BEFORE I START and someone decides to
get all twisted up, I know this is a helicopter
column, but I’m using my fixed-wing club as
an example to make my point.
This year I decided to help my fixed-wing
club as a flight instructor. (I don’t have
enough to do already). Our club has taught
the art of flying RC airplanes for
approximately 14 years, and I’ve assisted
most of that time.
In the last few years I’ve been so wrapped
up with helicopters that I haven’t taken the
time to help out. It feels good to fly airplanes
again, but it has also made me realize just
how valuable a flight-instruction program is
to a club.
Since my model club has taken on the
burden of teaching flight school, its ranks are
always being filled with new pilots and new
ideas. It keeps the roster fresh and does a
proper service to the modeling community.
Without it, most would buy that ARF
combo kit for several hundred dollars, go out
and crash it, and decide that next time the
money might be better spent on something
like computer games. If we don’t continue to
bring fresh blood into the sport, we can’t
expect it to continue to grow and advance as it
has.
I have discussed what is happening in my
airplane club to show what can be done in
your helicopter club. We all try to help the
newbie (at least we should!), but perhaps we
can do more. My airplane club has put
together an extensive booklet that not only
covers the aspects of flying, but, more
Dan Williams, 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool NY 13090; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Chad Middlebrook poses with his Shogun 400. The text contains his thoughts.
A bottoms-up view shows the Castle Creations brushless speed
controller and the brushless motor from Hugh Mason.
This side view of the Shogun 400 provides a look at the Li-Poly
pack and the CSM 560 micro gyro from RC Helis Plus.
You can see the Shogun’s tail-rotor
section clearly in this close-up view.
important, the club’s safety rules. We go over
the safety rules as part of our “ground school”
and we have a set of courtesy guidelines.
All of this is important if the new students
are to integrate properly into the fold of the
club. The safety issue has become front-pageworthy
to all clubs lately, and all new pilots
should know the rules of the club with which
they are involved. Work with them as they’re
starting to learn.
Chad Middlebrook—a good friend of mine
from the Rochester, New York, area—
contacted me recently about a new little
electric-powered helicopter that he purchased.
He was duly impressed and wanted to share
his thoughts about it through my column.
Following are Chad’s words.
“I have been looking for a small electric
helicopter to add to my fleet. After spending a
lot of time with both a fixed- and collectivepitch
Piccolo, and looking at the various
Hornets, I decided I wanted something a little
bigger. The Eco 10-sized machines were too
big. My new helicopter also needed to have
the same Bell-Hiller control system as the
larger machines. Price was also considered.
The new Shogun 400 seemed like just what I
was looking for!
“The Shogun 400 is a small (24-inch rotor
span), collective-pitch, Speed 400-powered,
remote-control helicopter. It is distributed by
Global Hobby Distributors (www.global
hobby.com) and is available through your
local hobby shop or other hobby source for
around $200.
“In addition to the helicopter, you will
need a complete radio system with four
microservos, gyro, 20-amp speed control, and
a three-cell, 1400 mA Li-Poly battery and
charger. I used my new JR 10X transmitter
with a JR 700 receiver (www.horizonho
bby.com), two Hitec HS-56HB servos
(www.hitecrcd.com) on the elevator and
aileron, an Expert Electronics SL260 servo on
Capable pilot Ray Stacy and Chad take a test hop with the Shogun 400 before …
… flipping it over for an inverted hover! It can do mild 3-D aerobatics.
the collective, and an Expert Electronics
SL210 Super servo (www.horizonhob
by.com) on the tail. A CSM 560 micro gyro
(www.rchelisplus.com) completed the radio
system.
“The motor is controlled by a Castle
Creations Pixie-20 ESC (www.horizon
hobby.com). A Thunder Power three-cell 1320
mA Li-Poly battery (www.horizonhobby.com)
powers the entire helicopter. Any suitable Li-
Poly charger can be used. [For safety reasons,
please use the correct specified charger for
the pack and follow all instructions and
cautions!]
“The Shogun 400 is labeled as an ARF. It
truly is a little easier to build than a normal
ARF helicopter. It is rewarding to open the
box and see something that looks like a
helicopter from the start!
“The canopy comes trimmed with the
windshield installed. The tailboom is installed
and adjusted with the tail blades mounted.
The motor (a special Speed 400) is installed
with the proper gear mesh. To dress the
helicopter, you will need to cut out the
stickers and put them on.
“The ‘final assembly guide’ is adequate
for the amount of assembly required. If built
per the guide, as I did, the Shogun 400 will be
capable of doing light 3-D. To use the
helicopter as a trainer, you may want to
deviate a little from the instructions. The
collective setup in the instructions suggests
+7 and –7 degrees of pitch. This may not be
suitable for a new pilot.
“The instructions are good and there are
many pictures. If a rebuild is required, you
will need some mechanical knowledge. There
is only one exploded parts view, and it lacks a
lot of detail. I was glad I have had a few
helicopters apart when my rebuild was
required.
“The first flight of the Shogun was on the
sidewalk to my garage. It was a calm night,
and I was expecting a real handful, like all of
the micro choppers I have flown. What a
surprise! The rotor spooled up and the
helicopter settled into a stable hover! A few
clicks of the trim and the model hovered
beautifully out of ground effect. There was
not a lot of authority to the controls, but they
were very precise.
