I812 I posted after you but I'm a jarhead, well former

hey friends, good to see some Marines in the house. i am still active for another year, then its off to other things. i have been in 7 years this may and am looking forward to my upcoming career move. i have a not so great shoulder from a training injury and truth be told the Marines add 3 years for every year your in, i am ready to get out while i still have some youth left in me.

anyways, getting back to your question, here is my input:
i have a phoenix sim and love it, its great, and you will hear the same from anyone else who has one. i recomend cruising patiently around craigslist and ebay in buying one for a better deal. also asking around these forums you have a good shot at finding one for a good price (if you have not gathered yet, it is kind of expensive at 120 + dollars). hell, all you need is the phoenix usb cable (yes, its a very special and specific cable that connects to your tx and laptop/computer), i will send you the disk i have for free if you are able to find a cable. to make the walkera compatible all you need is a radio shack mono adapter or something along those lines, sorry i am bad with exact electrical terms.

as for tx, i personaly recomend the devo 6s or 8s. the 8s is bigger (actualy, normal size just like wk 2801 pro), the 6s is smaller and more ergonomic for my hands. the 8s has more switches, but i personaly do not ever see myself using those switches unless they come out with a heli that retracts its tires (i wish the airwolf would do that, that would be cool and worth the big bucks). i have a devo 6s that flies three of my helis and find its small size convenient. i also have a wk 2801 pro that sadly is becoming obsolete to my devo 6s, as it flies only one heli in my fleet - the v120d05 (which i plan to change to devo 2622rx in the future). anyways, endpoint i recomend either 6s or 8s, personaly i would go with 6 for its size and simplicity. you can not go wrong with 8s and i think the 10s gets good reviews as well. the devo7 is too cheap and kind of robs you of a good tx experience, and the 12s is unecesarily expensive for a beginner but incredible bang for buck if you are a hardcore 3d enthusiast.

i got my mini cp from wowhobbies.com (california) . i do business with them, clubheli.com (pensylvannia) and with helircstore.com (north carolina). also rchelipartz on ebay (wisconsin i believe). those are the big four i go with for helicopters and parts, and they each have their pros and cons from parts availability to prices to location. alot of people buy from hong kong but personaly i do not do that because of high shipping costs evening out, as well as the possibility to approach the company in case something is wrong and i have to ship something back. i have personaly called and talked with wowhobbies, clubheli and rchelipartz and they are awesome with customer service, i have no complains from none of them. i went with wowhobbies because they have the brushless setup already up (more expensive brushless for obvious reasons). the mini cp as i understood it is not that great when it comes to battery life with stock brushed motor setup. i am sorry i cannot give you more details on this as i never had it without a brushless motor and a genious gear already on. i am sure somebody here will fill in all the blanks that i can not fill in. also, i am horrible in filling you in with battery methology as i usualy use the stock batteries or the batteries that came with my helis. when it comes to batteries, the only thing i can tell you is to use a good quality aftermarket charger for sure. i use copterx from wowhobbies to do my charging business, but again, i am sure others here will recommend something else and i would listen to them over my suggestion because they have more time and experience in this game.

your biggest challenge though should be the same as mine. the terminology and mechanics behind a helicopter. identifying what to fix when something goes wrong, etc. when i first got my mini it took me two hours to find out how to activate the tail gyro to keep it from spinning madly on the table. i do not have any experience people near me to help me out, so i heavily rely on these forums to scavenge information and advise.

wife is yelling at me again, got to go friend. sorry i could not answer all of your questions, let me know what else i can help you with.

cheers

Semper fi brother, I was an air traffic controller, was in al asad for a tour I signed up for a meu but got out before I went , any ways, I'm thinking wow hobbies with the bl. Set up, think that's ok for my first cp? , I looked Phoenix flight sim but didn't see the mini cp in there, thanks for the info, if any one else has any suggestions on where to buy,a mini cp, and thoughts about getting one already modded from wow, I just am not crazy about them drilling holes in the frame.... Or if anyone else has info on Phoenix flight sim and devo8s comparability

www.helircstore.com for the mini. Then you can piece the brushless conversion together yourself when you're ready for a lot less than wow is selling it for.

