side on, nose down!

[Neon_Dave]

cauz i like to adjust the collective so teh blade will hover around or alittle bit over midstick, dunno if dat's alright?

Whatever works and is most comfortable for you is fine.

When I was learning on my CP it tended to drift a lot too, and for me the tail was incredibly hard to keep in one spot. Turns out both of the problems were due to a badly set up gyro and proportional pots... settings were off

Anyways, since it's such a small helicopter the drifting and it moving around a lot is normal, and like Aztek1701 said, it's all just a matter of practice. I was at that point too, but with over 40 flights under my belt with my CP it's not a problem anymore. I'm now learning to fly it outside, in forward flight. I feel that, once you learn to fly it well, the CP is a very stable heli. With experience, it becomes very predictable and thus you can keep it in one spot for a lot longer.

I am by no means even an "intermediate" pilot, but have learned a lot throughout my 4 months of having this helicopter. As you keep flying and flying, it will get more and more stable, and will be more and more controllable as you go on. I think it really is just a matter of practice and perseverance. Basically, you just keep trying and trying until you get it.

Hope this helps...
-Dave

[chopperdude]

hi,
i can hover my bcp now for a batt with no problems, i can do that while talking as well, dun need as much concentration as before when i started to hover it. i can fly it in my living room pretty comfy now, the real 'usable' space is like 3m x 3m at teh widest and all i use is like 2 x 2, (because of tables and flowers and all of those stuff) dunno if that is consider stable for a bcp?. i also found out that the tail will tend to drift in a different direction as teh batt dies out, so no matter how good the poportional trim pot is at full batt, it will never stay that way. i only had the bcp for alittle over a week, nowhere near the 4 month between u and ur heli. learning side in right now, burning bout 3, 4 packs a day, summer break, nothing to do. i hope i can do my first 8 in about a month's time. is that reallistic?

[Neon_Dave]

i also found out that the tail will tend to drift in a different direction as teh batt dies out, so no matter how good the poportional trim pot is at full batt, it will never stay that way.

I noticed that too I learned to fly with a really badly setup proportional control and I always had to compensate a lot to keep the tail straight. I actually kept the left stick halfway to the right. Add more to turn nose right, release a little to turn it other way. I just realized I was doing it all wrong a few weeks ago So now if the tail drifts I keep it straight naturally

Anyways, you're learning fast! It took me a lot longer to get to hovering, but I had a full basement to use at my disposal. So with you having only 3x3m to work with, I'm proud of you

First 8 months in 1 months time? If you consistently run through 3-4 packs a day, you'll learn a lot really fast, no doubt. When you get to the point where inside is just too limited, you'll obviously want to fly it outside. You need really calm conditions outdoors to fly a heli of this size, and it's not calm everyday Luckily I have a very large church with a very large park beside it (a perfect place to do speed runs with cars / fly helicopters) but I have to wait 'till it's either not blistering hot or not windy to do anything RC this summer.

Cheers,
-Dave

[chopperdude]

hey
srry i forgot to tell u this, the first few days i got the chopper, i was flying it outside, got pretty good at hovering like that. but these 2 days it was windy and wet in toronto so i just decide to give this thing a go inside and see if i can control it, turns out pretty good i would like to ask u how to correctly set up the trim pots, caus i'm now like u were a few weeks ago, keeping my left stick at have to the left/right, depends cauz i try to trim it. release/ add more to turn, not that good, and the tail becomes so much twitchier when the batt is dying. dunno if that's alright as well and one more question, i no i no... but just one more (for this post at least) there seems to be quite a slop on the main blades, this affects the collective and the heli will not really hover at a certain altitude. how can i fix this?

[Neon_Dave]

wonder if u can drink and fly

Not recommended....

