It`s a fairly large event, which took the place of an event we called OHB...the Orlando Helicopter Blowout. This year, there were a little over 100 registered pilots, and at least that many spectators.

My main sponsor, Miniature Aircraft, traveled all the way from Germany to attend the event. I had such a wonderful time hanging out with Judith and Josef, and the entire team that weekend. We flew our helicopters, promoted the Miniature Aircraft brand, and just enjoyed the event during the days. But our fun did not stop there. In the evenings, we all went out to have dinner at some nice area restaurants.

So come on out to the TORCHS Winter Bash next December, and have a great time with us. I`m already planning for it. I hope to see you all there.

As always...... Safe and happy flying to everyone. :)

The turnout was pretty good with somewhere around 40 registered pilots showing up for the fun fly and general flying. The F3C contest was my focus as it has been for the past couple years. There were about 8 of us competing. 5 flying P and F schedule with myself and two others competing in Sportsman class.

I didn`t do nearly as well as I could have done with my contest model, but I did well enough to secure first place. I have won Sportsman a few times now, and I fell that it`s time to say goodby to Sportsman class and move up to advanced class. The next contest is at AMPS flying field in Miami, Florida in March, so I have lots of work to do to get ready for the advanced class.

Miniature Aircraft. HeliDirect, KBDD International, Bavarian Demon, Pulse Battery, Xpert Servos, Kontronik Drives.

We stopped a few times for gas and refreshments, and also at a couple of highway rest areas, to just get out of the cars for a few minutes. The trip up to Muncie was very smooth, and relatively traffic free, and we were able to make good time. We stopped to get a hotel room in Williamstown ( I think that`s the name of the town) Kentucky, and turned in for the night. 

The next morning, we got up and loaded the helicopters back into our cars, and went for breakfast at a nearby Cracker Barrel.....Their biscuit benny is fantastic, BTW. After breakfast we topped off the gas tanks, and got back on the road. We arrived at the AMA headquarters at around 16:30 on 8-8-23, and began setting up our camp.

IRCHA was officially kicked off with the National Anthem, with JC Zankl flying our beloved American Flag around the flight line from one of his vintage helicopters..... It gives me chills every time he does that. Thank you JC, for doing that for us. I for one REALLY appreciate it.

Day one and two were a little slow, and there was not too much going on. It was mostly just a meet and greet for everyone to catch up with each other and just hang out. After that, it started picking up as more and more people started to show up.

Miniature Aircraft was there in force, and we had a lot of fun doing demos, and showcasing the new Interceptor as well as the new Sukara rotor head and swash plate.

Although IRCHA 2023 was not as large as previous years, I still call it a success. I had a great time, caught up with a lot of old friends, and made a lot of new ones too.

I also got to do demo flights for Miniature Aircraft, Kontronik Drives, and Helidirect on Friday and Saturday. Plus I competed in Battle of the Brands again this year. I didn`t do as well as I did last time though. I was asked to do it a day before the contest, and I didn`t have any musik, or a routine. So I had to get Leroy to play a hip-hoppy song foe, and wing it....LOL I had a great time though.

But I`m going to be ready for them next year. I`m going to have musik and a routine worked up.......just in case...LOL.

The Interceptor is designed around the OS GT-15II gasoline engine, which is actually a .90 size engine. The OS GT-15II doesn`t have quite enough power to support a .90/700 size helicopter, but it`s a perfect match for the Interceptor.

The Interceptor has a belt driven tail, and a large 30mm diameter carbon fiber tail boom which eliminates the need for tail boom supports. This gives the Interceptor a very clean and sleek look, and leaves fewer parts to break in a crash.

The tail rotor is unique, in that it may be installed on the left side of the tail boom like the Fury 57, or on the right side of the tail boom like conventional RC helicopters. I think that`s really cool and innovative.

The Interceptor is roughly based on the Fury 57, and they do share quite a few parts. So if you have a Fury 57, and plan to get an Interceptor, you won`t need to worry about having too many different parts for the two helicopters.

