Radio Control Helicopters - 2010/11

126 MODEL AVIATION
WELCOME TO MA’s helicopter pad. All things rotary land
here. This month I will present good advice from our friends Bert
Kammerer and Bobby Watts. They produce an online helicopter
resource called “SmackTalk RC.”
Bert and Bobby are wonderful pilots, and each has dedicated a
great deal to the hobby. Now you can go to the Internet and get
excellent tips and advice from proven experts.
I asked the two to share an excerpt of their work for this
month’s helicopter column. Following are some helpful hints from
Bert.
• Are you experiencing tail issues? If you suddenly encounter tail
issues, such as an intermittent tail wag or a tail vibration, check
your tailboom supports before you check the gyro or tail servo.
Loose tailboom supports can cause nasty tail behavior.
Fasten your tailboom supports using green Loctite instead of
blue, and make sure you tighten them well. On some helicopters,
such as the Align T-Rex 700, make sure that the carbon tailboom
support rod is properly glued to the end socket.
Sometimes the glue breaks free and the carbon rod separates
from the plastic socket, causing tail issues. If this happens, simply
remove the long setscrew that holds the carbon rod to the socket,
separate the two, and use J.B. Weld to glue them together. Once
the adhesive sets, your tailboom support will never come unglued
again.
• Find zero pitch on your blades. Have you ever wondered if your
blades are exactly zero pitch at half stick? You can use pitch
gauges to determine this, but sometimes they are inaccurate—
especially if your model’s flybar is not level. A few years ago I
learned about a neat trick.
Helicopters talk smack
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Helicopters Mark Fadely
Bobby Watts (L) and Bert Kammerer are the pilots behind an
excellent online resource: SmackTalk RC. It provides useful tips
and techniques, in video format, that aid the advancement of
helicopter modelers.
Bert shows us one of the common weak points in tailboom
supports. Sometimes the factory glue breaks loose and causes all
kinds of bad vibrations in a helicopter.
This is a simple way to ensure that your blades are at zero pitch at
half stick. It is vital to check this before you do any flying.
You basically power your transmitter and receiver, set the
transmitter collective stick at half, and then fold the helicopter
blades, allowing the blade tips to get extremely close to each
other. (Be smooth and careful when folding the blades; this can
put stress on your servos.) If the blade tips are aligned with each
other at this point, you have achieved zero pitch.
If the tips are not aligned, move your transmitter stick up or
down smoothly until they are. If the stick is below the halfway
point, you have more positive than negative. If your transmitter is
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November 2010 127
Goop is applied to the entire row of installed plugs going into the
V-bar flybarless system. The flexible adhesive can be removed
with no damage. This technique keeps wires plugged securely into
the box, even when vibrations are high.
Bobby and Bert put their skills into action at this year’s Extreme
Flight Championships. When you are performing a competition
flight, you want to make sure that every bit and piece of your
helicopter is working properly.
above half-stick, you have more negative than positive.
Merely unfold the blades, adjust your linkages, and fold again.
Repeat the process until your blade tips align with each other
when your transmitter is at half stick.
• Have you had a servo wire disconnect in flight? It’s no fun.
Unless it is a servo other than throttle, you know your machine is
going to crash.
A good way around this is to use Goop adhesive. Use it to glue
the servo connectors to your receiver or flybar unit, and they
won’t come off. Goop can be easily removed, leaving practically
no residue. You can buy it at any major hardware store.
• Do you have trouble getting the tail belt through the boom? I
have seen people fight with tail belts when it is time to run them
through the boom.
The easiest way to do this is to wrap electrical tape around the
end of the tail belt and then feed the belt into the boom; it will
come out the other side with no effort.
Is the fuel foaming on your nitro-powered machine? I see many
pilots at the field flying nitro helicopters with fuel tanks that are
constantly foaming. Some look like they have hurricanes inside
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128 MODEL AVIATION
them. This is extremely detrimental to the
health and ease of tuning an engine.
The main reason why fuel would foam
on a nitro machine is high-frequency
vibrations. Unfortunately you can’t see
them with the naked eye.
However, the most common cause of
such vibration is a bent engine crankshaft.
Many fliers go through hard crashes,
rebuild their helicopters, and get back to
flying with a bent crankshaft. Even though
the power plant will run, it produces a
high-frequency vibration that will
manifest itself in the fuel tank in the form
of foam.
If you see foam in your tank and you
have experienced a hard crash, use a dial
indicator to make sure your engine
crankshaft is not bent. Anything less than
two-thousandths of an inch of runout is
acceptable; anything more will require
you to throw that crankshaft away and get
a new one.
Another reason for tank foam could be
lack of dampening on your fuel tank. On
some helicopters, such as the T-Rex 700,
the fuel tank can fit too tightly on the
frames.
Simply grab a Dremel tool and remove
material from the frames to loosen the
tank fit. The tank should move a bit left to
right if forced by hand; it shouldn’t feel
“glued” to the frames.
How did SmackTalk RC get started?
“I was approached by a production
company a couple of years ago to work on
producing an instructional DVD. At the
time my schedule was too tight and I
couldn’t commit to it, so I had to pass on
that opportunity.
“Last year, Bobby and I flirted with the
idea of doing a DVD together. We both
thought about renting an RV and traveling
the country for a month or two visiting
events, teaching people how to fly, and
shooting footage for a DVD.
“Once again, after careful
consideration we both came to the
understanding that it wouldn’t work
because it would be too expensive to
produce. We had to let the idea go.
“Finally, around November of the
same year (2009) it occurred to us that we
could have a ‘Video Cast’ released
monthly over iTunes. Unfortunately we
came to find out that iTunes would not be
viable because they didn’t offer a pay-perview
option, only a free option, and we
needed to be able to charge a small fee for
the content to be able to produce it due to
the high costs of production.
“So I decided to use my programming
skills to design and implement our own
Web site. We both came up with a name
after asking several friends. We have yet
to recover our initial investment, but we
enjoy helping others and are having a
blast while doing it.
“We try to keep our episodes
inexpensive, informative and entertaining
at the same time. SmackTalk RC offers
something for every audience, from the
very beginner to the expert, from the 15
year old to the 50 year old.
“We are very thankful for having such
a great audience and look forward to
releasing many more videos in the
future.”
Thanks, guys, for all the hard work you
put into helping fellow pilots; you never
hesitate to do so when you see them at
events. Now with SmackTalk RC, they
can go online to get the same great advice
you share at flying fields all over the
planet.
Thanks to you for checking out the
helicopter column this month. I will be
back here in 30 days. MA
Sources:
SmackTalk RC
www.smacktalkrc.com
International Radio Controlled Helicopter
Association
(937) 845-9301
www.ircha.org
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