As Promised here are some pics from the Intrepid

Hi Everyone!

This is my first post here. I thought it was about time I offered my $CDN .02 worth from a "newbie" perspective.
I bought my bcp many months ago. I had no experience with any kind of RC flight. I do have some real fixed wing time and enjoy FS2004. It was pretty much an impulse purchase as I hadn't done much in the way of research, although I was aware that this was not a toy and the learning curve would be pretty steep. Early flights (all indoors) were not encouraging and it wasn't long before I went shopping for replacement blades and a set of "training wheels". After shelving eveything for a while, I got the bug again and tried to learn in earnest. I guess I was pretty lucky as I never did much damage beyond destroying main blades. (and bruising fingers).
A trip to the hobby shop (2 1/2 hour round trip) last weekend for more replacement blades had me coming home with new flat blades, 900 mAh Li-Po pak /charger, 3d upgrade kit ('cuz of the higher voltage, not because I had progressed to inverted flight).
I totalled the new set of FB blades in no-time and fitted the symetrical blades within the first 15 minutes. The first thing I noticed was that I need way more collective to approach a hover but that once airborne, the heli was WAY more stable than before the blade change. I looked through the forums but couldn't find any discussions on why this might be the case. One thing I will say to other beginners is, if you think you are serious about mastering your bcp and are still on the stock battery pack, run to your nearest source of Li-Po battery packs and upgrade! The added filight time will go a long way to reducing your frustration while you learn. I'm not sure if I really needed to go with the beefier motor or not. I do know the heat sinks are a must-have, as is the special Li-Po charger.
I need new main blades again (and a tail rotor blade) and have just ordered from helidirect. Just FYI, a new set of flat-bottom, mono-covered blades from e-flite sets me back $C 18.95 at my local hobby shop!!!

Keep 'em Flying!

Kevin

Welcome to the addiction Kevin. Is FS2004 capable of flying similar to RC. If you can, pick up Reflex or Realflight. I personally like Realflight because of the controller. Spend a lot of time on the sim and you'll be happier and save a lot on spare parts. Can't push reset on the real one and crashes are free.

Whats up everyone.

I just had a kick butt session with my BCP. I put on the skid conversion and was nervous about the weight but it did beautifully. Every hop was a sustained and controlled hover. Every time I set her down I had a big stupid grin on my face. I deciced to just stick with the BCP for right now as what I want (Spektrum radio, TREX, Gyro, ect.) would be around $600 or more and I still have a lot of crashes to get through. Hovering through a whole batt isn't far away though. What did everyone decide on the DD tail conversion?

Went out right after the first posting and broke ball off blade grip. Different batt though, I wonder if that matters. The second batt is one I accidentally charged at 2.5 amps the first time I charged it and it got real hot but that was months ago. Anyway, completely different flight.

CA the ball back on, then drill a hole through it and CA in some CF (#43 drill for 2mm CF rod, could probably go with 1/16 if you don't have number drills). I had to do that with one of mine and it works fine. Also popped off two of the ones on the BH head last weekend and put .039 wire in those. CF works better but the hole has to be bigger. I also have the DD tail and love it. IMO much better tail reaction and stability.

I'll keep it simple and ask if the DD tail provides better flight characteristics. Great hobby and thanks for the replies.

The "upgrade" motor is not beefier, it is the same motor but with a different pinion gear. The reason is that with the higher voltage Lipo battery, you need to reduce the load to limit the current. The stock motor will fail quicker if running on Lipos.

I think the improved stability is due to a higher rotor speed.

Bob R.

Hey Zoo,

I've looked for the DD tail conversion but it doesn't seem to include the motor, just the mount. In a pic I've seen the motor seems to be a bigger (physically anyway) than the stock with a bigger heatsink.

Hit me with a link, if you would. Thanks.

The motor is a slightly different design. It is round compared to the flat sided blade motor. Toprudder is correct about the higher rpm rotor. The tail responds faster, so it doesn't have to work as hard. I didn't use the GWS mount. I just removed the stock one and flipped it over, then cut out a little of the housing to accomodate the round motor. The advantage of the GWS mount is you get the tail fins with it. I had to buy mine separately. I got mine at the lhs in Jacksonville and they didn't have the mount in stock, so I improvised. The biggest advantage is not having to worry about the gear slipping. I use the GWS 3" push on blades with mine. I bought the 4" with prop adapter but haven't needed it. I've only busted one prop and still have the first motor on it.

Here's a link to the part numbers from bladecprepair (use the search feature at helidirect, etc. for the parts):

http://www.bladecprepair.com/man_tr_dd_conversion.html

Bob:

That makes sense now. It seems tail motors are failing early due to increased voltage (from what I have read) I wonder if it would be practical to add a resistor to drop the voltage a bit?

