Trex 150 DFC

[Anonymous]

You know what they say about saying never?  Well, it’s true.

I’ve been working on my Goblin 500 and Warp 360 and finally got them where I want them to be, but I got this hankering for another micro.  I’ve had too many Blade micros and the last (an mCPX BL) angered me greatly, so those were not on the list at all.  Walkera, pshh, seriously?  Nine Eagles?  LOLZORZ.

That left the Align Trex 150 DFC.  It had been out long enough for most of the bugs to be found and “fixed” as well as 3rd partied (cough Lynx cough) to get out some nice upgrades.  Note, upgrades aren’t always bling, and Lynx makes nice upgrades.

So, off to Helifreak I went to scope out the must haves, and to do some research.  Much was learned, and few upgrades were required for the v2 150’s.

So, what are the must haves?

• A better main shaft.
• A metal swash.

I ended up getting more than that, including a pack of skids, feathering shafts, link pack, 2 2 packs of batteries, pack of main gears, a Lynx light weight tail box and fin, spare tail booms, extra 3D blades, Lynx carbon main shafts and the Align Performance Pack (metal swash and stiffer frame), and something else I can’t recall at the moment.

Right out of the box I took it completely apart to change out the tail box and main frame.  This was, to say the least, laborious.  It involved some soldering of some very think wire for the tail motor.  The controller was taped down, but had a visible lean to it, which would affect flight, so I changed that out when I swapped the frame.

To save time, I’ll skip ahead to how this thing flies.  Simply amazing compared to all the other micros I’ve had in the past.  The controller is adjustable, and it has real servos (not those linear crud traps Blade loves so much).  Very stable right side up, or inverted.  It will do piro flips, but tic tocs are more than challenging.  Tail slides are solid, as well as backwards flight.  It does fly bigger than it physically is, but it is by no means a rival to a 450 in flight.  It handles wind pretty good, but it is light and can be bounced around a bit.  Flight times are around 4:30 doing some light 3D in high head speed (read 100-97-95-97-100 TC), and the cyclic rate is cranked up (though not maxed out).

I had read that the 150 was more fragile than the mCPX, and I would agree to an extent, however I would still rate it as crash tolerant.  So far, I’ve flown it in the ground a bunch of times, with three particularly nasty high speed inverted landings and a viscous lawn dart with a boom strike or two.  At the moment, part fatalities include 1x DFC link, 1x main blade, 1x stock tail rotor blade, 1x skid, 1x boom, 1x Lynx TR holder, 1x feathering shaft, and a canopy.  Not too bad for what I’ve done to it.

But Whitt, why such abuse?  Learning curve, and getting out of the comfort zone.  I got this micro for the same reason I got all those other Blade micros, to learn new stuff.  It’s a cost effective way to go from the sim to the field without going broke buying parts every time I go in the dirt.  The skills translate up in size, so why not use something that won’t destroy itself first, then follow up with the larger helis when the maneuvers start to become reflexes.  The 150 DFC flies like a 250, but crashes like an mCPX.  Bonus!

All in all, I would not recommend it for a novice, but I would recommend it for progressing into 3D once you get the basics down on an mCPX.

Here’s a video of one of my flights:

http://youtu.be/UrUb3MrU0gY

 

I know, it’s tiny and hard to see.

[Anonymous]

Mine’s packed up in the travel box and hoping for some lunch-time air today.

Your statement about them being great training / learning tools couldn’t be any more true. I’m having a blast revisiting the micros.

It feels like there is a bit of a cycle to them. You get to a point where you feel you’ve grown past them, then as skills progress, you come back and realize just how capable the right ones truly are…

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

Think I finally have mine “mostly” dialed-in. Tail still isn’t quite where I want it, but solid enough to have some fun.

Absolutely seems to handle wind better than the BL ever did. Took it out and put some packs through it over “lunch”, little thing sure is quick down-wind.

It was windy enough to have to land between gusts to be sure the skids would touch before the blades, had a pretty good angle going just to stay stationary… 😉

[Anonymous]

I finally swapped out the MRS on mine.  I think this one piros a shade slower than the one that came on it originally.  Then again, maybe I’m just used to the larger helis.

 

[Anonymous]

Negative expo. 🙂

[Author]

Posts