Building a Century Swift NX 550

Actually, prior to buying a new Swift NX kit from Heli-World, I decided to buy a pre-owned Swift 16 helicopter setup from E-Bay. It seemed like an incredible deal in that it included the helicopter, all separates/electronics, a Spektrum DX6i, new Edge 523mm CF blades, and new Hyperion 6S and 2S lipos. Well it turned out the heli had been crashed and repaired - or more accurately, unsuccessful attempts were made to repair it. Short story - it was not safely flyable (or flyable at all for that matter) without an additional $100 of mandatory parts, then another $100 of parts to replace those that were marginal or from another heli. So at that point I discovered a brand new Swift NX, with a 1300kV motor, was being offered for only $180. You do the math ... ;) The motor all by itself sells for $50, that $130 for the heli ... that's what a new Mini-Titan (non SE, V1) kit costs !

So I purchased the E-Bay deal, worked out some details with the seller regarding the $100 in mandatory parts, purchased a new Swift NX, and transferred all of the electronics/separates/blades/batteries over to the NX. The original Swift 16 sits totally disassembled in a box as spare parts for a (future?) Swift 550 Carbon (which is only $150 for the complete kit).

I acquired some new servo arms, Dean's & XT60 connectors, a metal motor mount, some servo spacers, and a 8A/15A switching regulator to power the separates/electronics. I also had to borrow a few parts from the Swift 16 and order a 9 tooth pinion from Century. Some soldering of connectors, lengthening of these wires, and shortening of those, and the heli build took place. She ... Flies ... Terrific!

I'm still dialing in the throttle curves & ESC as I'm trying to keep the head speed around 2100 max, which is Century's recommended maximum head speed. I'm finding the gyro's gain needs to be set pretty high - like 80% or higher, to hold the tail. I only have one flight battery, so I'll need to purchase a couple/few more, as well as additional charger capacity. All in all I'm extremely pleased at how this all worked out.

Here's what the original E-Bay deal included:

Swift 16/RTF helicopter (sadly not airworthy)
Century 600+ 1110kV Motor With 12 Tooth Pinion
Century Electron 80/100A ESC
Align 6A Linear Voltage Regulator
Edge 523mm CF Main Blades
KBDD tail blades
(3x) Hitec HS-625MG Cyclic Servos
(1x) Futaba S9254 Tail Servo
Futaba GY401 Gyro
Spektrum AR7000 7-Ch Rx with Satellite
Hyperion 6S 3300mAh 35C Lipo
Hyperion 2S 2100mAh 25C Lipo
Spektrum DX6i Tx
2 Spare 96 Tooth Main Gears

So what follows is the blow by blow - I hope it's somewhat informative and interesting. I originally posted the blog over on RC-Groups, but I exceeded the number of pictures allowed in a post and there aren't many choices for layout so I decided to move it over here.

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It arrived on Good Friday, 2012. Took me an hour to unpack everything. I've never seen anything packed like this before.
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Did a quick power-up to see if the electronics worked - they do. ESC & motor seem to work as well. Radio works. Batteries are new. I'm surprised to see EC3 connectors on everything though. The Edge 532mm CF blades are new and look great. That's all the good news there is.
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This heli could not have been flown in it's current condition. The elevator servo was reversed, and there's a lot of binding in the tail pitch slider. Boom is slightly bent, but I saw that in the seller's pics. The flybar is also slightly bent, and the paddles are missing the "wrap" that goes around them. The paddles are at some wacked out angle, and the head is no where near being setup correctly. The pinion is a 12T, so this must have been flown with a 4S pack, even though a 6S was included in the deal. The TREX 600 landing gear aren't tall enough which causes a problem for the tail fin when the heli is on a flat surface. Just noticed there's a bunch of "mutt" parts & link rods in the head - don't know what heli they came from.
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Okay, so in removing the electronics and tearing down the heli I've discovered a few things - this is way more than I expected:

Tail blade grip very notchy - bad grip bearing.
Bent tail boom.
Bent & straightened tail and horizontal fins.
TREX landing gear too low-profile. Heli won't sit flat - tail fin is taller than skids. Custom holes drilled in skids aren't exactly where they should be resulting in torquing of the frame when all screws are inserted and tightened.
Boom supports appear to have been modified for TREX landing gear.. Will need stock supports.
Bent flybar & wrong part: Align TREX 500 ("mutt" parts).
Canopy grommets are not correct ones.
Washout linkage rods not the same ("mutt" parts).
Washout control arms not the same ("mutt" parts).
Flybar control arms not the same ("mutt" parts).
Upper Shaft collar damaged.
No covers on flybar paddles. Paddles should be replaced.
Roll servos need new control arms (Hitec).
Cyclic servos need new rubber mounts (Hitec).
Metal motor mount is bent - motor sits at an angle, bad news for main gear teeth.
Motor mount screws different & no washers.
Bent aluminum support frame.
Broken tail servo mount screw - glued in place (?)
Spliced GY401 ground wire.
One of the tail pitch slider arms is different ("mutt" parts) and binds.
One tail grip has deep scrapes/gouges.
Custom gyro mount not correct size & screw very difficult to insert. Missing other screw.
Lipos are near fully charged - need to get them to storage level.
Battery cover for DX6i has been replaced with one from some other transmitter. Needs some filing so it locks.
Tail transmission gear box is cracked at one of the lock nut tabs.
Tail rotor shaft isn't correct part ("mutt" part).
Missing M3x5x3.5 spacer between bearings in both tail grips.
The slotted end of the tail boom was smashed/crushed inside the transmission gear box, with the bent metal "ears" scraping on both halves of the belt. The back of the belt is thus "rounded" (worn away) - this explains all the black dust/particles that are scattered around at the tail and inside the mainframe & gears. Belt must be replaced.
"Mutt" cap screw on bottom main shaft collar.
One of the main blade grips doesn't rotate freely - wrong washers between radial and thrust bearings ?
Machined head button's threaded stud too long - gouged the spindle.
Both halves of the plastic frame are deformed/damaged where many cap screw heads get tightened - two new frame halves are needed.
Bullets on ESC wires instead of motor. Sockets on motor wires instead of ESC (?)
EC3 connectors on 6S/3300mAh battery and 80/100A ESC. Should be changed to Deans or better.