The canopies, however, are not interchangeable between the Fury 57 and the Interceptor. The canopy colour choices for the Interceptor will be Yellow (the one I have) red, blue, orange, green, pink, and American Flag theme. 

The landing gear for the Interceptor have been redesigned from the design which come with the Fury 57, and can also be mounted on the Fury 57 with a couple of mounting plates.

The Interceptor is pretty light for a 600/620 helicopter with a .90 size engine as well. Mine weighs in at 9.5 pounds, with a full tank of gas and the receiver battery installed.

It`s a fun little helicopter to fly, and I have been putting a lot of miles on it since I received it. I am still in the engine break in process, because it flies for a long time on a tank of gas. Even on the factory rich needle settings, I`m getting almost 20 minutes of flying per tank. I have to run an entire gallon of gas through it before I can start tuning for power or doing any 3D with it, and it`s taking quite a while to get through this first gallon.

Once I get the engine broken in and tuned so I can really start flying it, I will start posting flight videos on my youtube channel  (https://www.youtube.com/@GeenaTucker )

My personal setup is as follows:

Bavarian Demon AXON FBL

Xpert R2 cyclic servos

Xpert R2T rudder servo

Aerospire Multigov Pro  governor

KBDD 620mm Extreme Edition main blades

KBDD 96mm CF tail blades

Jeti DS16 II radio system

I was competing with my Miniature Aircraft Whiplash 730E, equipped with:

Kontronik cool Kosmik 170A HVi speed control

Kontronik Pyro 750-56 motor

Xpert KD1 servos

Bavarian Demon AXON

Pulse Ultra 6s 5000mAh 70C batteries.... X2 for 12s

Funtech 730mm FAI main blades

Rail 116 tail blades

My transmitter of choice is Jeti DS-16v2

Below, is a photo of me flying in on of our last rounds for the contest, with Jeff Biter calling for me. It was extremely windy

during the contest, but we all toughed it out and flew our hearts out.

Until then though, it`s going to be practice....practice .....practice.

F3C has given me all of that and more. It gives me something to work for, and it`s just a lot of fun. Instead of going to the field and doing fast 3D flying, I`m getting used to flying slowly, and precisely. Which is very difficult...especially with windy conditions.

I`m definitely not at the master level, (I compete in sportsman class right now) but I`m progressing nicely, and maybe by next year I can moved up to the next class.

 I have competed in three contests to date, with the Helicopter Nats in Muncie Indiana being my second contest. I placed 7th of 10 at the Nats, and I`m very pleased with that. I was up against some very good pilots, so 7th, was a real accomplishment. I earned 2nd place finishes in the other two contests, first one was in Homestead Florida and my second contest was in Tampa Florida.

The helicopter I compete with is my Miniature Aircraft Whiplash 730E, which has been set up strictly for contest flying. So it will no longer see any 3D or hard flying. I don`t want to take a chance of crashing it, because it takes forever to get them set up and tuned for F3C competition.

I have my Whiplash Nitro, and Fury 57 for when the 3D bug hits me, so there is no reason to risk damage to my contest helicopter. However, with that being said. Miniature Aircraft did present to me another Whiplash 730 kit,(which I am VERY grateful for) to have as a backup to my main contest helicopter.

Once I get it build, set up and tuned.....it will also be reserved for F3C.

I have been flying it for a couple of weeks now, and I`m really enjoying it. It`s not a whole lot different from the older DS-16, but it does have some things that the older model does not have. Such as a mic to create custom voice announcements, Dual band (2.4 ghz/900 mhz) RF output, a colour screen, and voice commands to name a few.

I do have to adjust the stick tension on the rudder, because it is a little tighter than I prefer to have it. But other than that, it`s perfect. I did change the stick ends though. Being a thumb flyer, the stock ones are way too long for me. Especially with my small hands. Danny from Aeropanda realized that, and gave me a set of shorter SeaCraft stick ends to go on it. They got the sticks short enough for me to fly comfortably, and I love them.

