Plane Talk: Helicopter Hobbies Quick QJ8 (EP-8v2SP) - 2007/11

BY GREG GIMLICK
Plane Talk: Helicopter Hobbies Quick QJ8 (EP-8v2SP)
A high-quality,
high-performance
helicopter with
impressive features
The QJ8 is as capable a 3-D model as it is a smooth sport flier.
Robbie Wood hovers his machine inverted.
The QJ8 is a solid performer that requires little tweaking
after it leaves the assembly bench.
I’LL START BY establishing my credentials. I’m not MA’s helicopter
expert; I’m the “electrics guy.” I was considered a full-scale helicopter
expert, but learning full scale was easier than learning RC helicopters.
Maybe the Army had a way of “motivating” us. I’m a novice
helicopter pilot in the RC world and have been flying coaxials and
a fixed-pitch Lite Machines Corona 120.
At the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In I saw
the Quick of Japan QJ8 and was impressed
with the quality of machine work and the overall helicopter itself. Since
I thought it was time to move up to a “real” helicopter, I talked with
Harold Little of Helicopter Hobbies and studied the kit. The
decision was made and this article will describe the
results.
Why a QJ8? There are many helicopters on
the market, and they have come a long
way since I thought of purchasing one
years ago and changed my mind.
The QJ8 is an extremely highquality
machine. The CNC
machining is impressive, and the
model’s fit and finish appear hard
to beat.
Price was another consideration. I wanted
to stay at less than $300, yet have something
that would grow with my abilities. I don’t see
The QJ8 is made from quality CNCmachined
parts. A bit more attention to
orderly wiring and this model will fly!
myself becoming a 3-D pilot, but you never know what you might try
at some point.
The QJ8 is fully capable of 3-D maneuvers if you don’t do anything
but use the stock parts. Numerous upgrades are available, and you’ll
probably want to look into them if you’re a hard-core, competitive 3-D
pilot. However, this model is perfect right out of the box for most
pilots.
I wanted a helicopter that didn’t have a “toy feel” to it and was
larger than the tiny versions that are flooding the marketplace. The QJ8
filled every requirement I had. There is also expert advice available
with a quick phone call to Harold.
Power System: Since I wanted a helicopter that would grow with my
progression, I went for a power package that would provide 3-D power
when I was ready. I chose the Hacker A30-10XL
outrunner—a 900-kilovolt motor that comes with a
molded fan and has a 5.0mm shaft. It requires an
42 MODEL AVIATION
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:49 AM Page 42
Photos by the author
The Hacker A30-10XL with integral
cooling fan provides more than enough 3-
D power. The pinion gear is a press fit.
A muffin tin is a lifesaver when keeping groups of small components together. If a
metal screw goes into a metal part, apply Loctite to it!
Assembling the frame and landing gear is the first step with a helicopter. Hitec HS-81
servos are tight and quick—ideal for the CCPM mechanics.
Sky & Technology’s digital BEC and
Quark 65-amp controller handled all
electrical requirements flawlessly.
R&D R/C Products provided the Hecell
6S Li-Poly packs, which have worked
great.
Left: The swashplate
assembly comes
with bearings that
have been installed
at the factory. The
instructions don’t
reflect this nice
feature.
Right: All the parts
are grouped in
numbered assembly
bags. The swashplate
is simple.
November 2007 43
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:54 AM Page 43
Above inset: Close-up of the head with assembly complete. The
machining is jewelry quality, with ball bearing support all around.
Above: The canopy can be dressed up with vinyl pinstriping, as
shown, or painted to the owner’s liking. Grommets hold the canopy
securely.
Right: Motor pinion meshing with the drive gear can be seen, along
with the 6S Li-Poly pack on the equipment shelf in front of the
Quark ESC and digital BEC.
The structure starts to look like a helicopter with the motor
and tailboom mounted. The head button is a quality feature.
outrunner motor mount using two motor-mount bolts that is available
from Helicopter Hobbies.
Hacker motors have had a reputation of excellence for years, so I
was happy to see that this was an option. This smooth-running motor
has stood up to my abuse extremely well so far.
For batteries I went with Helicopter Hobbies’ recommended
“Serious 3D” setup consisting of two Hecell 3S 2100 mAh Li-Poly
packs in series for a total of 6S. This required a lower-tooth pinion, so
if you go this route be sure to ask for the 14-tooth pinion.
