Rebuilding a 1995 XCell 60

[wnor]

My 1995 XCell 60 has led a very charmed life and has not been upgraded (including original wood blades) or crashed until I smashed it this week. Anything special about ordering parts to get it flying again with composite blades? Has MA changed its line such that part numbers derived from the 1995 manual would be incompatible? Is this helicopter too old to rebuild? What's a good choice of blades for an intermediate flyer?

[DavidH]

The part numbers are still the same. If this heli uses the A type frames then your going to be out of luck replacing the frames. But MA does have a stacked aluminum frame kit that is not expensive.
If you want to fly with composite blades here is what you will need.
If you have the 30 inch long tail boom. You can use blades up to 660 mm long.
With the 31.5 inch tail boom. You can use blades up to 680 to 690 mm long.
With a max length of 100 mm tail blades you can also use 700 mm blades on the 31.5 inch boom.

All the composite blades are good today. Depends on how much you want to spend. From MA a good blade choice would be the BBT/Evolution blades. They are not expensive and fly great.

David