The Best Flying Electric Heli Is????

[jimmi]

I'm new to this forum but not new to helicopters. I own 60 and 30 size fuel helis. My question to all is, whats the best flying electric helicopter out there? I've seen the picolo, the dragonfly, the hummingbird the honeybee, LMH etc. Can anyone from there experience tell us whats the best electric heli out there and why. Is the tail rock solid do you get good response etc. Just the basic things one would want to know before going out to purchase one. I am going to buy one so0n but need some feedback as to trying to stay away from junk. Hello to all the readers out there...jimmi in los angeles:cool: P.S. about 10 years back I asked for feedback in a diffrent forum about the best 30 size. and the HIROBO shuttle was my first heli;) I can't argue with that since I bought a shuttle. flown the cr@p out of it. Sold it to a friend back east n.y. he was doing 3 D with it. And purchased it back from him:cool: Till this day I still own the heli and its the best 30 size trainer out there IMO in my opinian. How time flys!!!! no pun intended when your having fun:D If your not burning nitro your not having fun:p

[Brodjack]

Welcome Jimmi,first off, 3 decisions on your behalf have to be made;
What size heli wanted.
What level of flying are you at.
What is your budget.
Firm answers to all 3, narrows the choice down quite a bit.
....................

[Turbojoe]

I've got the Blade CP and the T-Rex 450XL CCPM. If I had bought the Blade before the T-Rex I'm sure I'd like it. However, I bought it after the T-Rex and I hate it. It's an unfair comparison though. The Rex has a belt driven tail and the Blade and most other lower priced heli's have a motor driven tail. That's the biggest problem. The T-Rex is rock stable while you have to fly the tail on the Blade constantly. Look at the T-Rex real close and I'm confident that's what you'll buy.


Joe

[exeter_acres]

I learned on the Blade... yep, no matter how you set it.. always chasing the tail.. trim it once, set the heli down (don't even unplug the battery) lift off again... and it needs trim again...
gain adjustments, yada yada...

been flying an older used Shogun... fun...but finally bit the bullet and bought myself a Christmas present...
Trex CDE is on its way to me

[ozace]

Seeing this is the micro forum, get the trex. The best is the SE version also the most expensive, from there you can just work your way back down their range.

[jimmi]

LMAO I like that sense of humor. I am 22 helicopters behind and still counting away from you:D Thanks for your thread. Jimmi:cool:




Seeing this is the micro forum, get the trex. The best is the SE version also the most expensive, from there you can just work your way back down their range.
__________________
30 helis and counting

[watt_the?!]

i think something slightly bigger than the trex would be better...

[steph280]

For micro sized, T-Rex resembles the larger glow ships closer than others.

But if size don't matter, larger helis definitely flies better. There are the Logo series, Century Swift, Miniature Aircraft Ion-X, Hensleit 3DMP. tppacks.com has some awsome electric conversion kits for glow helis like Raptor.

[serpa4]

Definitely look at the Maxir SE by LAHeli. Very 3D out of the box. Google for it and watch L.AHeli videos and you'll be sold. It also has pretty good fly times off a1320 pack unlike tte Trex. Its bigger than a blade CP ard smaller than Trex.

[lmopar69]

Ikarus Eco 8 maybe... 41" rotor, not cheap to get set up well though.

[jimmi]

Hello Serpa4

I looked at the Maxi helicopter and indeed is a very nice heli. Saw the videos and it looked rock solid in the air. I didn't care for the brass parts on the head and also looking at a screw end staring right at me:eek: but other then that it was a very nice ship. I also Like to thank all the other guys who took the time out to let me know of there choices. My thanks go out to BRODJACK, TURBOJOE, EXETER ACRES, OZACE, WATT_THE?!, STEPH280, SERPA, and IMOPAR69.
I welcome more input from any and all, please feel free to respond. I will post as soon as I make my decision on what heli I bought and why:rolleyes: BTW has anyone had problems trying to log onto this forum? I tryed about 7 times even disabled my firewall etc. and finally I got to log in. Don't know why this happens but its a pain in da @$$ to say the least, as I want to reply to all who have helped me in trying to find the right helicopter. This happened before also and it took me about 5 trys too.:mad: This forum rocks but hasn't been bugfree for me yet:confused: Hope the problem resolves itself soon as I sent the admin. an e-mail. Merrychristmas to all and a HappyNewyear. Oh and BTW happy flying:D

Definitely look at the Maxir SE by LAHeli. Very 3D out of the box. Google for it and watch L.AHeli videos and you'll be sold. It also has pretty good fly times off a1320 pack unlike tte Trex. Its bigger than a blade CP ard smaller than Trex.[/quote]

[jakjr]

Ikarus Eco 8 maybe... 41" rotor, not cheap to get set up well though.

I have the Eco-8, it's OK but not the best. IMHO it needs a number of upgrades right out of the box. But, now that I have the problems worked out it's a pretty nice heli.

I also have the blade CP, pretty nice for the price, but with the stock gyro and stock tail system it's pretty hard to keep the tail straight if it's windy out (it's not bad in forward flight though, just when hovering).

[jimmi]

Well guys I said I was going to post when I finally made my decision to buy an electric heli. and the winner isss? Well I went with the CP Blade due to price no doubt and was told for the money I couldn't go wrong. And from what I saw versus other helicopters the CP was the best choice for me. I will eventually buy me a Trex but at this time I wanna make sure I get plenty of stick time and sim time before I get into something a little bit more expensive. I took it out this afternoon for the first time and had it about 6'' off the ground which to me was very satisfactory indeed ;O) I didn't want to push the envelope so I stayed at a low hover all the time, due to the wind conditions it was being thrown around some, so I didn't want to have my first crash. Well actually I did have my first crash but I didn't even fly it and let me explain. I had the darn thing on the table last week and was checking the transmitter out along with the helicopter when my thumb hit the IDLE UP button and as soon as I tryed shutting her down it almost did the funky chicken off the table and right next to the wall. I was very lucky that myself or no one got hurt. But the only thing that was hurt was my pocket book of 25.00 and a lil bit of my pride:confused: The main blades at the tips got cracked and the tail rotor was chipped some but other then that nothing was bent not even the fly bar. I guess I wasn't fast enough to shut it down, but that won't be duplicated in the near future. I will update all on my progress and flying and hopefully I can keep the parts list very low. I also would like to mention it flew right out of the box. The only adjustments I have made so far was to the transmitter and even that was minimal. I hear mentions of the CP being very wobbly but I was surprised to see mine pretty well stable maybe a lil on spool up but was very minimal. And my training gear came apart once because I had the balls more tensioned against the landing gear but it didn't work out. So I put it back the way the instructions show, with less tension but it didn't come apart. I don't like the way the training gear is set because the weight of the helicopter puts the helicopters skids right on the ground but it works that way. When I started on a 30 size fuel shuttle back in the early 90s the skids didn't even touch the ground. But then again with electric we are trying to save weight as with fuel it didn't hinder its proformance much and was alot heavier traning gear. :D Happy flying to all and hope you all had a great new year. Jimmi:cool:

[serpa4]

The blade is a good heli, although not necessarily labeled as a beginner heli. The parts are readily available and cheap. THis goes a long way to learning. Get the training gear! Worth the few bucks to save from tip overs. If you repair before selling to move up, your loss will be minimal.