I have two 6S packs from Hecell; one is a 2100 mAh 20C and the
other is a 1500 mAh 15C. Both have held up well and continue to
provide more than adequate power.
Sky & Technology provided its Air Master Quark 65-amp
controller. I used a smaller Quark controller last year on an airplane,
and I’ll admit to having some qualms about the extensive
programming I ran into on it. But the new Quark 65 is extremely easy
to program and comes with a manual that walks you through each step
clearly. And Harold included a “cheat sheet” with the proven setup for
the QJ8 application, and that saved a great deal of time.
Instead of using the controller’s BEC function I used a Sky &
Technology Pro BEC that allows input voltage of 6-40 volts and
provides a steady 3-amp capability with 5-amp peaks. This has handled
the power requirements of the receiver, four servos, and the Futaba
GY-401 gyro perfectly.
The Helicopter: This was a kit—not an ARF or RTF. It was the first
one I had built, and I was a bit intimidated by the number of bags of
44 MODEL AVIATION
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:15 AM Page 44
November 2007 45
Pluses and Minuses
Specifications
It’s important not to move the helicopter once the power has been connected.
The gyro takes a few seconds to initialize.
parts. You can look at the photo of
components and see that coming out of the
box they didn’t resemble anything that might
have ended up looking like a helicopter.
I was told that it would take approximately
18 hours to complete the model. That was a
good estimate—even for someone who had
never constructed one from the ground up.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand
words, and Harold took it to heart; he
provided an excellent CD full of color photos
to go along with the well-illustrated manual
that had been translated to English. You might
not think this is a big deal if you’ve built
helicopters before, but it’s huge from a
beginner’s standpoint!
Organization is everything when building
a helicopter from a kit! I credit Jim Ryan of
Ryan Aircraft for suggesting that I get a
muffin pan to put the parts in as I unbagged
them. He was spot on with that call; it made
life much easier when handling hundreds of
tiny screws, etc.
Before unbagging anything I highly
recommend that you go through the parts lists
and label each bag with the corresponding
assembly numbers. This will avoid a lot of
confusion later and make your life easy.
As you get ready to assemble, don’t look
at the big picture of a completed helicopter;
look at the project as a bunch of smaller sets
of parts. This makes the process less
intimidating, and before you know it you’ll be
putting completed assemblies together and
end up with a helicopter.
I worked on the project a bit each evening
and would target completing one assembly
each time. I ended up getting excited and
doing several each night.
Assembly: The newly translated manual and
photo CD guided me through each step, and
knowing there was a real person on the other
end of the phone if I called Helicopter
Hobbies with a question really helped.
For this project make sure you don’t forget
your thread locker brand of choice, and gather
all the tools you’ll need. Read the manual and
study the photos. Then read through it again.
I’m not going to detail the step-by-step
building process, but I will point out some
pertinent things.
Assembly began with building the frame,
so you’ll need your servos handy to bolt into
place as you go. I used Hitec HS-81 servos
for the head and an HS-81MG on the tail
rotor. This size fit into the servo mounting
holes perfectly. Don’t forget your Loctite on
each screw and bolt.
When you build the tail-rotor drive
assembly, you should be aware of a couple
things that aren’t spelled out completely.
When you put the gears on the shaft, the side
with the retaining pin faces down. It can be
assembled either way, but it won’t line up
properly if you put the pins on the wrong side.
There is no mention of the circlip that is
used on the bottom of the shaft to hold the
assembly together, so don’t forget it. It’s in
the bag of parts, so you’ll see it’s there if you
have sorted them and kept them separated
into assemblies.
Be sure you have gotten the right motor
mount for whatever motor you choose or
you’ll be held up. If you forgot, you can use
the one in the kit since the distance between
the sides of the frame will remain the same,
but you won’t be able to fit your motor yet.
The instructions show the swashplate
assembly as having more parts than you’ll
find in the bag. This is because some kind
soul at the factory assembled the bearings for
you. It becomes apparent that a couple steps
are already done for you when you begin this
one.
Be sure to use two O-rings on each side
when assembling the seesaw head. You might
order a couple spare O-rings when you buy
your kit; they will eventually deteriorate and
you’ll have noticeable slop when flying.
