First Flight B400-Rock Steady- Thanks to all of you

[drd]

I meant to put this here instead of general Heli's : Xmas brought a CX2 and my 72 birthday brought a B-400 - My first 6 second flight brought a crash. Then I joined Helifreaks and read every damned thing in here for a month, next I took the B-400 down to the bones and rebuilt it (recommend this to all ARF buyers, the head was missing parts)

I set it up according to Finless, Sokal, GR4yb3ard and at least ten other helpful freaks:

HS65MG cyclic, Futaba 3154 Tail, stock gyro -- two wheel collars each flybar end
Throt: 0 - 47 - 55 - 60 - 65
Pitch: 50-72-77-82-87 (These setting from our Aussie friends)
D/R & Expo 75-75-75 and 10 - 10 - 30 ???( I don't know why)

Couldn't wait any longer went out in 10MPH wind - 2 batteries - It hovered like a rock, it felt just like the CX2,Sounds whacko but it does. THANX TO ALL FOR YOUR HELP!

[BigAl07]

Congrats! sounds like you're WELL on your way to some SWEET flying!

[sparx-]

Nice to hear bud. I have said it 100's of times, It all comes down to setup. Start slow and work you way up. You are keeping your headspeed down which will keep the heli more controllable for you, which is great for someone starting out in CP helis. You have a Pitch curve that does not go full pitch. This is good because it allows you to get used to how a collective pitch heli flys. As you progress you can start putting in more pitch, same with headspeed.

I am not a big fan of expo, but there are a lot of flyers out there that like it. So if it helps, keep on truckin' with it :).

It's nice to see someone heeding the advice and setting up a heli to learn on :). Keep at it and have fun!

SPaRX

[darkhawk22]

Way to go! :thumbup:

[denham]

As sparx mentioned, it's nice to see someone spending the time to set the heli up for their needs. I imagine the B400 is good enough for some pilots straight out of the box with no time setting up. But for those who fly it straight out of the box and don't like it, I can imagine that they simply think it's not a good heli, not that it's just not set up for their style and ability.

I currently have a CP Pro but will be getting a B400 shortly, and I'm glad I've started reading the forums here, as now I will definitely spend some time checking the heli over and making sure it's well set up for my needs before getting out there. :)

[HeliMix]

Congrats! And welcome to the family. :hug:

Feels good to fly don't it?

[drd]

OK OK from now on just baby steps - I got so cocky I tried a pirouette and crashed - lost my orientation - the good part is, it always nosed a little to the right - now it is really rock steady almost left hand off- Only thing I did was disconnect the gyro and plug the tail servo in the rudder channel to check 90 deg, center on shaft etc. Then reset the whole darned thing. I should have been able to do this with 25 on Gyro but never felt I really did it. This was just a way to cure my paranoia. ??? What did I do?

Hey Helimax - It do feel good!

[xpower180]

drd,

I think your post may have saved my B400 from a life of crashes/repairs...

I'm a complete novice, with the B400 my first RC helicopter.

Have had a few 'wobbly' moments trying to get this thing in the air under some sort of control, but your settings have made it a different beast alltogether!

Yesterday i managed to get into a hover (of sorts) - more than i've achieved since I bought it in March!

Can you post your gyro settings, as I am running stock too, but cannot seem to get rid of drift.

Thanks for your valuable input!!! :noteworthy

[jayhoskins]

Just wanted to ask you guys, which of you used a sim before you bought (if you did) I've been on a sim for a bit and it seems pretty easy... (realflight) Hoping to get the Blade 400 for my birthday. Just wondering what it's like going from the sim right to the 400.

[CharlesC]

"drd" thanks for the input, nice setup of for us beginners!

I'm brand new to the CP heli's also, but not new to r/c. I've flown planks for about 15 years and have been racing r/c nitro offroaders for about 6 years.

I used your setup, except on the D/R and expo in respects the ail. and elev.
The pos. expo and low d/r had to much lag from intial input, to heli response for me. especially at low hover and a tight box to keep it in.
I do like the slower rudder tho!