Should I consider reducing my collective pitch/throttle ratio? at what stick setting should I expect to "lift off"? I am somewhat lighter than stock with my Li-Pos.

Thanks!

Kevin





The "upgrade" motor is not beefier, it is the same motor but with a different pinion gear. The reason is that with the higher voltage Lipo battery, you need to reduce the load to limit the current. The stock motor will fail quicker if running on Lipos.

I think the improved stability is due to a higher rotor speed.

Bob R.

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Kevin look at [link]http://bladecp.corocks.com./[/link] I've been using this.

Hello everyone im new to rc heli and any flying for that matter. I just got a blade cp I know to to good for a beginer. My one question so far is what is the trainer switch on the controler for.

Hey IMAC,

That Colorado Rocks site is very informative.

Two questions. 1) Would there be a benefit in implementing the "tail fix" if still using the stock 650mah nimh battery? 2) If I upgrade the tail to use the DD that would involve the different motor are there benefits to using the "tail fix"?

Also could someone explain this "water break in" method for new motors that I've seen?

That switch is for use with a "buddy box". It allows an instructer to daisy chain his TX into your TX to help train you to fly by periodically taking control when necessary.

The corocks circuit is only benificial using 3S lipo with stock tail motor.

I flew DD with 2s lipos for a couple months. I have two of the small blade heat sinks on my tail motor. When I switched to 3s last month, the only change I made was to the 8t pinion. The biggest benefit I've seen is the extra weight of the 3s adds a lower balance to the frame which seems to give me more control. The added head speed combined with the weight was a huge improvement. It's like having the training gear on for weight. It's very stable now.

Water break-in is the process of hooking the motor to a 1.5 volt battery and dropping it in a glass of water (just the motor). What it does is shape the brushes to the armature which increases efficiency. The purpose of the water is to wash out the residue from the brush wearing away as it takes shape. Getting the dust out of the motor. Without the "bath" the brushes will still wear in, but they have to fight that dust all the time and it can actually put grooves in the armature. Make sure you run the motor after taking it out of the water and lightly oil the shaft. Be sure not to get any oil in the motor. I do this with all my brushed motors before I put them into service. I didn't with my first heli and lost two tail motors in two weeks. I have not burned out a motor since (fingers crossed)

How does the motor/connections not short out? or do you run it then submerse it. then run it then submerse it...rinse and repeat?

Pure water is actually a pretty poor conductor of electricity. Don't try this with seawater!!! I hadn't heard of this technique before but it sounds like it might have some merit.
I would be inclined to use only distilled water.

K.

The motor will not short. I connect the battery and hang the connector on the side of the glass. I don't submerse the connector. Bend the wire over the side. When it first starts up it jumps pretty good so hold onto the wire. Once it starts it mellows out. I don't bother with distilled water because it's not in there that long. Usually about 15 minutes max. If I notice the water turns black really fast I stop it, change the water, and start again. Some of the larger motors, like a 400 or up, I change the water two or three times. Just run it until the water doesn't blacken anymore.

Help: Recently,my Blade is acting weird. When i connect the battery, I'll hear the servos kick in as usual and then I hear a hiss that I am not sure where it is coming from and in a few seconds the main blade kicks in, seemingly at full throttle but only for a split second. The tail rotor spins briefly at the same time. This happens even though my gyro initializes normally with transmitter on. I notice that if I give it throttle from the TX, it will keep this from happening for awhile but it will repeat itself evey few seconds otherwise. If I disconnect the motor from the receiver, the servos twitch madly instead. The controller is not working correctly either. As I increase throttle, the tail rotor does not begin to spin normall unless I twirl it manually and even then it does not spin fast enough. I thought the latter problem was a bad tail motor but replacing it did not help. Any suggestions?
Les

If I want to use my JR XP8103H Tx with Blade CP, what do i need to do? do i need to buy a new receiver?

JR Tx's are pos. shift and the BCP 4in1 is neg. shift, so I do believe you'd need a new receiver. I think GWS offers them in both pos. and neg. shift.

First thing I would check would be the crystals, both transmitter and on the 4-in-1. Make sure they are seated fully, and if you have any extras, or can borrow some, try replacing them. It could be a problem with the antenna on the 4-in-1, a bad joint or it is partially broken. But best guess would be the 4-in-1 itself is failing. Another source of glitches can also be caused by metal to metal vibration, unlikely on a blade, and since it does it with the motor disconnected, it's even more unlikely. There's a few things to check anyway.
Kiiski

Do a search for "jr receiver on blade cp" or something in that area. There are quite a few threads out there that tell you how to do it. It involves hacking into the 4-in-1 which will void the warranty. The best mod I've seen is to use the 2-in-1 instead, but that also requires a new gyro (good opportunity for HH).

Good luck