Vigor CS or Robbe Millennium? (Part II)
Simon Lockington

My last article (click here) spoke of my research in both the Robbe Millennium and Vigor CS. As I said, I'm after a firebreathing 60 size machine that will do both 3D primarily and also FAI style flying. Whichever one I get is going to have one of the new big engines just starting to come out on the market.

I had considered selling my big Z230 gasser before getting this 60, but after looking at it a lot (it's a damn beautiful machine no matter how you look at it) and flying it round a lot at the weekend practising FAI maneuvers, I've decided not to. The Z230 stays. I'll just have to get a bigger car to carry the helis around with I suppose...

Anyway, after my last newsletter, one of the JR helicopter retailers here in New Zealand sent me an email saying he was going to ship down a CS kit for me to look at. The kit arrived on Tuesday and my mate Darryll and I spent a lot of time looking at it that night.

There are a LOT of very tasty components in the CS kit. The head looks remarkably similar to the head of my Z230, which is great cause that thing is built like a Kenworth truck anyway.

One thing that was noticably absent from the head of the CS is the slop in the flybar rocker assembly. In the Ergo 46's I've seen (and in the Voyager kit I looked at) there was a bit of side-to-side slop in the rocker. Not in the CS. That thing is nice and solid.

The swashplate of the CS is also a work of art. I have been annoyed that up till now, JR has persisted in putting plastic swashplates on their machines. Even my NZ$3600 Z230 came with a plastic swashplate! When you're spending that kinda cash on a machine, you'd think you'd get a metal swashplate. The Ergo 46's have plastic swashplates, and one of the 46's I know of has worn through it's one after a couple of months of flying.
The new Voyager has got a half metal, half plastic swashplate. The base of the swashplate is aluminium, but the top half is plastic! I just don't really understand why they just didn't make the whole thing aluminium like they have with the CS.
You can set the swash plate up for either 140 or 120 degree CCPM depending on your radio. Currently the JR 10x is the only radio that supports 140 degree CCPM from the factory, but some fliers have found a way of programming their Futaba 9Z's with extra mixing that allows them to use 140 degree CCPM also.

The carbon frames and boom of the CS are beautiful and just by looking at the pattern of the frames, you just know that the machine is gonna fly. I like the idea of the single piece side frames

The canopy is clear fibreglass which you have to get painted yourself, which isn't really a big issue. In my mind, if you're spending this kinda money on a machine, you may as well spend a little extra and get someone to put an awesome paint job on it too! There are tonnes of decals that come with the kit to let you dress it up in your own way.

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