Stompy

I know this sounds utterly stupid, but where can I find (online) training gear for the Blade CP Pro? The shop I bought my heli from told me that both the crash kit and the training gear they sold were for the CP, not the Pro, and were not compatible. I've been searching for days and most parts and accessories I'm finding are listed as being for the CP, not the Pro. So are CP parts compatible with the Pro or not?

Thanks much in advance. I'm getting frustrated and anxious to fly.

Rustysocket

CP and CP pro have the same landing gear. Just get yourself some bamboo skewers and some pingpong balls. Use small wire ties or zip ties to attach them to the skids.

Stompy

Thanks for the reply. I KNEW I should have just added the darn things to the cart when I bought the heli. Ya know, my pilot friend told me to make my own too. But I'm just not that good at making things. Yeah, sure, it's a simple thing, but in my case it would end up looking like an ashtray. LOL I wonder why the store told me the gear wasn't the same for the pro? I should have known better. K, time to order.

Thank you!

Flying Foot Doc

My Feedback: (2)

While you are waiting for the gear, study the Radd's School of Rotary Flight. It just might help you keep the whole thing from looking like decorations for your ashtray! Andy

Stompy

LOL. Thanks Andy.

I've been reading it over and over for a couple of weeks now. It's part of what's been giving me trouble actually. I couldn't understand what I was supposed to be doing, because I was bringing the throttle up to mid stick and it wasn't going anywhere. Sure, the mains were spinning and it looked very pretty, but I didn't need to hold the tail or anything. So now I'm playing around just under liftoff speed, and now it's starting to get interesting. I've got the Radd concept, I just need to tweak it a little to work for me. You can't learn to control the movement if it isn't moving in the first place.

I'm going to try raising the throttle one or two more clicks over this lunch hour and see what happens. I've spent a bunch of time tuning the POTs now and I think I've got it really stable.

Now, where do you folks normally shop online for Pro parts? Everywhere I look seems to be focused on the CX and the CP, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I get ready to click the Buy button on something that doesn't say it's designed for my bird. I'd love to support my LHS, but my wife won't have me driving for an hour one-way to get there and spend more money that I shouldn't be spending in the first place, so it's all online for me.

Any reassurance that I'm not buying the wrong parts would be fantastic. "Wasting" money is bad enough without having her find out I didn't even buy the right thing in the first place.

Tall Paul

The training gear is two CF rods, .070", by about 12" - 15" long.
The balls are ping pong balls from Sports Chalet.
On the CP the rods when installed cross at the center, and are attached any way you please to the skids. I use 1/4" ply drilled 3/16" for the skids, 5/64" for the rods.
On the CX, the rods go straight across. Makes for nice rolling takeoffs.

HeliTB

I see you like to paint as well. I like the colors. So Patriotic....

Stompy

Thanks for the reply. I really like the way you did it on the CX actually. Just two sticks, that should be easier. How do you get the balls to stay on the stick? Looks like I might do this myself after all since I have a feeling everyone will laugh at me if I buy em at this point.

Although I'm still waiting for someone to tell me where I can find parts online. I'm just completely confused over which parts are CP/CP Pro compatible and which aren't. I haven't even been able to find a crash kit for this thing yet, and I'm trying to plan ahead.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I flew over lunch today. Longest hover was, of course, just a few seconds, but as I'm sure you know, it was a huge accomplishment nontheless. I was mostly just thrilled to see the tail stay mostly stationary in a hover. It was windy out, with an occasional gust, so I think I did pretty well overall. Ran into a weird drop in altitude that happened a couple of times. Might have been ground effect, might have been low batteries, wind gust, who knows. The big thing is now I know the heli and I both can fly. The rest is up to me.

EpoweredRC

would it be okay to take the balls off and just have the CF rods on there? i thoght w/o the bals it would be less drag what you guys think, im to the point to remove the whole thing but dont think im quite ready to lose all of it yet.

Stompy

Granted, I'm an utter n00b, but I'd say leave the balls on. They probably aren't creating that much drag, and when you're near the ground they'll slide 100% better than the carbon rods. Plus I think everyone here already thinks you should take the gear off now. Personally, I think you should take em off and send them to me.

Being serious though, well, maybe you can put smaller balls on?

Truglodite

either you need the training gear, or you don't. take it farther than that and we'll start seeing $50 adjustable training gear packaged with our helis. j/k, but i know some ppl have cut their rods shorter as an intermediate step. that puts the balls closer, which makes the heli react quicker to cyclic and rudder input while keeping the benefits of damping impacts and resisting rollovers.

stompy, download the manuals and part explosion pdfs from eflight. imo the best resources to use while ordering. google "horizonhobby" and go from there, since "elfight" gets a ton of random links.

btw, it sure is easier to fly without wind. g/j on the flight.

