Blade Sr and a Noob

[Tseres]

Yes I am new to Helis. I started 2 winters ago with an MCPX. Then Last Winter I got an MSR. All because I wanted something to fly indoor. It's a long winter here in Indiana from 4 to 5 months. 4 if we're lucky. It's just too long to go without flying. The micro Helis are perfect for my shop that I keep heated all winter.this year I hung around with some Heli pilots and even went to IRCHA. Since then I was debating if it was good enough to entertain myself in the shop or to really learn to fly Helis. In the beginning of October with the helpful advise of my friend Chris I decided to go with a Blade 450. I got to fly it at some indoor events around here but it was just to big to fly in my shop. So I went out and got me an MCPX. I'm learning to hover with it in the 4 tail positions but I found it to be to twitchy. Altho I burn through a lot of batteries with it I wanted something closer to what I was going to fly out door. The MCPX don't scare me so I do take more chances with it and occasionally still hit something. This is where the SR comes in I can hover it and pay more attention to what I'm doing since I know this can hurt someone.

That is how I came by getting an SR. The TRex-500 I got in a trade at our Swap Meet. That is going to be for the Summertime.

The SR is kind of a pain to set up. I still fiddle with it every day. I did make two changes on it. I turned the tail motor around and I'm using 1300 mAh batteries. I get around 15 minutes of hovering out of these batteries. I had them laying around from my planes. I gave the 1000 mAh to my son for his SR. Thats him in the picture.

join in and let me know what you're doing with yours or even if you don't have one but may have some suggestions for a new guy.

[Chrisrain]

That little mcpx is the perfect thing for learning and practicing!

The only tips i think i can give you is a tip with hte mcpx....if you are experiencing tail blowouts....then i highly suggest doing the tail-boom extension mod. its pretty simple, you just take 2mm solid carbon fiber rod (which you can find at your local hobby shop) and you cut off a 6 inch peice, and then make to flat spots on one end. Then stick the end with two flat spots into the tail casing, and the other end slides right into the main frame...I used CA to make sure mine was completely solid. and just wrap the wires around the boom and your ready to go. This mod is awesome because it really helps the tail hold on punchouts...and sooner or later when your start practicing flips, it reeeally helps the tail hold during the flip! this mod isnt necessary but i highly reccomend it.

And with that Trex 500...i dont know if you have heard this from other people, but the 500 WILL be easier to fly then all the other helicopters you have, the bigger the heli, the more stable they are. I have a 500 sized heli myself and i LOVE it. not too big, not too small. And they are VERY stable. :)

[Tseres]

I broke the tail on the MCPX the second day I had it. The guys at the LHS and CSpaced filled me in on the CF Rod mod. Been flying it that way since.. I do go back and forth between the MCPX and the SR. I got the SR for Hover training. I don't think I'll go into modifying it. It is growing on me fast however. Right now the only thing I would like to do is to program my DX-7 to fly it with. Of course the instructions didn't give any setup for any other transmitter.

[Tom Jr]

I like my MCPX way better. the SR is easier to see but that tail wag drives me crazy!!!!!!!! .

[Chrisrain]

I broke the tail on the MCPX the second day I had it. The guys at the LHS and CSpaced filled me in on the CF Rod mod. Been flying it that way since.. I do go back and forth between the MCPX and the SR. I got the SR for Hover training. I don't think I'll go into modifying it. It is growing on me fast however. Right now the only thing I would like to do is to program my DX-7 to fly it with. Of course the instructions didn't give any setup for any other transmitter.


:blockhead: i didnt even realise that you do in fact have the boom extended. :p

you could fly the SR on the same setup as your Blade 450, just make another slot for the SR and copy everything over. ;)

[Tseres]

:blockhead: i didnt even realise that you do in fact have the boom extended. :p

you could fly the SR on the same setup as your Blade 450, just make another slot for the SR and copy everything over. ;)

I have the 450 on the DX-6. I'm wondering if I can just copy that to the DX-7. Or is there a difference in the programing between the two. My MCPX is on the DX-7 and that way I would only have to take one transmitter with me to the indoor fly.

[CSpaced]

I have the 450 on the DX-6. I'm wondering if I can just copy that to the DX-7. Or is there a difference in the programing between the two. My MCPX is on the DX-7 and that way I would only have to take one transmitter with me to the indoor fly.

It should be close, just make sure everything is moving in the right direction before you fly.

