mCPX to 450X survival notes

[Kumba]

So, coming from an mCPX to the Blade 450X, I found there was some important lessons and tools needed. This post is to help others who may be doing the same things.

First and foremost, you will need tools. Not because they are cool, but because they will be needed after you forget these don't bounce like an mCPX when you do something silly.

Tools I have found to be required:
1) A decent blade balancer, like seesaw or a bolt with two nuts on two glasses
2) A digital pitch gauge like the RC Logger or Bevel Box, some have used their phones
3) The silly looking Blade swash leveler tool (makes things go quicker IMHO)
4) A decent 2.5mm hex driver
5) Two decent 1.5mm hex driver
6) A decent #0 phillips screwdriver
7) A decent #00 phillips screwdriver
8) Some electrical tape for blade balancing, I have the colored kinds
9) "Blue" thread locker equivalent to Loctite 242
10) 4" Needle Nose pliers
11) Zip Ties

Things I have found to be handy overall:
1) Ball link pliers (hated jamming the ball into my fingers!!!)
2) enamel paint pen or some bright color nail polish for blade marking
3) 30-watt soldering iron with solder
4) wire strippers and cutters
5) A cheap organizer with locking compartments like a pill box or tackle organizer
6) Thick and Thin CA for fixing the canopy and frame after a crash
7) Little condiment jars for cleaning parts
8) A cleaning lubricant of your choice.
9) Q-Tips for cleaning those hard-to-reach places
10) White Lithium Grease for rebuilding stock servos only

Here's a list of parts for a crash kit in case you aren't near a LHS and want to pre-order:
1) Feathing shafts
2) Main Shafts
3) Blades (Align 3G blades work good, and inexpensive)
4) main gears
5) Tail Boom
6) Servo gears (or just get metal gear servos)
7) Swash linkages
8) Tail Blades
9) Tail Linkage and Guides


I would recommend you download the AR7200BX manual from here and run through the whole "Setup" procedure for your Heli: http://www.spektrumrc.com/ProdInfo/F...-Manual_EN.pdf

People have found that their follower arms hit out of the box. Doing the full set-up has helped. Plus it's good training for when the inevitable happens. It will probably take you an hour the first time you do it. You will need items 1 through 3 from the required tool list to properly do this. When done, you should have a pitch range of 12 degrees without any binding no matter how cyclic input is applied.

There is a strip of Velcro include with your heli. Take one side of the velcro and apply it to where the battery sits in the front of the Heli. Then cut about a 1" piece of velcro from the other side and put it on the battery at about the half-way point. Make sure the battery is sitting with the leads facing down and in a manner that makes the canopy easy to get on and off. If you do not do this, YOU WILL DESTROY YOUR BATTERY AND POSSIBLY YOUR HELI! You have been warned.

Whenever you are working on your 450X under power, ALWAYS set throttle-hold on your transmitter! If you don't, when you come out of doing your setup or parameter config the heli could decide it's time to spool up. Plus it's a good safety habit to have. Just get into the habit of flicking throttle hold on unless you are flying.

Hope that helps.

[Talesin]

Additional notes for those just getting into larger helis:
-Don't try to fly it without the velcro stuck on the pack and heli. The strap will NOT keep it in place with the canopy on; it'll get pushed up into the motor, which will chew a nice big hole in it (and possibly cause a fire!), PERIOD.
-Crashing is a true pain in the ass. Even a light tap and you're done for the day; you'll have way more parts than you'd expect that will need to be replaced, and it's a lot more involved than on the mCPX.
-Take a picture of how your wires are dressed, if you ever want to get them back like that. Also note which servo goes to AILE, and which goes to AUX1. Zip ties are annoying. Consider a zip-tie tensioning gun from your local home improvement store; it'll leave a hand free to pin the wires the way you want them, while cinching everything down solid.

I'd also add a set of tail pushrods (two in a pack) and guides, as well as a set of tail blades and horizontal/vertical stabilizer set to the list of preemptive spares. An organizer-toolbox is also a must; try to get a toolbox with pull-out side drawers, with removable drawer partitions. Keep your tools in the top section, and dedicate a drawer each to the spares for each heli you have (or a drawer for hand tools if you want to put your 450X spares in the top, due to size).

EFlite sells a matched set of hand tools (1.5mm, 2mm, 2.5mm allen, #0 and 00 philips, and a small standard screwdriver) for fairly cheap, which are well-made; can just use the pack-in 1.5mm allen key for the other side when you need to get your feathering shaft out.
Don't go for the Align angle-nose ball link pliers, they're designed for a 500-700 size heli; they take the smaller 450-size links off perfectly well, but getting them back on? I just use my fingers at this point. Exercise in futility to try to use the pliers for that as the forks are just too big.

