I started drawing up some low profile frames with some Eco parts that I had lying around in mind. After a few weeks I had a design that I felt confident about and started making the prototype from aluminium.
I used 2 mm aluminium to make the frame and it's extremely strong and rigid. The canopy was made from balsa and liteply and weighs ~70 g.
The head is a red Ikarus head with some small modifications to increase response. It sits lower than on a regular Eco both because the mast is a lot shorter and because the main frame is shorter. The tail transmission tower was cut down to fit the low profile frame. I'm using MAH 500 mm main blades which work well. I haven't tried other blades.
I used Century Swift tail grips with doubled up 3x8 mm ball bearings and drilled and tapped the Eco tail hub to M3. It works very well with MS 80x5 mm carbon tail blades. The tail box had to be strengthened because the stock Eco tail box was too flexible. There's an aluminium doubler on one side of the boom/box and a fin on the other to strengthen it. I plan to build a new tail box from aluminium later on. The boom is an Eco 16 boom and there's not much else to say about that.
Motor: NEU 1907/2Y ESC: Jeti Spin 55 Battery: Flight Power 25C 8S 2170 mAh Servos: 4x Futaba 9650 Gyro: Logictech 2100 Headspeed: 2050 RPM Weight: 2027 g
A couple of videos. Both were shot in windy conditions and I'm not that great a pilot:
Rob Eco8, Piccolo Fun, Shogun, HB Elite CP, Trex 450XL CDE, Swift
08-04-2007 Over year old.
windyone Senior Heliman Location: York, England
Great vid and great flying. Heli sounds fantastic - almost like a turbine.
Well done.
08-05-2007 Over year old.
tahustvedt Heliman Location: Troms, Norway
Thanks. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
-I got wheels... with clickety-clackers-
08-05-2007 Over year old.
tahustvedt Heliman Location: Troms, Norway
Another video. I had a small vibration in the tail today that I have to check out, you can hear it rattling the canopy a little, but other than that it was great! I flew with my worst battery pack in this flight so it's not as enthusiastic as in the other video.
