A few days ago, I found myself looking for some bling for my TREX 450. I sent a few messages back and forth with Scott from RC-Tek, and he convinced me to pick up a full kit from him. He informed me that it represented some of his older stock, but assured me that the heli was fully upgradeable to the latest model. The price was great and, seeing as how Scott responded quickly to all my questions (usually within 10 minutes or so), I just couldn’t pass it up.
I made the purchase via PayPal and, within an hour, had a shipping confirmation from Scott.
I should say, before I get too deep into this, that I am a relatively new flier. I can do some circuits and am just beginning to get nose-in hover. I won’t be able to tell you how many piero-flips this kit can do. I won’t be able to talk about how the tail may or may not compare to the TREX. But I can definately show you the kit and talk about my experiences building and setting up this bird.
Kit Contents
The first thing that impressed me was the extras that Scott threw in. In addition to the painted Diablo canopy, the box included an unpainted, white canopy. The unpainted canopy looks almost identical to the TREX version. The material feels very different. I believe it is of the “bleach bottle” material. The window seam is not double-lined like the TREX. The openings that are designed to be cut out are “bubbled” out of the plastic. This could make scoring accurate lines difficult. I’ll provide an update once I destroy the stock canopy.
Scott was also nice enough to throw in an extra swashplate and an extra set of paddles. The extra swashplate is silkscreened with “RCT” vice “RCT-450″. It also has tiny press marks between the center of the swash and the bearings. I assume this was to overcome a separating swash problem. Otherwise, the two plates are identical.
As for the extra paddle set, those are slightly larger than the included paddles.
The head is absolutely beautiful. The red anodizing looks sick. All the links were installed properly. The ends are marked to show direction and every link was snapped properly. Also, the links were aligned properly. None of the ball ends were canked at strange angles. I was also impressed that screws had been threaded down the flybar hole to allow the flybar cage to be shipped while attached to the head. It’s really nice to see that all you have to do is remove the screws and install the flybar. It’ll also be nice to set-up the head without having to worry about a flybar poking my eye out.
The tail setup looks very familiar. The slider is plastic, but it is supported from both sides of the tail shaft. The clip to hold the tail pushrod is a lot larger than I’m used to. However, I think with a carbon pushrod for the tail, the larger clip will be a blessing.
One down note here: I did not find a pushrod for the tail in my kit. This isn’t a problem for me; especially considering the extras I got.
The kit frame is very nice. The motor is mounted high on the frame which will do wonders for keeping the COG high. The two front servo mounts are designed to hold the servos upright. There is little room for varying servos here. If your servo does not fit, you are out of luck. The rear servo lies flat.
One thing that really made me take note here is the boom block. The screws that hold the block to the frame pass from one side to the other. They are secured with nuts on the far side of the frame. This looks like it will help secure the boom in the block more securely. Also, if you strip a thread, you don’t have to replace the boom block; only the bolt and nut. The block can easily be flipped if you choose to mount the gyro below the boom.
Every screw on the frame came with a red anodized washer to increase the bling factor. The only non-hex screws I could find were on the battery tray.
The landing skids are quite different from Align’s version. The material is softer. This will definitely make shooting autos a little less risky. In addition, the antenna mount is on the right side of the bird. If you use a left-side antenna for orientation, you could easily flip the skid mounts backwards.
You may notice that the installed frames are the old style; they lack the RCT-450 logo. Scott was nice enough to throw in the new-style sides. I don’t think there is any significant improvement; just a bling factor boost.
Accessories
The box also included a 150t main gear, tail gear, and one-way bearing. The bearing is molded into the main gear. When I went to assemble the gears, I noticed that the assemblies will not press fit. You will need some sort of tool to open up the one-way bearing to get the tail drive gear installed.
There was a final bag that included the antenna tube, blade holder, and a bag of extra parts. There were about 2 of every style of screw in the bag, 4 of the red anodized washers, 3 extra balls, and red grommets for the canopy.
I was also impressed by the sticker sheet. There was nothing too fancy on the sheet, but there are plenty of stickers to adorn your laptop, flight box, car, or wife. The stickers were also a big hit with my two daughters. I think that really sold them on RC-Tek’s helicopters.
Summary
All in all, this is an impressive machine. Scott threw in all the extras to update the bird to the latest version. The head design looks clean and, from what I hear, offers a lot of throw. The high motor mount will help get the COG up to improve response. The boom block design will eliminate stripped aluminum parts.
I’m really looking forward to strapping some radio gear in this bird and getting her into the air. Unfortunately, Monday morning I’ll be moving. I’ll have to wait a week or so before I get a chance to do a proper build. Until then, I’ll try and do a few updates to keep you interested. I’ll measure the parts and openings so that you’ll know ahead of time if your gear will fit. I’ll also weigh the parts so that you can compare them to other 450-sized birds. Until then, take care.