[jimmi]

I totally agree with serpa it is a good heli. But what heli flys right out of the box with minimal tx. adjustments? Anyways I flew this helicopter today and I didn't do any bunny hops period. I took it up 3 feet up and hovered it for about 30 seconds. I did this on a number of occasions. Keep in mind I used to fly about 5 years back so everything just started coming back, thats what it felt like when I was hovering. Felt like everything I learned flying was coming back and I was just loving it. Couldn't believe this thing would fly on my second battery charge but it did. I have not used the realflight sim because I get an error that sez not capable of showing 3D so as of now I have not been able to use it and my e-mails have not been answered from great planes. So maybe its not fair to realflight at this time, but no body seems to be helping me out on my sim. Paid 200.00 plus and its just sitting there collecting dust. Anyways thats what I have to report on my second flight. Hope you all had as much fun as I had today. To bad I didn't have a second pack to keep flying but it was getting dark. ANYWAYS HAPPY FLYING :O) Jimmi P.S. I had trouble logging on this site and found out when I'm in AOL its almost impossible to log on so I finally had to go to IE to log on. I did this the other day and for some reason I forgot again:rolleyes:


The blade is a good heli, although not necessarily labeled as a beginner heli. The parts are readily available and cheap. THis goes a long way to learning. Get the training gear! Worth the few bucks to save from tip overs. If you repair before selling to move up, your loss will be minimal.

[srh990]

Glad to hear you're getting on well with the Blade, its a pity you can't sort out the sim.

I've been flying helis for 15 years, only looking at micro electric helis around 18 months ago. With heli's like the Trex, Shogun etc. its performance depends so much upon the components you use, a cheap gyro is unlikely to perform as well as a Futaba 401 or CSM 420/560, especially when matched with one of the fast micro digital servos available. The same goes for the motor, ESC, batteries etc. then you get to the upgrades....... The amount of cash some of my friends have invested in bling for Trex's would buy a nice Rappy 50!

I bought Reflex XTR and have been very impressed although it needs a pretty good video card to run it sucessfully in high resolution. I managed to persuade the wife it was time to upgrade our TV, 42" plasma :) I even persuaded her to let me build an MCE PC to enhance our viewing pleasure - of course it runs Reflex pretty well too! Years of flying have left me with a few bad habits & black spots and working hard on the sim has helped me to iron these out.

[jimmi]

thanx srh.

I have about 7 or 8 flights on my heli. and I just lost my screw that attaches to my blade grips. The heli. leaned kinda hard and one blade tip got cracked. Also I noticed my blade on the rear motor was loose so I cleaned the shaft some and reinserted the tubing back on. I was gonna buy the symetrical blades but they were out of them. They are better quality and they look like they will fly better then the woodies, correct me if I'm wrong. I also think 17.00 for woodies is alot figuring the quality isn't the best and when you can buy a trex blade for a few dollars more and the quality is much better. Also on the blade grips I tighten the screws up so the nuts could dig into the blade grips, then I loosened them up some of course. Then I put a drop of glue on the nuts. Hopefully they won't loosen up next time ;O) And flying your CP blade in windy conditions is a no no. I did it once and won't do it again as the wind just throws it around period. Only upgrades I have done are heat sinks to both motor cans. And I like to mention when flying your CP blade always do a preflight inspection you never know what your going to find loose or needing attention. Can anyone tell us what other things to watch out for on there blade or what good or bad experiance they have had? or parts wearing out etc.? Thanks to all and happy flying. Jimmi
P.S. I took back my flight simulator G3 to E-hobby in reseda which is in los angeles and got a complete refund. The owner there was nice enough to do that. I hear once you buy a flight simulator its yours to keep. But in my case I been having problems with my 3 D graphics on my computer and the G3 would not open so I took it back since I didn't get any help.

[jimmi]

Hello to all, Been flying now about 15 flights with CP blade and the helicopter flys solid. Did some circles/figure 8s and so far no problem. I should be getting 2 more batterys tommorrow so I can really fly the blades off this thing. No pun intended:rolleyes: As of now I have nothing bad to report, no parts to replace. Once I get 2 more batterys with another charger that I have sent for I will be doing alot more flying. HAPPY FLYING TO ALL..... Jimmi

[Doppelganger]

The Mikado Logo 10 is a great flying heli. There are two at our field.

Steve

[jimmi]

I totally agree with you steve and it also looks like a great performer in the air. Very rock solid!!!! A bit pricey for some of us but sure wouldn't mind having one in my stable. JiMMi:cool:



The Mikado Logo 10 is a great flying heli. There are two at our field.

Steve

[Brutal E]

Blade CP when the TX is on do not step between the heli and the TX. I have heard stories of it flying away at full throttle. For me it twitched and jerked. Happened to me twice.

[jimmi]

TO BRutal E

I was flying yesterday and I had my battery pack down low and it was depleted. So I was just letting the blades wind down when my attention went to something else. All of a sudden I hear the heli winding up on throttle up and the heli starting spinning on the ground. If the batterys were full charged the helicopter would of taken off, no doubt. And on my idle up switch I have a rubberband so there was no way I hit idle up by mistake. Even if I did the rubberband would of pulled idleup back in less then a second. I was surprised to find there was nothing I can do but shut the Tx off. But the helicopter would of taken off so you out there need to be careful. First thing I will do from now on is unplug the battery then shut the tx off. Jimmi

Blade CP when the TX is on do not step between the heli and the TX. I have heard stories of it flying away at full throttle. For me it twitched and jerked. Happened to me twice.
__________________
The proud owner of a trio of Blades one stock, one with the enhacements and recently a CX. New to this hobby since X-mas 2005.

[jimmi]

Ok about 35 flights now I have removed the collars off the flybar and it flys alot crisper. Meaning its more sensitive and more responsive. Up till now no parts to report on as far as breakdown. But upon further inspection if I hold the large wheel that the motor powers and hold it steady then move the head back and forth I have alot of play in the head. Exactly about 1/8 of play. It looks like it might be coming from where the jesus bolt goes through the shaft but I can't tell. I looked for the notches on the jesus bolt to wear on the plastic shaft for play and see none there also. I know that the play is in the head because I made sure the collar on the shaft was snug since I tightened it to make sure and can still see the head play but the shaft isn't moving. By moving it back and forth it looks like the shaft is worn right where the jesus bolt goes through and if thats the case I'm going to have to disassemble the head and put another new shaft with a new jesus bolt. I have never crashed this heli and I hopefully the main shaft doesn't break off. Anyone encounter this problem?:rolleyes: Jimmi

[Ron S]

I can tell ya what one ain't! The Blade C P (Cash Profit)after 3 weeks of trying to make it fly right,and over 300.00 later, had the trash guys haul it off a while ago. My wife(bless her soul) just laughed and said I should have just took the money and went to the River Boat to gamble! I might of (not) had a chance of winning some money! Don't compare the BCP with a TREX,MX400,ect. They actually fly right, without complete over hauls,between flights. I called my LHS and informed him, his daughter might want to keep her job at Sonic! Part of her Higher Education Fund just went South! I went out and flew one of my 3-D planes,and it flew,and did what it was supposed to! Infact it hovered better than the CP could ever hope too! And in the wind! Go,Figure!

