New stuff!

New parts for the 550!
-Eco Power 5000 mah 30C 6S batteries (2)
-Align side by side blade holder
-Radiopost Lipo sack
-Align digital pitch gauge
-Spektrum DSMX remote receiver (2)

Other parts
-Eco Power 2200 mah 30C 3S
-Align 325 mm carbon fiber blades
-Blade mCPx long tail boom

Booom!

The tail boom is fully assembled, including the internal torque tube to drive the tail. Next up are probably the servos. I also have a 6s 5000mah 30c battery and Spektrum remote receivers on the way :). These plug right into the 3gx Flybarless system.

Wow this heli is big!

Mocked up the major sections of the heli to get a feel of the size. It's huge compared to my other ones :)

BOOM!

Finished the tail rotor assembly and mocked up the tail boom to figure out how everything goes together.

The frame is together!

I was able to get the main frame together tonight. Next up are the cyclic servos and the tail boom.

The assembly of my Align 550e 3gx begins

The rotor head is done! Next time I start assembling the Main Frame.

New Heli!

I took advantage of Amain's July 4th sale of 10% off orders over $100 and picked up my biggest heli yet!  An Align 550e 3gx!  This heli has a rotor diameter of almost 4ft!  That's scary!  I'm looking forward to building this sucker and flying it out at the field :)

I'm an AMA Member!

I got an AMA membership today! I needed one to join an all electric flying club which has its field next to Sea World. Once I get my AMA membership, I can apply for the club membership. I think this club mostly fly airplanes, but they have one helicopter pad. The other club I liked was one in Fallbrook, but they're membership is too expensive for how often I plan to fly. The upside of this club is they have a dedicated helicopter field though.

 I'm doing all of this in anticipation of building an Align 550e 3gx! My first big helicopter! A model this big is not safe to fly in a park setting, hence I'm getting a membership to a flying club. Hopefully, I'll be able to learn flying much faster now that I'll have a place to fly :)