bladecx2/TREX450se

[dallasfreak]

Hello ,helifreaks....here goes ...I was in the hobbie store looking for a plane seen a guy flying a blade...to my amazzzzzement. I turn to my wife and said hell with the planes...SO.....220 dollars later i was on my way home with bladecx2,extra battery and blades ....20 minutes later i was in the backyard trying to fly a heli.key word trying 20 minutes later i need more blades and landing gear..... about a week later i need the upgrades for my blade so 100 dollars later i have a bladecx2 with all upgrades the {blue stuff}and I am tired of my blade now ..SO now i run out and buy a trex450 se so i get this 80% pre built ....what they need to say is 20% of the hard stuff left..... and now the dining room table is coverd with stuff trex stuff but honest i my be in over my head ...so i iam here for your help thanks David

[Jermo]

David,
get local help. Before you even spin the T-rex up google on RADD's flight school and follow his instruction. Consider very strongly investing in a simulator. I fly the Realflight G3.5.

you're costs will dramitically go down if you follow this route.

[jgoodwin]

Dallasfreak,

Let us know how you got on. I built mine in three days but I had watched all of Bob's (Finless) T-Rex videos before I received it. I think that the videos might help you. I know they helped me get everything right (or darn close) the first time (and the first rebuild... and the next..)

Good luck,

J

PS I have heard that story a few times... Buy a CX, it becomes too easy in a couple of weeks...

[MonsterMaxx]

I went down the same path. I found the CX to be great for learning orientation, it's not much of a heli, but to get your brain, thumbs and the heli all going the right way it's invaluable. That and it'll take crashes that would make the rex a writeoff.
Simulator - use this, a lot. Phoenix is probably the best of the bunch.
About 3 weeks ago was my rex's first flight. I'm now comfortable with full forward flight and have even done a few loops. Progress is slow but steady and I've crashed a few times - it happens, accept it, fix it and try again.

David, when building use the Finless vids as a reference. If you are a decent builder and follow his guidelines you'll be fine on the build.

Next find an experienced pilot before you lift off with the rex. First off, even if you build it perfect, you won't get it spot on. Someone with experience to do the first flight, check things out and get it trimmed and flying right is critical for success.
Second, an experienced pilot will be able to help you learn. No, you can't use a buddy box on your electric heli (the ESC will freak out when switching) but a little guidance goes a long way.

Good luck.

[BigMike]

Excellent advice here from Jermo and Maxx, David.
Take your time and progress at a comfortable speed unless you have an unlimited budget!! The only thing that I would add is use training wheels until you can hover smoothly and "In the Box" as Radd would say in his flight school.
Have fun.
Mike.

[dallasfreak]

Thanks for all the info I will take my time and i already have a guy to trim it out and get it ready .The cost was 100 dollars for him >was that a fair price he said it would take time around 10 hours to get it right, Thanks again and i will be back PS I to have MHA

[MonsterMaxx]

10 hours??? is he building the whole thing for you?

The guy who helped me, first off did it for free, second, spent no more than half an hour

Someone's yanking your chain at ten hours - unless he's building the whole thing from a bucket of parts, then it's about right

[dallasfreak]

He is going to set it up for flight ready double checking all my work and setting my radio up Thanks again David

[crashcorrigan]

Hello gang, I guess you've all probably heard this a hundred times over and it get's a little old after while, but here it comes. I just purchased a 450 SE V2 with all the goodies. I am an old time plank flier going back almost 50yrs, and felt it was time to break out into something new and challenging. have been running an E-Flite CX2 around the house for about a month and had no real problems. It was a little different setting up theses heli's, but I did OK. I Have RF 3.5 sim and have been working the sticks on that thoroughly. I suspect I'll have problems setting a DX7 for the proper curves and such, and naturally, I want to set it up so that she flies fairly docile until I get my head around it. Do you think I'll have any trouble making the transition? Granted,I'm pushing 70 hard but I'm always loking for something new, interesting and challenging and I have a teen age brain locked in this body. 4 yrs. ago next month I drove a NASCAR stock car at Pocono Intnt'l speedway at 160 mph, so I'm not afraid to try anything. So what do you think gang, can I handle it ? Any tips out there pe-flight and 1st flight?
Thank you all. :mrgreen:

[jgoodwin]

You can handle it. The only thing that probably will help from your plank years is how to fly toward yourself (don't try that yet though!!). I would start out just using the Normal curve until you get the hang of hitting Throttle hold and not trying to take the stick to 0% throttle (that does not work in Idle-up or sport modes!).

