Scale RC V-22 Osprey VTOL

Why does it have to fly so fast in airplane mode?

The wing is very small compared to the weight of this aircraft just like the real V-22. This high wing loading makes the stall speed high making the minimum speed required for steady level flight quite high. This in not a concern just as with the real V-22 as it does not have to land as an airplane. If a slower airspeed is desired the nacelles can be converted to the appropriate angle to provide the desired forward velocity...all the way down to hover.

As your model has no control surfaces, does this mean it cannot loop or roll when in airplane mode? Also: When in vtol mode, can one hover inverted like 3-D rc helis can do?

The V-22 uses Cyclic control in helicopter mode as well as airplane mode. This is the same powerful control that all 3D helicopters use. So we have the same control authority as any cyclic machine. This provides plenty of control power to loop and roll in airplane mode. The basic V-22 setup has only 4 degrees of negative collective pitch. There is room to expand the negative collective pitch range. Just like any 3D helicopter negative 10 to 12 degrees is required. If this change to the control setup is made. I can not think of any reason this model could not fly inverted in VTOL mode.

Is there a kit avalible, Like RTF?

We do not sell an RTF version. I am willing assemble and setup a V-22 profile model for $300US, and a V-22 scale model for $500US. The wings remove very easily so it would need to be shipped with the wings removed from the body. Installing the scale parts actually requires very little effort.

Should I use the ICE50 Lite or the ICE 50 (non-Lite) ?

The lite is plenty. The only difference between the two is the heat sink.

Can I fly my scale model as a proflie model for setup?

Yes, the basic ship design is based on allowing setup in the profile configuration with just a few simple steps to add the scale covers.

I want to use this as an aerial photography platform. What is the payload on this machine?

About 2 to 3 lbs, It will pick up as much as two high performance 450 ships

I received thrust bearings with my kit, later I ordered a spare spindle and got an o-ring. How are they used?

Manufacturing did not allow enough room on the spindle to install the thrust bearings. To correct this issue we used a additional 3x4x8 radial bearings to replace the thrust bearing. When installing the blade grips follow the instructions. Later on we lengthened the spindles 1mm and added a o-ring between the grip and the head to eliminate tolerance issues. Very few early kits had thrust bearings. Longer spindles have been out many years. Don’t mix and match short and long spindles.

I have a bunch of really nice gyros laying around unfortunately I don't have 3 of the same kind. Is it ok to mix? Or do all three gyros need to be the same make and model?

You can get away with mixing. Roll is the most critical and a high quality gyro should be used, Pitch is the second most critical and a good gyro should be used in this spot also. I would install your worst gyro on yaw. But to minimize set up issues, I would recommend the 401 or something with the same gain settings. If the gain setting are similar to a 401 it will reduce set up issues. But anything will work, I have used $20 gyros and got it to fly. Just not as nice as with the good stuff. If you use a different gyro, make sure you hit the auto fill box when adjusting hover gain in the configuratior, that will get the airplane mode settings close.

Is that bec info correct on your site calling for a 15 amp bec?

I use the CC 10 amp. I have never seen more than a few when flying with the eagle tree current monitor installed.

I am having problems getting the nacelles to go all the way into airplane mode during setup?

I have had a few complaints about this. With my Futaba radio, I am also having problems getting all the way into airplane mode. I am testing a new version of soft ware (1.64) that will increase nacelle throw with out any mechanical changes. When its available make sure you re-set up your nacelle servo, including the end set points.

I am having problems loading new software onto the configurator

I have seen two possible problems. 1. With no power on the unit, hold on the button, plug in the USB (I do this at the PC as its easy at that end) the let go the button. 2. I have had to wiggle my USB a bit on occasion

One of my pot wires broke at the pot. Is there something I can do to re-enforce it?

The pot wire and connector are fragile, If they get much handeling they can become broken. The next production run of kits will have a more robust setup. Minimize working the wires, Check that all the wires have a good connection and the connector is not damaged. Also add some more hot melt glue to help support the wires to the holder.

