Author: Dan Williams
Edition: Model Aviation - 2004/11
Page Numbers: 116,117,118,120
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RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS

Dan Williams, 27 Treeline Dr., Liverpool NY 13090; E-mail: [email protected]

Club flight instruction and safety

Before I start (and someone gets 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. 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 hadn’t taken the time to help out. It feels good to fly airplanes again, and it has also made me realize just how valuable a flight-instruction program is to a club.

Since my 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 instruction, most would buy an 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.

I’ve described 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 club has put together an extensive booklet that not only covers aspects of flying, but—more 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-page worthy 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.

Shogun 400 — Chad Middlebrook’s review

Chad Middlebrook, a good friend from the Rochester, New York, area, contacted me recently about a new small electric-powered helicopter he purchased. He was duly impressed and wanted to share his thoughts. The following are Chad’s notes.

The Shogun 400 is a small (24-inch rotor span), collective-pitch, Speed 400–powered RC helicopter. It is distributed by Global Hobby Distributors (www.globalhobby.com) and is available through local hobby shops for around $200.

In addition to the helicopter, you will need:

  • A complete radio system with four microservos
  • A gyro
  • A 20-amp speed control (ESC)
  • A three-cell Li-Poly battery (about 1400 mAh) and a suitable charger

Chad’s setup (examples he used):

The Shogun 400 is sold as an ARF, but it’s easier to build than a normal ARF helicopter. It’s rewarding to open the box and see something that already looks like a helicopter. The canopy comes trimmed with the windshield installed, the tailboom is installed and adjusted with the tail blades mounted, and the motor (a special Speed 400) comes installed with the proper gear mesh. To finish the model you mainly cut out and apply the stickers.

The “final assembly guide” is adequate for the amount of assembly required. If built per the guide, the Shogun 400 will be capable of light 3-D. To use the helicopter as a trainer you may want to deviate from the instructions: the collective setup in the manual suggests +7° and −7° of pitch, which may not be suitable for a new pilot. The instructions include many pictures but only one exploded parts view, which lacks detail; mechanical knowledge helps if a rebuild is required.

First flights and handling

The first flight was on a calm night on the sidewalk near Chad’s garage. The rotor spooled up and the helicopter settled into a stable hover with only a few clicks of trim. It hovered beautifully out of ground effect. The controls were precise, though not highly authoritative.

Flight characteristics and observations:

  • First battery: about 12 minutes of hovering flight.
  • RPM: started at 2,150 with a full charge and dropped to 1,900 before landing; Chad set trims and curves to maintain about 2,000 rpm on a middle-charged battery.
  • During hover the battery was warm and the motor hot.

Portability: blades fold and the Shogun packs in its original box. The radio box took more space than the helicopter box.

After a 400-mile drive, Chad flew in a hotel parking lot in 5–8 mph winds. The model was predictable and surprisingly stable. Battery runtime again dropped after about 12 minutes; battery warm, motor hot.

On a calm day in a large parking lot the Shogun was fast in forward flight with no pitch-up tendency. Power was somewhat lacking when recovering from a vertical descent; one recovery ended in a touch-and-go. The tail held well in sideways flight and was very crisp.

Chad attempted a loop: the cyclic pulled back and the model did a nice 3-foot-diameter loop. At the top it had lost a lot of speed; when he pulled the collective back it began to fall (he was not in idle-up). He grabbed the switch and continued to pull out but the model hit the ground on its nose.

Damage from that crash:

  • Battery broke loose
  • HS-56HB servo destroyed
  • Frame broken
  • Landing gear broken
  • Main shaft bent
  • Blades trashed

Rebuild and setup tweaks

Rebuilding took about two hours and was done without detailed reference to the manual (the manual’s one-page breakdown is mainly for part numbers). Chad’s local hobby shop was out of HS-56HB servos, so he replaced them with HS-55s.

Setup improvements made during rebuild:

  • Added a spacer between the tailboom and the tail-control rod to reduce friction by straightening the rod's run
  • Gyro gain could be increased by about 10 points after reducing tail friction
  • New main blades needed a bit of weight to balance correctly

Since the rebuild, Chad flew the Shogun for about two hours total (hover and fast-forward flight) with the stock motor. A capable pilot, Ray Stacy, demonstrated that the stock Shogun could do mild 3-D. After watching Ray fly it, his 8-year-old son Kyle also took it around the patch. Chad later did loops, rolls, and stall turns. Although the helicopter has a one-way clutch, none tried autorotations due to low blade inertia; the Shogun showed no bad habits.

Modifications and improved performance

Wanting more authority in cyclic response, Chad replaced the stock paddles with Piccolo Pro paddles. These are much lighter (no attached weight), which increased cyclic response while retaining stability.

Brushless motor upgrade:

  • Chad received a rotating-can brushless motor from Hugh Mason of JustGoFly.com.
  • Installation was straightforward: bolt-out the old motor and bolt-in the new one; bolt holes and pinion were the same (the motor now ships with a nine-tooth pinion for the Shogun).
  • The brushless motor reduced weight by about 15 grams and delivered much more power.

Performance with the brushless motor:

  • Able to perform big loops, rolls, and tumbles without worrying about power.
  • Head speed set just over 2,000 rpm yielded about 10 minutes of mixed 3-D and fast forward flight on the same 1320 mAh pack.

Autorotations: one autorotation tried was a little rough due to low blade inertia with the stock blades; the model falls slowly but is tough to get a smooth landing from—results usually ended with a small bounce. Chad expects new carbon blades (with higher inertia) to improve autorotation behavior.

A scale body (for example, a Hughes 500) would look great on the Shogun; scale bodies are on backorder through Chad’s local hobby shop.

Recommendation

Chad would recommend the Shogun 400 to both new and seasoned helicopter pilots. In stock trim it is a stable, easy-to-fly helicopter. Build time is very low, parts are inexpensive, and with a brushless motor some amazing flights are possible. For more footage and community discussion, search forums such as www.runryder.com.

Before I close this month, I’d like to thank Chad Middlebrook for his review notes, and Ray Stacy for his help in last month’s column. They work closely with these products and can do a much better job of reviewing and expressing their viewpoints because they fly the products for enjoyment as well as review.

Until next time, burn it to learn it! MA

Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.