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| Scale Helicopters Discuss scale helicopters, tips, tricks and scale construction threads |
Topic Review (Newest First)
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| 10-21-2015 11:45 AM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Thanks Phil. I'll talk with you shortly. Don |
| 10-20-2015 02:33 PM | |
| Phil Noel |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender That is very sad news indeed. Give me a call when you get back. |
| 10-19-2015 08:53 AM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Hi all: I have some sad news about my TOW Defender. While on takeoff at a warbirds event in Florida, a pitch link let go and the helicopter took a nose dive while only 5 feet off the ground. The body is a total loss and will not be rebuilt. I will be starting on a new build of an MH-6 Little Bird that is on display at the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester, PA. The cockpit was completely ripped apart as it hit nose first. I hope to have it in the air for springtime next year. Take care. Don |
| 09-30-2015 06:41 PM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Thank you very much. I spent the afternoon flying my group of helicopters in some very gusty winds and not once did any of the tails give out pushing against the wind. It's so nice for a change. Don |
| 09-30-2015 12:00 PM | |
| RomeoOscar |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Congratulations Don!  Beautiful.
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| 09-27-2015 09:32 PM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender An update from July. Having taken the top prize I can with this helicopter, it was time to retire it. I had planned to put it up for sale and to use the proceeds to build its replacement. It might come to that but in the meantime, since this time, 2013, the lighting system was ripped out and non-functional. The TOW sight hardware was still in place but the wiring was also gone. At a fun-fly in Rochester, NY, I had a very hard landing that broke the struts at the point they attached to the skid pipes. There was also some woodwork that was splintered but that was temporarily repaired at the fly-in and I put it up for at least one more flight to recover from that awful landing. It was now time to make up two new right side struts and since I was at it, replace the pipes as well. Both were worn through from many run-on landings and gross weight takeoffs. The skids have lights in them so it was a good time to rebuild the lighting wiring and get that back in operation. If I was going to sell it, there was no point in doing so unless it was complete. I am also contemplating putting a new canopy on it as I will have three new ones in my inventory of parts. That will wait until I return from Florida but I am hoping to install a brand new head before I go. I plan to put the sk-rotorkopf head on the new Little Bird but keep the current blades on it. I finished rebuilding the wiring harness and installing the LED's throughout the bird and it is so nice to see it as it was before its ill-fated crash at HSM back in 2013. I am going to pick away at it as long as I have it and if push comes to shove, and I don't have to gone, well, Lily has said that I might as well keep it and use it as a daily flyer. Can't argue with that. I will age the struts and skid pipes in the next week or so and with the testing of new tail blades done, I can lower the head speed back to what it was before. I might even drop it until the tail becomes unstable and then increase it until it behaves itself. It's amazing how 10mm of blade can have that profound of a change to the tail's holding power in heavy winds. For the record, it was working just great before but every so often, a hard gust would hit is and the tail wouldn't swing until either it dropped or I backed off and turned the other way. I am hoping to get it back to 1325 rpm or slightly less, as it sounds great in the air. For now, it is at 1470rpm where it will stay until I do another series of tests. Here are some pictures I took of it sitting with all the lighting systems on. Take care. Don |
| 08-06-2015 09:18 PM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Thanks guys. It`s a lot of hard work to get a model and documentation ready for such and event. In the long run, it is well worth the effort and the experience you get competing at this level is immeasurable. As soon as I get another model ready, I`ll be back in the midst of it all. Take care. Don |
| 08-06-2015 08:31 PM | |
| bensidus197217 |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Way to go Don congratulations. |
| 08-06-2015 12:35 PM | |
| Phil Noel |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender Congratulations Don, on your Sport scale win with this heli at the US nats that just finished! |
| 07-28-2015 03:58 PM | |
| Keyrigger |
Re: Century MD500 TOW Defender A little update before the US Nationals and IRCHA. Two years ago, I nearly destroyed this helicopter in a crash during my visit to the Helicopter Scale Masters in Davis, CA. I lost it in the haze of the setting sun and it went in on its right side, taking out the head, blades, and one TOW launcher. The making of a new launcher tube was not the issue, it was the painting and aging that was worrying me. There is not commercial paint that is a dead match to the factory Fun Key paint colour so I had to find another way to do it. Seems to have done the trick. These pictures show the original destroyed launcher beside the ready to install pair. My wife, who has seen me build the launcher from the beginning, was not able to tell which one was new and which one was three years old, lol. At least, it will be in the Nationals as a TOW Defender and not a fantasy helicopter. The more I see this one back together, the more I am hoping for pictures from a former crew chief of the Israeli Air Force so that I can do a full scale version. Take care. Don |
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