Kiowa Prop Removal

[norwaystar06]

So... im an idiot... lets get that out of the way first. I got my Kiowa Today and i love the thing to death (i love Bell Helis) Anyway as soon as i assembled it i carelessly hit the Camera/Radar thing against the shelf/roof and it popped off, and my futle atempt to put it back on was seemingly hopeless... so i broke out the super glue.... (mistake 1) i put it on the base of the camera and flipped the helicopter so the glue doesnt go in the shaft... it would have worked out great except (mistake 2) i flipped it right side up far to early and some super glue did seep into the prop shaft... of course i kept spinning the prop to avoid permanent adhesion which worked out very well. Now to fix my 2 mistakes i want to take this prop off Completely from the body and clean out the shaft so it spins free again (its like it has breaks on so when i spin it, it only does a few rotations then just haults).

Also before i do break this thing apart... Does Nailpolish Remover do ANYTHING to the plastic? cause i dont want all the sudden something melting in there... Anyway for those that do expierment with their stuff please do help cause as much as i love collecting i do occasionaly take them down to play with Ima Big Kid! Thanks In Advance...

[norwaystar06]

I would also like to know what's Inside this helicopter... There is some sort of rattle in the body of the helicopter, i looked on other forums for answers and apparently this is normal on the Kiowa but i don't seem to have an answer on what's inside. perhaps someone that converted their helicopter to RC already knows whats inside? Help Please

[granch]

Hello Norway,
I'm not a specialist and not a professionnel customer at all. As far I understand your message with my poor english, I can tel you following: I've opened one of my kiowa to see what's the heavy damned thing moving into the fuselage, with a carefully sawing around the rather big rear left panel. It is only a parallelipiped black plastic balast. Probably to help the Kiowa not to topple backward, or to make the weight more equal on the front a rear holders of the skis, so the rear end has less risk to curve upwards. I've tried to cement that thing to the rear wall of the cockpit: cement didn't held it (was the balast greasy???). So I used U shaped steel wires from the botom of the fuselage (just behind a prominent flat box) through 2 small holes and the same through the rotor compartment and now it's OK. I don't recommand to open the fuselage unless you're a skilled modeller and find the exact colour...
For the rotor (I want to put an electromotor to set the prop in movment), when you take the mast mounted visor, you have a small plastic bolt. To take it away, you have to warm it to soften it (dig it in hot water), it should go easy. Then, you can take the rotor away. There is a steel axle, it is hardly fixed to the fuselage, don't try to remove it. With a cotton-bud and the super-glue remover solution for fingers, you should be able to strip the glue.

[norwaystar06]

Yeah thats the problem i did take the plastic bolt off and i see a metal rod that comes out of the propeller... but the propeller wont pull out its stuck there... is the Propeller Mechanism attached to anything else? it spins fine i guess some of the glue didn't stick any more... but now its making this horrendous squeaking sound, think of the creaking sound a door makes, every time it spins @_@...

Edit: Ok the prop was never removed, but as mentioned above it does make this squeeking sound and i wonder, Would WD-40 or any sort of oil do any damage physically and visually to the aircraft? Damn this helicopter is going through hell, actually feel bad for it.

[granch]

On my Kiowa, the propeller slip away along this rod with only few resistance. So I think that the superglue made something like a thickening of the rod or narrowing of the prop hub hole (hoping my dictionnary brings you clear ideas about what I'm speaking from). I would recommand to soften the helicopter top, upside down, over a pan with boiling water, then try to slip the prop. I'm not sure that plastic stands W40 (acid) oil, it may discolour your helo. Better try with liquid silicon like we use to protect rubber joints on car doors. It could help you not only to remove the prop, but also to eliminate the squeak...

[norwaystar06]

Actually the WD-40 worked out very well, it seems llike the blade is spinning forever and the squeak has been eliminated. Also it did do a bit of discoloring but very slightly where it starts to look like weathering so im actually that i managed to kill 3 birds with one can of oil.... very happy with this helicopter hopefully i dont make any more mistakes along the future anyway thanks for the help Granch

[granch]

Welcome! Here 2 pics of my own customized MH-6 (not really flying or firing a missile, but enjoy the illusion), I'm on with the same built on one of my Kiowas, but it's a long way...

[norwaystar06]

That's very cool grange... did you light up all your helicopters or just the littlebird? And in the first one when it looks like its flying into the sunset, did you rc tnat helicopter??

[granch]

No, no, no! I've crashed 3 RC helicopters in my living room, and one ceiling lamp. So, when I've passed many hours to thread small wires behind the pannel, under the cockpit seats, so many time to find in broken old toys the right toothed pinion that has to fit exactly betwen a small electro-engine and the rod of the rotor... for what? a crash
So, for the sunset pic, the motorized and lighted BBI MH-6 hangs with 2 very thin fishermann's line to an improvised bamboo cran.
My Kiowa light and motion project is only in my head for the time now, because I've started to custom in the same way one of my Blackhawk. I gave up with making a 2nd UH-60, it will be inert but with Pickelhaube custom.
The rocket firing was a nice trial with a simple aluminium tube, a wooden connector to the genuine pod support filled with a small firework match (but had to fire the entire match box to get 1 correct picture). Because the flame goes upwards, I had to hang my MH-6 vertically along the wall (this one covered with virginia creeper, not ideal vegetation but no 1/18 jungle trees available).
So you know all my secrets