AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[Ratty]

Ahh thanks for the info guys, i didnt know about shapeways or that you cold order other peoples stuff.

Do you know if the EZ holder will fit on a Dx8 aswell?


About your pilots, how much bigger is the next size up to the ones you have? The guy sat on the side does look alittle small, but not by a great deal.

[Zeeflyboy]

They are about 1.5" taller in total.

I wouldn't recommend the DX8 for using with the EzUHF full stop I'm afraid. I've read of too many issues to do with the connection and the ppm level. I have one and its a nice radio for LoS stuff but I wouldn't recommend it for use with the EzUHF.

You would be much better off buying a new turnigy 9XR or an older futaba 9C/10C, also the added advantage is that because they are 3S radios and provide power through the trainer lead you won't need an extra battery.

[Ratty]

Next size up might be better then, but if they are expensive its abit of a pain to get one to check.


Ive been using my EZ with my Dx8 for over a year with no probs at all. I do power it from a seperate 3s tho. Had a turnigy 9x but sold it as i didnt like it at all.

[Zeeflyboy]

Short answer is that yes it can be made to work with pretty much any radio, it just might require some adaptor plates etc such as wgt posted above. If you're willing to drill a few holes then it could be made to work.

Looking at it though I don't think it'll be a direct fit even with removing the carry handle, it would need some sort of standoff plate.

on the subject of pilots, here's a build using the same size helicopter with the 1:6 scale dudes... one of them is bruce willis lol.






I think they look pretty good there... I'll be modifying extensively anyway so it's no problem to just take a tiny bit out of the neck, torso, legs etc just to trim them down a little if need be. I'd rather have something that looks slightly too large but is super detailed than something that is slightly too small but less detailed too.

I found some m134 miniguns on sale so rather than make my own I just ordered them, I threw a simple nude 1:6 body into the basket too so I can have a look at size in person and have a play. the bodies themselves aren't particularly pricey so thought it was worth a look see. if I do go with something in the 1:6 scale I found these guys who are due to be released in feb - think they look great and the camo would go better with my dark green heli....






Also I installed screen numero uno properly along with replacing the bulky connector with direct soldered wires.






And I did some more wiring - I connected the eLogger and SPS switch directly to avoid an unnecessary connection point. You can also see the 6S feed line for the vTX - wiring it this way it is still controlled by the SPS switch (ie the vTX won't come on when you connect the power) but only takes 6S rather than the full 12S. The small red wire you can see at the battery end will go to the positive terminal of battery 1.... just before the JST connector you can see my teeny tiny noise filter than should provide the vTX with nice clean power.

[Ratty]

Thanks for the reply regarding the holder.

Those 1:6 guys do look better imo, and the ones youve found released in Feb look awesome. Im sure whatever way you go it will look sweet.

[Zeeflyboy]

Just got these bad boys in the post!





Mictronics very kindly contributed a pair of his fractal dipoles printed on flex material to my build - their more compact height allows me to install them where a traditional dipole wouldn't fit. The only other real choice I could see was a pair of sander style rabbit ears at the back of the fuselage, but the problem is these would be at least partially blocked by motor/mechanics/batteries when the heli is pointing to home.

Here's my intended install point, one on either side. The do hit a slight curve but apparently it shouldn't be a problem and this machine isn't going to be a range buster anyway - I'm just looking for best penetration of objects and the most solid link I can get within a shorter range.





I just need to get some co-axial to finish them off.

[Zeeflyboy]

couple of pics for you guys

My 600mm stealth matt black samuri swords arrived... I took a picture of the undersides so you can see how they come - Spin has picked the "master" blade which is left as is, and then all other blades have been balanced against it - you can see the small hole where material has been removed and then repaired. Nice touch and should take the headache out of balancing a 5 bade system.



Another nice thing about these blades is that they are made from kevlar and not CF... this means they should be significantly less detrimental to my GPS signal.


