first flite with B-400

[bladebuster]

Hello all, this is my first post on this forum.... I started with a cx-2 which I fly pretty good, I went to a Real Flite G-4 simulator which I have trouble with some heli's, I went ahead and bought a Blade 400 and tried to hover, I lifted to high, panicked and cut the power, she landed kinda hard and bent the main and feathering shaft, I now know how to repair those.. second flight, I went through one battery lifting a foot and landing, a little rough but no crash, then on second battery I lifted about 10 feet and tilted sideways and down to earth! Another main,feathering,main gear, servo,blade griper and flybar .
I just read about changing a setting in my radio, the expo to 25% which I programed to one switch to activate, is this a good idea?

[hawkman]

I would get as good as you can on the sim first. The CX2 is a good heli for what it is but its limited.

Flying a small 'real' electric heli is hard work...I started out on a 30 size nitro heli...this behaved well and my progress was fast, only becuase I had used a sim for a long long time.

Expo? I would leave this alone if I were you....getting it wrong can make a heli very twitchy indeed...I dont bother with Expo...never have. Its probably a great thing to have but I dont really understand how its setup...better to wait till someone can explain it all for you.

Good luck, dont get put off...buy loads of parts because you will have crunches..its a fact of RC heli life....as you gain experience the crashes will get far far less...if you crash later it will be down to pushing your skills too far or a mechanical failure.

Heard some good things about the Blade...is the radio 2.4 ghz?

Rob

[bladebuster]

Thanx for the encouragement, it's just as damaging to your ego as the heli, the radio is a 2.4 ghz, I hear it's a nice one to have, up to 10 rc can be programed with it.

[hawkman]

Thats a good radio you have then, 2.4ghz is all the thing now....meant to be bullet proof as far as connection is concerned...the UK market has this type but there are still some serious issues...one is getting 'locked out' where the helis RX just jams. On a large expensive heli this is not funny. I will get 2.4 ghz but will wait a while.

2.4 ghz is handy with electric helis...the thing is that interference can cause a lot of problems with the Mhz system...2.4 ghz copes with all that very well.

Get good on the sim...and as you progress with the Blade just fight temptation to show off to friends/family...once you crash out of pushing your luck...they wont put their hands in thier pockets and buy a new heli for you...

This is a great site, I have had a lot of fun here....I dont know everything there is to know...as you learn dont forget to pass it on

Rob

[Icewizzard88]

Bladebuster, first off sorry to hear of your misfortune a crash is always not a good thing, second SIM time as suggested above will help. One thing to do (I believe in alot) is Radds Schoo of flight Google it and follow it to a T. You will not only be happy but save dollars on crash repairs. I bought a Blade400 (First heli I ever bought touched or flown ever) followed his 10 battery process spent three to four hours on a SIM G3.5 realflight, took my heli out and hovered a few feet off ground through 3 battery packs. Got more confident and hovered up around 5 feet. So as time passed so far I have had a $24.00 crash and I have had about 6 to 7 weeks total experience. Maybe 8 with only one hour of real hover/flight time. RADDS helps.

[bladebuster]

Thanks for the RADDS site, I will give it a try but I think I found why I crashed the second time,the front servo that actuates the swashplate was broke in the first crash,I moved it before I flew and it was sticking, I thought it just neded to be spun up and flew it anyway I will replace it any try RADDS school

[DaveC]

Expo is good and softens control around center stick - but you are better building up your skill before messing with it - but once you can fly reasonably well it does give you advantages.

Hope this helps......David

[uneverno]

Murphys law being what it is, and applying doubly to helicopters, you should have and always follow your preflite checklist to a T.
The one time you don't is when your gyro connection will come off in flight because it loosened up on the last one.

It's not a bad idea to keep a flight log like full scale pilots do either. I use it to monitor battery health, belt retentioning requirements, etc.
It's also surprising to see what I forgot I learned last year.