Hey guys.......EXI-450 (plastic version....$99 before ship) review:
I just finished building it last night and did a test hover in the basement today.

*motor...Danlion 3500KV
*ESC....Dynam 30a
*Gyro....Telebee with drift and temp compensation circuitry
*servos...E-Sky std 8g (x4)
*battery "zippy" 2200mAh 20C
*Radio system DX7 with AR6100E RX
All the above are new out of the box/package

First impression....I thought the tail rotor gearbox was a bit "cheap looking" and I really questioned the way it clamps to the boom without a position locking lug and I thought that MIGHT be an issue. I did change the allen screw out on the clamp to a higher quality screw, it locks securely and position change is not an issue unless you crash or land pretty hard. I also thought the plastic in general was a little lacking in quality but hasen't offered to be a problem as yet. The horizontal and vertical stabs....replace them with T-Rex stabs ASAP or at the first opportunity...physically too small for a 400 heli. The flybar paddle....I recommend changing them to Align 8G paddles as well as installing Align stock skids.

The build:
It took a couple hours to assemble. They give you a lot of extra hardware and there is NO instructions I could find in the box, the extra hardware is useable, but confusing during the build, but it's a basic 400 sized heli....not a problem. Installing the servos was a bit of a PITA...pretty tight in there (LOL). I placed the gyro dead center under the main rotor mast and I had to invert it and it faces rearward, but it's fine. Routing all the wires was pretty straight forward, the ESC and RX are mounted to the frame on the (outside the frame) side rear panels (gonna put a scale fuse on it later). I like the battery tray provided...well placed and thought out. You have a choice to put the battery on the upper slant tray or in the lower flat tray...I chose the lower tray.

Set-up: Took some time, but it normally does. I'm still pending some minor mechanical trim changes to the rudder and ailerons to get this bird zeroed out. The pitch settings in the head...you really gotta go through that. The initial was about 6 or 7 deg down at full stick down on collective. I did of course have to raise the swash quite a bit mechanically.

Test flight:
Other than the trims being a little off mechanically, no probs. VERY powerful, stable, and predictable. I had to tone down the throws on the servos and the D/R because it's VERY responsive to input. In the right hands...this bird is capable of 3d pretty handily right out of the box. The stock blades did NOT need balanced and are 325mm. The test flight went VERY well, and it's gonna take some time to trim 'er out.

Overall opinion: A great value with a good degree of quality. Don't skimp on any of the electronics/motor. I equiped this bird with pretty good stuff that is known to be reliable. Worth the $99 plus ship? You betcha.

Hey guys, after a fatal crash of the Bug I brought out the Heli. I had an audence of little boys(future pilots?) including my "nephew" He can fly a trimmed picco z better than I can, and is OK with an aeroace bipe. Start them at 2 1/2 and they will have a grasp.

Anyway after the Bug crash I brought out the Heli. I had planned on just driving around to continue getting more comfortable with the controls. I need to fiddle with the gyro. Any way I ended up with a heli in the air again. But my rudder control was poor. As I said, adjustments are required. The good news is that there was no damage.
Tim

Here are nearly final pics of the swift wing. Once I get that finished the heli adjustments, then I will try to resurrect the bug. I have had the bug flying since early january and have over 600 flights on it, the number is attained by average # of flights/day over 8 months. Just thought I would share. I guess torn up Bug pic's should be taken. The damage is distressing.

I am liking the JCS blades a lot. I feel more confident. The sym. blades lost the covering in grass[:-]. OK, off to finish the Wing.

Tim

Ok I got some more flying in today and I made my first video[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9bxl_DvuMo[/link]. The video is kind of a big file and took awhile to upload(around 200meg) might want to let video buffer awhile. Next time will be easier because I figured out how the resize the videos. The 2nd attempt of the day didnt go too well I was up for about 30secs and started to drift forward alittle and while I corrected it the tail started to the right so tried to counter it and oops I overcorrected it turned nose-in pitched right and hit the ground. It is the usual damage main shaft, spindle, blades, center hub, and 1 skid holder for my training gear. So hopefully Ill be back in the air soon in aweek or so.

Vic,

Hey, the EXI 450 looks pretty sweet. As you’ve said, “No plane or heli is RTF�
The horizontal stab does look a tad small, but unless you’re doing some super fast ff or heavy
3D, I don’t see it to be a problem. The vertical stab looks okay, I see it’s mounted to the tail box,
instead of on it’s own slider, like the HBK2s. Trex would be better, but I hold off till that one
breaks.
The 8g Align paddles will help, better stability and improves control on the cyclic side of the
house. For the price, it looks like you have a winner. And 100% Trex compatible, a big plus
there. With the motor, ESC, servos and DX7 system, that you’ve installed should good package
for ya.