My tail mount arrived and fits nicely




Case for the guardian, it sits completely encased in foam inside here for vibration isolation




and a case for the channel wizard




Elevator arm axle bearing mounts with bearings fitted




And lastly for now, my new mk2 pilots arms... "shoulder" is a ball link for full range of motion and elbow is a small plastic elevator hinge. Arms are 5mm threaded aluminium tube which allows the lengths to be fine tuned. I will then carve some blue foam into shape and slide it over the tubes.

[Zeeflyboy]

So not very exciting but I finally got around to making the plug for my upper canopy window.

Used the same technique as before and I'm quite happy with it - seems to produce a pretty high quality plug with a nice finish. Now I just need to get around to building the vacuum forming machine and start experimenting with some materials and temperatures to pull at.

[Brod]

fabulous modelling skills  88)

[stevec]

Pilots do tend to be on the short side.
Really tall people don't fit in the trainer planes cockpits too well so are put off.
Fast jet pilots are usually shorter as they're better able to handle g forces.

I'd be inclined to use the big guys for the passengers and shorter ones as pilots.

Great work by the way!

/Steve


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[wgt40w]

Severe withdrawal symptons starting to show - due to lack of any further project news.

Why no news? I ask.

Have Juan and Julio run away together ?
Was it them spotted having a civil ceremony on a Barbados beach last week?

Have the Marsoc's finally arrived and exterminated Juan & Julio?

Stay tuned for the next gripping instalment of this exciting soap coming soon - I hope !

                               :laugh:        :laugh:

[FPVSteve]

Some say Zeeflyboy accepted that his model making skills are far too good for this forum, and he's gone back to gluing Airfix kits together while watching episodes of Miss Marple.

[Zeeflyboy]

Lol... Can't a guy have a break?

Happy to report no untoward behaviour of Juan and Julio, not that I'm yet aware of anyway.

I've been on holiday and mostly back in the UK. I do have some stuff to show and some news to give though so maybe do a little update this afternoon.... watch this space. As long as that doesn't interfere with watching miss marple.

[wgt40w]

Lol... Can't a guy have a break?

Happy to report no untoward behaviour of Juan and Julio, not that I'm yet aware of anyway.

I've been on holiday and mostly back in the UK. I do have some stuff to show and some news to give though so maybe do a little update this afternoon.... watch this space. As long as that doesn't interfere with watching miss marple.

"Can't a guy have a break?" - In a word NO. Not when you are providing me with such engineering interest!

"As long as that doesn't interfere with watching miss marple." - have either Juan or Julio run off with this 'hotty' ?

[Zeeflyboy]

Well you'll be happy to know my holiday finishes as of tomorrow lol.

Anyhoo as promised a little update... As mentioned I've been off on holiday and around and about quite a bit but I've not been completely slacking.

So first up some news... I bought a 3D printer... oh dear. It's a Makergear M2 and I'm now on a waiting list that will be anything from 5-7 weeks unfortunately. When It does arrive though I shall be a mighty happy boy! It won;t entirely replace shapeways but it will be incredibly useful for both non cosmetic/semi structural parts and for testing prototypes of more cosmetically important bits before sending off to shapeways for the final part.


Anyway, that's on it's way and in the mean time here's a picture of what it should look like assuming I can build it correctly




Since I've been cutting quite a lot of G10 I also got bored of my terribly old battery powered electric saw and upgraded to a real man saw... Laser guided and everything. I mean seriously, who here can honestly raise their hand and say they don't want a frikkin laser guided saw?





Anyway, back to the heli...

because I didn't have enough to do I decided to re-cut the frames with some slight tweaks to servo positions and so on... here they are and you can see the 3d printed bearing holder and bearing for the elevator axle arm. Forgive the uncleared edges, I haven't had time to run over them yet ;)






I also got a few bits from shapeways....

centre console and new cyclic stick




and my various antennas




And cut my panels in slightly lighter 0.5mm fibreglass sheet to save some weight, plus re-did a new light weight version of my base plate




I've realised I've been a bit lazy in getting the mechanics up and running, so that's now going to be a priority. I think I have pretty much everything I need now so I'll try and get that up and running ASAP for some testing when I get back.