I’m glad that it helped! It’s a fun hobby and half of the fun is the repairs! Should be putting some more repair videos up as I get the time to put them together!
Hi Joe ! I did a little bit of research on as to why the 120 S2 wobbles in flight, and the info I got was that it might be caused by the stock swash plate, the author recommended purchasing an aluminum swash plate which I was able to find online at a hobby shop out in Vietnam named Rakon Helicopter Ltd., I've just purchased one, and will install it on arrival, and see how it works out. I will give you an update as to how it performs ?
Though the stock swashplate is the Achilles heel for the 120 S/S2 and the best upgrade that can be done is replacing it with a Rakon or Micro-Heli unit, In my experience adjusting the the main blade grip tension usually cures tail wobble.
Update guys, I've finally received the aluminum swash plate from Rakon Helicopter Co. Ltd, swaped it out with the stock one, and there is absolutely a noticeable difference ! It felt solid on there as I grabbed hold of the main blade grips to set the heli up for a test flight, there was still a minute bit of a waggle, but not as significant as it was with the stock swash. On spooling up you can see that the main blades were spinning smoothly, unfortunately I had no one to video my flight yesterday evening as the sun was setting, also this morning when the sun was rising, the clear,calm skies ( finally the trade winds simmered down ) made for an awesome backdrop. I did upload a video of the newly installed swash plate on my channel "Melvin Quinene", and I will eventually upload a video of my flight with the new swash plate "COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU" Lol ! I also agree with Chad about changing out the stock main blade grips to the aluminum ones, in fact I'm probably gonna purchase these blade grips after leaving comment. Have fun, stay safe,and see you at the airfield !
Hi Joe ! Just wanted to give an update on my flight status, so after some persistence, I have finally transitioned from hovering mode to forward flight, nose in hover, and flying figure eight's, and pirouette's, and I'am really having a blast with the 120 S2, just thought I'd share, I also uploaded a video under my name Melvin Quinene.
Nice! It is a fun little copter for sure!!! Believe it or not I am still waiting on my oem swash plate! I obit my spare battery in today, I guess horizon hobby had them on back order.
@@josephtiani6145 After initial purchase of My first 120 S2, I ordered 3 more batteries and then purchased another 120 S2, so yeah I get a good amount of flight time in with 5 batteries, I am really having a blast with this small, but awesome heli !!!
Just wanted to share,I could not find any tailbooms at least with the mount, on any of the Stateside hobby stores, not even on eBay well yes, you could but they were out in the UK, @ Midland Helicopters. This little heli is pleasant to fly and is not so costly as far as repairs are concerned, and as you state Joe are really not that difficult to repair as well, I jus got mine airborne today Guam time I had a blast with her, especially with the four batteries I picked from Amain hobbies.
Yeah, I needed to order some parts and my local hobby shop and Amain were both slim on parts. I guess with the holidays and more people than ever getting into the hobby there has been some delays. Hopefully they will get that tailboom in soon!
BLH4102 is the PN for the tail boom (same as the 120 S). Always search by PN that can be found in the owners manual parts schematic. Research has shown that except for the Main Control Board; The parts are the same as the 120 S.
Is this not a fun hobby, I love the suggestions, recommendations, meeting new rc heli enthusiasts, thanks guys I appreciate the replies, they definitely help !
Hi Chad, yes you are actually correct, the same recommendation was suggested by U.S. MARINE ,RET. Dave Hebert and it does sorta cure, as us old guys call it " The Wobble ".Thanks for your input as well ! HAPPY Flying!
Yes Chad that PN is what I entered on the search bar at Amain hobbies, Horizon Hobby, Hobby King etc., and unfortunately they were all Out Of Stock. 🤙🏻
@@chadvienna9288 Hello Chad, negative, surprisingly the 2 tailbooms I ordered from Midland Helicopters out in the UK on Dec. 17 arrived fairly quickly so I've been flying my 120 for a couple of days now, by the way what does DE Stand for ?
@@melvinquinene4778 Good to hear that your bird is operational Melvin as I was going to offer to send you a boom (I have a coupe of spares left over from my scale builds). DE=Deutschland (Germany to us Yanks :) ).
@@chadvienna9288 Hello Chad, I thought you were referring to DELAWARE, and hey I appreciate the thought, I've got a couple for now, what would you charge for the spare booms ?
@@melvinquinene4778 120's booms are not overly fragile. If you have a couple of new booms on hand they'll likely last you through the life of your 120. My concern was that your 120 might be grounded waiting for a replacement and I might be able to help you out. Rakon has alot of nice stuff for the 120 S/S2 as does Micro-Heli, and I own a fair amount of upgrades from both of them. Were I to do it again knowing what I know now; Dump the stock rotor head and blade grips and buy Micro-Heli replacements, I have not had any noticeable tail wobble since. I literally have over $1000 tied up in my hanger of 120's and most would question my sanity. I LOVE the 120 for its simplicity, (typical) availability and the low cost of replacement/upgrade parts compared to any other other other fixed-pitch (FP) available. You should join RCG (rcgroups.com).