When assembling the blade grips the
instructions mention that some heat may be
required to complete the assembly. I didn’t
find this necessary in my kit, but be careful
about how hot you get things if you do need
it. It requires only a bit of heat—not a torch.
When you assemble the tail-rotor drive
system you don’t need to adjust the belt to be
tight. These cogged belts don’t like to be
stretched tight and will only wear parts
excessively when you do so. They will also
draw more current and stress parts needlessly.
If you make the belt too loose it will jump
the cogs on the pulleys, so look for roughly
3/16 inch of deflection and tighten the
adjustment screws. Also check to make sure
the tail rotor is going to turn the right
direction. If it isn’t, you probably have a twist
in the belt inside the tailboom.
All the rod linkages for the controls are
depicted in the instructions with the proper
starting lengths. These are measured from the
center of the ball link to the center of the
opposite ball link, and I stress that they are
“starting lengths.” You will need to adjust
them to properly align everything with your
particular equipment choices.
The canopy will probably be more work
than many other steps. It’s a two-piece clear
polycarbonate assembly that you need to cut
from the carrier sheets, paint, and put
+
• Quality of machine work
• Parts fit during assembly
• Illustrated manual with photo CD
• Phone support from Helicopter Hobbies
• Flight characteristics
• Power-system recommendation -• No spare ball links or balls
• Two-piece canopy
Pinion gear: Fourteen teeth for use with
Hacker A30-10XL and 6S Li-Poly
Parts: CNC machined aluminum
Bearings: High-quality Japanese, most
preinstalled
Head: Metal hub single spindle
Blade grips: Metal
Pitch arms: Metal
Swashplate: Metal
Main shaft: 6mm
Bearing blocks: Metal with bearings
preinstalled
Flybar: 3mm
Flybar arms: Metal
Tailboom length: 18 inches
Ready-to-fly weight: 53 ounces with
6S Hecell Li-Poly pack
Tail rotor: Belt driven
Tail-rotor blades: Plastic
Main rotor-disc diameter: 35.25 inches
Total length: 32 inches
Total height: 11 inches
Tail-rotor diameter: 7 inches
Main gear-to-tail rotor ratio: 01:04.8
Frames: Rigid aluminum
Vertical fin: Fiberglass
Canopy: Clear polycarbonate
Main rotor blades: 400mm Japanese
wood
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:59 AM Page 45
together. Be sure to follow the little
addendum sheet Harold puts in each kit
because it will prevent any mistakes.
The sheet makes trimming
recommendations that are a big help, and it
suggests moving the mounting holes back to
allow for more battery room. I followed the
steps and it worked out fine.
I painted the inside of the canopy before
gluing the top and bottom halves together.
You’ll find a protective film attached to the
outside that is almost impossible to detect, so
don’t forget to remove it before you glue the
pieces together.
Final Details: There is one universal truth
when it comes to helicopters, whether you’re
flying full scale or models: check everything
twice and then check it again. Rotary-wing
aircraft have many moving parts, and
everything is subject to vibrating loose at
some point. Take nothing for granted and
double-check everything.
My setup isn’t for 3-D. I set my pitch to
be -3° to +8°. I set up some exponential on
my cyclic to help my overcontrolling but kept
it to roughly -20% and left the tail rotor with
no exponential so the gyro would not be
confused.
There are many gyros on the market, but
I’m convinced that the best one out there right
now is the Futaba GY-401; I’ve put one in
each of my helicopters. These are not the
easiest to set up, but you’ll be rewarded with
a rock-solid tail if you take your time and
follow the instructions. If you run into
problems you can go online and find
numerous sources to guide you through the
setup process.
Flying: This is why we started this journey,
isn’t it? When I took my QJ8 to the field the
first time I made a set of training gear from
crossed dowels and plastic golf balls. I’ve
been flying my other helicopters but thought
a bit of insurance against stupid fingers might
be in order until I got the feel of the new
model.
Right off the bat I found that I love
collective-pitch helicopters! Holding altitude
at a hover is so much easier when every move
of the collective/throttle doesn’t cause the
aircraft to jump or descend.
After tuning the tail/gyro a bit, my
hovering became rock solid and transition to
forward flight was smooth and controllable.