[Tseres]

Today was an interesting day. I tried to set up my DX-7 with the SR. Looked through a bunch of paperwork and set up a program that I thought should work. Not. I got all the controls going in the right direction but The main motor wouldn't come on. Then I tried binding it back to the E-flight transmitter and that wouldn't bind. I had the directions for binding in front of me but it wouldn't work. I was pretty frustrated at this point. I searched on line and found a program for the DX-6I. So I copied the program from the 450 and made changes to it from the program I found on line. That worked. I made a 10 minute flight with the new radio setup. I found that the SR flew the same. I did have more ruder trim adjustment with the DX-6I. I was all the way left on the e-flight radio. I'm starting to get basic understanding of heli programing. I think with a little tweaking I can get it more to my liking. I need to learn a lot more about Gyros.

[Chrisrain]

Today was an interesting day. I tried to set up my DX-7 with the SR. Looked through a bunch of paperwork and set up a program that I thought should work. Not. I got all the controls going in the right direction but The main motor wouldn't come on. Then I tried binding it back to the E-flight transmitter and that wouldn't bind. I had the directions for binding in front of me but it wouldn't work. I was pretty frustrated at this point. I searched on line and found a program for the DX-6I. So I copied the program from the 450 and made changes to it from the program I found on line. That worked. I made a 10 minute flight with the new radio setup. I found that the SR flew the same. I did have more ruder trim adjustment with the DX-6I. I was all the way left on the e-flight radio. I'm starting to get basic understanding of heli programing. I think with a little tweaking I can get it more to my liking. I need to learn a lot more about Gyros.

Im glad that you ended up getting both helis flying. Thats very strange that the SR was having troubles binding. :confused:

Heli programming can be VERY confusing. It took me forever to start understanding what each thing does, and I still occasionly find something new that i didnt know about before.

About the gyros.....have you tried flying your heli's in "heading hold" mode yet? When I began flying i didnt even know the gyros had two different "modes" and heading hold really makes the heli's tail MUCH more solid.

[Tseres]

Im glad that you ended up getting both helis flying. Thats very strange that the SR was having troubles binding. :confused:

Heli programming can be VERY confusing. It took me forever to start understanding what each thing does, and I still occasionly find something new that i didnt know about before.

About the gyros.....have you tried flying your heli's in "heading hold" mode yet? When I began flying i didnt even know the gyros had two different "modes" and heading hold really makes the heli's tail MUCH more solid.

I think normal mode is HH. That's what I've been flying it with.

[Chrisrain]

in your radio, under the "Gyro" setting, what number is the gain at?
In the dx6i, any number ABOVE 50 for the gyro gain will be heading hold, but any number below 50 will have the gyro in Rate mode.
im not sure numbers do what in the dx-7 but if you look in your manual somewhere you should find it.

[Tseres]

in your radio, under the "Gyro" setting, what number is the gain at?
In the dx6i, any number ABOVE 50 for the gyro gain will be heading hold, but any number below 50 will have the gyro in Rate mode.
im not sure numbers do what in the dx-7 but if you look in your manual somewhere you should find it.

Going indoor flying in an hour or so. I'll ask a few questions while I'm there. A friend agreed to set up my sons SR on a DX-7 while we're there. I'll try to pay attention and ask about the Gyro.

[Tseres]

We had the first indoor fly of the year. There wasn't as many people there as the last time I went in December. It was kind of relaxing. Did a lot of hovering. I even got to hover nose in for the first time with the SR. I had a minor mishap. I got the tail caught in the carpeting and tipped the heli over. The only casualty was one of the main blades. I'll go pick up a new set later at the LHS and be back in business by this evening. I also attempted some forward flying with the MCPX. Once I got it going to fast and couldn't stop it in time and I hit the wall. No Damage. YAY!
Tom JR. wasn't having fun with his SR. He cant get his head out of the tail wagging. It's really not that bad. It just breaks his concentration and he don't like it. I have about 5hrs air time hovering total on mine. Mine don't hardly twitch anymore. I think it's because the tail motor is broke in. I don't even pay attention to it anymore.
Had a Guy show up with the New Huey. That thing is cool. Blends in real nice with the indoor carpeting. He did a real nice job flying it.
There were a lot of young people there this time around. They were all flying something and not just watching the old guys. I liked seeing this.
My friend Mika also had his electric control line that he flew for us. Unfortunately you cant see the the fishnet protecting the ceiling to well and it caught the P-40. It's made out of foam and it'll be easy to fix.

