Blade CP Beginner's Guide
04-04-2006, 12:15 AM
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Blade CP Beginner's Guide
I actually posted this on the main Electric Heli forum, and then realized that the beginner forum is probably a better place for it 
Introduction
To all who are new to the whole Blade CP thing, welcome! I’ve been lurking around a few electric heli forums since I started thinking about buying a heli, and while they all have awesome information, I think that it’s hard to sift through it all (e.g the 112+ page post on the RCUniverse forum) and a beginner’s guide with links to useful resources and posts would be very helpful to anyone just starting out with the Blade CP, or electric helis in general.
Before I jump right into this thing, let me say that this will be a work in progress; I’ll update with new information, corrections, etc. as I learn more and gain experience with my own heli. If anyone is interested in my particular Blade CP experience as well as some of my own background, check out [link=http://bladecp.blogspot.com]http://bladecp.blogspot.com[/link]. Finally, the Blade CP is my first heli, so I’m pretty much a beginner just like everyone else, and I’ve written this guide from that perspective. So yeah, here we go
Is the Blade Right for You?
There are a lot of different experiences and opinions on this one, especially when it comes to the appropriateness of the Blade CP as a first-time heli. As usual, there is no universal yes/no answer to this question, so I’ll try to lay out the pros and cons, and let you make the final choice.
Pros:[ul][*]Inexpensive- both initially and for upgrades/repairs [*]Popular- lots of people have this heli, and you’ll never be lacking in experienced advice [*]Simple- you’ll be able to make all your own repairs and tinker to your heart’s delight[*]Versatile- capable of advanced aerobatics (loops, rolls, inverted hovers) with a couple upgrades[*]Compact- You can fly this thing fairly safely where there’s about as much space as a two-car garage[*]Durable- While small and light, the Blade will take a quite a beating and still fly well[*]Loads of fun- Yeah, it’s just a blast to fly
[/ul]
Cons:[ul] [*]Steep Learning Curve- You must have patience to learn to fly this. It requires practice and time to get it down [*]Wind Intolerant- Anything more than a slight breeze will cause big problems [*]Sensitive- more difficult to control than larger helis or beginner-only models such as the Blade CX
[/ul]
The main question that you need to ask yourself is whether you want to be able to take it out of the box and start hovering right away. With the Blade CP, unless you have quite a bit of previous experience, that will not happen. If out-of-the-box easy hovering is what you want, something like the Blade CX would be a better option. The other question is whether you have the patience to learn to fly; you need to understand that you may not learn to hover until you’ve gone through ten or so battery packs, perhaps even more.
Having said all that, it is my opinion that the Blade CP is a perfect beginner’s heli for someone who has the patience to work through the learning curve and take things slowly. It is not difficult to fly when you get the hang of it, and it provides much more room for growth than something like the Blade CX, with which you might get bored in a matter of months, or even weeks.
What to Buy
Think that the Blade CP is the right heli for you? Sweet- Now you just gotta go out and buy the thing. I spent a lot of time deciding what kinds of stuff I wanted to buy along with the heli, and I’ve made a list of the stuff that you’ll most likely want.
Essential Stuff[ul][*]8 AA Batteries for the transmitter (pretty obvious there)[*]Training Gear (A lot of places will include them for free if you buy the heli)[*]Crash kit (Includes spare main rotor blades, tail rotor, flybar and landing gear)
[/ul]
Helpful Stuff[ul][*]Extra battery pack and charger (Double your flying time, double your fun!)[*]Another set of main rotor blades (flat-bottom)
[/ul]
Personally, I wouldn’t spend the money on any upgrades at this point. Things like the Aerobatics enhancement kit, aluminum swashplate, Bell-Hiller Upgrade kit and Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) batteries are good for later, but hold off on ordering them until you’re really, truly comfortable with the stock heli.
Initial Setup
Okay, so you’ve ordered/bought your Blade CP, and you’re stoked to start flying. Awesome! However, even though the blade is theoretically flyable right out of the box, there’s some stuff that you should do before you slap in a pack and go at it. There are some lengthy videos available that go through these setup procedures at [link=http://www.funscale.com/Bladebuild1.html]http://www.funscale.com/Bladebuild1.html[/link], and I highly recommend watching each and every one of them. You probably won’t need to make a lot of the modifications that he mentions (The transmitter, for example) and I’ve never had a problem with rotor blade balancing issues, but all of it is really good advice.
Also, it’s pretty much common sense to read and understand the manual before you start; it contains a lot of useful info.
You can even get the manual online, at [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/BladeCP-Manual.pdf]http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/BladeCP-Manual.pdf[/link].