“The first battery ran down after 12
minutes of hovering flight. During that time I
adjusted the trims and set the curves to
maintain 2,000 rpm on a middle-charged
battery. The rpm started at 2,150 with a full
charge and dropped to 1,900 before I set it
down. At that time, the battery was warm to
the touch, but the motor was hot.
“The Shogun 400 flew, and flew well.
Now it was time to test the portability. I
folded the blades and packed the little
chopper in the original box. There was even
room in the box for my Triton charger
(www.greatplanes.com). The radio box took
more space than the helicopter box. The
Shogun really is portable.
“Four hundred miles later (by
automobile), the Shogun 400 came out of
the box and got its first flight in the wind.
The hotel parking lot had 5-8 mph winds.
Small circuits were completed. The little
chopper did well. It was very predictable
and surprisingly stable. The battery started
to lose voltage at about 12 minutes, so I put
it down. Again, the battery was warm, and
the motor was hot.
“The next day was calm. There was a big
parking lot across from the hotel. I could not
resist. The Shogun was ready to fly and soon
covered a lot of ground. It is surprisingly fast
in forward flight. No pitch-up tendency was
observed. Power was a little lacking when
recovering from a vertical descent. The first
one ended up in a touch-and-go! The tail
would hold in sideways flight and was very
crisp.
“It was so fast in forward flight and was
flying so well, I decided to try a loop. The
cyclic went back, it started a nice 3-footdiameter
loop. At the top, it had lost a lot of
speed and I started to pull the collective
back. To my surprise, it started to fall. I was
not in idle-up! Quick, grab the switch and
continue to pull out! It ended up hitting the
ground on its nose.
“The battery broke loose and took out the
HS-56HBs and broke the frame. The landing
gear was broken. The main shaft was bent
and blades were trashed. It was a good thing
I was going home soon, where my local
hobby shop had the parts to fix my little
Shogun.
“It took two hours to rebuild the Shogun.
The rebuild was done without reference to
any literature. The Shogun manual has a onepage
breakdown, which does not help with
assembly. It is there only for part numbers.
My local hobby shop was out of HS-56HBs,
so I replaced them with HS-55s.
“At this time I put a spacer between the
tailboom and the tail-control rod to help
reduce the friction in the tail-control system
by giving the rod a straighter run. The gyro
gain was able to be set 10 points higher. The
new main blades needed some weight to
balance correctly.
“Since the rebuild, I have flown the
Shogun for about two hours total in hover
and fast-forward flight, with the stock motor.
One day at the field, it got in the hands of a
very capable pilot, Mr. Ray Stacy. He proved
the stock Shogun could do mild 3-D. After
watching Ray throw the Shogun around, his
8-year-old son Kyle took it around the patch!
“I finally got my hands back on the
helicopter and got the nerve to do some
loops, rolls, and stall turns. Although it
does have a one-way clutch, none of us
tried any autorotations. The Shogun 400
showed no bad habits.
“The little helicopter was flying fine,
but I wanted more. The first modification
was to the paddles. More roll and pitch
authority was desired. I changed the
paddles to Piccolo Pro paddles. These are
much lighter, as they do not have the
attached weight of the stock ones. The
cyclic response increased, but the stability
was still there. ‘The best of both worlds.’
How often does that happen? Now I
needed some more power.
“I received a rotating can brushless
motor to test from Hugh Mason of
JustGoFly.com (www.justgofly.com). He
just started distributing these cool little
motors and has a few different sizes for
small airplanes and helicopters. It was a
matter of unbolting the old motor and
putting the new brushless motor in the
same way. The bolt holes and pinion were
the same as the stock one. [The motor now
comes with a nine-tooth pinion for the
Shogun.]
“The first thing I noticed was how light
the motor was. It dropped 15 grams from
the weight of the Shogun 400! I am happy
to say it has much more power than the
stock motor. With the same battery, I have
been able to do big loops, rolls, and
tumbles without worrying about power.
With the head speed set to just over 2,000
rpm, I am getting 10 minutes of mixed 3-D
and fast-forward flight with the same 1320
mA pack.
“I can’t wait to try some different
blades. The new carbon blades should be
available soon. The one autorotation I tried
was a little rough. There is very little blade
inertia with the stock blades. The Shogun
falls slowly, but is tough to get a good
landing out of. The autorotations I have
done have ended with a small bounce.
“The only thing left to do is put a Scale
body on the Shogun 400. There are many
on back order through my local hobby
shop. I can’t wait to see them. It would
look great with a Hughes 500 body!
“I would recommend the Shogun 400 to
new and seasoned helicopter pilots. In
stock trim, it is a stable, easy-to-fly
helicopter. Build time is very low, and
parts are inexpensive. With a brushless
motor, some amazing flights are possible.
If you are able to get on the Web, search a
forum such as www.runryder.com for
some great Shogun footage.”
Before I close this month, I’d like to thank
Chad Middlebrook for his review notes
and Ray Stacy for his work in last month’s
column. They have worked closely with
these products and can do a much better
job of reviewing and expressing their
viewpoints as a result. They don’t just fly
the stuff to review it; they fly the products
because they like them!
