rotarydoc

Hi all,

I was so disappointed with the CPP's performance (and mine, truthfully) yesterday, that I FINALLY decided to take a good look at my settings, rather than just fly it and try to compensate for what might be a setup problem. In all honesty, I have just been flying this thing on a seat-of-the-pants setup, I basically threw the DX6i in the heli, got the blade pitch eyeball close, and went for it. I guess I got lucky, because it flew fairly well, or at least it seemed to. Anyways, when I got the pitch gauge out (which has been in the toolbox since I bought it, 2 weeks ago!) and watched a couple of videos to learn how to use it properly, I found my eyeball settings were WAY off, I had on the low stick, -7 degrees of pitch, and on the high end, I was off the scale, probably somewhere around 14-15 degrees!!

I have read that for normal flight, hovering and basics like that, I should be around -2 for the low stick, and about 11 degrees on the high end of the stick. Well, I got them there, but I'm not sure if I got them there the RIGHT way...let me explain, if I can... I tried travel adjust, for the pitch, thinknig it would reduce the overall travel, since I was too low on the low, and too high on the high... I'm not sure exactly what this adjustment is supposed to do, but on my setup it didn't do anything. I still had the same pitch readings, whether the travel was at 0% or 125%?? Anyways, I decided to begin with the low end. I used swash mix to get the low end pitch to -2 degrees, that was no issue at all, reduced the swash from like -60 to -46 to achieve that.

Now, I was at -2 on the low side, so the only way I could figure to get the high end from off the scale, to 11 was to limit the travel using pitch curve? I tried to adjust the high end with the swash trim, but it also affected the low setting I had already made... I ended up with it at 11 degrees on the high stick, but my pitch curve is way, way low, with the high end (5) being at 50%... and 4, 3, 2, and low progressively lower down the scale to achieve the desired 11 degrees of pitch at full throw of the throttle stick.

Am I OK with this setup, or did I go about achieving the desired end result the wrong way?

The next question is, if you have been following the forum, I have decided that I want to try to get my rotor headspeed as low as possible, while still having enough power to maintain flight as discussed on another thread regarding rotor speed vs. stability... can I do this mostly with throttle curve on the radio itself, without having to change motor/pinion gearing, etc? Also, I am guessing that it's tricky to get the throttle and pitch curves set up to work well together...that it will just take some extensive experimentation to get the combo that suits me and my flying skills/tecniques? I played with the throttle curve a little earlier today, without blades, and spun it up, and then changed throttle curves to see what does what...and I ended up lowering my whole curve to max out at about 75% to start....any ideas on this?

I also switched back to flat bottom blades, hoping for some additional stability, I have read both ways on blades, some say flat bottom are better for a stable hover, some say the symmetrical are?

I thought I had the gyro all dialed in the other day (new G110), but yesterday the tail was all over the place, and not just from the torque reaction that I was experiencing, the tail would sometimes just do it's own thing, not really suddenly, but it was definately not "locked" in, at all, I had to constantly make tail adjustments, even if the gain was at 100%...I am kinda at a loss on that one... I did notice that the receiver wires (my DX6i came with the AR6200 receiver, which has a little remote receiver with it, 2 in all) were RIGHT up against the main motor case, so I moved them away, thinking I might be getting some RF noise in the radio...other than that, I am really scratching my head on this gyro, I thought it was supposed to make it EASIER to fly the heli, but yesterday, I was doing nothing more than flying the tail !!

I know that's a lot to ask at once, but I don't want to clog up the forum with a bunch of different/overlapping questions...

Thanks so much in advance, as always, you guys are a great group, hell, I spend more time here than practicing on the sim...maybe that's my problem !!!?? LOL

Glenn

evdreamer

I keep all of my swash mixes at 60%. Then I only use travel adjustments to keep the swashplate level at low stick and high stick. Then I use the pitch curve to limit or add pitch. Then you could use the idle switch to have a setting that is a lot slower with a full battery, then when it becomes to slow at a lower voltage flip the switch to make it a little faster to your desired speed. That way you can kind of keep a constant slow speed at different voltages. Like you said you will have to mess with the pitch and throttle curves to find a good balance for you. I am stumped on the tail except if it is just worn out. I know they don't hold well when they are bad.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the input, I will have to experiment and see what works for me. I did take it outside earlier today, even though the wind was blowing at 18 MPH...I just wanted to see how the pitch and throttle curve settings were acting just hopping around. I got pretty bold, and got it airborne for a few seconds at a time, and so far, as best I can tell, I like it alot this way, it seems to have a much lower head speed, lifting off much earlier than I am used to, and it seemed pretty stable, as best I could tell. I will know a lot more tomorrow, after work, when I can run several batteries inside the shop.