First Flights
Sweet, now you’re ready to start flying! Well, sort of. In case you’ve never heard of him, there’s this crazy, sometimes slightly annoying guy known as Radd that has a wonderful system for learning to fly a heli. His ‘School of Rotary Flight’ is at [link=http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html]http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html[/link], and while it’s written for any electric helicopter, the method works beautifully for the Blade CP, and it sounds like he had this, or a similar heli in mind when he wrote his guides. Even though his method may be painfully slow, if you follow his guidelines you’ll not only get past the steep learning curve that is the Blade CP, you’ll do it without crashing to boot!
Radd will guide you through your first ten battery packs, as well as give you some pointers on the setup of your heli.
Past the first ten packs
Radd pretty much sets you free after the first ten packs, with some simple advice on how to continue. I’ll add some of my own advice to what he says:
When you’re ready to make the transition from scooting around on the floor to actually bringing it up into a hover, make absolutely sure that you can hold the heli steady when it’s just barely about to lift off. What will usually happen is that the heli will start bouncing slightly on the training gear; getting an inch or so off the ground and settling back down. Spend some time here, get used to keeping the heli in the same place while it does this. Eventually you’ll push the throttle up and get all the way off the ground, but make sure you can hold the heli steady while it’s bouncing on the training gear. Also, I found that scooting to the right was much more difficult than scooting to the left- I'm pretty sure that this is normal; don't worry about it.
Lots of people wonder when the training gear should come off. This is highly dependent on how comfortable you feel with the heli, but I would strongly advise against taking the training gear off before you are able to take off and land smoothly (All four ping-pongs at the same time, no rough landings, and no wandering to the left on takeoff) and are able to hover for an entire battery pack at a time. When I got to that point, I began to move the ping-pongs further towards the skids. This was mostly just a psychological exercise to keep me from becoming dependent on the training gear, and once the ping-pongs were right up against the skids, I felt ready to take them off. As you do this, be careful of the inanimate carbon rods sticking out- cut them if you’re comfortable with that, or make sure you’re flying where the ground is completely smooth, with nothing that the carbon rods could catch on and tip the heli.
I was surprised at how easy the transition was; once I took the training gear off, the heli was more responsive, and was more apt to do what I wanted it to. It was a very liberating experience
Other than that, I would suggest focusing on takeoffs and landings (See if you can consistently and smoothly land from over head height in circle about three feet across), and then progress to side-in hovering as you feel comfortable. The takeoffs and landings from a higher altitude will help you get the feel of how the heli responds to the throttle, and controlling it will become second nature.
Resources
I hope that this guide has been helpful. I’ve had fun writing it, and I’m hoping to continue doing these kinds of guides for more advanced topics such as upgrades and advanced flying techniques, as soon as I get some experience with that stuff myself. Lastly, if anyone has comments or suggestions, please let me know!
Retailers
[link=http://www.horizonhobby.com]www.horizonhobby.com[/link] - Official Distributer for the E-Flite Blade CP
[link=http://www.helihobby.com]www.helihobby.com[/link] - Where I got mine
[link=http://www.hobbyzone.com/]www.hobbyzone.com[/link]
[link=http://www.willshobbies.com]www.willshobbies.com[/link] - Online Distributor for a Local Hobby shop, one of the owners hangs out on the WattFlyer Forums, which is really cool.
For many, many others just go to [link=http://froogle.google.com]froogle.google.com[/link] and enter ‘Blade CP’
Upgrades and specialty sites
[link=http://www.helidirect.com]www.helidirect.com[/link] - Non-E-Flite upgrades such as the all-aluminum head
[link=http://bladecp.corocks.com]bladecp.corocks.com[/link] - These guys are working on several upgrades, such as plastic symetrical main blades
[link=http://www.jcshobbies.com]www.jcshobbies.com[/link] - This guy hangs out on the RCUniverse Forums, and created the original Plasti-blade
Repair/Rebuild info
[link=http://www.bladecprepair.com]www.bladecprepair.com[/link] - Lots and lots of repair and tuning info
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3131294/tm.htm]www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3131294/tm.htm[/link] - Complete Rebuild information, as well as upgrades, etc.
[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494197]www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494197[/link] - Comprehensive collection of information about repairs, upgrades, etc.
Forums
[link=http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23]WattFlyer[/link]
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com]RCUniverse[/link]
[link=http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/f100p1/]RunRyder[/link]
[link=http://www.helifever.com/forums/blade-cp-rc-helicopter/]HeliFever[/link]
[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42]RCGroups[/link]
There are more out there, but these seem to be the most popular.
Introduction
To all who are new to the whole Blade CP thing, welcome! I’ve been lurking around a few electric heli forums since I started thinking about buying a heli, and while they all have awesome information, I think that it’s hard to sift through it all (e.g the 112+ page post on the RCUniverse forum) and a beginner’s guide with links to useful resources and posts would be very helpful to anyone just starting out with the Blade CP, or electric helis in general.