I use Phoenix with a devo7 with the cord supplied. A 3.5 to 3.5mm stereo cable. I had to download smartpropo and pppjoy which is free software to get it working. I plug one end of the cable into the microphone port and the other into the back of the devo.

Also, if you are just starting out with flying a heli and are buying the mini then I would suggest the following.
Buy the devo 8, the 7 is ok and the menu is hard at first but people are hacking the devo 8 now. The devo 8 has USB when the 7 doesn't. Also, the 8 is just plain nice.

Do not go brushless first! You will crash most likely and break a lot more things at the higher head speed that the brushless offers.

Buy a genius main gear with genius motor for lower head speed but with 7 minutes of flight time.

Do not buy wows heli, instead save money and support Bob at helircstore.com he is a great guy who has made a lot of people very happy! He loves the hobby and made the servo gears available when it was very hard to get them.

Do the servo saver mod before the first flight. All it takes is one crash to kill multiple servos, happened to me and I am not even a beginner. I killed two servos in one crash, not fun!

Save the money by not buying wows kit and instead spend all that hard earned cash on lots of batteries! Buy 350 25c batteries if possible. They can be had at aliexpress.com for 20$ for 5 of them. Buy the turnigy nanos 300mah 35c ( for the solo pro 1.72$) very cheap and very nice. The zippy bare cells 350 20c batteries are nice too. You want a nice charger also and make a cable to parallel charge 10 batteries at a time.

Do not get suckered into buy batteries at 4 bucks a piece. They can be had cheap if you know where to look.

Buy replacement servo holder, tail booms or buy 2mm carbon fiber square in bulk. Purchase tail blades( I haven't broke mine though and have crashed too many times)main blades, landing gear, genius parts fit the mini too except main blades, and the fuselage. Buy a replacement of every part. Main blades will get damaged but take a lot of abuse so buy a few of those. Buy a complete tail, only about 11$ landing gear likes to break off the mounting pins.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by Shark_fighter78

Semper fi brother, I was an air traffic controller, was in al asad for a tour I signed up for a meu but got out before I went , any ways, I'm thinking wow hobbies with the bl. Set up, think that's ok for my first cp? , I looked Phoenix flight sim but didn't see the mini cp in there, thanks for the info, if any one else has any suggestions on where to buy,a mini cp, and thoughts about getting one already modded from wow, I just am not crazy about them drilling holes in the frame.... Or if anyone else has info on Phoenix flight sim and devo8s comparability

i was on the 24th meu that deployed to kandahar 2008 (so i skated out of the boat life thank goodness. i prefer tent city over a cramped boat anyday), it was also the last time the ch 46 (phrogs) were used. i also did afganistan again in 2010. air trafic eh? thats the dream job in the civilian world, should pull in awesome money.

ummmm, i do not think you will find the actual mini cp model in the flight simulator if thats what you mean. in fact, i do not think you will find any walkera models there. i use the align 250 3g model in the simulator to get a feel for orientation, power, 3d movements, etc. in short, the sim teaches you to fly collective pitch and get a good feel for it, not specificaly your heli. a real life heli is way more complex and unpredictable. it is like driving in a video game compared to driving in real life. i a driving game you can crash, run over pedestrians, speed, outrun the police, drive the fastest and most expensive cars and even pick up hookers. in real life there are real consequences and expenses. a sim is important and very helpfull, and will save you money down the road, but it is not absolutely necesary for learning.

phoenix and devo8s transmitter are compatible. here is a link for more info on that: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1555800

i highly advise against the devo 7. i do not even think you can upgrade it like the others later on down the road. trust me, it is the cheapest for a reason.

