New to collective pitch

murankar

Staff member
My name is Matt! I am still young in this hobby, been flying small indoor birds for a couple of years. My first was an Airhog then eventually upgraded to the Blade mCX 1. After about a year or so I bought a Blade 120 sr so I can start to really start to learn how to fly. This bird however is not so easy to fly in South Korea during the winter months as I am finding out.

This past weekend I discovered that my 120sr will not fly outside due to the unpredictable winds of this country, so I started looking more at the EXI/MK 250's. After a few videos of these I decided it was time for an upgrade so I researched these two machines. I watched a few videos on by rcHelpdotcom on youtube and asked a question and thats how I ended up here.

I have never thought of flying a 450 class heli due to the size, afraid of crashing such a big bird. I am now convinced that a 450 is what I will need to learn how to fly, mostly due to the size of the machine. I have made my decision on the heli and it will be the EXI 450 pro carbon edition at xheli. what I would like to know is a rough of what I should be looking at for parts for a budget version that will help me learn with out breaking the bank at the same time. As I get better I will start adding topshelf parts to it. 3d is not in the equation at this time but would like to some ability so I can learn when I am ready.

Thanks for reading!

P.S. RC is big in my area of South Korea, there are at least 3 small hobby shops right off post.
 

breeze400

Spagetti Pilot
Well I'll let Tony give you specs for motor ESC and soutch. My only imput is If you haven't flown any thing like this before, Don't get A Model with A tourque tube drive for the tail blades. I think the pro has them. Get A GT model. It has A belt drive for the tail blades. The Tourque tube or TT for short, Has A gear driven drive for the tail blades! Although it is A better system for 3 G flying, They are very touchy. If you strike the ground with the tail blades you will strip the gear drive! The belt drive models are more forgiving! A better system for learning to fly! LOL
 

Tony

Staff member
Hey Matt, welcome to the forum. You should sign up on my other forum as well, AFCC Home . Thanks for all that you do!

On to the heli's. I'm glad to see that you decided not to go with the 250. Best decision yet lol. The Pro is a great heli, just make sure to get the one with the belt drive tail and not the shaft as mentioned above. I have flown my 450 Pro TT twice, and both times, killed the gear in the front of the shaft. I will be getting a belt next.

450's are a great size to start with. Much more stable than the 250, and a lot cheaper than the 500's. If you are looking for a budget build, here is what I suggest you get.

EXI 450 Pro Belt
Alpha 400 3500kv Heli motor
Exceed Proton 40a ESC
Turnigy (or T-Pro) MG90S servos for cyclic
Detrum GY48V gyro for the tail
Gens Ace or Sky Lipo 2200mah 3s 25c battery

That is what I suggest on this bird. On this heli however, you will need a 500 sized servo for the tail unless you make a bracket to fit a micro 9g servo like I did. If you do, I ran the EXI D213F on the tail of mine, and it works quite well. However, I don't know of any good 500 size (26g) servos at the moment. I'm hoping that someone can chime in on here and post up a good servo or something.
 

murankar

Staff member
right now xheli has the EXI 450 pro carbon fiber edition (belt) on sale for for $88. that was the one I was looking at. I have not been to excited about the TT style for obvious reasons. I would fear stripping the gears on one bad grass landing. With the wind being what it is hear the belt would be much better. I have been looking at the HK Mi servos (Click here), I am hesitant of buying hobbyking brand. I have read that a lot of there products are re-branded for them. Also the carbon edition has some funky servo placement that has many people scratching their heads on. Rumor has that it is not a clone also. Should the sale end before I get a chance to order it i glanced at the EXI 450 Pro Carbon Fiber RC Helicopter Belt-Driven Kit priced at 70 even. Differences from what I can tell is the rotor head is based on older technology and the tail boom box is plastic (not hot on that idea, but upgradeable i think). Right now I am just trying to get the base model ordered and then hash out the details a little later after more research is done.
 

Tony

Staff member
This is the one that I have but in TT.

EXI 450 Pro Carbon Fiber RC Helicopter BELT-DRIVEN Kit

That is a great heli and you will have to do very little to it. You will still have to tear it apart and check everything though. On mine, I had to order a $20 tail blade grip set from Align cause it felt like there was sand in the bearings. The servo you linked to will work on the tail, but not on the cyclic. You need 9g servos on the cyclic, and a 26g on the tail.

This is the Pro kit, and it is a clone of the Align 450 Pro. Almost nothing on this heli will interchange with the v2 heli. There is another one on there that Gaba has, and it's a Pro frame with a V2 head and tail. I do not suggest that one. Honestly, you can get the MG90S servos for the cyclic, GY48V for the gyro, Alpha 400 with the 40a ESC and find a good 26g servo for the tail and be golden. You will have a great starter setup. Just remember, the more you spend on the tail, the more stable it will be. Hope this helps.
 

murankar

Staff member
Make sure I understand, my second choice of air frame is compatible with the Align product line, but it is not a V2, so is it a V1?

Since I am spreading out the build over a few months I hope to spend just a little more than if someone bought the whole thing at once. I am willing to go middle of the road on most of the stuff. I just don't want to get it built and find out that I shorted myself on something. Once this is built the only things I want to do to it is maintenance and repairs until I move to inverted flight. I want a nice solid airframe to start and build off of that.
 

murankar

Staff member
Ok the one you posted earlier is my second choice. Is the boom box metal, the box in the airframe. It looked plastic to me. When I buy this next week I will be adding some other stuff to the order to make the free shipping limit. Just the little stuff, lock tight(blue) shrink tubes, motor, tools and any other odds and ends they may have that I can use. I saw the video xheli did on this machine I liked the final comments on it. Of course they built it with, more than likely, high end parts to get the most out of it.
 

Tony

Staff member
Everything about it is metal and CF, including the head and tail box and grips. No worries there.
 

murankar

Staff member
I have printed the instructions on the v2 that you posted here. I have been through it a few times just to get familiar with the heli. I noticed that all the measurements for the linkages are in mm. I just realized that my calipers (dial) are in inches. Should I consider getting a digital set or just do the math to convert to inches?
 

Tony

Staff member
Get a digital set, you will use if for more than just the links. You never know it until you have it lol
 

murankar

Staff member
thanks again. one last question for now; OK I know the motors have all kinds of ratings, one rating is the Kv rating (volts for x rotations) and pinion size measured by tooth count. I know that the higher tooth count means higher head rotations and opposite for lower tooth count. So how do I use these to determine what is best? I am going to use your recommended motor with a 13T pinion based on your motor suggestion and the Align manual.
 

Tony

Staff member
If you use the Alpha 400 motor with that pinion, you will be right in range. to figure out your headspeed, you have to use a calculation that I can't remember right now lol. I do have a video on it that explains it, and gives the equasion. it's on my youtube channel. I would post a link but I'm in a rush right now.
 
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