Before I jump right into this thing, let me say that this will be a work in progress; I’ll update with new information, corrections, etc. as I learn more and gain experience with my own heli. If anyone is interested in my particular Blade CP experience as well as some of my own background, check out [link=http://bladecp.blogspot.com]http://bladecp.blogspot.com[/link]. Finally, the Blade CP is my first heli, so I’m pretty much a beginner just like everyone else, and I’ve written this guide from that perspective. So yeah, here we go
Is the Blade Right for You?
There are a lot of different experiences and opinions on this one, especially when it comes to the appropriateness of the Blade CP as a first-time heli. As usual, there is no universal yes/no answer to this question, so I’ll try to lay out the pros and cons, and let you make the final choice.
Pros:[ul][*]Inexpensive- both initially and for upgrades/repairs [*]Popular- lots of people have this heli, and you’ll never be lacking in experienced advice [*]Simple- you’ll be able to make all your own repairs and tinker to your heart’s delight[*]Versatile- capable of advanced aerobatics (loops, rolls, inverted hovers) with a couple upgrades[*]Compact- You can fly this thing fairly safely where there’s about as much space as a two-car garage[*]Durable- While small and light, the Blade will take a quite a beating and still fly well[*]Loads of fun- Yeah, it’s just a blast to fly
[/ul]
Cons:[ul] [*]Steep Learning Curve- You must have patience to learn to fly this. It requires practice and time to get it down [*]Wind Intolerant- Anything more than a slight breeze will cause big problems [*]Sensitive- more difficult to control than larger helis or beginner-only models such as the Blade CX
[/ul]
The main question that you need to ask yourself is whether you want to be able to take it out of the box and start hovering right away. With the Blade CP, unless you have quite a bit of previous experience, that will not happen. If out-of-the-box easy hovering is what you want, something like the Blade CX would be a better option. The other question is whether you have the patience to learn to fly; you need to understand that you may not learn to hover until you’ve gone through ten or so battery packs, perhaps even more.
Having said all that, it is my opinion that the Blade CP is a perfect beginner’s heli for someone who has the patience to work through the learning curve and take things slowly. It is not difficult to fly when you get the hang of it, and it provides much more room for growth than something like the Blade CX, with which you might get bored in a matter of months, or even weeks.
What to Buy
Think that the Blade CP is the right heli for you? Sweet- Now you just gotta go out and buy the thing. I spent a lot of time deciding what kinds of stuff I wanted to buy along with the heli, and I’ve made a list of the stuff that you’ll most likely want.
Essential Stuff[ul][*]8 AA Batteries for the transmitter (pretty obvious there)[*]Training Gear (A lot of places will include them for free if you buy the heli)[*]Crash kit (Includes spare main rotor blades, tail rotor, flybar and landing gear)
[/ul]
Helpful Stuff[ul][*]Extra battery pack and charger (Double your flying time, double your fun!)[*]Another set of main rotor blades (flat-bottom)
[/ul]
Personally, I wouldn’t spend the money on any upgrades at this point. Things like the Aerobatics enhancement kit, aluminum swashplate, Bell-Hiller Upgrade kit and Lithium-Polymer (LiPo) batteries are good for later, but hold off on ordering them until you’re really, truly comfortable with the stock heli.
Initial Setup
Okay, so you’ve ordered/bought your Blade CP, and you’re stoked to start flying. Awesome! However, even though the blade is theoretically flyable right out of the box, there’s some stuff that you should do before you slap in a pack and go at it. There are some lengthy videos available that go through these setup procedures at [link=http://www.funscale.com/Bladebuild1.html]http://www.funscale.com/Bladebuild1.html[/link], and I highly recommend watching each and every one of them. You probably won’t need to make a lot of the modifications that he mentions (The transmitter, for example) and I’ve never had a problem with rotor blade balancing issues, but all of it is really good advice.
Also, it’s pretty much common sense to read and understand the manual before you start; it contains a lot of useful info.
You can even get the manual online, at [link=http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/BladeCP-Manual.pdf]http://www.horizonhobby.com/ProdInfo/Files/BladeCP-Manual.pdf[/link].
First Flights
Sweet, now you’re ready to start flying! Well, sort of. In case you’ve never heard of him, there’s this crazy, sometimes slightly annoying guy known as Radd that has a wonderful system for learning to fly a heli. His ‘School of Rotary Flight’ is at [link=http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html]http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html[/link], and while it’s written for any electric helicopter, the method works beautifully for the Blade CP, and it sounds like he had this, or a similar heli in mind when he wrote his guides. Even though his method may be painfully slow, if you follow his guidelines you’ll not only get past the steep learning curve that is the Blade CP, you’ll do it without crashing to boot!
