09 October 2005

The long summer show season has now ended and hopefully we can continue with regular news items and updates so hows this for starters.

ELH CARBON PRO NEWS

ELECTRIC LITE HELICOPTERS - ARK-X400 Carbon Pro


At the time the ARK X400 arrived on the scene, electric helicopters in this "400 class" were predominantly made of plastic mouldings and fairly fragile because of that. The well known Hornet and Zoom, both good performers were dogged with fragility allied to expensive parts prices and tail drives that were incredibly delicate and unforgiving because of their gear driven tail blades. In the case of the Zoom from Protech, after market retrospective belt drive conversions were offered by independent factors to alleviate the problem but not until the Lichann ARK- TREX, and later produced in great numbers by a Taiwanese domestic appliance manufacturer, landed, did we have anything approaching a miniaturised version of the now accepted, standard way to build model helicopters. The TREX with its belt drive tail proved an immediate hit, albeit with many flaws and shortcomings that the after-market accessory firms were quick to address, with metal and carbon replacing plastic on the standard item, as is the norm in the heli world. Lichann  ARK, designers original producers of the TREX decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak and produce their TREX based machine with all of the production fragility's and shortfalls of the TREX engineered out from the outset and it's proved a great success. The X400 is by far the toughest as well as the most forgiving to fly machine of its size out there today and it's deservedly gaining an army of fans. Well there is only one way to go with a successful product at the top of its game if things are to remain in your favour, namely to improve things even further and Lichann ARK have proved both ingenious and progressive with their modular approach which has seen upgrades and performance options steadily improving that original X400. Better mouldings, more powerful motors, ECCPM conversion kits and a host of other bits and bobs giving the aficionado a real range of performance options guaranteed to keep the X400 current and competitive have been forthcoming from the factory, all at very competitive prices which have been aimed squarely at beating the after-market boys at their own game and the system works.

The latest all carbon and metal version of the ARK is in a different league and sure to catch the eye of the discerning heli jock who wants the very best. Sure it costs a little more but in the grand scheme of things it's still relatively inexpensive compared with the competition and with a ready supply of spares available ex stock, this is one electric helicopter that you can really fly hard and often!

The carbon and metal Lichann ARK upgrade components were initially produced as a range of performance goodies that you could add to your original ARK X400 as and when you felt the need or urge to take things to the next level and indeed you can still go that route, should you prefer to do that, depending on your wallet and your flying skills. Electric Lite have taken things a step further our own full carbon and metal "ELH Carbon Pro" version of the machine offered as a completely upgraded option from the outset of the already very good X400 and solely offered as such here in the UK.

What do you get for your readies then? Well for starters the entire chassis side frames, previously made of aluminium are now CNC fretted from ultra stiff and lightweight carbon sheet material - either in ECCPM or MPM versions. The boom is likewise from carbon tubing and the main and tailblades which were previously wood and plastic respectively, are also moulded from the black stuff. Almost every part of the head is metal now and very smart it looks too, from the lightly anodised gold swashplate, which looks extremely smart, whether it be the ECCPM or MPM version, to the main head components which include a very much improved flybar see saw complete with ball raced support. In fact very little of the original X400 remains, with just the mainshaft and its associated autorotation drive gears, and a few spacers and links here and there gleaned from the standard equipment.

If you are going to go the whole hog and build a helicopter to this standard, then there is little point in then fitting it out with anything less than the very best radio equipment and a complimentary power train to really glean the best from it. Likewise there seems little point in saving a few quid on the gyro either, so with that in mind we recommend the latest version 4 CSM 560 sub miniature heading lock gyro, the very powerful and efficient AON 3500 motor allied to a Castle Creations ESC and the latest 20C 1800 Lipo battery from Flightpower UK or our own RCM 1800 and 2200 3s battery. The usual glitches of most electric flight models will be alleviated with careful installation allied to a decent receiver and our research has determined that the Hitec Electron 6 receiver - a dual conversion PPM device is very good and was chosen by our testers as this one has proved about as bombproof as they come. A ferrite "Noisesink" which we can supply exclusively here in the UK is recommended for the ESC to receiver line to doubly insure that the electric bits don't stray into the radio bits where they aren't wanted and a nice digital tail servo for the CSM 560 - this supplied by CSM themselves and recommended as a suitable foil for their top of the range gyro. Finally the ECCPM servo's - again from Hitec who seem to have stolen a march on the competition with their HB 56 HB Karbonite geared micro servo. Splendid - now we at ELH have a helicopter package that is at least a head and shoulders ahead of the game and flight testing is due imminently. Watch this space as they say for a detailed report!
 