brushless vs brushed is a very important decision you have to make that will affect your cp experience. i went brushless but then again i like to get in over my head at first because i am impulsive. i think it is very sound advice to go all stock and make small upgrades like a genious gear, and then making larger upgrades such as a brushless setup later on down the road. this will equal into less extreme crashes and hearbreak as well as less downtime.

the servo saver mod is awesome i hear. i also advize you just like everyone else to insulate the antenna end to prevent a possible shortcircuit. there is also a coil protector mod but i do not know much about it.

the best parts to buy as spares is the tail boom (i buy the whole thing complete with motor) and main shaft as well as blades (the blades will last along time, but eventualy they will ship and nick and what not). this is what i have learned from personal experience. it would not hurt to have a spare servo set but that is an expensive part second only to the rx in price.

do not forget to learn as much as you can about lipos and buy a good charger and learn how to charge if you do not already do. i didnt know anybetter at first and had a few puffy batteries before i realized that those damn things can go nuclear on your kitchen counter top (it didnt come to that thank goodness, i learned about it and stopped my bad habits before it became an issue.)

best way to go is a tx and heli combo to save cash. take your time reviewing sellers prices as well as shipping costs and get the best bang for buck you can.

Glue the coil which if you do a search you will find pictures etc. I forgot to mention that and the reason why to get the genius maingear. The genius maingear will give you more flight time and will lower headspeed. Too much headspeed will be spinning those mainblades at destructive levels. Both destructive to your heli in a crash and to others. The genius motor and maingear gives great power too.

Walkera Minicp Mini cp helicopter Genius motor and main gear 350mah 20c (1 min 13 sec)

I only have about a month's experience with the Mini, but here is my newbie advice:

To save on shipping and help get through tough times, I'd order atleast a spare Tail Boom, Tail Motor Holder, and Servo Holder at the same time and from the same place you get the Mini from. (Update: After 2 months and many full speed impacts, I also managed to break a Main Shaft Collar, and lost one of the Links).

If you like "roughing" it, get CA, Gorilla Glue, Hot Glue, and think about getting 2 mm Square CF Tube for DIY Tail Boom, and 1 mm CF Rod for a DIY Canopy Holder mod for use on the back-top of the Servo Holder.

I'm still testing the Servo Saver Mod trying to find the best O-Ring (Silicone Fuel Tubing) for use with the mod. I measured 4 different Razor/Utility Blades, and found the double edged Wilkinson Razor Blade to be the thinnest and had no problem using it to split the Servo Arm; however, even using the thinnest Blade, afterwards regardless of how tight or loose the Servo Arm Screws are, the Arm splits open and looses its "teeth" gripping too easily even when only doing Pitch Pumps while in Throttle Hold without Main Blades spinning. So if you do the Servo Saver mod, I highly recommend being very careful, and try making the cut down only ONE spline (not at an angle cutting through more than one spline), AND having 3/32" (or smaller?) ID Fuel Tubing, O-Ring, or Dampener on hand before doing the mod. Until you're confident about the reliability and usefulness of the Servo Saver Mod, I'd think about having spare Servos on hand. Benmlee and Bytemuncher have links to helpful info in their RCG Blog pages.

The stock Canopy is better than any other older micro Canopy I've experienced, but it splits easily from the bottom edge towards the nose. My Mini's original Canopy has about 6 splits along the bottom, and now has its bottom entirely Scotch taped. Once the bottom became completely taped, the splits stopped. I got a brighter easier to see Orange V2 Genius Canopy, and it almost immediately started to split at the bottom without really experiencing any serious crashes, so I added a strip of Scotch tape along the entire bottom edge of the Canopy, and even though the new Canopy has now been through some high impact crashes, the split hasn't worsened, and there hasn't been any newer splits.

