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PICO MODS I'll be adding documentation of the mods as I do them to my new Pico. I have several on order like a one way bearing, a aluminum shaft, a aluminum rotor head, and a new anti-rotation clip. As well as an Aluminum swash plate with built in ball. It's not always easy to
understand what the mods are as seen on other websites, so I hope to
explain them from a |
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 Battery mounting plate: This mod is from "Christian's Mico Heli page". He used a piece of balsa, which works but didn't look real nice. I felt the plastic I used matched better and is probably lighter and stronger. Christian's idea really appealed to me because the one thing that I have found rather frustrating is trying to get the battery mounted under the chassis. In order to keep the center of gravity correct, the battery needs to be set back a bit far and the rubber bands are near the front of the battery causing it to often pop out at the slightest impact or hard landing. |
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 Here is the bottom view. I used four small pieces of Velcro instead of one large one to keep weight down. This seems to hold very well and allows for some left right/fore aft adjustment of the battery for balance. Note the notches in the plastic for the front gear struts. This plastic was scrap from the wing struts that came in my Tiger Moth kit. I've learned in RC and modeling that you never throw anything away. Keep all scrap! Because it could be good as gold in the future! To give it a bit more strength and something to mount to, I glued a couple small pieces of carbon fiber sticks to the plastic to mount it. These sticks are cut from the leading edge rods found in a Prism Micron kite. (see sticks in photo above) |
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 A shot from the site of the battery in place. I put 4 small pieces of Velcro on the batteries corners. The battery now fits nicely where it should. No rubber bands to fiddle with. And it's easily adjustable to keep the center of gravity where it should be - both port and starboard as well as fore and aft. |
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 Hub: My parts arrived from Pierre today. First my much needed hub. One of the posts broke off from my original plastic one so I was grounded until this replacement arrived. This is a great replacement. It should never break, and the bearings are held on with screws rather than snapping onto a little plastic nub like the original. Lightweight and looks great installed on the pico - this is a must have upgrade in my opinion. Also fairly low priced so everyone should get an aluminum hub. Installation was easy, just pull the pin on the original to remove it. Screw on the bearings and use a little 'Lock-tite' on the screws. Then only work required is to use a small hobby finishing file to file down the ends of the screws in the center of the hub. The screws protrude in a good bit to far, They don't allow the fly bar to drop between them, so filing them down is required. This only took about 5 minutes and filing them didn't ruin the threads. I was still able to unscrew them to add some Lock-tite. Then drop it on and install the pin. Adding this hub also allowed my main rotor to snap on tightly again. It was getting loose with the original plastic hub. |
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 Swashplate/ball mod combo: Another part I got from Pierre is his Aluminum swashplate. This rather pricey item (about 70.00) is a great looking improvement over the original plastic one. Though the only problem I've had in my limited experience with the pico's original swashplate is a broken anti-rotation pin, I've heard that the balls often break off from the original. So I went for this upgrade before I needed it. The best part about this unit is the built in ball mod. (A ball mod for the plastic swashplate is available from Chris R. but it requires a bit of drilling to your original part and intimidated me just a little. I figured, why install that and have the swashplate balls break off later. I bit the bullet and spent the money for this part. I was slightly disappointed to find that the connection points are bent screws. Which appear to me that in a crash they could snap off. Getting away from this breakage is the reason I wanted the new swashplate... will it happen? I don't know, but time will tell. The screws were also quite loose, I had problems right away in flight and ended up having to use some Lock-tite on them in hopes of making them remain in place. Pierre did include several extra screws (he must also feel that they could come loose, get lost or may break as well.) I'm sure much time is required to manufacture these... so the price is justified. Other than the bent screws, it appears to be a high quality piece and a recommended upgrade. My novice level hover times have improved which could be the result of the ball mod which is suppose to increase control and stability. Though I haven't had much experience yet, I do feel it has helped in this area. How to get Pierre's Parts |
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 Anti-Rotation arm: Another weak point of the stock picolo is the anti-rotation arm. It flex's and pops off the pin vey easily. It's also sloppy. The solution is to get one of Chris's anti-rotation arms. This clips to both sides of the swash plate and firms things up nicely. Also it should never come off. It's a real nice design and is highly recommended. Get sone from his website. Chris's site |
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 One way bearing, Head-brace, & Delrin collar: I got my parts from Warren today! Pictured to the left is how they arrived. The tube contains a really sexy one-way-bearing. The packages contain the delrin collar and the head-brace. Read about each one in detail below. Warrens parts can be ordered here. |
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 One
way bearing:This is one sexy piece of hardware. It has a Titanium shaft and a precisely machined bearing on the bottom that of course... only turns one way! Works smooth and was EASY to install. |
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 A close up reveals the superb workmanship. I followed the easy instruction, drilled the main gear with the included drill bit. slipped the main gear onto the shaft. And re-installed the shaft in the Pico. I then used the delrin collar to hold it in place. (see that below.) This is one REALLY SLICK mod.