[Armyguy8675309]

I think we might have our first sticky!!! Great information!!

[ShaneJourdan]

Nice Kumba +1

[Kumba]

And now that I am awake, here's some of the tools I use or would suggest for starters:

Organizer: http://www.harborfreight.com/24-divi...ner-94458.html
Ball Link Pliers: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...rs-all-RVO1005
Blade Balancer: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...m-450-AGNH1004
30w basic soldering kit: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062758
E-Flite Heli Tool Set: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...t-6-pc-EFLA261
Blade Swash Tool: http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...-b450-BLH1690A
RC Logger Gauge: http://www.rclogger.com/index.php/pr...al-pitch-gauge
Wire Stripper/Cutter: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=3932542
Condiment cups: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-...-Cups/14964954
Align 3G Blades: http://www.alignrcusa.com/index.php?...oducts_id=2043

Most everything else I would start at your local hobby shop then progress to your home improvement or hardware store of choice. A paper towel or cheese cloth laid out like a place mat is also a good idea because if you drop the small parts they do not roll off the desk. Instead they just stop where they land. You can also take a dry-erase or non-permanent marker and write on top of the organizer so that when you are taking your heli apart you know what parts are in what compartments. This is VERY useful when replacing the feathering shaft as the inner and outer race look identical but are not.

Lubricant is a hotly contested topic. Feel free to search the site for what others like (or don't like) about lube sprays. To each their own on this one.

Hope that helps. And the idea of the thread was to just add common sense things to it. Like I totally forgot about mentioning the Velcro. See, it's already working

[puttekula]

Great info guys as I think there are a lot of us coming from that small bird and taking the step into the "real" world of rebuilding helis...

[dasBlade450]

Mods.....
May we please make Kumba's notes....a "Sticky"???
Thanks!

[Armyguy8675309]

3rd time I went looking for this post since it it has some great info. Thought I would post a comment to bring it back to the front page.

Subscribed just so I can find it again.

[barry1me]

great thread.....im going to moving from my MCPX to the 450X also.

Overall how do you like the 450X coming from the MCPX? Great Thread!!

[jetskier416]

Its totally sweet, just flew my 450X on Monday like I do my MCPX for the first time ever, pop the cherry so to speak, but it flew great straight outa the box.hovered it a few times before and was super intimidated by it, but I said go for it and man I was impressed, after a few stall turns I started to shake and had to land it. But like they say if yoy can fly theMCPX you can fly anything, all you need is plenty of space, no disrtactions and some altitude, 20 feet is a low point but dont get it to high you lose orientation. I am still a newb

[CrazyComi]

Thanks Kumba this is great stuff i am new to this so this is very helpful to me

Originally Posted by Talesin

Don't go for the Align angle-nose ball link pliers, they're designed for a 500-700 size heli; they take the smaller 450-size links off perfectly well, but getting them back on? I just use my fingers at this point. Exercise in futility to try to use the pliers for that as the forks are just too big.

I wish i knew that before i bought the Align pliers, plus when i work on my 450 3D i cant get to the swash links with those pliers even just to take them off so what ball link pliers will work with the Blade 450? and it sounds like a digital gauge is a must have for the 450X is this correct?

[Drivinfast247]

Awesome!! Thanks.

[Armyguy8675309]

I've been looking at ball link pliers thinking I should get a pair. I haven't as of yet.

[Talesin]

Originally Posted by jetskier416

Its totally sweet, just flew my 450X on Monday like I do my MCPX for the first time ever, pop the cherry so to speak, but it flew great straight outa the box.hovered it a few times before and was super intimidated by it, but I said go for it and man I was impressed, after a few stall turns I started to shake and had to land it. But like they say if yoy can fly theMCPX you can fly anything, all you need is plenty of space, no disrtactions and some altitude, 20 feet is a low point but dont get it to high you lose orientation. I am still a newb

The beautiful bit about being too high is that you can just bang the sticks until you see a silhouette you recognize and responds like you expect it to. Then just get it a little closer so you don't lose it again. Considering getting a satellite unit, just because I tend to fly as high as I can see (woo HD aerial camera shots of the city!) and started to worry a little about what kind of real range limits the unit has.

