Hi guys,
I recently got a Piccolo V2 and went for the brushless setup (got the Century hummingbird brushless motor). I did the first test flight today and noticed that the motor is running very hot (200°F).

Is this motor not suited for the Piccolo (with 8T pinion)? If not, what reasonably priced motor is recommended?

Do you have a spare set of blades? Consider cutting down your blades. Doing so will raise the hover head speed, increasing the motor RPM and will likely run the motor more in it's sweet spot.
Vince

I only have one set... How much do you recommend I cut off?

The Hummingbird has a much larger main gear I think around 156 tooth. That equals lower gearing. With the Piccolo you can switch to a larger 110 tooth gear . It will require some frame modification to fit. Never did it myself. I just run a lower KV motor. The Motor KV, RPM/Volt, needs to be near the Heli's operating range for the most efficient setup. Many go with a higher KV motor but it runs out of its designed RPM range. This is ok with some motors but others just get very hot. On my first version Piccolo, I use a Himax 2015-2800 with 8 tooth pinion. It runs around 95 F on a 3 cell lipo. After 15 minutes of hover, and without its heat sink. I have also used a Himax 2025-2700 with a 13 tooth pinion for more performance. But it is more motor than the Piccolo needs.

Rob,
I read a couple of posts that recommended an 8T pinion on a motor with a high KV (like the hummingbird motor). I removed the 10T that it came with.

WeatherB Yea, I thought you where using the 8 tooth. I don't know if you can get a smaller pinion. Some instructions on how to cut the rotor to bring up the head speed can be found here. http://www.pgoelz.com/piccolo_faq.html#120 . I use Kyosho M-24 blades on mine. They get about the same head speed as the cut Piccolo blades.