[CSpaced]

Sounds like everyone had a great time! I wish we had somewhere like that to fly around here. Thanks for posting the pics.

[Tseres]

Sounds like everyone had a great time! I wish we had somewhere like that to fly around here. Thanks for posting the pics.

I've been going through some threads and I think they lack pictures. Next Saturday I actually have 2 places to go. I'll try to get some more pictures from there.
Picked up my New Blades. Just took them out of the bag. I didn't get any tape with it to mark each side. I guess you have to get them separately. I'll learn sooner or later.

[Tseres]

Here is a part that I found broken when I went to change the blades. I replaced it but I'm not sure if I did it right. I got it back up in the air but the collective on the stick feels like I put a bunch of Expo in it. It's great for hovering but it don't feel like before. I'll have to get on Horizons web site and see if I put it back together right.

[Tseres]

I did have the head put together wrong Yesterday. Got that straightened out and it seems to fly better then before the crash. Feels more solid. Exclude the tail on that statement. LOL.
I made some changes to the tail wing. Don't know what it's called. When I was flying backwards Saturday, the tail got stuck in the indoor carpeting. This contributed to my crash. My Flying ability was the main culprit. LOL. I just took a side cutter and snipped off the corner and rounded it off with some sand paper. This should give me a better chance next tim I drag the tail going backwards on carpeting.
I also used magic marker to mark my blades. It works.

[CSpaced]

Nice job Tom, already flying around backwards eh? Good for you! ;)

[Tseres]

Nice job Tom, already flying around backwards eh? Good for you! ;)

LOL. I got to bring it back somehow when it gets away. It's not really like flying backwards.:(

[Tseres]

Ran 6 batteries through the SR today I even got to hover it outside. Temp was in the mid 50F with little wind. I must have it put back together right cause its doing well. I like flying outside lots more room.

[CSpaced]

Sounds good! Looking forward to Nall :)

[Tseres]

Found out last week that My Home IMAC is the second weekend of Nall. I guess I'll have to miss the IMAC. Jr. and I are going from Saturday to Saturday. Maybe I'll get there Friday to get a better spot. Herve said he's getting there Friday.

[Tseres]

We had our Club Meeting today. The Club rent a Gym in the winter time for 4hrs on a saturday. We have our Club meeting and an electric fly afterwards. There was good showing of helis today. I got to finally hover my SR nose in today. Didn't do bad. No crashes just a good time today.
The picture is of Jr. off to the side with his SR. He still don't like it but flew it anyway. He also got his Swapmeet 450 out and did well with it also.

[Tseres]

Here is a couple of good Giro Questions that I can't figure out on my own. What is the difference between Heading hold and Rate? Where would you want to use each?

I know what heading hold does.That's about it. Keep in mind that I had help setting up helis and didn't know enough before to ask this question.

[CSpaced]

Here is a couple of good Giro Questions that I can't figure out on my own. What is the difference between Heading hold and Rate? Where would you want to use each?

I know what heading hold does.That's about it. Keep in mind that I had help setting up helis and didn't know enough before to ask this question.

http://www.crackroll.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1157

:)

[Tseres]

Thanks Chris. Great explanation. I got it saved in my Favorites so I can reread it at will till it becomes like walking.;)

[Tseres]

The SR is serving it's purpose. I got to hover it nose in in my shop today. I started out by placing it nose in and taking off that way. I finally got brave enough to turn it in a hover. I did chip a blade yesterday by getting to close to some plywood. Just touched the tip but that was enough to chip the plastic coating. I've been practicing nose in hover with my MCPX for about a week now so it wasn't like I started nose in with SR cold turkey. I sure feels good to get over a hurdle.:)

On the wooden blades. Can I just CA the plastic back down and balance it? They really aren't that bad but I don't want to be unsafe.

[CSpaced]

Did the blade crack or did a piece actually come off? If its just a crack, you can glue it back down.

Nice job on the nose in hovering, now just keep at it until you can do it without thinking!

[Tseres]

Did the blade crack or did a piece actually come off? If its just a crack, you can glue it back down.

Nice job on the nose in hovering, now just keep at it until you can do it without thinking!

Thanks. I think I'm there. My wife just called me a mindless fool. I just didn't realize she was talking about my Heli flying. LOL.

[Tseres]

Did the blade crack or did a piece actually come off? If its just a crack, you can glue it back down.


Sorry, I forgot to answer this.

Yes a chip came off of one blade on the tip and I pulled the chip off of the other tip. Both are on the bottom of the blade and you can't see it. None of the wood is damaged. Just barely touched the plywood with it. I switched them out but didn't throw them away.