When descending and returning to a hover the
gyro in its heading-hold position holds the tail
beautifully without the requisite chasing of
the tail when you apply power to check the
descent. You’ll need to stay on top of it, but
it’s extraordinarily solid.
This kit doesn’t have a driven tail, so if
you do end up performing an autorotation be
aware that there is no tail-rotor control, and at
the bottom of the autorotation you may
experience yaw with the application of initial
pitch. It won’t be a problem during the
descent because there is no torque from the
main rotor system requiring compensation.
I have not put my helicopter in a 3-D
pilot’s hands yet and haven’t tried it myself
because it’s well beyond my skill level right
now. I have seen several QJ8s fly 3-D and
they were set up exactly like mine, with the
exception of additional pitch and
programming changes in the radio. One of
these days I’ll get up the nerve to let
someone twist mine out, but right now I’m
happy with what it’s doing.
I don’t see how I could have made a better
choice for my first real collective-pitch
helicopter. It’s big enough to be stable and
easy to see when flying some distance away.
This machine is responsive enough to be
sporty and stable enough not to induce fear.
The assembly process was enjoyable and
I look forward to building another one,
which says a lot because I thought I would
look for an ARF initially. By building a
model from a kit a newbie learns much more
about how the whole helicopter works, and
that will come in handy when it comes time
to repair it.
Oh yeah, about that whole “repair” thing.
I can’t believe how stout this little machine
turned out to be.
I finally did have my first big mishap; I
lost control and ended up planting the model
firmly into a paved surface, landing on the
left rear corner of the landing gear. It hit so
hard that it bent the sturdy gear significantly
and then proceeded to lay on its side trying
to beat itself to death even though I had
pulled the throttle off. Some things are just
like the real things and this is one of them.
In the end I only needed to replace the
main blades, the tail-rotor blades, and the
tail-rotor servo arm and bend the gear
straight. I couldn’t believe that’s all it took.
Have I mentioned that this is one great
helicopter? MA
Greg Gimlick
[email protected]
Manufacturer/Distributor:
Quick of Japan/Helicopter Hobbies
Box 123
Pageland SC 29728
(704) 624-6473
[email protected]
www.helicopterhobbies.com

BY GREG GIMLICK
Plane Talk: Helicopter Hobbies Quick QJ8 (EP-8v2SP)
A high-quality,
high-performance
helicopter with
impressive features
The QJ8 is as capable a 3-D model as it is a smooth sport flier.
Robbie Wood hovers his machine inverted.
The QJ8 is a solid performer that requires little tweaking
after it leaves the assembly bench.
I’LL START BY establishing my credentials. I’m not MA’s helicopter
expert; I’m the “electrics guy.” I was considered a full-scale helicopter
expert, but learning full scale was easier than learning RC helicopters.
Maybe the Army had a way of “motivating” us. I’m a novice
helicopter pilot in the RC world and have been flying coaxials and
a fixed-pitch Lite Machines Corona 120.
At the Joe Nall Giant Scale Fly-In I saw
the Quick of Japan QJ8 and was impressed
with the quality of machine work and the overall helicopter itself. Since
I thought it was time to move up to a “real” helicopter, I talked with
Harold Little of Helicopter Hobbies and studied the kit. The
decision was made and this article will describe the
results.
Why a QJ8? There are many helicopters on
the market, and they have come a long
way since I thought of purchasing one
years ago and changed my mind.
The QJ8 is an extremely highquality
machine. The CNC
machining is impressive, and the
model’s fit and finish appear hard
to beat.
Price was another consideration. I wanted
to stay at less than $300, yet have something
that would grow with my abilities. I don’t see
The QJ8 is made from quality CNCmachined
parts. A bit more attention to
orderly wiring and this model will fly!
myself becoming a 3-D pilot, but you never know what you might try
at some point.
The QJ8 is fully capable of 3-D maneuvers if you don’t do anything
but use the stock parts. Numerous upgrades are available, and you’ll
probably want to look into them if you’re a hard-core, competitive 3-D
pilot. However, this model is perfect right out of the box for most
pilots.
I wanted a helicopter that didn’t have a “toy feel” to it and was
larger than the tiny versions that are flooding the marketplace. The QJ8
filled every requirement I had. There is also expert advice available
with a quick phone call to Harold.
