RC Helicopter Tail Set Up

RC helicopter tail setup can be a very frustrating activity if you approach it wrong, so for 450 size RC helicopters, you should start out by finding an old LP turntable that you don’t use anymore. Next, drill a few holes into the round mat of the turntable and insert wing bolts; place your RC helicopter on the turntable and place a 1″ x 2″ board over the skids, screwing it down to hold the helicopter in place. By doing this, you allow the tail to have mobility while you’re working on it, right one your worktable.

Step one is to be certain that all of the helicopter’s parts are rotating in the correct direction.

When approaching the helicopter from the tail, moving the helicopter’s nose towards the right moves the tail slider to the left, towards the tail. A majority of pilots learn through flying by the nose. If you find that the tail slider is not moving in the right direction, you’ll need to reorient the gyro so that it spins in the opposite direction, which is more effective at the gyro itself and not through the radio.

The next step is to check the servo arm and make sure that it’s centered; to observe this, put the gyro into ‘rate mode’, and make sure that the helicopter is getting power. Move the servo arm, or switch out servo arms, until you identify one that’s as close to center as possible.

Next, adjust the linkage; for 450 size helicopters, the servo can be slid along the boom while the linkage is attached, making sure that it moves smoothly and that the rod is the proper length. This step is so that we can be sure that the tail slider has some pitch to push the nose to compensate for hovering motor torque.

Next, you should fo into the radio; for many radios, there are insufficient instructions, but you’ll need to discover the gyro menu, setting it to -50, and setting the third switch to +50, as this seems to be the best place to start adjustments from.

Next, spool up and check for tail holds; if the helicopter is spinning counterclockwise, the tail linkage rod should be shortened. Should the helicopter spin clockwise, the tail linkage rod needs to be lengthened.

Finally, launch the helicopter into a hover and observe the gain; if you find that the tail is unstable, the gain is set too high and needs to be adjusted – for a 450 size helicopter, try a gain of 32%.