My first real-life shot at a heli. My brother bought me the Blade CP for Christmas, and I had to try it out. Everything looked great in the box, except for a cracked canopy. A little Scotch tape, and all was well again.

It was a calm day, so I took it out in my in-law's backyard. The directions say to use the battery out of the box and run it down, so I did. Took only a few minutes, and the heli never had enough oomph to get off the ground.

After waiting the 2+ hours to charge the battery with the included wall charger, it was back out into the freshly mown grass. I managed to hover for a few seconds at a time and put it down safely each time. I ran out of battery before I got the gyro properly adjusted. Upon leaving the ground the heli always wanted to slowly rotate one way or the other. I've also got to properly track the blades. One is tracking higher than the other. I'm reading up in BDavison's CP thread.

I learned a few things:

I need a fast charger! I'm prolly going to upgrade to LiPo's.
Even short grass will stop the tail rotor.
I really want to get a TX tray.

Just thought I'd share. Hope everyone's holiday was as much fun as mine

-Joe

Avoid allowing the tail rotor to touch the grass, it's real hard on the little motors brushes, and will cause the motor to fail prematurely.

I figured as much. I'll need to find an indoor arena to try it out. My garage is pretty big, but it's still pretty scary.

-Joe

If you go lipos - just be aware that 3 cell lipos (11.1V) will burn up your tail motors in very short order.

You can go 2 cell - 7.2V lipo.

Ok. Will I notice a difference in performance due to the lower voltage of the 2-cell LiPo pack as opposed to the 8-cell NiMh pack? (7.2 vs 9.6)

Thanks,

-Joe

BUMP,

I am curious about the answer to his question...

You can fly on a 2S lipo if you go to a 11T pinion gear on the main motor, but performance is awful. I don't recommend it...

Success! I finally got a nice stable hover last night Well, the first one that lasted more than a few seconds. I got about 30 seconds of decent hovering at a time.

This little heli is a riot!

-Joe

WTG Nostalgia.... I know how satisfying it is to get that first "wobbly" but controlled hover under your belt. Just to let you know, I am also using the NiMH batteries in my CP and have decided not to upgrade to lipo till I can master forward flight. At that point, I should be in the upgrade frenzy and tossing bling and dazzle all over it. About the only thing I would possibly upgrade beforehand would be the tail motor to a DD or twin tail setup.

I get about 8 - 12 mins per battery now ( I have 2) and did buy a better battery charger. 2 hrs charge time, warm to the touch just didn't cut it for me as I also have 2 7.4 lipos for my coaxial. I still charge my NiMH's at .85A and the lipos at .75A just because what i hear is slower is better. Still getting a full charge in 45 - 55 mins tho.


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Of all the things I ever lost........................ I miss my mind the most!

Thanks, Arrow. It really felt awesome. I was able to hover at chest level right in front of me. My brother was there with me (he bought me the heli for Christmas) and we were both ecstatic!

I want to get a real charger, but I don't want to have to buy 2 if I decide upgrade to LiPo's. I'm building a big fixed-wing electric that will use LiPos, so I thought I could use one charger for everything.

Is there a tail motor upgrade that would allow me to use the 3s battery?

Thanks!

-Joe

Good job bro! It's definitely an awesome feeling to get that 1st hover in.

As far as lipo's, get a 3-cell. I used a 3-cell 11.1v 1350mah battery for many, many flights and never burned the tail motor out. I recently upgraded to the 2-tail motor combo however and like it so far. As far as chargers go, I got the DN Power lipo balancer charger. Here's a link to one place that sells it: http://www.readyheli.com/DN_Power_3S.../dncharger.htm

I really like the charger....it has nice LED readouts of each battery cell voltage and you can charge any type lipo battery up to a 4-cell. It comes with many adapters.

Do a search for the 2-tail motor or the DD (Direct Drive) tail motor setups and you can choose what you like.

Good luck!
Skarn

Good job, Man. I remember my first hover. Won't be long until your buzzin' around in patterns.

Anyway, if you do upgrade to the 3 cell LiPo, make sure you put the 9T motor on. You run the risk of frying your speed control if you don't.

Good point! I actually put the 8t motor on since the manual recommended that with the 3-cell lipo and flat bottom blades...

Skarn