[jimmi]

Wow!!!! Sorry to hear that Ron

I have not invested anything on this heli but blades and heat sinks. 20.00 in total and I still have the original blades which are still good but there about 1/2 inch shorter. I would agree there is no comparison with a Bcp and a T rex. Thats a night and day comparison. But I can say this much that my Blade cp flew right out of the box with no problems at all. I ajusted the gyro 1/4 turn and tracked my new blades, other then that it flys perfect in no wind. If I fly it in the wind I have to stay on top of the tail at all times and it hops up and down. But in all honesty I have been reading everyones threads and come to the conclusion that my blade will stay bone stock period. Longer running batteries are something I been thinking about and maybe a better swash and a better landing gear. But as of yet its bone stock and why would I put so much money into it knowing its limitations:rolleyes: If I want a proven flyer I will no doubt get me a T rex. But for the 219.00 plus I paid, including Tx. Its the cheapest investment I have ever made into helicopters period. I fly 60 size fuel and there not cheap. I truly feel bad that you didn't get the enjoyment that I currently have with my Bcp. Jimmi.... P.S. I would of given you $$$ and taken her off your hands Ron:o



I can tell ya what one ain't! The Blade C P (Cash Profit)after 3 weeks of trying to make it fly right,and over 300.00 later, had the trash guys haul it off a while ago. My wife(bless her soul) just laughed and said I should have just took the money and went to the River Boat to gamble! I might of (not) had a chance of winning some money! Don't compare the BCP with a TREX,MX400,ect. They actually fly right, without complete over hauls,between flights. I called my LHS and informed him, his daughter might want to keep her job at Sonic! Part of her Higher Education Fund just went South! I went out and flew one of my 3-D planes,and it flew,and did what it was supposed to! Infact it hovered better than the CP could ever hope too! And in the wind! Go,Figure!

[Ron S]

Yup! I think I kinda bought it on impulse(a bad thing) because I wanted to learn to fly heli's. And I flew ok,as long as I kept it inside,but I got really bored hovering around in my little 6x6 foot square! Another thing that (really didn't help) was a guy let me fly his TREX! I could make it do about anything I wanted it to do,and this was outdoors in the wind! It didn't jump up everytime a little breeze came in,and it hovered rock solid. I even flew it around slowly in forward flight! And the hold on the tail was unreal,no chasing it around,or blowing sideways,it was rock solid! I guess you get what you pay for! Oh well, I'm on the right track now,after a little detour! The Blade did teach me how to hover and fly. It also got the heli bug to bite me! TREX here I come! Ron:)

[jimmi]

LOL I hear ya Ron

I agree whole heartedly, <--not sure if thats a word" but if I had flown a T rex before I had flown a Bcp I think I would be in the same boat as you Ron. Yup you got bit by the T rex bug. LoL I know thats going to be my next heli but its going to be stock. I know the stock one flys great because I have been told by both bling and stock T rex owners. And most say that you will be just as happy with a stock then a blinged one. The only thing that I will be missing will be the eye candy. LOL Also been told that the T rex flys like a 60 size xcell, being the T rex is smaller of course . FWIW Jimmi:cool:

[Ron S]

Yup! They just fly right! No up grades needed,no sticky collective,flimsy landing gear,ect. The up grades are because you want to,not because you have to, to get it to fly good! Ron S:)

[Turbojoe]

Yup! They just fly right! No up grades needed,no sticky collective,flimsy landing gear,ect. The up grades are because you want to,not because you have to, to get it to fly good! Ron S:)

Ron is absolutely correct! You buy the bling mainly for the looks. For great heli pilots they can probably tell a difference from the extra rigidity of the aluminum parts but I sure can't and mine is fully blinged except for carbon fiber. It flew just as stable dead stock as it does now. It's more crash resistant now with all the aluminum though. I plowed it in sideways last weekend and the only damage was torn covering on the blade tips. I cut off the bad shrink covering and recovered with SolarFilm red and blue on the tips. (easier to see to track now) I checked it over and didn't find anything else. Hovered it in the living room and it wasn't even out of trim! Gotta love those zero dollar crashes.

If you crash a LOT then the bling will pay for itself in reduced repeat costs. If you don't get stupid like I do once in a while and try to fly way past your ability then you'll be fine with a dead stock T-Rex.


Joe

[jimmi]

Hello to all and I have a an update on the blade cp. First off I took the skids off this morning and it handles alot better no doubt. Heres a tip to all who remove the landing skids on your blade cp. I put a piece of hose tubing on the tail boom rotor/support. Since I fly on concrete I let about 1/8 of an inch of the hose tubing stick out on the bottom support and when it lands you don't feel your tail boom dragging or getting caught. It feels like a dampner system is on your tail boom when it lands. The diffrence is outstanding and it doesn't take a hard bounce period and the bottom doesn't wanna hang up on any cracks on the cement. Have close to 40 flights now, still have back and forth play on the head but I'm not going to worry about it. I think they all have some sort of play. No parts to report on wearing out as of yet. My tracking on the blades is excellent and make sure your tracking is as close as possible, makes a big diffrence. I do have a question. Do you think its neccesary to put holes in your canopy for cooling? I have noticed the motor getting very hot and would like any input. If you do put holes whats the best area? Thanks..Jimmi:cool:

[jakjr]

No holes in my canopy. I have at least 100 flights on it (most of which has been on the 3s lipo) and I haven't had any problems with anything.

[jimmi]

I don't think I have the heart to pre-drill holes in that lil helpless canopy anyways:o Besides I like the way it looks now, couldn't imagine my canopy riddled with bullet holes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it:rolleyes: Jimmi:cool: P.S. just think if it was riddled with holes I could of called it the holycopter:eek:


No holes in my canopy. I have at least 100 flights on it (most of which has been on the 3s lipo) and I haven't had any problems with anything.
__________________
{o,o}
|)__)
-"-"-

[zappedalaskan]

I think there is one bling item that made my Trex fly better. The metal washout control lever set. It made a big difference on mine. Oh and a alloy tail set up is much smoother, past that it is bling, but it looks sweet :)
http://www.dreamhobbies.com/cart/files/t_1623.jpg
Take care,
Jay

[Ron S]

Flew the friends,TREX over the week end,again! Man what a diffrence! That is definatley the way I'm going to go! It makes you feel like your in control,all the time! It is quick around center on the sticks,but if you have flown a Blade,it's no big deal! The diffrence between the two, is night and day! Just unreal! It dosen't do anything you don't tell it too! And the tail,is great. It flys like it's on rails. I was really nervious the first time I flew the TREX,but after a few seconds,I relaxed,it's soo stable it makes you feel like your in control(and you are)! It's almost relaxing to fly it,but I can't do any 3-D stuff,so I'm just flying it around! It dosen't hop around in the wind either,it just flys Ron S:)

[jimmi]

I just went out and flew my blade cp on some e-sky blades that I recieved today in the mail. Thanks david penny for being so prompt. And the helicopter tail was hunting and it was yo yoing really bad. I balanced them and tracked them and installed them and the flight was terrible. Went back inside put the cp blades back on and the helicopter was hovering like it was standing still. The e-sky blades are thinner then the blade cp ones and also the e-sky are thicker at the screw end and the screw fits barely onto the blade grip nut. A longer screw might be better off to be on the safe side. In looking at both blades you wouldn't think the trade off is that much diffrent, but it is. I think the pitch needs to be adjusted because the e-sky blades seem to have a hard time keeping a even hovering. Anyways I have about 40 to 45 flights now with nothing bad to report. No worn parts to report as of yet. If anyone is flying the e-sky blades I sure would like an assement on them. They look as good or even better then the cp blade, but flying them is alot diffrent. I know flying diffrent blades makes a big diffrence. In reading all the threads that you can use e-sky blades with the blade cp. I'm just wondering if you can use them, which I think you can. But what adjustments did they make to the helicopter, gyro or pitch? Not that I'm stumped I just don't wanna mess with my setup at this time because this helicopter hovers like its still. And I didn't want to put the e-sky blades on and having to go through the setup/trials and tribulations all over again. Jimmi P.S. I'll bet anyone, Rons next heli will be a trex :O)

