You know, that guy has done nothing. He’s just standing there with his arms crossed waiting for me to finish. I think Schluterdude spoiled him to the point that now he thinks he’s management and doesn’t need to get his hands dirty. Thanks a heap TJ.

[vermonster]

Torn ligament Yikes!:eek: I always ask DR.Steve if he wants me to drink plenty of liquids no matter what I'm there for, and his reply is yes.:D I don't do meds, did enough when I was younger.:) Anyways hope your up and going soon. Rock looks like one of our Dept of Transportation guys, alls he needs is a shovel, and about another 5 lbs.

[schluterdude]

that sucks man...... hopefully you're feeling well enough to get some work accomplished next week!!!

i also hope that Delesta is being as good of a nurse that you were after her foot surgery!

[vermonster]

Hey Dan you okay? Haven't seen a post since the 8th of October.:confused:

[Dan]

Hey Dan you okay? Haven't seen a post since the 8th of October.:confused:

Thanks for checking in. Last week on Tuesday I went to the doctor and they pulled 2 ounces of fluid out of my knee and shot it up with cortisone. Between physical therapy 3 days a week and doctor visits I haven’t been motivated to get that body finished. TJ was here last week and helped me some but I’m not quite done yet. With any luck I’ll finish it this week and get it in the mail to him so he can start the paint. I’ll send Rock along with it so he can supervise TJ’s work.

[blax1]

Gee Dan very sorry to read that, get well soon

[Dan]

Thank you Blax1. I'm still not that bad off for a very active overweight 55 year old. I'll get better. In fact I finished the body tonight and Rock and I spent a good amount of time packing it.

[Dan]

I thought the packing looked great until Rock said "Where do I sit".

[Dan]

So we made some room and he got in.

[Dan]

So TJ the body and Rock are on there way to you and I'm on break until it comes back. Have fun, just make sure Rock is present whenever you're working on his helicopter.

And save the box.

When it's done you should be able to ship the body in the box. You might need to pack the removable canopy in it's own box because of the windows.

[vermonster]

Looks good, can't wait to see schluterdude's paint job.:cool:

[Dan]

Thank you Vermonster. Now that the body is gone I re-assembled the mechanics so I can fly them this weekend with the new clutch and one-way bearing. I want to make sure everything is right before final assembly. I have not installed the governor yet because I haven't figured out where to mount it. That is one thing that is very different on the Raptor compared to a CCPM model. The Raptor has very little mounting space for additional electronics. On a CCPM machine there seems to be a lot of mounting space all over the frame because nothing on the frame can move. On the Raptor the top half of the frame moves along with one of the cyclic servos. Plus there is all kinds of servos and bell cranks on the nose where you would mount additional electronics on other helicopters.

I'm not putting down my Raptor, it has a lot of great features also. But it was designed before we had 2 in 1 regulators and I wanted a governor on everything. In fact if I need to I can mount the governor to the body and just put the sensor on the engine. I'll figure it out.

[Dan]

Here is something all of you Raptor owner might have had to deal with. The skids are held on with wood screws or sheet metal screws going into plastic. I had 2 issues to deal with here. Two of the holes in the frame were stripped so I couldn't make the skids tight. Plus I needed to add 2 shims to the bottom mounting plate in order to get the boom running true down the body and that made the rear screws too short to use in assembly even if one of the holes were not stripped. I measured for the required lengths and purchase 3 mm machine screws and put the skids on with aircraft nuts and bolts. In this picture you can see the nuts that hold the skids on. Just something else I won't need to deal with in maintenance issues down the road.

[cbflys]

I have not installed the governor yet because I haven't figured out where to mount it.
Break out the credit card Dan-o ... ;)

http://www.spektrumrc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=SPMAR7100R

[vermonster]

Break out the credit card Dan-o ... ;)

hahahahah..............:D

The EVO comes stock with the bolts (screws) and nylocks for the skids. Keep us posted on how the Century muffler performs for 69 bucks. I'm very intrested in it's performance.

[Dan]

Chuck, it seems that all of your suggested solutions for any of my challenges involve me spending large sums of money. I’m beginning to suspect a pattern here. I don’t think you’re really trying, I think you’re having fun shopping the internet for the most expensive solution you can find and then forwarding the link to me.

I already have the receiver, regulator, governor and sensor, I don’t need to spend $220.00, I just need a one inch square spot to mount the governor. I may attach a mounting plate to the frame. There, a free fix, you’re not going to like that.

I am hoping you’re around this weekend so you can fly the Raptor. This may be the final testing before it goes in the body and I’d feel better if you signed off on it.

Vermonster, that muffler is loud. I may make a video of it flying this weekend so you can hear it. The performance was very good but the noise level was not.

[vermonster]

Vermonster, that muffler is loud. I may make a video of it flying this weekend so you can hear it. The performance was very good but the noise level was not.

