The Pitchbrother Society

Looks like Align has revised their initial design of the Align T-Rex 700E.  Inverting the motor looks like its going to be a really good thing to do.

Ever wonder what it means to have a Mode 1 or Mode 2 radio. I don’t know a heli guy who doesn’t use mode 2 but JR has a great article that explains what it means by Mode 1 and Mode 2.

Follow this link for more information: http://www.jrradios.com/Articles/Article.aspx?ArticleID=2105

Source: www.jrradios.com

For all of you guys patiently waiting for the 2010 XFC known maneuvers to be announced, it appears they have! All 2010 XFC known maneuvers listed inside!

For those of you interested, here are the known maneuvers for XFC 2010. Each of these maneuvers must be performed at any time during the pilots known, four minute routine. Generally these maneuvers will take 30-45 seconds each. The rest of the routine is choreographed freestyle.

(1) Pirouetting-Vertical figure of eight with reverse of pirouette direction at each ½ loop

The pilot may enter the maneuver flying either form the left or the right. From level upright flight the pilot will start pirouetting once the helicopter reaches a point just in front of the pilot, the helicopter must continue pirouetting as the pilot executes the first half of an inside loop.
Once the helicopter reaches the point in the loop (at the top) directly in front of the pilot, the direction of the pirouette must change as the helicopter begins to ascend for the first half of the outside loop.
At the top of the outside loop as the helicopter reaches a point in front of the pilot the helicopter must switch pirouette direction again, for the second half of the outside loop.
At the conclusion of the outside loop the helicopter must change pirouette direction again and complete the second half of the inside loop exiting upright and level.

**The helicopter must exit at the same attitude as the entry and both loops must be equal in size, round in shape, and be centered against the pilot.

(2) Rolling-circle with change of roll direction and forward to backward flying orientation at the ½ circle point

The pilot enters the maneuver flying either form the left or the right. From level upright flight the pilot will start rolling (either direction). Once the helicopter reaches a point just in front of the pilot, the helicopter must continue rolling as the pilot executes the first half of the rolling circle.
Once the helicopter reaches the point in the circle directly in front of the pilot (180 degrees) the direction of the roll must change, and the forward/backward flying direction must change as the helicopter begins the second half of the rolling circle. The circle must be at a consistent altitude, round in shape and centered in front of the pilot.

2010 Invitees Helicopter Pilots		Helicopter Judges
Jamie Robertson – USA Confirmed Nick Maxwell – USA Confirmed Bobby Watts – USA Confirmed Kyle Dahl – USA Confirmed Daniel Jetchin – Germany Confirmed Bert Kammerer – USA Confirmed Matt Botos – USA Confirmed Kyle Stacy – USA Confirmed Colin Bell – Canada Confirmed Ben Storick – USA Confirmed Dominick Haegele – Germany Confirmed

(3) Piro-Tumbling Loop

The pilot enters the maneuver flying from the left or right. From level upright flight the pilot will start piro-flipping once the helicopter reaches a point just in front of the pilot. The helicopter must continue piro-flipping as the pilot executes the loop once the helicopter completes the loop the helicopter should exit at the same attitude as the entry. The loop must round in shape, and be centered in front of the pilot.

Source: Matt Botos, Futaba-RC

The JR Sylphide 90 continued as my primary choice for F3C for the 2009 F3C World Championships and US Nationals capturing 2nd and 1st place respectively. It is hard to change from what works and is proven, so only a few changes were made to my 2008 helicopters to get them ready for the season.

Check Out More Photos

New Fuselage

Thanks to u-neak | DESIGNS both my A and B helis are fitted with brand new, custom painted fuselages. They are without a doubt the nicest paint jobs I have ever seen, let alone owned! In the past I have done my own vinyl decal designs with clear coat, but these new paint jobs make my old fuselages look ancient. I worked with u-neak | DESIGNS by supplying my own 2D artwork based on my latest Super Gracy colorschemes. I wanted to have a similar look to the "SG" scheme that is included in JR's Super Gracy fuselage kits now, but step it up a bit more with effects and colors you cannot get in vinyl decals. If you are looking for the best paint job for your heli's canopy or fuselage, look no further. Call up u-neak to book a paint job

Some of my modifications to the Super Gracy fuselage:

Low profile JR aluminum landing gear
Gear legs concealed in fuselage with custom cutouts
Naca duct shape intake for additional cooling (lower canopy)
Lowered top vertical tail fin (reduce tail side area) 

click to enlarge

New Rotor Head

The Vibe 90SG rotor head works great for 3D and F3C, so much so that JR has released the ASG90 rotor head, based on the V90SG design, but made to fit all 12mm and 10mm main shaft helis in their line. Previously I was using a hybrid rotor head, a mix of old and new Vibe, Vigor, and other parts. Now the ASG head can be bolted on, and has more programmable settings and dampening that it outperformed on the first flight I changed to the ASG.

