A plastic screwdriver is included with the Axe. But it is a good idea to ground yourself before adjusting anything electronic. This is comming from a computer tech.

Well, waddaya know...it is plastic...the screwdriver that's included, that is. I never used it because it doesn't fit into the Left/Right Bias adjustment. So...yeah, I stand corrected.

Oh, I have an addendum to [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_5211910/mpage_47/key_/tm.htm#]my original question[/link]: for those who have upgraded their 3-in-1, their transmitter, or both, do you find that there's a lot of movement by that swashplate peg (the one held in place by the swashplate stay) when you roll left or right or is there little to no movement at all? I'm brainstorming to figure out my next move. Thanks!

Sorry I wasn't trying to correct anybody. Just passing on info.

Oh, no, I didn't take it that way at all. [8D] I was just saying that it is indeed plastic but that it doesn't really suit acadwheel's needs because it still doesn't fit the adjustment he needs. But now that I think about it, since it is plastic, you should shave it down so that it does fit! I'm gonna do that right now! Brainstorming out loud is the best! haha...

Sand on.....Sand off....Mr. Miyagi say....Good Danial' son....LOL

anyone make any scale type fusalage for these. Now that would be cool. Was on some scale forum and bout died lookin at those rigs...wwow

Tire jocky for four years at Goodyear's retread plant, had to switch out about ten to fifteen trailers a day. backing up is indeed a hoot.....however, I nver drove with only my thumbs They it seems are slow learners. I now notice that once I get off the ground my thumbs reminde me of Jacky Chan's drunken boxing. Does that mean I'm going to be ok?

Thumbs are stupid. I flew planes for 10 years and then thought that Heli's would be easy...Not!.....Do yourself a favor and get some SIM time. About 10 hours of SIM time and you will be a 100% better real RC Heli Pilot.

I finally found a sim controller link for under 50$. As soon as I can afford to I will be able to buy it. Until then I have to resign myself to hopping around in my backyard with the heavy gear on. I also had the most amazing thing happen today, I bounced hard enough to do a blade strike on the boom and the blades sprung, By that I mean that they flexed the flybar mount enough that they did a complete 180 in the direction that they faced, and I didn't break anything. The head now wobbles a bit and I am hoping that I haven't bent the main shaft. I am going to break it down while the battery charges and see what is going on. wish me luck.

in the meanwhile download fms and use a playstation like controller for your computer or use and actually playstation controller with the usb interface link. You can learn orientation and there is a ton of models out there to use with fms. I haven't found an Axe yet but there are helis for it with similar flight characteristics.

I can hover 30 size helis just fine, but the axe cp will not hover at a decent altitude, it jumps up quickly to about 15 ft, is there any way that I can tame this thing down so that it will gradually rise to about 4 or 5 ft, I have tried reducing the servo arm throws but it does no good at all. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Your collective might be sticking. Test your ball links and make sure that they work really smooth. Lube the swash plate and all ball link connections. Some people sand the balls very lightly to remove any "flash" left from the molding process. These tips might help.

Had my first real crash this evening. Bent my tail boom and separated my blade grip linkage on one grip. I hit at a funny angle and the blade smacked my tail boom. Blades are fine and I was able to straighten the boom fairly well. I was even able to re-thread the linkage back together. I do have a newbie question though, What exactly does the blade grip linkage control. Pitch, tracking, or both?

Thanks for the information, I reset the servo arms back the way they were, lubed all of the ball joints and the swash plate, it flies a lot better now, but still can't get a precise hover out of it, must be the size of it and the design
thanks again for your help

Got my Axe CP a few hours ago. It's pretty neat, but to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. The actual heli is definitely up to my standards, but the battery life is just... Well, it's terrible. An hour of charge for about 5 minutes of flight (Maybe a tiny bit more)? That's a bit of a downer
I know I could get the upgrade battery, but that's what, 10 minutes of flight (Assuming I modify the heat sink to avoid letting my heli burn up)? I'll probably end up getting a couple of those when I actually have cash to toss around again, but I just figured I'd be able to actually have some fun right out of the box, as was advertised :-/
I guess I'll get used to it, I guess I was just spoiled by the 15-20 minute flight time of my cheapo $60 heli right out of the box.

