Need Advice in Scale Helicopters

I made the switch to Jeti and going thru the learning curve. No doubt I am totally impressed, a whole new world of capabilities with Jeti. The Bell and Lama are converted, waiting on some decent flying to “adjust” the Axon (read Michael and Sandy’s article along with a ton of Sandy’s help). Also, a lot of YouTube learning at Harry Curzon’s pages plus others. I’ve looked at a few other sites, but thought I would post here first. Q: Where is the best place on this site to start a Q&A?

Hello, I have 3 Vario scale helicopters. Since retirement, I can no longer afford the prices Vario is asking for their scale kits. I have had Roban before and was not fond of their kits, quality and virtually no part support! Does anyone know if their quality has improved? I had the AS 350 which ate belts and chewed up gears. I also had the 700 cobra which the gel coating on the outside started to peel off. Has anyone else had these problems? I want another cobra but have no idea if their quality has improved drastically.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Mike

I am setting up a 3X unit and was wondering if there is an option to remove the servo connection from the 3X unit and have the gyro work in a serial output mode. some of these digital servos are power hungry and the central box is made to deal with that.(bavarian demon even makes a big deal about this by requiring dual power leads with jeti in serial-in mode) but if there is no option to leave the servos plugged into the central box (or receiver for that matter) what is the point of having the central box or the bigger power management RX's? it seems that the fixed wing version of the gyro has that option explained in the manual, but I see no reference in the heli-version manuals. there seems to be a black hole in data on the internet for this information. am i stuck just using the servo outputs in this unit?

Dear scale heli pilots,

Last week I was testing a new B212 build and got PHT2 (v12.79) cut-off after 5 min cool flight. The shutdown data is showing that the fuel pump voltage suddenly drop from 1.5 avg in flight to 0.9, then immediatly tried to recover with 2 volts, but too late; flameout. Hopefully no damage at all despite the crash looking impressive.

All other logged data like rpm, temp, turbine state, etc. looks fine. Also I couldn't see any bubble but maybe got expelled when the pump rushed to recover. The tank had about 30% kero left (felt clunk) but, as in doubt, I'm currently adding a UAT BVM.

My ask: I am correct assuming that the ECU does react to the presence of bubble or cavitation in the fuel line and is the pump expected to increase or reduce it's speed?

Hi all. I am new to ScaleHeliPilot. I have recently bought the Vario Chinook 1:11 and I'm done with the mechanics. Fuselage up next. I have never cut fiberglass before so I am petrified :)

Other than some old RC scale cars (eg Tamiya) I have done in the past, this is my first journey into the world of Scale.

I noted that Michael Kranitz suggested a step bit for the 30mm landing gear holes. I am curious though about the larger circular cutouts for the rotors. The instructions suggest 75mm and 90mm diameters for those. What is the best way to go about it? A dremel would work but it is difficult cut perfect circles with a rotary. I could look at a hole saw, but I'm worried that it might rip the fiberglass.

Curious to hear what other people did.

My second question is about sliding the mechanics in and out of the fuse. I saw Michael warned that one needs to be ready to do this a lot. It seems quite an involved process. Removal of the front rotor (and re-application of loctite after reinsertion?) And I guess the landing gear must also be unscrewed from the mechanics every single time? Is accessing the front landing gear not a pain? Because I assume the landing gear struts must remain in the fuse after the mechanics slide out.

I'll probably have many more questions as this proceeds. Looking forward to some great discussions here.

Autorotation pitch.

For our scale helicopters how much is needed? -2,-3,-6, more??

All my scale helis use similar pitch curves: -3, hover pitch, and +10.

I practice Autos on all types on a sim but only with my 700 pod and boom in real life. The exception being on a couple of occasions due to real life failures: once with my 40lb BK117 which was mostly successful with just bent rear struts and some cracked fiberglass. And a second time with my 700 size 14lb MD500 somewhat less successful due to a delay in actuating the Auto.

It has been suggested that -3 degrees isn't enough...at least initially, and the Auto curve should have something more than that as a starting point.

Thoughts?

Painting fuselage
I got a lot of experience from my first scale build. Among others challenges with painting. In what order to paint inside /outside / detailing etc. But biggest problem was to choose type of lack. I started with an alkyd paint but was not happy. A tiny fragment of dust left an “island” of non paint area and a lot of frustration. If you was heavy on the spray can the lack will move downward, and you are back to start.
Then I tried nitro cellulose lack that works better. Just that you can not mix this lack and alkyd lack because NC lack dissolves the underlying lack. It is hard to touch up NC lack with a brush, because the fresh lack will dissolve the old lack and just make mess.
So people out there, what are you using that is giving less headache?

New to SHP. Stumped & need some help. After 10 years I am jumping back into RC Heli's. I last left off with a fully operational TRex 600 and a large drone. I purchased a Roban 700 AH-64 and have the mechanics ready & electronics installed. System - Spektrum ix14 trans & AR8000 Rec'vr, I bought the Motion RC recommended electronics, Castle 160 ESC @ BEC, 3 MKS DS1220 Servo's, 1 MKS HBL 980 and 2 Admiral 5000 mAh batteries. I hook up the esc and the motor operates as programmed. However, the servo's will not function at all. I programmed the Castle ESC to 6.6V & tried 7.6 volts, still nothing moves or makes a sound. I have tried an AR14400 Rec'vr as well with no different results.

Would appreciate some advice on how to get the servo's functioning.

Thanks A