One more Question. How many hours of flying time do you usually have before doing a maintenance rebuild. I have about 15 hrs on it and things are starting to loosen up.

[CSpaced]

One more Question. How many hours of flying time do you usually have before doing a maintenance rebuild. I have about 15 hrs on it and things are starting to loosen up.

Sounds like now would be a good time to go over it all ;)

[Tseres]

I checked out the SR. The linkages were good. The problem was a wore out bushing in the motor. I can't believe how much slop was there. I called Horizon and they are sending me a new motor. The SR is down till I get it.

[Tseres]

I got the new motor Monday. It's amazing how fast service is here from Horizon. I talked to them on Friday and it was here on Monday afternoon. I think the gear lash was set to tight from the factory and that's why the bushing wore out so fast.
Ran 4 batteries through it and it seems to be back to being like new.

[CSpaced]

I got the new motor Monday. It's amazing how fast service is here from Horizon. I talked to them on Friday and it was here on Monday afternoon. I think the gear lash was set to tight from the factory and that's why the bushing wore out so fast.
Ran 4 batteries through it and it seems to be back to being like new.

Sweet! HH customer service is pretty awesome!

[Tseres]

I cracked up the SR this morning. I think something came loose or broke. I was hovering tail in nice and steady and all of a sudden it rolled right and hit hard. I went to the LHS and bought all the parts and rebuilt it. No problem there. When I went to adjust the gear tension I found the frame was cracked. I got it patched up till I get another. I ran a battery through it and it seems to be fine. I'll get some pictures tomorrow. Ran out of time today.

I guess this is part of learning. LOL.:blockhead:

[CSpaced]

I cracked up the SR this morning. I think something came loose or broke. I was hovering tail in nice and steady and all of a sudden it rolled right and hit hard. I went to the LHS and bought all the parts and rebuilt it. No problem there. When I went to adjust the gear tension I found the frame was cracked. I got it patched up till I get another. I ran a battery through it and it seems to be fine. I'll get some pictures tomorrow. Ran out of time today.

I guess this is part of learning. LOL.:blockhead:

It's good assembly practice :D

[Tseres]

I managed to get some pictures today. I also picked up some more parts. By the time I'm finished the only original part will be the electronics and the tail motor. LOL.
I thought the tail motor was supposed to go out first. Who ever said that didn't know me.;)
I also changed colors while I was at it. I can see the red better. The brackets I made look gaudy but you can't see it with the body on. I'll probably put the new frame on tomorrow anyway.

[Tseres]

Got the new frame on and got it hovering. only one mishap today. I messed up one of the servo arms and had to replace it. E-flight has a fine and a coarse spline on their micro servos. These have the fine spline on them. Of course I had the coarse arms and had to go and buy the fine splined ones.
I have put new linkages on and tried to copy the lengths of the old ones. Got it close enough however the trim is no longer centered in the radio. The elevator stick is 7clicks forward and the aileron trim is 5 clicks left. What linkage do I have to change mechanically to get the radio back to neutral?

[CSpaced]

Got the new frame on and got it hovering. only one mishap today. I messed up one of the servo arms and had to replace it. E-flight has a fine and a coarse spline on their micro servos. These have the fine spline on them. Of course I had the coarse arms and had to go and buy the fine splined ones.
I have put new linkages on and tried to copy the lengths of the old ones. Got it close enough however the trim is no longer centered in the radio. The elevator stick is 7clicks forward and the aileron trim is 5 clicks left. What linkage do I have to change mechanically to get the radio back to neutral?

You can probably get away with just using the sub trim instead of the main trim to trim it out. (how many times can you say "trim" in one sentence? :D ). The key is getting the swash level, use the top of the side frames as a reference point and get the swash as level with that as you can.

[Tseres]

You can probably get away with just using the sub trim instead of the main trim to trim it out. (how many times can you say "trim" in one sentence? :D ). The key is getting the swash level, use the top of the side frames as a reference point and get the swash as level with that as you can.

OK. Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow.

