My Phoenix in one of it's first hovers...
This is my first Helicopter, since this one I have acquired thee more, another Phoenix to put into a scale fusalarge and something a bit different, a JR Voyager E, and a Hornet, yes both electric.
Why did I want to try a helicopter, well, why not...! It was something else that flies and a bit of a challenge.
How I chose the first one,
After looking around in all the magazines and on the web, studying reviews I decided to go for the Century Phoenix, it had everything I wanted it was a 30 size helicopter with a four stroke engine in it. There where others, like the Kalt Barron, but I was trying to keep the cost down and it was the only one available without an engine in the kit, and as a bonus it was designed to use an O.S.52FS, and I had one spare I had not used yet, (it was a plane I had not started to build, but it was going to be while so it was spare).
Why I chose another,
Well, the original plan was to build a scale model and after looking around picked a Twin Star 'Funkey' fuse. I was going to put the original Phoenix into this fuse but then I don't want to fly the scale model all the time, so new mechanics where purchased. This is currently being fitted and details and photos to come soon.
Me in the garden.
Looking at the internet news groups, rec.models.rc.helicopter, and talking to some shops I have found that most Heli fliers are against 4 strokes. Most of the complaints are lack of power and overheating.
So far mine is a success story, I have had my share of problems on the way but all of these have been tackled and dealt with all resulting in a few lessons learned.
I will be listing the things I have had problems with in the hope that my experience will help others by not making the same mistakes or following the same frustration, and have an overall affect of getting a few more 4 stroke heli's in the air.
OK, Problems, remedy's and building tips for the Century Phoenix.
1. The manual does not show this but you have to cut about 5mm of the end of the shaft on the OS52, if you don't, it will all assemble OK, but when you come to start the engine you will find that the start shaft will not pop into the fan assembly far enough and it will not engage. Very frustrating if you have just finished assembling it....!
2. Fit the battery pack under the radio tray, this will give a bit more room to fit the gyro and the radio.
3. If you can, get a tail mount servo bracket, I found the route of the control arm not very good and made it hard work for the servo.
4. I have replaced all the Phillips Head screws with Socket Head screws, it's a bit of a pain to do but it is worth it. When you have had to rebuild a few times, and you will, you will appreciate it, it makes it easier and quicker.
4. Once you have the tail servo and the control rod in place cyno the plastic guides to the boom or they will creep along and cause it to bind.
5. Extend the needle valve with a piece of piano wire, this will help stop you burning your fingers. The exhaust of a 4st gets VERY hot...!
6. Header tank, not really a problem, just a big bubble trap. Try and get the tank low and in-line with the carb on the engine. Also because the carb is so low on a 4st the fuel will siphon out, even with the header tank, so use a fuel line clip, just pop it open just before you start up.
7. Run the engine rich, and when I say rich, I mean rich. 4 Sts do run hot and need all the cooling they can get, upgrade the fan to the aluminum one, it's more efficient. I managed to wreck an engine by running it too lean and, it ran so hot it snapped the con rod and took out a few other bits, £65.00 worth of damage. It will overheat and you'll lose power anyway, use a good synthetic fuel with lots of nitro to make up the power, I use Coolpower 30%.
Run it rich, keep it cool, and get nice lots of smoke.
Flying
I spent a whole day with Radio Flight learning to fly, not bad, I managed to get the basics of keeping the thing in a hover. They use a buddy box, and give you one control at a time, first throttle and collective. It was a windy day and keeping the height constant was a lot more difficult than I thought. Then I was given rudder as well, and again the wind blowing made this interesting but not as tricky as controlling the height. After this the left stick was taken back into the hands of the instructor and I was given the right stick, left - right, forward - back cyclic, this was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but then it was all done "tail in".
I was very impressed with the performance of the heli. It was up in the air for at least 5 hours, and no faults at all, the engine is now running spot on, not once did it give any trouble or even miss a beat. I did find the four stroke gave me a couple of advantages over other heli's I have seen. First of all, 25 minutes a tank! and that's not running into the header tank. Second, it's quiet, all you can hear is the blades and the gears, which adds up to what I think is the best thing of all, it actually sounds like a Helicopter...!
More updates as they happen.