Cool,:cool: I have the TT on my OS 50 that I'm breaking in and it's really quiet. But when it goes into the fuse for scale I don't think it's going to work for that application. I'll be ecstatic to see yours. I'll be tuned in this weekend. I'm at work and it's suppose to rain all weekend here.

[cbflys]

Chuck, it seems that all of your suggested solutions for any of my challenges involve me spending large sums of money. I’m beginning to suspect a pattern here.
OPM baby, it's the American way ...

Weather's not looking too good, but if you're going out to give it a try, give me a buzz and I'll meet you there. Of course, if the weather is good - I'll be there anyway.

[Dan]

I just don't understand why I'm always the "Other Peoples" when it comes to spending money.

Sunday looks like its going to be real nice. Maybe we can plan on meeting up then.

[schluterdude]

you're one to talk!!! look at what you've done to me this year!!!! lol!

and, just so everyone knows, Rock has made it here in one piece along with the body. he's comin' flying with me in a few minutes when i get out of work to see how we do things in ohio!

[cbflys]

I just don't understand why I'm always the "Other Peoples" when it comes to spending money.

Sunday looks like its going to be real nice. Maybe we can plan on meeting up then.
Because you're like a father figure to me. You are older you know ... :p

See ya Sunday ...

[Dan]

Well Schluterdude you are right about that. I gave you 2 helicopters so you could spend a fortune setting them up. Then I made you fly my 500 until you had to have one. What can I say, I learned from the best. By the way, did you buy yourself that Bind-N-Fly Mustang yet? You sure had fun with mine.

OK Chuck, I’ll see you Sunday, I’ll make sure I’m in bed by 8:00 Saturday night, remember to take my Geritol, Centrum Silver and maybe a few Doan’s back pain pills. Enjoy the next 4 years Chuck. You’re almost there.

[DVS]

I just don't understand why I'm always the "Other Peoples" when it comes to spending money.

You're just lucky that way :p

[schluterdude]

Well, as soon as i got home, i began to unpackage the body, but, i could barely hold onto the box it was shaking so much, and, my word! the muffled language coming from it!!!!

[schluterdude]

so, i tear open the box, and Rock starts crawling out swearing a blue streak that would make a Marine blush! Dan, i think he was just a tad miffed at the accomodations provided for the journey...

[schluterdude]

I told Rock that i was going to head out flying, but he wasn't having any part of it. he just said he wanted a nice cold beer after being cramped up in that box. i asked him if he was sure he didn't want to come along and check out how my flying is progressing, but, he wouldn't have anything to do with it. so, i set him up with his beer, showed him the fridge, and off i went. too bad he didn't come along! my flying has come a LONG way this year (actually, just the past few months!). i was practicing some inverted nose in hovering, vertical 360 rolls with a stall turn at the top, some admittadly poor attempts at cuban 8's, but it was great! i sent a text to dan, but he didn't believe me since it wasn't on film...

[schluterdude]

when i got home, Rock was sucking down beer like it was going out of style. man, for a little guy, he can pack them away! i guess we have both dan and vermonster to thank for that :D

i told Rock that i had to go out for a few hours. he asked what could POSSIBLY be more important than his visit! when i told him i had to take a customer out for dinner, he asked if he could come. i told him not in his current state; he should havef stayed sober, went out flying, then he could have come and had a real nice cut of beef cooked juuuuuuust right (medium rare in case you are wondering!). he didn't like that answer, thumbed his nose at me, cracked open another beer, and sat on the couch. geez, i ask him if he wants to come down and hang out for a while, and he's already trying to bully me around! the nerve of this guy!

[schluterdude]

so i get home from dinner (which was delicious!) and this is what i find...

[schluterdude]

awwww.... poor little tough guy had too much to drink... what a light weight! when he heard me call him that, i heard him grumble a little, then he slowly worked his way up and propped himself up against the door. i asked him if he was going to make it, and he just looked at me like i thought he was some kind of rank amature. alright i said, would seeing a few heli's make you feel better?

he said he thinks that was what he was trying to do before he decided to take a nap. i asked him if he meant passed out face down in the hallway, and he said no, it just looked like a good spot for a nap. riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.....

[schluterdude]

he said the one on his left and far right looked awful familiar. and i said they should! i picked them up from dan!

ahhhhhhhh...... now it's all coming together he said. "are you some kind of helicopter garbage disposal???"

man, some kind of attitude this guy has after a few too many! and he drank most of my beer!!! i told him the mx and vision were both great flying birds. hopefully, if the gyro comes in soon for the vision (i sent it in for a warranty replacement of sorts), i'll take him out and prove it.

[schluterdude]

then he looks over and sees a plane hanging up (a great planes pt40). he asks me if i fly planes, and i told him i attempt to fly planes. that one actually belongs to my wife, jess, i tell him.

he says "dude, that's hot...."

