I just finished the D.D. Tail Setup on my Blade. I love it! Tail has alot more oomph now. I also ordered the bell kit last week. Can't wait to get all this! Hopefully I'll be ready to step up to a Trex this summer. Here are a few photos of my beast.

zooland1,

Maybe the answer. I found on http://www.futaba-rc.com/faq/faq-7c.html

"Yes. All of the more recent Futaba computer radios, starting with 7U Super, include STICK MODE select.

To access this special feature, turn off your transmitter. Holding down the 2 "menu open" keys on your radio (varies by model), turn the Tx on. STK _ should display. If it does not, use your selection keys to page through until you reach this feature. Change it from the default mode (in the US is mode 2) to the desired mode, and turn the transmitter off and back on. That's it for the programming!
"

I think I'm having a similar problem with my Blade- Every now and then I hear a grinding noise from my tail rotor, and I've narrowed it down to the tail rotor separating from the Tail Rotor Drive gear, since the gear does not show any signs of wear on it's teeth, and the tail rotor mounting holes are starting to show wear as if the tail rotor is slipping out of them and grinding. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm considering just gluing the tail rotor and Tail Rotor Drive gear together to solve my problem, but if anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it!

Go to your LHS and pick up a smaller diameter fuel line tubing. The stock tubing is too large to get a good grip on the rod. Changing the tubing makes a huge difference. Of course you can get drastic and just go with the DD tail and eliminate the problem altogether.

By the way catfight. I had to program the radio to mode 2 when I first bought it, so thanks anyway. Keep looking, every little bit helps until I finally trash it completely. I know I'm in mode 2 cause I can fly my planes and Pico fine. Well I can fly the planes and crash the Pico successfully. I will double check it tonight just in case somehow it switched back on it's own. Stranger things have happened. Also throttle is still on the left too.

Hey Dennis-- if you haven't scrapped your blade like you said you were gonna a few days ago, maybe we can swap 4-in-1's and you can sell somebody else my headache.

Hi

Don't glue it together, do what I did and that is get a 2mm set collar and clamp it to the end of the rod. Since doing this I have had no problems with my tail blade wanting to come off any more.

May not be a bad thing to do, but I think part of the reason for the tail rotor design is so it will come off before it breaks. I've had good luck just doubling up the silicone tubing on the shaft.

Well i got a the blade cp yesterday. It is one great very easy to fly helicopter. Prior to this heli i flew the blade cx. They both cant handle much wind. So the wind hit my bcp and broke my blades. Well what i wanted to ask, is there any easy mods i can do to the blade cp that would be nice. I already modified the battery holder, i replaced the rubber bands with a piece of velcro that wraps around the battery, which gives easy installation, with the little piece of velcro on the battery to.


Thanks for the hellp

Thanks Zooland- it's actually working great now, I realized later that it was only popping loose when I accidentally buzzed the ground with the tail rotor, and as you mentioned the tail rotor is supposed to pop off in that case.

So the real solution for me is to learn to fly the heli

What a great idea... I'm doing this one!! I have color coded velcro strips not being used. Two yellow ones would be great on my BCP. Functional and looks cool too...

Thanks for the idea!!! I love this forum

-Pilot

Hi all,
I was just wondering if someone could measure servo arm throw for collective in normal mode, I noticed I don't have very much throw at all, eyeballing it would seem around 1/8th inch even with the arms diconected from the head. Servo travel for cyclic is fine, but collective seems kind of short.
Thanks,
Kiiski

One easy mod is the landing gear. It's from Heli-direct for 11.99 and worth the effort. Another is the aluminum swash. I know there are those who disagree, but for me it's one of the best things you can do.

I just wanted to make a comment on the velcro. You still want one rubber band around the battery for security. The velcro keeps the battery in position, but if you happen to make a sudden turn or (heaven forbid) bump something, the rubber band keeps it from popping loose. Heli's don't fly well with the battery hanging from them. Or worse yet, disconnecting in flight. As the song says, don't ask me how I know.

Zooland1,

Thanks for the reply / help.

I got one from my LHS and it together with flipping the washers solved the problem.

On the washer flip the smaller washer that now rides against the bearing has a larger ID hole diameter then the shaft. Don't know why they used a small washer with a bigger hole then the shaft? Couldn't they find the right size washer? From an engineering standpoint looks like they should have used the stepped shim in the inner side of the blade grip against the bearing on the outside. But anyway it works now. Now I just need to get the proportion / gyro dialed in.

Well, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here. Ready this thread has helped me in finally getting my bird into the air. I just upgraded to 1300mA Lipo's and the Plastic-Blades. I can now get it to hover(with some help) at waist height. I am teaching myself to fly since there is no one here where I am to teach me(ouch!! those crashes have been costly..). But thanks to you all, I have been alble to get some of my problems worked out. I just wish I had a LHS close by to keep me supplied with upgrades..lol.

