holder clear across to the other. With even a Schluter Superior, there were 2 seperate
blocks, seperate bearings and pitch rods. They were cocked at 2° positive, giving a total
of 4° dihedral. This machine will always want to walk or fly and will be extremely
maneuverable. That's why it's a poor machine to learn on, but an excellent and easy
machine to invert. Most gasser guys looking to go into acrobatics (3D) would do well to
get their feet wet on this inexpensive machine. A good nitro helicopter is going to run
around $1000 to $1500 afterall! One crash cost more in parts than this whole basic
Df35.
Flight from carpet is ideal, but how big is your playroom? 8' high ceilings and 20' of
clear floor space in all directions? If not, forget it until you know what you're doing. It will
lob right into a lounge chair and you'll be waiting for Chinese blades for 2 weeks or
paying $30 from California because you cannot wait to crash the thing again. You have
to learn outside, this is a tad too skiddish for indoors. A gymnasium is perfect, with the
smooth wooden floors!
What to look for after a crash
In the case of an expensive nitro machine: A second job!
From what we already know, start with the tail and work your way forward. By now, you
should know where the tailrotor bellcrank should be on a trimmed DF35, has it shifted?
Is the shaft bent, does it turn freely, do the tail blades move freely with the output arm
pulled off the servo? Are the blades chipped or shaved? If so, you should take the
whole gearbox apart and check everything. See how important that tailskid is now?
How about the gear mesh and forward tail drive gear at the motor pinion? Partially
stripped yet? They tend to go by the 4th tail strike. Has the tailboom shifted up or down
and is it bowed or bent? That would cause tons of vibration.
Disconnect the head linkages, does the flybar still teeter totter back to level or is it
shifted? Are the “L” arms still aligned as well as the flybar? Are the head linkages still
straight? If bent, go to the hobby store and replace with decent rods. How are the main
blades? They can fly with a minor knick, but are they crushed or compressed in any
way from front to rear? Discard! How about the main blade bearings, and holders? That
straight shaft could get bent if hit the right way. But if it's that far gone, so's the whole
machine! Ditto the main shaft... if taken out (see Walkera manual) and rolled on a piece
of window glass or a mirror, does it roll freely or wobble? If wobbling, it must be
replaced and not toyed with. For $3.50, there's no point!
Is the chassis intact? Are all the screws in the frame secure? How about the screws
retaining the head mixing levers above the swashplate, are they tight? If those holes
strip out, you coat the I.D. with CA glue, let dry and re-anchor the levers with better
screws from the store. SAE screws will always be slightly larger in the hole also.
If the crash was severe, did it go in nose first and damage a cell in the Li-Po, creating a
potential bomb? Was the Li-Po inside the machine upon inspection, or seperated?
That's a clue to be wary of that pack.
Special Projects
This size of helicopter lends itself well to making your own blades from rulers.
The article also goes into use of a gram scale.
We used to buy all
our parts there after matching them up, especially the main drive gear. The tail rotor
gears are a 2:1 ratio [21 teeth/10 teeth] and will need to be matched. I will add a
matched set to this document when I find it, as there are many dimensions that need to
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