The axe is a very good heli to learn all the things you've described, douglas4, but it doesn't offer a lot of control. The common curse of the motor-driven tail helis is that they don't provide control over the tail the way that the pitch-controlled, driven tail birds do, and control of the orientation of the heli is critical to aerobatics. I have a very finely tuned Blade CP Pro that I enjoy flying around, but it can't compare to either my MX450XS or my King v2; when I do a stationary flip with the King, if the tail flips out it's because of a problem, but with the Blade, it's just because that is how it flies. Fly the blade around for FF and upright maneuvers, then when you're ready to do aerobatics, get a helicopter that does them well. The tail-motor helis don't.