Originally Posted by DoomsDay

I have most of the mods with the exception of the metal frame. If ya like bling, I say get some but its not really needed. it may make slight differences in how it will fly but it is barely noticeable. There have been some folks that have did other mods like shortening the flybar and such, they may chime in and give ya their results. I am not really much of a mod person anyways with the exception of different batteries and maybe props and such.

When you say most, which ones do you have? The tail boom seems to be the most common one to get. I still have to go through this thread and find links to all of the different ones. FWIW, here's what I've tracked down:

Tailboom
http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/D...rodID=EFLH2428

Aluminum "performance kit" and different colored canopies and boom tails:
http://www.cuskerrc.com/apps/webstor.../535080?page=1

Custom plastic canopies and decorations:
http://www.micro-flight.com/BLADE-MCX.htm

Here's a place to get the metal frames for the mcx2 as well as a ton of other aluminum parts, canopies, and such:
http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/category_s/111.htm

Does this cover most of it? I'm not sure if I'm missing anything else.

The reason for getting the Microheli aluminum mainframe isn't for the bling (though it does look and sound a little cooler with it) - it's the way it acts as a heat sink. I've been doing back to back flights for three months now and the original motors are still doing fine.

So...I want to build skills to move "up". Maybe by springtime and head outdoors.
As seen in this video, I'm just ripping around aimlessly. It's a blast, but I thought maybe I should be concentrating on some "drills" or something to prepare me for trying a fixed-pitch single-rotor (w/flybar) heli ? Maybe a plane would be a better next step ? Any advice appreciated.
BTW, I've crashed this thing hard, like at the end of the video, more times than I can count and still haven't broken anything. I'm amazed by that.
It's a great product to learn about r.c. flying, imho.

Originally Posted by MotownJG

I apparently got the ones for the mCPx2 instead of the mCX2. they're S35 I think not S25 if that makes sense.....don't fit in the holder & don't fit in the charger that came with the mCx2.

I think you mean the C value is 35 (35C) which is just the maximum discharge rate... if the rate is higher than what the mCX2 requires (and in this case it is... you have to crunch some numbers because the number works in conjunction with the mAh rating of the battery) you are fine... it's much more capable than what the mcx2 requires.

The 2 problems remaining are the physical size and the weight. The size can be dealt with including charging them on a charger they won't fit in. Some guys who go to slightly larger versions of these 1S (one cell or single cell) lipos that won't fit into the heli's battery cage will suspend them with Velcro from a small piece of thin plastic they glue to the underside of the battery cage belly. The 120mAh hour batteries I just bought each came with a small velcro piece pair in each bag... I can mail you one or two if you want. I was just thinking to myself that you could do the same thing without needing to permanently attach the piece of plastic... you could glue one piece of the Velcro to the underside of the thin plastic strip as usual, then just slide it into the battery cage and then attach your battery (with the other piece of the Velcro glued to the top of the battery) by sticking if from the underside of the cage... in effect "sandwiching" the belly straps of the cage between the battery and plastic strip without glueing anything to the heli itself... so nothing is permanently modified and you could still use your stock battery as usual and you haven't had to modify your heli in any way at all. It probably wouldn't slide back and forth, but if it does you could just modify your plastic strip to have 2 little tabs sticking down from it that would fit just between the cage's belly straps preventing the velcro'd battery from slipping back and forth.

Looks like your mcp x battery still has the ultra micro connector which is good. To charge your larger 1S lipo on a charger like the stock mcx2 one where the lipo won't fit into it because of the larger black head on the battery, you could get and use of these extender leads I'll put a picture of below... I got this to charge my 120mAh 1S lipos on my scout Tx charger which is only designed to physically fit the 70mAh lipos (only do this extender trick with the 3.7v 1S lipos on chargers designed for 3.7v 1S lipos... the higher capacity is ok, it will just take longer to charge). The remaining issue is the weight of that battery you ordered. That lipo is double the capacity of what people typically use in their mcx2. I know guys will typically go up to maybe a 160mAh lipo in the mcx2 but those mcp x lipos from what I'm seeing are like 240 and even 300mAh... they might be too heavy for the mcx2. Maybe you can trade it?

Someone can correct me if I've missed something or am wrong about something.

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

The reason for getting the Microheli aluminum mainframe isn't for the bling (though it does look and sound a little cooler with it) - it's the way it acts as a heat sink. I've been doing back to back flights for three months now and the original motors are still doing fine.

Ah. Missed this one:

http://www.microheli.com/store/index.php/cPath/3_31

Thanks, Mickmeister. Looks like they're currently sold out of the aluminum mainframe right now.

Originally Posted by RoboHeli

Ah. Missed this one:

http://www.microheli.com/store/index.php/cPath/3_31

Thanks, Mickmeister. Looks like they're currently sold out of the aluminum mainframe right now.

Check your LHS... many carry the Microheli stuff.

Originally Posted by RoboHeli

When you say most, which ones do you have? The tail boom seems to be the most common one to get. I still have to go through this thread and find links to all of the different ones. FWIW, here's what I've tracked down:

Tailboom
http://www.bladehelis.com/Products/D...rodID=EFLH2428

Aluminum "performance kit" and different colored canopies and boom tails:
http://www.cuskerrc.com/apps/webstor.../535080?page=1

Custom plastic canopies and decorations:
http://www.micro-flight.com/BLADE-MCX.htm

Here's a place to get the metal frames for the mcx2 as well as a ton of other aluminum parts, canopies, and such:
http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/category_s/111.htm

Does this cover most of it? I'm not sure if I'm missing anything else.

I went for the aluminum parts upgrades minus the frame. I like my full body the way it is. If I wanted the tail boom, I would have just stuck with my regular mcx. The nav lights and full body is what drew me to the mcx2 in the first place.

