Blade CP - Information from a n00b

To all:
1st Ill admit I am a complete n00b to RC Heli flying, I started out with Electric RC Cars, Finaly about 3 yrs ago got my first Nitro TMaxx. So being that I wanted to start with something new in the RC field I decided to take the plunge and go RC Heli, Sticking with going electric first I decided that was the way to go and I still stand by that decision. But what was to come next was harder then I thought... What heli to get ? There is so much out there for someone to look at it can be mind boggeling, from EBay Specials to actual warehouse built helis to We build our own vendors. It can make the decision on what to do downright impossible. To some this would Turn off a n00b but I have to stay stick with it and do your research!!! I have gone thru tons of forum and spent days at the LHS Talking with people there about what they fly, what the costs where and everything else. Well enough about that.
To say that I finaly made my decision is not accurate at all.. I have decided to take the Monetary Decision, I bought the Blade CP ... and Im finding that they have not corrected certain things like the Swashplate and Washer issue, I knew of these before i made my decision and for Giggles decided to take them at there word of Testing before it leaves the warehouse.. So I left all settings where they where didnt touch anything but the Throttle/Pitch Trim setting so that the 4 in 1 would Arm. once it armed i put it right back. Well needless to say it hovered barely but it hovered. So per the instructions I tried like anything to Trim it out. No go. So on Sunday ( I wrote this at 3am ) I will travel to my LHS and get 2 new bearings, washers and maybe the Lipos and enhancement kit. I will do the Swashplate and washer fixs and go from there and report back. Im not saying that this is a bad heli or a bad decision for the money but it is not RTF like a lot in this forum and others have pointed out. As I go along this new road of Electric flight I will keep you all posted and hopefully as with everyone here we can all learn from each others mistakes and lessons in flight...
I would like to take this time to Thank Everyone for the post that i have read and found most usefull.... Thank you

Everyone have a wonderful Labor Day and Happy Flying

I own three blades and none of them were RTF from the box. Great little heli's but assembly and QC by eflite is not very good. None of the 4in1 were mounted correctly let alone adjusted properly and I could go on... Still all in all a great design and easy to fly once you get it setup. I was very discrouraged at first but in the end I learn a lot about r/c electric helis that will be very valuable as I progress into other machines

The BCP is my second micro heli... I bought a used Hummingbird a few years ago but didn't keep it long as it required more fixin' than I wanted to do. I never even flew it before I sold it. And, other than a Snelflight Hoverfly I've flown for a couple of years, the BCP is the only other RC of any kind I've ever owned. (The Hoverfly is great fun by the way... especially at the latest price.)

Maybe I was just lucky but I bought the BCP 12 days ago and have really enjoyed it. I've replaced the main rotor blade 3 times and one of those was not really necessary for flying but that set was damaged enough from a boom strike to make good balance almost impossible. I've also replaced two skids after hard landings. Other than that, no problems. I have ~18 flights and believe I could hover a whole battery pack if I had no wind to deal with. (~5 mph wind had not been much problem but at 12 mph it was pretty hairy and flights were short.) The stock battery packs (I have 2 now) give me about 8-10 minutes of flight - flying 1-3 minutes and then letting the motors cool for about 30 seconds to a minute (it's been 90F+ here).

Micro helicopters are pretty difficult to fly. They fly to the left when in ground effect, the spin when throttle is moved, they're certainly not stable in flight even when perfectly trimmed and balanced, and the slightest breeze upsets them.

I really believe most heli newbies (and even many experienced heli pilots with larger helis) expect way too much stability from the BCP. It just ain't gonna happen. If you stick with it long enough you'll find that the BCP can fly very well for a RTF micro. Even out of the box. Granted, there are sure to be some lemons and I don't for second believe every one of these are flown at the factory (unless their definition of 'flying' is different than mine).

I find the Wattnot in Realflight G3 to be a pretty good model of my BCP with a couple of adjustments. Set the gyro to 50% or so and the wind at about 7-10 mph. There you go.

And a final thought... I can't believe the amount of money some are spending to upgrade the BCP. It's a $220 (USD) heli. Why spend another $300 or more on it? Some just like to tinker and bling. That's fine. But why would one spend that much to 'improve' the BCP? I have no idea.

Enjoy your Blade - I do.

