RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

edge540ts -

I see youre in PA - that might have been Team JR heli pilot Ron Osinski you ran into at the shop. Ron was a great source of information and feedback during the ongoing development of the Blade CP. He has tons of time on electric micro helis from a lot of different brands and he really had a lot of good input for the BCP.

If it was Ron, you can see a pic of him flying his Blade CP inverted (along with a great article with tips on installaing the optional Aerobatic Enhancement Kit and 3S LiPo packs) here:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Explore/...ArticleID=1461

Regarding the brushless motor, we've been testing some set ups and I can honestly say the brushed set up with 3S LiPo packs is still very good compared. Maybe we'll see some other reports on brushless set ups soon.

polarbare -

I use a set of Universal Ball Link pliers to remove/install the ball links on my BCP helis. I still make sure to take care when using them though as the links and balls are small and could be damaged if youre not careful.

TripleDeucer -

Great photos! Look forward to shots of your heli when you get some more stick time in!

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

TripleDeucer -

Great photos! Look forward to shots of your heli when you get some more stick time in!
[/quote]


Jason, the BCP in the pics belongs to a flyin buddy. I was just the shutterbug on that one. I have close to 30 years stick time in already on the nitro units. I started back in the dark ages with a DuBro 505. I'm just sitting back thinking if I want to jump in on this BCP. I might get one real cheap here soon when the towels fly in.

Cheers

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Polarbear, yes.

I too have that problem. Havent quite figured out how to smooth out that collective transition yet.

At about 1/2 throttle it gets light on the skids, at 3/4 it lifts off, and hovers about 7" off the deck, and when you bump it up more to go higher, it will hesitate for a second, and all of a sudden that collective kicks in and WHAHOOOOO...it shoots up like a rocket. Once it finishes its collective transistion, you can back off the throttle and hover around at about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle.

Ive had a little success in reducing it by adding a little pitch to the blades at neutral, but this throws off the pitches for inverted flight.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make the collective transitions smooth out?

Something else that Ive found makes it a little easier, is run it up slowly to about half throttle to get it to spool up, then jam full throttle into it. It will lift off fast, so be ready, but the collective will kick in sooner, and wont be so surprising.

I know one thing. E-flite has the Idle up mode PERFECTLY matched to the collective on regular mode. Once that collective kicks in after takeoff, flip the idle up in a hover, and you wont even see that thing change altitude. The pitch is matched dead on.

Man this thing is fun. Ive pretty much quit doing the flips and stuff. I can do it, but it makes my knees knock everytime I do it. Jitters city. Right now Im just practicing my hovering, and seeing just how stable I can hold it. Ive gotten it down now where I can hover it and hold it where it wont move more than about 4-5" in any direction. And practicing pinpoint landings. This thing handles pretty good in ground effect. It will move around a little, but doesnt exhibit that balancing ball kind of effect like some other helis.

With the ball links, Ive always just used my fingers. put your thumb on the ball itself, and then put your index finger on the other side of the link. Now squeeze. Your not trying to pull the link off the ball, your trying to push the ball out of the link. It takes a little getting used to.

Lucky,

The included radio does have a "trainer" port on it, along with the trainer switch. So if your a computer guru, you could probably figure out a way to hook it up.

Edge,
the shaft on the Blade is a solid bar of steel. Its hard but not impossible to bend it. Im assuming you've already figured out how to remove it from the heli. If not here are the instructions.

First remove the pin from the rotor head. Its located directly below where the blade holders are screwed into the head.
Remove the screw on top of the rotor head.
Disconnect the loop links from the swashplate.
Pull the head off.
Disconnect the servos from the swashplate
Tilt the swashplate forward, pull the little swashplate retaining bar back and slide the swashplate off the shaft.
Remove the collet.
Remove the skids.
Slide the shaft out from the bottom of the heli.
***Note*** there are two ball bearings in the heli frame....dont lose them.
Reverse procedures to reinstall.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

I picked one of these little gems last weekend at a local hobby shop. I have to say that I am very impressed! A few years ago I sunk a chunk of change into a piccolo that never met my expectations. I swore I would never own another micro heli. That was until I saw this thing.