EpoweredRC

HA ha Thats so funny .... you made me laugh. I did take them off today and attempt to hover a little on my porch (but being in a 3x3 spot is tiny after flying outside)

it was a whole lot more responsive w/o them, you wouldnt think it would make that much driffrence but it does. it was trying to tip over foward a little and over to one side, acted like I was starting from pack one all over again ... maybe i should just try in a bigger area.

Stompy

Thanks. What I lack in skill I try to make up for in humor.

Sweet! Good job on the "naked" flight. I'll email you my address. :P

Hey Truglodite: I actually like your idea of adjustable trainers. I bet you could make a fortune from that. But more importantly, thank you very much for the hint about searching for part numbers. That's absolutley brilliant and I wish I'd thought of it. I've got several copies of the manual now. One of these days I'll be able to comprehend that image and find whatever busted piece I'm looking for. Pre-emptively, is there a crash kit for the Pro out there somewhere or not?

EXTANKER

i made my own two 2mm by 40 in. yes 40 in. i put 4 o rings on the rods first then styrofine 2 in. balls contact cement the o rings slip over skids . it looks UGLY but i never crashed and broke any thing after a while cut the rods down as ya get better i,m at 12 in. rods now

orlbuzz

Stompy,
consider this, if you have to drive an hour to get to your LHS, you may spend more than the $10 the training gear costs, in gasoline, to get the parts to make one. Additionally, the e-flite training gear has a center hub that creates some spring in the gear. And, if you are following Radd's, you will need them again when you want to learn nose-in. Yes, he takes you back to the ground.

It's easier to say what isn't the same between the cp and cpp than what is. What isn't is the Tx., the 4n1 vs 3n1, the bell hiller (though you can put one on the cp), flat bottom vs symetrical, (again, they will interchage), and canopy, and that too will interchange. Actuall, you could make a cp into a cpp. Some people have replaced the 4n1 with the 3n1 and Rx.

I actually went the other way, I bought a Pro and "de-tuned" it with flat bottom blades, extra flybar weights,and heavier lipos, to learn. Stick with Radd's, it works.

orlbuzz

Truglodite

orlbuzz got all the parts right. you can make your own crash kit until eflight makes one. i'd rank the top 5 spare parts to keep as:

1) blades
2) main gear/shaft
3) hiller arms (the part linked to blade grips)
4) skids
5) tail rotor mount

the top 3 parts are very likely to be broken in most (if not all) significant crashes.

orlbuzz

add a spindle, spring for the microheli hard one: http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ID=MHECP002SPS


orlbuzz

EpoweredRC

do the skids get weak when you take off the traning gear? or have folks busted them even witht he gear on? I have read about lots of them breaking them... they dont seem that breakable but i guess a hard landing on hard suface would break them.

Tall Paul

.
I kept the ball-less sticks on for awhile... now I'm confident enough to leave them off.
Having the thing trimmed helps it stay vertical when landing abruptly.
I use it to expose fliers at the field to helicopters, since it flies like a normal r/c plane.

Tall Paul

.
My hovering skills are non-existent with the CP. The balls and sticks keep it from digging in and breaking things less frequently when it slides into the ground at relatively low angles.
I found out that flying over dirt is a bad idea, too many small bumps that grab the sticks and the tail skid, leading to boom strikes, blade damage, pitch link damage..
Flying at the paved airfield has cut down the daily damage cost to maybe every other day.

EpoweredRC

Oh thanks for the reply, I figured someone might have done this. just need the skids sticking out for a little more relaxed fell.

Tall Paul

.
Everything breaks on the CP. The sticks that make up the connecting parts are always breaking. They're .070" CF rod, which at 48" provides a lot of sticks.
The landing gear skids break.. I'm on my 3rd pair.
The tail rotor loses the little gubbins that engage the rotor drive gear on a ground strike. Making the tail skid a bit more complex has eliminated that problem. Too many rotor hits takes out the front bearing on the tail motor.
Adding the split large fuel tubing to the boom protects it from blade strikes.
I've added "cable trusses" to the front and rear landing gear strut areas... around the skids, and up to the body sticks. These keep the structure from deflecting under landing stresses. Used 15 pound fishing line..

EpoweredRC

I go by if your ruff with stuff it breaks if your not then it doesnt. I would like to put a fin on the back of mine just for something bigger to see but Most likley wont, most helis dont even have anything back there, im guessing its to help not hit the tail blade on the ground.
so whats the oversized fuel tubing for? so when the blades hit it wont hit the tail boom directly?

you said something about front bearings. your talking about the bearins in the motor itself!?

so far so good with mine, i fly off grass not pavment.

Truglodite

Tall Paul, i could be wrong, but it appears that your wire truss runs parallel to the struts. i was expecting to see and "X", like you see on Piper Cubs.

Stompy

You guys are awesome, thank you VERY much.

Had a blade strike this morning, it rolled to the right and nicked the ground a few times before finally calming down. Looks like I'm on to my first pair of replacement blades. Time to start the ordering process and introduce myself to these fine retailers!