For normal try 0-70-80-85-90. If your head speeds seems too high or too low adjust all the numbers by 5 (except for 0). More heedspeed means more stable though and it will handle the wind better with a higher headspeed. Depending one which motor and pinion you are running (let's assume 450L and 11T) then you could probably run 0-80-90=95-100.

Make sure you set your pitch correctly too. Run all of your pitch curves unchanged. You could change Normal so you have pitch like 45-47-50-75-100 though. That is the way I ran until I got used to using Throttle hold.

Lastly you might want to use as much as 30% expo on everything. I would not lower your dual rates unless you feel you have to. I think having the full throw available is good for when you need to avoid something (like the ground).

Oh yeah, watch the Finless Bob videos!

Hope this helps! Take care,

J

[crashcorrigan]

jgoodwin:

Thank you muchly for the feed back, it is deeply appreciated. I am most grateful for the heads up on the Tx settings, that is one area I was completly lost on as far as heli's are concerned. It will be in tomorrow and I'm anxious to get my hands on it. Incidentally, I spent a little time in Portsmouth (temporary home port) while in the Navy, and I thoroughly enjoyed your country and citizens, and it appears that the good citizens of the UK have come through for me again. Thanks jgoodwin!

[jgoodwin]

Funny thing is I am not a citizen (yet). My wife is. I have lived over hear for about 8 years now. I love it and hate it. I never lived on the East Coast though I have some family in DC and Pennsylvania. Grew up IN Washington state, Live in Cali and in the middle of living there was in Army in Colorado for 4 years. Moved to England THEN picked up Helis. Good thing is I live next to farm land and parks, could not say the say for when I lived in Pasadena.

Anyway, enough about me. I hope the setup goes well for you and if you have any queries ask away.

J

PS I am 35 and have been flying for only 8 months. Rolls and flips but no inverted hovers yet. :-)

[dallasfreak]

wow sweet i have been hovering for three days now what a big change from the blade cx2.... I am taking it slow I bought the phoenix rc sim and that is just as hard ..will keep you in formed David

[crashcorrigan]

jgoodwin:

Now that is an irony isn't it. None the less, I still loved England. Also spent time in Long Beach, CA when they reassigned us to the 7th fleet. Had a ball there. I hope that I will progress as well as you and dallasfreak have behind the sticks. Time will tell! Thanks guy's!

[MartinS819]

PS I am 35 and have been flying for only 8 months. Rolls and flips but no inverted hovers yet. :-)

LoL! I'm at the same stage! Started flying in January, well, actually, more like crashing! Then really flying in March I think. Been trying some flips and rolls and tried inverted for a few secs, but I need major practice!

You guys, crashcorrigan and dallasfreak, really need to try RADD'S page. It helps a ton! It helps you build the patience you'll need to get in the air safely. Trust me. I tried to fly without anyone's help, before I discovered the freaks, and got a scar on my arm for it, OUCH bladestrike! And for setting up the heli, nothing can beat Finless's vids. I guess the only real advice I can give from my experience so far is:

1) Have some patience. Helis are very difficult to fly.
2) Take real good care of your batts! Follow all the lipo rules and get a good balancing charger. It'll cost a fortune if you don't. Airthunder batts are rising in popularity as they don't puff up in case you accidentally overdischarge them. And the cellpro 4s charger seems to be a fave for newbies. It's not too expensive but has a lot of good stuff. Set your batt. protection to high on your ESC and read any battery posts you can find. It'll help tremendously. BTW, I've heard of the BLG35X going into batt protection after just a few minutes in normal mode,but it's normal in Idle with a straight curve, which explains what happens to me. You might want to get the CC35 although it's a tad more expensive.
3) Never give up. You'll crash, everyone does. Just make some friends over at your LHS and ask for help. And you've always got the freaks here 24/7! Plus you'll find working on your heli is just as enjoyable as flying it!
4) When you do the sims, start slow, don't start messing around and trying to do flips and whatnot on the first try. Get your hover down, tail in first, then sideways, then nose in, and then you can move on to the next step. Start hovers at about eye level to avoid ground effect. I prefer the Reflex sim for Helis, I've flown in RF 3.5, FS One and Reflex, and Reflex seems to be the most realistic to me.

Good Luck, keep us informed on how you're doing!