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 A view from the bottom. Just drill, slip the shaft through the newly drilled hole, then slip on the collar. This allows the main rotor to slip/rotate after cutting the power. If you have collective pitch, and brushless motor it makes a much smoother start and when cutting the power it gives a slow reduced rotor spin down rather than an abrupt stop which is easier on the teeth of the main gear.
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 New Collar, made of delrin material The collar that holds the shaft and one way bearing assembly into place is this delrin collar. The delrin material is soft and light and the collar has a set screw that holds it in place. It's beveled on one side which is placed down against the bearing. This works better than silicone tubing or metal collars. I didnt' have the best of luck with it. So I removed it and installed my metal collar..
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 Warrens latest addition is his "head-brace" this comes with all required hardware and some additional (optional) hardware to allow the adjustment of the pitch of the blades. I did't install the pitch adjustment yet... it consists of a set of 4 set screws and a large washer. But raising and lowering the two set screws per blade you can adjust it's pitch angle. I didn't have a drill bit to install the set screws, so at this point I just installed the head brace. This helps eliminate flex in the rotor head and allows more stability and better performance outdoors. It was VERY easy to install. |
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 I broke the tail boom which was a really cheezy carbon fiber tube. About the poorest CF rod I've ever seen. It just crumbled. I want to replace the boom with an alumimum tube, but they break to, so until my frequent crash stage has subsided. I'm going to use this wood dowel. Not like to break this thing and it's pretty light weight. |
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 Since I was replacing the boom, I figured it was a good time to install the MIA retro-fit landing gear. I HATED the original gear. It broke constantly. This gear is tougher, and has some spring. It' s a great mod and includes an optional battery mount area. GET THIS LANDING GEAR AND BATTERY HOLDER from MIA! Shortly after the new boom assembly, I broke the CF stick that keeps the tail rotor from touching the ground. I replaced this with a piece of wire. This works REALLY NICELY and I glued a little rubber boot on the bottom to keep it from sticking the carpet and from scratching the surfaces of tables and wood floors. With all these upgrades, I now crash without breaking anything. It's been really great. . |
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 The wood boom held up extremely well, but it vibrated a good bit. (flexed). And I really hated the wiring to the tail rotor showing. So I picked up a couple of Aluminum booms from HeliHobby. The aluminum looks GREAT, but is not extremely rugged. I quickly had a rotor strike the boom which dented it. And the boom easily bends. But can be bent back as easily. I'm sure a major bend will destroy the boom. (I have an extra) so I recommend this after you're past your crash stage. (wood works best during the crash stage). I also had horrible luck with the included hardware. The boom turned and so did the tail rotor mount. Reluctantly I used a tiny bit of CA glue to both ends of the aluminum boom which stopped the problem, this also eliminated a lot of vibration I was getting when flying. I think this is the best looking and best working boom. But I'm still hunting for a high quality CF kite stick that will fit. Actually I'd prefer a slightly heavier, thicker walled aluminum boom. But until then - this is the best option. (2 for 10.00) I'm just afraid of trying to remove the CA'ed area when I need to replace it. |
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 Adding the MIA! retro-fit landing gear (About 13.00 with skids and battery mount). Requires that you remove the boom. So this is a good time to add new gear. I've been EXTREMELY pleased with this gear. It takes repeated crashing and nothing breaks. Simply bend the wire back when required. The battery mounting bars also help a lot - though I'm still looking for a way to improve mounting the battery. My problem now is that my One-Way bearing extends a bit below the battery mount so if the battery slides back at all, the one way bearing binds against the battery pack. All in all - my pico is now extremely crash resistant. The most vulnerable part is probably the tail rotor now. (I'm on my 2nd and have CA'ed it already too. I also had a crash that busted my Gyro. (a 90.00 part and the most expensive in my pico). = ( But I have finally progressed to full pack hovers so my crashes will now be few and far between. Now my goal is to get more battery life.
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