mydartswinger
Posts: 1265
Score: 115
Joined: 4/19/2004
Last Login: 5/10/2013
From: Gilmer,
TX, USA
Status: offline
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It's also a tough little bird. About a month to 2 months ago, I crashed mine hard (dumb thumbs and lost orientation, my fault). I was hovering nose in fairly well, so I decided to make a round around the pattern (AMA chartered, mainly fixed wing club field). I made the pattern just fine, but when I went to settle back into a hover, I had a case of the dumb thumbs combined with a lack of practice. I totally lost orientation and ended up over the pits (a bad place to be flying at a club field, or anywhere for that matter). I was fighting to keep it up in the air to avoid hitting cars and people that were there, all the while trying to regain control over her. After about 30 seconds to a minute of fighting, she was over a "safe" place, so I decided that it was best to let her crash so she wouldn't come back over the parking area or pits and crash there. I cut the collective (normal flight mode) from about 30-50 feet up, and she came down with a loud "thud". I thought that this was going to be a near total loss, or at least an expensive repair job. Fortunately, when I arrived at the heli, she was on her side in a tall patch of soy bean bushes. Damage report: blades (not really that bad, but wanted to go ahead and replace them for peace of mind), feathering shaft, main shaft, flybar, and a control rod (servos didn't strip). Even with the blades, the repair was less than $30-$40. I just got her back together tonight (spent 3 weeks away, plus I have my airplanes to keep flying).
I've been mostly out of the heli loop for about 6 months due to starting in airplanes, but this past Sunday, I got bit by the heli bug again when I saw a club member fly his TT Raptor 90. OMG, what an AWESOME bird!!! Unfortunately, a bird like that is way out of my skill and price range. Anyway, after seeing him fly, I got bit hard enough to shelf my 71" wingspan bipe (DeHavilland Tiger Moth that the muffler welds broke loose on) the week of a warbird fly-in (she's my only flying warbird at the moment, so the fly-in is out as a pilot) so I could get my heli back together and flying.
Think the B400 parts are high? Look into replacing an airplane's wing when it's (the wing's) totalled after a hard crash. Those run $120+ for balsa and light plywood and plastic film covering that's been assembled into a wing. On crashes when the entire plane is crushed beyond repair, that's a minimum of $170 for a smaller plane, usually averaging around $200-$250 unless you're flying a "Giant", which can run over $1,000 just for the airframe. Even if the crash damage can be repaired without a total replacement, you're looking at several hours of cutting, gluing, and covering at a minimum, if not replacement parts as well. I prefer wrenching on a heli, as craftsmanship really isn't involved since it's all screws, nuts, pins, and clips.
Sorry, got off topic a bit, but I guess it can all fit.
MTBoy,
Here's vid for you showing an onboard cam on a B400 doing some mild aerobatics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVOiGITBJOI&feature=related
Here's one with a bigger camera being flown out of a bucket.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez2xDt5AP2s
Happy flying.
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BLADE 400 - 
