Tony
Staff member
Okay, well it may not be the ACTUAL first flight, or maiden if you will, but it was the first flight since I got it back. Let's just say, it got a little hairy and I thought Matt was going to pee himself hahaha.
Lets start at the beginning. When I got the heli I put it together (taken apart for cheaper shipping) and started testing everything out. Once bound to the DX8, I noticed that the tail servo didn't work. After further inspection, found out that the ground wire was broke. So, I took it apart and resoldered it together. That didn't work either. So, I found an old Solar digital servo and stuck it on the tail. the heli is running the GY48V gyro, so I could have put an analog on there, but decided on the solar digital since it was the fastest that I hate. Don't think a DS655 would fit on it hahaha.
So I did the setup in the Tx, all bound up, set the servos to 90 and just did a quick once over on the head. No pitch gauge, nothing. The tracking was out by about 1/8", but I just left it. This is my beater! I fully plan on drilling this thing into the ground, and if I need to, I can order HK parts to repair it. So a crash is going to cost me about $15 lol. Not bad when you think about crashing an Align 450.
So that pretty much ended my day since I needed to get to bed a little early because Matt was coming over. He needed me to do some more work on the T-Maxx (Project Nightmare 4.0!!!). But also to show him the ropes of moderating the forum. Yes, you read that right, RCH has a brand new Mod! Official introduction to come. So, off to bed I went, but not before pulling out the lappy and getting a total on Align parts to bring this thing up to top notch condition. Something around a bill for everything not including motor and ESC, or tail servo/gyro. I guess those parts can wait.
So around 1330 Matt calls me and tells me that he is having a hell of a time finding the motor shim for his truck, but would be there in about an hour or so. Cool. I decide to get another 30 then I get up. Now, I'm used to sleeping until way WAY later in the day seeing as I work night shift. But he was coming over and I planned on having a good time. So, I get up and before I can finish my first cup of coffee, he was here.
First thing, we start working on the truck. I won't get too much into that because it just pisses me off lmao. Nightmare 4.0 I tell ya. Then, he brings in what looked to be a brick of heroin or something. Brown tape covering a some kind of box. Well, that was his new quad. And yes, we flew it, the first quad I ever flew. But I HATED it and I will let Matt tell you why lmao.
So, we get tired of working on the truck and we decide to toss the 450's up in the air. His 450 Pro V2, and my HK450GT. Not quite the same bird, but close enough.
I set mine down on the ground and spool it up. It's taking off to the front and to the right. Time to trim (it has a flybar, you can trim lmao). Get it flying level mostly (mg90s servos are NOT known for their centering lmao) and as always with these birds, I'm fighting that HORRIBLE tail drift. I crank up the gyro gain, still drifting. But more so, the tail was VERY sensitive. I'm used to the 3GX where it tames it down and you can set the piro rate. Not on this thing lmao. So, go into my endpoints and lower them down to 50%. Oh that was much better. Fine, testing over.
I put it up in the air above the magnetic fence (I swear, ask Matt lol) and I just say screw it. Since day one, I have seen people laying down smack 3D no matter where you look. Well, in the sim I can do just that. However in the real world, when you crash there is no reset button. It's pull out the plastic and spend the next week fixing it. Well, I'm tired of being the "Smack Hover Master". So Right Face and off we go.
It was then that Matt started to chime in with his $0.02 on how I'm brave and this is "your sim like my 130x is". In all reality, I planned on slamming this thing into the ground with total devastation and having to rebuild it. Would make for a great video. But no, the thing flew GREAT.
Now, I didn't do any 3D, hell I didn't even have idle up programmed into the Tx, only T-Hold just in case. So there were going to be no inverted hovers and with the tail the way it is, not sure I would want to. But, I just kept flying around.