Power System: Since I wanted a helicopter that would grow with my
progression, I went for a power package that would provide 3-D power
when I was ready. I chose the Hacker A30-10XL
outrunner—a 900-kilovolt motor that comes with a
molded fan and has a 5.0mm shaft. It requires an
42 MODEL AVIATION
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:49 AM Page 42
Photos by the author
The Hacker A30-10XL with integral
cooling fan provides more than enough 3-
D power. The pinion gear is a press fit.
A muffin tin is a lifesaver when keeping groups of small components together. If a
metal screw goes into a metal part, apply Loctite to it!
Assembling the frame and landing gear is the first step with a helicopter. Hitec HS-81
servos are tight and quick—ideal for the CCPM mechanics.
Sky & Technology’s digital BEC and
Quark 65-amp controller handled all
electrical requirements flawlessly.
R&D R/C Products provided the Hecell
6S Li-Poly packs, which have worked
great.
Left: The swashplate
assembly comes
with bearings that
have been installed
at the factory. The
instructions don’t
reflect this nice
feature.
Right: All the parts
are grouped in
numbered assembly
bags. The swashplate
is simple.
November 2007 43
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:54 AM Page 43
Above inset: Close-up of the head with assembly complete. The
machining is jewelry quality, with ball bearing support all around.
Above: The canopy can be dressed up with vinyl pinstriping, as
shown, or painted to the owner’s liking. Grommets hold the canopy
securely.
Right: Motor pinion meshing with the drive gear can be seen, along
with the 6S Li-Poly pack on the equipment shelf in front of the
Quark ESC and digital BEC.
The structure starts to look like a helicopter with the motor
and tailboom mounted. The head button is a quality feature.
outrunner motor mount using two motor-mount bolts that is available
from Helicopter Hobbies.
Hacker motors have had a reputation of excellence for years, so I
was happy to see that this was an option. This smooth-running motor
has stood up to my abuse extremely well so far.
For batteries I went with Helicopter Hobbies’ recommended
“Serious 3D” setup consisting of two Hecell 3S 2100 mAh Li-Poly
packs in series for a total of 6S. This required a lower-tooth pinion, so
if you go this route be sure to ask for the 14-tooth pinion.
I have two 6S packs from Hecell; one is a 2100 mAh 20C and the
other is a 1500 mAh 15C. Both have held up well and continue to
provide more than adequate power.
Sky & Technology provided its Air Master Quark 65-amp
controller. I used a smaller Quark controller last year on an airplane,
and I’ll admit to having some qualms about the extensive
programming I ran into on it. But the new Quark 65 is extremely easy
to program and comes with a manual that walks you through each step
clearly. And Harold included a “cheat sheet” with the proven setup for
the QJ8 application, and that saved a great deal of time.
Instead of using the controller’s BEC function I used a Sky &
Technology Pro BEC that allows input voltage of 6-40 volts and
provides a steady 3-amp capability with 5-amp peaks. This has handled
the power requirements of the receiver, four servos, and the Futaba
GY-401 gyro perfectly.
The Helicopter: This was a kit—not an ARF or RTF. It was the first
one I had built, and I was a bit intimidated by the number of bags of
44 MODEL AVIATION
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:15 AM Page 44
November 2007 45
Pluses and Minuses
Specifications
It’s important not to move the helicopter once the power has been connected.
The gyro takes a few seconds to initialize.
parts. You can look at the photo of
components and see that coming out of the
box they didn’t resemble anything that might
have ended up looking like a helicopter.
I was told that it would take approximately
18 hours to complete the model. That was a
good estimate—even for someone who had
never constructed one from the ground up.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand
words, and Harold took it to heart; he
provided an excellent CD full of color photos
to go along with the well-illustrated manual
that had been translated to English. You might
not think this is a big deal if you’ve built
helicopters before, but it’s huge from a
beginner’s standpoint!
Organization is everything when building
a helicopter from a kit! I credit Jim Ryan of
Ryan Aircraft for suggesting that I get a
muffin pan to put the parts in as I unbagged
them. He was spot on with that call; it made
life much easier when handling hundreds of
tiny screws, etc.
Before unbagging anything I highly
recommend that you go through the parts lists
and label each bag with the corresponding
assembly numbers. This will avoid a lot of
confusion later and make your life easy.