I recommend orienting the RX antenna vertically UP, with the tip pointing out of the Canopy for two reasons:

• Best orientation for best signal reception
  
  
• Don't have to worry about exposed tip of Antenna electrically shorting against exposed RX or Main Motor circuitry. If the tip of the Antenna is low enough to touch those items, then it isn't positioned properly for best reception, is basically lying down/"sleeping" on the job, and needs to be brought back UP to attention with it's "ears" in the air (not laying low under a Canopy hiding behind a Motor or RX).

Many people have recommended adding some kind of adhesive to the RX's coil. When I got my Mini, I inspected the Coil and saw it was firmly soldered to the PWB, so I left it alone and just used extra care when taking off or putting on the Canopy. Now I'm regretting not adding some kind of impact protection to the Coil, because the Mini recently took a full speed nose dive on to a cement floor, broke off the top part of the Coil and one of the Coil's leads. I tried unraveling the broken lead one loop from the Coil so it would be long enough to solder on to the PWB, but when I tried unwinding, the "end" that broke is the part of the winding that is "buried" under the other windings. One of my main "go do's" is to see if Ithere is someplace local that sells 15uh SMD Inductor (probably less than $1 part?) so the RX can be repaired with a little micro soldering. Unless you can afford a new RX, or will never have a high impact front end collision from the "chin", I highly recommend completely covering/embedding the Coil in something that can protect and help the Coil survive a full force solid direct hit. A few people have posted having success winding their own coil (and I've advocated doing so), and atleast one posted using a straight piece of wire works; however, now that I've gotten a good look at the stock Coil, seen how thin its wire is, how cheap 15 uh Coils are from the factory, I'm thinking the cheapest, easiest solution might be to dedicate some "front-end" non-reoccurring "repair" time to find a replacement Coil. If successful, I'll post a Part Number, mfg, and vendor.

I've CA'd the Landing Skid, and the Main Blades have taken a beating, but they appear to function as good as new.

Finally, Tom Z started a "Mini ... Review ..." thread, and it's first two posts have a lot of helpful info for Mini newbies. I advise doing the "What many people recommend mods" he has linked near the bottom of his first post.

Originally Posted by i812

I only have about a month's experience with the Mini, but here is my newbie advice:

To save on shipping and help get through tough times, I'd order atleast a spare Tail Boom, Tail Motor Holder, and Servo Holder at the same time and from the same place you get the Mini from.

If you like "roughing" it, get CA and Gorilla Glue, and think about getting 2 mm Square CF Tube for DIY Tail Boom, and maybe also consider a CF Tube and 1 mm CF Rod for a DIY Canopy Holder mod for use on the back of the Servo Holder.

I'm still testing the Servo Saver Mod trying to find the best O-Ring (Silicone Fuel Tubing) for use with the mod. I measured 4 different Razor/Utility Blades, and found the double edged Wilkinson Razor Blade to be the thinnest and had no problem using it to split the Servo Arm; however, even using the thinnest Blade, afterwards regardless of how tight or loose the Servo Arm Screws are, the Arm splits open and looses its "teeth" gripping too easily even when only doing Pitch Pumps while in Throttle Hold without Main Blades spinning. So if you do the Servo Saver mod, I highly recommend being very careful, and try making the cut down only ONE spline (not at an angle cutting through more than one spline), AND having 3/16" (or smaller?) ID Fuel Tubing, O-Ring, or Dampener on hand before doing the mod. Until you're confident about the reliability and usefulness of the Servo Saver Mod, I'd think about having spare Servos on hand. Benmlee and Bytemuncher have info and links to helpful info in their RCG Blog pages.

The stock Canopy is better than any other older micro Canopy I've experienced, but it splits easily from the bottom edge towards the nose. My Mini's original Canopy has about 6 splits along the bottom, and now has its bottom entirely Scotch taped. Once the bottom became completely taped, the splits stopped. I got a brighter easier to see Orange V2 Genius Canopy, and it almost immediately started to split at the bottom without really experiencing any serious crashes, so I added a strip of Scotch tape along the entire bottom edge of the Canopy, and even though the new Canopy has now been through some high impact crashes, the split hasn't worsened, and there hasn't been any newer splits.