My lock screw for the swash plate driver hits one of the pitch links.

Yes this is a known problem. I recommend changing it out with a long grub screw (set screw). I think a long one is best, Just to make sure that you get a good torque on it. Be carful with the bolts that are used to hold the plastic arm on the side. If longer ones than supplied with the kit are used, They can jam up this lock screw preventing proper clamp up on the main shaft.

I have some endplay in the main shaft and can not get it to go away. Is the groove it the main shaft in the right spot?

It is very important to get all endplay out of the main shaft. The V-22 is very sensitive to endplay and it must be removed. The times I have experienced end play, I was able to loosen the bearing blocks and slide them out a bit making the end play go away. New shafts have no groves to eliminate this problem.

I am having problems setting back lash, Seems that my motor pinion will not mesh correctly with the secondary reduction gear.

The motor pinion has to sit very close to the motor housing to keep the radius in the pinion teeth from interfering with the secondary drive gear, It may required a 1 to 2 mm counter bore in the bottom of the pinion depending on the motor selection. Also make sure the set screw sits on a flat on the motor shaft.

I get a clicking sound when my motor spins, What does that come from?

The washer on your motor mounts screws are probably hitting the set screw on your pinion gear. I used low OD lock washers under the head of the motor screws.

I have a couple of draggy blade grips when I torque the nut. What shoud I do?

I have seen two problems, A burr were the head of the spindel bolt sits and a burr on the end of the blade grip at the perimeter of the innermost bearing . Use a drill bit to clean up the head were the spindel bolt heas sits or a file to carefully filed these down on the blade grip.

Section A Step C4 showes a washer next to the last bearing, I did not get any.

This part has been removed from the kit and is not necessary.

What kind of servos was the kit designed for? If I trim the mount tabs for the 5085mg, there isn't much left to grab with a 2mm screw. Also a washer is tight. Is there another way?

I first developed this ship with the Airtronics 94761 servo, A very nice compact and well built servo. I was very happy with this servo but thought the cost was a bit much so switched to the 5085mg. Just some notes 1. the 5085mg has only one bearing the 94761 has 2 2. the 5085 mg has one plastic gear in the set the 94761 has none 3. I have not flown a production ship with the Airtronics servo. Don't think it would require some gain setting changes but it may 4. The ship seems to fly better than ever...Sure it has to do with lots of production changes...But could the 5085 work better?? 5. I can't imagine the ship flying better than it does now 6. Testing the prototype V-22 was a long process. during that time I had 2 or 3 of the 96761 servos stop working. What would happen is the motor would get draggy and then the amp would burn up. I started keeping a close eye on it. Surprising enough you can get every single part for this servo. Down to the nameplate. I ordered a couple of motors and pots, and when things seem to be not working right would swap them out. Probably saved a couple more failures. We now cut slots in the servo holders to make the 5085mg servo fit fine and also supply the kit with servo hold down washers that fit the gap.

When I am converted it looks like the nacelles are not at the same angel, Why is this?

Differential cyclic is used to make the plane roll and yaw. So when the ship is banking or yawing the tip path of the blades will not align. To get a good side view of the blades in flight the plane is usually banked. When I fly my ship is seems that I am always turning some just to keep it form getting away. So this is perfectly normal.

From full left aileron to full right aileron should I get 2 or 4mm of total travel in the swash? I was a little confused by the wording

Four total

Where do I measure the flap angle.... from the top or bottom surface of the wing?

I used the bottom of the wing, The exact angle is not important, Keeping them matched is. I just pushed mine down to the point I met some resistance, Then taped in place. Used a folded piece of paper off the bottom surface to ensure they were the same.

I've had some issues with the nuts popping out of the wings when installing the conversion servos, brackets and pots.

I resolved the issue by running a 2mm tap through each hole. It's not foolproof but it kept most of the nuts in.

MY swash plate is loose, Is there any thing I can do?