[schluterdude]

then he turns around and sees a characature of me that was done at a seminar put on by one of our vendors.

"dude, that guy can't even draw! look at that pitiful excuse for a helicopter!"

i told him to be nice, not everyone is fortunate enough to be touched by the helicopter bug.

[schluterdude]

then he's all like "well MIS-TER schluterdude , if you are in fact the schluterdude, then where, oh where, is your schluter!?!?!?!?!"

so, i tell him it's right in front of him, and to open his drunk eye's a little...

and then comes the first compliment all night! he actually said it didn't look half bad! and then he said the canopy kinda sucks (even though you can't tell in the photo). i agreed with him, and explained that i had it in the back of my Datsun during a long road trip. at some point, the heli shifted and got pushed up against the back glass, thus causing the deformation. maybe this winter i'll restore it, who knows...

[schluterdude]

then, out of nowhere, attack of the cat!!!

fiona (our cat's name) had to check Rock out to see if he was ok..

[schluterdude]

what is it with you people and furry animals!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

he says he's had enough for one night, and needs to sleep this one off..

[Dan]

It all sounds like a regular night with Rock. I don't think I'm going to miss him much while he's away.

[vermonster]

Beer and heli's what more can you ask for! :D

He's tied a few on in Vermont. I'm surprised you couldn't get him to go out. He loves to eat Italian, and I even took him to "Ledas" Greek pizza. He can cook too! We made a Turkey for Thanxgiving last year when all the girls went to the outlaws. I don't know what his problem is with furry animals but he got along fine with Cavan and Ciara.

[schluterdude]

well, back to work tonight... we have some rough body work to start, along with batteries to change connectors on.

[schluterdude]

i started out with the canopy. here we have the rough sanding so that the filler would stick. the seam wasn't too deep or rough, so i was able to use some really nice sanding spot putty (or icing), making life a litte easier. also, there is the rough coat of filler. got kinda ugly as you can see...

[schluterdude]

but, all was not lost, like i said, the stuff sands VERY easily. so here she is after the first sanding. not too bad, but needs another coat or two...

[schluterdude]

so i put on another coat, learning my lessons from the first as how best to apply it on a small compound surface like that...

then while that was drying up, i started work on rough sanding the fuse. gotta be careful, especially with fiberglass. it's way to easy to mess up the shape if you get sand happy. luckily that hasn't happened!

[Dan]

I like the new work bench but what is the hammer for? That makes me un-easy!

[schluterdude]

while i was busy working on the body, Rock was soldering batteris for me

[schluterdude]

then he checked out my new charging rig, and thought it was pretty slick. it charges two 3s batts as a 6s. the charger is an iCharger 106b+

[schluterdude]

here's a close up. the two batteries plug into the balance port of the charger using a y-harness. careful hooking this up! hook it up backwards and poof!

[schluterdude]

I like the new work bench but what is the hammer for? That makes me un-easy!

sometimes you never know when a hammer will come in handy... :D

[vermonster]

Nice work! what are the batteries for? Your 500:)

[schluterdude]

yup, for my 500 mainly. so now instead of three flights with her every time i got out, i get 6! woohoo! or, dan hooked me up with an mx450 as a "travel bird" for when i go on the road. so i could get 12 flights with those zippy's, and i have three other batteries i can use in it as well (different mfg's, and old...). tee hee hee :)

[vermonster]

dan hooked me up with an mx450 as a "travel bird" for when i go on the road.

That Dan is a really nice guy to hook you up with a 450.:D Can't see why that guy CB is always giving him crap.:rolleyes:

[schluterdude]

yup, he's a great guy! he just said "get this damned this out of my house! i'm sick of looking at it!" i got a metal carrying case and everything!

[schluterdude]

just a quick update guys. i'm down in mexico's armpit doing some apps support, thus no updates in a while. the body is close to completion, just another coat or two of filler before the real fun begins! Rock's been helping out a bit, but, mostly defending the ranger box from my cat who is convinced it's her's! but, they are getting along much better than before. the cat is a little grumpy around strangers...

so, when i finally get back to the states, hopefully i'll be able to throw some pictures up. i'm planning on finishing up the body work on monday, so stay tuned!!!

[schluterdude]

well, rock and i finally got some work done tonight!!!

[schluterdude]

i know, doesn't look like much... that's what sucks about body work!!! you can bust your butt, and it doesn't really look like you've done much!

[schluterdude]

we sanded the canopy, and this is where we're at right now.... just a small low spot on top, and another on the bottom. sand those, and the canopy is done!

[schluterdude]

then we turned our attention to the body...

[schluterdude]

the body we pretty quick!!!!

[schluterdude]

the top of the body is done now... Rock and I just have the bottom to do.

[schluterdude]

a shot of the tail done.

