AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[wgt40w]

"Anyone guess what this is?"

Because of the radiused end , I would guess:

- Possibly an extra brace for the 'bottom' end of the motor - OR
- No - I give up - the tapered slot in the middle is really making me scratch my head !!

[tdmodels]

That centre slot looks like a D9 connector will fit, but there are no mounting holes for it.  Nope, it's got me....  (?)

[Zeeflyboy]

Oh you clever boy you....

d15 to be precise.

It'll carry all the connections between body and cockpit so it's just one plug to connect.... mounting holes to come.

[Zeeflyboy]

Looky what I just got

So first the quad launcher. Love the size of this thing, holding it up next to the heli it looks great... Just need to cut some aluminium tube to length now, i've inserted one to show the idea. That'll have to wait though because I'm off to work shortly.









And the Hellfire launcher minus missiles...

[Zeeflyboy]

designed something quite neat I think! My SPS switch has the remote pin activator.... Pull the pin and the whole system goes live. I was scratching my head as to where to locate this without looking naff, and then this came to me lol. A fuel cap, with the SPS remote switch integrated. In order to prevent things looking odd, I disabled the LED that normally shines out of the pin hole to show the system is alive.







And in other news, I have finally got around to starting the second door (I hate repetition lol)

[Zeeflyboy]

Wgt - did you ever get around to trying out the EzUHF mount?

Finished my second door which allowed me to cut the right side out, which also allowed me to test the look of the weapon arms. they aren't mounted to the floor so will be a cm or two higher up than here, just below the top of the cut out

I think she looks pretty mean :) add the hellfires and miniguns and she'll be pretty purposeful looking I think!

[wgt40w]

Wgt - did you ever get around to trying out the EzUHF mount?

Zeeflyboy - sorry, I've got a bit of a guilty conscience about this - I haven't even unpacked it yet!
My Ezuhf is currently fitted to a Futaba FP-T8UP, but I have been experiencing problems configuring channels to operate 3 way switches - it's doable but not as easy as it ought to be. On another project I have acquired a Futaba T12FG, whose programming system is much clearer. So much so that I think I am going to use the T12FG for eveything.
So, within a few days I will 'unbox' and 'fit' to T12FG, using your uhf holder in a way that I can easily change over from uhf to 2.4ghz and back again.
(As a second excuse I've also been wrapped up in reading and studying your superb progress !)

PS Why alum tubes for your missile bodies, rather than composite - lighter ??

[Zeeflyboy]

nope, heavier lol.

Because it was easier to find in the size I needed, but it's too heavy - I'll be changing to composite. According to density calcs in solidworks I can save 10g per tube for 40g total by using carbon tubes vs aluminium.

No worries - was just curious if there was a problem!

couple more pics showing the fit of the mechanics. This fuselage looked cavernous when I first got it but it sure gets filled up fast!

[Dizzy]

A lovely build i continue to watch with keen interest as a scale modeler myself i love the approach your making on this build, i cant get my head around the technoligy your using as i,m a hand only builder but i really admire your work.

Very well done she is looking like the real thing  :)

big respect dizzy

[Ratty]

That thing is coming together nicely now. Looks awesome, very well done on all the work.

Is this going to be just a LOS model?


Where did you guys get the ezuhf mount for your Tx? They look sweet too.

[Zeeflyboy]

Dizzy - Thanks. Hey it's all new to me too! I had never touched any 3D software before beginning this project, nor ever even seen a 3D printed part!

Never thought about owning my own little CNC machine either lol.

Still plenty to do "hands on" as well though, it's not all new fangled techno wizardry ;)

Ratty - no primarily an FPV model, hence the pilot with a camera for a head and the camera in the FLIR pod. I will fly it LoS too however.

The EzUHF mount is something I designed myself during this project and wgt bought one from my shapeways account.

[Ratty]

Wow, i cant belive your guna FPV it, id be so scared. lol.

Awesome tho, i cant wait to see that. Ill say it again, very nice work.


If you ever make them EZ holders available, ill defo have one off you.  :D

[Zeeflyboy]

They are available, but they aren't cheap lol.

It's a relatively larger part for 3D printing and unfortunately it gets a bit expensive...

http://www.shapeways.com/model/745402/ezuhf-mount-type-1-logo.html?li=my-models&key=ab884aa18deab9f11daf6f8e9d6d3bd6


seeing it all together like this I'm starting to think Juan and Julio are a little on the small side. Perhaps I should have gone with the full 1:6 scale 12" figures.... I may order one to try out but sheesh the nice ones ain't cheap! I was thinking more along the lines of something like this, which is considerably more pricey but looks the dog's danglies... would appreciate you guys' thoughts on whether bigger pilots are needed.




Here you can see a picture for reference:




And Julio with his hot sauce




I don't think they look bad necessarily, but they certainly appear to make the heli look bigger than it should relatively speaking.... his head should at least be coming up to the top of the door really... the 1.5" of extra height from these 1:6 figures would make that look pretty spot on. £90 a pop for these Delta guys though!

I'm also conscious of the fact that the taller body for the pilot means the camera will be higher up, meaning less cockpit will be in view unless looking around. That could be a good or bad thing depending on point of view lol.


In other news, did a bit of googling for pictures today and came up with some antenna details for the heli. Funny thing is if you buy these sort of things they normally seem to go for $10-15 each, on shapeways they come out at about $5-6... oh well!


type 1




type 2




type 3




and a grab handle...






Thought this looked cool and he needs somewhere to hold on lol. This would mostly be for display purposes but the nice thing is the arms are more or less spot on the CG so it wouldn't affect flight beyond the extra weight if some extra passengers went for a ride.




The downside is that this picture really does highlight to me that the figures are a smidge too small.

[wgt40w]

EZUHF HOLDER - from Shapeways - designed by Zeeflyboy

For those who don't know 3d printing done by Shapeways is on the basis that copies of any design may also be 3d printed and sold to the general public.
I ordered and paid for an Ezuhf holder and aerial bung. Ten days ago a parcel arrived - neat packaging and parts well protected by bubblewrap. The Ezuhf transmitter is a superbly 'snug' fit in the holder, no sign of shrinkage in the manufacturing process.



My intention was recently amended and I decided to fit the Ezuhf holder to a Futaba T12FG transmitter. The 2.4ghz module was unclipped and I immediately realised two things:-
1) The tx handle got in the way - could remove it easily though.
2) The holders' fixing holes almost exactly coincided with the inside corners of the tx module 'hole'.

Back of transmitter



I therefore fitted some nylon M3 spacers, which were themselves bolted to short lengths of alum rt angled section, which is bolted to the Futaba tx. To attach or remove the Ezuhf holder I slide the holder under 2 M4 nuts and fit & tighten to more M4 locknuts.







I will be sometimes using the tx for 'normal' 2.4ghz and sometimes for UHF.

As an alternative 'quick-change' fitting method, I have also dug out an old basic transmitter tray and show a picture with Zeeflyboy's holder fitted to it.



Summary
Zeeflyboy has got the dimensions spot on for the holder to fit the Ezuhf transmitter, but because all radio transmitters are different, be prepared to have to design your own fitting to mount this holder onto your tx.

[Zeeflyboy]

That's a clever idea with the transmitter tray - I tried to make it as universal as possible with the holes and their spacing, but it never occurred to me it might be mounted on a tray like that.

Hope you're happy with it! Thanks for posting the pics