Nine Eagles "Airwolf"

[Marc]

Hello there. This thread will be dedicated to a very long term project. I have no idea when I'll complete this project as I'm still enjoying flying the Kestrel 500 helicopter as it is.
As the Walkera 54-Q3 Airwolf was inconsistant and not very satisfying, I decided to remove the fuselage from the crappy mechanics.
Here are the two helicopters side by side. Same size, so I know the Airwolf fuselage will fit these mechanics.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08520-1.jpg
The beginning of the end for Q3. In order to remove the fuselage, you've got to remove the wheels, and the rotor blades.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08522.jpg
Here's the belly showing the landing gear's removed.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08523.jpg
The rotor blades removed so that you can slip the rotor head through the top opening and downward.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08524.jpg

[Marc]

Here's the basic gut's of the helicopter. Really not much to it at all.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08526.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08527.jpg
The landing gear/battery tray removed.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08531.jpg

[Marc]

Fuselage removed.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08528.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08529.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08530.jpg
Fuselgae awaiting it's new home.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08545.jpg
The Airwolf fuselage weights in at 35 grams, the Kestrel 500 wighs in at 185 grams.

[Marc]

I plan on useing this as a templete for making a retractable landing gear system for this project.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08531.jpg
I've seen it done on older helicopters of similar size and I beleive I can make one for this as well. Will need a new receiver with an extra channel for the retract's.
This is why this thread will be on hold for a long time. I have no idea when I'll get this project underway or when I'll have updates and pic's.

[Marc]

Just wanted to have a look inside the Kestrel 500.
Body comes in two halfs. Front half containes the navigation/battery monitor lights that look like their hot-glued into the canopy. Tail peice has a foam insert and motor mount that will some how have to be removed.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08550.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08552.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08553.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08554.jpg

[Marc]

This project is looking very promissing. I unplugged the navigation lights and the tail motor from the receiver and was able to remove the two halves from the mechanics.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08555.jpg
A look at underneath the mechanics shows that the landing gear/battery tray structure is mounted to the mechanics via four screws.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08556.jpg
It look's like all I'll need to do, is with carefull measureing, make an adaptor plate to go from these four screws to the plate, and from the plate, mount the Airwolf's landing gear/battery tray structure.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g184/marq74/DSC08557.jpg
I still have not yet figured out how to mount the fuselage onto it's new mechanics, but at least I've figured out how to do the landing gear bit's. Hopefully if everything lines up right, I can use at least the front mounting points and would just have to fabricate the rear mounting points. I'm going to guess it won't line up and a custom mount will be needed for both ends.

[jhawk19]

This looks freak'n awesome!!

If this works for you, I'll be doing the same mod!

I have a Kestrel 500 as well. Where do you get spare parts? :confused:

[Marc]

Hi there, I have not needed to get spare parts yet, so I wouldn't know. Probably from the local shop where we purchased the 500 from in the first place. It'll be a while before I work on this conversion.
I've figured out how to mount the 500 mechanics onto the Airwolfs landing gear structure, but two things are preventing me to go further. First, I dont' know how it's all going to line up. Meaning, the Airwolf fuselage and landing gear system has to line up perfectly with the mechanics. I can't just simply throw it together as these helicopters have delicate balancing and what not. So, dont' expect any updates soon.................

[Marc]

Update.
Project deemed to complicated for my skill level's, so Airwolf is back together and I'm just simply enjoying the Kestrel 500 as it is.