[schluterdude]

that's it for now.... i'll work on it more next weekend. work's a bitch....

[vermonster]

that's it for now.... i'll work on it more next weekend. work's a bitch....

Hey schluterdude! looks good man. :D Take your time. It's not like Dan's flying it tomorrow.;)

[schluterdude]

i know. it'll be right when he gets it. i just wanna get to the painting!!!! that's the fun part! body work sucks!

and, when you paint, you actually have something to show for your work :)

[schluterdude]

man, didn't realize it's been since the 16th since i updated this.....

well, got the canopy done!

[schluterdude]

another shot, rock's proud of his work!

[schluterdude]

he said he allowed me to do the underside only because no one would see it... sheesh...

[schluterdude]

so, right now, we have the canopy done, and the top side of the fuse done. the bottome side is pretty much done, but, i have a stumbling point right here. someone got a little dremel happy and made some notches where they shouldn't be... this hole is where the engine backplate sits. and, because dan is going to run a governor, he needed room for the sensor. just the sensor poking out would have looked a little odd, so, he cut the hole for the entire backplate. oops! didn't mean to say who messed up the hole!!!!

i'm headed out of town this weekend to visit mrs. schluterdude's grandparent's. so, this will be at the top of the list when i get back... then, the body will be done, and we can start the fun stuff!!!

[cbflys]

May I suggest using an optical sensor or a hall effect sensor with magnets on the cooling fan instead of the backplate sensor. That thing sticking out of the bottom of the heli isn't going to look right. And rest assured, Rock will be the first to point that out.

[schluterdude]

it just barely sticks out. kinda sucks.. but, the hole is cut, and everything already mounted on the mechanics which i assume dan has been test flying to make sure everything is nice and silky smooth so that he doesn't shake the living snot out of the body....

[vermonster]

May I suggest using an optical sensor or a hall effect sensor with magnets on the cooling fan. And rest assured, Rock will be the first to point that out.

Looking at the Hirobo it's just a tad below. If you could make a 90 degree turn in the wiring it be a go. How bout a spotlight there to take away the distraction. Just throwing ideas out. :D

[Dan]

Wow Schluterdude, I guess revenge is sweet. I feel like you posted a baby picture of me naked getting a bath in the kitchen sink when you showed the bottom of that body. I thought that would be our secret.

I’m also thinking that cbflys might be right. That hole should help keep the inside of the body cool and should stay but magnets on the fan would be a better job. I don’t think I want to get involved in hiding it with a search light as Vermonster suggests. That would just become something else for me to break off. I’ll look at the frame tonight and see how much work it is to take it apart and install magnets. Right now it is ready to go, just waiting for the back plate sensor so it boils down to how lazy I want to be.

[schluterdude]

after a couple of those mean emails you sent me about my inate ability to destructively test the durability of my birds, i had to say something!!!! :D just kidding buddy!

i thought the only part that was sticking out of the bottom really bad was the other half of plastic on the sensor for the 90 size motors. weren't you going to hack that off?

[Dan]

After looking into the mechanics I think the bottom cam sensor is the way to go. Schluterdude is correct, because of the shims we needed to add the bottom of the frame the sensor will not extend outside of the body. Everything is ready for the sensor but it never arrived in the mail. I'll order another one and finish this up.

Now I remember why you need to work on one project at a time. I keep forgetting the detail, does that mean I'm old? Maybe I just have too many projects going. Kids half my age don't remember anything. I wonder why we get so upset about forgetting things as we get older.

This is a picture of the of the set-up on the frame waiting for the cam sensor. Schluterdude, you are doing a great job but you are going to need to finish this thing, people are waiting!

[schluterdude]

i know people are waiting, and i'm sorry guys!!!! we were dead here at work when this whole project started, and now, out of no where, we've been busy the last month and a half! you'll have your body before the new year though!!!!

[cbflys]

Has Schluterdude gone into the witness protection program?

[kcgraves]

Has Schluterdude gone into the witness protection program?
What about Rock? He won't be home for Christmas :(

[schluterdude]

nope, Schluterdude's been in the "Hey buddy, how 'bout you cancel your vacation and travel on sundays to pull our ass out of this black hole of a project" program.... the body is set and done, now it's just a matter of when i'll be able to spray it... i'm REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping it will be next week... Rock too. He was complaining to me that Jess doesn't pay enough attention to him when i'm not around. I asked him what he wanted from her, and, well, let's just say it wasn't appropriate!!!! :D

[cbflys]

"Hey buddy, how 'bout you cancel your vacation and travel on sundays to pull our ass out of this black hole of a project" program....
That sounds like a question. The appropriate answer should have been "No can do, I've gotta get this thing done for Dan".

[vermonster]

That sounds like a question. The appropriate answer should have been "No can do, I've gotta get this thing done for Dan".