Until next time, burn it to learn it! MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,120
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,120
BEFORE I START and someone decides to
get all twisted up, I know this is a helicopter
column, but I’m using my fixed-wing club as
an example to make my point.
This year I decided to help my fixed-wing
club as a flight instructor. (I don’t have
enough to do already). Our club has taught
the art of flying RC airplanes for
approximately 14 years, and I’ve assisted
most of that time.
In the last few years I’ve been so wrapped
up with helicopters that I haven’t taken the
time to help out. It feels good to fly airplanes
again, but it has also made me realize just
how valuable a flight-instruction program is
to a club.
Since my model club has taken on the
burden of teaching flight school, its ranks are
always being filled with new pilots and new
ideas. It keeps the roster fresh and does a
proper service to the modeling community.
Without it, most would buy that ARF
combo kit for several hundred dollars, go out
and crash it, and decide that next time the
money might be better spent on something
like computer games. If we don’t continue to
bring fresh blood into the sport, we can’t
expect it to continue to grow and advance as it
has.
I have discussed what is happening in my
airplane club to show what can be done in
your helicopter club. We all try to help the
newbie (at least we should!), but perhaps we
can do more. My airplane club has put
together an extensive booklet that not only
covers the aspects of flying, but, more
Dan Williams, 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool NY 13090; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Chad Middlebrook poses with his Shogun 400. The text contains his thoughts.
A bottoms-up view shows the Castle Creations brushless speed
controller and the brushless motor from Hugh Mason.
This side view of the Shogun 400 provides a look at the Li-Poly
pack and the CSM 560 micro gyro from RC Helis Plus.
You can see the Shogun’s tail-rotor
section clearly in this close-up view.
important, the club’s safety rules. We go over
the safety rules as part of our “ground school”
and we have a set of courtesy guidelines.
All of this is important if the new students
are to integrate properly into the fold of the
club. The safety issue has become front-pageworthy
to all clubs lately, and all new pilots
should know the rules of the club with which
they are involved. Work with them as they’re
starting to learn.
Chad Middlebrook—a good friend of mine
from the Rochester, New York, area—
contacted me recently about a new little
electric-powered helicopter that he purchased.
He was duly impressed and wanted to share
his thoughts about it through my column.
Following are Chad’s words.
“I have been looking for a small electric
helicopter to add to my fleet. After spending a
lot of time with both a fixed- and collectivepitch
Piccolo, and looking at the various
Hornets, I decided I wanted something a little
bigger. The Eco 10-sized machines were too
big. My new helicopter also needed to have
the same Bell-Hiller control system as the
larger machines. Price was also considered.
The new Shogun 400 seemed like just what I
was looking for!
“The Shogun 400 is a small (24-inch rotor
span), collective-pitch, Speed 400-powered,
remote-control helicopter. It is distributed by
Global Hobby Distributors (www.global
hobby.com) and is available through your
local hobby shop or other hobby source for
around $200.
“In addition to the helicopter, you will
need a complete radio system with four
microservos, gyro, 20-amp speed control, and
a three-cell, 1400 mA Li-Poly battery and
charger. I used my new JR 10X transmitter
with a JR 700 receiver (www.horizonho
bby.com), two Hitec HS-56HB servos
(www.hitecrcd.com) on the elevator and
aileron, an Expert Electronics SL260 servo on
Capable pilot Ray Stacy and Chad take a test hop with the Shogun 400 before …
… flipping it over for an inverted hover! It can do mild 3-D aerobatics.
the collective, and an Expert Electronics
SL210 Super servo (www.horizonhob
by.com) on the tail. A CSM 560 micro gyro
(www.rchelisplus.com) completed the radio
system.
“The motor is controlled by a Castle
Creations Pixie-20 ESC (www.horizon
hobby.com). A Thunder Power three-cell 1320
mA Li-Poly battery (www.horizonhobby.com)
powers the entire helicopter. Any suitable Li-
Poly charger can be used. [For safety reasons,
please use the correct specified charger for
the pack and follow all instructions and
cautions!]
“The Shogun 400 is labeled as an ARF. It
truly is a little easier to build than a normal
ARF helicopter. It is rewarding to open the
box and see something that looks like a
helicopter from the start!
“The canopy comes trimmed with the
windshield installed. The tailboom is installed
and adjusted with the tail blades mounted.
The motor (a special Speed 400) is installed
with the proper gear mesh. To dress the
helicopter, you will need to cut out the
stickers and put them on.
“The ‘final assembly guide’ is adequate
for the amount of assembly required. If built
per the guide, as I did, the Shogun 400 will be
capable of doing light 3-D. To use the
helicopter as a trainer, you may want to
deviate a little from the instructions. The
collective setup in the instructions suggests
+7 and –7 degrees of pitch. This may not be
suitable for a new pilot.
“The instructions are good and there are
many pictures. If a rebuild is required, you
will need some mechanical knowledge. There
is only one exploded parts view, and it lacks a
lot of detail. I was glad I have had a few
helicopters apart when my rebuild was
required.
“The first flight of the Shogun was on the
sidewalk to my garage. It was a calm night,
and I was expecting a real handful, like all of
the micro choppers I have flown. What a
surprise! The rotor spooled up and the
helicopter settled into a stable hover! A few
clicks of the trim and the model hovered
beautifully out of ground effect. There was
not a lot of authority to the controls, but they
were very precise.
