Two lessons learned - the hard way

[Blade Ruiner]

Let's see. This morning, I wrote this:
Went out and bought the CP Pro yesterday and got the G90, an extra Li-Po, training gear and some extra blades although for right now, I'm using the plastic flat bottom blades from the CP. I also had them setup and trim everything for me and then they test flew it in the store. I brought it home and tried it out. That HH gyro makes all the difference in the world! I'm sure the hobby shop trimming everything for me helped as well. Between the G90 and the flat bottom blades, I almost looked like I'd been flying for years. I could hover in a 3x3 space, no problem. With the CP I was all over the place and eventually would have to cut the throttle and drop it or hit something. The Pro is a bit "twitchier" than the CP was but that actually helps me since I have very fast reflexes and the CP didn't seem to react quick enough sometimes.

"I almost looked like I'd been flying for years".

Lesson 1: Overconfidence is a BAD thing. I realized that while I was sweeping up the pieces of my brand new CP Pro.

"I'm using the plastic flat bottom blades from the CP."

Lesson 2: Those "indestructable" Plastic blades are a bad idea. The wooden blades are much cheaper and easier to replace than a TAIL BOOM.

"I also had them setup and trim everything for me"

I guess I get to figure out how to trim it all myself now, after I'm done rebuilding it. :arggg:

Sigh! I'm going to go hit that 12 pack of Foster's in the beer fridge now. :(

[tonyxcom]

I told everyone to be careful with those plastiblades, they are really flexible and heavy so boom strikes are inevitable, unless you are really good at setting it down gently everytime you land.

But for most begineers like you and myself, when we start loosing it we just dump the collective to put it on the ground.

I was having boomstrikes from dumping it from 3 feet. Never had that problem with the woodies.

[Blade Ruiner]

Yeah, I've heard about the plastic blades. I don't honestly know what was going through my mind when I bolted them on. Anyway, while hovering in front of the house, I got turned around to nose-in (not sure why) and a soon as that happens, I'm in trouble. I haven't learned to reverse the controls in my head fast enough yet. I might have been able to catch it if I could have spun it back around to tail-in in time but at that point it was headed towards my 6 year old son. He was at a good distance but the heli was closing the gap fast. All I could do was "dump it" in the grass. I didn't even realize I'd cracked the boom until I checked it out (I was looking for rotor damage) and then tried to fly it in the garage afterwards. As soon as the gyro spun up the tail rotor good and hard to straighten it out, the force tore off what was left holding the tail on and the whole thing spun wildly into the concrete wall. It happened so fast it was impossible for me to react. I actually saw the tail tear away just before the crash.

It's repairable but it's going to take a lot of work. Fortunately, I've rebuilt my old CP so many times, I'm starting to think I can do it blindfolded. I'm using what's left of my CP for parts.

[Blade Ruiner]

The hard part is going to be fixing my self confidence. I've wrecked so many times, I'm afraid to try to fly these things anymore. :shock:

[Funky]

Don't get discouraged. When I fly my Blade i rarely make it through both battery packs before a wreck. I bought the Blade to try all of the things I am scared to try with my other helis. If you aren't wrecking you aren't trying hard enough :D

[Blade Ruiner]

Oh, I'm not giving up. I just feel the need to take a break from the helis and fly my planes for a while and then I'll try the helis again.

I spent two hours today taking inventory of the usable parts of both my old CP and the CP Pro. I then proceded to take the good parts from each and build one heli. Not sure what to call it though. Kind of a hybrid of both. I have the receiver, 3in1 and motors (same as CP?) and also the gyro from the Pro but am using the frame and rotor head and blades (flat wooden ones this time) from the CP. The rotor head for the Pro was Ok but I thought why not try the old CP head and see if it makes it a bit easier to control. With the old style CP head, the G90 gyro and the flat bottom blades, I found it was extremely stable once I got everything trimmed. It flew almost as stable as my CX. After a quick test flight I then set it back down before anything bad happened. Once I get back into flying it and get more skilled, I'll put the Bell/Hiller rotor setup and a set of symetrical CF blades I have back on.

Gary.

[JesusFreak]

Gary:

Hang in there. The Blades a piece of cake to repair and setup. After a few more crashes, you'll be like a NASCAR pit crew. I usually donk my blades, main shaft and gear. The rest holds up pretty well. I've replaced a couple Canopies too. ;)

The great thing about the Blade is it's durable and the parts are inexpensive. So saddle back up and have at her again.

Cheers!
Lee

[frankos72]

Here's my 2 cents.

I've made 5 upgrades to my cp that has made it great to fly. (although I'm still a noob)
1. bought the aerobatic upgrade(24.99). In the end I'm only using the motor with the 9t pinion(which I believe is the same motor diff pinion so when the motor dies i can use the other)
2. eflite 800mah lipo(34.99). This is only a cheap upgrade if you already have a lipo charger.
3. Single conversion shorty futaba rx crystal(14.99) so I can use my futaba 9c. This is by far the most important upgrade I have made. With my futaba I can fly for a short 10 sec hover and if I don't like something I can change the pitch/throttle/cyclic to my liking. After I got it all dialed in yesterday I hovered through the entire lipo!
4. super landing gear (12.99) from helidirect. I haven't broken the gear since I bought it. It did cause me to break the boom though as it supports the boom and I had just setup the futaba and I had too much negative pitch with the trottle up. When I dumped it, I'm guessing the downward force broke the boom as it broke right where the support is. ( could have been upgrade 5 also though)
5. Plasti blades ($19.95) THe extra weight makes the heli alot more stable. Not to mention I've crashed them about 5 times and they are still flying great!

The only real problem I'm having now is that the tail moves alot when I go up and down in throttle. I think I could fix it with revo mixing, but instead I just programmed my idel up 1 and 2 to have fixed throttles so that hopefully I won't have that problem any more and I'll just control the birds up and down twith pitch.

[steve28]

the upgrade motor is not the same motor , it is a faster motor , it would produce much too high a headspeed with the 10 tooth pinion on it and thats why it comes with a 9 tooth , if you put the 9 tooth on the other motor you will not likely even get off the ground .

[Paul Hinz]

The upgrade motor is the same motor just with a different pinion on it. It needs a smaller pinion because the extra voltage of the lipo will raise the headspeed, and the the amp draw of the motor will get to high and fry the motor.

Paul