Now let me set the scene for you. The sun is going down, it's cloudy and getting darker, I'm flying a heli with a gray head and tail with black frame and no canopy. It blends in with the sky lmao. This was a BAD idea, but hey, could end up in a GREAT video series on rebuilding these things. So, I just kept flying even though I was starting to lose orientation with the bird.
There was a couple times that I flew over us, not fast, and made Matt step out of the pocket lmao. It was great. Then, I was flying from my right to my left, make a left turn to nose in then back left to right. Had to correct a bit but I dont' know if it glitched or what, but the heli was banked to the right. I thought it was banked to the left so I start adding right aileron while it's heading towards power lines. Then that is when I realize what just happened. I just put this sucker into a bank to the right and she is heading straight for the ground. Yup, shooting videos of smashed heli's is in my near future!
That is when I hear My brother in law Bryan and Matt about to both have a heart attack. I give full left cyclic and full collective and with the blades rubbing the grass in my field, she makes the "baby farts" and pulls out of it! Oh yeah, gonna fly another day! I kept flying around until my timer went off, came in, did a cheater auto (Gaba style hehe) and it was Matts turn.
Saving that heli took my confidence level from a 1 to about a 7 on a 1-10 scale. With a bird that is this cheap and has this much play, servos that just don't center and a tail that just doesn't want to hold, making it actually fly, and being able to pull out of a problem like it did is just sweet. Makes me wish I still had that 450 of Matt's lmao. But, it is what it is and I will live with my cheap clone that will soon be almost full align.
Matt did fly and he did more of the orientation hovering than anything. Let me tell you, he is getting good at it. The heli just sat there in the air in one spot, IN THE WIND and he just kept it there. No flying around for him as I think he is like me and knows how much that thing is to repair. But hats off to him, I'm not that stable with orientation training, I can tell you that.
so there you go guys and gals, the HK450GT flies in it's stock form the way it was when I sold it. We didn't even think about grabbing the camera this time after what happened last time with my glasses not recording the flights even though it was recording. So, we just flew for fun. And it was fun. Finally, I have something that I can toss in the air and not have to worry about too much. The 600 on the other hand, My confidence is still somewhere around a -22 on that one...
Lets start at the beginning. When I got the heli I put it together (taken apart for cheaper shipping) and started testing everything out. Once bound to the DX8, I noticed that the tail servo didn't work. After further inspection, found out that the ground wire was broke. So, I took it apart and resoldered it together. That didn't work either. So, I found an old Solar digital servo and stuck it on the tail. the heli is running the GY48V gyro, so I could have put an analog on there, but decided on the solar digital since it was the fastest that I hate. Don't think a DS655 would fit on it hahaha.
So I did the setup in the Tx, all bound up, set the servos to 90 and just did a quick once over on the head. No pitch gauge, nothing. The tracking was out by about 1/8", but I just left it. This is my beater! I fully plan on drilling this thing into the ground, and if I need to, I can order HK parts to repair it. So a crash is going to cost me about $15 lol. Not bad when you think about crashing an Align 450.
So that pretty much ended my day since I needed to get to bed a little early because Matt was coming over. He needed me to do some more work on the T-Maxx (Project Nightmare 4.0!!!). But also to show him the ropes of moderating the forum. Yes, you read that right, RCH has a brand new Mod! Official introduction to come. So, off to bed I went, but not before pulling out the lappy and getting a total on Align parts to bring this thing up to top notch condition. Something around a bill for everything not including motor and ESC, or tail servo/gyro. I guess those parts can wait.
So around 1330 Matt calls me and tells me that he is having a hell of a time finding the motor shim for his truck, but would be there in about an hour or so. Cool. I decide to get another 30 then I get up. Now, I'm used to sleeping until way WAY later in the day seeing as I work night shift. But he was coming over and I planned on having a good time. So, I get up and before I can finish my first cup of coffee, he was here.