I found the best settings for hovering, wind, and high speed flight as follows:

JR ASG Head Settings:

4x hard O-ring dampener (included in ASG head kit)
10mm long tygon spindle tube, centered (to act as pivot point)
Flip bell mixer 180 degrees to "3D" setting as shown in ASG manual to get more cyclic rate and collective range 
Bell mixer balls: swash side-[outer] blade side-[middle position]
Bell mixer pivot moved to inner delta mix position (better wind resistance)
long ball on seesaw outer position
520mm flybar
RotorTech F3C 90 paddle (40g)
Large flybar weights 50% to 75% out on flybar
RotorTech SG-F3C720mm blades
Max Pitch +14 autorotaion
Stunt mode Pitch -10.5, 0, +10.5
Hover Pitch -5, 3, +10
Engine - Nitro Power

My favorite part of the heli- NITRO power. OS has once again improved on already great breed of 91 heli engines. The OS 91HZ features many internal mods and changes that allowed me to use the stock engines to power my F3C helis and perform on par with all the new electrics out there claiming 7+hp... The OS is now easier to tune and holds settings better than ever, and tolerates very high RPM runs. I have over 500 flights with no maintenance or replacement parts whatsoever to the HZ engines. Best part is, no charging!

Gear Ratio: 8:1
Blade RPM Hover: 1680
Blade RPM Stunt: 2200 (loaded and unloaded)
Engine RPM Stunt: 17,600
Nitro power sound at 115mph: Priceless
A dual plug Viper Head from OMI is used to smooth out the mid

range even more, and a Vibe 90 cooling fan and shroud is used  in the Sylphide chassis to apply maximum cooling.

Servo Swap

Compared to previous years, I have now upgraded the CCPM servos to the JR8717 (8915 in some markets). This servo is very fast and strong. Some may argue this is not needed for F3C, but I found the instant response helps in all flight areas. Hovering can be more accurate, and aerobatics crisp.

JR now offers a new brushless motor tail servo called the MP80G. Coupled with the JR7000T gyro, the brushless servo added a finer feel and accurate gyro response. A small step better than the 8900G, but everything counts.

Top 10 Most important setup notes that make all the difference:

1.  Heli must balance on main shaft at 75% fuel
2.  Heavy F3C 720 blades + paddles, with 3D settings on rotor head(stable but agile)
3.  Dampening set as hard as possible without wobble in hover
4.  Effective cooling fan system
5.  Dual Rate Hover - 50%
6.  Exponential Hover - 30%
7.  Pitch curve Hover - Very SHALLOW (non sensitive curve angle
8.  Pitch curves - all linear. No bends or bumps on any curve.
9.  RPM 1650 hover, 2100+ Stunt
10. Practice without changing setup too often

Installed Equipment

JR 12X DSM 2.4ghz Transmitter
JR 921 2.4ghz Receiver
ReactorX dual regulator 6.8V bus setting to CCPM, 5.2V tail/RX
Thunder Power 3300mah 2S Li-poly battery
3x JR 8717 heli servos CCPM
1x JR MP80G brushless tail rotor servo
1x JR 3400G throttle servo
JR G7000T gyro
REVMAX limiter governor system
OS 91 HZ engine
JR ASG90 Rotor head
Rotor Tech 720mm SG-F3C blades (225g)
Rotor Tech 105mm Tail blades
Rotor Tech F3C Carbon paddles (40g)

資料來源:  http://www.scottgrayrc.com/

If you ever smack in one of your blades and still have a good one strap a fishing weight on the other side that weights the same weight as the remaining blade and you have a “Chung Special.”  Looks like someone tried this with a Dragonus and is even doing 3D.  OMG.  Hilarious.

Source: ModellHelinews.Com