I ended up getting the OEM part but have considered getting the micro heli aluminum part after going through some post! I’m sure I’ll need to replace it eventually and will do the aluminum part next!
I have a Rakon aluminum swash that you can have for free. 'just need to figure out how to get to you (securely) without divulging too much personal info here.
Hey there 120 S2 pilots, have any of you experienced while in flight the tail rotor kinda stall ??? Well it happened with my heli, and it got me thinking that quite possibly the tail rotor protective sleeve might be causing some sorta interference with the magnet inside the tail rotor motor, any thoughts on this 120 S2 owner's???
The Tail Motor Protective Sleeve causes zero magnetic interference with the tail motor, :They are used on the 120SR as well as the 120 S. The most obvious cause of a perceived stall would be a loose tail rotor blade or the connector plug from the boom to the motor or the boom to the Main Control Board not having a solid contact. I recall you replaced the boom on your 120 S. The electrical leads coming out of the tail motor are fragile once the motor has been been removed from the original boom and the boom to motor connectors can be fussy with making solid contact.
@@chadvienna9288 Hi chad that sounds like the probable cause then, good thing to be sure of is to have some height I suppose when we're out flying just in case we need to take corrective action or bailout to save our heli, I was finally able to get out and do some sport flying, I was flying figure eights finally with some hesitation because where I live,I mean the tradewinds can definitely cause a serious crash. Thanks for that little tidbit fellow 120 S2 brethren !
@@josephtiani6145 I did a tutorial on removing, repairing and replacing the 120 swashplate on the unofficial thread. It can beat having to wait for a new replacement.
That was very helpful. I'm new to this and I didn't want to break it. Thanks.
I’m glad that it helped! It’s a fun hobby and half of the fun is the repairs! Should be putting some more repair videos up as I get the time to put them together!
Hi Joe !
I did a little bit of research on as to why the 120 S2 wobbles in flight, and the info I got was that it might be caused by the stock swash plate, the author recommended purchasing an aluminum swash plate which I was able to find online at a hobby shop out in Vietnam named Rakon Helicopter Ltd., I've just purchased one, and will install it on arrival, and see how it works out. I will give you an update as to how it performs ?
That would be awesome, Melvin!
Though the stock swashplate is the Achilles heel for the 120 S/S2 and the best upgrade that can be done is replacing it with a Rakon or Micro-Heli unit, In my experience adjusting the the main blade grip tension usually cures tail wobble.
Update guys, I've finally received the aluminum swash plate from Rakon Helicopter Co. Ltd, swaped it out with the stock one, and there is absolutely a noticeable difference ! It felt solid on there as I grabbed hold of the main blade grips to set the heli up for a test flight, there was still a minute bit of a waggle, but not as significant as it was with the stock swash. On spooling up you can see that the main blades were spinning smoothly, unfortunately I had no one to video my flight yesterday evening as the sun was setting, also this morning when the sun was rising, the clear,calm skies ( finally the trade winds simmered down ) made for an awesome backdrop. I did upload a video of the newly installed swash plate on my channel "Melvin Quinene", and I will eventually upload a video of my flight with the new swash plate "COMING SOON TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU" Lol ! I also agree with Chad about changing out the stock main blade grips to the aluminum ones, in fact I'm probably gonna purchase these blade grips after leaving comment. Have fun, stay safe,and see you at the airfield !
Awesome tutorial by the way !
Thank you!!
Hi Joe ! Just wanted to give an update on my flight status, so after some persistence, I have finally transitioned from hovering mode to forward flight, nose in hover, and flying figure eight's, and pirouette's, and I'am really having a blast with the 120 S2, just thought I'd share, I also uploaded a video under my name Melvin Quinene.
Nice! It is a fun little copter for sure!!! Believe it or not I am still waiting on my oem swash plate! I obit my spare battery in today, I guess horizon hobby had them on back order.
@@josephtiani6145 I too as well am still waiting for my aluminum swashplate from Rakon Helicopter Ltd.
@@josephtiani6145 After initial purchase of My first 120 S2, I ordered 3 more batteries and then purchased another 120 S2, so yeah I get a good amount of flight time in with 5 batteries, I am really having a blast with this small, but awesome heli !!!