In the little time I had to evaluate things, the tail/gyro issue reared it's ugly head again. I can be flying it, and the tail will go either direction, probably 75 degrees or so, and if I try to correct it, it is slow to respond, and then over-responds. I started thinking about it, and it was a simple matter to just put the stock 3 in 1 gyro back into service, bypassing the G110 altogether. It was very, very difficult to hover, as the wind had picked up even more than it was, but from what I could gather from the short time in the air, the gyro problems are gone with the stock 3 in 1, especially the tendancy to react to the torque of the blades/motor I was experiencing before. I will have a much better idea after tomorrow's flight session after work.

Although I seriously doubt it, I wonder if I got a bad gyro? Have you heard of any issues with the G110 (I think it's stock on the Blade 400, from what I have read)? Someone stated that it's a little "drifty", but this is much more than a drift situation, the gyro is just not keeping the tail anywhere near "locked"...

Let me do some more testing tomorrow, and I'll post the results...

Thanks a million,

Glenn

evdreamer

Your welcome. I have never heard of a gyro being bad or going bad. I think a guy from spektrum has a G90 on his pro and he has a 100% gain on the G90 and around 20% gain on the 3 in 1. He said it holds the tail extremely good. Just food for thought.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the info, I found that very interesting, as I was under the impression that one was to leave the 3 in 1 gyro setting at the fully CCW or basically no gyro...I did try adjusting the 3 in 1 gain with the G110 hooked up very briefly yesterday, but all it seemed to do was change the mixing, as it was doing circles, but I didn't pursue it any further than that; I just ended up putting the 3 in 1 gain back to zero.

I will definately have to check that out for sure, I was under the impression that you used only one, or the other, never thought of mixing both gyros to see what happens. I also read somewhere else that same thing about the G90/G110 gain settings, that guys with the B400 were setting the gyro at 100%...

Hmm, very tasty food for thought, thanks again, I will post my findings after I fly it tonight...

Glenn

evdreamer

This is a quote from him, "Through the transmitter, turn the E-Flite heading lock gyro up to 100% in heading lock mode. By itself this would be too high of a gain adjustment and the tail would wag. Turning the 3-in-1 gain to 20-25% gain actually eliminates the wag and allows for a higher gain setting for greater holding power. This occurs because each gyro operates at a different PWM frequency, allowing the two to work together to produce an amazingly smooth tail response with aggressive heading lock authority."

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Hmm...sounds very interesting, I wonder if it will apply in my situation since I am not using the G110 through the radio yet, I am just setting the gyro on it's own external gain pot?

It's worth a shot, that's for sure! It's pretty slow here at work, so I should be able to start testing here in a little while...I'll try everything that I have time for in 3 packs...and we'll see...I'll post the results when I know more...


Thanks again, great info!

Glenn

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Just got home from work/heli testing, and I've got a mixed bag, for sure! I started off gradually, seeing how the all stock gyro was doing, and getting a baseline setting on the 3 in 1. All went pretty well, but the stock gyro leaves a lot to be desired, but at least it wasn't swinging the tail around. After I got comfortable with that, I decided to put the G110 back in the loop. I started with 100% on the pot, and about 25% on the 3 in 1 pot...with mixed results....to make a long story short, I ended up with the G110 at 50%, and the 3 in 1 gain at about (it's hard to say, exactly) 35-40%...and the tail is acting really nice now.

