美國飛友對T-REX450XL(CCPM)組裝心得分享

DEDE

美國飛友Silverstreak328
在國外專業模型網站發表對T-REX450XL(CCPM)組裝心得~分享
配備:
Align 420LF3200KV
Align BL-25T
Hitec HS-56X4

It's finally here! A CCPM version of the T-Rex from Align . I will be reviewing the new version of Aligns new micro helicopter the T-Rex 450XL CCPM.

First impressions: The box is bigger! It looks a lot better in black and the color scheme of the new helicopter shown on the front looks excellent aswell.

DEDE

I quickly found out why the box was bigger, Align has packaged the helicopter with a very nice aluminum case! It's not big enough for the assembled helicopter to fit into, or even a controller but I know I'll find it great for storage of accumulated heli stuff. I haven't checked yet but I believe a micro heli such as a aerohawk/hummingbird will fit into it. Another plus is that the inside is lined with foam padding!

DEDE

The kit I received also came with Aligns new 3200kv 420LF brushless motor and the new 25 amp RCE-BL25T brushless controller. The kit is well packaged and the metal case should protect anything from getting bent or broken during shipping. The kit comes with 2 sets of blades, 335mm wood blades and the yellow abs blades for beginners (easier to hover with). I also noticed that the R48 glue is now in a sealed bag so there won't be any more leak issues that some have experienced in the past. The kit also comes with a extra parts bag filled with a couple of every piece of hardware such as screws, ball links, washers, etc. As always you get a nice little tool kit to build the kit with.




Next up is the assembly 　

DEDE

For the electronics in the heli I will be using the following:

Align 420LF 3200KV brushless motor
Align RCE-BL25T 25 amp brushless ESC
Futaba GY240 HH gyro
Berg 5 DSP II Rx
4x Hitec HS-56B servos

Assembly:

First I started examining each of the parts bags getting familiar with the kit. Each bag is nicely labelled and corresponds to each step in the directions. I noticed while building the head how everything was fitting together much better. Every joint and rotating piece had ball bearins in it! Instead of previous kits where you had to torque the screw down and check for friction each time , now you can just torque it down snugly and it rotates freely without friction! Awesome . On a few parts there were "burs" sticking out from the molds but you can quickly trim these off with an exacto knife.

DEDE

Assembly of the head went well and I was very pleased with the design and how frictionless everything was.

Time came to put the flybar paddles on. I got out my trusty scale to weigh and balance them.


First blade was 5.06 grams

DEDE

And the second was 5.31 grams! That's .25g more

DEDE

I had to attach six ~1 inch long pieces of scotch tape for it to match the other blade in weight

DEDE

Head with FB blades on and main gear for test fit.
I highly recommend weighing and balancing as much as you can on any heli kit, it may not seem like much but at 2400 RPM's it can cause a high frequency vibration that can greatly interfere with gyro performance

DEDE

Assembly part 2:

(I got ahead of myself guys and finished the heli . I'll still go through the review as best as possible.)

After the head assembly I started assembling the main frame. Not much has changed here. The area where the pitch slider used to be now has two bearing holders for the rear CCPM link. They simply fit in the existing slot by friction and with the cap/servo link connected two screws hold it securely in place. It also moves very smoothly due to the ball bearings here too .

Bearing holder circled in red.

DEDE

Obviously the servo cage is new. It feels a lot more rigid and reinforced than the previous one. This also could be because Align claims the new black plastic is both stronger and lighter!

One important thing you will have to do on the servo horns is mount the TOP ball link on the inside of the horn. If you don't do this then the body of the helicopter will rub when installed. The Align instructions say you "May" have to do this but I don't see how it would work if they were on the outside. Even with the ball links on the inside and shaving the servo horns down a bit the left CCPM servo (the red circle on the right side of the picture) still slightly rubs the body but not enough to be concerned.

You can see them circled in red in the following picture

Other small changes on the main frame are reinforment braces at the rear just under the tail pulley and at the front behind where the battery sits.

DEDE

Assembly part 3:

Tail assembly, the tail is not much different than previous ones in the way it is put together. Instead much of the parts have been "optimized" for less slop and less friction. The tail slider is especailly good. It also has ball bearings in it to make for very smooth movements. The "fork" is a much better design aswell, it holds the tail slider at both the top and bottom!

Tail pitch slider:

DEDE

In addition to holding it in two places instead of one the slider is also allowed to "pivot through the fork" slightly as you can see in the picture above. This puts much less strain on the servo operating it.

A nice finish on the tail is the vertical stabilizer. It is made of CF (yes real cf, not the fake stuff ) and looks very nice mounted on the back.

Rear tail rotor:


The rest of the tail (horizontail stabilizer, supports, servo brackets, etc.) go together exactly like the previous T-rex kits

DEDE

Assembly part 4:

The electronics were installed as Align recommends in the manual. Originally I wanted to mount the gyro inside the frame for better protection but the BL esc/motor would be too close to the gyro and be susceptible to interference.

For the servos I had to drill center holes in the HS-56B mounting tabs. The 56B's come with 2 holes on each tab at the corners instead of one in the middle.

DEDE

The Align RCE-BL25T is zip tied to the bottom with the heatsink facing downwards for airflow

DEDE

I attached the translucent window with two screws at the top and bottom rather than using CA to glue it on permanently. To make the small holes I simply heated the tip of a paper clip up over a candle and then melted a small hole with it in the plastic body. It came out well and holds the window on very securely