ORIGINAL: Missileman
With all due respect we are not talking about a Thunder Tiger .50
The plastic blade grips on that model are much beefier and the headspeed is half that of the 450 class heli.
I have seen first hand plastic blade grips fail on a T-Rex. Align also warns about headspeed on plastic heads in its manual.
I don't know exactly what that rated speed is and I really don't want to look it up right now but it is no where near 2900rpm.
The issue isn't the head speed itself per se, it's the forces that you see on the blade grips. Smaller blades at high speeds have the same forces as larger blades at slower speeds, it's simple physics.
I agree on the carbon blades being required on higher head speeds and I'm not saying that plastic blade grips are indestructable but without knowing the speeds (forces) on the heads when they failed you can't make a blanket statement.
All of that said, I never actually said anything about the headspeed the OP is running. I would not suggest either plastic blade grips or wood blades at anything over 2700rpm.