500 Building the Gaui NX4
- Thread starter stokke
- Start date
stokke
Well-Known Member
I'll try to not sidetrack my own thread here, but if you can afford a Align 600 - get it. The 500 is not quite as satisfying a step up in size as the 600 versus the 450. But still, if you could get your hands on a Goblin 500 - get it! In my experience, SAB is the leading manufacturer when it comes to helicopter nowadays - although Compass, I've heard, also has some good quality birds.
Westy
LEGEND
I agree with stokke...... Goblin 500 is in a class of its own .... Power to weight ratio and performance .... wow it is hard to compare with it ... It certainly bats well above its weight..... even if you get a Gobby500 and go align on the build components to get in at entry level ..... they are a thing of beauty and pure power and fury! ....
I have just soldered all my mates terminals on a YEP100 for his Goblin that he has just put a holding deposit on.
I have just soldered all my mates terminals on a YEP100 for his Goblin that he has just put a holding deposit on.
stokke
Well-Known Member
I got so eager that with the maiden that I forgot to post the rest of the build. So here it is.
Got the rest of my stuff.
Got the last servo.
Set up the swash.
Tail mounted.
This is a pile of parts that was left at the end of my build - hope none of them are supposed to be on the bird
Behold the fabulous iKon FBL controller!
The Align governor sensor is not a direct fit on the bird, as the bolt holes need modification. So I'll just fly curves for the time being.
Due to the iKon having ports on all sides, I took off these brackets.
Seeing that the counter sunk bolt heads cannot be properly seated, they stick out of the surface - not ideal when mounting a FBL system on top.
Modding
Not very pretty looking, but at least it's flush now.
Mounted the sat's.
Wiring.
The swash was pretty level off the bat, only one link needed one turn up.
Head on.
One of the swash drivers snapped right on and off the ball with no pressure at all! Just as brittle and poor quality as the rest of the links. (At the time I'm writing this, the arm has been replaced with a new properly functioning arm).
Stock tail blades.
The brass inside one of the blades were drilled poorly - couldn't even get the bolt through! Drilled it open with an electric drill.
On the picture below, the sticks are at center, and the iKon is set up. As you can see, the middle of collective travel is way off.
To fix the above problem, I raised the entire head. The main shaft has two holes for adjustment (although the instructions says to use the lower hole).
Collective travel good as gold.
Setting up pitch.
With the head set on the upper hole, I set my CP to +11,5° and -11,5°.
Soldered on the power plug. The glow igniter is connected directly to the 2S battery, and the Rx through a 8A BEC.
WAAAY to big Rx pack.
Not the most beautiful wiring job I've done, but it works.
My fuel pump.
Fueled up and good to go
That concludes the Gaui build.
___
The instructions could have been better (I heard the latest batches should have updated and better instructions).
There are a lot of inconsistency with the smallest bolts; wrong sizes etc. A Dremel is a "must have".
The links are brittle, and those that do work are a bit loose by my standards.
The entire links and ball system is poorly thought through, so it requires a lot of trial and error during installation.
The tail slider assembly needed modification.
When completed the NX4 looks like a good quality helicopter.
Quite beefy for it's size I recon.
Big (and kewl) canopy that's easy to spot.
Gear system looks beefy and nice.
And, it flies GREAT! I have burnt through a gallon of fuel now, and I LOVE this bird! I'm still breaking in the motor, but she performs better and better for each flight. The iKon combined with this bird is a great match - fantastic feel.
Would I recommend this helicopter? Yes - but beware that you'll have to have a lot of tools at hand. If you get one of the later batches, you might not come across the problems I did.
Got the rest of my stuff.
Got the last servo.
Set up the swash.
Tail mounted.
This is a pile of parts that was left at the end of my build - hope none of them are supposed to be on the bird
Behold the fabulous iKon FBL controller!
The Align governor sensor is not a direct fit on the bird, as the bolt holes need modification. So I'll just fly curves for the time being.
Due to the iKon having ports on all sides, I took off these brackets.
Seeing that the counter sunk bolt heads cannot be properly seated, they stick out of the surface - not ideal when mounting a FBL system on top.
Modding
Not very pretty looking, but at least it's flush now.
Mounted the sat's.
Wiring.
The swash was pretty level off the bat, only one link needed one turn up.
Head on.
One of the swash drivers snapped right on and off the ball with no pressure at all! Just as brittle and poor quality as the rest of the links. (At the time I'm writing this, the arm has been replaced with a new properly functioning arm).
Stock tail blades.
The brass inside one of the blades were drilled poorly - couldn't even get the bolt through! Drilled it open with an electric drill.
On the picture below, the sticks are at center, and the iKon is set up. As you can see, the middle of collective travel is way off.
To fix the above problem, I raised the entire head. The main shaft has two holes for adjustment (although the instructions says to use the lower hole).
Collective travel good as gold.
Setting up pitch.
With the head set on the upper hole, I set my CP to +11,5° and -11,5°.
Soldered on the power plug. The glow igniter is connected directly to the 2S battery, and the Rx through a 8A BEC.
WAAAY to big Rx pack.
Not the most beautiful wiring job I've done, but it works.
My fuel pump.
Fueled up and good to go
That concludes the Gaui build.
___
The instructions could have been better (I heard the latest batches should have updated and better instructions).
There are a lot of inconsistency with the smallest bolts; wrong sizes etc. A Dremel is a "must have".
The links are brittle, and those that do work are a bit loose by my standards.
The entire links and ball system is poorly thought through, so it requires a lot of trial and error during installation.
The tail slider assembly needed modification.
When completed the NX4 looks like a good quality helicopter.
Quite beefy for it's size I recon.
Big (and kewl) canopy that's easy to spot.
Gear system looks beefy and nice.
And, it flies GREAT! I have burnt through a gallon of fuel now, and I LOVE this bird! I'm still breaking in the motor, but she performs better and better for each flight. The iKon combined with this bird is a great match - fantastic feel.
Would I recommend this helicopter? Yes - but beware that you'll have to have a lot of tools at hand. If you get one of the later batches, you might not come across the problems I did.