I added two small drops of CA between the inner bearing race and rotating section of the swash plate. I could see some relative motion between the parts. The parts are lock in but just not tight. This significantly reduced the slop on my swash plate. Use a tooth pick to place drops

My slider (X9303) is ratcheted so I can't get 10,20,30 etc degrees exactly. So the adjustments were made at angles close to those. eg 22.3, or 41.5 etc. Or should I use travel adjust in the Tx to move the nacelle to the exact angles for right hand Nacelle

I like my slider very light, I would go in the radio and remove the ratchet feature. I also added a bit of a screw sticking out of the side to get a good grip with my pinky. If the slider is hard to push, you will fined yourself yanking on the other sticks when you convert. This will also allow you to get it within a degree or two during set up. One or two degree is close enough.

I assume the aux cable on the mixer is currently unused?Are there any plans to allow for individual motor rpm adjustment in the mixer? The two motors are about 200 rpm different on average in my case.

No, The throttles never get on the controller chip, so the controller has no effect on them, The controller is just a y connector. I have flown with 1000 RPM difference with out any impact, This ship uses CP to balance, much more effective than RPM (as long as you have enough). Remember the gear ratio is 15 to 1 so 200 motor RPM is 1/15 of that at the head. If you have a 9 channel you could rig it up to run each throttle channel off a different channel, its the white wire on the yellow signal wire, Or if you are running the CC with RPM set it is easy enough to fix in their controller.

I just noticed that my V22 controller's USB LED is coming on during flight and showing a solid red. It is not the status LED... that is green

Look at section H step 5, This means you are engaging the pitch governor. Must be getting into some conversions or very hard climbs. Awhile back I changed up the lights to make them more meaningful...as you get int deap conversions check watts every once and awhile, make sure you are keeping peak watts below 500 or so, during airplane mode, if not turn up pitch gov gains.

What exactly am I looking for at the different conversion angles to see if any gain adjustments are needed at that angle?

Gain, look for wag, I don't see this much, I doubled the width of my aft fuse splice plate and solved the bit of yaw wag I was getting at about 40 degrees, instead of reducing gain. a bit of pitch wag is ok in hover, keep it high and there will be less pitch up comming out of airplane mode into hover. Volumes, Sluggish control or over control, you want the ship to feel balanced as it converts, even feel, This is very subjective, the presets are close, probably don't have to worry unless you feel uncomfortable because one axes feels over sensitive or sluggish Pitch gov, High wattages or slow airspeed, past 45 degrees the pitch gov starts to work. If the ship seems to slow down and not have the speed in airplane mode to maintain level flight (below 300 or 350 watts) the pitch gov gain must be reduced, If your peak watts are over 500 or 550 increase gain. The section H gives a nice discription

I was at mid-stick during the spoolup. As soon as I went to hold mode it tried to correct before both rotors were up to speed and rolled hard to the right and dug the right nacelle in to the ground with blade contact.

Spool up at 0 pitch, With any mishap always check the ball link and threaded rod on the conversion rack gear and also your spindle tubes, These parts are very frail and are designed to break to minimize damage to the rest of the ship....If the conversion rack gear threaded rod to the ball link is bent,,Replace it (do not straiten it) this can be done with a cut off 2mm screw. Conversion spindle tubes are designed to break or bend very easy, check them close also.

The secondary drive shaft is showing signs of wear, Why is this?

The secondary drive shaft and bearings are spinning 1/4 of the motor RPM or about 10K and they are under high load. I have also noticed the bearings showing some signs of wear on my high time ship. Now when I install the secondary drive shaft and bearings, I red loctite the bearings into the blocks and also the shaft into the bearings, making sure no red loctite enters the bearing. When the assembly is all set up, add a small drop of light oil to each bearing, I like to add a small drop every 10 flights or so. This seems to do the trick. The bearings could also be replaced with high speed bearings, I bet that would help also.

The rod between the conversion rack gear and rodend seems week, Is there a way to improve this joint?

Yes, I always use a nice quality 2mm cap screw with the head cut off for this joint, I also take the time to grind the rounded end of the rod end flat, and then screw the new flat part of the rod end hard against the rack gear, This improves the strength of the connection significantly. If you are using a new rod end, use the standard one, but drill it out to accept a 2mm screw thread. This seems perfect, do not over do its a good place to break in the event of a crash.

