While waiting for some parts from China I had some time to work on something entirely different, which I always wanted to make – a printable 450 class RC helicopter!
RC helicopters are getting harder to find in local hobby shops, spare parts are scarce,
every minor damage to the airframe often grounds one for weeks. On the other hand, drones are everywhere!
Easy to fly, even easier to maintain. But there’s a thing they are not particularly good at – that is, replacing the collective pitch helicopter. If you want to fly RC helicopters badly, but the whole idea seems too expensive and complicated – this is probably a nice starter machine for you.
So, this is an attempt to take the best from both worlds: maintainability of drones where we have little unique airframe/electronics parts – and the look and feel of RC helicopters.
This machine uses a small tail motor from a race quad to reduce the number of mechanical parts that can break during a crash. Actually, the only helicopter-specific part you will need is some trex 450 clone rotor head assembly with the main mast and gears!
At the moment, I used the head from my old hk450v2, which is a trex 450se clone. I think the trex450 v3 head should fit nicely as well. I will order some modern FBL head from Aliexpress to update the machine with the currently available parts.
No assembly manual yet, but parts should be pretty self-explanatory, just build it like any other 450, plenty of videos on youtube =)
The weight is at 840g with a 2200mAh battery fitted. Remember that performance of the machine will depend on the quality of fitted parts, so don’t go too cheap =)
You will need:
1 x rotor head assembly with the mast and gears
2 x 685-2RS 5x11x5mm bearings
1 x MR2205 2300KV CCW(!) motor – left thread on the mast is important if you want your tail rotor to stay with you in flight!
1 x DYS 5×4.5 BN prop set
1 x 20-30A ESC for the tail
1 x 40A ESC for the main motor
1 x some trex 450 compatible motor (I used an old turnigy typhoon 2215H one for the testbed)
1 x Transmitter and receiver set
1 x 347mm 450 class tail boom (or 12mm carbon rod piece)
3 x swashplate servos (I used some cheap Corona 933MG ones, its better to look for smth better, maybe EMAX ES09MD)
2 x 8x160mm carbon rod pieces for skids
That’s it guys, enjoy flying!
You can find it on GitHub: