Show off your sweet helis

[SkunkyMagoo]

Yea I switched from the plastic rex canopy to the fiberglass because you dont need to trim it at all.

I have my carbon rod running through the anti rotation bracket.

[Balil]

something i thought about doing was buying the canopy mounts from microheli for the t-rex and screwing them into the stock holes on the b-400. but im not goin to rebuild my 400 until i am able to NOT crash my cp+

[SkunkyMagoo]

Are you talking about the stationary type mounting? Like two metal rods, with like a dimple on the end? I am not sure what the real rex uses, but copterx, ninja 450 and the like are setup like that.

I REALLY WANT SOME OF THOSE!

Let me know if you have a part number.

[jasmine2501]

Originally Posted by Balil

something i thought about doing was buying the canopy mounts from microheli for the t-rex and screwing them into the stock holes on the b-400. but im not goin to rebuild my 400 until i am able to NOT crash my cp+

Actually, I would highly recommend not trying too hard with the CP+ - if you can understand how the controls work well enough to hover a little bit, and you have plenty of sim time, I would say go for the Trex or the Blade 400. The bigger helis with faster head speed will be easier to fly. Alternative would be to hook up the CP+ to a real radio so you can program a higher throttle curve, or fly it in idle-up. I was really unhappy with the CP Pro - it sucks horribly. I put a little bit of work into it to try to improve it, but no matter what you do, it will never fly as good as a Trex 450 - unless you upgrade it to the point where it is basically a mini-Trex, which can be done apparently, but I don't think it's worth the money when you can just get a decent heli, probably for less.

I will look into the upgrade parts for the 400, and replace them if I break stuff. I was able to get the PnP version a bit early, because my LHS guy really is dying to know how it flies, and he was happy to sell me one for the PnP price and he kept the radio.

[SkunkyMagoo]

Originally Posted by jasmine2501

Actually, I would highly recommend not trying too hard with the CP+ - if you can understand how the controls work well enough to hover a little bit, and you have plenty of sim time, I would say go for the Trex or the Blade 400. The bigger helis with faster head speed will be easier to fly. Alternative would be to hook up the CP+ to a real radio so you can program a higher throttle curve, or fly it in idle-up. I was really unhappy with the CP Pro - it sucks horribly. I put a little bit of work into it to try to improve it, but no matter what you do, it will never fly as good as a Trex 450 - unless you upgrade it to the point where it is basically a mini-Trex, which can be done apparently, but I don't think it's worth the money when you can just get a decent heli, probably for less.

I will look into the upgrade parts for the 400, and replace them if I break stuff. I was able to get the PnP version a bit early, because my LHS guy really is dying to know how it flies, and he was happy to sell me one for the PnP price and he kept the radio.

I have only upgraded what has shown to be weak for me. I am not like those j-holes who say the blade sucks and you have to upgrade everything on it right when you get it...that is simply NOT the case. If you have setup the swash correctly, everything is tracking good, and you dont pile into the ground mid piro flip then you have nothing to even upgrade.

I have a JR servo set I havent even put in yet, the stockers are fine for now.

I just did some minor upgrades like blades and tail to make it perform better, none of it is a necessity.

You may find you dont need to do anything to it, and you may find a few things you would like upgraded.

But the pro wood blades fly much cleaner than the stockers, that would be my first thing to change.

[jasmine2501]

I don't plan to upgrade anything just for the sake of doing it. I did have to balance the blades, which were pretty far off, and I had to put some subtrim to get the geometry right, but I'm not going to bother to buy anything for it until it breaks. It's not my only helicopter and I have plenty of planes, so it's not like a crash is going to ruin my day or something. I'll get parts as I need them. On the Trex though, I have replacement parts for most of the head in my flight box already. I enjoy flying it very much

[Twmaster]

Here are shots of my Blade CX (Converted to CX2) and my Blade 400 which is still under reconstructive surgery. The last photo is what that B400 looked like when it got here.

[beemer]

Here's my bird.

It's an Align MD500E fuselage with Heli-Max MX400Pro mechanics.
Hanging under the heli is a wireless colour video camera (in the red pod) and spotlight. The camera pod and spotlight are controlled by separate servos. The heli has full lighting. Nav lights in the skids, belly and top mounted quad-flash strobes and a landing light under the nose.

The mechanics have been upgraded to an all aluminum head. Since this isn't a 3D machine I chose to keep the mechanical CCPM and not upgrade the mechanics to the 120-swash.

(These pictures were taken before the landing skid lights were installed)

Next upgrade: Compass-lock system to keep the camera and light "locked on target".


Sasha

[theecoop]

images not showing,but sounds sweet
what camera package you using , what type cost to get one?

[Lieutenant Loughead]

Wow! I really like the camera pod -- it looks scale!

[theecoop]

That rocks,please give info on camera package and spot light too.

[beemer]

Originally Posted by theecoop

images not showing,but sounds sweet
what camera package you using , what type cost to get one?

Thanks Theecoop,

I couldn't get the images to show as thumbnails, so that's why the full size images are showing.

The camera is a small wireless 9V one. It's similar to ones you can get through online hobby sites but I've had it for about 5 years sitting in a box. I tore it down to the basic components and made the camera pod from white ping-pong balls which I then painted to match the heli. The camera, regulator and TX are all contained within the pod. Trying to stuff everything into a ping-pong ball is quite the chore! The only wires that exit the pod are the power leads and the (short) antenna wire, which are both routed up into the heli.

[theecoop]

well I might add you did a fantastic job on it

[beemer]

Originally Posted by Lieutenant Loughead

Wow! I really like the camera pod -- it looks scale!

Thanks. I've actually had a few police officers wonder if it could be used for basic surveillance or to video accident/crime scenes.

[theecoop]

did you tell them pilot came with it for a fee,lol

[beemer]

Originally Posted by theecoop

well I might add you did a fantastic job on it

Thanks. I took these pics back in April so that I could send them in to RC Heli Mag. And then I was happy to see that last month it got published in their Hangar section.

[beemer]

Originally Posted by theecoop

did you tell them pilot came with it for a fee,lol

Good thinking, I never thought of that!

Unfortunately the MX400Pro isn't quite up to the task of hauling around the big fuselage, camera, batteries etc. So flight times are kept a bit too short. I plan to swap the mechanics for a T-Rex 450 so I can use longer blades (the MX400Pro has a shorter tail boom so I can't use the long blades).

[theecoop]

I still have to finish my T-rex450 SA conversion kit from old t-rex450XL. Having some back issues. So as soon As I can I will get some photos up. I also have a Caliber30 gaser..What a sweet bird it is for a beginner in gas.

[beemer]

The Kyosho Caliber line has always been a solid performer. I'd love to get into a nitro heli myself. I've been eyeing the Helimax Kinetic 50 since it was released. I'd like something I can add a large scale fuselage to without overloading the engine.

[theecoop]

Im still learning,Someday i will get G4 sim. I thought i was going to be able to get it a few weeks ago then my back went out so been off work abit..

[HeliG]

ecoop,
I wish you had the G4 now with you being off work with back issues. We are still waiting for you to join our fly-ins!

[SkunkyMagoo]

Here is the latest glamor shot of my 500.

[theecoop]

skunkymagoo ouch... HeliG me too.it would be great

[SkunkyMagoo]

Yep pretty good one.

My main shaft is at a good 25-30 deg.

[jasmine2501]

Originally Posted by SkunkyMagoo

Yep pretty good one.

My main shaft is at a good 25-30 deg.

I hope you don't feel too bad if I LOLed a little at that

It is amazing how much damage these things do to themselves. If it was a plane, and every single part on it was bent out of shape, I'd probably trash it, but that all looks totally fixable :p