Take care,

Dave / Choppersrule

Kyle,

I watched your video, all 9min. 10 seconds. Excellent job, I was impressed with the flight time.
At 5 min. 40 sec. or so, you came a little to close to the trunk, and set the heli down and walked it
back to safe territory. Good reaction on that. Best to set it down, when in potential trouble. You
have the proportional and gyro gain dialed in very well. I didn’t observe any tail wagging and
your yaw control was very good too.
You may want to take it up a little higher to get out of the ground effects. You fought that a
couple times. You’re ready for it, trust me. Take ‘er up to about 4 feet and you’ll see a difference.
Also, when you feel comfortable, take off the training gear. The air flow created by the main
rotor blades, bounces off the ping pong balls and will make the heli bounce around a little. If you
watch them closely, you will see them spinning around and moving up and down slightly. With
the training gear off, it will be even easier to control.

You’re doing great, just one step at a time...

Sorry about the second flight not doing so well, but you are well on your way.

Take care and Blue Skies,

Dave / Choppersrule

Vic ~

Looks great as usual ! How well does she do loops ?! Ah come on, give er' a shot, I know it's in ya...Lol, kidding of course. A heli that nice deserves a nice new fuselage built by Mr. Vic !



Kyle ~

Looking good ! You make me want to break out my CPP again... I was going to say the same as Dave, about the training gear. It really does make a world of difference. A couple of flights it will take to get used to the light and wispy feeling, but not much different, just better control believe it or not. The thing that was funny for me was getting used to the "new" look, as it looked naked in the air to me with no training gear on...Lol.. You have good control, to take the next step up I believe, just someting to think about. But only if your ready... Don't rush anything. When I first got my CPP I drilled some holes in the balls to help that air movement smacking them and it helps a little, but the best thing was to just remove them altogether.


Hope everyone's doing alright, been quiet lately but that's o.k. it means were all busy with work, family, or sneaking in some kind of build lol...

Take care,


~ Jeff

Jeff Michael,

Very creative, drilling holes in the ping pong balls. Maybe you can take over for me on the "TIP OF THE DAY" posts.
Haven't done that in awhile, guess the old brain is slowing down.

Loved your LOL icon, on the "I GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!" post.. Hard to get one by the Ol' Chopper.

On the Flip Side,

Dave / Choppersrule

Dave ~

Lol...The tip of the day task was appointed to you. Remember ?! But take the night off and I'll throw one up 4 ya....

Home Depot $2.40... A "magnetizer". You put your screwdriver or whatever tool you want magnetized into the correct slot, run it through a few times and she's definately magnetized. It works much better than I thought it would. Those tiny little screws stay put like there super glued to the end of the driver...Lol.. I was even picking up drill bits with one of my small jewelers screwdrivers.

Works great for those hard to reach places !

Take care,


~ Jeff

Jeff Michael,

Thanks for stepping in for me on the "Tip of the Day", however, I just thought of one too.

Bob's, if you don't like the color of your tail rotor blades (yellow or white) or your flybar paddles. Just get ya a Sharpie Magnum in black. Takes less than a minute.. See picture, forgot to take one of the "Before", only have the "After". They were white.

Jeff, I use Earth Magnets to magnetize my tools, they are expensive. Hmmm, my son-in-law gave me some. Another Freebie. [sm=wink_smile.gif][sm=wink_smile.gif]

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/ma...FQOjFQod4zOgqA


Dave / Choppersule

Another tip of the day....the marker comes off (smooth surfaces) with alcohol....LOL

I tried slowly afew times to get it alittle higher but I needed new blades and the heli would wobble when I got a little higher. I might try going without the training gear since I lost 1 of the holders off the skids.

So I was at the LHS yesterday buying more tail motors for my CP+ (seems like I go through about one per month) and the fellow there had an interesting idea. If someone here mentioned it before and I missed it please forgive me. He mentioned that since the CP Pro 2 will be out soon, and one of the new features of that model is a DD tail, that once the spare parts are available, I could just get that direct drive tail motor assembly and install it on my CP+.
Does anyone have an opinion on whether that would work?

I know many here tried the various DD tail mods available with varying success and modifications needed. Do you think this might be a good option for an OEM solution that might work without too many quirks?

Thanks,

Scott

Well besides not being able to log in for the last 5 hours, it's been an awesome morning for flying ! Marc and John and RCU's support center had to fix one of there front end servers, and that fixed my problem....Thanks guys !

I was at the LHS yesterday, and had a Blade 400 RTF package for $399.00 in my hands...Lol.. After several paces in the LHS, something just didn't feel right, so I put her back.... I'am possibly thinking maybe the Mini-Titan E325 would be a better choice for me....Soooooo, I couldn't leave the LHS empty handed now could I ? What we picked up was something that Jeremy (LOOKYJ) had already tried for us, and I have to say he is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT !!!!! The VAPOR from Parkzone...Man guys, everyone needs one of these ! I've wrecked it so many times in trees, sharp bushes etc. etc. and it still is intact from my experiments of this thing ! Today, I went and purchased another one...LMAO...

I binded them both to my DX-7, and these things will do loops, harriers, hovers and are purely a blast... GO GET ONE ! It comes with a 3.7v 70mah lipo, takes about 15 minutes to charge, and depending on your throttle management, gets about 10-15 minutes of flight. Excellent power to weight ratio, and weighs 12 grams. The same as 2 nickels !