The pitch adjustements and the curve really paid off, the thing lifts off and lands so much smoother now, it's like night and day! Now for the disturbing part...at least for me, that is! It was flying pretty well, and I put the third pack in after I had it all dialed in, and just concentrated on flying it, instead of set-up. I was having trouble with holding a steady hover, and at first thought it was my lack of experience, then I realized that it wasn't all me... the bird had a mind of it's own, it will change altitude without any input on the left stick, usually dropping suddenly a foot, or more, sometimes to the floor, but not too hard or fast, just a kinda sudden power loss, but it doesn't drop like a rock, just a quick descent without any change of the throttle stick at all. I am wondering if I have a main motor that is beginning to get flakey? I have heard that they don't last too long, and I'm guessing that this one has probably at least 30-40 packs on it by now...any ideas? It's strange, because it will less frequently all of a sudden lift without warning, but only a few inches or so... I hope I don't have some weird radio glitch or something.

I am going to the LHS tonight, and picking up the aerobatic kit for the CP, that way I get the motor, and a set of blades at the same time, I'm gonna need the blades sooner or later anyways...the motor is the easiest and cheapest thing to try, and I am curious if that will cure it or not.

I will say this, when it wasn't acting up, I just had some of the smoothest take offs, and landings by far to date...and I had a couple of hovers there for a bit that were rock steady!! At least I'm getting somewhere!!

Talk to ya,

Glenn

gene465

My Feedback: (10)

Glenn I had alot of issues with my Blade CP Pro and after extensive upgrades I was finally happy with it! Then I dumped it for a belted CP (HBK2). I use the DX6i and if I am not mistaken you need to set your pitch to 0 at mid stick in idle up mode. Then on the Pitch curve set your pitch to 45% this will give you a slight - pitch but not enough to drive you into the ground when you kill your throttle on a mistake! I then set my throttle curve so it had me in a hover at approx 75% throttle. Worked great for me nice stable hover I also had a G90 gyro which had the tail rock steady at about 90% on the gain on it. I had no 3-in-1 to adjust since I had both motors on their own esc. For setting up your Pro check this site it is for the CP but will work on the Pro as well this was written by Bdavidson and here is the PDF version of the guide: http://www.lenshouse.net/cgi-bin/bladecp_index.cgi It really helped me set mine up! That and all the upgrades!

rotarydoc

Hey Gene,

Thanks for the story, and the tips! I have alot to learn, both about flying and setup. Sometimes, for a newbie, I think it's hard to tell how much of the difficulty is the setup/heli itself, or just the lack of experience flying. I have been told and have read that the CPP is probably about the most difficult heli to learn on...and that once one can master it, the others become easy, especially the bigger birds which seem to be more stable, at least the ones on the G4 flight sim certainly are!

Half of me wants to make myself proficient on this heli first, and then move up the scale, and the other half says buy something that's going to be easier to learn on, so as not to get discouraged... One thing is for sure, I need a LOT more time on the sim before I can justify buying any more helicopters, I am still struggling with the nose in, and side in stuff, and I easily get confused and lose orientation on the sim...so I need to work on that a lot more. I also am at a sticking point on the sim practice, and that is, whether to stick to the really difficult, smaller helis like the Heli Max CP, which seem overly difficult to hover and manuver (even compared to my real CPP!), or to go with the helis that seem more similar to the actual heli? I guess the bottom line is, the principals are basically the same, it's just how the different models react and handle.

I have read of a few guys who got so discouraged by trying to learn on the CPP, that they moved on to another heli, and were happy that they did...I am thinking about someday, moving up to possibly a Blade 400, but like I said, I need to at least be able to fly with confidence on the sim...

The other question mark is whether or not to practice with my CX2, I don't know if that would help or hurt my skills on the CPP, they handle and fly so much differently. I guess it's different for different people, just as there are people that just naturally learn this stuff faster than others...

For the time being, I'm just trying to get this CPP to fly and handle the best I can possibly make it, so that I can build my flying skills some more...I like wrenching on the heli, but I also want to make some progress flying it too!

Thanks again for the advice, and the link, I browsed that a little bit ago, and did learn a few things already that I didn't know.

Glenn

evdreamer

With the up and down thing I think it is wind and the heli. It doesn't take much to lift the helicopter up. Then when you hover in one spot too long it creates bubbles or something like that around the blades then there isn't much air around them to keep it hovering. Just move to a new spot from time to time. I still fly my CX. I made it fly off my DX7 then added a bunch of negative expo so it is very sensitive around the center stick so it kind of acts like a collective pitch helicopter. And it is also great flyer for when the weather is bad.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Very interesting point on the air movement, I definately notice that with the CX indoors, it's a big factor, actually, as I fly in a VERY small area, and it gets really blown around by it's own air movement at times. I didn't think it applied so much on a slightly bigger heli, but I guess maybe it does more so than I think...I will have to keep a close eye on it tonight, I am going to try to actually have a decent practice session with it, rather than concentrate so much on set up, I think I need to put some time in to just flying it for a change...

That's interesting on the CX/DX7 combo, one of these rainy days, I'm gonna have to put my CX on the DX6i, and see how it goes, I may need some setup pointers when I go to do that...

I went ahead and mounted the new main motor last night, I got the same pinion size, the 9 tooth, same as stock CPP. I don't know if it was the altitude problem or not, but at least I can rule it out. It may be just like you said, and air currents are wreaking havoc on the heli. I am flying it in a large auto shop, with a big open area, but I guess the air currents can still build up, like you were stating. I'll see how it goes tonight, I have 3 charged packs to play with...

Thanks again,

Glenn

evdreamer

I just got done putting a new gyro on, cleaning/oiling bearings, and putting some other parts on. Now I am getting the same problem I had with my old futaba gyro. I will have to work on that after work. I am getting excited to get this heli back in the air.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,


I FOUND IT!!!! I finally found my problem that's been driving me nuts on this thing! After another rather disgusting flight session, near the end, I was just checking things out, the battery was almost dead, and I was just making it light on the skids, checking the controls...and voila, I found it! When I applied right cyclic, when it was light on the skids, it dropped like a rock...when I applied left, it took of to the left. Then, I took it up, and sure enough, any time I put right cyclic in, she did a big dive, losing a foot or so of altitude!

Got it back to the bench, and took a look see...it's a wonder I was able to fly the thing at all! When I apply left cyclic, everything is cool, the left (looking from behind) servo arm goes down, and the right up, in exactly the same motion. But, when I give it right cyclic, the left arm goes up like it should, and the right one travels about 1/3 the distance it should, therby holding the swash up, and decreasing the blade pitch! Looking into this further, I have a question or two for ya...

Trying to get to the bottom of it, I played with the travel adjust, and the sub trims for the aileron....and noticed something fishy...either adjustment ONLY affects the LEFT servo, the right one does not respond to either adjustment...like the right one is not involved in the aileron action at all...

I'm thinking that I never did get the servos hooked to the correct pins in the receiver when I did the DX6i install...I had a heck of a time with that, it came down to just trying the three servos in different pins until I got it to what I thought was right, but I don't think I got it right after all. I was thrown off a bit I think, because it does kinda LOOK like the aileron is working, but it's not working like it should. (it does move down some, but not nearly enough)

So, I guess it's back to the drawing board with the radio/servo thing...are you pretty certain that the elevator servo is the front one, and it should definately go into the pins marked ELEV ? If so, that only leaves me the two other rear servos to play with...

Unlike last time, I will not be concerned if the blade pitch is backwards, I know now that I can change it with swash mixing...so that might help me out....

Do you have time to look at your CPP and DX7 to see if you can figure out which servo connects to which pins on your setup? (don't take it apart or anything, I was just curious if you might be able to see them without too much trouble)

Anyways, it's a HUGE relief for me...number one, that I found a BIG problem, and number two, maybe I can get this thing to fly well yet !!!


As always, thanks for any advice you can provide!!

Glenn

rotarydoc

Hey Nick and Gene,

Don't worry about checking the servo plugs on your CPP, mine actually were correct...I'm ashamed to say that all the settings were so far off, that it wasn't even funny. After fiddling with this setting, and that setting, I finally just sat down, and applied what I learned from the setup videos that Gene gave me a link to the other night. I zeroed all the subtrims, and trims, and then concentrated on getting the swash level. I actually had to move the servo arms and adjust the linkages to get it level with all the trims at zero.

That gave me a good baseline, and then I realized how far off the travel adjust settings were, and got them really nice and close. So now, with all my trims centered, I have a nice, level swash, and I checked everything at all the extremes, and there is no interference between the cyclic at it's extremes of travel, and the pitch of the blades/swashplate now. I have full travel of elevator and aileron without affecting the blade pitch at all... That sure should make it fly alot better now!!

I feel so stupid now, I should have had that all setup a long time ago...

Oh well, I guess we all learn as we go, sometimes the hard way, as I usually do.

Next time I have problems, I'll be back to the basics, and check and double check everything.

What kind of problem with your gyro? I hope you can get it resolved, I know how frustrating it can be!

BTW, the gyro was doing pretty darn well when I was flying, I think I have that pretty much resolved now.

Thanks, guys, for all the advice!!

Glenn

evdreamer

Congrats on getting the helicopter set up. I put a GY401 on a long time ago and it pulsed the tail. I thought it was just the features it had that was meant for a tail servo. So I got the GY240 that didn't have those features and it still pulses. I got the rudder to work in the right direction, I think it should have small pulses but not big ones like I have. How does your tail act with no rudder input? I don't know if this is normal or not. I never got it off the ground with the 401 because I thought it was a bad thing. If yours does the same thing at least I know I don't have a problem. Here are my settings that I finished today:
Pins on receiver:
Thro- from ESC
ELEV- front servo
AILE- left servo
AUX1- right servo
RUDD- from gyro

Stunt pitch curve
0, 25, 50, 75, 100

Normal Pitch curve
33, INH, 50, 75, 100

Stunt Throttle Curve
100, 75, 50, 75, 100

Normal Throttle Curve
0, 25, 50, 75, 100

Swash mix
3 servos 120 degrees
AILE +40%
ELEV +40%
PIT. -40%

Travel Adjust (These will be different for you)
ELEV D 71%
U 100%
PIT. H 95%
L 93%

Sub trim (These will be different for you)
AILE L 12
ELEV U 36
PIT. H 22
I love my digital servos on my Belt CP, because those numbers are a lot smaller. They are so much easier to center.

Reversing
Normal: THRO, GEAR, PIT., AUX2
Reversed: AILE, ELEV, RUDD

Nick

evdreamer

I thought I would show some pictures of my progress. I just need to clean up the wiring and hold down the electronics. I also think I found my tail problem. The GY240 doesn't use much gain. I thought it would be around the 50% range, but it seems ok at around 5-10%.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Just when you think you got it....

Well, after I posted last night, all I had left to do was to set the pitch. Well, was I in for a surprise! When I went to adjust the swash pitch mixing, everything else went out the door...to make a very long story short, if I brought the swash mix down to a reasonable level, I was back at square one with the mixing of the aileron (rear two) servos not being in synch...

I did find, after much experimentation, that I did indeed have the servos hooked up wrong, the rear two were backwards, and I though I had it. But, that still didn't fix my aileron mixing problem. The thing is, I could SEE on the monitor that it wasn't right, I didn't even have to look at the servos... There was something whacky about the aux servo, it would never work in harmony with the elevator servo, unless the swash mix was at some astronomical number, like 110, then they would work pretty close... I am still not certain why this was, but I knew something was wrong. I can't for the life of me see how one would adjust JUST the aux servo movement???? It seems that they are all tied into each other somehow....

Anyways, at about 1 AM last night (on a worknight!!) I gave in, and did a complete reset of the radio...and that straightened everything out!! After I did that, the mixing of the aileron servos looked great on the monitor, and performed similarly on the model itself...

I did a quick setup of the pitch last night, but I still don't completely understand the way to set the pitch on these models helicopters? I ended up with about 0 degrees on the low stick, and about 11 degrees on the high...but I only have a max of 40 on my pitch curve? Any higher, and I go too high on the high stick blade pitch? Another subject for later on, I'm pretty sure it's close enough to fly tonight, to see where I am...

Neat pics of your bird, I like the brushless, and speed control, that may be next on my list!

I'll talk to ya later, and thanks for posting your specs, I'm going to compare them at lunchtime today...

Thanks again, Glenn

PS, I'll also let you know how the gyro is now that I can keep the heli at one alitude for more than a couple of seconds!

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Just got back from lunch, and I do indeed have the servos in the right places, and my radio settings for reverse on the servos matches yours and an article on the DX6i that I got from another source...so I am on track there.

