Ah, there's no need for that wombat. I am 15 and fly Planes (too boring for me), NItro Cars, and 3 years ago saved up money for a caliber 30. Now I have a field about 30 minutes from my house. However, since I cannot drive [], I can only go about once a month or so. Nevertheless, its worth the wait. I would put CHILDREN UNDER 12 WITH ADULT SUPERVISION ONLY or something like that.

cant you fly in the backyard. I do just be careful. I wish the blade had more flight time

Get a 9T pinion gear, heat sinks and a Thunder Power 1320 3S Lipo.
You'll get near 1/2 hour flights!

I don't intend to flame you or anything but, at least for the shop I work at, it's not all about making a buck. We can make just as much money selling an Aerobird Challenger as we can selling a Parkzone P-51 Mustang to an inexperienced pilot. While we make more selling the P-51 since it costs more, we'll probably end up with a frustrated flyer who'll quit the hobby and say that's it. If we sell the Aerobird Challenger first, and the pilot gets the hang of that plane, he then thinks that he's ready to move up to a P-51 and now we've made money on two planes from the same person, and we've now got a returning customer who will probably get other stuff from our store. We'll make money on whatever we sell, bet it a train set, a plane, r/c car, model kit, whatever. But we make more when we gauge the skill level of the customer and provide the right product for that skill level, and then get a returning customer when he/she wants something else. Sure, you can always get this stuff online, but you don't get that kind of help online that you get in a hobby shop. (Plus, you don't pay shipping, and usually I've found that hobby shop prices are usually the same or about the same as online prices.)

Just another $.02, so that brings it to $.04

And about flying in the backyard, that's what I've been doing. I started flying over the backyard lawn, which isn't very big (my backyard isn't very big to begin with), and since the grass kept blocking the tail rotor movement, I threw a doormat onto the middle of the grass and put the helicopter on that for a flat surface. It worked better, but the helicopter was still difficult to control. I tried flying over the brick portion of the backyard, aware that if I crash here it'll do more damage. However, the helicopter seemed easier to control over bricks than it did on grass. I believe this has to do with the ground effect: the grass disperses the moving air and makes the lift uneven, while the bricks create a more even dispersion of lift. Flying over bricks is risky for the heli, because if those blades hit it you're more likely to screw something up, but that being said I didn't tip nearly as much as I did over grass.

I've been checking out this ONE SINGLE THREAD now for 3 days trying to catch up. I saw the Blade at a LHS and that's it, hooked. I want one. I've alway wanted one, but like Wombat said, at least $600 to get started in nitro/gas is a lot of money. I don't want to take a chance and spend that kind of money especially if I don't like it. But my problem is, I have been in RC (cars and nitro trucks - unfortunately they were all pistol grip) for several years, and once I got into it I hooked and got into it full blown. I'm affraid thats whats going to happen if I get into Helis. I have been around planes since I was a very young kid, my grandfather left me some of his gear when he died but no radio or plane. So I am somewhat knowledgable with the controls and parts of the helo just by reading the crap out of anything I could get my hands on. I UNDERSTAND this ISN'T a Trainer/Beginer model, but if do respect/patients/ & control, I should be fine with STARTING out with this model? I don't want to spend less money on something I WILL out grow / become bored with in a month. All I have been doing on my free time, which is A LOT, is read, read, read, and read SEVERAL web sites and forums, tech tips, warnings, pros & cons. Please give me an honest answer. If I get this I do plan on practice practice practice in the confines of my garage NOT inside the house. I'm just as scared of messing it as I would be getting hurt. Thanks ahead for you input.

The biggest problem is that many folks come on here, asking about a perticular heli, never stating what their skill level is. So you tell them about the heli, and then they go get it, crash it, and then come back here ranting and raving about how the heli is bad.

If your a beginner....admit it. Explain what your experience level is, and then those of us that have flown helis can help you decide on the best option.

I am not an expert, Im not an advanced heli pilot. I would consider myself intermediate. Ive graduated past beginner heli's like the XRB and am now flying CCPM. I learn stuff everyday. There is still alot I dont know.

The other problem as Dark Wombat stated is that hobby shops readily sell full blown heli's to beginners with no advice on how to learn. Its not necessarily that they are just doing it for a buck, sometimes they themselves have NO heli experience.