Build the Best, Fly the Best, Crash the Best

[jimmi]

I have about close to 45 to 50 flights by now and so far the heli is holding up. I'm still using that POS charger but thats going to change soOn. I have a all metal swash that I got from a friend and don't know if its even worth to put on. The one I have is the original and I don't think its going to make a big diffrence unless I upgrade the head and get rid of them Z bends on the servos. I would not mind trying a diffrent tail rotor to see if it also will make a diffrence. I took the helis antena and shoved it in a straw "to bad its green":o and tied it up on the skids. I was flying today at a church and I got hit/glitch and the heli dropped about 3 feet. I thought it was going to go into the ground but it recovered. Thought the gears were stripped so checked the gearing out and it was fine. Took it back up and it was glitch free on my last pack. So far so good and parts seem to be fine. Happy flying......Jimmi:cool:

Build the best, fly the best, crash the best

[jimmi]

I just flew my blade cp today with lipo batterys and can't tell you what a big diffrence it made. The regular batterys are ok but the lipos are sooo much better. The head speed was faster of course, and I felt the heli more crisp and responsive. Spooling up were unbelievable compare to the stock battery. I flew for 45 mins. on 2 lipos and enjoyed every minute of it. If you havn't flown with a lipo battery you won't be dissapointed. The only thing I noticed was my tail was hunting a little. But I will tweak the 4-1 as best as possible and hopefully will correct that problem tommorrow. But it wasn't all that bad. I have about 50 to 55 flights now and noticed no parts wear except for the main shaft where the pin goes through, it has a little play. Also I have not used any type of oil/lube since I had this heli:eek: but will start using tri flow from now on. I can't wait to put this heli through its paces with the lipos tommorow. And the flying I got out of it today was phenominal to say the least. Jimmi:cool: P.S. Flying with lipos is like flying a diffrent heli

Build the best, fly the best, crash the best

[Turbojoe]

We had some heavy rain yesterday and it's windy and muddy everywhere so no flying today. It's killing me too. Last weekend I finally went for it with the T-Rex and flew the crap out of it! Nothing close to 3D but much more than the hovering and very minor close in flying I had been doing. It made me appreciate the T-Rex even more. Absolutely on RAILS! I even landed to take out some expo to quicken it up a little more. It's amazing how responsive it is to relatively minor changes. Even more amazing how easy it is to fly for a relative noob like me. After about 2 minutes I stopped shaking and flew pretty darned good! Though I don't have experience with any helis other than the Blade CP I can't see anything that needs to be changed that could make the T-Rex fly any better. I'm 100% happy with mine.

The Blade CP is another story. I like the size but hate everything else about it. I was going to convert to brushless and separates but now I've ordered a belt drive conversion kit to take care of that miserable freaking tail. We'll see how it goes. The kit is on back order so it may be a while. When it's done the only thing left from the Blade will be the rotor head and blades.

I just bought a Century HummingBird 3D Pro last night on RC Groups with the belt conversion. I'm really looking forward to it getting here so I can have one and hopefully two helis small enough to fly in the living room without fear of tearing down a wall if I plow it in. (The only downside of the T-Rex).

I really like the looks of the Pocket Zoom that is coming soon. If the price is reasonable you can bet I'll have one when it is released.

If I can get one of these to approach the flight performance of the T-Rex then life will be VERY good!

I think I've been seriously bitten by the heli bug. I've got over 25 planes, eight R/C cars, a 1/8th scale monster truck, a 1/14th scale Tamiya big rig and I'm starting to lose interest in all of them.:eek:


Joe

[jimmi]

Hey Joe, sounds like you got bitten by the heli bug;) I would think instead of ordering a tail drive for the blade cp why don't you just pick yourself up a honeybee king or even a c0ol. Just a suggestion:confused: The blade cp I don't think would get any better with the lipos/head speed because I think thats how it was made. On the other hand if you look at the honeybee king which I own one and still need some servos but its alot better heli then the blade cp IMO. Just one look at a honeybee king tells you its a nice looking bird and nicely built too. First off there is nothing to upgrade the king with, OoPs maybe just one thing:eek: The skids are malnourished:( and I put some beefier ones on, other then that no upgrades period. I know a guy who flys a T rex and also owns a king. And his comments were that he enjoyed flying the king a little more over his T rex. Not to say that it was a better heli just enjoyed it more, after all its a little bit smaller and I'm sure parts are alot cheaper too. The Trex reminds me of my minature xcell. If you ever seen an xcell s.e. you know what I'm talking about. I'm sure that little S@b trex flys just as good too. The weather here in los angeles has sucked for the past week, I feel like i'm still back east:o Hope this weather clears up some time so0n, so I can go rip me up a hole in the sky;) .. Jimmi:cool: P.S. I'm the oppisite I have about 10 helis lots of cars and trucks and 1 plane :O)

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter...

[Turbojoe]

Jimmi,

I was about to order a HoneyBee King but hated the idea of starting over again with a completely new bird. I did a little more reading in the forums and found the belt drive conversion for the Blade. Because I already had the Blade and so many spare parts it just made sense to go this route. Cheaper too. If I'd had an immediate buyer I'd have dumped the Blade in a heartbeat though! I've already been waiting a month for the conversion kit so it's a good thing I'm not in a big hurry! I hope he gets it released soon.:(


Joe

[jimmi]

Well then good luck and hope your parts come in soon Joe. Be sure to let us know how she rocks n roll with a driven tail. I will be interested to know if she will fly any better. Jimmi

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter...

[Turbojoe]

Jimmi,

At the rate I'm buying who knows, I may end up with a King soon anyway.:D If I can unload the stock Blade I'll most likely get a King to take its place.

I just looked at the pictures again of the 3D Pro I bought and it comes with a couple of extra heads. I'll use them on the Blade belt conversion kit. That means it won't have anything Blade related on it and I can reassemble the Blade to sell it. I'm not sure what to call the conversion now. It'll pretty much be a FrankenHeli.


Joe

[jimmi]

Hey Joe saw that you bought a hummingbird, I was going to get that as my first heli but I knew the hummingbird version when it came out and they had many problems. I used to live by century and friends of mine fly for them so I know century products well. I hope you have good luck with yours. I saw some guy in a vid throwing his hummingbird around and I was impressed. But I didn't get the specs and don't know what he was using but he was using a head holding gyro I can tell you that much. Good luck on the build and let me know what you think of the hummingbird. Since your in Zona and I'm in L.A. do you think we are getting the crappy weather before or after you? LOL Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter...

[jimmi]

Well I flew today cause the simulator was not doing it for me. Took the blade up about 40 feet up next thing you know the wind is pulling her up and I thought it was going to fly away by itself LOL I eased down on the throttle some and the heli was pushing itself into a tree limbs and I was saying to myself nope can't land there so I spun her around, well with the help of the wind of course and it was flying like a pissed off hornet in heat I came into a smaller tree about 10 feet high, she spun around again with the help of the wind of course. All this time I was fighting to save this heli like if my life depended on it:eek: Then I didn't want to land on a smaller tree so turned her around and she shot right under my 4x4 into the ground. Damn I fought long and hard but couldn't save it:o The winds were pretty bad and I knew better not to fly her but the temptation was overwhelming and I have been grounded for over a week. The results were 2 broken blades which I replaced, 1 broken skid, big deal:o and the canopy took the brunt of the force square on the nose. I'm glad I had the canopy on or it would of been worse. The crash wasn't that bad because when she went in under the truck I had her slide in underneath so the force wasn't a direct hit, it was more of a slide and yourrrrrrrr out:eek: That was about the 50 to 55 flights I have on her and I used the older blades that were nicked and I cut down about 1/2 inch. I have flown in windy weather before but I have never taken it up so high when its been that windy and I paid for it:mad:
No other parts damage to report and how was your day? Jimmi

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter...