“The first battery ran down after 12
minutes of hovering flight. During that time I
adjusted the trims and set the curves to
maintain 2,000 rpm on a middle-charged
battery. The rpm started at 2,150 with a full
charge and dropped to 1,900 before I set it
down. At that time, the battery was warm to
the touch, but the motor was hot.
“The Shogun 400 flew, and flew well.
Now it was time to test the portability. I
folded the blades and packed the little
chopper in the original box. There was even
room in the box for my Triton charger
(www.greatplanes.com). The radio box took
more space than the helicopter box. The
Shogun really is portable.
“Four hundred miles later (by
automobile), the Shogun 400 came out of
the box and got its first flight in the wind.
The hotel parking lot had 5-8 mph winds.
Small circuits were completed. The little
chopper did well. It was very predictable
and surprisingly stable. The battery started
to lose voltage at about 12 minutes, so I put
it down. Again, the battery was warm, and
the motor was hot.
“The next day was calm. There was a big
parking lot across from the hotel. I could not
resist. The Shogun was ready to fly and soon
covered a lot of ground. It is surprisingly fast
in forward flight. No pitch-up tendency was
observed. Power was a little lacking when
recovering from a vertical descent. The first
one ended up in a touch-and-go! The tail
would hold in sideways flight and was very
crisp.
“It was so fast in forward flight and was
flying so well, I decided to try a loop. The
cyclic went back, it started a nice 3-footdiameter
loop. At the top, it had lost a lot of
speed and I started to pull the collective
back. To my surprise, it started to fall. I was
not in idle-up! Quick, grab the switch and
continue to pull out! It ended up hitting the
ground on its nose.
“The battery broke loose and took out the
HS-56HBs and broke the frame. The landing
gear was broken. The main shaft was bent
and blades were trashed. It was a good thing
I was going home soon, where my local
hobby shop had the parts to fix my little
Shogun.
“It took two hours to rebuild the Shogun.
The rebuild was done without reference to
any literature. The Shogun manual has a onepage
breakdown, which does not help with
assembly. It is there only for part numbers.
My local hobby shop was out of HS-56HBs,
so I replaced them with HS-55s.
“At this time I put a spacer between the
tailboom and the tail-control rod to help
reduce the friction in the tail-control system
by giving the rod a straighter run. The gyro
gain was able to be set 10 points higher. The
new main blades needed some weight to
balance correctly.
“Since the rebuild, I have flown the
Shogun for about two hours total in hover
and fast-forward flight, with the stock motor.
One day at the field, it got in the hands of a
very capable pilot, Mr. Ray Stacy. He proved
the stock Shogun could do mild 3-D. After
watching Ray throw the Shogun around, his
8-year-old son Kyle took it around the patch!
“I finally got my hands back on the
helicopter and got the nerve to do some
loops, rolls, and stall turns. Although it
does have a one-way clutch, none of us
tried any autorotations. The Shogun 400
showed no bad habits.
“The little helicopter was flying fine,
but I wanted more. The first modification
was to the paddles. More roll and pitch
authority was desired. I changed the
paddles to Piccolo Pro paddles. These are
much lighter, as they do not have the
attached weight of the stock ones. The
cyclic response increased, but the stability
was still there. ‘The best of both worlds.’
How often does that happen? Now I
needed some more power.
“I received a rotating can brushless
motor to test from Hugh Mason of
JustGoFly.com (www.justgofly.com). He
just started distributing these cool little
motors and has a few different sizes for
small airplanes and helicopters. It was a
matter of unbolting the old motor and
putting the new brushless motor in the
same way. The bolt holes and pinion were
the same as the stock one. [The motor now
comes with a nine-tooth pinion for the
Shogun.]
“The first thing I noticed was how light
the motor was. It dropped 15 grams from
the weight of the Shogun 400! I am happy
to say it has much more power than the
stock motor. With the same battery, I have
been able to do big loops, rolls, and
tumbles without worrying about power.
With the head speed set to just over 2,000
rpm, I am getting 10 minutes of mixed 3-D
and fast-forward flight with the same 1320
mA pack.
“I can’t wait to try some different
blades. The new carbon blades should be
available soon. The one autorotation I tried
was a little rough. There is very little blade
inertia with the stock blades. The Shogun
falls slowly, but is tough to get a good
landing out of. The autorotations I have
done have ended with a small bounce.
“The only thing left to do is put a Scale
body on the Shogun 400. There are many
on back order through my local hobby
shop. I can’t wait to see them. It would
look great with a Hughes 500 body!
“I would recommend the Shogun 400 to
new and seasoned helicopter pilots. In
stock trim, it is a stable, easy-to-fly
helicopter. Build time is very low, and
parts are inexpensive. With a brushless
motor, some amazing flights are possible.
If you are able to get on the Web, search a
forum such as www.runryder.com for
some great Shogun footage.”
Before I close this month, I’d like to thank
Chad Middlebrook for his review notes
and Ray Stacy for his work in last month’s
column. They have worked closely with
these products and can do a much better
job of reviewing and expressing their
viewpoints as a result. They don’t just fly
the stuff to review it; they fly the products
because they like them!
