After trying to find a good replacment for my brusied and battery sukhoi I found the Nine Eagles Xtra-300. I was reluctant to purchase it simply due to the fact it was cheap ($120AUD), and the tramistter looked a bit 'toyish'.

Well it is simply awesome! I am still a beginner in the world of RC Flying, but the little Xtra was great. The transmitter felt good, although not suprisingly did feel alot cheaper than the DX6i I am use to, but it still did the job. By simply flicking the aerial down you can swap it from mode 1 to mode 2, and binding the model to the plane was simply a matter of turning the transmitter on while pushing IN the throttle, then plugging the battery in.

It came complete with spare prop, battery, charger and transmitter so first step was to charge the battery. I already have a decent charger so I cheated and used that instead.

First flight I was shaky, but after clearing out the nerves the plane flew as good as the sukhoi! I handed it over to an 'expert' to get his thoughts and he was very suprised with how it flew, and after flicking flight modes (pushing IN the right stick) within seconds it was do loops, rolls and inverted passes!

At a slow speed it still handled well, and glided in nicely for landing with the throttle off. It handles crashes well, and just to ensure during my flying I crashed it into a letterbox, a person, a lamp post and the ground (several times) and the result so far has been 1 prop break (and an unscratched but grumpy person). Each time the prop does what it suppose to and just pops off.

Well I simply love it. So much so I bought a few to stock in Brisbane. Everyone who has bought one has loved it.

Finally got out and test flew the Hobbyking Spitfire so though I would write up a quick review with my thoughts. My first thought apon opening the box was wow. It looks awesome!

It was well packaged, and contained a spare prop, and epoxy for the tail. Initial setup was quick and easy with the only real thing needing todo was glue the elevator to the tail which was quick and easy with the supplied epoxy. I found it easier, and cleaner to do this with the plane upside down to make sure an excess epoxy can't be seen.

All the tape underneath was peeling off so this was easily fixed by putting a little more tape over the top. Just rubbing it back down helps for short periods but it really doesn't hold very well. Very minor and not noticable when in the air!

The elevator and rudder were very tight so a few bends back and forth helped to loosen them up. I needed to extend the pushrods a little to get everything centered nicely.

The battery compartment is hidden under a lift of lid on the top of the plane held down with small magnets. This makes it very easy to access, and replace batteries. The compartment fitted the 25c battery with no problems but I thought the actual clips holding the compatment closed were very tight.

The ailerons have 2 servos connecting to one channel via a y cable, so obviously if you felt the need you can use 2 channels. The elevator, and rudder servo cables were at the back of the plane so they took some little time fishing them out.

The initial flight was awesome. Had way more power than I expected, and was incredibly responsive yet very docile. Was very direct and behaved simply awesome. At low speeds it still flew well, but giving it full power from slow flight cause the wing to dip due to the torque from the motor. The great flight at slow speeds meant it was easy to come in for landing.

Bottom line is I love it. My favourite model (besides the sukhoi!) and simply looks awesome.

Built the HK450GT Today, and it went together easily and flew amazingly. Below are the steps I took to get it built...And a few photos...

Parts:

• HT450GT
• TURNIGY Sentry 40amp Speed Controller
• HXT900 x 3
• MKS DS470 Digital Servo  - For tail
• Hobby King 401B AVCS Digital Head Lock Gyro
• Turnigy Typhoon 450H 2215H Heli Motor 3550kv (450 class) and 11T Pinion
• Spektrum AR6100e Receiver - Similar to these
• Turnigy 2200mAh 3S 20C Lipo Pack

1. Solder on all the plugs and connectors for your ESC and Motor. I use the XT60, and banana plugs. 
2. Center all the servos and work out the best arms to use to minimise the need for any subtrim.
3. Install the pinion on the motor and install the motor in the frame. Ensure you don't use screws that are to long that may touch the motor coils. Also don't thread lock YET as you will need to adjust the position of the motor when the main gear is in. 
4. Install the servos using the nuts and bolts provided.
5. Install the main gear and head. Make sure you place the small brass collar on the main gear before sliding the head down on top. Once the gear is bolted to the head adjust the main shaft collar so the gear/head is tight but still moving freely.
6. Now is the time to install the balls on the servo arms and level the swash plate. With the links hanging down you should be able to work out which holes to install the balls in. Once they are all installed level the swash using a swash leveling tool . To do that just remove the jesus bolt from the head, remove the 4 links attaching the swash to the head and pull the head off leaving the swash and shaft behind. Now just adjust the links so all the arms of the tool are touching the arms of the swash. I just had to adjust one link about 1 turn. Make sure none of the balls are interferring. Once done put the head back on.
7. Install the base plate, and landing gear.
8. Install the tail gear to the tail boom. Make sure when you slide the belt though you keep it straight with no turns or kinks in it. Before you install the boom into the main frame slide the pushrod spacers, and servo mounts on first. Slide the boom into the main frame and slide the belt over the tail pinion. You will need to give the belt a half turn to the left so when the main blade turn clockwise the tail blades turn anti clockwise.
9. Install the esc (leave one motor wire unplugged), receiver, and blades (after balancing them).
10. Power everything up and make sure the servos all move the correct way. When pitch is increased the swash should move up. The swash should tilt in the direction of cyclic when views from behind.
11. Finally correct the pitch. Mid stick should be 0 pitch, with a -10,10 range.