Guess it will be a while before I can see that in Iraq.

Latest report: My BCP is still doing yo-yos even in idle up mode. What I neglected to mention was immediately out of the box (its my 2nd BCP) I upgraded the battery, motor and swashplate. My friend at the hobby store suggested I now remove the aluminum swashplate because he's heard reports of it causing binding due to the hard to fit ball joints.

I'll revert to stock this evening and let you know if that fixes the problem.

Had a blast flying it yesterday though. With the yo-yo thing going on and the wind I ended up doing a few 3d moves. Well... it did them... I just stood there and tried to keep it right side up. My last move was trying to keep a hover 5' feet in the air but then it dropped out of the sky and caught itself about 4 inches off the ground. I landed it and decided to call it a night.


Worth mentioning: My first blade CP crashed in the house while in idle up mode. Took me a second to remember killing the throttle was just reversing the pitch but by then it was thrashing around on our hardwood (pergo) floor. Just about everything bendable bent, everything breakable broke. The only surviving piece besides the electronics were the carbon fiber blades. All that thrashing around on the floor beating the crap out of themselves and not even a nick. It's probably why everything else broke but I'm still impressed at how durable they are. If you have a habit of breaking the wooden blades these have my personal recommendation. And yes, the floor is fine too.

Cheers.


Updated: Removing the aluminum swashplate worked. Altitude holds pretty steady and I can hold a hover a foot off the floor without landing every 3 seconds.

Hello
I need a 8T pinion for the main. Can i get this without buying the motor? Any of you have a spare to sell?
Thanks

It is just not one piece of velcro attached to the battery that is attached to the battery holder. I have a velcro strip, with 2 sticky sides that come down from where the rubber bands used to be and strap the battery in for more secure flying.

Try lubing all mating parts with Tri-flow. You will be surprised at the increased smoothness.

Lammy are you using the "synthetic grease" Triflow?

I am new to all of this. How did you adjust your tail motor? Mine does the same thing your Blade was doing and I was wondering how to correct this. Thank you

With the alum swash the balls are indeed larger than the stock ones. You take a pair of needle nose pliers and squeeze the link while on the ball and that loosens the fit. Your hobby shop guy should know this, but it's not hard to believe he doesn't. Like I noted before, IMHO the alum swash is one of the best upgrades. The tail support being the best overall.

Gage-- I have a piece of loop velcro on each battery and one piece of hook on the bottom of the battery tray to keep the battery from shifting. Then I just lock it in with one rubber band. Works for me.

I picked up a pinion gear last week at Phil's Hobby Shop in Fort Wayne. I don't know where your at but there are great hobby shops all over Ohio. Dayton has an awesome one across from the mall and there are three in Cleveland. Most shops sell only the motor/pinion combo, but for $10 it may be worth it just to have a spare motor. Some shops do sell separate though. When I was there last week I did a google search for "hobby shop Ohio". Then I made phone calls to see if they had what I needed for what I wanted to pay. I love free long distance on cel phones.

Helorookie,
Iam glad to see you are getting in some flying time in Iraq. How does the blade function in that hot and dry condition. Maybe you can mount a camera and do some security scans with it. I hope all is well with you. [let me personally thank you for serving your country] the skills needed to keep the blade flying will develope more and more out of necessity. I wish you had a place to get parts locally. seems like the US military could benefit from your new found hobby. I have upgraded my blade CP with the bell hiller head,alum swash plate, li-po batt. and the more rugged landing gear from heli-direct. Thanks for sharing with us and keep the rotor turning.
Randy

Randy,

Thanks for the compliment. Right now the weather is still a little cool, not really hot yet, but it is coming soon. I would like to upgrade to the aluminum swash, and the BH head. I have heard the the upgrade is worth it. I sure hope so.

I will keep you all posted on how things progress. Maybe one day when I am able to fly better I will get a camera installed. That would be cool. I am still working on the hovering part, but it will come with time.

To all out there just getting into heli's like me, stay with it!! It is an awesome feeling when you are able to actually fly these little things. One day I may upscale to a T-Rex to mx400.

Hope to hear from more like you!! Thanks for all your help.

Chris

Zooland,
I got the tail support but am unsure how to install it. Could you explain how you did yours?

How are you guys doing,

Has anybody installed the direct drive tail besides 91talonawd. I was just curious how hard the install was and does it really make a big diffrence. I am considering this mod but am not sure how much of a difference it would make and also i would have to rebalance it. Does using lipos make any difference when playing with the tail rotor to possibly counteractbalance the main motor.

Also does anybody now the exact allen size of the main grips allen head screw i cant seem to figure it out.

Thanks Scott