I had a one way bearing lock up, Is this normal?

Several users have had one way bearings lock up or free spin. Please contact tmast@rotormast.com and I will send out free replacements. Do not fly with out the replacements and discard the old ones. Very early one way bearings had this problem, we upgraded bearings and do not see this problem any more.

We are starting to replace all rotor hub and main gear thru bolts with a shanked fasteners in new kits, I would recommend all do the same for extra reliability. Especialy after a crash!

I had a broken conversion servo pot wire, What can be done to make them better.

We have had the black conversion pot wires break. We have upgraded the pot wires and connectors early in the manufacturing process. But if your conversion servo pot wires are all black I recommend replacing them. An easy way it just to take a servo extension and cut it so each end is 3 inches long. Then solder it on to the pot and servo. Use the smaller male end on the servo because it has to fit thru the spar. Mark the pot holder with wire color before you start (green, yellow or red). Use heat shrink on both ends and hot melt glue the pot wires to the pot and the pot to the holder. Just to be extra sure.

I saw your ship at the Toledo show, How did you mount your components?

I add a 1/2 in dia hole 1.25 inches below the square cross over hole, Then I can mount my controller on the RH side and the RX on the LH side back to back, On the RH side I mount my roll and yaw servos 1/2 inch below the wing rear mount hole, and on the other side mount the pitch gyro, Forward of the cross over hole on the LH side I mount the BEC. This gives a very clean installation with only 3 components on each side.

When I tighten up on the screws to hold the H arm on to the swashe plate driver it bindes up, do you have a fix?

Newer kits have this problem fixed using a thicker spacer washer.

Is it possible to fly with only a 6 channel radio

Yes, I think so, One channel is only used to switch the gyros into hold mode before takeoff and the throttle channel is use only to turn on the throttles into governor mode before take off. So if you y ed them together you could set up the ship, so that turning on throttles also sent the gyros into hold mode. Would be quite easy. As long as the ship is still on the ground going into hold mode at spool up will work fine,

I did find on post inspection , that the rack ball bolt on my conversion arm is loose again ... I think I will JB welded it

Good Idea, I have found them loose in the past also.

I am using a 520 gyro are the settings different

Yes, In the down loads we have two set up files, one for 401 and one for the 520

Are there instructions on how to use different gyros 401 and 520?

Yes, the set up for the 401 and 520 is avalible on the web site. With the 520 just use it out of the box, if gyros are located per instructions. the 401 the set it to digital, and turn the volume to 120 per the instructions

My swash plate unscrewed in flight, Why did this happen?

The top and bottom of the swash plates are screwed together, because it’s a right had thread; the RH rotor spinning has a tendency to unscrew it. The factory applies red lock tight before screwing together, but for some reason every other one I have checked seems to not be locked, Every ship I sell, I open pack one, and place my thumbs on either side of the swash plate and try to unscrew with all my force, If I cant unscrew it its GOOD, if it can, clean it up and reinstall with red lock tight,

I was checking the controls befor I flew and it seems my controls are reversed in airplane mode

Have seen this way too much! There are two reasons I have seen, 1. You have the forward servo wire plugged into the aft servo spot. 2. The forward servo moves the aft side of the swash plate, and the aft servo moves the forward edge of the swash plate. To make this work the double control arm should not be located over the servo output arm, the single arm should. This will make the controls cross over the main shaft.

My ship started to oscillate and lost control as I converted

After reviewing the pictures you sent, I can see that the controls are set up wrong, The forward servo is not moving the aft side of the swash plate, you have the arms in the wrong spot, To prevent this PLEASE check the ship out on the ground in helicopter mode and airplane mode, checking that the sticks move the swash plate in the correct position and the gyros move then correct also!!

In your instructions you indicate mods that are necessary to make your ship correct, have these problems been fixed?

Yes, any comment in the instructions indicating an issue has been fixed in new kits. All new kits go together with out any issues.