Came a across a gentlemen got to talking about heli's he has a Esky Cp Belt new still in box never touched (yes older model) and hes giving me carbon blade kit, training kit, and flight simulator(already have great planes but 2 sims can give to a friend) for $100.00 would this be a good start heli just to get my feet wet in the 450 series? Figured for a 100 bucks I know its older model but how could you go wrong but would like some to hear some opinions of others that know the 450 series...

Do you know where to buy parts for it? At the very least, you'll be breaking main/feathering shafts, main blades and tailbooms.

The important aspect for a beginner heli is how soon you can get a heli back in the air after a crash.

Originally Posted by Hajile

Do you know where to buy parts for it? At the very least, you'll be breaking main/feathering shafts, main blades and tailbooms.

The important aspect for a beginner heli is how soon you can get a heli back in the air after a crash.

seem to be still a ton of parts on the web for this heli and i guess the v2 90% of its parts are interchangeable. so seems to be a large quantity of parts available don't really have a hobby store close just about every hobby I have I order online lol

Have you had any prior helicopter experience?

Since you're sure you can get replacement parts for it, it'll do. Just be aware that you'll spend a significant amount of time on the table replacing, bench testing, diagnosing and tuning each time you crash, and that's not including the time it takes for the parts to arrive. Compare that to a micro cp where the time between a crash and the next flight is about five seconds.

Plastic rotor head parts break much more easily than decent quality aluminum. In the early days I flew an E_sky King II and as a precaution bought several lots of spare head parts and boy, did I go through them!

The stock servos, gyro and ESC are crap and the head has too much slop. You really don't want any CP heli without a programmable transmitter. First of all, you can't reverse cyclic if new servos have the wrong polarity. Secondly, with no ability to adjust settings, the Belt is a real pain in the ass to fly. You are at a junction where it's time to make the jump to CP helis. If you are bargain hunting, you are going to end up making it a lot harder and more expensive than it needs to be.

For an extra $60 you can get a Blade rtf mcpx. The mcpx will out fly it, and crashing the mcpx is a pick up and go, the esky is pick up and go home.

Originally Posted by Balr14

The stock servos, gyro and ESC are crap and the head has too much slop. You really don't want any CP heli without a programmable transmitter. First of all, you can't reverse cyclic if new servos have the wrong polarity. Secondly, with no ability to adjust settings, the Belt is a real pain in the ass to fly. You are at a junction where it's time to make the jump to CP helis. If you are bargain hunting, you are going to end up making it a lot harder and more expensive than it needs to be.

This is all so true.
I had a Belt CP as my first CP Heli.
After replacing the servos, Gyro, making it DTS, adding a BEC and getting a 2801 Pro RX so I could use my Walkera 2801 Pro Tx it became a great heli.
Pretty reliable and easy to fix.
It wasn't precise enough though and in the end that was holding me back, and I sold it.

My flying Buddy kept his and added a CX FBL head, Swash and 3X1000 FBL controller, as well as a CC ESC and all the mods I did.

It really is a great heli now. He had so many spares that it was worth doing the upgrades.

But, that is a long and painful path and quite unnecessary in today's market.
Just not worth it anymore.

The mCPX and Nano CPX are MUCH better bets for someone's first CP.
In the 450 size there are a ton of choices.

You will need a good radio anyway, such as DX6i minimum.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Pigs dont fly

For an extra $60 you can get a Blade rtf mcpx. The mcpx will out fly it, and crashing the mcpx is a pick up and go, the esky is pick up and go home.

That's hilarious..........but true.

I always thought ESky made a pretty good product for the money. But, the lack of a decent programmable transmitter was a real killer.

The whole package is throw away if you decide to stick with the hobby. nothing will be re-usable.
Besides, it looks too big for indoors, and too crappy for outdoors.

You could pick up a 4-channel fixed-pitch micro heli for very cheap. For example the solo-pro v2, or the clone of that the HK-190. ($30 + shipping)

If your in the USA the solo pro can be had cheap http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...dProduct=20138

you can learn all upright orientations and forward flight / backward flight with it before the motor craps out and needs replacing. You will know if helis are for you or not.

I have flown a couple of belt CP's that I repaired for others and they didn't fly too badly. The BCP is fairly light for the power of the E_sky brushless motor, so it gets up and goes. The cyclic is a little vague compared to a dialed-in T-rex 450; ditto for the tail. But it will fly circuits and do mild aerobatics.

If you are in frame of mind to buy this a couple ideas. Tell seller old bird no longer made/ It is not by any means a good heli. Offer him half and if he says no, thank him and get a modern heli. Cheap is not way to go with c/p helis. They are not toys and even a mico 100 size can do you harm. E-sky droped the ball and Blade/ Walkrea/ WL toys ran them over big time. What is available today is surplus junk that did not sell first time out. Make a smart move and walk away.

I have a belt cp.. still bone stock.. when i first got it.. flew fine.. have had few crashes, and read and been learning more about blade balancing, pitch on blades, still kinda lost on the whole swash plate.. but i have seach the net, and read everything i could about belts.. but having a problem and cant figure it.. im beginner for sure. but after all adjustments and trying thing after thing.. i still cant get off the ground.. even if i throttle it up max and just throw the stick up.. it barely jumps.. it also wont stay straight.. when throttled up high enough it starts spinning around in circles.. I'M SO LOST.. i'm wondering if maybe its the gyro.. from what i have read the stock gyros on belt cp are crap.. not head holding..? could that be my issue.. also should i update my gyro anyways? would it be good idea to get a belt cp v2 gyro or is there a decent quality, low price replacement i could put on it? i know its an older heli, but would like to get it flying again.. i've been flying a blade msr, & msr x alot, gotten pretty good at them,.. would like to move up to bigger heli, but cant get figure out what my problem is with my belt cp. I also have a T-Rex clone just frame.. but don't want to attemp building it tell i figure out the issue with my belt cp..

wiytboi— now that so many people are going to flybar-less systems it is possible to pick up high-quality name brand gyros very reasonably. Look for Futaba GY401's, GY 520's, or Spartan 760's or Quarks.

As for problems taking off, you need to center the servo arms, level the swash plate, then use a pitch gauge to be sure you have at least 10 degrees of positive pitch when the throttle stick is moved all the way up.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area I can help you set up the helicopter.