I got this

Turnigy S306G-HV. Insanely fast 0.05s, and it has 3Kg of torque! (at 6v)

Installed it on the helicopter...


And here she is ready to fly
...Continue Reading

Just did a complete rebuild on my BL.

I was flying along doing some 3D and all of a sudden something off happened, the heli smashed into the ground at 1000mph. Totally destroyed... the carbon fiber frame was broken in a dozen places, boom mount got ripped completely off, tearing the carbon fiber. It was also broken in several other places.... this thing hit HARD.

I luckily had a spare frame set so I immediately got the heli apart, and then started all over again. I decided to build the frame differently than I normally would... I put everything on one half of the frame, installing every cross member, servo mount, and bearing block onto only one of the two CF side plates. I put the motor in, then put the other side plate on. I then put on the boom (actually completly remade the boom, the solid carbon rod broke the plastic tail motor holder!) on the heli. After that I installed the elevator servo, followed by the aileron servos and the 3-in-1. Plugged everything in, and it works again I took it out a few minutes ago and hovered it, it flies fine, if not better than it did before

I guess, though, this really was a kick in the butt to get me to finally sell my BL like I've been wanting to do, because if I want to sell it, I need to do so before I break it again

I don't want to sell it, but at the same time I do, so I can fund other helicopters, including the BL conversion of my mCP X, and maybe a 300X. We shall see...

Blade Nano CPX Collides with RC Plane (0 min 49 sec)

I figured out why my BL flew odd, especially with the 130X blades.

After crashing due to my BL flying very weird and randomly, I decided I was tired of the heli flying so funny. So I took the head off, and began disassembling it. Almost immediately after taking off the swash I realized what was wrong:

The swash balls connecting to the blade grips were about to fall out! They had slowly backed out of the swashplate, and were extremely loose allowing several degrees of blade pitch, completely uncontrollable. The bigger 130X blades made this effect even worse...

I reinstalled the ball WITH LOCTITE and immediately noticed less slop.

I had noticed before that one of the swash balls that the blade grip link connects to the blade grips came in contact with the rear servo ball links... but I first thought it was a manufacturing defect. It made a clicking sound every full spin, I thought it was no big deal.

Only now I realize that that is what was causing the BL to fly so erratically. I later flew again, and landed, and the OTHER ball (the one I didn't re-install) was lose. Now both as reinstalled with loctite.

Lesson learned:

ALWAYS CHECK METAL SWASHPLATES FOR PROPERLY TIGHTENED AND LOCTITED BALL LINKS!

My 3 Birdies

This thing looks hilarious haha

I went to an indoor fly in today.

A buddy of mine had his 130X with him. Ok, so I'm not gonna fly a 130X in a tiny gym. Well, I did, but only hovering.

Then I took it outside. Holy freaking crap I am in love.

This thing has SO much power, flies SO nice. I was doing 3D in 15MPH winds, so it handles wind well. At first all I did was a flip, high up, but then I got addicted. I did some halfway decent aileron tic tocs, but the tail wasn't holding well because the C gear was rounded and it didn't like the high load situation tic tocs bring it. I kept on flying anyhow.

On the last battery of the day, I was flying a little, then I brought it up real high, maybe 200 feet or so, then dropped the tail and dropped it. No more than 50 feet of a fall, the tail gear finally decided it had had enough, and it let go. Spinning like mad, I tried to get it to level out. It didn't work... so I hit throttle hold and watched it fall....

150ft later, it smashed into the pavement.... HARD. It made a thud, that god-awful noise you never like to hear. I thought... "uh oh."

It looked bad, but upon picking it up the only damage was the canopy was completely smashed into a million pieces, and the swash ball broke off. Good thing Blade designs all their swashes with two sets of swash balls. So I just moved it around and snapped the links back on. No biggie. But like I said the canopy was smashed, and the only other thing is that the obviously the tail gear was messed up. But he had extras (and a metal version of the tail gear) so it should be back up on the next fly in.

I SO want a 130X, but it may involve selling my mCP X BL Stretch. Oh well, its a pain in the anyway. But really, I wouldn't normally sell it, but the 130X flies that much better. So yeah, my BL may not be much longer, unless I can figure out a way to buy a 130X.

I went to an indoor fly in today.

My buddy had a Nano CPX, I had flown it before. Last time I flew it, I told him it needed a new main motor. So, this time, he had a new motor, it just wasn't installed. So after getting annoyed with the pathetic weak power of a dead motor, I moved the wires out of the way, unplugged the motor, and put the new one. Without having to take the heli apart, which was a relief.

I was amazed at how much power it had... with a new motor, this thing is sick! I also got a Xtreme Turbo Tail for the Nano CPX, and installed it before I even flew it the first time, as soon as I got there. Tail is rock solid.

So, I started doing 3D. Like, hard 3D. I'm talking hurricanes, funnels, piroflips, rainbows, elevator tic tocs, aileron tic tocs, etc. The hurricanes were full collective inverted tail first hurricanes too.... which would have murderized the dead motor. The new one handled it like a champ! Gosh, it got going fast too... it was scary, even for a 30g nano helicopter

So, I'm in love, but I hate it because those motors die so darn fast. If I get one, ever, it's going to be brushless. But, I may not get one anyway

Got a new chopper, it's a mCP X V2. I got from a buddy of mine. He couldn't get it to work, the board wasn't working. Turned out he tried to resolder the power lead and failed. I resoldered it and it works now. It's really stable and quiet

It's gonna be a nice heli to fly when I don't wanna fly my BL or 450.