As you get ready to assemble, don’t look
at the big picture of a completed helicopter;
look at the project as a bunch of smaller sets
of parts. This makes the process less
intimidating, and before you know it you’ll be
putting completed assemblies together and
end up with a helicopter.
I worked on the project a bit each evening
and would target completing one assembly
each time. I ended up getting excited and
doing several each night.
Assembly: The newly translated manual and
photo CD guided me through each step, and
knowing there was a real person on the other
end of the phone if I called Helicopter
Hobbies with a question really helped.
For this project make sure you don’t forget
your thread locker brand of choice, and gather
all the tools you’ll need. Read the manual and
study the photos. Then read through it again.
I’m not going to detail the step-by-step
building process, but I will point out some
pertinent things.
Assembly began with building the frame,
so you’ll need your servos handy to bolt into
place as you go. I used Hitec HS-81 servos
for the head and an HS-81MG on the tail
rotor. This size fit into the servo mounting
holes perfectly. Don’t forget your Loctite on
each screw and bolt.
When you build the tail-rotor drive
assembly, you should be aware of a couple
things that aren’t spelled out completely.
When you put the gears on the shaft, the side
with the retaining pin faces down. It can be
assembled either way, but it won’t line up
properly if you put the pins on the wrong side.
There is no mention of the circlip that is
used on the bottom of the shaft to hold the
assembly together, so don’t forget it. It’s in
the bag of parts, so you’ll see it’s there if you
have sorted them and kept them separated
into assemblies.
Be sure you have gotten the right motor
mount for whatever motor you choose or
you’ll be held up. If you forgot, you can use
the one in the kit since the distance between
the sides of the frame will remain the same,
but you won’t be able to fit your motor yet.
The instructions show the swashplate
assembly as having more parts than you’ll
find in the bag. This is because some kind
soul at the factory assembled the bearings for
you. It becomes apparent that a couple steps
are already done for you when you begin this
one.
Be sure to use two O-rings on each side
when assembling the seesaw head. You might
order a couple spare O-rings when you buy
your kit; they will eventually deteriorate and
you’ll have noticeable slop when flying.
When assembling the blade grips the
instructions mention that some heat may be
required to complete the assembly. I didn’t
find this necessary in my kit, but be careful
about how hot you get things if you do need
it. It requires only a bit of heat—not a torch.
When you assemble the tail-rotor drive
system you don’t need to adjust the belt to be
tight. These cogged belts don’t like to be
stretched tight and will only wear parts
excessively when you do so. They will also
draw more current and stress parts needlessly.
If you make the belt too loose it will jump
the cogs on the pulleys, so look for roughly
3/16 inch of deflection and tighten the
adjustment screws. Also check to make sure
the tail rotor is going to turn the right
direction. If it isn’t, you probably have a twist
in the belt inside the tailboom.
All the rod linkages for the controls are
depicted in the instructions with the proper
starting lengths. These are measured from the
center of the ball link to the center of the
opposite ball link, and I stress that they are
“starting lengths.” You will need to adjust
them to properly align everything with your
particular equipment choices.
The canopy will probably be more work
than many other steps. It’s a two-piece clear
polycarbonate assembly that you need to cut
from the carrier sheets, paint, and put
+
• Quality of machine work
• Parts fit during assembly
• Illustrated manual with photo CD
• Phone support from Helicopter Hobbies
• Flight characteristics
• Power-system recommendation -• No spare ball links or balls
• Two-piece canopy
Pinion gear: Fourteen teeth for use with
Hacker A30-10XL and 6S Li-Poly
Parts: CNC machined aluminum
Bearings: High-quality Japanese, most
preinstalled
Head: Metal hub single spindle
Blade grips: Metal
Pitch arms: Metal
Swashplate: Metal
Main shaft: 6mm
Bearing blocks: Metal with bearings
preinstalled
Flybar: 3mm
Flybar arms: Metal
Tailboom length: 18 inches
Ready-to-fly weight: 53 ounces with
6S Hecell Li-Poly pack
Tail rotor: Belt driven
Tail-rotor blades: Plastic
Main rotor-disc diameter: 35.25 inches
Total length: 32 inches
Total height: 11 inches
Tail-rotor diameter: 7 inches
Main gear-to-tail rotor ratio: 01:04.8
Frames: Rigid aluminum
Vertical fin: Fiberglass
Canopy: Clear polycarbonate
Main rotor blades: 400mm Japanese
wood
11sig2.QXD 9/21/07 9:59 AM Page 45
together. Be sure to follow the little
addendum sheet Harold puts in each kit
because it will prevent any mistakes.