Until next time, burn it to learn it! MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,120
BEFORE I START and someone decides to
get all twisted up, I know this is a helicopter
column, but I’m using my fixed-wing club as
an example to make my point.
This year I decided to help my fixed-wing
club as a flight instructor. (I don’t have
enough to do already). Our club has taught
the art of flying RC airplanes for
approximately 14 years, and I’ve assisted
most of that time.
In the last few years I’ve been so wrapped
up with helicopters that I haven’t taken the
time to help out. It feels good to fly airplanes
again, but it has also made me realize just
how valuable a flight-instruction program is
to a club.
Since my model club has taken on the
burden of teaching flight school, its ranks are
always being filled with new pilots and new
ideas. It keeps the roster fresh and does a
proper service to the modeling community.
Without it, most would buy that ARF
combo kit for several hundred dollars, go out
and crash it, and decide that next time the
money might be better spent on something
like computer games. If we don’t continue to
bring fresh blood into the sport, we can’t
expect it to continue to grow and advance as it
has.
I have discussed what is happening in my
airplane club to show what can be done in
your helicopter club. We all try to help the
newbie (at least we should!), but perhaps we
can do more. My airplane club has put
together an extensive booklet that not only
covers the aspects of flying, but, more
Dan Williams, 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool NY 13090; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Chad Middlebrook poses with his Shogun 400. The text contains his thoughts.
A bottoms-up view shows the Castle Creations brushless speed
controller and the brushless motor from Hugh Mason.
This side view of the Shogun 400 provides a look at the Li-Poly
pack and the CSM 560 micro gyro from RC Helis Plus.
You can see the Shogun’s tail-rotor
section clearly in this close-up view.
important, the club’s safety rules. We go over
the safety rules as part of our “ground school”
and we have a set of courtesy guidelines.
All of this is important if the new students
are to integrate properly into the fold of the
club. The safety issue has become front-pageworthy
to all clubs lately, and all new pilots
should know the rules of the club with which
they are involved. Work with them as they’re
starting to learn.
Chad Middlebrook—a good friend of mine
from the Rochester, New York, area—
contacted me recently about a new little
electric-powered helicopter that he purchased.
He was duly impressed and wanted to share
his thoughts about it through my column.
Following are Chad’s words.
“I have been looking for a small electric
helicopter to add to my fleet. After spending a
lot of time with both a fixed- and collectivepitch
Piccolo, and looking at the various
Hornets, I decided I wanted something a little
bigger. The Eco 10-sized machines were too
big. My new helicopter also needed to have
the same Bell-Hiller control system as the
larger machines. Price was also considered.
The new Shogun 400 seemed like just what I
was looking for!
“The Shogun 400 is a small (24-inch rotor
span), collective-pitch, Speed 400-powered,
remote-control helicopter. It is distributed by
Global Hobby Distributors (www.global
hobby.com) and is available through your
local hobby shop or other hobby source for
around $200.
“In addition to the helicopter, you will
need a complete radio system with four
microservos, gyro, 20-amp speed control, and
a three-cell, 1400 mA Li-Poly battery and
charger. I used my new JR 10X transmitter
with a JR 700 receiver (www.horizonho
bby.com), two Hitec HS-56HB servos
(www.hitecrcd.com) on the elevator and
aileron, an Expert Electronics SL260 servo on
Capable pilot Ray Stacy and Chad take a test hop with the Shogun 400 before …
… flipping it over for an inverted hover! It can do mild 3-D aerobatics.
the collective, and an Expert Electronics
SL210 Super servo (www.horizonhob
by.com) on the tail. A CSM 560 micro gyro
(www.rchelisplus.com) completed the radio
system.
“The motor is controlled by a Castle
Creations Pixie-20 ESC (www.horizon
hobby.com). A Thunder Power three-cell 1320
mA Li-Poly battery (www.horizonhobby.com)
powers the entire helicopter. Any suitable Li-
Poly charger can be used. [For safety reasons,
please use the correct specified charger for
the pack and follow all instructions and
cautions!]
“The Shogun 400 is labeled as an ARF. It
truly is a little easier to build than a normal
ARF helicopter. It is rewarding to open the
box and see something that looks like a
helicopter from the start!
“The canopy comes trimmed with the
windshield installed. The tailboom is installed
and adjusted with the tail blades mounted.
The motor (a special Speed 400) is installed
with the proper gear mesh. To dress the
helicopter, you will need to cut out the
stickers and put them on.
“The ‘final assembly guide’ is adequate
for the amount of assembly required. If built
per the guide, as I did, the Shogun 400 will be
capable of doing light 3-D. To use the
helicopter as a trainer, you may want to
deviate a little from the instructions. The
collective setup in the instructions suggests
+7 and –7 degrees of pitch. This may not be
suitable for a new pilot.
“The instructions are good and there are
many pictures. If a rebuild is required, you
will need some mechanical knowledge. There
is only one exploded parts view, and it lacks a
lot of detail. I was glad I have had a few
helicopters apart when my rebuild was
required.
“The first flight of the Shogun was on the
sidewalk to my garage. It was a calm night,
and I was expecting a real handful, like all of
the micro choppers I have flown. What a
surprise! The rotor spooled up and the
helicopter settled into a stable hover! A few
clicks of the trim and the model hovered
beautifully out of ground effect. There was
not a lot of authority to the controls, but they
were very precise.