[jimmi]

.

[jimmi]

.

[raynet11]

I have 3 Esky heli's, the FP2, CP2 and the King, and they are all good in their own right, I fly my FP2 indoors only in the basement to practice hovering as well as little figure 8's the high points of this heli are that it's dirt cheap and the low head speed doesn't burn out the motors like the on my CP2 , the weak points are that it does have a lower head speed and is fixed pitch so it's a major handfull outdoors unless the wind is under 5MPH and it's not as stable as a CP machine the best I can get it to hover hands off is maybe 3-4 seconds tops. My CP2 is a blast to fly, she will fly for what seems like forever on a cheap 3-cell 1300's the heli is still cheap by comparison to a lot of others out there performance is good on the stock setup for my flying style and with the flybar weights removed the cyclic response is very good the downsides are again like you guys have mentioned you are always flying the tail to some degree and the tail motors seem to go out quite often I usually find myself replacing about one every two months, my CP2 handles some wind but it's usually no joy if the wind goes above 6MPH. The other minor gripe I have on my CP2 but it goes for all micro's is that I have planted the thing in the ground twice because it get's to small to quick and I loose my north from south so I have to be carefull not to fly these micro's around like I do my planes. My King is still fairly new I had some serious problems with the gyro at first and I finally just this week managed to get some good flights on it the king is a lot more stable then the CP2 outdoors the heli isn't a whole lot bigger but the blades are larger and the head has a much different feel to it. Moving from the FP2 and CP2 where you always have to manage the tail to a King with a HH gyro is like a whole new world I actually have to tell myself to stop touching the tail when I fly it. I know some have reported vibe problems with some of the kings but I havn't had such problems I think it's a very nice flying heli compared to the CP2 and I'm thrilled that I won't be soldering tail motors on it every month ..:) The only real down side to the king is that the stock motor runs very hot, so hot that it melted the plastic on the canopy sitting above the motor, I was thinking of cutting a vent but I guess now I don't have to :). The fly time isn't as long on my King vs the CP2, maybe 10min on a 1300 vs 15min on the CP2, not that big of a deal I have some 3-cell 1500's I can also use with it as well. If my king is this stable I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when I get a trex but all I know is once you go to a HH gyro your not going to want to go back to flying the tail any time soon. But there is something to be said about flying a micro like a blade CP or a Esky CP2, if you master these micro's everything else is going to be a cake walk to you once you move on .

cheers,
Ray

[1LO64]

Well I flew today cause the simulator was not doing it for me. Took the blade up about 40 feet up next thing you know the wind is pulling her up and I thought it was going to fly away by itself LOL I eased down on the throttle some and the heli was pushing itself into a tree limbs and I was saying to myself nope can't land there so I spun her around, well with the help of the wind of course and it was flying like a pissed off hornet in heat I came into a smaller tree about 10 feet high, she spun around again with the help of the wind of course. All this time I was fighting to save this heli like if my life depended on it:eek: Then I didn't want to land on a smaller tree so turned her around and she shot right under my 4x4 into the ground. Damn I fought long and hard but couldn't save it:o The winds were pretty bad and I knew better not to fly her but the temptation was overwhelming and I have been grounded for over a week. The results were 2 broken blades which I replaced, 1 broken skid, big deal:o and the canopy took the brunt of the force square on the nose. I'm glad I had the canopy on or it would of been worse. The crash wasn't that bad because when she went in under the truck I had her slide in underneath so the force wasn't a direct hit, it was more of a slide and yourrrrrrrr out:eek: That was about the 50 to 55 flights I have on her and I used the older blades that were nicked and I cut down about 1/2 inch. I have flown in windy weather before but I have never taken it up so high when its been that windy and I paid for it:mad:
No other parts damage to report and how was your day? Jimmi

By any chance were you flying in "Idle Up?" That would've given you more control for the wind. Also, do you have the symmetrical blades on?

[jimmi]

To answer your question yes I used the idle up but I'm still using the stock woodies and it was just being thrown around like a feather. Not only was it being thrown around but the tail was going from side to side like I didn't have any control at all and I was fighting the tail all the time it was up into the air currents. It had to be about 15 mph winds at least that day. I knew better not to take it up that high and I payed for it. When its windy and I have the itch to fly, I keep it about 3 feet or lower to the ground so the wind doesn't pick up my heli and toss it around. If I take it any higher then the heli wants too, it seems to wanna fly off into the wind. And Its a very tense moment, knowing I cannot control and get my helicopter down as fast as I like too:eek: And I always catch myself saying, I won't do that again:o So for all you out there, I won't be doing that again any time soon:rolleyes: Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter...

[sh0rtlilvietb0i]

I just recently bought a Blade Cp And from waht im hearing.. I starting to get a little worried.... This is my first heli and I wanted to buy one that would be upgrable when I mature in this hobby.. It included carbon fiber blades and tail rotor, a lipo battery and the "performance motor" and i think ill go ahead and buy the crash kit and training kit. I bought it for 215 shiped which i thin is one hell of a steal considering most new cp (stock) sell at 215 with shipping.... Any reccomendations on my first flight?Can this thing do aerials and barrel rolls and such? :D Thanks

[1LO64]

If you're just getting started in heli's, you might as well put the rolls/loops out of your head (You'll see why when you try to hover for the first time).

Get some training gear
Get a sim and practice there first. It'll orientate you with the sticks.

The BladeCP is a GREAT helicopter to start with!

James

[Turbojoe]

James is so right! For now you'll only be concerned with learning to hover. With the Blade it's an even bigger than normal challenge because of the motor driven tail.
You won't even be thinking about aerobatics for at least three months after your first successful hover. I'm lucky and have a T-Rex and Reflex XTR simulator. The best heli and simulator you can buy and I've had them for at least 4 months. While I just recently started flying past the hovering stage I'm still NOT ready for aerobatics with the real thing. I do it with the sim but it'll still be quite a while before I try it with the real heli!


Joe

[jimmi]

Thats exactly what I was going to say, I wouldn't so much worry about loops/barrel rolls until you at least get this heli tamed and hovering. I would recommend training gear for sure, and your going to need a crash kit just incase. I think for first time heli owners I highly recommend a simulator. Why the sim you ask? Well if you do some sim time you will know exactly how to move the sticks and see just how sensitive they are. They need the slightest hand/thumb movements and if your new you will tend to give larger inputs to the sticks therefore your heli will be all over the place, and thats not good. Also make sure your collars at the fly bar are all the way out, for slower cyclic response and helps when your starting out. If you got the stock batterys there ok but knowing just how much better they run on lipos thats all I fly. One last thing I will recommend is that you make sure everytime you turn your heli off, make sure you unplug first then turn off your tx. This heli has a mind of its own LOL and always remember to fly safe and make preflight inspections. Good Luck Jimmi:cool:


I just recently bought a Blade Cp And from waht im hearing.. I starting to get a little worried.... This is my first heli and I wanted to buy one that would be upgrable when I mature in this hobby.. It included carbon fiber blades and tail rotor, a lipo battery and the "performance motor" and i think ill go ahead and buy the crash kit and training kit. I bought it for 215 shiped which i thin is one hell of a steal considering most new cp (stock) sell at 215 with shipping.... Any reccomendations on my first flight?Can this thing do aerials and barrel rolls and such? :D Thanks

[Freddy Warbird]

I don't know if the TREX is considered Mirco, but it's got my vote!http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-085.gif

[jimmi]

Freddy close but no cigar, just a tad bigger then a micro:eek: but the Trex got my vote too:D Jimmi:cool:


They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[Turbojoe]

I don't know if the TREX is considered Mirco, but it's got my vote!http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-085.gif

Yeah, I wouldn't call it a micro but I'm building a spare T-Rex that I may try to set up with micro size main blades and a lot of blade angle. It may be an interesting experiment.:rolleyes:


Joe

[Freddy Warbird]

Yikes!

