Clone Rex450

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:53 am Post subject: Clone Rex450

Well I never thought much of cheap Align knockoffs & clone helis before, but I've decided to give it a try. Just orderded a HK450 alum & CF bare bones kit from HobbyKing. I've have on hand an Align 430XL motor, a RCE-BL35X ESC or even a Castle Phoenix 45 ESC in my spare parts box, so shouldn't cost that much to finish.
All I'm looking to get is a good "beater" heli out of it. Did I make the right move???

Crashagain · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:29 pm Post subject:

Yep, they are great little heli's.
Run your Castle ESC in it. If yo have the usb cable, it really opens up a whole world of programing for it. The motor you have is OK, but you will probably want to upgrade it down the road. They seem to bog easily. Run it with a 12t pinion, they seem happy there..
Throw in some HS65MG's and you will have a fun bird.
And don't skimp on your gyro.. It will bite you in the butt if you do.
Don't ask how I know... Cool

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:04 pm Post subject:

I ordered the 65MG's along with the heli. Price was only like 25$ or 27$ each, couldn't pass up a deal like that. I have them on my SEv2 and really like em. For the gyro I'll go with a Logictech 2100t and a Futaba 9257 servo, same as my SE.
Got the CC ICE-50 ESC on the SE this past fall, very cool data & graph can be stored and viewed or printed out on a PC. Head RPM, pwr in/pwr out, temp, batt V & Ahr's...
I run it in Gov mode, head speeds are 2300, 2500 & 2700, out of a Scorpion 2221-8 motor.

Crashagain · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 10:56 pm Post subject:

Sounds good... I have the logitec 2100t with a JRDS287MG servo. Super fast little guy, tail holds solid
Now crank up that motor and fly..LOL
I got the same motor with a 13t pinion and a 3300 headspeed.. No gov mode, just a flat 100% curve in idle up..
WOOHOO!!! is she fast.. Also if you want to wake it up, use a seperate BEC and run everything at 6V, those 65mg's really come to life..

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:20 am Post subject:

I did have a separate BEC on the SE when I ran it with the CC45 ESC so thank's for reminding me. I'll be sure to add that BEC & stepdown for the rudder gyro from the SE leftover parts. The ICE50's ESC on my SEV2 has enough juice to run the servos @ 6V from what I've read and experienced first hand.

Crashagain · Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:08 pm Post subject:

I love flying my bird with 6V. I had no idea what I was missing..
It made my little baby fun again.. Cool

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:16 am Post subject:

Just checked the order status with Hobby King and the 3 HS65MG servos are on backorder so that's holding up delivery of the HK450 Evil or Very Mad

If the price of the servos wasn't as good as it was I'd cancel the servos on the order.
Meantime, tried the CC Phoenix45 ESC that came off my SEv2 but I think it's toast. The Aling BL35X seems to still work so looks like I'll use that.

Crashagain · Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:49 am Post subject:

I love ordering stuff from them, but the wait is killer some times.
Since it does not empty my wallet I can wait a bit for my stuff.
Too bad about your cc45. Is it the one with the built in bec or without?
Maybe you forgot and you need a bec with it?
I think they run better then the align ones. I love the programing features it offers with the usb cable.

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:55 pm Post subject:

It has a built in BEC, but I disabled it and ran a separete CC 10Amp BEC. I could have melted something on the CC45 when I resoldered a broken battery wire back on. Crying or Very sad

Oh well, now I got a good reason to get another ICE 50 someday, but for now I'll just stick with the Align ESC.

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:06 am Post subject:

Thinking that if & when I do get this up & flying, might go scale on it.

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=10109&Product_Name=Hughes_MD500_Fiberglass_Fuselage_for_450_size_heli

Crashagain · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:33 am Post subject:

That is cool..
If you do it, you need to paint it like the heli from Magnum PI... Laughing

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:51 am Post subject:

Update; Just shot Hobby King an email asking where the heck is my heli already Evil or Very Mad

Crashagain · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:11 am Post subject:

Did they show in stock when you ordered it?
I never order till they do, if they don't I sign up to be emailed when they do and then I place my order.
You might have quite a long wait..

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 8:39 pm Post subject:

On the web page it shows they are in stock so I don't know what the deal is.

Dumb Thumbs · Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject:

Got an email from HK today, said the order has left the warehouse Laughing

Gee, that only took four weeks! The heli was in stock from what I saw on the HK site but the servos were on backorder. Not wanting to hold up shipment I cancelled the servos about 10 days ago but still it didn't move, so I don't know if it's coming with the servos or not. The price on the online invoice still shows I'm billed for the servos Confused