05 June 2005

Helicopter Advice notes for use on pre-assembly setting up and pre-flighting.

Some problems have been brought to our attention concerning some assembled parts on the X400 ARTF chassis kits, which have either loose end or detached during use. It must be fully appreciated that the assembled chassis will definitely not have been thread locked or tightened during factory assembly as these fixings would then be impossible to adjust for final setting up and adjustment. It is incumbent on the modeller to thoroughly check and ensure the integrity of all assembled components and sub groups, something that was admirably covered in the recent review of the X400 in Aviation Modeller International by Steve Dorling. The review and subsequent feedback induced Steve to provide ELH with the following advice which he has kindly allowed us to reproduce here.

01 May 2005

HELP PAGES

As you all know when building from a kit there is a wide variation in the quality of instruction manuals. In particular the build manual for the MH-1 as given cause for concern for the inadequacy of detail. It was Ashley who spawned the idea by requesting a photograph of the tail unit. After sending him a high definition photograph, with which he was delighted it was decided to photograph to the same definition, level and quality. The whole  of MH-1 airframe and mechanical systems were subjected to the photographic talents of Djerick and his Nikon D1X. So now we have our first HELP PAGE and there will be more to follow.

27 April 2005

Now back from an exhausting business trip to HK and Taiwan a couple of weeks ago to bring you even more superb products. I took off on a chilly April Fools Day, which I hoped wasn't to be some sort of omen! Flying via Moscow and arriving in HK late afternoon next day, the trip was designed to secure an already established supply of full carbon X400 upgrade kits and a big bunch of spares. My meeting to discuss these carbon goodies started first thing next morning and continued throughout the day and into the night when I was promised the first full X400 carbon kit for approval by Wednesday when I was due to return from Taiwan.

Next day saw me on route to Taipei, to meet with Michael Chang of Li Chann ARK, arriving late in the afternoon. I was eventually installed in a hotel in a provincial part of town 2 1/2 hours from CKS airport. A full day at the factory offices followed next day where I was shown the history of the old TREX model and its eventual abandonment for better things. This was followed by the story of the evolution of the current X400 models and a few "top secret" developments that you will have to wait for! It was actually a national holiday and all staff were off work but I was shown around part of the assembly and shipping areas nonetheless by my enthusiastic hosts as I had taken an 18000 mile round trip for the purpose! A meeting followed where future plans on upgrade parts and the latest CCPM version of X400 together with ARK's plans for the aforementioned new products I mentioned were discussed in some detail. Another new helicopter was hinted at too so watch this space, as they say!

With all agreements signed our most productive and cordial meeting finished at 9 pm on Tuesday April 5 after a 12 hour stint. The Taiwan trip was solely to meet with Michael Chang of the Li Chann Enterprise Company to secure the agreement for Liteheli as sole importer for the UK and ROI for their products. After considerable hard negotiations to our mutual benefit I was then presented with the only available CCPM kit in the world to take home with me as a goodwill gesture.

The following day I left CKS Airport to fly to Hong Kong to secure the first full carbon kit for the X400. Having received the only available CCPM kit from Michael Chang already I returned home a very happy man and after seven hectic but very fruitful days it was back to the reality of cold London. Now when Liteheli say they are "on the case" you can believe we mean it. See you at Sandown Park in a few weeks for the
proof!

02 April 2005

Don't forget your copy of June issue of AMI Aviation Modeller International will be releasing the first mainstream press review on the ARK-X400. This 400 class king of kings is the choice of champions and docile enough for the beginner.

Another review to watch and this time in Quiet & Electric Flight International Magazine, is the Jabo 2. Here you will find it to be the best in its class and will be out in the May 2005 Issue, and if your lucky you'll read it from mid-April.