[bry2254]

I am interested, I have not seen any one post any thing on the blade cx? The one with two rotor's, I am thinking abought getting one of those, only for the simple reason, it has a steady tail?
Would like some imput on this.
Thank's Bry

[jimmi]

Maybe some guys can talk about there cx here but I don't own one but have seen and read alot about them. Like you stated it does have 2 rotors and don't know what you mean by steady tail but it doesn't have a tail motor. How you compensate for tail is speeding or decreasing head speed is what I have been told. For guys who have never flown a heli the cx can be flown/hovered almost by anyone from what I have been told and read. I think being a first heli for someone, it would be a valuble trainer. I have even read where guys instead of using the sim they use the cx for nose in hover since it is very easy to hover and fly. Also the price seems to be around 189.00 to 199.00 which is better then a blade cp. There is alot of threads on the cx here and on rr but you have to look in the micros catagory. Good luck and welcome. Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[raynet11]

Just thought I'd give you guys an update on my king, I managed some 5 really good flights on it over the weekend this heli is loads better then my CP2, it shouldn't even be in the same 300 class because it feels like it's a much bigger heli I flew on saturday in winds 7-8MPH with some gusts it was simply amazing going from the CP2 the king just sat there and hovered maybe just a mild wind drift but the tail was locked hard no drift at all.. The motor heat problem reared it's ugly head again though I thought I had cured things by putting cutting out the canopy above the motor and putting 2 heat sinks on it, well that was all fine and dandy but the the thing still managed to get so hot it melted the solder joint twice... DOH.. !! I thought maybe I had a cold joint or something but after I found some solder on one of the heat sinks it confirmed my theory that yep this motor is running way to hot. I tried changing my pitch from 10 to 7 to 6 to cool things down but it didn't seem to matter much and with the pitch set to 6 the thing would barely hover at full throttle. In my frustration I ordered a few BL motors (400DH and a AM 300-L) as well as some 15C 1320 E-PRO LiPO's I figure that should be enough juice and enough motor to fly this king to the moon and back on a single pack. Aside from the motor issues I just love this heli if the king is this stable I can't wait to see how my trex is going to fly but I can tell you one thing if the BL conversion works out on the king there is no real reason to keep the CP2 around except for maybe the ocasional backyard or indoor air show.

cheers,
Ray

[jimmi]

Hey ray glad to see you got the king dialed in. I will be flying mine soon but the weather has been so bad that I have not flown for almost 2 weeks now. When I bought my king I got 2 motors with it. I hope I don't encounter heating problems like your having ray. The guy who sold me the king likes it better over his Trex. Not that the Trex flys bad but he prefers to fly the king more is what he told me. Good luck on your new motor. Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[raynet11]

Hopy you have better luck then I had on the stock motor I have tried 2 of them, when I ordered my king from helidirect they were out of the ESC and Servo's so at first I wired it up using an old electrifly C-35 brushed and my HS-55's, I figured that it was just something in my setup or a bad motor so I swapped it out with a new one and put a couple of heat sinks on it still no joy..:( I have the helidirect super landing gear mod but aside from that she is bone stock. If your going to stick with the stock motor setup just make sure the LiPO's your using are at least 10C, the 8C packs I was using with my CP2 just don't cut it. But aside from the motor heat problem I just love this heli I can only compare it to my FP2 and CP2 which I know isn't saying a whole lot but as far as my travels go this is the best heli I have had my hands on. I still plan on building a trex next month just to see what all the sink is about but if the king on BL turns out to be hot performer I may just end up waiting a bit and go back to my pile of fixed wing projects (god knows it would be cheaper to build a few more planes then to do a trex), good luck with the maiden , I'll keep you guys posted on how she performs once I get her converted and hopefully some video so you guys can see some ugly fat fisted 3D..

cheers,
Ray

[jimmi]

I hope I have better luck too ray. But if the first motor acts up I'll just go out and replace it right away I won't swap it with the other identical motor I currently have. And also my king came with the beefier landing gear which I had to install and glad I did. I couldn't stand looking at that malnourished landing gear it came with, now the king looks like it has a better leg to stand on LOL Sometimes looks isn't everything but looking at the king versus the blade cp I know darn well that the king will fly circles around it. Other then the sorry looking skids on the king, it is well built and well thought out heli IMO and just looking at the way its built you can tell its a solid performer no doubt. The bell hiller and driven tail is a very nice tight fit and compliments the heli very well. I'm iching to get this king up and flying ray. My pet peeve on this heli is it doesn't do well in windy situations. I don't care how skilled you think you are this heli has a mind of its own on windy days and it is very hard to control as I found out. Other then that its a joy to fly when the wind is calm. You also mentioned the king stood up to 7 to 8 mph winds and that to me is another reason I want to get this up and flying. Please keep us posted ray as I really appriciate your comments and others as well. Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[raynet11]

I should have her up and flying on the BL motor by the weekend I'm going to try the AM-300L first since it's a bit smaller then the 400DH ( I would like to save the 400DH for my trex build) I'm hooked hard on this heli hopefully the drivetrain will hold up well to the brushless upgrade I'm shooting for a headspeed of around 2000RPM maybe 2200RPM in idle mode and a -3<->+10 pitch in normal mode and a -10<->+10 in idle now the only thing missing for this heli is some bling I wouldn't mind some CNC control arms and a CNC swash to make things swap free and a little more crash resistant.. (crash ? who me? ) The first things you will notice when you get her up is how stable the heli is in a hover but at the same time it's going to have a lot more cyclic then your blade, a lot more... If you don't have a computer radio the king would be a good excuse to get one not to mention you can move your blade onto it as well. I setup my king with about -20% expo and about -40% on the rudder to calm things down while I'm still getting used to it but man the head is very effective and if you want to this thing will pyro like a blender (make sure your LiPO and gear are tied down good), go ahead and give it a try on the brushed motor if you gives you problems just upgrade to brushless you will get more power, draw less amps , and your runtime should be longer as well.. PM me if you need some help setting this bird up I have mine setup on a Hitec Optic-6 .

cheers,
Ray

[jimmi]

I will hold you to that offer ray:D I have a jrsxII and futaba uh8 and about4 others, but have not yet gone to pick them up at my ex's house and hopefully I won't have to buy new radios anytime soon:o Will need to make that trek s0on:eek: Man do I miss my radios:confused: Jimmi:cool:


They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[jimmi]