Going to another indoor funfly. Same place where I did this:

mCP X V2 3D (1 min 8 sec)

So, a few days ago I was getting ready to take my 450 out for another 3D at the park. Upon inspection, the tail servo locked up, got super hot, melted itself together, and was completely and utterly destroyed. This is the second time it happened, by the way.

So, now I am getting ready to order a Turnigy S-306G-HV, which is essentially a rebranded KST 215MG, which is a rebranded MKS DS95. So, a clone of a clone if you will. But, these servos have a great reputation. Just check out helifreak and youtube!

Also got the Xtreme Spin SMT2825-4400Kv Motor for my 450 as well. This thing is huge!

And also got 3 pairs of Xtreme Carbon 325mm blades, which look totally awesome!
http://www.xtreme-production.com/xtr...oducts_id=2098

So, yeah.








.

OK, so I caught a praying mantis...



Now I have confirmed she is a female, was pregnant, and she is laying her eggs right now....

The BL is now a m130XCPX BL....


...Continue Reading

Finally got out to the field and did some 3D

T Rex 450SE V2 Clone 3D Flight! (4 min 4 sec)

Just took the 450 out into the front yard again... did some pitch pumps.... oh my GOD.... this thing has SO much power! And the governor on the Exceed RC Proton 40A ESC works really well! At 85% throttle, the headspeed is very constant. Running a 14 tooth pinion. Pitch pumps are straight up super fast... and the headspeed stays constant the entire time. This thing is a complete rocket! The tail gyro does a good job of holding the tail. I have it set to 75% gain in normal mode, and 80% in stunt mode. Very little wag in stunt mode, none in normal mode. This thing rocks! Can't wait until I can take it out to the field to see what this thing can really do.

Just took my 450 out again to my yard.... I know I know, not the best place, but it's all I got. Flies great... and it's a clone too

Maiden was interesting... long story short, I took off, wag was insane... landed, got the wag sorted out, took off again. It was flying fine, so I hit stunt mode... it was fine for a second or two, but suddenly the tail started acting funny... a second later it just let go and started spinning uncontrollably. I hit throttle hold. While it was falling I used the cyclic to level it out (practicing your piros helps a lot here) and then just gave full collective. I just watched it fall down into long grass. By the time it hit the ground the blades were moving barely at all... if they were moving. I went over to pick it up and no damage whatsoever. Main shaft, feathering shaft, boom were all perfectly straight. Blades, no problem. Main gear, no problem. That was a pleasant surprise I later found out that the tail failure was caused by the belt slipping. It slipped because when I hit stunt mode and the sudden jump in RPM made it slip. I was lucky for it to happen then rather than while I was doing a flip or roll or inverted... no way it would have been perfectly fine if that was the case. The reason for the belt slipping was a loose boom block, because I couldn't tighten the boom block because the screws were stripped (dang clones, lol) so it wasn't enough to hold it there.

Couple days ago,...Continue Reading

Got the pinion off the stock motor's main shaft. Pretty easy actually, no heat involved.

The pinion (with part of shaft still inside) broke off the motor somehow, with BARELY any force... so all I was left with was a pinion and a tiny bit of shaft sticking out. So, I (with the help of two adults ), put the pinion on a pair of vice grips with the grips so that the shaft could slide through the gap... kind of hard to explain...

So, I did that, then took a short piece of music wire and placed it on the main shaft and lightly tapped the wire until the broken shaft pushed right out of the pinion

Then I had to remove the Spin motor out of the helicopter, so I could put the pinion on it. I put a small bit of blue loctite inside the pinion, then tapped it onto the shaft softly until it was on... I put it back on the helicopter, the pinion was only half meshed with the gear....

So I took it back out of the heli, got a 2mm bullet connector and put it on the pinion and tapped the pinion further onto the motor shaft, the shaft is sticking past the bottom of the pinion. It meshes, barely, all the way.



So, I'm happy. Haven't really flown it yet, only spooled it up in my hand. My gosh, this thing sounds TOTALLY different! It doesn't even sound like a mCP X BL anymore, more like a converted mCP X V1.L

I can tell, this thing has more power. The cogging on the motor is absolutely INSANE.

It's almost a REALLY good idea to use the autorotation main gear/shaft with this motor, the cogging is so great that the blades would stop instantly when you turned the motor off if there wasn't one...yes, the cogging is that intense!

So, I can tell you I will like this heli, although it was a trip to install since the motor wires are long because they come out the bottom of the motor, not the top like stock. I was able to stick the wires behind the 3-in-1 but you're on your own with the wiring....

My BL is ready for its maiden tomorrow!

I may get a 500 3D as my first big heli, it's only $10 more than a 130X!! $259.99 BNF Basic.

I'm thinking my first big heli is gonna be a Blade 600X. Of course I plan to get a smaller heli, maybe a 130X or 300X first, to practice on, and/or to use as a warm-up heli for the bigger one.

Wow... that was fast.