How can you sell or recommend a heli if you've never seen it fly or flown it yourself. That's precisely the reason I got involved in flying demos at hobby shops. I not only want the customers to see whats involved in flying a heli, but also to show the hobby shop folks exactly what that heli will do, and how difficult it is to fly. I wont BS someone thats a beginner. Ill tell them flat out, that unless they get some help, and learn correctly, they have NO chance of flying a CCPM heli the first time. Its just not gonna happen.

For instance, I went to a local hobby shop and flew one of their Blade's in the store as a demo. They had never seen one fly, and certainly not flown one. I explained that even though I could get it in a hover in the store, and fly it that they could not do that until they learned to fly it like that. I told them if they wanted to learn to get a beginners heli like the XRB. Then I brought my XRB in there and let them try it out. The first reaction is "WOW this is a little difficult" and then it clicks. They realize that they thought they could handle the Blade, but now they know they didnt have a chance.

Alot of times people see a heli fly, and think "I can do that".....but they dont see the hundreds of times that pilot planted one in the ground or the frustration he had learning as he broke part after part after part, or the pile of shattered blades he has sitting at home from all the mishaps.

Unfortunatly, they never will understand that until they do it themselves.

The thing we need to do as pilots with experience is not to get frustrated at the beginners that dont know what a trim lever is, but to have the patience to try to help them as much as possible. Dont forget that you were there at one time too. Ill help anyone that asks.

For those of you that are beginners, if you crash your heli. Dont blame it on the heli. Accept the responsibility, realize that flying heli's is difficult, you are learning. Unfortunatly its a violent learning process most of the time. Although you are having difficulty now, it will pass, and you will learn if you are patient and persistant.

Sky-pilot,
Do you know how to balance the blades? Since you havent flown the heli yet, lets assume that the shaft is straight. And since youve already tracked the blades, lets assume that all that is ok. If the blades are not balanced it will cause the heli to vibrate...ALOT.

Remove the blades from the heli, and check to see if they are balanced. If one blade is heavier than the other, add some tape to the bottom of the light blade until they are balanced. Then reinstall and try it again.

I have a quick tip for the other newbies out there like me. I bought mine and tore through blade after blade. Buy the training gear, if your store doesn't have it look for the GWS version, I think it's identical, it fits my Blade and works great. It is invaluable as you are learning!

NONONO, you have to add tape to the CG of the light blade.

BDavison is right. I bought the Blade a week ago, with no heli experience whatsoever...but I practiced in my garage everyday, and have surprisingly only went through 4 blades and a main shaft. The blade is a hard heli for beginners, but I wouldn't shy away from it too much just because it is a very advanced helicopter. If you have the patience, time, AND money, give it a shot. The fun of hovering that heli is just so awesome!!

Took my Blade back to the LHS, Graves, here in Orando. They determined that it was the 4N1 that was DOA. They replaced the unit, fixed the sticky collective and test flew it for me. Kudos to them! Moral of the story: "Test the unit out before you bring it home." Although mine might have been an anomaly, I'm still not sure every unit is test flown.

Hello from someone stupid enough to fly in his kitchen, me.

I have zero experience with helis.

I looked at this heli for awhile and then saw one at my lhs and had to have it.

Luky for me I found a guy that gives lessons.

Having said that, 1 lesson later Im in my kitchen "very small kitchen" Im doing rather well about a foot off the floor and bounce my main blades off the stove, "hard".

The thing shook pretty hard but NEVER crashed, maybee that was me or luck.

Anyway I chipped/crushed/mangled the very ends of my blades.

Now the question "finally" when I trim the blades and balance them "loss of at least 1/2 inch of diameter" what will this do to my stability?