But rather than purchasing a DS-12 or a DS-14, I thought......why not upgrade my main transmitter, and use my current one for the buddy box transmitter? Sooooo.... I went ahead and ordered a newer DS-16 G2, to use as my primary system. I chose the carbon red one, and it looks HOT.

I will be taking delivery of it on Saturday 8-21-21, and I should have all my models in it by the following weekend. I`m really excited about this, and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it. The photo below, is from aeropand`s ( www.aeropanda.com ) website, and not my actual transmitter. I will be posting an unboxing video soon, on my youtube channel.  ( https://www.youtube.com/user/GeenaTucker ) and posting more blogs about it as well.

The past week for me, was simply amazing! First... on August 2-4-2021, I competed in my first ever Helicopter F3C Nats in Muncie, Indiana. What a rush it was to be surrounded by so much talent, and to be able to compete in an event of this caliber. 

I compete in the Sportsman class, which is basically beginner, but I hope to move up to the next class as soon as I can. The Nats was only my second contest, and I admit.... I was a little nervous at first. But the guys made me feel at home, and the nervousness soon passed.

There were 10 pilots in Sportsman class, and ended up finishing in 7th place. Although I didn`t do as well as I would have liked, I`m very happy to have been able to compete on such a level. Finishing 7th is my motivation to train harder and do better in my next contest, and to be more prepared to compete in the Nats next year.

The fist few days were kind of quiet. We walked around, checking out all of the helicopters and paid the AMA museum a visit. Thursday, friday and Saturday were the big days for me. Thursday and Friday, I worked in the Kontronik Drives booth, and also worked a little in the Miniature Aircraft booth. Thursday afternoon, I did a demo flight for Kontronik, during our power hour. Friday was my demo flight with Miniature aircraft, which I did with my Whiplash nitro.

Saturday, at about 4PM, was the golden hour for me. I was selected by Kontronik, to represent them in the Battle of The Brands on center stage. Battle of the Brands, is a 3D flight to musik competition, and I was up against some of the top pilots in the world....Yeah, I was terrified. But not only did I compete in the Battle..... I made a little IRCHA history, by being the very first woman to EVER compete in Battle of The Brands.

There were 13 pilots competing, and after we all flew, the crowd voted for their favorites by how loud they cheered for each of us. They must have liked me, because the officials informed me after the contest, that I had gotten 3rd place. I feel so honored that Kontronik trusted me with performing for them in the Battle of the Brands, and I really hope I get to do it again.

I got it build and set up a couple of weeks before this blog post, and I have about a dozen flights on it so far. In true Miniature aircraft form, it flies great. It takes saddle packs, which I was never a huge fan of.

I usually prefer stick packs on a slide in tray, but Miniature aircraft did the saddle pack mounting system right....and I have changed my mind about saddle packs now. They are SO easy to put in and take out, and only takes a few seconds to do.

They must have been thinking of Kontronik when they designed the ESC mount, because there are holes pre-cut into the tray, to accommodate the mounting tabs on the Kontronik ESC, and they even supplied blind nuts to press into the holes to fasten the speed control to the tray. Just Brilliant thinking.

The Whiplash 730 E is a well built, well thought out design, and it flies like a dream. It weighs just over 8 pounds without the batteries and just over 12 pounds with the batteries in it. But it does not feel like a 12 pound helicopter in the air. It`s quite snappy in 3D flight, but settles in good for doing F3C flying. Kind of a perfect balance between the two worlds.

They added a gyro tray to the front of the helicopter, which eliminates the need for the upgrade tray that was available for the Fury 55 way back when. Plus there is a gyro tray on the rear of the frames as well, if you prefer the gyro on the back. I prefer mine to be on the front, under the canopy so the oil from the exhaust is blocked from getting on the gyro as much as it can with the gyro on the rear....Just my own preference.

