Soxos Db7 - Impressions

Discussion in 'Soxos' started by Manyc, Oct 25, 2016.

By Manyc on Oct 25, 2016 at 1:23 PM
  1. Manyc

    Manyc Well-Known Member

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    This is a recently released kit, and is being distributed in Australia by Soxos Australia. They are a new business that has been formed to distribute the brand, and it's also run by two good friends.

    Like most people I was not keen on buying sight unseen, but I was lucky enough to get a close look at the range at the heligods fun fly. I will say that I did like the look of it, enough that I thought it would replace the dear old raptor e700 in my fleet... its always good to change things up every now and then.

    Setup
    Cyclic : Futaba BLS172
    Tail : Futaba BLS276
    FBL : Brain2
    Motor : Scorpion 4530-450
    ESC : HobbyWing 160
    RX : 7008sb
    Main Blades: Rail 696
    Tail Blades : Rail 106

    The Manual
    The manual, in my opinion is the weakest point of the kit. It reminds me of an old align manual, or infact the raptor manual. Just really a bunch of cad drawings with little explanation, but the diagrams are detailed enough to get the job done. But compare it to the Synergy 766/Goblin/MSH Protos Max manuals, it needs a lot of work...

    The Kit
    Everything in the kit was packed nicely and well protected. There were no missing parts, and it takes a leaf out of Aligns book, it includes Velcro tap, zip ties etc... All the bags are labelled, and line up nicely with the manual, which makes it easy.
    20161009_170530.jpg

    The only thing to keep in mind, is that it does not come with blades or a pinion.

    The Build
    The build was simple enough, tho I did get a stumped in a spot or two, and I would say that was mainly me rather than the manual. The parts are all quality machined, and the carbon look very high quality. Not really much to say.. its a build.. enjoy...
    20161022_151822.jpg

    Impressions
    It looks like it borrows a lot from other models.. it has the tray and nose of an align.. the lower frames and boom/tail of a raptor. The centre part seems very goblinish, and the head reminds me of a Gaui. Everything seems as close as possible to the main shaft, trying to get CG as close to the centre point. The head looks great, and the heli seems short... here is a pick of it in front of an Agile 7.2
    20161023_133640.jpg

    One of the main things it does different is the tail push rod, or in its case.,. a Torque Tube, for lack of a better word. This just bolts onto the servo and turns.. no pushing.. this gives is pretty much 0 mechanical gain, and in fact, it is the highest I have ever had the tail gain on a brain because of this. However the tail was very tight, the links causing the stiffness. This created a wag for the first flight.. but I let it go, oiled the tail shaft, and it loosed up by the end of the flight, to where there was no tail wag on the second flight.

    The other interesting note, is that it has only 1 swash follower arm. I hear that this is to save weight, but from the design I am not sure. It does however by make that one arm super stiff, and I would not be surprised if has less movement than the standard design, as the arm is supported on both sides..

    I also love how the canopy has no external visible signs of how it is mounted... this could make repairing the canopy after a crash harder, but I love the way you can see no canopy mounts.

    Flight
    well I have only had a few, and in windy conditions so it is hard to tell. The heli seems very aggressive off centre, both in cyclic and tail, I will end up tuning this down.. only a little... it however moves in the air, and with only 696 main blades. I am keen to try some 716's on it, and see how it goes. Running either 4400's or 5000's doesn't seem to make a large different like it can on some models... but I will continue testing and see..

    Overall
    Its a nice quality heli. Except for the tail control there is nothing super innovative about it.. but then again, no brand makes large innovative changes on a regular basis. It flies well, but I have yet to tune and really give it a go, so keeping my opinions to myself on that one for now...

    Overall its a very nice heli, that I am looking forward to see how it goes once she and I have become friends...


    20161023_122900.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2016

Comments

Discussion in 'Soxos' started by Manyc, Oct 25, 2016.

    1. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      Great Review @Manyc ! Its interesting to note how the heli is a bit of everything! Goblin style drive train is good, Gaui head is also good. Seems like they have tried to take all the good parts from different model helis and mix it all together.

      To me being an agile heli is a good thing - so long as its rock solid in hover or fast forward flight. The tail concept is different as well and it could also be good. Look forward to seeing you fly this heli.

      Really good review, and very interesting to read.
       
    2. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      I did a few speed runs to check out the head gain.. And it flew straight.. It had a little bobble but I think that is head gain.. And I had it moving... With the agility.. I tried a few piroflips and it made me look like I was doing then for the first time.. I had to reduce my normal throws to make it look half decent..

      I'm be down a few times this weekend so hopefully you get a chance to check it out

      Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk
       
    3. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      Usually with high agility there is a compromise on fast forward flight. I dont know of a heli that can be both super loose and super controlled in fast forward flight. Though sometimes its all to do with the setup.
       
    4. Manyc

      Manyc Well-Known Member

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      blades play a big part.. and I am running Rails.. and they tend to fly straight... as I said it was pretty windy, so it may have been impacting the feel, with wind hitting the blades etc... hopefully I will find out this weekend.
       
    5. simon

      simon Well-Known Member

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      Great concise review @Manyc
      Simon
       

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