Thanks for any/all iformation,

BULLETHEAD

Schme, you're the kind of guy I like. You know what you're getting into and you know the dangers. I haven't flown a heli before, I've got airplane experience but I started with a blade. I think that you'll do ok as long as you play it safe. Right off the bat though, get the training gear. You probably can't get it in a store right now cuz they're all sold out, but they're due in early July so if you can restrain yourself, buy the blade now, fix the sticky collective problem, and don't fly it until you get the training gear. Also, I suggest you get the crash kit right off the bat too. You'll probably screw up your main rotor blades pretty quickly in the first few flights, but if you're like me you'll start to pick it up after three or four flights and get a better feel for the heli. I'm predicting I'll go through four or five sets of rotor blades before I really get hovering down pat, you're pretty much at the same skill level as I am so it'll probably be the same for you. All I can say is that if you do get the Blade, play it safe, play it sensibly, and don't give up. I started off with my Blade just trying to get it off the ground, then trying to keep it from drifting halfway across my backyard before it crashed, and then trying to keep it within a 10 feet circle of starting point, and now I'm making that circle smaller every time I fly, and I'm staying in that circle for a longer period of time before I drift too far and cut the throtlle or cut the throttle because I anticipate a crash.. Soon, I hope, that circle will be just a couple of inches in diameter, and that I'll be able to hold that position for at least two minutes.

It's a long, slow, tedious process, but I know that if I don't rush it, I'll make it. If you're ready to do the same, then I say go for it. I haven't tried the XRB, but bdavision has a lot more experience than I do and it looks like a much better beginner heli. Granted, it'll be more expensive to get an XRB and then a Blade, but it will probably be less frustrating and more rewarding.

Bullet, I've heard that if you lose parts of your blades like that, you might as well get a new set. The damaged blades will hamper your flight performance and will be too difficult to fix. You're better off spending $15 and getting a new set of blades.

Here's the thing about trimming the blades down.

The blades have a small lead weight near the end. If you trim them down , that weight could sling out of the end of the blade at a VERY high speed. I have had this happen, and the lead weight put a dent in the wall. It will be traveling at an EXTREMELY high rate of speed. That's why I would strongly recommend replacing damaged blades. If that lead weight hits you its going to hurt REALLY bad, if it hits you in the eye or something....well

$15-17 bucks is cheap to protect your eyesight.

If you are determined to reuse the damaged blades, at the very least you should use CA to shore up the end REALLY well. But if it pops out in flight....dont say I didnt warn you.

Not to mention if that weight comes out in flight, that heli is going to go nuts due to a severly imbalanced rotor head.

Exactly. I'd rather go out and buy a couple sets of blades for $15 a pop than risk making things worse for myself and/or my heli. At the least, if that weight flies out you'll end up spending a lot more than $15 in parts for repairs, and if it hits you...you probably won't be flying your helicopter again for a while.

For something you spent $220 on, I don't see why anybody would want to take the risk and screw it all up (and screw themselves up) by trying to fix something as crucial as a rotor blade. Just go out and get another set, it'll save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

OK, I will wait until I can find new blades. "Act like its trying to kill you!"

Thanks for the heads up on the fast moving projectile aspect, I read that earlier and apparently it slipped it my mind.

Thanks for any/all information,

BULLETHEAD

Hi everyone. Long time reader but I decided to take the plunge. I will be the first to admit I am a newb at this Heli flying thing. After flying a few cheap planes I decided to try something that doesn't require me to have a large open field to go to so I am diving into the Heli fun. I purchsed a Blade CP and should have it next week.

What I am curious about is the difference between brushless and brushed motors. I have read about all of the benefits of having a brushless motor. My question is with this Heli am I able to do a motor swap with a brushless or is it more involved than that?

Brushless motors have alot of advantages over their brushed counterparts.

1. Lighter weight
2. More efficient.
3. Higher RPM's
4. Smaller size.
5. Less heat
6. Less friction

This being said, the Blade heli doesnt need a brushless motor to perform great. The 9 tooth pinion on the "aerobatic enhancement kit" upgrade is adaquate for aerobatics.

You can upgrade the Blade to a brushless motor, but it requires more than just a new motor. The avionics have to be converted over to use brushless motors.

Brushless motors require a brushless speed controller to work. The standard black box controller in the blade does not have a brushless controller in it, so a conversion is necessary. This requires bypassing of the ESC circuitry in the stock box, and installation of brushless speed controllers. Its a lot of work, but not impossible if your so inclined.

If a person converted over to brushless you would get a smoother running machine and more durable, (motor wise). However, I'm not so sure the airframe could take the possible forces (three cell) put on it with that much power. I would think that a two cell lipoly with a brushless motor would be realistic. These little heli's are kind of fragile compared to nito power.
I have been at this helicopter game for 25 years and bought a Blade heli yesterday. Very different to fly as compared to nitro. Kind of twitchy and flighty. It may be that I need to play with the settings a bit more. My first flights on it were indoors in a gym, so wind was not a factor. Fun little heli though.

