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My current 450 recommended setup
I
have setup a number of 450's over the past few years (since
2008)
for myself and
my students and here is the current recommended setup I have that I
think works
pretty well for a reasonable cost.
Heli : One of the 450 EXI
helis from Xheli
Note: I recommend a belt heli for beginners because they are more crash
tolerant. The Torque tube helis have more parts to change when there is
a crash and something typically gets shredded in the tail gears during
a crash.
The
Pro head is more stable, the lengths are longer on the mixing arms to
reduce the effect of slop in the head. Plus the width of the head is
longer thus making the rotor disk bigger which aides in stability. Only
the Pro has this head, the other models will have a normal type head.
I
advise against the cheaper plastic heli. The Sport edition is probably
easier to mount the electronics in and service though. If you
go
with the sport version, you can still use 335mm Pro3d Blades
if you want.
Motor
: Alpha
400
ESC : Volcano/Proton
30A
Cyclic Servos* : Solar Servo D650 (Best), Solar
Servo A107 (Minimal), EXI D113F (good)
or EXI
digital 213F 9g (Better)
Gyro** : Detrum
GY48V
Tail servo :
Mini Tail servo from Value Hobby
Solar Servo D658
from Xheli or Hobbypartz
if you make your
own adaptor bracket, you can also use a micro servo like the JR
290G
Radio : Better ->Spektrum
6 or 7 channel radio from Amain Hobbies
I recommend the 6110 or 6110e Rx for the 450 size helicopter
AR 6200 is better but not necessary.
href="http://www.xheli.com/exceed-rc-6-ch-2-4ghz-transmitter-receiver.html">T6
radio from Xheli -> Instructions
here
Batteries:
HobbyPartz
has a good selection of 2200mAh 3S 20C, 25C and 30C batteries.
Gens Ace is the
best battery but for the beginner, Blue lipo is a better value or Sky
Lipo.
You can also
find some of the above parts sometimes less at HobbyPartz
Charger:
AC6
*
A note about cyclic servos. Although the servos I recommend are very
good "bang for the buck" you can also consider spending more $$ on some
Hitec 5065mg
servos if you want much more performance
**
A note about the gyro. While an inexpensive gyro like the GY48V
performs very well in holding the tail for it's price, if you want MUCH
better tail holding, less drift and much better 3D performance, I
recommend a more expensive gyro like the Quark, Futaba
GY520, Futaba
GY401 or Logitech/Hitec combo pack.
Sometimes you can find GY401 gyros used or
Align GP750 gyros for less which are parted out of kits and shold on
ebay or helicopter forums. Put $$ into your gyro and tail
servo
before upgrading to better cyclic servos. Do not underestimate the
value of a good fast tail servo though, the Better gyros won't help if
you have an inexpensive Tail servo on it. The JR290G servo I list does
really well with both inexpensive as well as better gyros. If you need
to start on a budget and want bang for the buck, I'd say get the JR290G
tail servo and the GY48v then later upgrade your gyro when you can.
Some
general advise is that you have a multitude of other better motors and
ESC's that you can get. What is described above is a pretty
decent flying 450 helicopter at a reasonable price. Enough to
keep the first time CP or first time Electric flyer going strong for
months before feeling you need to immediatly upgrade.
You will still need tools as outlined in the Blueray setup page
If you think you are not up to the task of building your own Heli, you
should consider the following other choices.
(each
require you to get your own charger). Also realize that often you line
up a list of parts to order then you need more stuff later. Buying the
RTF versions and Rx ready versions have things already built up and you
just need to do some additional setup to them and get into the air
quickly without having to wait for more items to fly.
Blueray PE
RTF
Blueray
PE Rx ready (get the Dx6i or another Radio with this or just
add another Rx to your existing CCPM ready Tx)
Note:
On the Rx ready version, unless it is on sale, your almost always
better off getting the RTF version for $30 more so that you can get
into the air quickly, then upgrade the Tx later.