I recommend orienting the RX antenna vertically UP, with the tip pointing out of the Canopy for two reasons:

• Best orientation for best signal reception
  
  
• Don't have to worry about exposed tip of Antenna electrically shorting against exposed RX or Main Motor circuitry. If the tip of the Antenna is low enough to touch those items, then it isn't positioned properly for best reception, is basically lying down/"sleeping" on the job, and needs to be brought back UP to attention with it's "ears" in the air (not laying low under a Canopy hiding behind a Motor or RX).

Many people have recommended adding some kind of adhesive to the RX's coil. When I got my Mini, I inspected the Coil and saw it was firmly soldered to the PWB, so I left it alone and just used extra care when taking off or putting on the Canopy. Now I'm regretting not adding some kind of impact protection to the Coil, because the Mini recently took a full speed nose dive on to a cement floor, broke off the top part of the Coil and one of the Coil's leads. I tried unraveling the broken lead one loop from the Coil so it would be long enough to solder on to the PWB, but somehow when I tried unwinding, the "end" got "buried" under? the other windings and now I can't find the "end" anymore. One of my main "go do's" for next week is to go somewhere that sells a good magnifying lens and have a better look and see if I can find the "end", and also see if there is someplace local that sells 15uh SMD Inductor (probably less than $1 part?) so the RX can be repaired with a little micro soldering. Unless you can afford a new RX, or will never have a high impact front end collision from the "chin", I highly recommend completely covering/embedding the Coil in something that can protect and help the Coil survive a full force solid direct hit. A few people have posted having success winding their own coil (and I've advocated doing so), and atleast one posted using a straight piece of wire works; however, now that I've gotten a good look at the stock Coil, seen how thin its wire is, how cheap 15 uh Coils are from the factory, I'm thinking the cheapest, easiest solution might be to dedicate some "front-end" non-reoccurring "repair" time to find a replacement Coil. If successful, I'll post a Part Number, mfg, and vendor.

I've CA'd the Landing Skid, and the Main Blades have taken a beating, but they appear to function as good as new.

Finally, Tom Z started a "Mini ... Review ..." thread, and it's first post has a lot of helpful info for Mini newbies.

hehe, i got tape all over my original canopy as well. i also bought the genious canopy version 2 but dislike it alot. i was looking for the normal genious canopy, not the sunburst orange and red one i recieved. i was thinking of painting over it at some point with a one tone easy to see color.

do you think i can/should hot glue on top of this coil section to reinforce it? sorry if its a dumb question but when it comes to recievers and speed controllers i am clueless. are there any big no nos in dealing with an rx? last night i had to remove my v120d05 reciever yellow casing because it was so mangled. i did not want to leave it naked so i covered up the sides with electrical tape. is this harmfull? does the rx need to "breathe". is heat shrinking an option? also, is there a trick or recomended way to remove the servo plugs that minimizes damage risk?
it seems like you are experienced with things like soldering and basic micro work, i would appreciate your input on this.

hey shark, i am not trying to sell you a product but you should also look into the lady bird to compliment your mini. it is very precise and will help you with orientation (a ladybird quad is considered in channel terms a four channel fixed pitch i assume), a four channel heli is what you need for basic orientation memory/reflexes. i have not heard of any lady bird owner being unsatisfied with it.

If I didn't mention already then here it goes. I love gorilla glue. I gorilla glue the boom where it enters the fuse and make the glue ramp down from the fuse to the boom. I cover a whole inch of the boom in the stuff where it exits the fuse. By doing this you actually make the carbon boom breaking point smaller. For instance, is it easier to break a long piece of carbon fiber or a short piece?
I also put a dab of gorilla glue around where the boom enters the tail motor housing. I then glue the motor wires coming out of the tail motors can and do away with the rubber boot that was there. If you go with the genius motor then glue the wires where they exit the top of the motor.

