Im looking at picking up a CP, any thoughts on what a "young at heart" fella should purchase for hop ups or spare parts? [img][/img]

From all that I gathered from several dozen posts about the Blade CP, the one thing you should not pick up is the Blade CP. You need to build significant capability with a larger and more stable collective pitch helicopter to have any chance at flying the CP. I have read far more accounts of people unable to fly the CP than I have read accounts of people feeling satisfied with them.
If you are determined that you are on the right course, you might want to get the CP Pro instead. Everyone agrees that a Lipo battery is better than NiMH. It costs less to get a CP Pro and downgrade it to a starter helicopter than it will cost to get a CP and upgrade it.
And I'm sure the forum has advice concerning the differences between the CP Pro and the Pro 2.

If you get the CP and have success, I would like to hear about it. It's in the price range that works for me. A CP was my first helicopter and I couldn't afford to fly it - or more correctly, I nearly went broke trying to fly it - so I sold it on Ebay and purchased a CX. Then I progressed with a fixed pitch single rotor, upgraded the the fixed pitch and eventually got a Belt CP. You'll find some who can actually fly a Blade CP but they are few and far between. The common description of the flight characteristics is "Squirrel on Crack".
Good luck and I'll follow this thread to hear what others have to say.

Most sincerely, another Young at Heart.
Soloboss

LOL, ok thanks but im gonna give it a try, hell its only money! I am going to take my time with it and if its "a squirrel on crack" then Ill have to convince the "office" I need a better one! You know where Im coming from there??
Thanks again.

Al

I have two CPP's as you can see in my gallery under my profile... I can fly the snot out of my Trex 450 and Trex 500 doing FFF, loops, backflips, but I still can't fly the CPP's worth any beans... Its possible as there are a couple gents in a years time that I've noticed had luck in getting there CPP's to fly decent but that was with a lot of upgrades and still wasn't the greatest thing as far as a heli is concerned... Its gonna be a long road ahead for anyone trying to learn on the CPP... DO some research about that heli first if I were you... There is so many other better heli's out there to start with than the CPP's...


Good luck,

~ Jeff

If money is tight you should look at getting a Belt CP RTF instead. It is about the same price as a CPP and a lot better in every way. I tried to fly the CPP for a couple of months with no luck. Then I got the Belt CP and I could actually fly it with the first flight. I can now fly the CPP pretty good, but it isn't fun and took hundreds of flights with my other helis to get there.

Nick

Do you have any prior heli experience with collective systems? If not, you may want to rethink your decision for a CP. They are very squirrly and will keep you on the sticks alot - in short, a handful. Can be a discouraging thing if your bird is on the shelf waiting to be fixed rather more than in the air. But back to your question:

Extra parts: (my experience)
blades (wooden flat first then symmetrical)
spindles (a lot!)
main shaft w/ drive gear
retaining pins
flybar
main frame assembly w/ tail boom
a few extra tail motors (they have a short life)
replacement canopy after several crashes

Hopups:
upgrade to the 3 in 1 control unit so you can add a separate gyro, and go brushless on the
motors.
a lipo battery

Just a few things I could think of off the top of my head right now. Hope this helps ya!

Mark

Well I have two cp pro's and a cp parts bird with lots of extra parts for sale now in the classifieds.
I have only been able to hover for a short time and have spent a good deal on parts. You will need more than one set of blades, main gear and shaft and probably a few sets of skids in your first 15 minutes of toying with the heli.

Not reallly sure what most of these guys are talking about. my blade cp is great. all the problems are fixable and I have gotten good at flying it fast. if the larger helicopters are so much easier, when i upgrade I should be the bomb (not) lol. go for it man get some cheap blades off of ebay, some cheap lipos and you will be good to go.

I'm learning to fly with the blade cp. It only takes patience and knowledge of how to take it apart and put it back together.(Oh, and a bit of money for new parts. But they all break)