First thing, we start working on the truck. I won't get too much into that because it just pisses me off lmao. Nightmare 4.0 I tell ya. Then, he brings in what looked to be a brick of heroin or something. Brown tape covering a some kind of box. Well, that was his new quad. And yes, we flew it, the first quad I ever flew. But I HATED it and I will let Matt tell you why lmao.
So, we get tired of working on the truck and we decide to toss the 450's up in the air. His 450 Pro V2, and my HK450GT. Not quite the same bird, but close enough.
I set mine down on the ground and spool it up. It's taking off to the front and to the right. Time to trim (it has a flybar, you can trim lmao). Get it flying level mostly (mg90s servos are NOT known for their centering lmao) and as always with these birds, I'm fighting that HORRIBLE tail drift. I crank up the gyro gain, still drifting. But more so, the tail was VERY sensitive. I'm used to the 3GX where it tames it down and you can set the piro rate. Not on this thing lmao. So, go into my endpoints and lower them down to 50%. Oh that was much better. Fine, testing over.
I put it up in the air above the magnetic fence (I swear, ask Matt lol) and I just say screw it. Since day one, I have seen people laying down smack 3D no matter where you look. Well, in the sim I can do just that. However in the real world, when you crash there is no reset button. It's pull out the plastic and spend the next week fixing it. Well, I'm tired of being the "Smack Hover Master". So Right Face and off we go.
It was then that Matt started to chime in with his $0.02 on how I'm brave and this is "your sim like my 130x is". In all reality, I planned on slamming this thing into the ground with total devastation and having to rebuild it. Would make for a great video. But no, the thing flew GREAT.
Now, I didn't do any 3D, hell I didn't even have idle up programmed into the Tx, only T-Hold just in case. So there were going to be no inverted hovers and with the tail the way it is, not sure I would want to. But, I just kept flying around.
Now let me set the scene for you. The sun is going down, it's cloudy and getting darker, I'm flying a heli with a gray head and tail with black frame and no canopy. It blends in with the sky lmao. This was a BAD idea, but hey, could end up in a GREAT video series on rebuilding these things. So, I just kept flying even though I was starting to lose orientation with the bird.
There was a couple times that I flew over us, not fast, and made Matt step out of the pocket lmao. It was great. Then, I was flying from my right to my left, make a left turn to nose in then back left to right. Had to correct a bit but I dont' know if it glitched or what, but the heli was banked to the right. I thought it was banked to the left so I start adding right aileron while it's heading towards power lines. Then that is when I realize what just happened. I just put this sucker into a bank to the right and she is heading straight for the ground. Yup, shooting videos of smashed heli's is in my near future!
That is when I hear My brother in law Bryan and Matt about to both have a heart attack. I give full left cyclic and full collective and with the blades rubbing the grass in my field, she makes the "baby farts" and pulls out of it! Oh yeah, gonna fly another day! I kept flying around until my timer went off, came in, did a cheater auto (Gaba style hehe) and it was Matts turn.
Saving that heli took my confidence level from a 1 to about a 7 on a 1-10 scale. With a bird that is this cheap and has this much play, servos that just don't center and a tail that just doesn't want to hold, making it actually fly, and being able to pull out of a problem like it did is just sweet. Makes me wish I still had that 450 of Matt's lmao. But, it is what it is and I will live with my cheap clone that will soon be almost full align.
Matt did fly and he did more of the orientation hovering than anything. Let me tell you, he is getting good at it. The heli just sat there in the air in one spot, IN THE WIND and he just kept it there. No flying around for him as I think he is like me and knows how much that thing is to repair. But hats off to him, I'm not that stable with orientation training, I can tell you that.
so there you go guys and gals, the HK450GT flies in it's stock form the way it was when I sold it. We didn't even think about grabbing the camera this time after what happened last time with my glasses not recording the flights even though it was recording. So, we just flew for fun. And it was fun. Finally, I have something that I can toss in the air and not have to worry about too much. The 600 on the other hand, My confidence is still somewhere around a -22 on that one...
