SeaComms

Well....

Anyone who has read my previous rants would know I have been plagued with dramas since I bought my Blade 400. It was shipped in Mode 2 despite requesting and being invoiced for Mode 1, they replaced that and a week after receiving it I was right to go.

2 successful backyard hovers later I decided it was time to go to the local park and try some forward flight. First lift of it drifted back and to the left rapidly, I put it down to the light breeze I was not accustomed to. Second takeoff attempt same thing. Third takeoff attempt I counteracted before lift off with a little forward having positioned it pointing directly into the light breeze (prob 5km/hr max) and as it got light on the skids it nosedived before even leaving the ground, wiping out the blades, the feathering shaft, the main shaft, the flybar and the tail shaft.

Close inspection found a faulty aileron servo, over driving under load and creating a new centre position for itself causing the nose dive. Supplier came to the party and replaced the servo and most of the parts (I didnt realise the main shaft and tail shaft were both bent at the time).

New parts in but in the mean time lost confidence in the factory servos and installed some HS-65's for the cyclic and the new Hitec 5000 and 5083 servo for the tail.

While testing and setting it up I noticed a severe twitch in the servos under different stick positions. Several tests, conversations and the purchase of a second receiver later (wanted a new receiver for a plank I am putting together as well) it was detirmined the transmitter was faulty. Also noticed the receiver was at v1.2 and did not have the quick reconnect function, so both the TX and RX were sent back last week.

Today the replacement TX and updated RX arrived! YIPPEE!!! Checking out the TX I noticed the sticks were in Mode 1, but the switches on top were in Mode 2! No biggy, swapped the switches and lables and all good (also sent an email off the the importer to advise them of this stuffup). Fired up the receiver and nothing happened. Checked, double checked, triple checked - nope, dead as a dodo. Another email sent to the supplier and back to grounded.

Receiver will be sent off tomorrow and will try yet again. Unfortunately the second receiver I bought is the 6100 not the 6100e, so although I could use it, the wires stick up and is a real pain if I have to remove any connectors once installed - however, the long weekend coming up will prob get the better of me and it will find itself stuffed in there regardless!

Oh well, rant over, just needed to vent my frustration of owning this thing for 6 weeks and not yet able to actually fly it!

Happy flying all, Dave.

danmad60

youve put me right off ill buy the twister instead

ThinAir

Dave,

Sorry to hear about all your B400 problems. I don't have one (yet?) but I've been following some of the B400 related posts to keep up on things about it. Some people have had great luck with theirs and really love them...after, of course, proper trim adjustments, Tx setups and maybe a servo change out, etc. There are both sides of the spectrum out there but most are positive for the B400, IMO.

Hang in there! I believe you will eventually get everything right and will have happy flying days ahead.

ThinAir

SeaComms

Would I buy one again? Yes.

I love the Spektrum transmitter and was looking at buying one before I saw this package, and, I am pretty impressed with the Blade itself. In all fairness, the majority of my problems have been caused by the supplier I got it through. Not disappointed with the product, just very frustrated!

brookshay

What's a twister?

Wolfpackin

Dave,

Sorry to hear about all of your problems.
I thought I had issues.

You my friend, have the patience of a saint.
I would have folded if dealt that hand.[:@]

But maybe that's what you get for living on the wrong side of the planet where everything is upside down.

SeaComms

I was wondering the same thing - looks very similar to the Blade 400 with similar specs, but cant find a lot of info on them!


Wolf - thanks, being upside down should help me with inverted flight, no?

leadtongue

sounds like u needed to bind ur new receiver to ur tx . without it youll get no response at all. rember to set up heli mechanically first in rate mode! servo arms at 90 etc. hover it and see how it reacts. correct any drifting or spin by adjusting your linkages. fly land adjust...fly land adjust... takes a few times. switch to hh mode and use subtrims to further fine tune... rate mode=all mechanically adjusted.....hh mode= electronically adjusted by the tx