Assessing the damage to the heli was the first step in the process of rebuild. The teardown took about 4 hours to complete to sort out the good parts, bad parts, and parts to be tested.
Parts which survived the crash.
One thing I am convinced is when a heli goes down, it is messy. The ship survived with several good parts in tack and it would cost me more in time than in money. Granted I like hanging onto my cash and this crash was a bad deal like being taken for a ride at the craps table. I had concern with certain upgrade parts that I had initially installed. Were they toast? Would I have to replace? Fortunately, those parts survived the impact without any scratches, dents, or bends. Yes, the obvious stuff got AFU but the costly stuff, survived.
Moving from top to bottom, the main rotor blades were toast. The feathering shaft has not been checked however when the new blade holders arrive I will install a fresh new feathering shaft if needed. The swashplate appeared good with no binding but the obvious linkages from the servos up to the swashplate were AFU along with the main shaft, seesaw cage, and flybar as seen in this photo. That main shaft is steel and like alot of things on the heli was at one point true and straight. Seeing the main shaft in this condition is the reason I anticipate the feathering shaft to be bent also.
The main frames had a few cracks and although I could have repaired them easily with some JB Weld, I decided against it for reasons of not wanting to take the chance of having frame flex which may lead to vibrations. The TREX 600 ESP shakes like a leaf on a tree and it’s important to eliminate any opportunity for vibration to oscillate the heli. After months of tweaking to get the vibrations out, the heli was just becoming a smooth machine before the crash. Searching on ebay, and craigslist, I picked up a new set of TREX 600 ESP main frames on ebay for $32.00. Some work will have to be done to the main frames like drilling out the third bearing block holes and cutting out the extra material for reinstallation of the very efficient xera motor.
Moving back towards the tail of the heli, the boom block gears, torque tube, tail rotor blades all took a hit. Sure I could buy a new boom block assembly already built which would save me time but I decided to go with just the torque tube front drive gears which were stripped in the crash. One of my goals in rebuilding the helicam is to keep the costs down and at $12.00 for the gears, I think I’m on the right track.
The rotor assembly had the full KDE upgrade and survived the crash. No gears were stripped.
The tail boom and the camera gimbal booms were not so lucky however I was surprised by the way the ship broke apart without really splintering into a thousand toothpicks. What a difference in materials over the old days of balsa wood when I was flying planks.
The camera gimbal survived the impact in fairly good shape, however, the spur gear stripped, and the video transmitter antenna broke off.
Still not convinced on what exactly was the cause of the crash, every part will be tested thoroughly. Was it a dumb thumb move on my part that caused the crash? Don’t really know, but testing everything several times before putting the ship in the air to shoot is a wise choice. All the parts have been ordered and it seems like they are on a slow boat from China, but it will give me time to get everything together for the rebuild.
Here is a list of parts ordered:
1 x Align 700 Metal Main Rotor Holder (Black) (AGNHN7004) = $59.99
1 x Align Main Frame Parts (600/600CF) (AGNH60028) = $17.99
1 x Align Rudder Servo Mount (600/600CF) (AGNH60041) = $8.99
1 x Align Torque Tube Bearing Holder Set (AGNH60124) = $9.99
1 x Align 600/600N Metal Flybar Seesaw (AGNH60164-00) = $24.99
1 x Lynx Heli T-Rex 700 2mm G10 Vertical Tail Fin (Orange) (LYX0189) = $7.99
1 x Align Torque Tube (AGNHN7056) = $15.99
1 x Align 600 Main Blade Linkage Rods (AGNH60161) = $3.99
1 x Align 600/600N Metal Flybar Control Arm (Black) (AGNHN6001-00) = $18.99
1 x Align Flybar Rod (600/600CF) (AGNH60012) = $3.99
1 x Align 700 Black Tail Boom (2) (AGNHN7047) = $16.99
1 x Align Torque Tube Front Drive Gear Set (AGNH60121) = $11.99
1 x Extended Length Landing Gear – Complete Kit (PS1-extlg_530E) = $49.95
2 x FMTS Lord Mount Plates (PS1-FMTS-LMP) = $15.90
2 x Lord Mount Isolator (LORD-ISO) = $25.40
1 x 81 Tooth Spur Gear (PS1-81t48p) = $9.25
2 x 1.25″ aluminum spacer 4-40 threads = $3.54
900 MHZ A/V Transmitter 500mW = 59.95
TREX 600 ESP Main Frames (2) = 32.00
Total cost less shipping: $397.87