Just wanted to share,I could not find any tailbooms at least with the mount, on any of the Stateside hobby stores, not even on eBay well yes, you could but they were out in the UK, @ Midland Helicopters. This little heli is pleasant to fly and is not so costly as far as repairs are concerned, and as you state Joe are really not that difficult to repair as well, I jus got mine airborne today Guam time I had a blast with her, especially with the four batteries I picked from Amain hobbies.
Yeah, I needed to order some parts and my local hobby shop and Amain were both slim on parts. I guess with the holidays and more people than ever getting into the hobby there has been some delays. Hopefully they will get that tailboom in soon!
BLH4102 is the PN for the tail boom (same as the 120 S). Always search by PN that can be found in the owners manual parts schematic. Research has shown that except for the Main Control Board; The parts are the same as the 120 S.
Is this not a fun hobby, I love the suggestions, recommendations, meeting new rc heli enthusiasts, thanks guys I appreciate the replies, they definitely help !
Hi Chad, yes you are actually correct, the same recommendation was suggested by U.S. MARINE ,RET. Dave Hebert and it does sorta cure, as us old guys call it " The Wobble ".Thanks for your input as well ! HAPPY Flying!
New Video uploaded," Sunset Flight "
Yes Chad that PN is what I entered on the search bar at Amain hobbies, Horizon Hobby, Hobby King etc., and unfortunately they were all Out Of Stock. 🤙🏻
Wow! I just checked eBay and Amazon.. The only ones available are in the UK and DE. Is your 120 grounded due to a broken tail boom?
@@chadvienna9288 Hello Chad, negative, surprisingly the 2 tailbooms I ordered from Midland Helicopters out in the UK on Dec. 17 arrived fairly quickly so I've been flying my 120 for a couple of days now, by the way what does DE Stand for ?
@@melvinquinene4778 Good to hear that your bird is operational Melvin as I was going to offer to send you a boom (I have a coupe of spares left over from my scale builds). DE=Deutschland (Germany to us Yanks :) ).
@@chadvienna9288 Hello Chad, I thought you were referring to DELAWARE, and hey I appreciate the thought, I've got a couple for now, what would you charge for the spare booms ?
@@melvinquinene4778 120's booms are not overly fragile. If you have a couple of new booms on hand they'll likely last you through the life of your 120. My concern was that your 120 might be grounded waiting for a replacement and I might be able to help you out. Rakon has alot of nice stuff for the 120 S/S2 as does Micro-Heli, and I own a fair amount of upgrades from both of them. Were I to do it again knowing what I know now; Dump the stock rotor head and blade grips and buy Micro-Heli replacements, I have not had any noticeable tail wobble since. I literally have over $1000 tied up in my hanger of 120's and most would question my sanity. I LOVE the 120 for its simplicity, (typical) availability and the low cost of replacement/upgrade parts compared to any other other other fixed-pitch (FP) available. You should join RCG (rcgroups.com).
Hey Joe, Did you receive your new swashplate?
Should be here this week! Will make a video as soon as I get it in!
@@josephtiani6145 Cool! Did you go with a OE from Horizon or an aluminum unit? Inquiring minds want to know :)
I ended up getting the OEM part but have considered getting the micro heli aluminum part after going through some post! I’m sure I’ll need to replace it eventually and will do the aluminum part next!
I have a Rakon aluminum swash that you can have for free. 'just need to figure out how to get to you (securely) without divulging too much personal info here.
Hey there 120 S2 pilots, have any of you experienced while in flight the tail rotor kinda stall ??? Well it happened with my heli, and it got me thinking that quite possibly the tail rotor protective sleeve might be causing some sorta interference with the magnet inside the tail rotor motor, any thoughts on this 120 S2 owner's???
The Tail Motor Protective Sleeve causes zero magnetic interference with the tail motor, :They are used on the 120SR as well as the 120 S. The most obvious cause of a perceived stall would be a loose tail rotor blade or the connector plug from the boom to the motor or the boom to the Main Control Board not having a solid contact. I recall you replaced the boom on your 120 S. The electrical leads coming out of the tail motor are fragile once the motor has been been removed from the original boom and the boom to motor connectors can be fussy with making solid contact.
@@chadvienna9288 Hi chad that sounds like the probable cause then, good thing to be sure of is to have some height I suppose when we're out flying just in case we need to take corrective action or bailout to save our heli, I was finally able to get out and do some sport flying, I was flying figure eights finally with some hesitation because where I live,I mean the tradewinds can definitely cause a serious crash. Thanks for that little tidbit fellow 120 S2 brethren !
Hey Joe, Can you make a YT video about checking and replacing the swashplate?
I actually just broke my swashplate this past weekend. Waiting on the part to come in and I will put a video together!
@@josephtiani6145 I did a tutorial on removing, repairing and replacing the 120 swashplate on the unofficial thread. It can beat having to wait for a new replacement.