Jim ~

I've read about the dampners wearing very quickly in my RC-Heli magazines... The Align ones are better, but still don't last to long... The best ones that the majority of the Trex guys are running in there heli's are the Trueblood's. They supposively outlast any other, and perform extremely well and offer an affordable price among that. http://www.readyheli.com/TREX_V2_Hea...dampeners2.htm Not sure on the compatibilty for the B-400, but if the Align ones are fitting, I'am thinking they'll work also...

Other weak links that were reviewed in my April and September's 2008 issues of RC-Heli magazine showed the stock servos needed replaced right off the bat, and along with the tail servo, and gyro among that... And of course the dampners, which was causing mushy cyclic response along with some of the stock head components developing slop faster than the norm...

There was a lot of positive feedback however, and is a great heli for the money...

The combo is $400.00, and the Trex 450 SE V2 is $449.00 at my LHS here which includes the motor, esc, and blades... I'am thinking that may be my route, as purchasing the servo's I would still have to do on the 400, along with the gyro and tail servo among that, and the quality of the parts would exceed that of the B-400, simply because of the CNC parts, and CF components that it carries throughout the machine, fiberglass canopy etc. etc....

Since I'am already familiar with the Trex, and already carry a good selection of parts in the parts bin, I'am thinking for my situation it would prove to be the best choice... For others, it could be different as everyone has there own situations present...

The power to weight ratio of the blade 400 in the April edition states the power to weight ratio is EXCELLENT, and exceeds that of a Trex... They say the B-400 fully loaded is about 595 grams, and I believe the Trex SE-V2 is around 740 grams fully loaded... Big diff...

One thing they said to increase cyclic response in the 400 for 3-D pilots is to lose the weighted flybar paddles, and swap them with some Align ones, as the difference was quite noticeable.

Not sure on whose parts are cheaper, as that is going to be tonight's mission and along with checking on the Trex 500 parts expense...

I'am thinking your next heli for where you are already at in your skills, and where you will be in the near future may be the Trex 500. It seems like a real winner doing all the research that I have recently done. But that's another story, so we're not going there now...!...Lol..

Oh..... BTW... I ran the JR DS285's in my Trex for quite awhile and liked them a lot, they were digital and carried a faster speed, but less torque then the HS65 MG's which I'am running in the Trex right now. The 65's offer much less 'noise' than the JR's did for me as the 65's are not digital... At my stage in the game, I don't need fast cyclic, but strength for my crashes as I'am learning, so going non-digital is working for me at the moment, and less fear of a brown-out occuring with the Spektrum electronics that sometimes can happen, but rarely from an overload happening. The digital jobber's draw much more juice so to speak... The diff is the Jr's are about $47.00 compared to the HS 65MG's which are about $37.00.... The Jr's were a tad smaller, but hardly noticeable. I had one MG JR on the elevator, and the other two were regular nylon gears which eventually stripped out due to crashes... The HS65 MG's weigh a half gram more than the JR DS285 MG's. I'am scared to not run anything metal geared for right now, as I'am still in a learning curve, but later will go for the Karbonite gears...

Alright, back to some homework !

Take care Jim,


~ Jeff