Hmm, well I have a strange problem...
I nicked a wall with the blade earlier. I lost control of the heli. The crash didn't seem very hard at all, to be honest. Everything seemed fine, but when I tried to fly it again, it wouldn't get off of the ground. I quickly realized that the heli is pushing air the wrong way! So instead of the air flow pushing the heli up, it's pushing it into the ground. The blades seem to be in perfect condition.
Anybody know what the problem might be?
Edit: Nevermind, I seem to have found the problem. I guess I snapped one of the ball joints. I put a bit of model glue on it and it seems to be holding up well. I don't want to push it right now before the glue is completely dried, but I gave it the tiniest bit of throttle to see which direction the air was moving. And whaddya know, I can feel plenty of air underneath the blades, and none above it. Looks like I may have fixed it
Now let's just hope model glue will hold there! There doesn't seem to be much stress on that, but I could be wrong. If not, maybe I'll try epoxy. I'd just really hate to have to spend money on repairs on my first day actually flying the thing (Though I've spent a bit of time on a sim)!

The blade grip linkages control pitch and collective. When the swashplate is moved up or down by an equal distance all around then collective is affected. When the swashplate is tilted in any direction then cyclic (pitch/roll) is affected.

With the stock NiMH batteries, I get a little over 4 minutes of a continuous hover - the first half of this flight is smooth while the latter half is a bit of a struggle. I've been using LiPo batteries the last month or so and I get a little under 9 minutes of continuous hover. It's generally agreed that the first and best upgrade you can buy are LiPo batteries. If I remember correctly, 9 minutes is more or less the time you'll get with most electric heli's as well (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

As for flying with the glued ball joint, I'd personally feel safer with a replacement part. Those ball joints don't have much surface area for glue to grab onto so you may want to leave the Axe in the hangar while it's awaiting the new part. Just watchin' out for you, man.

Is it safe to fly with a bent tail boom? It's not bent on the vertical, it still comes traight out fro the main frame. But looking down from the top, it is slightly bent a couple of degrees off center. Will it cause trim problems or cause the tail motor to work too hard?

My boom is bent boom is bent a little but mine is bent by the body and in the vertical, down to be exact.
I flies fine.

Just something strange! My tail motor where it connects to the boom came loose for some reason. There is a
little screw but it was very tight and the thing still moved around.

EPOXY!!!!!

Done!

You know .... I think my axe flies better with a bent tail boom! Should have crashed a long time ago!

Don't bend at 90 deg. It will not fly!
ha ha!!!!

Put all your links back to stock and set your throttle trim to half. Also, if your throttle lever is sticky this will cause dificulty in control. If this happens take the back off the controller and loosen up the collective stick. Mine is loose enough thatit will fall back to low throttle if I let go of it which gives me precise control on how high it goes.

acadwheel, If you remove the socket head bold (screw) and pull the plastic motor mount out of the tail boom you will see a small hole in the part of the motor mount that goes inside of the boom. You will have to unplug the tail motor to pull the mount out. If you turn the motor over one have turn this hole will line up with the hole in the boom and the socket head bolt will match both holes and stay tight. At this time the tail motor assembly will be upside down. Loosen the four screws which hold the boom in the main frame and turn the boom a half turn. Looking down at the chopper with the tail facing you the tail rotor should be on the right side of the boom. Tighten the four screws that hold the boom in the main frame and your good to go. Hope this helps.

Elandur, Don't fly with glue repaired blade grips. The only safe repair to a blade grip is to buy metal ball joints, like is used on servo control arms. If you can find the rigth size. I keep the plastic blade grips because they act like a fuse and brake before more expensive parts brake.