He's young! You keep on working TJ don't listen to these guys. I need to collect my Social Security check in eight years.:D

[cbflys]

You keep on working TJ don't listen to these guys.
You're not helping here, don't you have something to do?

[vermonster]

You're not helping here, don't you have something to do?

..............http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/c040.gifhttp://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/c040.gifhttp://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/froehlich/c040.gif

[schluterdude]

He's young! You keep on working TJ don't listen to these guys. I need to collect my Social Security check in eight years.:D

geez, at least you guys will benifit from my hard work! the system will be broke YEARS before i can even think about getting a check!!!!

good news though!!! looks like i'll be able to get the body painted next week!!!! the only thing i absolutely HAVE to do next week is become an official ohio resident finally since my old driver's licence expires on my b-day. so, after i take care of that monday morning, off to the paint shop!!!!!!

i'm really sorry this is taking so long to get done guys (and especially Dan, he's ready to beat me sensless!). hopefully the end product makes Dan happy in the end!

[Dan]

Gee, you finally tore yourself away from that new big screen TV that you posted pictures of on Facebook!!!!! About time. You never should have listed my wife as a friend, she's watching your every move and emailing me up-dates.

[schluterdude]

actually, i posted the last one using the tv!!!!!!

ok, but seriously, here's the agenda for today. time to show this pre-historic b***h how we do things down town......

1) make my patterns using AutoCad. i'll draw the Star of Life, the tail numbers, and the hospital logos. i'll then print these out to use to make my masks. life would be easy if i can find a medium i can send through the printer, and then just use an x-acto knife to cut it out. perhaps frisket paper..... gotta talk to the paint guys about this. i know that stuff will stand up to lacquers, but no idea if urethanes will eat it for lunch....

2) head down to the paint shop to buy the paint finally!!!!!

3) go over the entire body again to make sure there are no areas that need attention.

4) if time allows, head over to work and start hanging the body in the paint booth.

5) if everything goes smoothly (which rarely occurs with me), lay down a coat of primer!

i'll post some screen prints throughout the day of my progress on the patterns, and some pics of the pretty colors when i get them! stay tuned!

[schluterdude]

my blank slate.... sorry the screen print kinda sucks....

[schluterdude]

here's where i am so far.... working on the graphic for the hospital. remember, there are never problems in life, everything is a "challange" or an "opportunity"!!!! like the corporate catch phrases??? BULL CRAP! there are problems!!! oh well.... the tail numbers are actually a b-day of one of dan's family members. kinda cool!!!! if you look earlier in the thread, you'll see that the bird we are basing this off of has an "MH" at the end of the tail numbers. i assume it stands for "medical helicopter" or it is just a huge coincidence. i just put an "H" for hospital at the end because it got too big...

[schluterdude]

now here's the almost completed layout.... i know the mercy logo is fuzzy. this is because i had to blow it up. but, the wonderful thing is when you use an x-acto knife, voila! straight lines! i'm looking at the pic a little closer, and it looks like there are some other graphics scattered around the tail. i can't really tell what they are, so, they aren't going on the body! anyone got suggestions for more? i was thinking about putting "Captain Rock Hard" below the pilot's door. but, then we would need a medic as well... what were Rock's girlfriend's names???

[schluterdude]

ok, now that's all done, off to the paint shop.... pretty colors! yipee!!!!!!!!

[schluterdude]

well, Rock met me at the door after reviewing the posts from this morning, and was quite upset that i didn't give him any credit on the lay-outs. so, he had to jump in the picture for the paint. on the far left is a blue that is actually left over from when i painted my Datsun. it's a slick blue pearl that looks AWESOME at sunset. it also has some really cool effects when you get right down on top of the paint. the white is a tri-coat color compliments of caddillac. i was going to use a ice blue pearl, but, i saw this and made an executive decision. it's a semi-platinum/gold pearl effect. i'll do some let-down panels to determine how much i want to lay down. it's still a white, just not an artic white like on the actual bird. should look pretty cool against the blue/red. The red color is actually pulled straight from my Mazda. nice and vivid, but not "bright"...

[schluterdude]

here's another shot. i know the pearl coat looks over powering and too goldish. but, the final color will be CONSIDERABLY lighter. i'm not going for a huge color change with the paint, just a real mild one. remember, this stuff is highly concentrated (the mid coat) it is designed to go on real thin, and you adjust the effect by how many coats you spray....

Turns out Rock isn't the tough guy he likes us to believe... after standing over the tops of open paint cans, he staggered back into my work room slurring his speech and muttering something about having to take a nap.... wuss.....

[Dan]

Schluterdude, you are a very brave man opening those paints on your dinning room table, your wife must have been at work. Do you plan on putting in another half day tomorrow or do you need a few days rest after playing with the computer this morning and going by the paint store before lunch today?