Just gotta work on the pitch, mine is not even close to what yours is...

Which brings me to another question that I should already know the answer to...what the heck does INH and ACT mean? I am guessing that INH is inhibit, and ACT is activate?

I noticed your pitch setting is 33, INH, 50, 75, 100, ?? You lost me there!!??

I have alot to learn, but I'm trying!!

Got 3 packs charged for tonight, I think I need a recharge, stayed up WAY too late last night adjusting...

Glenn

evdreamer

The pitch from 0 to 11 degrees will work. I set mine in Idle up for -11 at bottom stick, 0 at center stick, and +11 at top stick. Then in normal mode I have -3 at bottom stick, 0 at center, and +11 at top stick. I had the same problem with the pitch curve. I had to lower it down pretty far to avoid hitting the top and bottom of the head. Then I adjusted the swash mixes all down to 40% and the PIT. to -40%. That way I can go to 100% and 0% on the pitch curve without hitting any thing. I am used to setting the Belt CP up with 60% so that messed me up with the CP Pro. What did you want to adjust for the servo in the AUX1 channel? The swash mix affects multiple servos. The travel adjustments affect one servo and so does servo reversing. Since I started flying helicopters now I some times stay up till 2AM. I never did that before.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

LOL on staying up until 2 AM, that's about what time I finally did get to sleep last night...but it sure did pay off!! Man, I put the heli on the ground, lifted it up a bit, and trimmed it out, and what a difference!! This thing is TOTALLY flyable now, I'm able to completely control it in a hover (nose out), and put it pretty much wherever I want it to go...what a relief!! I thought this thing was going to be as hard to fly as everyone said, but I'll tell ya, it's quite controllable, and predictable with this setup...I was actually already doing left and right stationary pirouetttes!! (One of my flight goals is to be able to do pirouettes in forward flight, I think that's so COOL!)

I just can't get over it, how much better it is...it's actually FUN to fly, rather than a struggle just to hover in place...I didn't actually do it, but I am certain that I can now hover entire battery packs with no problem. Also gone is the really squirrelly, unpredictable flight when the battery is fully charged. Take offs and landings are smooth as silk now, I'm even getting my compensation for the left drift on take off down...

I am not going to touch a thing on this heli/radio for a while, I'm having too much fun with it!! I will eventually look into the pitch curve, but I'll tell ya, it's flying really nice, hovering at about 3/4 throttle, nice and solid and steady...I even reduced the expo on the aileron and elevator to zero, from about +20%...

The gryo/tail situation is pretty good, I did play with it some. At first, I went all the way to 100% (the 3 in 1 is set at about 30% or so)...and that is just too much damping of the tail, inputs are non-existent at that much gyro. I ended up backing off to about 45% on the G110, and leaving the 3 in 1 alone. It does still have the (normal?) torque reaction on ascent and descent, but it's predictable and contollable, and it does this regardless of how much or little gyro I have dialed in...it will wag a tiny bit now and then, but it's definately not doing it's old routine of about a 75 degree shift without warning. But it's "loose" enough for very fast pirouettes, and tail manuvers... (LOL, I have to do my pirouettes FAST, so as not to lose orientation!)

I can't tell ya how happy I am with this heli now. I also can't thank you and all the members who responded with tips, advice, and help !! You guys are great, I am very grateful for this forum, I'd still be scratching my head on some of this stuff...
But don't worry, I'm not leaving anytime soon, I still have an awlful lot to learn!! And maybe, some day I can actually help out someone else!

Glenn

evdreamer

It is really fun to fly once the helicopter is set up and wants to fly easily. Your flying skills should start improving quickly. Just don't do something you don't feel ready for. I got my Pro up today. The brushless motor seems to be working really good. It still flies when the tail wags on the ground. I think it is just normal with this gyro. Now I have turned the gain up. Still searching for the perfect setting. I found out with 40% in the swash mix isn't enough for me so I increased it to 60%. Then I had to adjust the travel adjustments so I didn't max the pitch out. It sounds like you are having a lot of fun.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the encouragement, and nice comments! I am having fun, finally! I have been taking it pretty slow, not breaking anything except one set of blades when I was being dumb and flying in high wind. I am pretty patient, and will take my time and only do what I feel comfortable with. I have decided to use the Impala .30 trainer on the G4 sim, since it's reactions are very similar to my CPP with training gear. A friend at work thinks I am ready to take the training gear off, but I don't think I am ready. I'm pretty smooth with nose out hovering and so forth, but not so great on forward flight at all yet, and I do want to practice nose in hover next, I think I'd be best to leave the gear on for now.