The owner of the shop had just gotten his shipment of 5 in. He took his demo out of the box, put the battery in it, and hovered it in the shop. This thing flew great right out of the box. I mean everything included and ready to fly for $200.00! That's insane. He sold all 5 before he could unpack them.

Matt

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Thanks for the tips on shaft removal. AS far as the pitch problem, try moving the throtle trim forward before you even run up the blades. From what I can gather, the trim works for fine tuning the pitch. When I first started with the blade, hovering was almost full left stick. I now move the trim 1/2 way forward, and hover is a bit over 1/2 throtle. Remember that you need to have the trim all the way back for the 4in1 to boot-up and also reduce the trim right before you crash-ha ha. Ay body have any tips to get the tail under control. I can not see to keep in closed in no matter how much I mess with the gain and mix, and nobody seems to have any ideas for an aftermarket hh gyro. Keep in mind that when I say closed in, I meen I have to fly it all the time. It is not spinning around like a wind mill. This may sound like I am putting the blade down. I am not. This is the best micro I have ever seen or flown.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

LOL, yeah.

This thing is hot. One of the local hobby shop owners here told me his dragonfly sales went to hell when the Blade's came in. He bought about 30 of them, and there were about 9 left when I got mine.

No kidding...Who's gonna go blow 250 smackers on a FP GWS plastic dragonfly, when they can get this carbon fiber/composite CCPM rocket sled for just over 200 bucks.

I feel kinda bad getting it from a hobby shop other than my buddies hobby shop, but he didnt have them yet, and wont till later this month. I didnt even know he ordered some. I hadn't planned on getting another heli, but when I saw it, I couldnt pass it up...not for that price.

Way I figure it is, Ill get my planes and radios from my buddy Tony Stillman at Radio South, and my heli stuff from Hobby Central. That way Ill be supporting both my local hobby shops. Im fortunate to have two of the best hobby shops around within minutes of my house. I know I pay somebody's paycheck every month.:D

THE BLADE ROCKS!!!! This thing is fun to fly. Im pretty much a beginner/intermediate. Ive had my Hirobo XRB up and flying so much, the motors are about wore out in it. Flown a Bladerunner. I've had about two 10min flights on friends Dragonfly and didnt care much for it. Its a squirrely bird, and a real handful to fly. Ive had a brief flight with a friends Venture 50, which was a real nice heli. And thats about it till I got the Blade. The first few flights were just little hops getting it trimmed out. Then I popped it up and had it hovering...sort of. Once I got used to it a little. I flipped into "aerobatic" mode and did a flip, and got it up high and held it inverted for a little while. Probably wont do that again for a while. It didnt crash, but its pushing my skills more than I want to with my new heli. Hovering is fairly easy, even in a stiff wind for a beginner/intermediate like me. The neighbors seem to enjoy it. I regularly fly airplanes and helis in my front yard. People stop by all the time, and for some reason the first thing they ask is "Can I fly it?". Ill never understand why people ask that...or for that matter think they could actually fly it.

Usually I ask them, "Can you go to the airport and fly a Cessna?" to which I get "No", then I politely explain that flying one of these is just like a real plane. You need instruction and lots of practice, and Ill be happy to help them learn, but with their own airplane... not mine.

I did once have a guy tell me "Yes, Im a commercial pilot". To which I replied.."Cool, can I fly your plane?"[>:]

HEHEHEHE...I know Im a smart ***. That guy did end up learning to fly R/C. He told me later "I was sure I could fly that thing, but I didnt have a chance."

Yeah..


Oh well, enough ranting ...have fun...Im off to go flying:D

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Anybody know how to remove the ratchet from the throtle?

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Edge, Ive been running up the throttle trim all the way. But Ill try it half way like you said.

As far as the ratchet, remove the back of the radio, and look on the side of the gymbal. There is a small metal clicker that is the ratchet. Just loosen the screw. Dont remove it though or the stick will be really sloppy. You'll still have the ratchet, but it soften it up where its not so annoying.

E-flite...

Heli pilots dont use ratcheting throttles. If you make any changes to the kit or make a new heli kit, keep that in mind.

