Flybarless conversion....without electronic stabilization.

[GB Ian]

In case anyone is interested....Adam you can just hit delete now...I converted my Trex 450 to flybarless last night.

I did not install any electronic stabilisation system so it is now a "naked flybarless".

I used the following simple method to change from flybar to flybarless;

http://www.rchelimag.com/pages/howto.php?howto=33&page=1

The heli flew first time without incident.

I need to work on the amount of expo I am using, posts in heli-freak talk about +80 which on th DX7 made the cyclic very mushy. +50 was Ok but still needs to be reduced further probably to near normal levels.

The main obvious difference in hover is that the heli will not hover hands off, but it is far from being unstable. It was easy to hold a hover. It seems that with some work on the CG I could get the hover better.

So why have we been using flybars....??

More results to come maybe this weekend..assuming I don't pile it into the ground like i seem to most times I fly it.

I expect it to pitch up in forward flight, but hopefully it will roll balistically.

[Red]

Neat Ian.

Way back in the day, 20 years or so ago flybarless was all the rage. There was no such thing as any kind of electronic stability augmentation. In fact the gyro was actually a gyro that spun up and required a separate sub-C Nicad pack to run it! I had a GMP Cobra I think it was that was flybarless. It hovered less stable but was more precise to fly. It was very desireable for FAI type flying. As 3D style flying became more prevelant, the flybar offered significant advantages with quicker resonse and higher cyclic rates. Dunno if that is stiill the case but neat to see some experimentation none the less. good luck!

[GB Ian]

I tried the trex 450 out at the field today, wind was very low.

It was flyable but unpredictable with fast collective changes.
A couple of times it did some very off things that left me in challenging positions.
Airleron and elevator roll rates were good, but for me the experiment is done.
Maybe on a larger heli the results would be better due to the inherent greater stability of the bigger helis.