How much different will it feel once the extra bulk of the training gear is gone? Quite a bit more responsive, I would say, huh? I just don't feel ready, and I don't want to have to fork out $20 a pop for rotor blades if I don't have to...

Keep working with the gyro, mine took me some time to get dialed in. I'm still not quite sure mine is the best it can be, but it's doing great for my needs now.

What I need now is MORE BATTERIES !! They have some up at the LHS that are I think about 1150 Mah ones for the CPP, and the price is about the same as the Eflite ones...I can't remember who makes them, but it seems like a pretty good deal. I am sure I could do better online, any ideas for good batteries for a good price online?

I also need more, much more sim time. I am going to devote at least one hour each night on that as well. The sim is still the best $200 I have spent in this hobby so far...

Just got back from the LHS, with a brand new, shiny yellow canopy, I don't care for the silver one that comes with the CPP...I have been running no canopy, doing all the adjustments and what not, so I figured I'd splurge a little and get a nice bright color...I'll use the silver one for a backup...

Happy flying, enjoy flying the Pro.

I'll probably tackle the pitch curve issue this weekend, I'll let you know how I make out with that. For now, I can hardly wait for tomorrow evening so I can FLY !!

Take care,

Glenn

PS, now I am going to go get some SLEEP!

evdreamer

I also have the yellow canopy. It was hard for me to see the helicopter when the sun was going down with the stock one and now it is easier with the yellow. Only you can decide when to take the training gear off. Only do it when you are comfortable flying and the chance of you crashing are really low. It seemed like I didn't have enough power to lift off with the gear on so I took it off before I was ready. I was almost at full throttle before it took off then it shot up really quick. I still crashed after that, but I didn't really have an option. I haven't really looked at batteries for the Pro. I like USHobbysupply, helihobby, and helidirect. That should be a good place to look to find that battery you are talking about. When you are looking at batteries make sure it has the same balance connector on them. I really like my sim too, but the helicopters it has don't fly like any of mine. Keep having fun flying and hope it isn't to windy tomarrow. Today I was really regreting staying up till 2. I just hate not finishing something and that means staying up late to finish it.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Interesting story, I had a similar thing happen when my radio setttings were all messed up, I gave it more and more throttle, nothing, and then all of a sudden it shot up like a rocket! Fortunately, I didn't panic too bad, and got it back under control....I'm sure glad those days are behind me!

I reached a major personal milestone today, I hovered my first entire battery, and did it in a 6x6 area! Horay for me!! I have been trying to accomplish that for about 2 weeks now....lol...

I love the new canopy, it looks much cooler now, flying around.

I did some kinda bold stuff, and got a bit too wild, but didn't break anything, was trying some nose in hovering, and forward flight, and I had a very, very short amount of sucess...need lots more practice on that!

I felt SO much better today, after a good night's sleep, I was a wreck yesterday... not used to staying up that late. But, like you, I had to at least finish what I started, I was determined to get something done after spending nearly 4 hours on it!

It was a nice day today, but a bit windy, I flew at work, in the shop. The thing flew flawlessly, and I am slowly improving. It did so well, I'm not even going to bring it in out of the car tonight, I only brought my box in to charge batteries for tomorrow evening's practice...

The only minor, and I mean minor issue was a tiny bit of tail wag, I think the gyro is a bit on the touchy side, but that's OK for me at the moment, I can easily back off that later on.

How's your CPP coming along? Get a chance to fly it?

We are supposed to have really lousy weather this weekend, it sucks. At least I can fly up at work on Saturday, but not Sunday, the dealership is closed. Looks like it might be a good day to fly the CX...and more sim practice!

I think I am totally hooked now, in case you can't tell !!

Have a great evening,

Glenn