We have finally had some time to make a few changes to our shopping cart, which we feel will make it much easier for you to use. We were also going to implement user discounts but as we already have the lowest prices we can manage we had no room for futher discounts. If there is something you would like to see implemented, or some other way you think we can make the site better please feel free to drop us an email!

The two main additions are:

• User Accounts - Users can register and track any orders they have placed. If you have previously ordered let us know and we can link the order to your new account
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What do all the LiPo numbers mean?

For Example:

2200mAh 3S1P 25C 

Capacity:

The amount of enery a battery can store is measured in milli Amp Hours (mAh). In this instance this battery could supply 2200 mA for 1 hour, or 2.2Ah

Config:

The nominal voltage of each cell is 3.7V
The maximum voltage of each cell is 4.20V (4.25V Absolute max)
The minimum voltage of each cell is 3.30V (3.00V Absolute min) 

#S - Number of cells in Series - This will result is # x the nominal voltage (3 x 3.7 = 11.1V in this example)
#P - Number of cells in Parallel - This will result in # x the capactity (1 x 2200 = 2200mAh in this example)

Discharge:

There are several variants of Discharge. More comonly seen is the 'Constant' discharge rate which is the maximum constant current that can be drawn from the battery without immediately destroying it. 

C is the capacity of the battery. In this case the maximum constant current is 25 x C, or 55,000mAh (55Ah). If you draw 55Ah each cycle then you would get about 20-50 cycles. Optimally you should aim for about 60% to help extend the life of your LiPo's.

Max Charge Rate:

This is the maximum rate you can charge the battery without risk of damaging it. Most LiPo's should be charged at about 0.8C to help extend their life/number of cycles.

In this example you could charge this LiPo at 4.4A without risk of damaging it, but a recommended value would be about 1.7A.

Have received the HK-450GT Pro and my initial thoughts are WOW . It looks great, and feels solid. Compared to the original V1 HK450 they are in totally different ball parks. But I guess it also comes down to what you pay for - $AUD50 vs $AUD100! But then again it is ONLY an extra $50, but feels like an extra $200 in quality!

Well ripped out all the gear from my #2 heli to get it ready for the new one, and began by getting all the servos centered, and working out which ones will go where. Also had the digital servos I had ordered and yet to use so am going to us one of those for the tail.

Gears ready so first off I start with getting the cyclic servos in. Looking at the layout I figured this is going to be easiest done first as there doesn't seem to be much room to play with. The Aileron/Pitch ones go in dead easy as they are mounted to the front from the outside. The elevator is a little more fiddly as it needs to go from the inside out (so the servo is flush against the fuselage). Getting the screws in from the other side was a little trick but managed.

I next threw in the motor, and put the provided pinion on it. The motor mount screws I left loose until I got the main gear in.

Now time for the head and main gear. The head was fulling built so saves ALOT of time, but I gave it a quick once over anyway and everything seemed nice and tight so just threw it in as is. Also tightened up the motor mount screws.

Tail time. Before I did the tail I decided to throw on the landing gear to make it a little easy to work with. Also noticed the main belt gear was part of the tail boom clamp so pulled that all out to get the boom in, and belt over the gear. I also amazed myself to remember to put on all the servo mounts, and push rod holder thingies before putting the belt and tail on! Everything went on easily. For the tail servo I used the Turnigy DS480 so used the servo boom mounts from the old HK450.

Well that was pretty much it. I mounted the esc underneath, the received under the battery platform, and the gyro ontop of boom support.

Fired everything up and it all came to life! Next step was to balance the blades, stick them in, and finsih the pitch/tracking. That will be for another post!