Today I was on my third battery on the B 400 when all of a sudden it made a strange loud noise and lost power and tail control. I was able to land it hard with no damage. What happened was that the allen bolt holding one of the tail blade grips on had worked loose and the blade grip with the tail blade flew off. This resulted in an imbalance which bent the tail rotor shaft and locked up the belt causing a loss of power and the quick decent. I searched far and wide for the missing tail blade and grip and never did find them. I imagine that given the RPM's they could get flung pretty far. Of course, this was the only part that my LHS did not have in stock. I had not touched the tail since I bought the heli. Everyone may want to check the locktite on these screws. I am lucking that I landed this baby without damage from about fifty feet up ...it's always something, just when I had this thing trimmed hands off!

Thanks for the heads up, sorry to hear about the crash but it's an easy fix.
Just find the part online with a dealer close by and you'll have the parts in a couple days.

As far as the allen screw there is only one that secures the tail rotor shaft.
Are you talking about the balls that connect the tail slider to the grips?
If so, those go into plastic so locktite is not an option.
I'm tightening mine now.

Same thing happened to mine!!!! In a low hover, no damage. Check all screws and bolts!!!

I'm talking about the allen bolt that hold the tail blade grip to the tail hub. It's metal into metal so locktite would be appropriate. What I can not fiqure is how I could not find the blade and grip in a clear field. I threw the other one as hard as I could and it went about fifty feet. I searched at least a hundred feet out and could not find it. Maybe it's buried into the ground.

wsdepa,

I was not trying to give you a hard time.
But I think I've figured out what you're talking about. The socket head cap screw that goes through the grip into the hub.
The one that can only be accessed by removing the blade. Is that correct?

The force that would be needed to dislodge it from the ball and link would have been great.
It could be anywhere including stuck in the ground.

the best thing to with a b400 is throw it in the dumpster..lol..those helis are total junk!!!!..the radio is decent i guess but the rest is junk...and they are way over priced..and to many people have had problems with them right out of the box..do some research before getting a heli..i did research before i bought my falcon 3d..and when i ordered it i also ordered metal upgrade ..and a 40 amp speed control and of course a new motor ..all the motors in the falcons come apart usualy the first or second flight..when i recieved my falcon and all the other stuff i opened the box pulled the heli out and i just gave the motor a little tug and low and behold the motor fell right off the metal plate..lol it pulled right out!!!so that should tell you something....right out of the box and on the bench for two nights while i installed all the upgrades ,,now this heli is totally awsome..!!!!

Do you have some point posting this in here? Happy you're happy, but this forum is FOR E-flite... not against it.

You got it exactly. "socket head cap screw" - I'll remember that.

i just checked mine and yep, it was loose !!!!! - man, you saved my scale a-star !!!

thanks for posting this, and for the joker for giving me a laugh - i do have a falcon 3d and yes the motor fell apart lol !!! - they sent me a new motor free - all the new falcon 3d's come with motors that have little screws holding them together instead of the force fit - its a cool 400-size heli with the shaft tail drive and all - it flies even better with plastic trex 315mm blades !!! - pitch setup with the one servo is weirdly cool too

the 400 is actually even more stable than the falcon 3d, but the servos on the falcon 3d are probably better, especially with the pitch being on a single servo


edge

i was flying my blade 400 this afternoon, and everything was going great until it suddenly lost power. so i landed it and let the blades power down and powered it back up and flew for about 3 to 4 more minutes. why would it be doing this? i only flew it for four to five minutes and then it happened. i dont know if its in my esc or what. but im open to suggestions.

doeman, I had a simmilar prob when my b400 was new. After 2 mins on a new pack the esc would go into voltage cut off and reduce power. If I landed and let the esc reset it would be ok for a little while then repeat. I loosened my belt and ran some more packs and it fixed itself. E flight suspected a bad esc and sent me one but it hasnt done it again???? Double check your belt tension. How old are your batteries??

This is actually something that is missed by alot of pilots, I'm guilty of it with my KingII. I always check and locktite any screw that goes into metal. Very few are found on heli's like the B400. It's a lesson I'm sure alot of us have learned and never posted.

Good post wsdepa!

hey guys if your screws keep falling out in plastic you can NOT lock tite them it wont do anything... you can put a dab of CA glue (glue for rc tires) or some super glue then tighten down and it will come out with a little force but not wobble out. I know this goes into metal but just wanted to throw that out there!