Nitroholic

No worries. There were 2 versions ..( well technically 4!) There were CP and FP Mk1 and Mk2. Mine is an FP Mk2. Wanted a CP, but they are harder to track down. The Mk1's are more basic and run on 35Mhz FM radio gear. Of interest...but not really for flying. The Mk2's are still quite old, but are at least running 2.4Ghz radios and reasonable gyros. I'm finding these slightly historic but still usable helis quite fascinating. And a little challenging! Which I like.

It's a fixed pitch heli ... no feathering shaft to bend. I am still having intermittent issues with excessive vibration, which it seems is down to blade issues....though I suspect the blade grips too. Was just starting to get hte thing dialled in when it went into upside down landing mode and broke things! The manual has a section on 'twisting blades' to match the pitch on both sides to dampen vibration. Yeah.....fun stuff!

Today....I am grafting in a replacement 6mm coreless motor to see if I can use generic tiny motors to replace failed tail rotors on Blade mSR helis. They eat them for fun, ans these generic units are available for around £2 a time. Also, sorted the initial shaking problem with the Esky Honeybee .... and then wrecked it on a testflight. Was probably windier than was ideal, and it ended up getting flipped by a sudden gust. Snapped rotor blade and busted blade grips. Back to the E-Bay parts hunt. Don;t think anything else was damaged... but this is significantly less durable than my micros. Have also been looking at my pile of old Savage parts with a view to putting together a chassis to pop in a 26cc CY 4 bolt motor in to drive a centre diff with output to Savage front and rear units. Just looking at the best way to integrate a mod 1.5 spur onto a 1/8 diff case. The diff internals will be possibly be locked, as I am not sure if I want an open centre diff ... but this is something I have always wanted to make. Custom chassis plates will be needed.

blade grips are fine. Got the new 120SR dialled in nicely now. Until the wind picked up, I had it buzzingf around the garden taking the heads off the dandelions.

will give that a look too. Thanks

First snag hit with the Hoey Bee ... Got a correct battery, and fitted the right connectors. Binds up just fine, so we slap on the training balls, just because we have no idea what is going to happen here... Spool her up gently, and she starts shaking like crazy. Not good. Check the main blades. They don;t seem to be a matching pair, but I got a couple of sealed bags of blades. So 2 new blades installed. Seems better for a brief minute, I get off the ground, going through the usual OMG the thing is all over hte place with wierd trim settings...and the shaking sets in again. Dig out the fine tooth comb, and I think I have the problem. There are 2 linkages that hod the flybar to the main assembly and tie it into the blade angle. One is a rubber band.....Nice. So as soon as any load comes on, the flybar will be flexing and hinging, and I don;t think that is g oing to do nice things to the balance of the rotating assembly. No. So, a quick parts hunt....and Buzz Flyer have a set. £2.45 I think is in budget. So I might snag a couple of other bits while I am there, and refresh thge swash and swaybar system completely. Parts seem cheap. So why not. I have plans for brushless upgrades, and swapping over to Spectrum RX if this thing flies nicely. So I might as well give it the best chance I can.

I'd pull the motor and see how well it turns over. It may also be possible to get the ends off and remove the core of the motor. This would run in either bushes or bearings depending on motor quality. Those can be physically checked. The core of the motor is basically a metal spindle with the magnets glued on. Brushless motors have the windings in the can. Check the magnets are still attached and not scored or damaged. Also physically check the windings for signs of overheating or burning. ESC is a bit harder to test. If you have another brushless ESC of about the right rating, then try your motor on that. I would suspect the ESC is the problem here rather than the motor, but it's better to eliminate that before you start spending cash on parts you may not need

Sweet... the bundle of spares was one very pristine mSR( bound up and flew very nicely) and an tired but..upgraded...SR120. Has MicroHeli blade holder, and a brace across the linkages. Also noticed an ally collar on the main shaft. Electrics fired up and it bound and flew. Blade grips had been bent out, and needed careful squeezing back into shape. Comes with a few useful spares. Looks like a very recent motor too. Needs some cleaning on teh servo tracks, but it;s not too bad overall. For what I paid....absolute bargain! I would have paid that and more just for the upgrade parts on the 120.

I don;t think this ESky ever really got used. Test ran it on a battery that doesn;t fit ( so no actual flying) and ran it up to the point of lift off. Shook like a loony...the rotor blades were screwed on tight and could barely move. I also found the pitch control was reversed on the controller.....no idea why! Ordered a proper battery, as the only small 3S I had was one I used as a TX battery. Too wide to fit in the chassis, and there wasn't really anywhere I could fix it securely enough. I really just wanted to make sure the thing had the full range of controls working and powered up. Anyone genuinely trying to get to grips with this in the condition it was in was going to be in for heartache!

oh..and while I was bargain hunting... I snagged this job lot ..for....£5.20. That's an SR120, an mSR and a load of spare parts, mostly SR120. No controllers or batteries, but I got loads of both.

E-Bay bargain, and a great potential project. Really wanted to get a Honey Bee CP2, but maybe next time. Battery was DOA, but the heli fires up just fine and all the controls respond as they should. Amazing what you can get for £20 ....

Did you order a pinion for the IC motor, or for a brushless 5T ? ( I assume its a Losi ) https://www.rcmodelz.co.uk/ddm-black-magic-hardened-steel-23t-pinion-gear-for-losi-5ive-t-tlr-5ive-b.html?srsltid=AfmBOophRfBcQHDNRwGrDle9zHlw3lxxyLtfPNakvbhSIGE-ouUFU-hS

Annoying though it is .... that's probably what you will have to do. Personally, I woud have a go at 3D printing something to fit over the nut, but not everyone has that option. Better to have 'normal' fasteners holding on teh wheels.

New metal gear fitted. With the gear out, I could see how worn it was. Tips gone on all the teeth, and the plastic smushed out. It's a bit of a pain to snap the gear into it;s litle reecess, and I had to loosen the frame halves to get it to seat in nicely. But it sits snug. Put a little dab of silicon oil on the teeth to help bed it in. No adjustment on the mesh as the holes on the gear have to line up with the one in the rotor shaft. Swapped the connector on the heli too, but desoldered where the previous owner had extended the wire, so I can put it back if I need to in future. Now just need some free time to start learning to fly it properly. Need to get better with slightly more agressive CP units. Coz I want to get something like this for next year... https://modelhelicopters.co.uk/collections/omphobby-helicopter-kits/products/omp-m1-evo-rtf-oshm-m1evo-rtf?variant=53528358715773

yeah, that's the original type connector I have. Same as your one. I have several 2S batteries of the right size, used elsewhere. These have JST plugs. So I either need to get different batteries, make an adapter lead ( don;t like doing this where I don't know the loads. The other option is to swap it to JST. Really depends if I can find stock type male/female connectors of E-bay. That will have to wait a few weeks though, as the RC fund is in the red, and we got some house stuff that needs sorting.