Radd will guide you through your first ten battery packs, as well as give you some pointers on the setup of your heli.
Past the first ten packs
Radd pretty much sets you free after the first ten packs, with some simple advice on how to continue. I’ll add some of my own advice to what he says:
When you’re ready to make the transition from scooting around on the floor to actually bringing it up into a hover, make absolutely sure that you can hold the heli steady when it’s just barely about to lift off. What will usually happen is that the heli will start bouncing slightly on the training gear; getting an inch or so off the ground and settling back down. Spend some time here, get used to keeping the heli in the same place while it does this. Eventually you’ll push the throttle up and get all the way off the ground, but make sure you can hold the heli steady while it’s bouncing on the training gear. Also, I found that scooting to the right was much more difficult than scooting to the left- I'm pretty sure that this is normal; don't worry about it.
Lots of people wonder when the training gear should come off. This is highly dependent on how comfortable you feel with the heli, but I would strongly advise against taking the training gear off before you are able to take off and land smoothly (All four ping-pongs at the same time, no rough landings, and no wandering to the left on takeoff) and are able to hover for an entire battery pack at a time. When I got to that point, I began to move the ping-pongs further towards the skids. This was mostly just a psychological exercise to keep me from becoming dependent on the training gear, and once the ping-pongs were right up against the skids, I felt ready to take them off. As you do this, be careful of the inanimate carbon rods sticking out- cut them if you’re comfortable with that, or make sure you’re flying where the ground is completely smooth, with nothing that the carbon rods could catch on and tip the heli.
I was surprised at how easy the transition was; once I took the training gear off, the heli was more responsive, and was more apt to do what I wanted it to. It was a very liberating experience
Other than that, I would suggest focusing on takeoffs and landings (See if you can consistently and smoothly land from over head height in circle about three feet across), and then progress to side-in hovering as you feel comfortable. The takeoffs and landings from a higher altitude will help you get the feel of how the heli responds to the throttle, and controlling it will become second nature.
Resources
I hope that this guide has been helpful. I’ve had fun writing it, and I’m hoping to continue doing these kinds of guides for more advanced topics such as upgrades and advanced flying techniques, as soon as I get some experience with that stuff myself. Lastly, if anyone has comments or suggestions, please let me know!
Retailers
[link=http://www.horizonhobby.com]www.horizonhobby.com[/link] - Official Distributer for the E-Flite Blade CP
[link=http://www.helihobby.com]www.helihobby.com[/link] - Where I got mine
[link=http://www.hobbyzone.com/]www.hobbyzone.com[/link]
[link=http://www.willshobbies.com]www.willshobbies.com[/link] - Online Distributor for a Local Hobby shop, one of the owners hangs out on the WattFlyer Forums, which is really cool.
For many, many others just go to [link=http://froogle.google.com]froogle.google.com[/link] and enter ‘Blade CP’
Upgrades and specialty sites
[link=http://www.helidirect.com]www.helidirect.com[/link] - Non-E-Flite upgrades such as the all-aluminum head
[link=http://bladecp.corocks.com]bladecp.corocks.com[/link] - These guys are working on several upgrades, such as plastic symetrical main blades
[link=http://www.jcshobbies.com]www.jcshobbies.com[/link] - This guy hangs out on the RCUniverse Forums, and created the original Plasti-blade
Repair/Rebuild info
[link=http://www.bladecprepair.com]www.bladecprepair.com[/link] - Lots and lots of repair and tuning info
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3131294/tm.htm]www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3131294/tm.htm[/link] - Complete Rebuild information, as well as upgrades, etc.
[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494197]www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=494197[/link] - Comprehensive collection of information about repairs, upgrades, etc.
Forums
[link=http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23]WattFlyer[/link]
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com]RCUniverse[/link]
[link=http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/f100p1/]RunRyder[/link]
[link=http://www.helifever.com/forums/blade-cp-rc-helicopter/]HeliFever[/link]
[link=http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42]RCGroups[/link]
There are more out there, but these seem to be the most popular.
04-04-2006, 07:26 AM
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RE: Blade CP Beginner's Guide
Nice post for a beginner to read. I know a lot of people do start out with the Blade CP, but truth be known, the Blade CP is not really intended for a beginner, just thought I would throw in this little bit of info that come from E-Flite for the guy that might be thinking of starting with the Blade CP.
04-11-2006, 12:49 AM
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RE: Blade CP Beginner's Guide
Some of the videos did not play? The others stopped playing half way through. I'm using windows media player 10 updated. What I saw looked helpful. Can anyone help??
