Great! Let me know how it goes!

As for the blade assembly, I think I have an idea of what you're describing. The blade grips should be tightened enough so that the blades can stay up on their own when the Axe is held on its side but will fall the same distance when shaken a bit (the manual describes this much better than I am doing here). Once you've verified this and they're still falling when you tip the flybars then that's just how it is. I wouldn't worry too much about it at that point. Yes, centrifugal force will straighten the blades out. What I do is start up slowly and let it go to about 35%-40% throttle for about 5 seconds to give the blades a chance to straighten out and the heli to settle before I lift off.