About the HK450 v2 CCPM 3D Helicopter Kit
This cheap 450 clone comes without any manual so you’ll have to look for build instructions yourself. This is what I discovered, hopefully this will help you.
This article is about the HK450 CCPM 3D Helicopter Kit (Align T-rex Compat.) Ver. 2 kit.
If you live in Europe or another region with a local HK shop it will pay off to get your kit there. It’s very likely that you will get extra taxes on this kind of bigger packages from abroad. Also shipping from local regions is much faster and cheaper. This is the link for the European warehouse HK450 CCPM kit.
If you want to go even cheaper than that you could buy the HK-450 CCPM 3D Helicopter Barebone kit (Align T-rex Compat.). Be aware that this one has no canopy, blades, etc. EDIT: this kit seems to be removed from the website?
External Resources
For Version 1 there is a very good tutorial available. This can help you to some extend for the V2 version. Same goes for the Align 450 SE V2 manual. Don’t go into detail with these manuals as screws and other details might not match completely.
Required Electronics for the HK 450 v2 Kit
The HK450 V2 kit comes without electronics. You need a lipo, motor, pinion, esc, servo’s, gyro and receiver (and progammable transmitter). These are the cheapest parts available from HK. Please not that the cheap plastic geared servo’s are not suited for extreme 3D performance. By the time you learned how to fly 3D you probably know what servo’s to replace them with anyway ;-).
Turnigy E500 6T 4000Kv 200W Heli Motor (lightweight and good performance)
TowerPro H40A Brushless Speed Controller (comes with pinion and 3 bullet connectors)
Turnigy 2200mAh 3S 20C Lipo Pack (cheap and enough power for sport flying, have a higher C rate for better performance)
Hobby King 401B AVCS Digital Head Lock Gyro
4x HXT900 9g / 1.6kg / .12sec Micro Servo (these fit frame well. For better performance look for digital metal geared servo’s instead)
If you don’t have the standard interchangeable RC gear yet you will also need the following. These parts you only need to buy once and can be used for several models:
Transmitter & Receiver Combo
Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 1) (v2 Firmware)
Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver (Mode 2) (v2 Firmware)
You either buy a Mode 1 or Mode 2 transmitter. This mode is an indication on where the throttle stick is, left or right. The throttle stick is different than the other stick because it can be left at a certain position without having a spring centering it when released. This however can easily be changed by taking off the spring on one stick and putting it back on the other stick. Also in firmware you can choose what channels corresponds to what control.
Also note that this transmitter is very popular and because of that has been on backorder for ages now. The only way to get one is to place a backorder and wait. At the beginning of this year I ordered one and the wait time for the order to get reserved was around 1 month. Add another month for shipping and you’ll be waiting for 2 months! But it’s worth it, believe me.
Battery Charger
Another part you’ll only buy once. The best option for this really is the Turnigy Accucel-6 50W 6A Balancer/Charger w/ accessoires. For that price you have a very complete charger with all the options you’ll ever need. The only disadvantage so far is that it can only charge a single pack. But for that price you can get 2 of them and charge 2 batteries at the same time ;-).
Important note on tools
The screws that come with this kit are either philips or hex. Don’t use a 1.5mm metric hex driver for these screws since it won’t fit perfectly and you will end up breaking the screws. You need an imperial 1/16 inch hex driver instead! In fact many people complaining about the weak screws just use improper tools.
Loctite is needed on all metal to metal parts. But only on metal to metal parts! Don’t use it on plastic since it can damage plastics. For plastic securing you want to use a drop of CA glue. Also if you want to loosen a piece you’ve secured with loctite it can help to heat it up shortly with a soldering iron.
Kit Contents & Build Instructions
Be aware that the packages are well grouped. The screws that are in the package of the landing skids for instance need to be used for mounting the landing skids ;-).