Wow, very quiet here in the ASRCM forums with no posts yet in 2013! Thought I better start something...

As I discussed last fall with Joe, Craig and Paul, I'd been hoping to get a new Trex-600 nitro kit as I wanted to put one together from scratch with all new parts. I found there are a few airframe-only kits available in various places but I was hoping to find one of the combos that comes with the electronics. Anyway the supply has pretty much dried up and there's nothing new coming up as far as I can tell.

I've looked at a few alternatives but nothing really appealed to me or was too expensive by the time all the components were sourced. Actually I almost ordered the Pantera P6 from Audacity Models in the U.S. before Christmas but I decided to wait and see what the sales would be over the holidays.

As it turned out RotorQuest  did have some good sales and my wife gave me a gift certificate from them for Christmas so early on Boxing Day I went to town :-)

What really caught my attention on Boxing day was the Outrage Velocity N2 (flybar version however) which came last night, and the rest of the gear is on order except for the OS55 which also came yesterday from Great Hobbies thanks to more gift certificates left over from last year.

I have to say that the way the Velocity was packed when I opened the box was a work of art and very inspiring!

I decided to go with Align gear for most of the electronics including servos (DS615 on collective and throttle and DS655 on rudder), RCE-G600 governor, and B6T voltage regulator. I already have a Spartan gyro and Edge blades so I think I'm pretty much good to go. For now I'm building it with the flybar since that is all that was available but I may go flybarless later.

Now all I have to do to get started is watch the 24 build videos by Finless Bob on Helifreak as well as read all the various build threads and discussions. Oh, and maybe a cry or two for help here. lol.

So that's my first R/C project for 2013.

I ran out of space last post but I meant to say Happy New Year everyone!

Oh and I thought I'd post this pic. No it didn't all come in the box  ;)

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RocketManRC wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2013 at 4:16pm:

Oh and I thought I'd post this pic. No it didn't all come in the box  ;)

Talk about misleading advertising!!   ;D

Happy new year to you and Nan  Rick.

Cool!  Always liked the Velo (I've come close to buying one a few times).  What pipe are you planning to use on the 55?  Keep us posted on the build if you can.....

I kinda like the "Model" as well

I just bought the Outrage Hyper muffler to start with Joe. By the time I got to that part my budget was getting stretched a bit.

And speaking of budget, there was no way I could afford the "Model" Paul  :'(

RocketManRC wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2013 at 9:59pm:

I just bought the Outrage Hyper muffler to start with Joe. By the time I got to that part my budget was getting stretched a bit.

I use the Outrage Hyper Rage 55 on mine.  Seems to work great and I've found the motor is easy to tune as long as you set one needle at a time.

That's good to know Joe, I guess I was lucky with that choice.

I'll post some pictures and notes as I go. I may get started this weekend as I'm pretty slow at building, especially helis.

Good Choice Rick...Glad to see the NITRO is still alive,

Happy New Year from Kleinzee, South Africa, current temp 24 degrees C ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Hey Craig, I wondered where in the world you were these days!

I hope you have something to fly over there in that nice weather...

south africa!  wow, you do get around craig!

we'll keep your seat at the indoor warm for you.   ;D

Thanks Al...Rick all I have is the real thing here to fly. Not to good for flying inverted .....lol...

I'm looking at a logo 700 extreme!!!!!' :D :D :D :D

But waiting for the new stuff to come out.....

I have a 50N2 FBL as well, love mine. I just bought it's brother on boxing day at RQ Fusion 50 FBL  :) Almost done with that build.

I managed to get started on the build today:

https://picasaweb.google.com/116122150769096972930/VelocityN2BuildDay1?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLn71IPYvNL1Og&feat=directlink

I did say I was slow at building...

Hey, I'm an electronics guy and I didn't know I had to become a master mechanic when I started flying helis!

I have to say I'm impressed so far with the quality of the kit. I could see a Fusion in my future :-)

A free blade holder and a build towel. nice touch!!

Looks good so far Rick.  I like the canopy alot!

I agree Joe, the canopy is awesome and the grommets come pre-installed  :)

As I mentioned before, Finless Bob has a series of 24 build videos (along with a discussion thread) on Helifreak which are excellent. The manual is really well done however so the videos are not totally necessary, even for me. LOL.

The videos are for the original version of the Velocity and it's interesting to see the improvements that have been made for the N2. It looks like Outrage listens to its customers and has really refined the design.

In case anyone else is thinking of building one of these here are some links:

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=178236 (videos)
http://hf.rob.com/showthread.php?s=ce099a2e1260e861511d6e30ec114450&t=219310 (build tips)
https://outragerc.com/manual/Velocity50N2_Manual_V1.0_06-01-12_5.pdf (manual)

What else better to do on a cold and snowy Saturday than continue a heli build?

I finished the head assembly and am about 1/3 way through the frame. There are some really unique design features such as the machined servo mounts and the break-away canopy mounts to protect the frame. I hated changing servos on every other heli I've had but it will be a 5 minute job on this one. That probably means I'll never have to change one. LOL.

The frame construction is all CF and CNC aluminum. It is incredibly light weight. It appears to have been significantly redesigned from the original version.

The head design is really simple for a flybarred heli and of course everything fits together perfectly with not a trace of slop anywhere.

So far, so good!

https://picasaweb.google.com/116122150769096972930/VelocityN2BuildDay2?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjYiKid3-CYAg#

that neat bench towel is keeping everything organized and in it's place.  ;D

looks great rick!

Lots of hours of work for what looks like a little progress... :(  But once I get to the electronics I'm going to be like a rocket. LOL.

https://picasaweb.google.com/116122150769096972930/VelocityN2BuildDay3?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOaUnNyjj6yd5wE&feat=directlink

My first complaint about the kit is that I seem to be missing a couple of 3mx8 socket head bolts for the engine bracket mount. It's possible that I used some 8's when I should have used 10's but I've been really careful. I'm going to say that it's the kit and not me.  :D

I'm not in a rush so I'm going to order some stainless steel ones from RQ for the only upgrade so far.

I'm still thinking this heli is as good as it gets right now for a readily available 50 size nitro!

Looking good Rick.  Should be a nice machine and I'm   interested to get a close up look at this one when it's all finished up.

Well the weather's been great for heli building on the weekends and I'm still working on it :-)

I've put in 3 more full days and I have the servos installed and the head fully setup. It was a lot more work than I thought - as usual.

Yesterday I was working on the tail and torque tube drive and when I was almost done I realized that there were upgrade gears in the kit. Since Velocities have been notorious at stripping tail gears in flight I figured I better swap them out. Then came the challenge of figuring out how to get the gears out of the bearings. There is supposed to be an upgrade document on the Outrage website but it is nowhere to be seen and all I could find on the web was people commenting that the new gears were welcome but no info on installing them. After reading how it was done on other helis (notably the TREX 600N) I devised a tool to push the gears out of their bearings while they were contained in their holders. I didn't have to do any hammering and the bearings seem to be undamaged. I guess it is good to know how to do it which means of course that I will never have to...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116122150769096972930/albums/5841174878730942801?authkey=CMLBwfy--pjHowE

That's how I get the torque tube gears free of the bearings as well Rick.  Leave em in the case and push the gear out.  I use an old 600 main shaft as it has the right diameter for the 600n.  To re-install the gear into the bearings I just leave the bearings in the case and press the new gear in.  Works a charm.  Glad to see the new machine is getting closer.

You would almost think I knew what I was doing Joe  ;D