[Tseres]

Learned a lot today about linkages today. Got it flying really good.:)

I got it flying so good that it built my confidence up way to much. While I was practicing piroing. It got a little to close to the chair and I chopped the throttle and hit the chair leg with my brand new main blades. Broke one of them. There was some cussing involved. Lucky for me I had another brand new set. I'm back to practicing with a little bit of common sense. I think. I have to cause I'm out of spare blades LOL.:blockhead:

[Tom Jr]

Learned a lot today about linkages today. Got it flying really good.:)

I got it flying so good that it built my confidence up way to much. While I was practicing piroing. It got a little to close to the chair and I chopped the throttle and hit the chair leg with my brand new main blades. Broke one of them. There was some cussing involved. Lucky for me I had another brand new set. I'm back to practicing with a little bit of common sense. I think. I have to cause I'm out of spare blades LOL.:blockhead:

i seen you fly and your doing great! keep it up.:clap:

[CSpaced]

Learned a lot today about linkages today. Got it flying really good.:)

I got it flying so good that it built my confidence up way to much. While I was practicing piroing. It got a little to close to the chair and I chopped the throttle and hit the chair leg with my brand new main blades. Broke one of them. There was some cussing involved. Lucky for me I had another brand new set. I'm back to practicing with a little bit of common sense. I think. I have to cause I'm out of spare blades LOL.:blockhead:

You need to move outside to practice your wild aerobatics ;)

[Tseres]

You need to move outside to practice your wild aerobatics ;)

Nah. I can crash anywhere.:)

[Tseres]

The weather was good today. Not to windy just before it got dark. I took the SR out and flew it in front of the Shop. What a big difference. I had all kinds of room to fly. Even did a little forward flying. Not much. I sure felt good not to worry about hitting something while I was Pirouetting. I also learned that the SR is great for flying indoor but it's small and hard to see when it gets a little bit away from you. Not a problem tho. I got bigger Helis. I'll just keep the SR close.

[CSpaced]

The weather was good today. Not to windy just before it got dark. I took the SR out and flew it in front of the Shop. What a big difference. I had all kinds of room to fly. Even did a little forward flying. Not much. I sure felt good not to worry about hitting something while I was Pirouetting. I also learned that the SR is great for flying indoor but it's small and hard to see when it gets a little bit away from you. Not a problem tho. I got bigger Helis. I'll just keep the SR close.

Sounds like you have better weather than us, the wind hasn't given us a break for a long time.

[Tseres]

My tail motor finally burned out on my SR yesterday. I'm not complaining. It has 35 to 40 hrs. of running time on it. Plus several nicks and dings with the garage door, the floor and a piece of ply I have laying up against the mower. From what I read elsewhere. I expected the tail motor to go out sooner then this.
My expectations of this heli originally was to learn how to hover and transition into forward flight. I'm still working on forward flight. Hovering is coming along well. The replacement parts are reasonable and between buying the heli and all the replacement parts for the 2 crashes along the way. I have less then $350 in learning to hover and learning the basics of a heli. If one has more expectations from this heli then one is barking up the wrong tree. The SR has lived up to my expectations and it has been a good learning tool. I'm not done with it yet. I have thought about selling it and upgrading but it's grown on me.
By the way. The tail motor only took about 5 minutes to change. Good as new.:p

[Tseres]

I was talking to a friend at the LHS. I told him about how the SR is getting to the point where I wanted it to respond quicker to my stick movements. He suggested I move the weights in on the flybar and up the rotor head speed. I did this and it worked. Now the heli got a little unstable for me. I can still control it ok. I just need a bigger circle to fly it in. Now I got something to work on again. Reduce the size of the circle.

[Tseres]

That didn't take long. Back down to the same size circle to fly in. I found myself piroing and listening to the radio and not paying attention to the heli. I must be getting bored with hovering. Come on outdoor season.

[Tseres]

This is a video from Feb-10. It's my first heli video ever. It's serving as a base line of where I started. I haven't flown it much since I got the Trex-250 finished but I'm planning on getting it out side and flying it in the next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzlAClLhudU&feature=plcp&context=C4eaf899VDvjVQa1PpcFO5DT1op7lTajVAPa4azV4K okEjW1y-44w%3D

[CSpaced]

I'm glad there are no videos of when I started :) Closest I can get is this picture taken many years ago.

http://www.crackroll.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=750&d=1219242522

[Tseres]

I took the SR outside today. Had a hard time with it. It was a little windy. Later on in the evening it calmed down and I gave it another try. That time it went better. Got some forward flying in. I found out that I'm having a hard time seeing the orientation when it gets a little bit away from me. I changed to the Red Body and that helped a little. I going to try fluorescent tape on it before I take it out again.
The main thing today was that I didn't wreck it. I will however have to clean the grass stains of the tail blades.
I'll have to get the Trex 500 going soon.