tyrick69

A friend of mine put GWS floats on his Blade 400. The heli is amazingly stable with the floats on, even in the wind. It flies great off of land and water. I think the floats could double as training skids because they not only widen the stance but they also really help with orientation.

evdreamer

That is pretty cool. I have seen a video of a RC helicopter taking off and landing on water. That was a pretty cool site to see.

Nick

H3li

Is it just me, or does that pic above look like a Photoshop?

Have seen the odd YouTube vid of something similar, smart ! Alot more risk flying over water though.
Also on land, coming down from a hard landing, the Heli would probably just bounce - solves to broken Skids issue!

Nice idea!

tyrick69

The rotor looks weird because the picture was taken with my cell phone but I assure you it is real. I have 2 or 3 more if you'd like to see them.

Crusader23

My Feedback: (1)

Looks cool!

Tall Paul

The 4-in-1 won't like any dunking!

soloboss

Crusader23
Looks cool? You talking about the floats or the water? How long since you saw water?
7 months and counting . . .

Tyrick - the float look huge on that B400. I did some calculating a few months ago and came up with something about that size. Your floats look a whole lot better than what I had in mind.
I had a bunch of questions about them, but I did a quick search for those wanting to know. [link=http://www.rcdude.com/servlet/the-267/GWS-Floats/Detail]Floats[/link]Did you use the provided mounts or just make something yourself? Looks like a natural for the 400 / 450 size heli. I'm liking the idea. Especially the higher success rate for grass landings and take-offs. I was looking at skis ( wide flat skids) but your floats are probably better.

GWS Floats

Length(mm): 535
Length(in): 21.1
Weight(g): 130
Weight(oz): 4.6
about $15

zookgolf

My Feedback: (31)

There is no 4 in 1 smartpants....

Tall Paul

Pardon me for cautioning those who might want to try flying off water, with protecting their electronics.
I'm sure your attitude will keep your stuff dry.

tyrick69

Solo,
It's actually my friends B400 but he just used some small diameter carbon fiber tubing for crossbraces and lashed them to the B400 skids with zip ties. He also bought some small plastic clips to fasten the carbon fiber tubing to the wooden inlay on the gws floats. The floats themselves actually cost less than $10 and the additional hardware couldn't have been more than another $5 so your probably right about the $15.
To the other poster concerned about getting the electronics wet. I posted another thread a couple of weeks back about my friend dunking the very same B400 in about 10 feet of water. He was flying next to the lake before he had the floats on and a mid-air servo failure caused the heli to rocket out over the lake, clipping a tree branch on the way out, and then crash into the lake. He watched it sink and then saw smoke coming from the water. To make a long story short, he retrieved the heli and let it dry all day in the sun and to his amazementl, the only damage done was to the ESC and the battery. He rebuilt the stripped servo, put a new ESC and battery in it and it fired right up. The gyro, spektrum receiver, motor, and all 4 servos worked just like new. The ESC obviously fried when it hit the water and saved any further damage to the electronics.

H3li

tyric, cheers for the further pics proving authenticity - I believed you, honest Very nice location too!
You mention this is your friends Blade 400 - do you own one also, or other Heli's?

Back to the pic, looks like a nice mod, done well. Get some Vids up on YouTube, would be interested to see more

I have been experimenting, making a lightweight CAM mount that secures above the Skids, on my 450 class Heli.
Can't wait to take some onboard video!!!

tyrick69

H3li,
I don't own a 400 yet but I do own an original Blade CP which I've pretty much moded to be a CP Pro as well as a Blade CX2 and a couple of planks. I'm thinking of upgrading soon but cant' decide between the B400 PNP and the Trex 450SA.

DrunkYoda

2 thoughts Tyrick

I have 2 trex 450SA just now finished building, the good thing with a trex is you'll start with a ARF and buy the right gear from start. yes it will cost a tad more but you will like having the upgraded parts. The b400 pnp is simillar, and parts availability is getting better. If you upgrade all the parts to what you'd put on a trex anyways you end up with a fairly comparable heli.

Yes it's not a trex but for $500-700 the b400 is the better deal I think if you are concerned about saving money. Just make sure you first get a good Tx and Rx. This is the key to all of the rest of the setup.

I like my DX7 but the DX6i seems to be fairly comparable for less money now. (use to only have 3 point curves for some things, now it's got 5 important for going to the next level)

Once you get the tx and rx the rest of the heli will be pretty much the same, just get good servos like hs65hb or mgs S9650 series digital tail servo and a gy401 gyro and you'll pretty much be set.

So in closing pick whichever but don't scrimp on elect parts.


DY

H3li

Tyrick, your CP sounds cool! I'm always drawn by the Pblade CP Pro advert at the top of this Forum!! Mmmm!
I was in a similar situation to you - I own a Blade CX2 - looking to upgrade to a larger 400 / 450 class Heli.
The shortlist included the Blade 400 and the Belt CP.....

Then, my local hobby shop recommended the Thunder Tiger Mini Titan! It's a 450 class Heli with Raptor pedigree. Seeing it side by side next to the Blade 400, I was sold! Infact a good number of T-Rex owners that have flown both will say the Mini Titan has a more rock solid hover, and some have sold their TRex to get an MT! Parts are more inter-changable between Align TRex and Thunder Tiger Mini Titan too.

There is an SE version of the MT out, fully upgraded with the metal Head and Tail plus carbon fibre tail boom! Looks amazing!
Take a look at the Mini Titan as an option, I am honestly VERY HAPPY with my purchase, it is SO sweet to fly, and more simple to work on than a TRex!

tyrick69

Hey guys, thanks for your replies. I already own a DX7 so that's why I was considering the B400 PNP. The 400 looks great for the price but I'm a little put off by some of the problems people have been having with the servos. I know first hand because I saw my friend kill a couple of servos on a hard landing one day. The blades didn't even touch the ground. On the other hand, parts for the 400 are available locally (the hobby shop is on my way home from work) while parts for the Trex require a little more driving. I don't even think either of the hobby shops close by carry the Mini Titan or parts for the Mini Titan. I have however been looking into the Titan as a third alternative. I've heard a lot of good things about it and I like the modular tail setup. Either way I go I'm going to be using the DX7 with an ar6100 or ar6200 receiver so that part shouldn't be an issue. I just don't know if I wanna go for the 400 even though it's the cheapest, just to turn around and upgrade all of the servos. I guess I still have a little time to decide (my tax rebate check hasn't arrived yet). Thanks again to all of you for your input. I'd much rather make and informed decision than an impulse purchase.

Crusader23

My Feedback: (1)

Solo - I saw some water [Tigris] today during the mission. It's all pulluted looking. There's a film of oil and yet people still fish in it. I wouldn't mind getting some floats and doing some water flying...probably not with the B400 though - probably for the BCX.

SeaComms

I did something similar looking, although it wasnt for water, just to make it slide better on the grass than the stock training gear (which got caught in the grass and flipped it..)

Just a pool toy, 2 x 1/4 lengths of it (still have 1/2 left over) and was about $4.00. I fastened it same way, couple of peices of carbon fibre rod out of an old walkera blade set.

jp473

Will it float?