Heh. I feel your wind. Literally. I live 'bout 50km north of there

The tail does lose responsiveness and overall stability as the battery dies, since the 4-in-1 controls the proportion of which power is distributed between the main motor and tail motor. As the batteries die off, the proportion stays the same but the power it's got to work with decreases, therefore messing up the proportions a bit

As I found out, to properly adjust the proportional trim pot takes time about a full battery's worth, at that... Anyways, start with the current setting you've got on it. When in hover, with the rudder trim centered and no rudder input, look at the direction the *nose* of the heli is trying to spin. If it's spinning to the left, you want to increase the mixing - turn the proportional pot clockwise. If it's spinning right, do the opposite - turn the pot counterclockwise. Do this in 1/4 turn increments until you get relatively close. Then, following the same above instructions, further adjust based on the direction the nose is trying to spin, except this time around turn the pot in 1/8 turn increments. Keep reducing the amount you turn each time around until you get to the point where you just barely turn the pot for fine tuning, and the rest you can basically do with trimming. If when you're putting the trim/rudder stick to center and the heli starts spinning quite quickly, I would recommend doing the first step on the ground so that the tail spinning doesnt cause the heli to drift and crash. Remember you always have to power down the 4-in-1 when making proportional trim pot adjustments (you don't with gyro gain)

Of course, the proportional setting will not be perfect, but will be close enough that you can move the rudder trim one or two clicks over and it will stay straight. You could also (after doing the initial adjustment to the proportional trim pot) increase the gyro gain to keep your tail steadier (I've actually needed to put mine to 100% to keep the tail solid outside ) When you hear the change in the sound the motor makes from a nice whir to a lower more "grinding"-like sound, for lack of a better term (and if your LED on the 4-in-1 is a constant red), you will want to land, and recharge the batteries. When the batteries are that low, the tail can unexpectedly go whacko

With the slop in the main blades, do you mean that you can move the horizontal shaft/blade grips + blades assembly up/down in the spindle? If that's it, then that's normal. When you take apart rotor head you'll notice that that component (the spindle shaft or "feathering shaft" ) is supported by two rubber o-rings on either side, allowing for flexing. It may be the settings on the main blades are a bit off in regards to pitch; seems to me like there is not enough pitch, and the blades are not producing enough lift, consequently the heli won't hover at that certain altitude; It's a likely possibility.

Anyways, hope that helps.

Cheers,
-Dave

[chopperdude]

thx neon,
alot of very helpful informations here, but i just want to say that i can flex the main blades so that their collective pitch changes, (tilting them in the opposite way) i got all the collective i want, i can go as high as i want, (technically anyways) but just that in a hover, the heli sometimes goes up and down even though i didnt change the throttle/collective, i can usually correct this with one or 2 clicks with the throttle stick, but doesnt no if this is common for all bcp's .

[Neon_Dave]

It might just be an updraft or something the heli catches. Especially when flying inside, make sure that in the room you're flying any doors / windows in the area are closed to reduce stray winds that can mess with your heli

The flex in the blades, as you describe it is normal, since the whole rotor assembly is composite/plastic, so naturally the material flexes. It shouldn't really be cause for concern as it will not, or at least should not, cause any undesirable movements in the helicopter.

If you want to eliminate any slop in the system you have the option of getting the aluminum rotor head from helidirect. (www.helidirect.com)

-Dave

[Aztek1701]

Hi Dude,

Like neon says, the blades will flex in flight, its natuaral and needed in a blade. Once you move on to Collective Pitch helis, you will find that the blades are completely different being MUCH stiffer for one. Also, altitude control is more difficult on a blade for the very reason that they dont have controllable pitch. I increase altitude they must spin the blades faster, to reduce, that speed needs to be lost. It helps and hinders you as a beginner. It helps you because it slows things down a bit (If I nail the collective on my Sceadu it climbs like its been fired from a gun). It hinders you because its less precise. Also, its totally normal for any heli to bounce even if you dont change the throttle because any air movement across the blades will change the efficiency of them. Just wait till you get outside and your hovering in a wind and you will understand lol . Again this is down to practice and anticipation. Take a read at http://www.copters.com/helo_aero.html its a bit technical but it should help to explain everything. Tail getting twitchy as the battery dies, yep thats normal. take it as a sign to be ready to land soon but if you change to a model with a belt driven tail (t-rex, ect) then you dont get this clue so a battery alarm becomes important.

Hope this helps.... Azzy