The sheet makes trimming
recommendations that are a big help, and it
suggests moving the mounting holes back to
allow for more battery room. I followed the
steps and it worked out fine.
I painted the inside of the canopy before
gluing the top and bottom halves together.
You’ll find a protective film attached to the
outside that is almost impossible to detect, so
don’t forget to remove it before you glue the
pieces together.
Final Details: There is one universal truth
when it comes to helicopters, whether you’re
flying full scale or models: check everything
twice and then check it again. Rotary-wing
aircraft have many moving parts, and
everything is subject to vibrating loose at
some point. Take nothing for granted and
double-check everything.
My setup isn’t for 3-D. I set my pitch to
be -3° to +8°. I set up some exponential on
my cyclic to help my overcontrolling but kept
it to roughly -20% and left the tail rotor with
no exponential so the gyro would not be
confused.
There are many gyros on the market, but
I’m convinced that the best one out there right
now is the Futaba GY-401; I’ve put one in
each of my helicopters. These are not the
easiest to set up, but you’ll be rewarded with
a rock-solid tail if you take your time and
follow the instructions. If you run into
problems you can go online and find
numerous sources to guide you through the
setup process.
Flying: This is why we started this journey,
isn’t it? When I took my QJ8 to the field the
first time I made a set of training gear from
crossed dowels and plastic golf balls. I’ve
been flying my other helicopters but thought
a bit of insurance against stupid fingers might
be in order until I got the feel of the new
model.
Right off the bat I found that I love
collective-pitch helicopters! Holding altitude
at a hover is so much easier when every move
of the collective/throttle doesn’t cause the
aircraft to jump or descend.
After tuning the tail/gyro a bit, my
hovering became rock solid and transition to
forward flight was smooth and controllable.
When descending and returning to a hover the
gyro in its heading-hold position holds the tail
beautifully without the requisite chasing of
the tail when you apply power to check the
descent. You’ll need to stay on top of it, but
it’s extraordinarily solid.
This kit doesn’t have a driven tail, so if
you do end up performing an autorotation be
aware that there is no tail-rotor control, and at
the bottom of the autorotation you may
experience yaw with the application of initial
pitch. It won’t be a problem during the
descent because there is no torque from the
main rotor system requiring compensation.
I have not put my helicopter in a 3-D
pilot’s hands yet and haven’t tried it myself
because it’s well beyond my skill level right
now. I have seen several QJ8s fly 3-D and
they were set up exactly like mine, with the
exception of additional pitch and
programming changes in the radio. One of
these days I’ll get up the nerve to let
someone twist mine out, but right now I’m
happy with what it’s doing.
I don’t see how I could have made a better
choice for my first real collective-pitch
helicopter. It’s big enough to be stable and
easy to see when flying some distance away.
This machine is responsive enough to be
sporty and stable enough not to induce fear.
The assembly process was enjoyable and
I look forward to building another one,
which says a lot because I thought I would
look for an ARF initially. By building a
model from a kit a newbie learns much more
about how the whole helicopter works, and
that will come in handy when it comes time
to repair it.
Oh yeah, about that whole “repair” thing.
I can’t believe how stout this little machine
turned out to be.
I finally did have my first big mishap; I
lost control and ended up planting the model
firmly into a paved surface, landing on the
left rear corner of the landing gear. It hit so
hard that it bent the sturdy gear significantly
and then proceeded to lay on its side trying
to beat itself to death even though I had
pulled the throttle off. Some things are just
like the real things and this is one of them.
In the end I only needed to replace the
main blades, the tail-rotor blades, and the
tail-rotor servo arm and bend the gear
straight. I couldn’t believe that’s all it took.
Have I mentioned that this is one great
helicopter? MA
Greg Gimlick
[email protected]
Manufacturer/Distributor:
Quick of Japan/Helicopter Hobbies
Box 123
Pageland SC 29728
(704) 624-6473
[email protected]
www.helicopterhobbies.com