tail holding??

[autopilot]

My friend just got a blade cp and the you have to constantly work the tail to keep it straight in a hover . I have already tried adjusting the gain and proportional mixer according to the manual. Is this normal? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.

[txflyer]

belt drive tail kit for 100 bucks from freestyle hobbies.

or pick up a 30 doller pixie 20p esc and wire it into the tail motor.. the tail will pretty much stay where you put it.. but you also need a head holding gyro

[borocouncilman]

Is this normal?

Yes. The E-Flite 4-in-1/3-in-1 standard rate gyro really makes the pilot work. On the plus side, it makes you great on the tail rotor. That said, it is a lot for a novice to absorb.

You can tweak the proportional/gain setup to improve things, but you're still going to be working the rudder during flight as the battery gets weaker. Changes in collective/throttle position will also foul things up.

The E-Flite G90 Heading Hold gyro ($85) goes a long way to clean it up. With the HH gyro, I've got my Blade CP set up now where I can take my hand off the left stick. It tracks like a dream as I move around the cyclic. Getting the most out of the G90 required some sub-trim to nail just right -- a feature not available in the stock transmitter. Even without computer radio trickery, the G90 is a profound improvement over the stock gyro setup.

There's all kinds of voodoo/home remedies when it comes to the tail rotor of the Blade CP, but you can get the stock tail motor setup to work pretty well for "sport-flying".

[Mortificate]

yes the tail on the stock CP/CPP is a joke. It has been a long time sense I have been able to fly a stock CP/CPP but I vividly remember how annoying the tail control was. Like Borocouncilman said the G90 goes a long way to easy the amount of work you will do fighting the tail.
There are some many things that can be done to help with the CP/CPP with tail control but ultimately it is this helis biggest weakness. Look around at the tail mods and see what works for you but you cant go wrong with a good light weight gyro with Head Holding to set even a stock CP/CPP tail streight. Good luck

[F1Atom]

The tail can hold pretty well if you setup correctly. If you are using the stock NiMH 9.6v battery the tail will hold for about a couple of mins of flight then start to drift. Then you would have to retrim and set off again. If you go lipo the its less of a problem but it will still kick out when you punch the heli. I got my tail to hold pretty well with touching it for a couple of seconds. Its possible to make the tail hold you just have to work it.

What I did is I took off the training gear, turned down the gyro gain and placed the heli on a nice smooth surface. Make sure trims are centered except for the throttle trim. Then with a full battery I spooled up the heli to the point where its almost about to take off (don't take off). What you want to watch for is which way the heli turns on the ground as you spool up. During spool up if you see the heli go nose right, go the proportional pot and turn it the left and vice-versa for the left. (your 4-1 may be different) Just fool around to see what works. When you get the nose straight, when you spool up the nose of the heli should stay. The entire heli may drift on the ground but as long as the nose isn't turning in any direction your good.

Once you get that squared away you want to turn the gain on the gyro up. Go slow at first. You want the to turn the gain up until the tail starts wag then back off a little to make it stop. After this your tail will should hold for awhile untill the battery starts to drop. When your power drops the tail will drift, this is where you use the trim on the radio to correct this.

Good luck!
Here is a video link for setup of the tail. Start from the first vid.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8172940920636541436

[borocouncilman]

Here is a video link for setup of the tail. Start from the first vid.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8172940920636541436

When I got my Blade CP, I watched this video series and fiddled with the gain and proportional pots as described. I didn't find it terribly helpful. Setting the pots based upon the helicopters behavior in ground effect just doesn't work. You need to get it at least 3ft in the air with some real headspeed to better set things up. Even then, you're going to need to be on the rudder with the stock gyro for all of the reasons that you described.

[autopilot]

Thanks I have a g90 that used to be on my trex untill I upgraded to the 401 so I might try that later.