Originally Posted by Brian VT

So...I want to build skills to move "up". Maybe by springtime and head outdoors.
As seen in this video, I'm just ripping around aimlessly. It's a blast, but I thought maybe I should be concentrating on some "drills" or something to prepare me for trying a fixed-pitch single-rotor (w/flybar) heli ? Maybe a plane would be a better next step ? Any advice appreciated.
BTW, I've crashed this thing hard, like at the end of the video, more times than I can count and still haven't broken anything. I'm amazed by that.
It's a great product to learn about r.c. flying, imho.

That is a nice long area you got there for flying. If anything I would concentrate on more precise moves. Coordinated turns pin point landings in all orientations. if you were to step up to something like the msr, on full throws it is probably 3-4 times faster than the mcx2. Its more about precise flying when you start moving up.

So I went and picked up the Thunder Power charger today... running it right now off one of my 12VDC AGM sealed lead acid batteries... nice!

Also did a a quick and dirty proof of concept tonight, putting a spare mCX2 LED light harness onto the CF Tail Boom. Now that I know it works I'll actually make tiny holes for the canopy LED's, use O-rings or small pieces of heat shrink for securing the wires to the boom (maybe even cover the boom/wires instead with something tubular, small and light weight like a tiny straw or something)... and probably figure out a cool quick connect system, I have a bunch of micro Deans plugs I use on the pickups of my guitars but I want something even more light weight like some kind of skinny male/female pins without a housing. Lost maybe 10 seconds of flight time to the added weight and power to run the LED's. (EDIT more like up to a half minute, depending on which battery I use... since I was already getting 7.5 to 8.5 mins that's still not too bad.

I see you guys are discussing the aluminum Microheli parts... the main frame is the only one I'm interested in due to it's heat sink action on the motors which I don't find is an issue on my bird, but it can't hurt.
.

Here's a video showing my LED mod. As always, watch it directly on Youtube to lose the crippled frame-rate you get here in the embedded player... and choose HD

E-flite Blade mCX2 Carbon Fiber Fibre Tail Boom LED Light Harness (0 min 21 sec)

I know there is the MIA scale fuselage. Has anybody thought or fitted a Nine Eagles
bravo fuselage to the MCX2? It looks like it should fit..

http://www.helipal.com/nine-eagles-b...z-edition.html

Now that I know it works I'll actually make tiny holes for the canopy LED's, use O-rings or small pieces of heat shrink for securing the wires to the boom (maybe even cover the boom/wires instead with something tubular, small and light weight like a tiny straw or something)...

The straw trick works well...I used it to cover the wires going to my tailboom (I added Tiny Brite lights to mine rather than the stock ones). I cut a lengthwise slit in the straw, wrapped it around, and piched it tight to get an overlap to make it wrap as tight as possible (just for aesthetics - I didn't want it to look fat and klunky). Then I wrapped a length of black electric tape around it to finish it off.

I buy all my straws at a party store (you may get lucky at a drug store). They come in various colors so, you can match the straw to your blades, fin, etc. Some clear Scotch tape to hold it in place, and you're go to go.

Mike.

Originally Posted by Chap1012

I buy all my straws at a party store (you may get lucky at a drug store). They come in various colors so, you can match the straw to your blades, fin, etc. Some clear Scotch tape to hold it in place, and you're go to go.

Mike.

Thanks, Mike. I gave up on the straw thing as I couldn't find the skinny ones I knew I've used before. I was about to hit a party store but first stopped by the LHS and found some 1/8" aluminum tubing and also some black antenna tube which I did buy and would have worked great but I've actually decided to just use 1/16" (after shrunk) heat shrink... in different colors like you said. I really like the look of a white boom I tried using the heat shrink, and I like it even better with a reddish orange section in the middle of the white.

It's on the boom right now and I would have had the mod completed and had a nice video uploaded by now but I had a catastrophic failure of one of mt LED's. Didn't realize until I was almost done the mod that E-flite messed up the extra LED harness I bought and put the green nav light on the left and the red on the right. You can't just flip the harness over either because the main plug then won't reach the 5-in-1 (4-in-1?) without having to mod it. So I though I'd put my soldering skills to the test and swap the boards around... was 90% successful but then the heat dislodged one of the very small surface mount LED's from the board and is gone. I went to my local electronics supply shop and against their advice I bought a pack of 5 high efficiency red surface mount LED's and tried my best to place it onto the board and almost succeeded (after first losing all but the last one!) but in the end I failed. Oh well, I don't have the $900 machine to properly set them and it was worth the 2 bucks I paid to find out if it could be done manually. I'm leaving right now to go buy a new $6 harness

... look here for a video hopefully soon... I need to get some sleep at some point today though

Originally Posted by Mickmeister

The straw trick works well...I used it to cover the wires going to my tailboom (I added Tiny Brite lights to mine rather than the stock ones). I cut a lengthwise slit in the straw, wrapped it around, and piched it tight to get an overlap to make it wrap as tight as possible (just for aesthetics - I didn't want it to look fat and klunky). Then I wrapped a length of black electric tape around it to finish it off.

Yeah I was looking for a straw that would fit as tight as possible keeping it intact... was OCD'ing about aesthetics

... but thanks for your input!

Was also toying with the thought of other aftermarket LED's as well... was curious what the result would be of putting a self blinking LED in the tail which is of course triggered by the helis mainboard which already puts out a strobed voltage. Oh yeah, and I'm replacing the the rudder LED with a clear one... red is not right for that position!

I'm using TinyBrites on mine. The stock lights weren't an option because I prefer the CF tailboom to the plastic rear section, and I don't want strobing nav's. It was a bitch to install - it involved custom-building a few pieces from bent paper clips and attaching them to the mainframe. Came out pretty good, though.