I've got a problem that maybe some more experienced people could help me with. It seems as though the collective pitch on my Blade is sticking. I just upgraded to the aerobatic kit and now my heli will sit on the ground for a really long time without taking off. I adjusted my blades by turning out the pitch control links to give them more pitch, but that just caused more problems. All of the sudden it will just take off and spring up too quickly causing a crash. Anyone know if there is a way to fix this or do I need to send it back to Horizon?

Thanks!

Avenger,
Go back to pages 1 and 2 of this very thread for some replies, from Jason Merkle of Horizon, on this problem.

Avenger - read posts 89 through 92 on this thread - you'll find the fix to the sticking collective pitch problem.

I REALLY LIKE THE E-FLITE BLADE ELECTRIC HELO. BUT I DO HAVE A FEW CONCERNS.
FIRST CONCERN IS THE HOVERING. WHEN I GET TO HALF THROTTLE, THE HELO IS IS MOVING
TO THE LEFT AND GOING FOWARD SLIGHTLY. TRIED TRIMMING AND AND STOPPED IT SOME, BUT,
WHEN HELO LEAVES THE GROUND, IT IS ALREADY GOING FORWARD. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

Hi Guys:

I'm an experienced aircraft modeler and have a JR Venture that I've hovered with moderate success. Trying to get everything just right on the nitro helis is a trying experience and there's a big investment. It's been hanging in the garage for two years now.

I bought the Blade because it was a good deal all up. I made my own training gear out of two long "pixie dust" straws from my kids. I ran the stock setup, ate the blades up in the grass, moved to the street. I was able to hover a foot or so off the ground after about 5 batteries. It is a little unstable, but not bad, and not near as bad as a Picollo I tried once. I killed a tail motor and finally ordered the "upgrade kit" and some new blades and a new tail motor.

Today I put a "real" set of training gear on, the upgraded motor and a 900mah 11.1 Lipo from ThunderPower, and put a new tail motor on. It flies real sweet with the flat blades and the lipo setup. Tail motor is still a little funky at times, but I'm learning to fly the tail better then I did with the Venture and the head lock gyro. The real training gear are worth the costs. I actually got a set for a "shogun" because they did not have the Blade specific kit. Works real good.

As for your heli drifting, you have to fly the thing! MAKE it come back and stay where you want it. I found that with the Flybar weights way out on the end, I was constantly "chasing" the controls. I moved them weights all the way inboard and find it much easier to control. I'm getting up the nerve to fly more then or two off the ground, and can pretty much move it in the general area I want it to go, and keep the tail pointed where I want it. Overall, I've gotten WAY more practice out of this in a couple of weeks, then I got out of my Venture in an entire summer two years ago. I think you can learn on this heli with a little help and patience, especially if you get some practice on a simulator first.

I would highly recommend the upgrade kit with a set of flat blades, even for the beginner. Even with the cost of a couple of lipos, it's a relative bargain. I'm learning alot, and hopefully, I can get the Venture off the ceiling by the end of the season or maybe next year. Just like the foamies, these little electrics are opeing a hole new area. I can get lots more flying time in, then before the advent of all these electric goodies and I can do it at a very reasonable costs. How can one complain.

I do hope they come up with a complete brushless upgrade to this little bird. It would be truly sweet then, and maybe I would give up my stock of tail motors.

Hey, HOW DO YOU REMOVE THE WRATCHET from the throttle again? I know it's in the post somewhere, but this sucker is LOOONGG.

Thanks,
Lee

I just want to add some small things here

First of all i just want to ask : Can`t we start a new tread? beefore this is getting so long.....


Anyway, i did buy a 2cell LiPo battery and a charger from heli (battery only 25$) (and that is a GREAT place to buy, EXTREMLY fast shipping and SUPERB custom support on theyr forum)

Well... what i want to say was that the 2cell Lipo was ment to my dragonfly
But when i mounted the LiPoly on my Blade Cp (NO PROBLEM) the fly-time was LONGER than with my dragonfly haha

So if you got a 2cell LiPo, just use it on the Blade with no problem just a tip from me...


i have orderd a 3cell LiPo also... so i wonder what the diffrence will be..