They also slotted the mounting holes in the landing gear struts, to force the landing gear to break on the outsides of the frames when you crash. The slotted holes, along with the bottom plate will help save the frames in a crash.

It took several flights to get used to it and start opening it up, but each flight gets better and better. It`s a very well designed and build helicopter, and it just screams quality. It is smooth, stable and predicable, which makes it even that much more fun to fly it.

The red canopy is a little hard for me to see in some orientations, but it`s nothing that I can`t get through.
Miniature aircraft will be sending me the neon orange canopies when they send me my Whiplash 730E and Fury 57, and I should be able to see them a lot easier.

Parts count on this helicopter is pretty low, which is a plus in the event of a crash. But from what I have seen from my team mates crashing them, they don`t break very easily.

The Whiplash is build to last, and even though they are build so tough, they are still reasonably light as well. Mine weighs in at 12.6 pounds with a full tank of fuel, and the tank holds a quart of fuel. I will try to get the empty weight, and include that in my next blog post.

It will take a wide range of main blade lengths from 690mm to 720mm. I have 710mm KBDD Extreme Edition main blades on mine, and it flies great.

Thank you all so much for visiting my website, and have a wonderful day. :)

Here is my setup:

Xpert KD1 cyclic servos

Xpert KD1T rudder servo

Xpert KD1E throttle servo

KBDD 710mm Extreme Edition main blades

KBDD 105mm CF tail blades

Bavarian Demon 3X FBL system

Pulse Ultra 5000 mAh receiver battery

Jeti REX7 receiver

Aerospire Multigov Pro governor

OS 105 HZ-R DRS engine

Botos ProTune 105 pipe

Switch Glow Pro onboard glow plug igniter

I don`t dislike it because it is difficult, it isn`t. It`s actually quite easy. My reason for not enjoying wiring, is I over think it, and always end up redoing it several times before I`m satisfied with it.

Well..... that`s what I did today. Yep, took me all day to get the electronics installed and wired in. All the hard work has paid off though, and the helicopter is now ready to fly.

I started off by installing my cyclic servos. Xpert KD1s. There are lots of thing I love about Xpert servos. They have over current protection, over heat protection, and they are just really fast and strong. Plus the start up chimes and slow center up is pretty cool too.

Next was fuel line plumbing. THIS I really enjoy doing, and I like to make the fuel lines as neat as possible. Nothing bothers me more than to have a nice clean build, just to ruin it with bad plumbing.

The build was very straight forward, but also very technical. Not a hard build, but definitely not a kit which can be just "slapped together". There are a lot of steps which must be done perfectly, to avoid issues later, such as getting the proper gear mesh between the crown gear and the torque tube gear. Sounds scary, I know. But follow the build manual to the letter, and it will all be fine.

The first step in the build was installing the link balls in the swash plate. There are two sets of holes in the swash plate for the two front servos, so you must pay attention to which ones the link balls will go into. The two rearward holes are the ones you want.

*Build tip* I found it very difficult to hold the damper sleeve to install the O-ring into the groove in the sleeve. I put the sleeve on the end of the spindle shaft, and I was able to control the sleeve and get the O-rings installed.

The rest of the head assembly was pretty must as it is with any kit, and it went together perfectly. One thing I want to mention, is that the spindle shaft has a nice slip fit into the damper sleeves and slides in with no effort.

*Build tip* When installing the screws into the ends of the torque tube, I like to install them in opposite directions from each other. Meaning... The socket heads of the screws are opposite sides of the torque tube from each other. In my opinion, this can keep tail vibrations down...due to an out of balance torque tube. This may or may not be the case, but it something that I personally like to do. :)

Assembly of the frames as mentioned above, was a LOT of fun and I took my time and savored the moment. The bearing blocks are beautifully machined and finished. As are all other components of this kit.