It would appear that out of the 5 item agenda you set for yourself this morning you got up to number 2 and called it a day. Hey, what's the rush? It's Monday.

[schluterdude]

Yup, she was working :)
I've finally got everything set up in the booth! Pics to come... Gotta lay primer, then it has to sit for a few hours to set up. Tmw the color coats go on!!!!!!!!!!

[vermonster]

Yup, she was working:)

Poor Jess, Better not to let her see that post! :p

[schluterdude]

she's a good sport. she knows i do all sorts of stuff that would make her freak out when she's not home... as long as i don't leave any evidence, she's cool with it!

well, here we go, paint today! but, i found a problem on the verticle fin i never noticed before.... i tried all sorts of stuff to fix the crack, but, nothing worked. every time i would get close, it would crack back open. without cutting the entire damned thing apart, there's no fixing it as far as i can tell. we'll see how it looks when it's all done. i have no idea if i did it somehow (always a very good possibility with me...), or if it happened in transit. i know century sells their kits piece by piece for crash damage. if it looks like crap, i'll send it as is, and get a new one sent to me and paint it up (my cost).

[schluterdude]

but, on to better things. here she is before primer on the rig i had to make this morning....

[schluterdude]

pretty high tech stuff, eh? and to think some people sell special hangers that are like 100 bucks...... rock said it looked stupid, but, functional. i said that's all that counts!

while i finished cleaning up, Rock got to work mixing me up some primer.

[schluterdude]

three coats later, here's what we got! doesn't look too impressive, i know. Rock already informed me of that. i told him it was at least all one color again!

[schluterdude]

a few close shots...

[schluterdude]

back quarter shot...

[schluterdude]

that's it for today... the primer is a catalized product, so it needs to dry for about three hours. so, first thing tmw Rock and i gotta scuff the primer, then it's time for color!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

note: on bodies like this, all you have to do to the existing primer from the factory is scuff it, not sand it. the dark gray scotch-brite pads (some people call them scrubbies) is all you need. you don't really remove much material, if at all, with it. rather, you just scratch the surface to kill the "shine".

well, guys, tell me. nice to see some progress for a change???

[Dan]

WOW!!!!! I can't believe it's really happening!

[vermonster]

Nice work schluterdude! :D

[schluterdude]

Don't give me too much praise yet... This was the easy part!!!!!! Kinda tough to screw up primer! Although, I am still full of myself cu of that stand... It's definatly coming home with me for the next on (if there ever is)!

[charles restivo]

dan that thing is going to be well worth the wait You'll most likely never fly it its going to be so pretty ! :cool:

[schluterdude]

dan that thing is going to be well worth the wait You'll most likely never fly it its going to be so pretty ! :cool:

howdy charlie! sorry i didn't greet you before! but, he had damned well better fly this thing, because i expect to be able to fly it next time i'm in town!!!!! :D :D :D

just dropping a quick update, no pics yet cuz i'm working like a madman to get this done! white is sprayed, as well as the pearl coat. all i can say is SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTT!!!!!!!! this thing is going to look awesome! i've emailed dan a few pics for status updates, he can stick them up here if he wants, or i'll do it later when i have some time.... back to work, gotta get these graphics cut/layed out!

[Dan]

Schluterdude just sent me this picture with his phone. This is pretty great

[vermonster]

WOW! that's awesome

[Dan]

Well TJ is putting in a full day today. He is ready to shoot the blue paint now.

[cbflys]

That looks awsome. Can I fly it Dano, huh, can I ? ,,,,,

[Dan]

Yes Chuck, you can fly it. You've flown pretty much everything else I own and that is a long list of aircraft.

TJ painted the blue and clear coated the helicopter. It looks great but his painting skill far out weight his photo skills when he only has his cell phone to work with. So I'm not going to post the pictures he just sent me but I'm going to wait until tomorrow when he can take a picture with a real camera and let him do the post of the finished product. It is worth waiting for.

[vermonster]

TJ painted the blue and clear coated the helicopter. It looks great but his painting skill far out weight his photo skills when he only has his cell phone to work with.

Yeah he can paint.:D

[cbflys]

I'm guessing birthday celebrations are going to get in the way of him finishing this up ;)

Happy birthday TJ - now back to work!

[schluterdude]

celebrations havn't started quite yet, there is still work to do!!!!! yes, i used up two vacation days at work, AND went back on my b-day to pick it up!!!! i made dan a promise i would get better pictures today, and i did! here we go!

[schluterdude]

come on, you didn't really think i'd give you the money shot right away did you????????

[schluterdude]

ok, enough teasing! here ya go....

[schluterdude]

haha!!! tricked ya!!!!! ok, here we go, seriously this time!

[schluterdude]

another......

[schluterdude]

and finally....

