Hirobo Sceadu
Hakim Tung

The canopy mounting system is good in principle but falls just short of perfection. File away the ridges at the ends of the posts to make mounting easier. No matter how much Ca glue I put on the rubber grommets, they always got pushed out because the diameter of the posts are just a bit too wide. Here’s a small trick. Dab a small bit of grease on the posts and they’ll slide in easily. I also replaced the kit clips with r/c car items.

As usual I finished my canopy by trimming it out, stuck the decals, lightly sanded it and applied 3 coats of automotive clear paint to fuel proof it. Take it easy on the decals as they are thin. If you apply them and then realize that you goofed up you can bet that pulling them out again will stretch them. Don’t ask how I know that. This time just for the heck of it I didn’t cut out the windshield area. Next to the Xcell machines I think this is the next best looking canopy out there. Those decals really make it stand out as well.

The tail fins have cutouts should you want to convert them to skeleton type tins. They are quite tough and not as flexible as the Freya fins.

Since I had a couple of Futaba GY-240 gyros lying around, I decided to use that together with a digital S9253. As expected it has worked perfectly set at 75% gain. The 240 is a complete no-brainer to set up. It’s a fantastic little gem which I’ve also used on a 60 sized heli, although that’s not recommended!

Flying the Sceadu…straight into a problem…
Straight into a hover, few clicks on the trims and the Sceadu settled into a solid hover. However, I noticed after a couple minutes there was much less smoke coming out the exhaust and immediately after the engine died. Great, an auto on the first flight. At least I found out that the Sceadu autos reasonably well. I increased the high speed needle opening a further one turn and lifted off again. Nope, same problem and infact this time the engine was so hot I could no touch the high speed needle or the engine mount bolts. Tried fiddling around with the pitch/throttle curves to get the head speed way down, but still same problem. Next I changed the Weston tuned muffler and installed the stock one to decrease power. Again same overheating. I then took a piece of plywood attached it to the front of the cylinder head to act as a shroud and channel that air over the head, but again no difference. I could see that the green color of my twin plug head was becoming lighter and lighter in color. I tried adjusting the high speed needles until the engine was chocking to death and barely hovering, but that’s not the point is it?

Problem partially solved…
I sent some e-mails to fellow Sceadu fliers trying to get some info on the problem. It seems that a few of us out there either have the overheating problem or a problem with the engine dying in flight. My pitch settings were a perfect –10 ~ +10 throughout the range so it can’t be too much pitch. The following day at the field was first spent tweaking the engine and curves with no good result. However, at one time the engine died and I noticed that the tail rotors stopped spinning immediately. That’s strange. This is supposed to be a driven tail. I tried spinning the main rotors but the tail stayed put. Looks like it’s binding somewhere. I unscrewed the 4 bolts to the tail boom pushed in the boom a tiny amount to loosen the belt drive, held my breath and fired her up again. This time the heli lifted off OK with lots of smoke coming out. Very carefully, I hovered her around six inches off the ground and waiting for that smoke to disappear and engine to die. But it did not. What have we here, do I have a flyable heli? I hovered the Sceadu for 5 minutes, landed, refueled her and straight back to a hover. This time I did some gentle circuits and stationary piros just to get the feel of the tail. It handled beautifully and never missed a beat. Upon landing I checked the engine temperature, touching the cylinder head, not by the more common method of spitting on it. A bit hot but I could now touch the needle valve and engine mount bolts.

Subsequent flights showed that my Sceadu always ran a bit hot but the engine never died in flight and somehow seemed to lean off after half tank needing adjustment to the radio throttle adjustment knob.

It was only after my 10th flight that I changed the main blades to SAB carbons and programmed in idle-Up, aileron to throttle and elevator to throttle mixes. The Sceadu tail is powerful enough to do low speed 540 piros twenty feet of the deck with the digital Futaba S9253 holding the tail in a vice like grip. Next up was some backwards flying whip the tail around into a 540 piro straight down towards tree level, pull up and point the nose to the sky, again whip the tail into another 540 piro and straight down again and repeat. What a rush and all the while the tail locked solid. Backward and forward loops and rolls are too easy with the aileron and elevator mixes programmed.

Final thoughts…
The Sceadu has some very big boots to fill. As a successor to the original Shuttle, the Sceadu takes over superbly. Its got all the trademarks of its bigger brother the Freya with the FZ-III rotor head, driven tail, ball bearings throughout, Freya type tail pitch slider, boom mounted servo and that fantastic canopy. Apart from the lack of a cooling shroud, Hirobo have again produced a winner guaranteed to keep the competition on their toes. It’s a great little machine and I like the fact that it doesn’t weigh a ton and fits into my car’s back seat in a jiffy. Repair costs won’t break the bank and in the right hands the Sceadu is fully 3D. I think the buying public, now more then ever, have a very good selection of 30 sized helis to choose from. If you’re looking for a simple fun heli or cheap alternative to practice those new moves, then give the Sceadu a serious look over. You won’t be disappointed.

Just hope I can get this overheating problem solved though….