AXE CP... first heli, first money pit.

[Ray K.]

Hey everyone!

This is actually my first post, but I've been reading up on what you guys have had to say about the Axe CP.

I was into RC cars many moons ago, and recently got the bug to get back into it, and chose helis as my new weapon of choice. My buddy Adam got a BCPP, and I thought that was pretty cool, but ultimately chose an Axe CP for my first bird. You know, low cost investment up front to see if I was even interested in helis...

I must say that I've got the heli bug BAD!

The first several days with my Axe were great. Much more stable than the BCCP, and I think it looks a little cooler too. I was taking baby steps, trying to hover with the training gear, and was actually making good progress. Was having some issues with excessive slop in the servo horns because of the z-bends, and was getting some rather severe control interaction. Specifically, any forward cyclic input would instantly kill my collective and send the heli earthbound, or ramping up the collective would induce a lot of rearward cyclic. I was getting good enough with it to compensate for this problem, and had only grenaded 2 sets of blades when the REAL disaster struck.

I was in a reasonably decent hover for a total newb, about 2 feet off the ground, and one of my blade grips suddenly failed. Having lost all pitch control on only one blade, it looked like my Axe was trying to break dance in mid-air. Ultimately, the heli flipped, and crashed hard directly onto the main head assembly. Ouch.

I bent my flybar, destroyed both blades, broke the flybar cage, cracked the fuse, busted the tail rotor and gear, and- this is the best part- mangled my tailboom because a high-speed and out of control main blade SMOKED that biotch.

So not being one to accept defeat, I ordered all the replacement parts I need.

I'm having a hard time explaining to my fiancee why I "needed" to buy a new radio (DX7), a new gyro (F240), a brushless main motor (Park 370), a couple speed controllers (Thunderbird 18 and GWS 2A), some LiPo batteries, and a full CNC aluminum head set, all in addition to the required basic repair bits and some extra blades. And all the stuff I need to ditch those z-bends in favor of ball links on my nice new digital servos too.

The credit card is almost maxxed- I'm looking at getting either a TRex 450 or a Mini Titan once I get the bill paid down and get a little more stick time.

I'll be sure to let you know how the conversion to full separations on the Axe goes, and any tips on which heli is the better of the two (E325 or 450) would be greatly appreciated!

Looks like I got me another money pit.... like my new Civic Si wasn't already costing too much with all the toys I "need"...

Later-

Ray

[Fade-Dude]

Money pit is such a harsh word.....

It more like a "hobby" :D

You will crash, then you will either give it up or keep on repairing..... I chose to keep on repairing... Once you start to fly better, you will crash less, I have only done like 2 pilot error crashes, but many "failure" crashes. It happens.... This is all with my walkera 36.

I recently purcahsed a mini titan, did all teh research, trex 450's are awsome, mini T seems to be awesome, and i liked the mini t more.... its all up to the individual making the purchase.... I can't really comment on how the titan flies, as i'm still waiting for a propper tail servo, but if you research you will find many opinions.

[Jermo]

You can probably get a good deal on a T-Rex 450SE RTF/ARF rather than the Titan. The Titan is newer so it's likely you won't find the same type of deals you can get for the T-Rex450SE.

I don't fly the Titan but I do fly the T-Rex 450SE. Two in fact. I can tell you I've had good success learning to fly. Starting Feb07 With the G3.5sim + T-Rex450SE I'm able to hover in all upright orientations, do flips, rolls, figure 8's, circles, and just did my first Inverted Tail-In hover today.

I don't know how good or bad that is but I'm having fun and think it's pretty good.

I'd also suggest you look around for a club with experienced copter drivers to help you. While you can learn on your own the process will be much less painful if you have experienced first hand help.

Sim also helps alot IMHO.

I'm just a new pilot like you so take my advice with a grain of salt. keep what you can use and toss the rest.

[Ray K.]

Yeah.... it's starting to look like a TRex might be the way to go. My LHS has great parts support for that model, and logic would indicate that TRex's are so popular for a reason. That, and I think they look really cool ;)

I'm making really good progress with my Axe. I'm hovering with pretty good control, about face height now. Still all tail-in stuff, and I still have my training wheels on, but I'm confident that if I can keep making progress at the rate that I have been, I'll be doing some basic aerobatics by the end of summer.

