New to HeliFrek and to Heli's in general !!!

[Touchdown]

Hello All

First off I'd like to say awesome Heli community here. I have my first Trex 450, these forums and Finless Bob's videos have been a life saver thus far. I am a low time Heli pilot (spent most of my time on glow fixed wings) I have some experience on the Megatech Housefly, the Blade CX and the Blade CP. Decided the Trex was the next logical step. Let's hope I haven't gotten in over my head !!!

Anyhow I have a quick question...What is the difference in the Trex models? I see HDE,CDE, SE, SA, XL and now V2, can someone break some of this down for me? Thank you.

[WayneBrown]

HDE and CDE are plastic frames, the HDE being a conventional setup, one servo each for pitch, roll, and elevator. The CDE was the same frameset with the addition of bellcranks to utilize 3 servos at once for the same three functions.
Both were the XL series.
The SE is a carbon fiber frameset with aluminum parts throughout, solvig one of the issues with the XL series, bearing block wear resulting in wobbles.
The SA is a budget minded version of the SE, Aluminum parts and plastic for a tough but cheap chopper. The SA also requires shorter blades.
The V2 is the latest incarnation of the SE, with more improvements to increase longevity and accuracy.

[CraterMaker]

Hi Touchdown! New here myself. I'm currently waiting for my 450SA combo to arrive that I ordered. Still has not arrived. :( I decided on the SA due to it being a recent design, but still somewhat low cost. I'm really gambling by going straight from the sim and my parkfliers to a Trex, but I think I'll do ok. I'm sure you will too! Lots of good stuff to read here.

[Touchdown]

Wayne,

Thanks for the info.

Why does the SA "require" shorter blades? I purchased the SA with the intention of slowly upgrading it's plastic parts (rotor head, tail rotor, etc.) to the Aluminum. Will I run into problems here?

Good Luck on yours CraterMaker. Bob's videos are a MUST if you haven't built one before.

[WayneBrown]

It simply has a shorter boom and tail belt. less than 5 minutes to change.