So, I felt like I skipped a step by buying the pre-assembled Blade400. I knew going in that one of the things I wanted to do was have fun working with my hands; in retrospect, I should have purchased a kit...

Anyway, so the taxman was good this year, so I thought I'd purchase a 500 kit, build it over the next few weeks and then be able to fly when it started getting warmer.

I purchased the new Align 500 kit that includes everything but the battery and receiver (KX017011, include 3x DS520's, DS510, GP-780, and 500M motor).

I've been building it over the past week using the Finless video's from HF. However, I seem to have run into a problem.

When assembling the tail rotor blade grips, one side seems to be binding and is very notchy. It doesn't spin freely and something seems up. I thought it could be a bit of dried locktite so I tore it apart, cleaned all the pieces with alcohol and reassembled, but it's still stiff.

I tried assembling it without the washer and when I do so, it is very smooth, but there is less than the washer's thickness in end play.

My question is, is the washer necessary? If so, what do you recommend I do?

With just the stock parts.. mine wobbled slightly so I added one very thin shim. But if yours is too tight with just the stock parts.. that's odd. Maybe sand the washer thinner? I don't know.. see what other say.

FYI: Lots of useful stuff here in the 500 Bible
http://www.slyster.com/heli/trex500bible.html

Might be the difference with the new kit... From watching the Finless videos, it looks like the kit now includes the metal grips (as my new kit does). The Finless videos appear to be plastic, which were yours?

Mine were plastic and no binding. But you can surely sand the washer as Pete says or get a thinner one. If you can tighten the grip w/o the washer to the point the blade has a small amount of friction you are OK. The blades will straighten out with the huge centripetal forces they experience.

Just to be clear, it is the thrust bearing washer.