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HeliDirect . 3D Heli Depot . JR-Spektrum

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e-Minicopter Joker > The Good Side
 
 
Dale W
Heliman
Location: Hodges, SC

Well, I had some difficulties to begin with but now I'm getting happy.

The startup problem I had was self-induced by trying to 'quickly' resolder my motor leads and getting one of them a bit cold. Now, the motor spins up happily with either the governor on or off. I use the governor with N=1/2 tick before full on. Starts great and at 95% on the throtle (straightline) is 1730 RPM for about 6 minutes of flailing around and another 30-45 seconds to get down & landed.

I rebuilt the ESC/Governor support (3rd time) and now I'm happy with that.

The next thing was tail authority. I had a JR 550T / 8700G setup and it just wouldn't get around like when it was in my Fury. This may have been affected by my newbie programming techniques on the Multiplex EVO radio, but I wasn't happy. I tapped the account (again) and bought a GY502 with an S9253 digi servo and Holy Cow! That thing can piro so fast it makes it around 3 times before my finger can stop it (I'll need to tone that down), but more importantly tracks great. This is with stock setting using the same programming as the JR had.

The last item, which I have resolved myself as being 'OK' with is the wait time between flights (battery changes). After backing the throttle down to 90%, I am getting around 7 minutes of aerobatics (not heavy 3D), with about another minute to run out the battery. I've decided I don't want to slap in another battery and fly, but rest & gab for a bit. However, I have stuck in the second pack just to see how long it takes for cool down. It's now ~ 15 minutes (90 degrees, low humidity & a 10 mph breeze) with the canopy off. This time seems to be decreasing... maybe the gears & motor are settling in and decreasing the resistance. At any rate, I can live with that.

I have some pics in my gallery of the setup. Pay no attention to that Agusta... The Joker is going in an Airwolf! Dale

dale.wilkins@gmail.com
09-22-2003 Over year old.
 
 
East Coast Scale
Key Veteran
Location: Taxachussetts

Dale
Try reducing your headspeed to 1600 and see how you get along with it. You will see with that head speed you can do all the mans you are doing with the higher head speed, but you will get another minute or so with the lower head speed. Mine, with 1550, will do everything i need to, and flys like a rocket, and i get 8 minutes flying time.
Joe
09-22-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Dale W
Heliman
Location: Hodges, SC

Joe, Sounds good to me. I have noticed the Joker performs well in +/- 8-9 degree end pitch rather than the traditional +/- 10. At the +9 and governor on it seems to climb as fast or faster than the Fury IC. Less, smoother movements are actually more effective than yanking around an IC with brute force & they look prettier. I've flown the Joker around in the same patterns as I did the Fury about 6 times now, so I'm just getting the feel of all-out flight and what it will do. Add another 15 packs of stationary flight for setups after changing stuff around (I'm done doing that now!).

One question about the headspeed... do I set that at the governor and put my Idle throttle to 100% or do I leave the governor at about it's 100% and set my Idle throttle to whatever. Seem the latter would be working against the governor and the former would be a pain to adjust N while running. Dale

dale.wilkins@gmail.com
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Dale W
Heliman
Location: Hodges, SC

Tony,
The 'standard' Joe setup: Actro 24-4, 23t, stock ESC & V3 governor. I replaced the tail blades with NHP CFs and have a set of 185g CF blades (MS, I think) that will go on when I stick it in the wolf. These blades are the same weight as the stock blades.
It does seem there is a break in period for this thing. Either it breaks all the way or it gets better. Dale

dale.wilkins@gmail.com
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
East Coast Scale
Key Veteran
Location: Taxachussetts

Lowering the percentage on the govenor should lower the headspeed.
When Larry and i set his up with 85% i believe, he had around that rpm in hover.
Joe
09-23-2003 Over year old.
 
 
md11plt
Heliman
Location: Park City, UT

What Airwolf Fuselage are you using? I was going to put mine in my Graupner 230, but that fuse is a bit too long. I'm guessing you're going to use a Vario? Do you have any pictures of how those line up?
09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
Dale W
Heliman
Location: Hodges, SC

MD11plt,
The Joker will go in a Century Airwolf. I bought the unfinished version so I would qualify for a BOM if I chose to compete in a event as well as to be able to modify as needed. This was originally going to have my Milli in it, but I got rid of that and the Joker appears to fit with little or no body changes. I'm trying to figure out how to mount the mechs. As I see it, I can either take the whole mechanics set as it is set up for pod & boom, or remove the whole bottom section (used to hold the batteries) and figure out a method to mount the remaining piece. I have a JR Voyager E with an Agusta fg body that pins in side standoffs which looks doable on the AW if the screws can be concealed. Batteries & ESC can be stuck just about anywhere, but I'm looking at some support (aluminum shelf/standoff?) to hold the batteries up and away from the body. Depending on the type of battery, I may or may not have to remove them to charge at the site. A LiPo pack could give ~20-30 minutes of flight, and that might be enough on one model for a day! I haven't done anything but measure and think on what/how things can be done, but I'll post some pics when I get started.
I'd like to see the inside of Joe's eScaler (post some Joe!) to get some other ideas.
As far as being too long, how much longer are you talking? Is it too much to shave off and remate to the back of the fuse while building?
Dale

dale.wilkins@gmail.com
09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
md11plt
Heliman
Location: Park City, UT

The problem with the Graupner is that is a one piece fuselage. I thought about trying to cut a section out of the tail, but the work involved and the weight gain in the tail make it seem like it's not worth the effort. I believe the Vario 222 is a bit shorter. At 36 inches, I'm about an inch short on the 230. It would probably fit, but I don't think it would look right. The century is a nice kit but I just love the retracts on the German stuff too much. The other fues I was thinking about was the 530. With that tail setup, it seems as there might be some fudge room. I just finished a NOTAR and love the way it looks in the air. It's a big heli. If the Joker is everything I am hoping it will be, I'll probably sell that one and look for an electric replacement. I bought a set of LiPolys for my Joker and am very excited about them. It should be about double the time I was getting on the NOTAR! If the dream becomes reality, I'll sell all my gas stuff.
09-26-2003 Over year old.
 
 
edg
Senior Heliman
Location: San Francisco, CA

In case anyone's interested in another a 500D Scale w/Joker... I've put my Joker into 3 Century 500D fuses (don't ask!) so I'm getting quite good at it. It's really a pretty easy job. I'm now painting #3 but mechs have been fit and test flown already. I just use the entire Joker mechs w/o the landing gear.

The Joker Mechs need to be raised about 10mm above the provided flooring. I'd assume the Airwolf, also being Century, would be about the same. I use 10mm long alum threaded spacers (these are 3mm threads with a male and female end obtained from McMaster-Carr) to raise the mechs off of the floor along with some additional wood support underneath. I use a set of 4 Vario mounting L-brackets on the mechs. Goes in really nice. What I like about using the Spacers is it's really easy to find the best positioning of the mechs when you're eyeballing it. Prior to gluing in the floor, the spacers are attached (female side down on floor with a 3mm bolt & washer holding it in). It's then a simple matter of sliding in the mechs and securing with 3mm locknuts.

The 500D is big and roomy inside which makes it great for laying out battery packs. I was using 3 C-sized CP3600 10 cell packs which gave me a solid 8 minutes flight (and that sucker wieghed about 17 lbs!). However that was using a 23T pinion which had fairly anemic power. I'm now going back to the 24T. Plus I've got some LiPos now so I expect my new bird will fly quite nice. The Joker in the 500D was one of my favorites to fly which is why I'm rebuilding it yet again...

-edg-
10-01-2003 Over year old.
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