Falcon 46

Model Airplane News, Jul 1999 by Bell, Rick

A low-cost, entry level whirly-bird-of-prey

I CAN STILL remember the reaction I got the first time I showed off my new Falcon 46 at the flying field: "Hey, Rick; what heli is that?" someone asked. "It's the new Falcon 46 from Century Helicopter Products*," I replied. Then, the usual question: how much did it cost? When I told my buddies it cost only $250, everyone gathered around it for a closer look. Their smiles indicated unanimous approval. But what, exactly, do you get for such a reasonable price?

Century Helicopter Products (CHP) began to offer less expensive helis about two years ago with the introduction of its .30-size Hawk. Following the Hawk's remarkable success, CHP introduced the Falcon 46. It, too, is targeted at the budget-minded beginner, but it also makes an excellent practice machine for the seasoned 3D heli pilot. Not too many designs do as well as these at both ends of the performance spectrum.

The Falcon is a builder's kit; it has no pre-assembled components. I like this because I don't have to take apart factory-assembled components to make sure that they were put together correctly. I also like the instruction manual; CHP went to great lengths to simplify the Falcon's construction and supplies explodedview diagrams as well as concise written instructions to describe each assembly step. For the beginner, this leaves very little room for error.

Another nice feature is that ball links are used on all pushrod attachment points except for the tail-rotor bellcrank, and there are Oilite bronze bushings at most pivot points. Using bronze bushings instead of expensive ball bearings was an excellent idea to keep down the cost of the kit because beginners would not benefit from having bearings. (CHP does offer a ball-bearing upgrade for those who wish to use them.)

CONSTRUCTION NOTES

Assembly begins with the main rotor head. First, guide pins are pressed into the glass-reinforced plastic head block, and then the feathering shaft dampers and the seesaw shaft are added. Do not over-tighten the screws that hold the seesaw shaft in the head block; you might strip the threads.

The blade grips and bell mixers are built next and then added to the head block. Worth mentioning is that CHP chose to use thrust bearings in the headquite a welcome feature. The next items to be added to the head are the flybar, flybar control arms, weights and paddles. The manual thoroughly covers the alignment of these components and the completion of the rotor-head construction.

The swashplate and washout unit are made of molded plastic and are easy to assemble. Performance upgrades can be made here by installing a metal swashplate and by replacing the bronze bushings with ball bearings.

The starter-shaft assembly consists of two bearing blocks that come with plain bushings pressed into them. The starter shaft is spring-loaded and is pushed down to engage and start the engine; when the engine starts, the spring disengages the shaft. This is a nice feature, as it disconnects the shaft from the drive system and decreases the chance of misalignment vibration.

The drive system is a two-stage affair that uses a countergear on a layshaft that's driven by the clutch; this is the first stage of reduction. The main gear has its drive teeth on the inside of the gear and is driven by a pinion gear on the layshaft. The tailrotor drive-gear takeoff is molded on the top of the main gear. To minimize play in these assemblies, I used one of the side frames as a fixture to assemble the gears.

The elevator bellcrank parts are put together next, and these and the gears are captured between the molded upper frame halves when the frames are brought together. Before moving on, be sure to check for the main-gear mesh and end play. Add the collective lever assembly to the frames, and the upper portion of the chassis will be complete.

ASSEMBLY

Before doing any further assembly, you must glue the clutch liner to the inside of the clutch bell. Trim the liner for a tight fit, then roughen the inside surface of the clutch bell and glue the liner into place with JB Weld* (preferably) or another 24hour epoxy. Once the glue has cured, place a thrust washer on the crank, slide the clutch bell on and screw the clutch onto the crankshaft. The cooling fan is added next, followed by the engine nut, which tightens everything as a unit.

Next, attach the lower frames, fuel tank, engine/clutch assembly and lower cooling shroud. Start by screwing the right-side frame into place, and follow this with the cooling shroud; then fit the fuel tank into place. I had to grind down the lower corners of the cooling shroud slightly to get a proper fit between it and the frames; after that, everything went together well. The manual points out that you should install the lower muffler bolt before you attach the left-side frame, as it's difficult to insert the bolt when the frame is in place. This is also a good time to install a remote glow driver because the engine head faces forward, and it's difficult to get to the plug.