Part of my latest toy delivery was a slightly larger heli than I’ve worked on before. Not wanting to get too far into this before I learned something about the 500’s, I purchases a basic intro kit.
The current plan is to build this kit, screws up, put together a full parts list and get a good estimate of what a real flying 500 will cost to build, with common spares, electronics, batteries etc.
So, onto the kit.
First, this kit arrived in a box smaller than my EXI-450 did. The way the packed the stuff in there was really something else. Here is what the array of parts look like once unpacked:
So, just exactly how large is the main frame? Pretty big.
Comparison to a fully assembled 450 behind it.
Landing gear is a one piece plastic affair. Checking the parts list on the higher-end HK-500GT shows that it uses a multi-piece gear assembly, more in line with 450 kit I have. A detraction, but one that can be solved with the purchase of a 500GT landing gear set (about $5.00).
Main rotor bearing block is plastic. I had a small issue on the plastic bearing block in my 450, and ended up replacing them with alloy. Checking parts I see that HobbyKing does sell an alloy block for the GT version, however it very clearly states that it DOES NOT fit the T500 model! That could be a major issue ongoing. When they say that it does not fit, I don’t know if that refers to locating pins only, or if the overall dimensions are different enough to prevent use.
The kit does arrive with a set of fiberglass main rotor blades (black / yellow). As you can see, these are not just a little larger than those of a 450 (middle) and more than twice the size of a 250 (bottom, shown for effect). These blades are not only big, but they are heavy! Fiberglass 450 blades I’m using come in at 18.5g each. These bruisers weighed in at 68.6g!
Main gear set seems serviceable. Operation seems fairly smooth. The trail drive gear is a little wobbly, but that’s been the case on every gearset I’ve seen so far, including a factory Align unit. I’ll take it apart and re-oil the one-way bearing. I did notice that it has not ‘fan blade’ properties to move air like some of the other 450 gearsets I’ve purchased.
Tail boom, servo link, boom support rods and flybar are all in the next package. The tail boom support struts appear to be plastic with plastic ends. Tail boom is typical aluminum alloy. Flybar appears to be stainless steel and quite rugged.
Servo link ends are plastic, but it does not look quite like the quality ball end links typically found in kits. Maybe it’s just the size of them.
Boom holder and tail gear set is a festival of plastic, right down to the cross tube/spacers that screws anchor into. Even on the cheapest of kits I’ve seen so far, that was metal (talking about the 4 bars near photo center). Is it ‘bad’, I don’t know, but I’d prefer to have seen some more metal in there, that’s for sure!
Assembly looks pretty straight forward. Which is good, since they clone kits do not come with any sort of instructions. All the parts fit snug, and turn freely. The screws in the tail kit are allen-drive, but they are on the soft side. While test fitting the parts, without even torquing them down, one of the heads stripped out, requiring the application of a small vice-grip pliers to remove it. If it had been snugged down, it would have been a much more difficult task. I’m considering a trip to Tacoma Screw for a set of torx-drive replacements
The tail and tail boom fastening components are all in the next bag:
Tail gearbox, blade holders and pitch actuator arms are plastic. Bearbox is nearly completely enclosed, so I’m not able to see the tail drive pully gear, but it also appears to by a white nylon/plastic.
Knight head, tail rotor fin and tail servo holder are made of metal alloy. Tail boom yoke and servo boom holders are black plastic material.
Probably the most important part of all, the main rotor head. One word comes to mind; PLASTIC!. Lots of it. First the overall shot:
Main head, it’s a beast. 132mm across (grip to grip) it’s 33% larger than the same part of a 450. And, aside from the feathering shaft and bearings, it’s all plastic. Having broken a plastic blade grip on a 450 recently, a similar crash might crack the entire fly head on this bad boy.
Swash plate on this is part composite, part alloy. Linkages seems appropriately constructed on the head and swash. Pictures can be worth a few hundred words, so here is the picture.
Another of the links, washout arms and tracking links.
Flybar paddles. Plastic. I’m not sure what the deal is with the vents, and the pack of decals. Based on what I’ve seen on other photos, the decals are applied to the blades to cover the ‘vents’. Perhaps those are simply there to lighten the paddles, and the decals cover the holes to make the paddles work. I’ll have to look into this further.
Anti-rotation bracket and canopy stays. Also….. (wait for it….. waaiiiiiiiiit). Plastic.
[PIC 20]
One last package of stuff. Hardware, blade holders and two different sized pairs of hook-and-loop straps. Also in the bag are two sizes of velcro adhesive pads, two bags of extra fastening hardware, servo horn accessories, balls and a pair of monster motor pinions. Of note in this bag, is also a bottle of purple 222 thread lock. I already have a monster bottle that I have used on all my kits. I just find it interesting because just about everyone is using the heavier duty blue which I’m certain is the WRONG type. Having more than a passing background in auto and motorcycle repair, you need to use the right locker for the right size fasteners. Blue (242) is really for much larger hardware. Purple (222) is the right stuff for small fasteners. Now I have a little validation (beyond what the TRex assembly manuals show) with the inclusion of 222 Purple in the kit. Good to know!
Last is the canopy. And it’s BIG. The canopy stay holes also need to be enlarged to work with the supplied (white this time) rubber bushings. That is one of the first things I’m going to do, since I want to design at moderately nice looking canopy design for this monster.
It would be harder to send a cheaper canopy! It’s simple resin, like EXI-450 kit supplies, but in this case it does not have even have the ‘cockpit’ canopy detail on it. It’s just… all white. I put a spare 450 canopy in front, and my coffee mug in the photo to give some scale.
So, there you have it. Unpacking the HobbyKing HK-T500 electric R/C helicopter kit.