sneekc

Im looking for a few tips on flying my new heli. My back ground is flying a CX2 coaxial for about the last year and I can land that thing on a dime and get it sideways without any blade clack since I maxed out the servo arms
Any ways, I have taken my new 400 for a spin, but I could use some help on locating a few items.

#1: Training gear...anyone know where to get a set that wont run me $25? Im having a lot of trouble with this.
#2: I know that some 450Trex parts will fit the B400 (canopy, blades, etc.) Is the proper size of rotor blades 325mm?
any recommendations on rotor blades you prefer?

Links are always helpful, an advanced thanks to those that respond.

almaidah

i dont have a b400 but i do have the belt cp so for training gear i hear people makeing their own for a few buck with some light sticks and some plastic ball the size is your choice... sorry thats all the info i can give you but im sure others will help more...

Torquestar

I went to my local craft shop and bought a bag of 3/8" dowels. I think they were like 12-18" long. I also bought a small bag of 1" wooden blocks, a bag of six 3" styrofoam balls, some wood glue and I had some zip ties lying around. I think the total cost was around 4-6 bucks, and would make 2-3 sets of gear if I broke something (except for the styro balls... those would have to be salvaged).

I took one of the 1" x 1" x 1" wooden blocks from the bag and drilled (using a 3/8" drill) a hole in 4 sides. I then glued 4 dowels into the 4 holes, basically making a big "X". When that was dry, I then pushed the styrofoam balls onto the dowels about 3/4 of the way into the ball. Then I removed the balls, poured some glue into the hole and stuck the dowels back in. After that's dry, I used a little masking tape and 4 zip ties to fasten it to my Blade 400.

It's worked great!! I had started with 1/4" dowels, but since I'm a newbie I had a little panic accident where it was drifting too close to a fence and I dropped the collective to nothing while it was hovering just under 2 feet in the air. Because of the negative pitch, it came down pretty hard and broke the 1/4" dowels.

Since that little incident, I've run out of battery (low voltage cut-off) while it was several feet in the air and landed on the 3/8" dowels with no issues. I'll be taking them off pretty soon after I get more confident in nose-in hover, but they've been invaluable... and the wood and styro balls don't add that much weight.

damonlee

Sneek,

Like Torque, I build my own training gear out dowls and styrafoam balls. I like my gear to go past the diameter of the blades. This is much cheaper, and besides, all the pre-made training gear I've seen is for the smaller helis and way to expensive compared to what it would cost to make the gear yourself...

fw190

My Feedback: (37)

You may want to invest in a simulator! Helped me a lot even coming from flying airplanes for many years. The Real Flight G4 is what I am using , I have tried others and still the G4 has the best physics. Its not going to be exactly like real life, and no you cant just press a red button and expect your B400 to be fixed

AngryAnalCanal

You also for 12.99 can get the training gear for the blade cp I have used it on a Trex when training friends its light and works well I find that if you use dowels and things like that it can alter your CG but the heavier training skids worked well on the old school shuttles but Im not real fond of putting those on small electrics this is just another opinion and angle to look at home built will work fine just keep your CG in check and you may also have a little less flight time due to a larger drain on the batt. because of extra weight.

sneekc

Wow!! You guys are great. I have actually purchased the "OEM" training gear, but while I wait I am going to experiment with the dowels. Thanks again for the great suggestions.

Now does anyone have recommendations on the type of main rotors to use? I am currently looking at Align carbon fibers, pros? cons?
Does carbon fiber split like wood when you have a blade strike? Yes, I've already done so and luckily didn't harm anything but the wood blades.