Here is my maiden flight from this morning....Thereafter, I ran 11 packs through it all morning !


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhE8fQypGj0

Take care guys !


~ Jeff

P.S. Thanks Jeremy ! What else is good ?!!!

Tip of the Day:

To all the Bob’s, just chime in. If you have an idea that would help others, just post ‘em.


Vic,

Thanks for that one. Alcohol to remove marker stuff.

Kyle,
Never under estimate you abilities. You are ready with no training gear. On the main blades, if
they aren’t perfect, IE: dinged upped and tape around them. Get a new set. I don’t know what
type of balancing tool you use, but make sure the main blades are on the money. Makes a world
of difference. Also, what you may want to try for balancing. Make sure that the flybar and
paddles are balanced. I find this, the easiest way, take off the main blades. And remove the tail
blades or disconnect power lead from controller... Spool up the heli, and you should have no
vibrations at all. If you do, then the flybar/paddles need adjusting. Move them from right to left.
If it’s better keep going. If it’s worse, you moved it the wrong way... Oh, mark on of the paddles
on the bottom side with a marker, so you know which way you moved things. Once, you have
that Perfect. Add the main blades after balancing.

Scott,

On the DD tail upgrade. A lot of the Bob’s have tried to no avail. Unless they have improved the
DD motor dramatically, you are entering the Zander Zone. At your own Risk.


Jeff Michael,
You dawg you!!!! Vapor City. LMAO.. Your video looks great and you are definitely having a
blast. Kudos on that. Check out the videos of some indoor stuff. Very impressed with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdC6warmuL0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld-eb...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1DWD...eature=related


Dave / Choppersrule

Dave ~

You need one for the basement...............!

J-Michael,

LOL.. It's on my list. About three more months and I'm good to go! Then LOOK OUT!!![sm=wink_smile.gif] That sucker is really cool!

You posted really fast, go back and check out the videos.

Dave / Choppersrule
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Been there done that ! Lol !! You will seriously love that thing...


~ Jeff

Jeff,

I've said before, you are the digger and researcher.. Heading to bed, the old guy has to work tomorrow.. LOL.. Love your Icons.

Dave / Choppersrule

Alright back on track for the CPP for a bit....One thing I found that helps the stock back tail motor, is going to a carbon fiber tail rotor blade. They weigh 1 gram less than the stock plastic ones, and believe me for that little motor that's big...Lol.. I've never broken one, and have them on both of my CPP's. There pretty tough ! I've had my fair share of crashes and I'am pleased with the durability of em'.....


~ Jeff

My heli is hloding straight on the gyro, the tail only wants to spin one way. Could the Gyro be off, or is this normal? The rotor spin seems to pull the body the other way OK.

Tim

The tail motor only spins one way. Its either off or on. Off the heli turns one way motor running or on it turns the other way.
If you tell it to turn it should turn that way turning off or turning on the tail motor. If it won't there is a gyro test in the manual that I think tells you to disconnect the main motors and turn the heli by hand to get the tail motor to start up by the gyro. If the rear motor is running and nothing will get it off it may be bad. When the tail motor goes it will stop running and not run or run all the time.Don't think you need the gyro test. Rear motor or gyro adjustment if you turned the screws on it. Ron

Ray 'ere,
Buddy has a pooter so here I am.
Suggestion...magnets.....
Next time in the Hobby store, check out the magnets for HO railroad uncoupling....I've a few at the house and they really do come in useful.
Dude at LHS showed me a Vapor....what a blast and this weekend is payday. I wonder if it will help me in my nose-in problems.
Will I ever have enough toys..?..Dear Lord I hope not.
Just ordered a CCD camera for the telescope 'cos the evenings are starting earlier and the good stuff is coming around.
Been invited to play at a local blues club....went by there the other eve and I heard a Hammond obviously live. Went in and found a nice three piece and the drummer knew me from a few years back and twisted my arm to play for a while....bloody Hammond was irresistable....with two Leslie speakers yet...!!!
So this eve I'm playing....never go anywhere without my frets....got the Burns and the big Precision 5-string so I'm good to go but I'll probably park my rear behind the keys.
Will fill you in later.......
Ray

Dave,

I guess that's what I'm saying, that since Eflight will be shipping the new Pro 2 with a DD tail, one could assume (with appropriate caution of what that could make of u + me) that they've got a reasonably working system. I'm just wondering if anyone had a guess as to whether it would work with my CP+. I know they've upgraded the radio system and have no idea whether they would have changed voltages or whatever else might impact the tail interface. Anyway, it's maybe a hope for a 'stock' DD tail solution for the Blades.

Best,

Scott

I was one of the few who actually got the DD tail to work with the N60 motor, and when I sold it....it left with the DD tail working great. It had all kinds of authority and great control. Since I've had my fill of Eflite, I'll never find out how these things will work out BUT....you know where my money is....on the failure...same-ole same-ole. Eflite just can't understand that you can build a decient heli at a reasonable price. I stay away from Eflite products like they have leporcy. There are JUST too many decient heli's that are ARF at a low cost with good quality, and the RTF's....the HoneyBee King v2 is about the best there is.