That adventure begins with Miniature Aircraft. I was offered a position on their flight team a few days ago, and I graciously accepted. I will be representing Miniature Aircraft for the foreseeable future, and I am horned and excited to be a part of the Miniature Aircraft family and I can`t wait to get this journey started.

I`ll be ordering my helicopter kits soon, a Whiplash 730E, and a Whiplash 90 nitro. I`ll be posting build threads as soon as I receive the kits, so stay tuned for that. :)

Then.... there is F3C. Precision hovering maneuvers, along with precision aerobatic maneuvers. I think I found my little niche in the RC helicopter hobby. F3C takes skills, nerves, and dedication that I never realized or gave credit for in the past......Until I tried it.

Wow! Is it ever a hard discipline to learn, but at the same time, so much fun. Learning to fly the maneuvers is just the beginning. There are several settings that are completely opposite of how you set them up on a 3D helicopter, which are definitely a challenge to get used to.

The idle up pitch/throttle curves are the same as for 3D, but in normal mode, is where things get tricky. I won`t get too far into the settings, but they make the helicopter very docile in the hovering maneuvers.

I competed in my very first contest last weekend (March 19-21, 2021) at the 2021 AMPS Heli Smackdown in Homestead, Florida and I walked away with second place. I`m totally hooked on F3C now, and 3D is going to have to be put on the back burner for a while until I get F3C down pat.

I`ll still do 3D demo flights at events, but F3C competition is going to be my main focus.

I had been planning on building a GAUI X5V2 for myself, (still might do that) until GAUI announced to the team that they were working on a new machine. We were told about it about midway through 2019, and I decided I would wait for this one instead of doing and X5x at this time.

The helicopter I`m speaking of, is the GAUI NEX6. This helicopter can be built as a 6s electric, a 12s electric, or as a nitro helicopter...accepting 50-60 size nitro engines. The kit comes out of the box to be built as a 6s electric, and can be upgraded to 12s electric or nitro by purchasing the 12s or nitro upgrade kits, sold separately. The upgrade kits are around $100 for the nitro upgrade, and $65 for the electric upgrade.

The NEX6 has a belt driven tail, and the drive train is very smooth. It will swing up to 610mm main blades, and 82mm-95mm tail blades.  It also incorporates the use of the GAUI R5 (GAUI`s speed model)  rotor head, which is very nicely built. There is also TONS of room for electronics mounting, which makes for very clean wiring jobs. Which I am a stickler for.

It is a very light helicopter, weighing in at 8 pounds ready to fly (my personal setup) as a 12s. Without the flight battery, mine is weighing in at about 5 pounds.

The canopy is brightly coloured and is easy to see from long distances...it also matches my KBDD 600mm Extreme Edition main blades and KBDD 95mm CF tail blades very well.

Xpert KD1 cyclic servos

Xpert KD1T tail servo

Bavarian Demon AXON fbl

KBDD 600mm Extreme Edition main blades

KBDD 95mm CF tail blades

Pulse 12s 3000 mAh 45C stick packs

Scorpion Tribunus II 200A ESC'

Scorpion backup Guard

Scorpion HKIII 4025-550 motor

Jeti REX7 receiver

Jeti 200A MUI sensor

This weekend, I`ll take it out and go through the break in process again and then work on finding the really good tune I had on it before my little oopsie. I even installed the .2mm shim in the head, so I can run 30% nitro if I decide to do so.

I knew I should have changed the retainer out, but I didn`t, and my engine payed the price. Live and learn, I guess. I have the parts ordered, and it shouldn`t be long before my engine it back to normal.

I`m looking forward to working with Xpert USA in the 2020 season, and hopefully for many years to come. Thank you Xpert USA, for this amazing opportunity. :)

When it happened, I really thought "this is going to be expensive". But I was pleasantly surprised, when I started looking the helicopter over on the table.