[schluterdude]

so there we go! i know i there are supposed to be graphics on it. i just couldn't find the transfer material that i wanted anywhere! everyone said they knew what i was talking about, but they would have to call their distributor to get it in the size that i needed... everything was way too small, or way to huge to be of any use. so, i'm going to send dan my layouts, and he can make some decals to attach to the body.

i also know there was supposed to be a red heartbeat. i started laying it out, and dan i decided due to time constraints that it may be MUCH easier and quicker to have it pin-striped. so, i made the "cutoff" line for him, so the pin striper can follow that, and we still get the silver border. i'll also be sending him all the left over paint for touch-ups and such for the inevitable chip of scratch that may occur.

all in all, this was allot of fun! i had a blast working on this, and painting it. i don't think it turned out too bad for not having picked up a gun in about three years!!!!! there are some small errors in the paint such as dirt nibs, bleeds, and such. but, all in all, i think it turned out ok for a first attempt at something like this. before this, i had only done single color jobs, much less using tri-coat applications (the white/pearl), and masking for a two-tone job. i learned/remembered allot about this industry working on it (i went to wyo-tech for hot rod paint/sheet metal work), and i can't wait until i get the time to work on one for myself! i just hope dan is happy with the finished product when he gets it... nothing is done until the customer is satisfied!

dan, i know i said i would shoot the inside black for you. but, after thinking about it, i think you should re-test fit everything one last time before doing it. just put masking tape on the outside of the body around the windows/openings, and use a hefty bag or something to bag the entire body to protect from overspray. then just spray the snot out of it with some black fuel-proof paint. i also used an adhesion promoter/flex additive on it as well to help protect it from the vibrations of the motor, along with taking the canopy on and off...

i'll box it up and ship it off to you tmw or saturday!

NOW the festivities may begin :)

[cbflys]

Callie Graphics ...

www.callie-graphics.com (http://www.callie-graphics.com)

[schluterdude]

very cool! i still have the dxf, so i'll send that to dan... maybe they can work with that....

[vermonster]

Callie Graphics ...


Yep! ........................................:D http://www.callie-graphics.com/customwork.php

[Dan]

Schluterdude, that looks fantastic! I’m sure glad I let you pick the final colors, I never would have asked you to do a pearl paint job, I had heard they were very difficult. I could have purchased a pre-painted body and finished this project last summer but I didn’t want the same helicopter anyone else could buy. Now I’ll have a beautiful eye catching one of a kind masterpiece. I’ll take it to my graphics guy and the pin striper as soon as it’s back.

Thank you Schluterdude, but what should we do now?

[schluterdude]

thanks dan! this should look pretty cool in the air doing nice slow piro's, letting the light wrap around it. i really hope you like it when you get it!

hmmmm.... what to do next..... good question! you wanted that huey body for your 600E... that'd be a nice easy one compared to this! i'm still mulling around the idea of a body for my 500.

or you could always bite the bullet and go for your turbine waiver! :D i'm good at spending other people's money as well ;)

[schluterdude]

Well, today was the day to box everything up and ship it... Rock thought it was a good idea to wrap everything up in super soft micro-fiber towels. i actually agreed with him!

[schluterdude]

then he made a quick check of the packing and said that he felt it was sufficient.

[schluterdude]

so, after a little grumbling about being crammed back into the box like a second class citizen, he finally climbed back in.

so, here we go! back in your court dan-o! shouldn't be too much work to get things completed. i sent you the dxf of the graphics, so all that is really left to make the body fly-able is to double check the fitment of the mechanics, spray the inside black, attach the windows and empanage to the outside, and "rock" and roll! graphics can always be applied later (along with pin-striping). just depends how bad you're itching to go fly :)

those microfiber towels are also great for waxing your motorcycle! if you ever get the itch to try and wax the heli-body, no worries, any automotive wax will work just fine. same with washing the body, same as your car. i don't know about using nitro wash or anything like that on it. but, just regular windex (NO amonia formula) will work as well. those cloths also won't scratch the paint. but, it's plenty hard already, so you don't have to worry too much...

have fun buddy!

[blax1]

^^^ There he goes again, off on another adventure............. ;)

[schluterdude]

any updates captain?

[Dan]

Nothing to report yet. I haven’t been pushing the guy who is doing the pin-striping and making the decals. Hey, I gave you plenty of time, didn’t I? Besides I’ve been so tied up trying to set the speed record with my twin motored Stryker I haven’t even called once to check on the Ranger. Last Sunday we went for the record. We had a bunch of witnesses and a radar gun down at the field. I can get my stock Stryker to do 90 mph. I’m shooting for 180 by changing the single 1880 kv motor on the Stryker to two 2700 kv motors. I’ve also carbon fiber wrapped the nose and leading edge of the wing and installed a rectangular carbon fiber rod on the tailing edge of the wing. When you spool up those twin counter rotating motors to 34,400 rpm it sounds scary. We tried to hand launch the plane last week and it belly flopped onto the grass 50 feet from where it was launched. I broke a motor mount, motor shaft and both propellers. We will try again to 2 weeks but launch the plane from a catapult.

