ORIGINAL: PilotLight
Thought I would add to this thread since its been a while. I've been flying in the hangar for the past few weeks practicing backward flights in all directions. You gotta think which way the heli is pointed, not where its going. Anyway, last night the brushsless tail motor made a funny high pitched whine and went back to normal. The tail kicked out but went back to working quickly. Decided to get it on the ground before it could do it again. Before that happened, the tail motor was surging from nothing, to nearly full power. Axe was spinning both directions in greater than 180 degree arks. Tried to save it, but clipped the blades on the tips to the ground. Lost a servo, most tail mounting stuff, and all the other usual parts that break.
Now, I can replace the broken parts, but I still don't know what caused it. Ran the tail motor up and down for 5 minutes, and it never skipped a beat. Hate to replace everything just to have it happen again. When it works, its great, when it doesn't work, it sucks ( $$$, and big donkey .... )
After a year of flying the AXE CP I've been through 2 sets of blades, a swash plate, about 8 blade attach fittings, a tail rotor blade, 1 main motor & 1 tail motor, and 2 batteries. The best thing I have done with it is put it on the shelf and got a Blade 400 3D. It has been great out of the box. I have not even had to adjust any trims. Getting about 21 minutes of hover work from 2 batteries (an 1800 & a 2200). Just waiting for the wind to die down to take outside and flog it some.
Video clip of hovering practice indoor:
http://www.drbohannon.com/drbhobbies.html
When it works it works, when it doesn't get something better!
DRBo
Blade 400, AXE CP, CX2