After 9 months of crashes and crashes and yet more crashes (sound familiar?) I finally had one too many crashes. Well, it wasn't so much a crash as it was a hard landing (after coming out inverted) and tipping over sideways. As I throttled back, I saw something fly off into the grass. When I got to the heli I saw smoke pouring out from under the canopy. Hmmm... that cant be good. I quickly yanked the battery plug out and at the same time realizing that I'd burned my finger on the red hot exposed main motor lead. I turned off the transmitter and at this time realized that I was still in idle up mode. Doh!

I collected the bit that flew off and it was the flybar, rotor head, and half the center hub assembly. I suppose the center hub must have cracked during one of my previous inverted crashes.

When I got home and started the forensic analysis, the main motor was almost completely seized, the solder on the capacitors was melted, the plug was fused to the 4-in-1 with the insulation melted off for about 2 inches. There is actually a 1/8" hole melted through the case of the 4-in-1.

Moral of the story... don't fly inverted so close that you cant pull out right side up without impacting the ground, and if you do, TURN OFF IDLE UP IMMEDIATELY!

Aside from the 4-in-1, motor, center hub and burned finger, there was no other damage - even the main shaft only had a minor bend that was easily straightened.

I want to replace the 4-in-1 with the 3-in-1 plus receiver and separate HH gyro. Should I just go with the E-Flight parts for the CPP? Or are there better (but not much more $$$) third party receiver, , etc. I'd also like to be able to use my Futaba 7C and I understand a non E-flite receiver is needed for that. I'd also like to be able to go brushless. What receiver, gyro, ESC combination would be a good fit on the CP without spending much more than the E-flite parts?

nasty - wish you had a vid

Yup...that's what it usually looks like. Always sorry to hear the story though. Sounds like you got substantially more use out of yours than I did mine.

So...are you going to replace it with a 4 in 1 or go seperates? If your going seperates, I've got some good solution ideas.

Consider the 3 in 1 from the Pro and

the Spektrum DX6 Radio (Nice price for what you get, and don't get (no more Glitches))

Good Luck

Futura - I'm going to go separates, unless the cost is prohibitive, in which case I'll just get the 3-in-1 + e-flite receiver option, then I can still use a separate HH gyro and have the plug and play brushless option for later. What combinations would you suggest?

As cool as the Spektrum is, I want to have one LESS transmitter to worry about, and have the greater control that the 7C programming offers.

that sucks, I had to go to a seperate gyro ( ripped my eflite HH gyro off my walkera ) after a collision with my brick house.. LOL luckily my 4 in 1 didnt fry, but the piezo sensor for the gyro seperated ( the chrome part in the top left corner of the pic) came off. thats more $ i didnt want to spend. Wish i could find somewhere that sells that part to replace it myself so i can free up my gyro for my other heli again.

Also, if your reciever is still intact then you can still use it even with the Eflite 3 in 1 combo, it would just mount more akward then a new reciever due to the plugs on the back of the reciever for ch 3 and 4