My setup is the same as yours, except my expo is -20 -20 +25
Really like the low head speed and high pitch in your setup tho. Spot on for hovering in the living room.:thumbup:

After initial inspection and checking the setup, I'm 9 packs in now without a mishap, still just hovering tail in. All flights so far have been hovering at about 1-2 feet off the ground and practising at keeping it in a 3 foot box.

First 4 packs were in the garage (first pack I was shaking like a leaf:shock:) with the training gear on getting the feel for it and setting the trims. BIG difference from my lama's..:lol:
5th pack was in the living room with training gear on and the last 4 packs have been with the training gear off in the living room.
Been to windy out and I work 12hrs shifts, so the living room is very convenient right now
Very impressed with the B400 so far:YeaBaby:

As for sims, I bought clearView, it was a $39 download, money well spent I feel.
I spent about 2 hours on it before taking the real b400 out. I think the b400 in clearView is bit more sensitive then the real thing, but then again I'm just using a logitech game pad, so tough to tell.

[drd]

Please don't call them my settings I got them all from Helifreaks and put all thier advice together.
My gyro setting is 80 pc but remember I'm using a Futaba 3154 on tail. I also unplugged
gyro - plugged in rudder servo set 90deg and centered shaft - per Radds. I know rate set should have been OK but I never felt sure - now I do!

The experts are all right - its the setup before the set up:
1. I remove the head and use the Allen wrench tied to main shaft to level swash
2. I use a surveyers string level to set the pitch
a. Prop tail until boom is level
b. Hang $2.79 surveyers level hacksawed to 2 inches (Home Depot) on flybar
c. Set Pitch to 0

See http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=74734

[drd]

Charlie C you've got ____s - If I flew in the LR - wife would shoot me. I fly in the garage, its not the snow here in FL, the darned wind has been blowing for 3 weeks-

Wish I had bought the $39 SIM, I got Real Flight $200 and now it sets idle, Oh well I used it for about 2 months - I don't think I learned much more from it than I did from my CX2.

I' m at the point now that I'm moving toward your settings - a bit less expo.

[CharlesC]

Don't have to worry about the"wife" anymore and besides the girlfriend owns her own home, so she's ok with anything I do in mine. Just have to watch out for the flat screen tv and the dog:shock:

The low throttle and high pitch make the heli easier to fly at the negative settings for me, but when I bring the head speed up to 100% with a lower pitch curve it is a little touchy at the neg. expo..for my ability yet.

I fly at low hover and follow the outline of a 3-4 foot square box with tail in the whole time. When I can do this without even thinking about it, I'll move to the next step, tail out and fly the same pattern till I get it down.

It's tough fighting the urge of wanting to go out and try to fly all around the yard. :...: "Radd's school of flight" says it's all about learning patience and discipline, but thats not always fun :(

[LEADWORKS]

flat screen TV... living room...hover...:shock:

[21knots]

I meant to put this here instead of general Heli's : Xmas brought a CX2 and my 72 birthday brought a B-400 - My first 6 second flight brought a crash. Then I joined Helifreaks and read every damned thing in here for a month, next I took the B-400 down to the bones and rebuilt it (recommend this to all ARF buyers, the head was missing parts)

I set it up according to Finless, Sokal, GR4yb3ard and at least ten other helpful freaks:

HS65MG cyclic, Futaba 3154 Tail, stock gyro -- two wheel collars each flybar end
Throt: 0 - 47 - 55 - 60 - 65
Pitch: 50-72-77-82-87 (These setting from our Aussie friends)
D/R & Expo 75-75-75 and 10 - 10 - 30 ???( I don't know why)

Couldn't wait any longer went out in 10MPH wind - 2 batteries - It hovered like a rock, it felt just like the CX2,Sounds whacko but it does. THANX TO ALL FOR YOUR HELP!
Awesome settings bro..