The damage was very superficial, and consisted of nothing but one servo horn being stripped, and the main gear losing a couple of teeth. The main blades weren`t even damaged. In fact, the field suffered more damage than my helicopter did.... LOL. A large part of that may be due to all the rain we have been getting, which softened up the ground. But I`ll take it.

Hopefully, I can go another few years before the next one, but that`s all part of the game. I have to admit though.... that crop circle is pretty nice. ;)

They produce plenty of power, and they can take whatever I throw at them. I want to thank Cong Huan Bui, for giving me the honor of representing a brand that I truly trust and believe in.

I`m very happy and honored to announce that I will be representing KBDD International for 2019, and the foreseeable future. I was given the opportunity to fly these rotor blades for a few weeks prior to joining the team, and I am very pleased with the performance of these blades.

I want to say thank you to Ah Clem, and Justin Aven, for allowing me the privilege of being part of the KBDD family.

I have been very happy with their performance and reliability, and I am certainly not switching brands for any other reason than to try something new. 

I have been using the Xpert KD1 servos now, for about a month, and I`m kind of still getting used to them. But I am really liking them so far. One of the coolest things about them, is how they start up. When the electronics are initialized, the servos actually chime. Kind of how an ESC chimes through the motor when you plug it in.  Then...instead of quickly "jumping" to center, they slowly move to center. 

They also have overload protection, which shuts the power off to them in the event of power overload. Probably one of the most thought out part of these servos, is the ability to be unplugged at the servo body. No more unwiring the whole helicopter to change servo gears, or to do maintenance checks. 

They are very well made, and look great too. But they fly even better. These things are fast, very smooth, and have way more toque than I`ll ever need out of a servo. I have 30-40 flights on them so far, and I`m really enjoying flying them.  As I get more comfortable with them, I`ll have more input to share. So stay tuned in for that. 

As always, Happy and safe flying. :) 

Back in August, while attending IRCHA 2017, I purchased a couple of things for my Gaui X7FZ helicopter. Both of these items were brand new releases, and being a loyal Scorpion user, I just had to have them on my helicopter.

The first item purchased was the newly released Tribunus 14-200 amp ESC. I had been using a Hobbywing 160amp ESC on my X7FZ, and it worked great. But it was a bit too large to fit properly under the narrow canopy of the X7FZ.

The Tribunus 200, is smaller, lighter, and has has excellent data logging. Not to mention that is a snap to set up. Which I`ll get into later in this post.

The second Item purchased was the newly released Scorpion HKII4525-520kv motor, to replace my trusty HK4525-520kv motor. I know...it took me two months to blog about them. But I wanted to fly them for a while, so I could give good honest feedback about them.

So now it is October 2017, and it`s time to give my opinion. So lets begin.

The Tribunus 14-200 amp ESC:

The Tribunus 14-200, like every other Scorpion product I have purchased, was perfectly packaged in the reusable metal boxes that everyone knows and loves.

The ESC itself is finished in the traditional Scorpion gold and black, and is beautifully done. The connecting (throttle control and BEC) cable plugs into the body of the ESC, via a Futaba style servo plug. I think this is a nice feature, because it allows the user to change the length of the cable, without the need to actually cut or modify it. All you do is use a shorter, heavy duty male to male extension cable. Great Idea, Geoges. :)  Another really nice feature is an additional BEC (marked slave) output that can be plugged into the receiver or plugged into an external governor.

The very first thing to do when setting up a brand new Tribunus 14-200A ESC is to update the firmware to the latest version. Which can be downloaded after registration is complete.

