Manufactured of triple density wood (heaviest at the
leading edge with the very lightest wood aft to promote the proper
forward CG for good stability), the leading edge has been milled (a
slot) for a lead weight to bring the CG forward to the proper
position (these are preinstalled). Subsequently, these 600 mm
rotor blades are balanced then covered in durable white heat shrink
material, which promotes good visibility while protecting the
blades from exhaust deposits as well as bug juice!
Maintenance is simply a matter of wiping them down with a paper
towel and spray cleaner.
Crafted with a fully symmetrical airfoil, which means they
are just as capable during inverted maneuvers as upright, they
deliver very solid and predictable handling (versus competing
wooden blades) because their airfoil has been selected expressly
for stability with the novice pilot on mind, e.g. gentle and
predicatable flight characteristics. The
resulting outstanding stability around neutral resulting in
very tame hovering characteristics, which are perfect for
learning to hover because the model isn't quite as nervous
feeling. However, they still maintain a reasonable
level of agile for sport aerobatics like loops, rolls,
and stall turns. In fact, I keep a set of well balanced
woodies on hand for initial flights with a new model as well as
test flights following repairs as it's been my experience
electronics are seemingly more prone to failure whilst brand new,
or after being crashed - you've been warned!
Morevoer, in common with all wooden blades, it's prudent to
limit them to approximately 1650 RPM for safety as they simply are
not as robust as man-made material, which has the added beneft for
the novice pilot of taming the model's responses down to a more
manageable state. Furthermore, because they're made of
natural materials, it's not unusual to need to check the balance
before flying because unlike a composite or carbon blade, wood
readily absorbs moisture from the air. FWIW, this is an
inherent charactersitic of the material and nothing to be afraid
of. Also, the prudent modeler will periodically check their
balance because they can change slightly with time as they
stabilize with the humidity in your part of the country.
Included instructions explain how to epoxy the the root
reinforcements prior to use. As with any blade, in the event
of a crash, carefully check the wood material itself for damage,
e.g. dings, dents, cracks, and splits then discard them if any
doubt whatsoever exists of their integrity because an accident in
flight involving blade separation is highly dangerous!
Finally, it is a nice project to get several sets of these
(because it's seemingly no more work to do 4 or 5 sets as to do 1
set), strip the covering and use 1-oz fiberglass cloth as well as
epoxy or polyester resin to cover the blades, then sand, prime, and
paint. Is it a fair bit of work? Yes it is, but that
said, there are highly competent pilots who feel nothing beats a
wooden core rotor blade . . . to include several World
Champions. In fact, there are very popular aftermarket carbon
fiber blade sets, which feature a woden core. Moreover, this
isn't a job, it's a hobby, so you may discover it can be fun and
very satisfying to be able to say, "I did these myself!"