“The first battery ran down after 12
minutes of hovering flight. During that time I
adjusted the trims and set the curves to
maintain 2,000 rpm on a middle-charged
battery. The rpm started at 2,150 with a full
charge and dropped to 1,900 before I set it
down. At that time, the battery was warm to
the touch, but the motor was hot.
“The Shogun 400 flew, and flew well.
Now it was time to test the portability. I
folded the blades and packed the little
chopper in the original box. There was even
room in the box for my Triton charger
(www.greatplanes.com). The radio box took
more space than the helicopter box. The
Shogun really is portable.
“Four hundred miles later (by
automobile), the Shogun 400 came out of
the box and got its first flight in the wind.
The hotel parking lot had 5-8 mph winds.
Small circuits were completed. The little
chopper did well. It was very predictable
and surprisingly stable. The battery started
to lose voltage at about 12 minutes, so I put
it down. Again, the battery was warm, and
the motor was hot.
“The next day was calm. There was a big
parking lot across from the hotel. I could not
resist. The Shogun was ready to fly and soon
covered a lot of ground. It is surprisingly fast
in forward flight. No pitch-up tendency was
observed. Power was a little lacking when
recovering from a vertical descent. The first
one ended up in a touch-and-go! The tail
would hold in sideways flight and was very
crisp.
“It was so fast in forward flight and was
flying so well, I decided to try a loop. The
cyclic went back, it started a nice 3-footdiameter
loop. At the top, it had lost a lot of
speed and I started to pull the collective
back. To my surprise, it started to fall. I was
not in idle-up! Quick, grab the switch and
continue to pull out! It ended up hitting the
ground on its nose.
“The battery broke loose and took out the
HS-56HBs and broke the frame. The landing
gear was broken. The main shaft was bent
and blades were trashed. It was a good thing
I was going home soon, where my local
hobby shop had the parts to fix my little
Shogun.
“It took two hours to rebuild the Shogun.
The rebuild was done without reference to
any literature. The Shogun manual has a onepage
breakdown, which does not help with
assembly. It is there only for part numbers.
My local hobby shop was out of HS-56HBs,
so I replaced them with HS-55s.
“At this time I put a spacer between the
tailboom and the tail-control rod to help
reduce the friction in the tail-control system
by giving the rod a straighter run. The gyro
gain was able to be set 10 points higher. The
new main blades needed some weight to
balance correctly.
“Since the rebuild, I have flown the
Shogun for about two hours total in hover
and fast-forward flight, with the stock motor.
One day at the field, it got in the hands of a
very capable pilot, Mr. Ray Stacy. He proved
the stock Shogun could do mild 3-D. After
watching Ray throw the Shogun around, his
8-year-old son Kyle took it around the patch!
“I finally got my hands back on the
helicopter and got the nerve to do some
loops, rolls, and stall turns. Although it
does have a one-way clutch, none of us
tried any autorotations. The Shogun 400
showed no bad habits.
“The little helicopter was flying fine,
but I wanted more. The first modification
was to the paddles. More roll and pitch
authority was desired. I changed the
paddles to Piccolo Pro paddles. These are
much lighter, as they do not have the
attached weight of the stock ones. The
cyclic response increased, but the stability
was still there. ‘The best of both worlds.’
How often does that happen? Now I
needed some more power.
“I received a rotating can brushless
motor to test from Hugh Mason of
JustGoFly.com (www.justgofly.com). He
just started distributing these cool little
motors and has a few different sizes for
small airplanes and helicopters. It was a
matter of unbolting the old motor and
putting the new brushless motor in the
same way. The bolt holes and pinion were
the same as the stock one. [The motor now
comes with a nine-tooth pinion for the
Shogun.]
“The first thing I noticed was how light
the motor was. It dropped 15 grams from
the weight of the Shogun 400! I am happy
to say it has much more power than the
stock motor. With the same battery, I have
been able to do big loops, rolls, and
tumbles without worrying about power.
With the head speed set to just over 2,000
rpm, I am getting 10 minutes of mixed 3-D
and fast-forward flight with the same 1320
mA pack.
“I can’t wait to try some different
blades. The new carbon blades should be
available soon. The one autorotation I tried
was a little rough. There is very little blade
inertia with the stock blades. The Shogun
falls slowly, but is tough to get a good
landing out of. The autorotations I have
done have ended with a small bounce.
“The only thing left to do is put a Scale
body on the Shogun 400. There are many
on back order through my local hobby
shop. I can’t wait to see them. It would
look great with a Hughes 500 body!
“I would recommend the Shogun 400 to
new and seasoned helicopter pilots. In
stock trim, it is a stable, easy-to-fly
helicopter. Build time is very low, and
parts are inexpensive. With a brushless
motor, some amazing flights are possible.
If you are able to get on the Web, search a
forum such as www.runryder.com for
some great Shogun footage.”
Before I close this month, I’d like to thank
Chad Middlebrook for his review notes
and Ray Stacy for his work in last month’s
column. They have worked closely with
these products and can do a much better
job of reviewing and expressing their
viewpoints as a result. They don’t just fly
the stuff to review it; they fly the products
because they like them!