Im going to go fly.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Bough one of these bad boys today at the LHS. Got the Crash kit, Acrobatic kit, Landing gear & a TP 1320 Lipo. This is my first heli and I guess I'm doing to bad with it. I can hover it around pretty good. I have been flying planes for about 9 years. I haven't even though about using the Acro kit and Idle up feature.

Matt

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Ihave the same blade pitch problem also. Have to go slowly to full throt and wait almost a full second and bang off
she goes. Then reduce the throttle to just above half and from there on all is well. None of the others from the
LHS have this problem. I think you and I have a flawed machine. I have tried moving the trim up but it still takes
almost full throt to get the pitch to "snap" into action. My T-Rex, and Dragonfly work correctly. Other than the two
of us, is anyone else having the same pitch problem?

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

CALLING DRIBBE.

Can you shed some light on how to get this pitch thing under control? It also seems to me like once the collective kicks in it stays at that pitch, while RPMs are controlling the altitude instead of having proportional pitch to RPM's. Kinda weird. It flys ok like that but Id like it even better if the pitch was a little more fluid with the throttle.

Im still tinkering with mine. As soon as I figure out how to resolve it, Ill let everyone know.

Oh and this little problem should not discourage anyone from getting the heli. It flys fine both ways. Just be aware that if you get your heli near WOT and it hasnt lifted off. GET READY, cause when that collective kicks in...its gonna shoot up quick. Once its up, it flys fine.

Im gonna spool it up and try it in idle-up mode and see if that makes a difference.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Edge540 -

I took the back of my TX (4 screws) and slide a 1/8" of fuel tubing over the metal tab used to "ratchet" the throttle/collective. What a difference.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Hey thats a cool idea. Im gonna have to try that. If it works, Ive got about three transmitters Im going to modify.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

I bought one of these today with some training gear for $195, what a great deal, LHS was having a sale. Anyway this is my first Heli. I have flown several on G3, but is there anything I should know? I am just going to try and hoover low to the ground until I am stable. ANy other advise would be great.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Atom ant.

First off, READ the instruction manual front to back...EVERY WORD. Follow them exactly and perform all the "pre-flight" checklists.

Install your training gear.

Take the heli outside or in a large indoor area like a gym.
Place the heli with the tail facing you.
Turn on transmitter first.
Pull the throttle stick and throttle trim ALL the way down.
Plug in the battery to the helicopter and DONT move it.
Wait for the light on the side of the "black box" to show continuous green light.

Now stand back about 10 ft.
Move the throttle trim lever up about 1/2 way. The blades will start spinning.
Now slowly start moving the throttle stick up. If at any time the tail starts swinging around. Pull all the throttle off. Adjust your rudder trim until it stays straight. Keep increasing throttle until you notice that the heli is getting "light on the skids". Dont go airborne yet.

Now move your sticks around gently while you get a feel for how it moves. Try to steer the heli around on the ground. If you get into trouble, pull the throttle off, re-align the tail towards you and start over.

Keep doing this until you feel comfortable with it.

Now rev it up a little more one click at a time on the throttle stick until the training balls are just lightly brushing the ground. Its going to move alot faster now. Practice the same thing. Try to keep it in one place, and keep the tail facing you. If you get into trouble, pull the throttle off, re-align the heli and try again.

Once you feel comfortable doing this, your ready to try hovering. Its make or break time. Are you ready?

Run it up slowly again. When you get to 3/4 throttle. Get ready. Now bump it up to full throttle. The heli will lift off quickly so be ready. As soon as it lifts off, start pulling the throttle back so it doesnt get too high. You want it about chest high. It will move about 2x as fast in the air than on the ground. Keep the tail facing you. When you've had enough land it, and take a break. Smile, have a coke, blink a few times to re-wet your eyes. We will be here waiting for your adrenaline rush to calm down a bit.

Now, think for a moment about what your hands were doing while you were flying. Were you having to hold anything in to keep it stable? If so adjust your trims so that you dont have to hold anything in.

