S.R.Stoene

Hello fellows,

After a fixed wing spell my interest is back on helis. I was first contemplating re-building my Nexus, and then an outright new

Gas-er seemed a better option (Caliber or Raptor). Now, after reading in your forum, I have become intrigued with electrics and

think this is what I want to go with. So far, the two I like best, and the least trashed, are the Trex and the Shogun/Zoom 400. What

are your experiences with each of these helis? Are they upgradeable/serviceable? I want a CP heli. I will upgrade to brush-less

motor, maybe Hacker (or other upon sufficient trashing of said brand). I prefer a shaft or belt drive for tail rotor (belt seems real

nice). I did want to be able to fly indoors but these two seem kind-of big. But the biggest issue for me is not having to lug

everthing to the field to fly. I like the idea of being able fly these at home, in small airspace and with little noise. So what do you

think? I'm looking for your opinions, fire and/or ice. Thanks for any info,

Stoene

UKgroucho

I have a Trex V2 (and a couple of Fixed pitch micros). Parts are cheap and readily available (including lots of upgrades), heli is pretty robust and can be set up to fly very agressively (beyond my capabilities right now). Biggest issue with the 'v1' and V2 are slo in the head assembly that comes from the plastic levers etc. This can be fixed using the (incredibly cheap) aluminium replacements from Align or from third party outfits. If you have a TX that can do eCCPM mixing then get the CCPM head... in fact get the Trex XL with CCPM as a starting point.
Brushless is the only way to go with Trex, no-one flies with brushed (to my knowledge), and you will need at least 3S LiPo. If you are a confident pilot / can do 3D or plan to then 4S (or 5S) is probably needed. I have my V2 running 3S with an Aligh Brushless motor (2500Kv) and it's fine for FF/FFF. I think rolls and loops are well within it's capabilities but I'm not there yet. I have seen Align video of it flying with a 15t pinion (I use 13t) and doing full 3D with this motor. There are more powerful align motors out there and they are a steal for what they provide... Align 400LF (fan cooled) 3200kv is $43 or thereabouts. I have one of these on order to upgrade the 2500, but for my second Trex (parts being acquired as we speak) it will run a Neu 1105/3Y and 4S in a CF frame (and CCPM - Align aluminium bits). Futaba GY401 is pretty much the gyro of choice, Hitex HS56 servos all round (some use a 50 for the rudder as it's faster) ... some kind of digital signal processing RX (Berg / Schultze) is also a good idea IMO. You also want teh aluminium landing gear (RC hover) .. although I think Align are coming out with some soon... the stock stuff breaks too easily (boil it for a while and leave to cool in the water to make it a little more pliable). Even so Shogun folks are fitting Trex LG....

Enough parts rambling. Bottom line is I really like the Trex. As a step up from small FPs it is incredibly stable and, even with the 2500, quite powerful. Not as 'flickable' as the FPs but then it weighs twice as much but it is certainly agile and very responsive - in fact you need to detune it initially. www.trextuning.com has good information. Oh... indoor flying only in a large space.. gym or whatever. you could certainly hover in your garage etc. but not much else IMO.

Not flown a Shogun / Zoom etc. They are a little smaller but I'd still think a handful in a small space. The original shaft drive tail is a major pain by all accounts (endless wrecked gears).. lots of folks upgrade the gears with after-market stuff or convert to belt drive. I think there is a new Shogun just announced that has belt drive - probably worth a look.

X400 is the other option. Apparently an 'improved' Trex but... part availability seems patchy 9although many Trex parts fit), quality seems mixed - stock plastics not good, and the Trex XL may well have pulled back the ground that the X400 claimed... and has better quality.

VinceHerman

Hi Stoene,
You need to seperate the indoor and outdoor flying requirements. Anything that is designed to fly indoors is useless outdoors on anything but an absolutely calm evening. Anything big enough and with a high enough head speed to handle wind outdoors is too dangerous to fly indoors. I think that coming from the Nitro world, you will be unhappy with the tiny, very twitchy indoor models.
The T-Rex will behave well. It is well built, with only a few design issues that are easy to tweak out (slop and friction in the linkages). It can be set up to be very aggressive, so there is lots of room for growth.
Oh, I HAVE hovered my Trex in the basement. But that is mostly just to test rebuilds after a crash. (our most expensive crash so far was $22 to fix)

I assume that you already have a heli capable transmitter? That would be one bigger item already checked off of the shopping list.

S.R.Stoene

Hello Vince H.,

Yeah, I guess I should pick helis suited for one or the other. The Trex looks good. I have a Futaba T6XA, and the 401 gyro. I had the digital servo gyro combo set up on the Nexus. I have the original Real Flight and plan on boning up on the small heli characteristics. Sounds good about the low-dollar repair. Thanks for the info.

Hello UkGroucho,

Wow, thanks for sitting down to write that novelette, very informative. I'm looking closer at the Trex 450X Pro 3D Fully loaded V2 189.99 at
[link=http://www.helihobby.com/html/trex_helicopter.html]http://www.helihobby.com/html/trex_helicopter.html[/link]

I have the 401 gyro. My radio is the older Futaba T6XA so I don't think it has the eCCPM functions. I'll check into the Align stuff. My flying skills are intermediate. I flew the Nexus with confidence but never attempted 3D. I'm looking forward to the ease of flight prep., time to flight location, and such.


Thanks again for the info, Stoene

Fly-n-3D

If you are not comfortable with 3D then fly high in the sky.