Originally Posted by CrazyComi

Thanks Kumba this is great stuff i am new to this so this is very helpful to me

I wish i knew that before i bought the Align pliers, plus when i work on my 450 3D i cant get to the swash links with those pliers even just to take them off so what ball link pliers will work with the Blade 450? and it sounds like a digital gauge is a must have for the 450X is this correct?

No idea, but there are smaller (cheap) no-name ball link pliers that work perfectly well. The Aligns are just about 1-2mm too big, and so the fork slips off the link when you're trying to snap it back on.
A digital pitch gauge is pretty much a must, yes. The RC Logger gauge is great as it clips onto the blade and gives a 'traditional' read; I picked up the BeastX bevel box though as my LHS had one on the shelf, and just let the magnets stick it to the top of my blade grip bolts. They're flat after all, and steel, and appear to work fine.
Especially so as they flex a lot less than the blades do/can. Cost just as much as the RC Logger would have, too.

[bradharvy]

Originally Posted by Talesin

The beautiful bit about being too high is that you can just bang the sticks until you see a silhouette you recognize and responds like you expect it to. Then just get it a little closer so you don't lose it again. Considering getting a satellite unit, just because I tend to fly as high as I can see (woo HD aerial camera shots of the city!) and started to worry a little about what kind of real range limits the unit has.


No idea, but there are smaller (cheap) no-name ball link pliers that work perfectly well. The Aligns are just about 1-2mm too big, and so the fork slips off the link when you're trying to snap it back on.
A digital pitch gauge is pretty much a must, yes. The RC Logger gauge is great as it clips onto the blade and gives a 'traditional' read; I picked up the BeastX bevel box though as my LHS had one on the shelf, and just let the magnets stick it to the top of my blade grip bolts. They're flat after all, and steel, and appear to work fine.
Especially so as they flex a lot less than the blades do/can. Cost just as much as the RC Logger would have, too.

Are you talking hobby Haven or Hobby Town? I run over to the Haven all the time!!!
Where abouts are ya, I'm down south and fly at a real sweet ama club that only has about 8 members! Freaking awsome.2 runways a north and a south!
PM me if interested, I'd come up north or invite you down south, Raymore.. I'd love to find a flying partner, everyone else is into planks!

[Talesin]

Awesome. PM sent.

[distructor]

I have a couple of ball link pliers,but like the heli-max one for the 450x as it seems to fit a little better.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXM089&P=ML

[WildBlueYawnder]

Originally Posted by Talesin

Additional notes for those just getting into larger helis:
-Don't try to fly it without the velcro stuck on the pack and heli. The strap will NOT keep it in place with the canopy on; it'll get pushed up into the motor, which will chew a nice big hole in it (and possibly cause a fire!), PERIOD.

Talesin, thanks for this post. I have velcro on my batteries but I had a tight canopy fit and let a battery get too close to the motor. Luckily I saw your post and checked my batteries and sure enough I had a wear mark on one of them (not bad or deep). Now I am real careful to make sure the batteries are not touching the motor. To show you what a 450 size newbie I am I didn't even realize the motor was an out runner until I saw your post. Thank you!

I am really impressed with the 450 X.

The weather has been real poor here for several weeks but the sun finally made an appearance so out came the birds (mCP X and 450 X).

The 450 X is the best 450 size helicopter I've owned.

Here are a few videos from this week:

mCP X mild 3D and lots of inverted

Blade MCP X Stunts 3D (2 min 46 sec)

mCP X less 3D and more circuits around the field

More Blade MCP X Stunts 3D (3 min 5 sec)

Blade 450 X Normal mode forward flight

Blade 450 X Normal Flight (3 min 38 sec)

Blade 450 X Short flight

Short Blade 450 X Normal Flight (1 min 17 sec)

[Talesin]

Glad it helped someone in time!
At this point I stick the battery on, and do a 'push test'... shove it toward the motor as hard as I can, before putting the canopy on, just to be absolutely certain it can't physically end up anywhere near there. One of the few flaws... the canopy being just a *little* too small, and there not being a protective 'lip' between the battery and motor.

[Heli.Maniac]

Wow so much nice info here. Please make it a sticky

Also, a good thing would be some 3M 4010 or 4011 tape. Its very good for the BeastX, as it stops the wobbles under load, but its also very thin and can be used to mount other things on the heli. I always end up using some on my helis. Also they dont leave any residue so they are quick to be cleaned

I have an analog pitch gauge that has a needle on the end like this one: http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/imag...MOADJDKBFH.jpg . Will it work well for FBL? I can use my phone, but I dont think its going to be accurate enough.