- If the bad stuff happens-
Well, if you tookoff and it tipped over and flipped into the ground. Immediatly pull off all the throttle and move the throttle trim lever all the way down. Walk over to the heli, and unplug the battery. Turn off the transmitter, and survey the damage. If your lucky, nothing but a little hanger rash. If your unlucky, you could be replacing some parts. Dont give up. Just repair your heli, and try again. I would recommend you get a little more "ground skidding" practice before trying to hover again.

Good luck, I wish you the best.
Enjoy your new heli. Take your time and be patient, and you'll do fine.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Ah...
I did buy one now from a seller at eBay :)
So next week when i`m entering the USA the Blade CP is standing there just waiting for me to FLY it ;) (i will crash it)

I did also make a Bid on a cheap GWS dragonlfly... (why not, i need more to fly when the blade is chrashed)


Sooh... where do I buy spare parts to my Blade ?

EDIT: is this a recomended Battery to use toghether with my Blade CP:
http://www.heli-fever.com/product_in...roducts_id=214


thanx for help

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Use a Thunder Power 3S 900mah or 1320mah.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Liteglow, you can get replacement parts from www.horizonhobby.com

As far as batteries. Look for a Thunderpower 3cell 11.1V 900mah lipo. These work great on the stock Blade. Much longer flight times, and they weigh less too I think.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

The Thunder power had a high price for me just now :o)

If the 1100mAh "can" be used in the Blade Cp, i think i want that...?...

Heli-fever.com sell the battery and chargers at the same shop, and the shippment from they are EXTREMLY fast :)
I have done some shopping from that place before and i like it :)

I can buy 2 battery 1100mAh istead of 1 battery 1300mAh (thunder) at the same price

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

There is a definate problem with the blade! I have a second one and it does the same thing as being
reported by others, full throttle, full trim and wait several seconds and the heli then jumps off the
ground. Two heli's from two different shipments on two different freqs, both reacting incorrectly
in exactly the same way. The same as reported above, full throttle and no liftoff, and all of a
sudden woosh into the air she goes. There are no knobs, switches, trim pots or batteries
that can cause or correct this problem and since its not just me and not just one heli, something
isn't working correctly in the heli or the TX.

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Well, I finally found something that semi-gets rid of that pop-up problem.

Dump the flat bottom blades and put the full symmetrical blades on it. Id say its about a 60-70% improvement. It seems like it works much better, I havent had to wait for it to kick in like before. Liftoff is just a tad over 1/2 throttle, and it flys smoothly. :)

Head speed is much faster with the symmetrical blades. So you will probably have to re-adjust your gyro and trims when you switch out. But it seems to fly much better.

It is rather interesting that when we first started talking about the Blade, we had Horizon reps in here posting regularly, then when we mentioned the pop-up thing, they all disappeared. Lets hope they are working on fixing it and coming up with a solution instead of just dodging the problem.[:o]

All in all, Im still having alot of fun flying the thing. The stock battery sure doesnt last long though. You got to get a lipo for this thing.
The best part is all the Esky Carbooon CCPM heli parts fit the blade. Including the blade sets.:D

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Actually bdavison, we are indeed working to find a solution :) By the way - Mr. Ribbe is on his way to Asia (14 hour flight to Tokyo), and dont forget we do have jobs in product development...much of our posting to this and other forums is done at home on our own time ;)

So far, the reports of "sticky collective" have been limited, but there are indeed some helis experiencing this issue. I had not though much about it before as only 1 of the test/demo models we have had a similar problem. After about 6-8 flights with the Aerobatic Enhancement Kit and 3S LiPo packs installed, the "sticky collective" went away and its never been back since. In fact, this particular demo model is the one Ive flown most...its been to Toledo, SEFF, NRSHA and RCX! You can actually see this BCP in action in a teaser video from SEFF found here:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=514

(Click on the 9.45MB video, on the right, about 1/4 - 1/3 of the way down the page. The BCP footage starts at about 2:48 and lasts close to a minute)

At any rate, we are already taking steps to improve future models to elminate the sticky collective altogether, while also working to help those already experiencing the problem. What we're finding is that the fit of the rotor head on the center hub may be too tight on some models (note - not all models are experiencing this issue), causing a delay/stick in the collective response in certain positions. The fit of these 2 parts should indeed be as good as possible to eliminate slop in the entire head (that slop would be much worse, resulting in a very "loose" and difficult heli to control), and grease is applied to help reduce the friction.

