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Hello Scale RC-Helicopter Pilot Friends! I’ve mounted a Caddx Ascent+ HD FPV video system on my Flywing AS350 GPS RC-Helicopter in various positions. Flying an RC helicopter via FPV in full manual mode has a unique appeal—I personally really enjoy it. In this part 2 video of my fpv flight series, I’ll show you some footage from these FPV flights using the different camera positions. Which camera position do you like best? Have you tried setting up an FPV system yourself, and what has your experience been like?
Watch the Video here if you like to see some FPV Flight Footage:

This is my old Marvel-Craft H125 700 with RVE DUBHE mechanics, I switched to from SAB Kraken 700 and it's much lighter. I used this very easy to fly platform for my first Vantac 007 RF TW/X20RS configuration. It's very important to use the FrSky recommended servo order. I had to change it in my radio which was configured for MSH for Futaba order. I still have a long way to do before it's as consistent and easy to fly as the iKon2. The biggest hurdle is access to the mechanics inside the fuselage to configure the FCU. This is my first flight and it shows. The heli is all over the place but at least I did not crash it. I will spend the winter months working on it. Head speed is 1150, Heli-Tec 680, Hobbywing 200 (for ballast and easy to configure in RF). Integration and telemetry work perfectly. I had to change to 110 tail blades because of the low head speed and tail authority loss.

I was lucky enough to get an early production version with the 10T pinion. I relocated the packs and use a pair of 3300 batteries for 7 minutes at 7.5kg and a head speed of 1100 rpm. A low kV motor is recommended like the Egodrift 4230EC-370kV. Stock 630mm look like symmetrical and fly great ONCE balanced. The mechanics fit perfectly well inside the frp. The fuselage is built for a tail belt riser and it works perfectly. It's very sturdy with a 15mm main mast.

Cant wait to try it at the field. My only gripe is the main ratio and recommended kV. It comes with a 12T pinion for a ratio of 9.33/1. So I ordered an Eclipse 4230EC-370kV to compensate. Good news though, I learned there is a 10T pinion available which I ordered. Head speed in hover is 1175 and love the feeling of highly precise mechanics. It's about time a manufacturer offers decent quality at sensible price.

After purchasing the kit from a friend here in Australia in Sept 2024, I spent many hours isolating a very bad vibration, it was 80 on the Ikon vib scale, I eventually found the problem and fixed it, on the way improved the tail gear mesh, balanced the blades. The net result was the highest vib is now the motor at 1-1.5 on the Ikon scale. I was never ever happy with the kit lights, so upgraded them with a AR light kit, with a SX5 style search light, a big improvement. The video is my 10th flight with the model, since certification as required here in Australia as the model is 9.1 kg, models over 7 kg need to be inspected.
The slight wobble on take off was me trying to find the switch assigned to the lights. I’m getting 8 min on 12S5000.45C @ 1070 rpm with around 45% remaining, so could increase the flight time. A bit more practice to smooth out my flying🤞

Ladies and gentlemen. This is what happens if you only get to fly once per month...
Nothing fancy just some flight circuits needing practice.

This is the last time I flew on this field in Belgium as I am relocating once more...
Just to give you some perception... the trees are 40 m from the take off point (25 at the closest point). Behind them is a rather busy canal and behind the canal is the main highway connecting Paris and Brussels...

I was the only helicopter guy in the club.. the rest are plankers (a merry group of fine gentlemen)...

I still need to paint the main rotorhead... and detail the cockpit. Hopefully I get to do this before I move again. This helicopter is and will be my grab-n-go-fly heli and I never intended to add any scale details... but I failed at that already.

A rather boring 7 min flight is attached to this post.

As you might have noticed the bright yellow fuselage is still hard to see and with the trees as the background I was not comfortable flying the military paint schemes...

GH

This all happened last weekend: Sunday, April 23, 2023. After immediately inspecting the wreckage and the mechanics to determine what happened, I saw that the spline on the front of the tail's drive shaft was completely missing... it backed out while in flight. No drive shaft spline = no power going to the tail rotor.

I was attempting to autorotate the 429 down, despite what it may or may not look like in the video. I was trying to first get it stabilized, and then get it lower to a decent and more manageable altitude to start an autorotation. My mindset is to get a higher elevation at first to give myself time to think and make a plan for action. I had NO idea it was going to break apart in the air like it did. None of the other helis I have that had a tail issue and spun ever tore itself apart like this 429 did.

Fast foward to today: Sunday, April 30, 2023. Today makes a full week since I lost my Bell 429 and I figured I'd bring the wreckage into the house today to sift through it to see what's salvageable and to also document and share my findings.

Firstly, I found the front drive shaft spline - it's stuck inside of the front tail gear box which is what the first photo illustrates. Secondly, look at how the front of the torque tube boom sheared! The front portion is still inside of the clamp with the top locationing screw still going through it. I find it interesting that the front of the torque tube sheared so cleanly. I'm assuming it twisted? I dunno... weird. The bearings on the tail drive shaft are fine.

Amazingly, the vertical tail stabilizer and the right-side horizontal stabilizer didn't get damaged at all. The tail rotor hub assembly and blades are fine. Aside from two bent screws for the ball links, the main rotor head is fine. The main mechanics are fine. I may fire it up in a few days to see how the one-way bearing sounds.

Except for the pilot and the seat harnesses, EVERYTHING in the interior cabin was demolished, including the seat the pilot is still strapped to. The seat is broken in half just like the rest... the harness is holding all the parts together.

Back to the torque tube boom, though... that's crazy! It kinda sheared like it was made out of plastic! At any rate, I would HIGHLY advise you inspect the spline on your torque tube and then drill and pin it like I just recently learned a few other RC heli pilots have done.

Sooooo I took my Bell 429 out yesterday to get some flights in. I should have just stayed home because it was WAAAAAY too windy to do any ACTUAL flying and enjoy myself. The 31 MPH wind blowing down from the north had that poor heli bouncing and being blown all over the place every time I turned it east or west. I ended-up just doing a bunch of hovering to drain the batteries so I could head back home. Luckily, I live only 3 miles away from the field I fly at, so it's not like it's a huge waste of driving time to get to and from.