sorry gair i didnt read your whole post but the little links you keep losing paint them white orange etc etc so they stand out there plenty of threads about cuttin very small grommets in half to help stabilize the head and it helps keeping them lil dog bones in place in the event of a crash. im a fellow biker i have a 07 night train almost fully customized to my likings "just need a jack daniels custom paint job" but hey the first heli i stated out with was a blade 400 i told myself im either going to do or die  now i have 1 mcpx  1 exi 450  1 1/2 blade 400  1 trex 600 flybarless !  1 cannibalized cp pro 2 "junk" personally i wish  the mcpx was out when i started cuz it is a good little bird very strong a few weak points but almost bullet proof !  stick with it bro it will come to ya  and get a flight sim on the computer it helps enormously !