As in the case of our test/demo heli and others already out there, the "stick" tends to go away after some flying time is put on the heli. However, if you do not use the collective often (ie - mostly hover when flying your BCP) you may not "work" the stick out as quickly as those who may use the entire pitch range during an aerobatic flight. For those mostly hovering, it might be best to work the parts by hand (holding both blade grips in both hands, gently twist the blades through positive and negative pitch for a few minutes. It might also be a good idea to remove the servo linkages from the swash when doing this to prevent damaging any servos or servo gears). For those who might not want to wait for the parts to seat, you can also follow some advice posted by a gentleman in another forum:

"I took apart the head assembly and cleaned up the sliding mechanism. I also lubricated the head when I put it back together with some light oil used to lube the RC car ball bearings. I have not had the pitch sticking problems sence the modification."

I have not tried this myself and only suggest it to those with the skills neccessary to perform the task, but it should indeed work. Again, we are working to improve this issue on all future models and are confident we can eliminate the issue altogether.

If you guys have any other questions regarding your Blade CP, your best bet is to contact our Product Support guys directly at this toll free number:

(877) 504-0233

Its difficult to keep up with posts on the Blade CP in multiple newsgroups (The BCP has proven to be quite popular - there are at least 4 different groups with multiple threads on the BCP), so I might also suggest those who have a few free minutes to read through some of the posts in the BCP thread found here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=377569

Regarding the stock set up vs symmetrical/3S LiPo packs - the included flat bottom blades, motor and 8 cell NiMh pack are very well suited for general hovering, forward flight and sport flying. The 650mAh packs deliver about 8-10 minutes flight time in most cases which is not at all bad for NiMh packs. For those not yet into aerobatics, there is no need to move into the symmetrical blades and 3S LiPos yet. When you do though, the increased headspeed does allow for a more nimble machine with durations of 13-18 minutes on 3S 860-900mAh packs and upwads of 25+ minutes on 3S 1200-1320mAh packs.

When choosing 3S LiPo packs for the BCP, pack performance is important. Low quality, low cost LiPo packs with discharge rates of 3-6C will work OK in the BCP but wont allow for the best performance. For the very best performance with an excellent balance of weight, power and duration, I highly recommend the E-flite 860 and Thunder Power 900mAh packs recommend in the BCP manual. Having flown the BCP with less expensive, lower discharge rate packs I can honestly say that the difference in performance between those and the EFL/THP packs is quite noticeable.

Good luck guys,

Jason Merkle
E-flite Product Development Manager
Horizon Hobby
http://www.horizonhobby.com

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Jason, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. FANTASTIC.

Thats one of the things Ive always been impressed with Horizon and E-flite about while dealing with your planes. You guys stick with your plane customers. Thanks for not running off when we heli guys needed you too. The fact that you responded speaks volumes. Ya'll had me worried for a minute since we hadnt heard from you. Its really nice to see a company back up their product with some good old fashioned tips and tricks and general help. It just goes to show you guys are modelers too, not just guys with cash registers.
You should stick around. RCUniverse is like free market research. If you want to know what the customers want, you came to the right place.

As for me...Im gonna go lube up that head and see if that works.

Your right, the heli does fly fine with the stock flat bottom blades, dont get me wrong I wasnt saying it didnt. But put on the enhancements.....and KAZAMMMM. Instant kick ***. It really flys good with the upgrades. It just seems so much more stable and "feathery" with the symmetrical blades. It seems to maintain altitude much easier. I dont know...I like it.


Keep up the good work....The BLADE ROCKS!!!!!

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Jason : Does the horizon-hobby sell LiPoly battery and Blade CP parts at Store ? (maybe the store in Boston) :)

Thanx...

RE: E-FLIGHT BLADE CP
 

Follow the recommendations and use a TP 900mah 3cell. You wont be disappointed. Just make sure you put the heat sinks on, or else its going to get blistering hot.