Well guys I finally put my blade cp out of action with about 60 to 65 flights. I was at the park doing some figure 8s and having a blast when it started to get windy. As I was getting ready to land it quickly an old lighter that I didn't see on the ground wrapped itself towards my heli. Not sure if the tail rotor flipped it up but the next thing I knew was my tail boom got sheared in half and was dangling by a few threads. It was my fault because I gave it too much pitch at once when I was landing and then tryed over correcting the aborted smooth landing and thats when I saw something flying and saw the tail boom in half. If it was the wooden blades that I normally use I would still have a tail boom. But I went to the plastic ones and they are tough as nails but have a few indentations to show off there scars. The wooden blades were ok but with the plastic ones they seem to get a faster rpm rate probably due to being a little heavier and the tracking is as solid as it gets. Only thing I don't like is when these blades get a nick you cannot cover it up. Or maybe you can but I havn't given it much thought. I can probably take my blade apart blind folded and the only thing I havn't done was trying to remove the tail boom. That remedy with using a hair blower to remove the tail boom doesn't work so I'm just going to have to purchase the frame with the boom already installed if thats how they come. I was having a battery issue because my lipo was running my heli ok but I always noticed that it didn't have enough spunk but was getting about 20 minutes of time with it. I took the wrap off and come to find out I was setting it at 1500 mah instead of 1300 mah that it required. As far as that goes my blade cp has not giving me any problems and have gone through 2 sets of wooden blades and now 1 tail boom and frame if they sell them like that. Oh btw Raynet my new radio is due in today or tommorrow and I should have my honeybee king running this week. I had to order a new tail shaft because the one thats on wobbles and ordered just about every spare part I could think of just in case. I'll be running a piezo gyro not a HH. Can I run that esky esc ray? Or do you think I may need something better? OpPs I almost forgot to mention, I did put in a new main shaft and that was because with the jesus bolt it had to much side to side play and didn't want my main shaft decapitated in flight so I installed a new one and its tight as a drum. Other then that I don't see any other wear issues on my blade as of yet. Happy flying to all... Jimmi:cool:

They say its mind over matter, but if you don't have a mind it doesn't matter

[raynet11]

Jimmi,
Sounds like you have been giving that Blade a workout eh? I finally wore out my main motor on my CP2 this weekend after flying her around for over 4 months on the same motor.. doh.. !! If it wasn't such a P.I.T.A I would consider converting my CP2 to brushless but I have since then aquired more toys so I'll prob leave the little CP2 stock , it's a great backyard flyer. Good to hear that you will be getting your king flying soon I don't know if I update you but I have mine flying good I ditched the stock esky servo's for HS-55's and I also converted the powersystem to the AM300-L , the brushless motor and HS-55's have really gave the heli a wakeup call with the extra headspeed the king is very very stable in a hover but with the headspeed up she has become twitchy on the controls so I have setup my Tx with some negative expo. I also started work on building an MX-400 of which I'm almost finished I just need to pickup a GY401 or GY240 and a couple of bigger LiPO's to fly her on, I'm pretty excited about the MX build , if the new gyro proves to be as good as everyone says they are I'll prob upgrade the kings gyro to a 240 or 401 as well , the telebee gyro I have now is working well but it still has a bit of temp drift usually during my first flight (not that big of a deal ) . The piezo gyro you and esc will get you going for now but it won't be long before you will want to upgrade to something better the gyro should hold about the same as the gyro built into the 4 in 1 you have now on your blade. The only dinger to watch out for on the king in stock form is the motor heat from the stock motor make sure you have a heat sink and give her time to cool off between flights , also while your getting her tuned for those first few flights make sure you have some training gear on her even in a well tuned state the king is rather crazy on the ground and likes to lean to one side and even tip over on you as a result I usually spool up to mid throttle and then pop her up rather quickly to avoid the ground problems. The ground handling still has me scratching my head I can takeoff with my FP2 and CP2 very smooth but my king suffers from serious ground effect.

cheers,
Ray

[Kim]

everone says 'larger heli, more stable'. i know that hb cool is bigger than hb king. should i go for honeybee cool then? it's pretty much the same heli right? what do you guys think?

[raynet11]

everone says 'larger heli, more stable'. i know that hb cool is bigger than hb king. should i go for honeybee cool then? it's pretty much the same heli right? what do you guys think?

For the sake of parts (at the moment) I would say stick to the king, it's still a bigger heli then the Blade or CP2 , the heli's are the same from the swash up the only diff between the two are that the cool has a different frame , longer boom, and larger blades. The parts stocking situation is getting better but it seems for now there are more parts sources for the king (helidirect, hobby-lobby, balsapr). It is nice that microheli has released some bling for the king and cool and rumor has it that a belt drive is comming as well I have had very good luck with with mine as far as not having any vibe problems but I know a lot of people who are not flying their king or cools because of the vibe problems so it will be good to know that they have options for getting their heli's back up and flying again.

[jimmi]

OK guys I have some update on my blade cp and I have not been flying it that much because its been to darn windy but hopefully thats going to change with warmer weather. I have maybe 65 to 70 flights now and like I said having been flying much due to wind. But I did something to the blade I said I was not going to do, you can tar me later. I have had this swash for the longest time and didn't want to use it on the blade because I wanted to stay as much stock to see what parts gave out etc. but I gave in to the unknown a few days ago and installed a beller hiller blade grips along with a swash. And went with a carbon fiber tail rotor which I had to adjust the gyro settings, maybe its due to the rotor being more stiff with no bending versus the stock one will bend easily. I am not used to this setup as it is very touchy and have not flown much due to wind but I do like the setup very much. I also noticed that my tail wasn't keeping up and at times it would almost do a 360 but luckily I had my depends on LOL j/k This has happened a few weeks back too but I just wrote it off being the problem wouldn't duplicate itself, but since then it has. Since I have 2 blades I have changed a tail motor before and noticed on the other tail motor that when you pull on the shaft it has about 1/8 of play on it and of course it wasn't no good. Well when I pulled the tail motor out of my blade I grabbed the gears at the shaft and pulled on it and noticed some play also. I grabbed the new tail motor and have noticed that it doesn't have no play whatsoever when its pulled. Maybe a tiny bit of play but its really tight. So I have come to the conclusion that if the play on your tail motor is excessive it may be time to put in a new one because they seem to get weak and with that much in and out play the motor isn't as stable as it should be therefore slower tork. I also replaced the main gear because there was too much wear where the jesus bolt went through. I'm still using lipos and now I have 3 lipos to fly with but I need the weather to cooperate. Also I'm using some plastic blades jhl that came out a while back and since I was flying on cement which I don't think i'll be doing anymore. The plastic blades looked like crap and I wasn't very happy. So today I took a small fine file and sanded the blades where the dings were kinda sticking out and that was driving me nuts seeing all them dings and I couldn't do anything about it. After I got done with the blades I couldn't believe the results and now I was a happy camper. Also the type of resin they use on them blades is very easy to take off with sand paper or file. It comes off like butter and before you know it the dings aren't there anymore and I am very satisfied with the results. I had also to replace the boom and frame due to boom strike and its all back together with no problem. I have been told to get the boom out of the frame to use a hot air dryer or hot air gun. So I used the air dryer and couldn't get the boom out, this would of been a 15 minute fix instead I had to put in a frame and pull the head and main gear and reinstall everything on the other frame. Its pretty easy to do but its a pain in da @$$ to do knowing all you had to do is pull the stupid boom outta the frame. Well I talked to someone who told me if I had a heat gun it would of came off with no problem so next time I will try a heat gun and save me the headache but I can take a blade cp apart with ease now:D which is very helpful to know and blade grips are a piece of cake too if you know what your doing. To some of you who cannot take the blade grips out because your hex screw is stripping, I was one of them. Since I have 2 hex head sets one is in metric and one is in standard set I went and tryed the standard set on my screw instead of the metric and wella it worked. So I was lucky enough to have another standard hex driver in the set and used them both on each blade grip screw and with alot of elbow they came out but they were very tight.
So my question is why do they give you a metric hex driver when in reality all it does is slip and the standard one works like a glove. In all honesty if I didn't have that hex set I don't think I would be able to get them blade grips out because I thought it was the screw that was stripped and just got lucky that I tryed a standerd version hex driver and it worked like a glove as I mentioned. Anyways with the weather getting warmer now I'm going to try and fly this blade like there's no tommorrow and I will post any other findings I come up with. Happy flying and always fly safe. Jimmi:cool: P.S. Hey Raynet11 my honeybee will be up and running this week and I will give you a shout and let ya know how it goes. Just that the weather has been crappy no I didn't say rappy. LOL

