thom_marshall

Hi my name is thom_marshall and I am a heliholic. Yes I'm Addicted Like everybody else. And yes I started Out small(U control 3 channel mircro coax) Then went bigger (Blade cx2 with upgrades) and now of course as the addiction progresses I want OUTDOOR FIGHT!................... And of course the cx2 will not and will never be able to do that (some say with the right upgrades "you can attain out door fight", Been there done that) Unless you live in a vacuum tube.
Well back before i even got my cx2 bought a EX1 450 v2 (plastic) for 29.00 ( yeah I know I got what I paid for Im pretty sure its junk) But it is what it is and now my question is where do I start. Do i just accept that the exi i have is junk and get something different or stick with this and build it and when i totally destroy it upgrade? Whats the first thing I should get for this bird? Got a Beginners book that I started reading and trying to learn but need Ideas. Thanks

nick4622

try looking for mikeys rc he has a ton of videos on you tube for buildingup a 450 size heli.
Irecentily built my first heli also, a trex 450 pro and I pickedup a dx6iTx.
Ifinally flew it acouple of weeks ago, Istill need to practice.
I like the fact they include everything you need excpt the Tx, Rx and battery.
The build was pretty simple, they have good instructions.

Anyways this should help!


http://www.mikeysrc.com/Low-Cost-450-Heli.html

Good luck and don't give up!

ATVAlliance

The EXI is far from junk in my opinion.  I recently bought one of the 29 dollar ones to build as a backup to my carbon/metal one.

As Ive said in many previous posts here, I am still new to the hobby and am really still just hovering around...although now I can fly around a bit at altitude, my EXI has been, for less of a better word...AMAZING!

Comparing the plastic version of the EXI to my Carbon edition, I would suggest these upgrades (although I would think you could build it as is and at least get thru till your first crash)...

1.  Full metal head and tail upgrade.  xheli has a combo kit that comes with both for 29 bucks.
2.  Upper and Lower head mounting blocks (not sure of the exact name of them...but they are the blocks with bearings (2 of them) that the main shaft goes through).  The 29 dollar heli has these made of plastic...Id replace with the aluminum ones (again...probably not needed but definitely a weaker design than metal).
3.  Fiberglass canopy.  The one that comes with the plastic version is cheap plastic (looks like milk carton material).  Although I do like the shape of it and I have put it to use as my canopy I mounted my camera bracket to.  This way I didnt have to drill a nice FG canopy and use this one exclusively for making flight movies.
4.  Aluminum tail boom block/mount (Stock one is plastic and Ive heard people complain that it will slip at times)

I am using a 35A Exceed Volcano ESC and it is working ok.  But I think I will upgrade to the 40A one.  Seems the 35A gets a little warm/hot and near the end of my flights I find that it starts to reduce power.  This doesnt happen when its cool outside...or I am doing forward flight.  Just when I try to hover an entire battery.

I also am using the Exceed Alpha 400 brushless motor with 13T pinion.  This seems to be a good motor so far and is cheap.  Perhaps I could rid myself of the ESC issue by going with a bit smaller pinion.  Will have to test and see.

I run HiTech HS65MG on the 3 cyclics and HS5084MG on the rudder.  Dont skimp on servos...these seem to be the best bang for the buck.  I cant comment on extreme 3D performance though as Im not doing this type of flying

I run a GY401 clone, the Dynam GY48V gyro.  Again, this is a good bang for the buck gyro and I have been running it since day 1 and it performs to my skill level without issue.

With all of the above...I am really enjoying learning to fly helicopters.  The EXI package in any format seems to be a good deal and my carbon/metal edition is a nice flyer.  However, you should take a lot of time to read about setting up the head.  Check all bolts/screws for loctite...and find out which bolts/screws should be tight and which ones just need to be snug (ie the links on the tail rotor!!!!).  The biggest obstacle to overcome is setup.  The flying will be much easier to come if you have faith that the helicopter is set up correctly and will do what you tell it to do.  Otherwise...keep lots of spare cash on hand.  Also...I recommend programming about 20-30% expo on all your controls just to tame it a bit.  Will make learning a lot easier IMO.

While speaking of spare cash.  You should probably start a parts stash.  Some items to keep in your field box/parts bin should be...

Extra main and tail rotor blades
Extra main shafts
Extra tail drive belt shafts
Extra feathering shafts
Servo rebuild kit or two (for the 65's and 5084's)
Extra link set
Extra screw set
Extra drive tail drive belt
Extra boom

The above is probably bare minimum you should keep on hand...unless you dont care to have to wait a week or longer to get replacement parts.  Or if you have a LHS that stocks Align stuff...no big deal other than the Align stuff is 2 to 3X more expensive on most things...if not more!

thom_marshall

Thanks For the tips. I dont know if you checked out mikeysrc.com but that puppet is hilarious! Thats besides the point. Mikey makes it look easy to build and has some really common sense approach to building these EXI's, My opinion has changed now that I see he did it with the same kit i have. Yeah for the price and skill level i'm starting at its do-able. Thanks