Until next time, burn it to learn it! MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,120
BEFORE I START and someone decides to
get all twisted up, I know this is a helicopter
column, but I’m using my fixed-wing club as
an example to make my point.
This year I decided to help my fixed-wing
club as a flight instructor. (I don’t have
enough to do already). Our club has taught
the art of flying RC airplanes for
approximately 14 years, and I’ve assisted
most of that time.
In the last few years I’ve been so wrapped
up with helicopters that I haven’t taken the
time to help out. It feels good to fly airplanes
again, but it has also made me realize just
how valuable a flight-instruction program is
to a club.
Since my model club has taken on the
burden of teaching flight school, its ranks are
always being filled with new pilots and new
ideas. It keeps the roster fresh and does a
proper service to the modeling community.
Without it, most would buy that ARF
combo kit for several hundred dollars, go out
and crash it, and decide that next time the
money might be better spent on something
like computer games. If we don’t continue to
bring fresh blood into the sport, we can’t
expect it to continue to grow and advance as it
has.
I have discussed what is happening in my
airplane club to show what can be done in
your helicopter club. We all try to help the
newbie (at least we should!), but perhaps we
can do more. My airplane club has put
together an extensive booklet that not only
covers the aspects of flying, but, more
Dan Williams, 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool NY 13090; E-mail: [email protected]
RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Chad Middlebrook poses with his Shogun 400. The text contains his thoughts.
A bottoms-up view shows the Castle Creations brushless speed
controller and the brushless motor from Hugh Mason.
This side view of the Shogun 400 provides a look at the Li-Poly
pack and the CSM 560 micro gyro from RC Helis Plus.
You can see the Shogun’s tail-rotor
section clearly in this close-up view.
important, the club’s safety rules. We go over
the safety rules as part of our “ground school”
and we have a set of courtesy guidelines.
All of this is important if the new students
are to integrate properly into the fold of the
club. The safety issue has become front-pageworthy
to all clubs lately, and all new pilots
should know the rules of the club with which
they are involved. Work with them as they’re
starting to learn.
Chad Middlebrook—a good friend of mine
from the Rochester, New York, area—
contacted me recently about a new little
electric-powered helicopter that he purchased.
He was duly impressed and wanted to share
his thoughts about it through my column.
Following are Chad’s words.
“I have been looking for a small electric
helicopter to add to my fleet. After spending a
lot of time with both a fixed- and collectivepitch
Piccolo, and looking at the various
Hornets, I decided I wanted something a little
bigger. The Eco 10-sized machines were too
big. My new helicopter also needed to have
the same Bell-Hiller control system as the
larger machines. Price was also considered.
The new Shogun 400 seemed like just what I
was looking for!
“The Shogun 400 is a small (24-inch rotor
span), collective-pitch, Speed 400-powered,
remote-control helicopter. It is distributed by
Global Hobby Distributors (www.global
hobby.com) and is available through your
local hobby shop or other hobby source for
around $200.
“In addition to the helicopter, you will
need a complete radio system with four
microservos, gyro, 20-amp speed control, and
a three-cell, 1400 mA Li-Poly battery and
charger. I used my new JR 10X transmitter
with a JR 700 receiver (www.horizonho
bby.com), two Hitec HS-56HB servos
(www.hitecrcd.com) on the elevator and
aileron, an Expert Electronics SL260 servo on
Capable pilot Ray Stacy and Chad take a test hop with the Shogun 400 before …
… flipping it over for an inverted hover! It can do mild 3-D aerobatics.
the collective, and an Expert Electronics
SL210 Super servo (www.horizonhob
by.com) on the tail. A CSM 560 micro gyro
(www.rchelisplus.com) completed the radio
system.
“The motor is controlled by a Castle
Creations Pixie-20 ESC (www.horizon
hobby.com). A Thunder Power three-cell 1320
mA Li-Poly battery (www.horizonhobby.com)
powers the entire helicopter. Any suitable Li-
Poly charger can be used. [For safety reasons,
please use the correct specified charger for
the pack and follow all instructions and
cautions!]
“The Shogun 400 is labeled as an ARF. It
truly is a little easier to build than a normal
ARF helicopter. It is rewarding to open the
box and see something that looks like a
helicopter from the start!
“The canopy comes trimmed with the
windshield installed. The tailboom is installed
and adjusted with the tail blades mounted.
The motor (a special Speed 400) is installed
with the proper gear mesh. To dress the
helicopter, you will need to cut out the
stickers and put them on.
“The ‘final assembly guide’ is adequate
for the amount of assembly required. If built
per the guide, as I did, the Shogun 400 will be
capable of doing light 3-D. To use the
helicopter as a trainer, you may want to
deviate a little from the instructions. The
collective setup in the instructions suggests
+7 and –7 degrees of pitch. This may not be
suitable for a new pilot.
“The instructions are good and there are
many pictures. If a rebuild is required, you
will need some mechanical knowledge. There
is only one exploded parts view, and it lacks a
lot of detail. I was glad I have had a few
helicopters apart when my rebuild was
required.
“The first flight of the Shogun was on the
sidewalk to my garage. It was a calm night,
and I was expecting a real handful, like all of
the micro choppers I have flown. What a
surprise! The rotor spooled up and the
helicopter settled into a stable hover! A few
clicks of the trim and the model hovered
beautifully out of ground effect. There was
not a lot of authority to the controls, but they
were very precise.
