Hey guys, I'm relatively new to helis and I have a few questions. My experience is limited but I spent years building battlebots and I have a solid base of knowledge in radio control. I started flying with the V911 and a Double Horse 9116, both of which I feel very comfortable and confident with. I recently sprung for the Walkera Mini CP with the Devo7E and it's set to arrive today. I purchased 3 sets of main blades, 2 extra batteries, a spare tail set and tail rotor, as well as an extra canopy. Are there any other spares I should stock up on such as servos, landing gear, or any linkages? Will I need to level the swash before my first flight? And how do I crash "gracefully" with the Mini? My V911 likes to have the throttle dropped to the floor while my 9116 falls much softer if I gun it and somewhat flare up shortly before an unplanned landing.

I've also decided to go ahead and order a brushless upgrade. The price is reasonable, I love tinkering, and I know the extra power will help when the time comes to learn 3D flight. It seems the best deal without any soldering involved is the Brushless Conversion + XP-7A esc Combo and C05M/ADH50 Outrunner Brushless Motor KV13000 from chinesejade along with the 64T main gear, 8T and 9T pinions. Does this setup sound alright? I like the thought of multiple setup options with both pinion and main gears. What batteries pair nicely with the 13000KV C05M?

I understand the steep learning curve that comes with CP helis and I'm excited to really challenge myself. I love being back in a hobby that requires constant research and tinkering. So much to learn, and I already have plenty of questions. Any help is much appreciated.

I've been flying my Mini CP for a couple weeks now, and there's quite a list of things that have gone wrong with it (I crash a lot). So far i've been able to repair almost everything with hot glue, epoxy, or CA/dental floss...but here's the parts I think you will break most:

Main frame
top servo holder
tail boom
landing skids
the little balls on the swash for the linkages (must buy the whole swash)
servos strip

The canopy will get cracked/torn, but it's easily repaired with tape, so I don't know why you would need an extra canopy unless you wanted it pristine.

The servos are tricky. The stock ones are about $15 each, so you certainly don't want to ruin them. you can do the "servo saver mod" to keep them from stripping, but I found that the method of cutting the servo arm just makes them way too loose, and then they slip all the time, which sucks.

My solution was cheap HK-5320 micro servos from hobbyking. You need to do some wire soldering to reverse the servo direction, but they work great and they're $4 each. So I'm done with servo saver mods. I've decided that I will just strip out $4 servos and replace as necessary. I can elaborate more on the conversion process if you wish. It's easy but requires a precise soldering iron (those servos are tiny!!!)

I can't give any help with the brushless conversion, as I haven't done that yet...nor do I see much of a reason to. Mine has loads of power WITH a fresh battery. Power drops off dramatically after about 2 minutes, so don't push it past that and you'll have plenty of power for 3d stuff. I don't know if brushless would improve run-times or not.

As for crashing...there isn't a good way to crash a CP heli. Practice hitting the throttle hold switch a moments notice and you'll save some parts, but I feel like some broken pieces are inevitable when learning 3d stuff with a mini CP.

Forgot to mention...the swash leveling is optional in my opinion. mine flew fine straight out of the box. I think the flybarless controller sort of levels itself, as it's trying to maintain level flight.

I'd make sure it's "close" out of the box, but i don't see any reason to really level it.

Thanks Chubbs! I need to get my hands on a good soldering kit for this small stuff and sharpen up my skills. I'm sure I'll later be pm'ing you about that servo conversion. Do you think a "training kit" (the rods with the balls on the end) would be a worthwhile investment while learning the basic hovering skills of a CP? I understand that I'm going to crash this heli many times, but I would consider myself a very cautious flyer and I intend to start off with very docile setups and work my way up to aggressive.

Originally Posted by ajohnson677

Thanks Chubbs! I need to get my hands on a good soldering kit for this small stuff and sharpen up my skills. I'm sure I'll later be pm'ing you about that servo conversion. Do you think a "training kit" (the rods with the balls on the end) would be a worthwhile investment while learning the basic hovering skills of a CP? I understand that I'm going to crash this heli many times, but I would consider myself a very cautious flyer and I intend to start off with very docile setups and work my way up to aggressive.

A good soldering iron is a must in this hobby, especially for these small helis. In addition to the servo mods, I've also needed to reattach the positive battery lead to the circuit board on the Mini CP... so that $15 soldering station I got last week from hobbyking has already been useful!

I'd say skip the training gear. The Mini CP is so small and light weight, that 99% of "normal" crashes won't hurt it one bit. If you really want to be safe, dial back the throttle curve to 70% or so, so that the head speed stays lower. Then you can crash it as many times as you want and not break anything.

I didn't break anything until I started inverted flight and playing with the idle up switch. Once you get to that point though, you're way beyond training gear.