All is now well with the Blade 400 after some nurgling around with the throttle curve. In fact, it's never been better. It's now running the HobbyKing HK401 gyro that was originally in the HK 450TT Pro review heli. The 450 in turn now has a terrific Hobbymate gyro I'm in the process of reviewing. The great folks at Horizon Hobby determined that nothing was wrong with the E-flite gyro that an expert heli pilot friend of mine said was working improperly, so they sent it back. I'm torn whether or not to reinstall it on the 400, but for now, I have the HK401 dialed in. Personally, I never had problems with the E-flite gyro, but I like that little 401. It seems to hold the 400's tail better than it did that of the 450.

My friend who sold me the 400 in the first place has a stash of parts and rarely if ever flies his 400, so I asked if he had a set of carbon fiber blades he'd like to sell.

He did. Brand new, still packaged. He also had an aftermarket CF vertical tail fin and a new tail boom.

Which he gave me. The whole megillah. He insisted.

I in turn now owe him lunch, which I hope to do this week. Maybe I'll actually fly it with the CF's before then. For now, I've merely installed them and they look terrific with the blue flame canopy. I'm kind of sorry to see this marvelous helicopter stricken from the Blade lineup, but based on the good stuff I've been reading about the 450 and 450X, Horizon Hobby has made some definite progress.

Lots of busy time with some upcoming reviews of some really great helicopters, not to mention the gyro. Some high-discharge batteries might be coming as well to aid in that review.

Would you believe a 65C discharge rate?

This promises to be good, so stay tuned.