[vermonster]

OMG..........:eek:

[Jeff Bulmer]

I thought I heard Tim Allen grunt ....

That is soooo cool! its gotta be tough to hand launch with the spinning props?

[Dan]

I thought I heard Tim Allen grunt ....

That is soooo cool! its gotta be tough to hand launch with the spinning props?
With no propeller in the middle and the grip molded into the center of the underside of the plane for launching, your hand does not come very close to the props. It is much harder to launch the stock one with the motor in the center and twin rudders. The instructions say to launch it without the motor running and then hit the power. That is not an option with the twin motor plane and not how we launch the stock version. The only verified speed record for a Stryker that I have seen is 160 mph using a single 5500 kv motor, a 4 cell LiPo battery and a 6 X 4 prop. I'm hoping that by having two counter rotating 5 X 4.75 propellers I can develop the thrust and balance to add 20 mph to that record. The first flight will be done with a 3 cell 40C 2250 battery. After that we’ll look at moving up to a 4 cell pack.

[schluterdude]

well, since DAN decided to get off topic (see chuck, i can police topics too!!!!!! :D ), here are some more pice of the body in process...

here she is on the stand..

[schluterdude]

here's how i held onto the tail for paint... i found some wire lying around that was a good snug fit in the mounting holes. so i just looped it around. wokred like a charm!

[schluterdude]

the whole body in white...

[schluterdude]

close up of the can-o-pee...

[schluterdude]

the blue for the body.... pic doesn't flatter it very well...

[schluterdude]

the attempt at masking the heart beat. you can see why we decided pin striping might be a better alternative... it's nice no the full scale stuff, you can actually use a decent thickness of tape, and just lay it out! i had to lay a piece of tape, draw my line, and try and work parallel off that. didn't work out the way i had hoped....

[schluterdude]

a picture of your's truly with the mad man's creation before clear...

[schluterdude]

there we go... maybe pump some life back into this thread!!!! sorry if any of those a repeats, i didn't feel like browsing the other pics....

[vermonster]

Nice work shluterdude........:D I think Dan may have the swalign flu again. I hope he feels better so we can get back to business.

[DVS]

I thought I heard Tim Allen grunt ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhVmjptZMI&feature=player_embedded

[schluterdude]

awww, come on chuck! help me out here! geez, and here i am, thinking you were all about staying on topic.... :rolleyes:

[cbflys]

As long as its ready to fly by spring, I'm good ...

[Dan]

awww, come on chuck! help me out here! geez, and here i am, thinking you were all about staying on topic.... :rolleyes:
I spoke to the guy who is working on the Long Ranger on Saturday and he says I'll have the body back complete by Friday, February 5th. He has gone way overboard on the details and that is what is taking the extra time. My daughter is getting married next Saturday, February 6th and I have a bunch of people coming to town so it will be the middle of next week before I start work on it. I still might fly before Brad or Vermonster get their pre-finished helicopters in the air.

[schluterdude]

u gunna at least give us some teaser pics of the finished body????

have fun this weekend! and, you'll love that hot sauce recipe i emailed Delesta! if you guys like that one, i've got three or four more variations you'd give your left arm to try!

[Dan]

u gunna at least give us some teaser pics of the finished body????

have fun this weekend! and, you'll love that hot sauce recipe i emailed Delesta! if you guys like that one, i've got three or four more variations you'd give your left arm to try!
Sure, I'll snap a couple of pictures, from a distance. That hot sauce recipe contained one and a half pounds of beef! are you sure that it wasn't a chile recipe?

[schluterdude]

lol! allota people from outside of Rochester actually call it chili! go ahead and eat it as such if you think you have the intestinal fortitued for it. i know i sure don't!!!! man, i have a hankerin' for a garbage plate right now... mmmmmm........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Tahou_Hots

that, my friends, is one tasty meal!

[vermonster]

I'll take one of those Garbage plates. Nothing like clogging the old arteries. Hell the stuff I'm on Lisinopril and Metoprolol Tartrate my arteries are like a garden hose. You could send a golf ball through there.:D

Vermonster has been working on his FREE Hobbico Superstar EP. Converting power from a 8.4 NiHM to a 7.4 volt Lipo. No smoke either. :D
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9951

I still haven't picked out my light set. I need to do this first so I can mount them and then put the mechanics in.

Congratulations Dan on your daughter getting married. I got two married off last fall. The littlest one (baby) is going in the Air Force in September.

[schluterdude]

shouldn't that say "no smoke YET"? :)

you hook me up with some magic hat beer, i can hook you up with a recipe for hot sauce!!!! and maybe even some zweigle hot dogs to go with it!!!

zweigle's are the ONLY hot dog....!