Setting up the Tribunus 14-200A ESC is very simple, and the instructions are very clear.  It took me only 15 minutes to have mine ready for the first flight. Below are a few screen shots of the setup program. I won`t get into much detail about setting it up, but if anyone wants a thorough setup explanation, Go check out Bobby Watts` video on youtube at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioq1fXwq5vA

Here is the first screen shot of the setup software. In this tab, you can name your ESC (how cool is that?)  This is also where you set devise mode, BEC voltage, motor rotational direction, and communication protocol ( the transmitter you are using) One more feature that I think is a great idea, is the ability to set up a mAh counter in the Tribunus 14-200A ESC. You can actually tell the ESC how many mAh to take from the batteries, and it will automatically reduce the motor`s power by 50% when it reaches the predetermined capacity. No more over discharging packs because a timer was not set corre4ctly. I use a Jeti transmitter, with an MUI sensor, which does the same thing. So I have not yet experimented with the one in the Tribunus. But it is nice to know it`s there if I want to use it.

In this Tab, you set things like soft start and governor gains. Like I said, these are just screen shots to give the reader of this blog an idea of what the programming software looks like. If detailed setup information is needed. Please see Bobby`s video in the link I posted above. 

The setup software can be downloaded here http://www.scorpionsystem.com/downloads/ along with the V-Link II driver, which will WILL need to program the ESC. The V-Link II can be purchased from most online retailers where the ESC itself was purchased. It would be nice to see the V-Link II included in the box with the ESC, but the fact that is is not, is not a deal breaker.

The Scorpion HKII 4525-520 motor:

What can I say? Georges hit the nail right on the head again with this beautiful motor. This motor comes with the longer shaft already installed, and the motor can has a very unique design that I have never seen on a motor until now. Instead of just being round, like most motor, it has "scallops" I guess you could call it. Machined into the circumference of the can.( see photo below) I don`t know what they are for (probably cooling if I had to guess?) But it definitely looks nice.

Performance:

I`m not a snack 3D pilot, but even I noticed a considerable difference in torque compared to the HK4525-520. The HKII4525-520 also seems to run much cooler than my HK4525-520, but quite a bit.

My HK4525-520 ran roughly 200 degrees F, and the HKII4525-520 seems to be holding at around 140-150 degrees F after a flight.

The Tribunus 14-200A ESC stays rather cool as well. Considering I do not have a fan on it, and I rarely fly without the canopy on.

Frames, motor mount and the tail book mount were next to go on. Along with the frame stiffeners.

With the landing gear installed, it was time to get the main shaft, head, tail belt and the main and auto rotation gears in place. This step can be a little tricky, because there are a couple of spacers that must be put in the top of the auto rotation sleeve that contact the upper main bearing. One of the spacers is .05mm, and the other is .01mm, and it is very easy to damage them while trying to slip them into place. I used a dab of clear silicon grease to hold them onto the sleeve while I slid the assembly into the frames. Then I used a 1.5mm hex driver to reach in from the top of the upper bearing to line them up so I could slide the main shaft in.

Installing the head was nothing special. it came pre-assembled, but I never...ever rely on the factories putting loc-tite, grease...ect. in the parts when they assemble them. So I always take everything apart and redo it myself, so I know it`s been done.

Moving on. The tail boom, and tail boom cover were next to go on, and I must say that this step is a bit of a pain. You have to put the tail boom on, put the push rod on, and then install the cover. Here is where it gets fun. being a belted tail you have to push the boom in a little to keep the belt loose while installing the tail output shaft. This leaves you only about 1/2" of tail boom sticking out from the rear of the boom cover, and it`s not enough to get hold of to pull the tail boom back out to tension the belt.

* Tech tip* Once you get the tail box into place and the output shaft is through the belt..install and tighten the two screws which hold the vertical fin on, and use the tail box as a "handle" to slide the boom out to where it needs to be.*

Once the boom is pulled out, you can loosen the vertical fin screws, push the tail box in to where is needs to be and pin it. Then the belt can be tensioned, and the tail rotor can be installed.

The whole airframe  build took only a few hours, and all that is left now are the electronics. The airframe with Zeal 360mm carbon fiber blades and the Gaui stock tail blades weighs in at 1.49 pounds.

This was a fun little build, and I can hardly wait to get the electronics in it and get it test flown.