[jimmi]

Just flew about 100 minutes more on the blade cp about 75 flights, and after my second battery I noticed the heli doing strange things. Looked like it was dipping up and down, so I thought maybe interference from another radio. As I just got done doing a circuit, came in to hover from about 2 feet and the heli dropped like it was shot. Come to find the bell hiller swash, one of the balls came loose so I didn't have any loctitie and ca. it. Now if I was flying with the stock setup I doubt the problem would of existed:confused: but then thats what upgrading is for:eek: Anyways hopefully that screw is going to hold, I will have to keep my eyes on it. Other then that I couldn't be happier with this setup. Jimmi:cool:

[jimmi]

Here's my latest update and the reason I'm doing this is to hopefully help others who are having a specific problem and cannot seem to find the culprit. Sometimes it helps having 2 helis the same make so you can take from peter and give to paul when your trying to find the symptom. But rarely do I do that I have some part spares and prefer to go at it that way instead. Anyways I got about 80 flights now on my blade cp and have noticed for a while that my motor would do a hiccup like some type of interference and the heli would dip down about 6 inches. Sometimes it does it other times it doesn't and I have been watching it close. I suspect it could be the motor brush'es wearing down but I wasn't sure up until yesterday. I ran my heli like I normally do and noticed that instead of the hiccup it used to do it would do a head and tail dip and bigger hiccup. Hmm I pondered for a few minutes checked the motor and it was hot. The day before I just hovered it in the front and also noticed the motor very hot for little bit of time hovering. Anyways I went inside and changed the motor because I have been thinking for the longest that it was getting tired and took her back out and she flys normal now. So after about 80 plus flights and since I have gotten lipos which are 20 to 25 minute flights that of course would be more wear on the motor. Don't know what the life expectancy for these motors are but just recently I changed the tail because it would not hold at times and I knew the gyro didn't have anything to do with it. And now 80 flights later I just changed out the main motor and everything seems to be fine. Jimmi:cool:

[redgiki]

I've run into that a lot on brushed motors. Congratulations on making one last 80 flights; mine usually last 20-50 :)

[jimmi]

redgiki you are completly correct. When I went to lipos I had to change to a 9 tooth motor and that was when it had 50 flights on it. So that means it lasted 30 flights. I'm sorry for putting the wrong info. it wasn't my intention but I'm glad to clear it up. And the motor with the stock batteries which is a 10 tooth has 50 flights but I changed it out due to installing new lipos. So 30 flights at 20 to 25 minutes per flight isn't too bad. And I changed only one tail motor which lasted close to 80 flights and I changed it because the heli would swing the tail at times and didn't think it was the gyro and it wasn't. Whew glad to clear it all up:o Jimmi:cool:

[flustercluck]

have any of you guys used th 8T main motor (EFLH1110A) on the BCP?
I put the esky main gear & shaft on mine & it's great!!! but it seems that the esky gear has a few more teeth than the stock BCP gear and is a few grams heavier...therefore descents are faster.. so I was thinking of using the 8T main motor to increase the torque to the gear (but maybe at the expense of a few RPM on the main rotors?) and thus increase pitch response... any thoughts? (I'm using the commomsense 11.1V 800mah lipos with the helidirect sym woodies) thanks

[jimmi]

Here is an update on my blade cp I have about 90 to 95 flights and yesterday I had a tip over in the wind when I came for a landing. Thought my heli was going to do the funky chicken but I saved it. It banged the cement pretty hard and to my amazement nothing broke, not even my plastic blades. Took it up the next say and saw that it didn't have a good head speed. It looked like it had to much pitch. I took the pitch gauge and set if for 10 degrees since it had about 13 and took it back out and flew flawless again. But come to find out 2 of my servos were stripped and replaced them. I replaced a servo a while back so tha makes 3 servos replaced already. The bell hiller head links seem to wear out on one side and I had to go and buy some because they were popping out. I also have another blade cp and since I didn't have a pitch gauge a few months back it was flying like crap. Took the gauge to it and it had way too much pitch. I took the links off and turned them clockwise 1 turn and my pitch is at 10 degrees and this one has a 10 tooth motor and its stock and flys as good the the 9 tooth with the bell hiller head and swash. I put carbon rotors on both my blades and they go where you point them. One thing that will make your blade very sluggish and I can't stress this enough is to make sure your running a 10 degree pitch on your blades. It doesn't like a 11 or 12 degree pitch and if it has you will notice your heli running very sluggish and you may think your servos are getting weak or your battery is not putting out enough juice but the culprit is a 10 degree pitch. You will have a heli that has a good climbout with good spool ups and a good and robust head speed. I mention this because when my blade smacked the cement and I tryed flying it the heli looked like I was flying nimh batterys and that was due to a higher pitch then recommended. I didn't bend any links but for whatever reason the pitch just threw itself outta whack. Like I mentioned it smacked very hard on the cement and if I had woodies they would of been toasted. So if your not running those plastic blades I think they make a big difference and you seem to get a faster head speed with them instead of the woodies. Good luck and happy flying to all. Jimmi:cool:

[Sleepstalker]

Jimmi thanx for your detailed thread on the trials and tribulations of your BCP and it's life...I don't own a BCP but found the subject matter interesting. Er one thing I noticed was a lack of your report on the Honeybee King...hope nothing too wrong happened there. I am currently just finishing off a Shogun 400 with HS-55's all round an Align gyro and 2100 mah LiPo I am looking forward to it's maiden in the next couple of weeks.Regards..Sleepster..:cool:

[gtxkid]

Mikado Logo 10 because of the german made quality and the people in the states that support it.
Look at the parts
Look at the heli
Lookat the help and good people who support it

Best of all they reduced the price to get more of them out there.

Deluxe kit is only 219.00 Wow
Place like John at ReadyHeli.com has them FXeromodels.com

Once you see one then you wiil know

[jimmi]

Thanks for your kid words sleepster:) On my honeybee king I either have a bad rx or bad tx. I took it to a hobby shop because I think my rx is no good but he switched it out and still the same problem. So I'm going to try one more time and take it elsewhere and see if my rx or tx is malfunctioning. Keep in mind there both new. Sorry about not keeping up on the honeybee, but as soon as I get some time I will put in my findings. Jimmi:cool: P.S. let me know how your shoguns doing as I may be tempted to get one in the future.




Jimmi thanx for your detailed thread on the trials and tribulations of your BCP and it's life...I don't own a BCP but found the subject matter interesting. Er one thing I noticed was a lack of your report on the Honeybee King...hope nothing too wrong happened there. I am currently just finishing off a Shogun 400 with HS-55's all round an Align gyro and 2100 mah LiPo I am looking forward to it's maiden in the next couple of weeks.Regards..Sleepster..:cool: