I just got a Shape 8, but realised that the kit was supplied with two left bellcranks, so Freakware is supposed to be sending me the right-side one and then I can finish the FBL setup.

 

Looks like an amazing heli - let us know how well it flies. Pity about the two left bellcranks.

 

I definitely will! For some reason I had never seen it until a few weeks ago when I decided I wanted a new heli this year and I started looking around and somehow ran across the Shape website. I love how completely 'over the top' it is - almost like if you took a little Rave 450 and just scaled it up to 800 size.

I actually got the airframe 2nd hand because coincidentally someone here in the UK was trying to sell one. I have pretty much rebuilt the whole thing though, it's not difficult to build but it cannot be done on auto-pilot like some kits, there are lots of subtle things that require paying close attention to get right. So the first owner didn't notice the two left bellcranks :-o

It's a bit heavy but the disc loading should still be fairly light. I'm running pretty light packs, mostly 4000mah and some 5000s. But I have a heavy motor and ESC. It's just a little over 5kg without flight packs, so with the packs I have it will be between 6.2 and 6.7 kg. I have a Raptor 700 gasser conversion that weighs 5.6kg without fuel, so prob just over 6kg takeoff (700-730mm blades) and it doesn't 'feel' heavy in the air, so by comparison the Shape should be... well interesting But the size is a bit intimidating! It just looks massive.

 

It definitely will be interesting. Whats your flying style? sport/smak?

 

What I like is big air, some F3C, some F3N type stuff. There was a time many moons ago when I was hoping to get into the lower rung of F3C here but I just didn't get the chance to put in the practice, so these days I just fly for fun and slowly add new moves, try to make it all look intentional I also like low headspeed 'slow motion' type flying sometimes.

I just got a shipping confirmation today so hopefully I'll have the bellcrank soon, so long as they're definitely sending me a RH one :-o

 

Low head speed flying can be more relaxing - 3d is pretty much riding the edge. Both have their places. Work killed my flying over the last year - i am determined to get back to it again soon. The most important person to impress when flying - is yourself! so if it looks intentional to you, then its all good!

 

Yeah moving house and having to deal with other things killed my flying last year and about 1/3 of 2016, then I was flying a bit toward the end of last year and by about October the weather got just too wet, windy and cold and I didn't fly at all over the winter. So I've only been out twice so far this year. I was going to be flying today but work turned into a nightmare, no time to charge yesterday and basically not being in the right frame of mind anyway :-( But.... the bellcrank just arrived, so that's some consolation and I can finish getting the Shape setup today.

 

Mine is almost ready to maiden now. With the correct bellcrank on the right-hand side leveling the swash required very little trim in the Vortex. I have two canopies and they are so nicely finished, so I started looking for some kind of canopy cover. I have covers for all my other helis but nothing that was even close to fitting the Shape. I asked around a bit, asked Freakware but they didn't know of anything. So I took a chance on a motorcycle helmet cover, thinking it's almost the right profile and I couldn't think of anything else. So for now I have slightly modded this cover and it does fit, it doesn't cover the entire canopy but it covers the whole nose area which is the bit that is most prone to getting scratched when I'm carrying them around.