I do the same for the canopy carbon rods and broke my canopy in 3 pieces but the rods were perfect!

The coil is in the bottom right hand corner if you are looking directly at the minis electrical board. Wow puts silicone on it. It doesn't hold. I fixed be guys coil who had broken it and there was still silicone residue on it. I cover it with gorilla glue. Also glue the battery cable where they come out of the board.

I use heat shrink tubing shrunk over my cut/modded servo arms. 1 arm is cut really bad and would slip on barely touching it. Heat shrink tightened it right up! the feathering shaft rubber grommets can be used too.

Also, I disagree with i812 on the antennae placement. I glue it to the side of the minis electrical board and have never had a glitch or interference.

Be careful with removing plugs on the mini by pulling on the wires. The wires can break. Take a small screwdriver and place it between the plug and it's housing on the board and turn. It will pop right out.

If your heli will not lift off the ground then check to see if the collar with a screw in it loosened up and let the mainshaft slide down. Every once in awhile pull up and down on the button on the top of the rotor. If it wiggles then the collar needs to be pulled down while exerting pressure on the main gear.

If the help spins uncontrollably then your gyro is set at 50 percent. The heli will also blink red and green when the gyro is set to 50 and below.

If the tail spins to the right on hard pitch pumps then make sure the boom is slid all the way into the fuse and tail motor housing.

The pot on the walkera mini cp is this to adjust the cyclic travel???? Thanks

here is a link to a phoenix usb dongle selling here on classifieds shark if you are still inerested on a phoenix. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1643556

Originally Posted by helicraze

The pot on the walkera mini cp is this to adjust the cyclic travel???? Thanks

as i know it is for adjusting the gyro sensitivity.....

This is what the mini's pot/screw does. It adjusts for different flights. You want more performance? its just a dial away!



The following is the younger brother a little parties finishing touch for your reference and choice!
<1> about 1 to 2 o'clock direction = slippery feel, but also quite stable. (For the master the rippling soared machine mode)
<2> about 3 to 4 o'clock = flybar feel more hammer-like feel, close to the G-CP feel than its more stable and not easy to drift machine. (For advanced novice & veteran mode)
<3> about 5 to 6 o'clock = with a hammer-like feel, flying fairway and novice learning to practice flying OK, very stable. (Suitable for novice-level learning to fly mode)
<4> about 7 to 8 o'clock = ibid those who feel, super-stable flight is only suitable for flying fairway, but the wind to spin shaking paddle. (Only suitable for indoor flying the fairway mode)
<5> about 9 to 10 o'clock = also regarded as on the handle, but heavy hammer feeling more intense other Ibid. (Only suitable for indoor flying the fairway mode) <6> the remaining 11 to the 12 o'clock direction ibid.

Originally Posted by mescalinedream

This is what the mini's pot/screw does. It adjusts for different flights. You want more performance? its just a dial away!



The following is the younger brother a little parties finishing touch for your reference and choice!
<1> about 1 to 2 o'clock direction = slippery feel, but also quite stable. (For the master the rippling soared machine mode)
<2> about 3 to 4 o'clock = flybar feel more hammer-like feel, close to the G-CP feel than its more stable and not easy to drift machine. (For advanced novice & veteran mode)
<3> about 5 to 6 o'clock = with a hammer-like feel, flying fairway and novice learning to practice flying OK, very stable. (Suitable for novice-level learning to fly mode)
<4> about 7 to 8 o'clock = ibid those who feel, super-stable flight is only suitable for flying fairway, but the wind to spin shaking paddle. (Only suitable for indoor flying the fairway mode)
<5> about 9 to 10 o'clock = also regarded as on the handle, but heavy hammer feeling more intense other Ibid. (Only suitable for indoor flying the fairway mode) <6> the remaining 11 to the 12 o'clock direction ibid.

nice answer. now i want to mess with it at its max stable setting.