Les

Les,
You have got it right on most counts in your posting. I got very sucked in by the video of the blade cp doing 3D manuvers and percision flights. I believe it can do it but theos guys in those Videos must spent a ton of hours flying to get their BCP to do that stuff. I am terrified of nose in hovering and only have done it briefly because of the unforgiving flight characteristics of the blade. I bought the G3 (long before the blades) because it seem to make a lot of sense for learning. I remember when I bought the blade, the hobby shop owner said when asked, if I am heli flying in the simulator I should be ready to fly my blade... No one asked which heli was I flying in the simulator!! I was flying the Dominion 90 3D and doing great the whole time thinking I was flying a diffucult machine. You are exactly right about the Wattnot sim and now I am playing catch up. I can say that thanks to all the pitfalls with the blade both mechanical and my lack of flight skill I have over come most and learned a ton and hopely saved a ton of money. Now I have to figure out how to get out of the bling factor I own three BCP's and they range from bling'ed max to stock. What I really need to do is stop tinkering and buy the very best radio I can for the next step and decide to go t-rex or nitro.

CJ,
Yeah, those videos make it look easy, huh?

And about the nose-in hovering... that reminds me how long it took before I felt comfortable doing nose-in with the Hoverfly. Because there was no battery to drain and because the indoor weather was always suitable for flying, I racked up a lot of time on the Hoverfly in a relatively short time. So, it was probably the equivalent of about 40 battery packs of flight before I began trying nose-in.

And you're right about the different helis in G3, too. Some of 'em are so easy to fly (compared to the BCP) it's hardly a challenge. 'Course stick time is always good no matter what.

I've been tempted to buy a larger electric like the Trex but I have to remind myself I really don't need another hobby to throw money into (pistol shooting, amateur radio and astronomy compete for hobby money). And I swear it's gonna be really tough to resist the urge to stick separates on the BCP. And a new radio. I gotta keep telling myself no, no, no, no, no, well maybe...

Les

After the last few flights and postings here I have reached a point where I need to take inventory of hobbies. I think helis are going to become one but between playing music, computers and golf, I need to focus on what it is I really want from the heli hobby to get the most out of it. It is more of a time than money issue. So, I think the blade may become kind of a side hobby within a hobby where I will have it when weather is crapy or something is broken. Something tells me the T-Rex is going to fly much more like a nitro heli but still subject to a lot of the same issues the blade has. So, I think and with much caution I am going to jump into nitro... and not a 30 but more like a 90! If they fly like they do in the simulator, that will be exstasy!!!

CJM FL, Good luck with the Nitro, let us know how it makes out!

Ok, Now back to the Blade... Sorry ( CJM FL) Well after going thru the fix in the Blade Forum I can now get the Blade off the ground, granted it is only 1/2in or 3/4 inch so far its better then what i was at ... Grounded...lol. Ok so i followed the fix, in addition I also added the enhancment kit and a lipo, 20 minutes of bouncing the training gear wasnt cutting it....lol So im off the ground, but im still working on that trim I can keep it in a 3ft by 3ft box ( ruff size est ) but it still wants to go either right or left, it cant seem to make up its mind.. but i can at the least control it. I have noticed that the Rotor disk when im correcting or trying to stay stable and it doesnt seem right. When i Tilt forward the disk looks right and same with backwards, but if i Pitch left and pitch right its still adding the foward in there and its bring it in that direction. I have also noticed that the mini servos are not equal with there control arms they are the same arm but they do not sit level to each other... Im thinking of taking them out and using another reciever to center them and the resintall the Blade Servo horn. if anyone else has seen this or has fixed this please let me know. Till the next learning session
Everyone have fun and dont hit the ground ..
l8rs

Nose in flying is really not Hard, If you remember to move your stick in the direction of the low blade, you will always put in the correct direction. This concept is also one of the more difficult things to learn in airplanes when they are coming at you. Once you master this concept it will become second nature. The problem I had was coming from a high porformance airplane arena into heli's.
The bigest problem was over reaction to the helli's instability.

The Blade CP is NOT an easy Heli to fly, think of it as a brick with a propeller that wants to fight you every step of the way. But I believe that once you get really secure with it, then the transition to a more advanced heli will be easy.

Ernie