I've also found that when you're learning to fly a heli, confidence is one of your greatest skills. I've totally rebuilt my Axe with a few fresh mods (but I'm still waiting for my DX7 and LiPos) from the skids up, and doing so proved to myself that there is no "permanent" crash. Mentally, that really helped me. I'm not chicken to go more than 2 inches off the ground anymore, and having the cajones to get high enough off the ground to get out of ground effect made the process of learning to hover much easier.

Inverted? I'm going to have a heart attack the first time I try!

[Stableblade]

The money pit thing slows down with flight proficiency. I think crashes cause parts to fail shortly after if not in the crash. Since I have quit crashing, the repair bill has dropped to near zero. I have 1570 flights on an old Walkera 4 I have and the only thing I replace from wear is brush main and tail motors, batteries also. I am seeking a world record for number of flights on a Walkera 4 ! Even though I fly a Walkera 36 and have a 450SA pecking through the eggshell.

SB

[Fade-Dude]

Wow... that is ALOT!!!!!

[Ray K.]

That is a lot of flights!

And I'm happy to get more than 10 in a row without biffing.

Had a pretty good string of consecutive successful flights, but that all ended last night. I fly indoors at my work on my lunch break, and I was reducing altitude on a hover that was maybe 6 feet up. Came down a little fast, and I learned that your cyclic inputs change a little with rapid descents. I was down to about 2 feet up, still trying to level out a bit, started feeding in collective to slow the fall, but it was too late. Had a nasty blade strike and killed the blades and a blade grip.

Oh well. I have to bear in mind that I've only been actually flying for about 2 weeks, and have maybe 30 flights total. I'm still a stark-raving newb, and I think I just need to relax and take it slow. I'm not going to be flying like Curtis Youngblood or Alan Szabo any time soon, if ever.

I did, however, manage an entire battery pack staying aloft in a nose-in hover, though. For now, I'm just going to focus on my successes and try not to take the crashes too hard. I AM getting better.

I'm worried about a bad habit that I've been developing- I've noticed that I tend to take my left thumb and finger off of the collective/rudder stick for short periods. Gotta work on that too...

Ray

[gtr]

The newer kits has allen bolt on the feathering shaft. The phillips version are known to fail so helimax offered a free upgrade.

http://www.helimax-rc.com/techsupport/hmxe04tech2.html

[Major Bladebreaker]

Has anyone tried XMSeller's full CNC head for the Blade CP on the Axe?

Here's the link:

http://www.cnchelicopter.com/servlet/the-53/HDX-3dx-300-blade/Detail

[Ray K.]

I don't think that will work. My buddy has a BCPP, and the mainshaft diameter on his Blade is WAAAAAYYYY smaller than the Axe. And the swash dimensions are totally different too.

Sorry!

Ray

[Iceman140]

:lol: Let's see. One Axe CP $199.99. First parts order, $90.00. Gotta order 2 and 3 of all breakables. Ok, it's all breakable, I know. Hmm, forgot some parts. Second parts order and another battery. One RealFlight Sim w/ FP1, $199.99, www.ToyHaus .com. And I needed a micro Receiver for a small plane and 4 small servos, cue one Futaba T6EXHP heli radio, $154.00 TowerHobbies.

My question, what money? Now I have a radio I can use for another slightly bigger heli and a gas trainer plane. Did I mention I've only been doing this since April?

But hey, it's only money. Keep it flying guys. Have fun!!!!!!! :glasses2:

[Ray K.]

LMAO!!!

That's pretty much exactly how it went for me. I don't even want to know how much loot I've dropped on just repairing my ACP, much less modifying it.

What started off as a simple $200 purchase to see if I even like helicopters has turned into a $2000 juggernaut... what, with the sim (Reflex), the radio (DX7), and all the other crap I've bought. Now, I'm spec-ing out all the parts I'm going to need to go to a direct-drive, brushless tail setup. I think I can do it for about $85.... but it also means that my 2 extra tail rotors are going to be useless now. $12 down the toilet.

I knew going into this that it wasn't going to be easy. No one said that it was going to be *this* expensive though! It's still cheaper than paintball, though....

It's like a sickness- my heli is putting me in the poorhouse! I haven't even mastered my Axe and I'm already looking at getting either a TRex SA or a TT E325 Mini Titan. There's something wrong with me! My weak-ass justification is that I want something that I can fly outside when it's a little windy. My ACP gets it's butt kicked in the wind, and flying indoors is getting old.

Kiss away another $700.... all because I'm hooked on rotary-wing flight!

-Ray