Model Airplane News

tail and verify the controls are properly aligned during repairs.

CONCLUSION

Thanks to the excellent instructions and separation of parts and hardware into parts bags and subassemblies, this model was an

KYOSHO CALIBER 700

easy build. It took me four evenings and there were no unpleasant surprises. The quality of the parts and how they fit together usually indicates how well the heli will fly. The Caliber 700 was no exception and the heli flew as well as it assembled.

GEAR USED
RADIO: Spektrum DX7, AR7000 receiver,
Ace RC DS1313 cyclic servos, JR DS
8900G rudder servo
GYRO: CYE Solid G
BATTERY MAIN: Team Orion Avionics
SLP4000mAh 30c (2)
BATTERY RECEIVER: Align 1900mAh
LiPo
BLADES: Thunder Tiger 550 Carbon

In the Air

I adjusted the EP Caliber 700 on the bench with a typical 3D setup that consisted of a linear pitch curve of - 12 degrees to + 12 degrees in idle up 1. The Hacker motor and ESC combination was easy to set up and were perfectly matched for performance. The tail was mechanically slop-free and silky smooth with the multilink control system and push-pull mechanics. I did add a little expo to the rudder channel to tone down center-stick control response. The Thunder Tiger Carbon 550 blades were the new style and gave very good cyclic directional change authority.

GENERAL FLIGHT PERFORMANCE

Hovering I used a normal mode pitch curve of - 3. 5 degrees to + 10. 5 degrees and spent a bit of time dialing in the throttle curve to give me a head-speed of 1,750. Since I did not install the paddle weights, I set dual rates to 80 percent to give a very gentle normal mode cyclic feel for precision hovering and ground maneuvers. The result is a heli that is comfortable, very stable and predictable in both altitude transitions and lateral movements. I feel comfortable practicing contest hovering sequences with this bird and improving my ground work skills.

Aerobatics I used a head-speed of 2,150rpm for idle up 1 flight mode and was immediately comfortable with large aerobatic maneuvers that tracked well. The heli went where I told it to go and didn’t veer off-track during maneuvers. The Hacker motor/speed control and Orion battery combo provides massive punch and the belt-drive system dampens the twitchiness I normally see with larger electric helis when large power changes

are given. While the bird weighed in at 8 pounds, 2 ounces with the Orion batteries installed, it felt weightless when performing consecutive stationary flips and rolls. Quick cyclic changes like 4- point rolls were crisp and uneventful.

The Solid G gyro was a good match for this heli and kept the tail locked in during even the most demanding maneuvers. Backwards flight was smooth and predictable with the push-pull tail mechanics. The only tail movement was from the commands given by the pilot— there were no blow outs or unwanted direction changes.

PILOT DEBRIEFING

This model was easy to build and set up. However, I didn’t follow the recommended pitch settings since it didn’t suit my flying style. The manual recommends a pitch setting of - 3 degrees to + 9 degrees of pitch for idle up 1 and I used - 12 degrees and + 12 degrees to better suit the way I like to fly. This heli was predictable in all flight modes, which gave me a confident feeling while flying. The parts went together so well during the build that I have no doubt I will be doing more flying than tinkering with this heli.