“The first battery ran down after 12
minutes of hovering flight. During that time I
adjusted the trims and set the curves to
maintain 2,000 rpm on a middle-charged
battery. The rpm started at 2,150 with a full
charge and dropped to 1,900 before I set it
down. At that time, the battery was warm to
the touch, but the motor was hot.
“The Shogun 400 flew, and flew well.
Now it was time to test the portability. I
folded the blades and packed the little
chopper in the original box. There was even
room in the box for my Triton charger
(www.greatplanes.com). The radio box took
more space than the helicopter box. The
Shogun really is portable.
“Four hundred miles later (by
automobile), the Shogun 400 came out of
the box and got its first flight in the wind.
The hotel parking lot had 5-8 mph winds.
Small circuits were completed. The little
chopper did well. It was very predictable
and surprisingly stable. The battery started
to lose voltage at about 12 minutes, so I put
it down. Again, the battery was warm, and
the motor was hot.
“The next day was calm. There was a big
parking lot across from the hotel. I could not
resist. The Shogun was ready to fly and soon
covered a lot of ground. It is surprisingly fast
in forward flight. No pitch-up tendency was
observed. Power was a little lacking when
recovering from a vertical descent. The first
one ended up in a touch-and-go! The tail
would hold in sideways flight and was very
crisp.
“It was so fast in forward flight and was
flying so well, I decided to try a loop. The
cyclic went back, it started a nice 3-footdiameter
loop. At the top, it had lost a lot of
speed and I started to pull the collective
back. To my surprise, it started to fall. I was
not in idle-up! Quick, grab the switch and
continue to pull out! It ended up hitting the
ground on its nose.
“The battery broke loose and took out the
HS-56HBs and broke the frame. The landing
gear was broken. The main shaft was bent
and blades were trashed. It was a good thing
I was going home soon, where my local
hobby shop had the parts to fix my little
Shogun.
“It took two hours to rebuild the Shogun.
The rebuild was done without reference to
any literature. The Shogun manual has a onepage
breakdown, which does not help with
assembly. It is there only for part numbers.
My local hobby shop was out of HS-56HBs,
so I replaced them with HS-55s.
“At this time I put a spacer between the
tailboom and the tail-control rod to help
reduce the friction in the tail-control system
by giving the rod a straighter run. The gyro
gain was able to be set 10 points higher. The
new main blades needed some weight to
balance correctly.
“Since the rebuild, I have flown the
Shogun for about two hours total in hover
and fast-forward flight, with the stock motor.
One day at the field, it got in the hands of a
very capable pilot, Mr. Ray Stacy. He proved
the stock Shogun could do mild 3-D. After
watching Ray throw the Shogun around, his
8-year-old son Kyle took it around the patch!
“I finally got my hands back on the
helicopter and got the nerve to do some
loops, rolls, and stall turns. Although it
does have a one-way clutch, none of us
tried any autorotations. The Shogun 400
showed no bad habits.
“The little helicopter was flying fine,
but I wanted more. The first modification
was to the paddles. More roll and pitch
authority was desired. I changed the
paddles to Piccolo Pro paddles. These are
much lighter, as they do not have the
attached weight of the stock ones. The
cyclic response increased, but the stability
was still there. ‘The best of both worlds.’
How often does that happen? Now I
needed some more power.
“I received a rotating can brushless
motor to test from Hugh Mason of
JustGoFly.com (www.justgofly.com). He
just started distributing these cool little
motors and has a few different sizes for
small airplanes and helicopters. It was a
matter of unbolting the old motor and
putting the new brushless motor in the
same way. The bolt holes and pinion were
the same as the stock one. [The motor now
comes with a nine-tooth pinion for the
Shogun.]
“The first thing I noticed was how light
the motor was. It dropped 15 grams from
the weight of the Shogun 400! I am happy
to say it has much more power than the
stock motor. With the same battery, I have
been able to do big loops, rolls, and
tumbles without worrying about power.
With the head speed set to just over 2,000
rpm, I am getting 10 minutes of mixed 3-D
and fast-forward flight with the same 1320
mA pack.
“I can’t wait to try some different
blades. The new carbon blades should be
available soon. The one autorotation I tried
was a little rough. There is very little blade
inertia with the stock blades. The Shogun
falls slowly, but is tough to get a good
landing out of. The autorotations I have
done have ended with a small bounce.
“The only thing left to do is put a Scale
body on the Shogun 400. There are many
on back order through my local hobby
shop. I can’t wait to see them. It would
look great with a Hughes 500 body!
“I would recommend the Shogun 400 to
new and seasoned helicopter pilots. In
stock trim, it is a stable, easy-to-fly
helicopter. Build time is very low, and
parts are inexpensive. With a brushless
motor, some amazing flights are possible.
If you are able to get on the Web, search a
forum such as www.runryder.com for
some great Shogun footage.”
Before I close this month, I’d like to thank
Chad Middlebrook for his review notes
and Ray Stacy for his work in last month’s
column. They have worked closely with
these products and can do a much better
job of reviewing and expressing their
viewpoints as a result. They don’t just fly
the stuff to review it; they fly the products
because they like them!
Until next time, burn it to learn it! MA