Therefore, I decided to get with the program and start parallel charging. I purchased a couple of EC5 parallel board kits from Progressive RC, and got busy installing  them when they arrived on of all days.....Halloween.

I assembled the boards, and set them in place to make sure everything was going to work the way I planned before I mounted them in. Thankfully I did that, because the case lid would not close completely because the EC5 connectors were too high with the boards assembled.

No problem! I just disassembled them, and put the EC5 boards beside the balance boards and now the lid closes, and all the connectors are easy to get to.

In addition to the boards, I purchased four 12" balance lead extensions from Progressive, and build four 12" charge lead adapters to go from the EC5s on the boards to the XT-150s on my batteries. The last thing I did, was to add an on/off switch....which I should have done in the beginning. Hind sight is always 20/20, I guess.

Building this case has been a lot of fun for me, and has definitely been a rewarding experience. Who knows what I might decide to add to it in the future....maybe a tablet?

Instead of buying another Ultra Duo, I decided to get with the program, and build a real charging case. The project started with a Plano brand handgun case from Walmart, which is very similar to the more expensive pelican cases. They are high quality cases and I use them for everything...battery cases, transmitter cases, and charger cases and more.

Next came the power supply and charger. My husband noticed I was looking at them online, and took it upon himself to order a charger and power supply for me for my birthday....how cool was that?

The charger is a Revolectrix Dual powerLab PL8, purchased from Progressive RC. The power supply is a Juice Box (made by Strick Model Products) 1800 watt, 75A, 24volt power supply.

I received the charger and power supply in a few days, and immediately got to work on the case. For the deck lid, I used 1/4" sanded birch plywood. I carefully cut the deck lid out to the shape of the case, test fitting and trimming until I had a perfect fit.

Next, I measured the charger and fans so I could start laying out the holes I would need to cut to mount everything in the deck. Once all the holes were cut, I covered the plywood deck with carbon fiber vinyl wrap which we purchased on Amazon.

Now came the installation and wiring of all of the equipment in the case. That was actually the easy part. Since the charger is flush mounted in the deck, I had to install banana jacks in the deck to be able to plug in my charge leads. I used 60mm 24v fans, which work amazingly well at keeping the air moving through the case,.

The power supply was very easy to secure. I just made a couple of aluminum brackets, padded with loop side self stick velcro to clamp it to the bottom of the case.

I think it turned out fairly well for my first attempt at building a charging case, but I`m sure I will be making a few changes as I discover better ways to do things. So far, it seems to be working great, and I can`t wait to use it at the next helicopter event.

Here is a list of all the components I used:

Case: Plano Gun Guard

1/4" birch plywood

Carbon fiber vinyl wrap

FMA Dual PowerLab PL8X2

Juice Box 1800W, 75A, 24V power supply

Two 60mm 24V cooling fans

Two sets of banana jacks

Two standard balance boards 2s-6s

I am still running the engine very rich, and even though it is not completely tuned yet, it is still making a ton of power. I spent from 07:30 til about 15:00,  flying it back to back. Pausing only long enough between flights to let the engine cool down. I lost count of the number of flights I got in today, but I did burn almost two gallons of 30% Rotor Rage....the second gallon has maybe one flight worth of fuel in it.

I don`t have a flight timer set in my transmitter, but I`m guessing the flights are somewhere around 5.5-6 minutes on a blubbery rich engine. I hope the flight times will increase once the engine is tuned for power, but if not, I won`t complain. I do plan to run it a tad on the rich side anyway, since YS engines don`t mind running rich.

I have heard some say that the YS96 is a hard engine to tune, but I really have to respectfully disagree. I`m finding that it is quite easy to get and keep a tune on it. It also starts up very quickly and easily as well, using 30% nitro and an Enya #3 glow plug.

I really like this engine and pipe combination, and I think I will like it even more when I get it tuned. Once I get the tune dialed in, I will post my needle settings in a new blog post. Gaui NX7+YS96SRX Tareq engine+ YS Power Pipe= a winning combination.