E-Flight Blade CP

[NIGEL]

Cheers Heli-Gang! I'm so new I'm greener than Polmolive Soap!!! I may have gotten in over my head here, but I've always liked a good challange! I'm new to RC Heli but went out and got me an E-Flight Blade CP...full rudder, collective, cyclic...ZOINKS! I'm slowly practicing in my indoor room but frustration is kicking in. The problem I'm having is that no matter where I adjust the gain-pot, mix-pot or trims, the thing wants to take off in a direction and yaw as soon as I give it enough throttle to leave the ground...stable hover seems impossible. I've added heat-sinks and put holes in the canopy...no change! Any thoughts or input would be appreciated! Many Regards and Thanks, NIGEL

[sgtmike74]

Welcome to the hobby. I'm still pretty new to it myself (only been flyng for a few months). As far as your CP, the things I would check is to make sure your tail rotor is fully seated into the tail gear and that there is no slippage. If thats good to go I would, try to "bracket" your pot, turn it a good ways clockwise and then try it (dont lift off just get it lite on the skids) and take note of the direction its yawing. Then unplug you 4 in 1 and adjust your pot counter clockwise and repeat. The next time you turn it back clockwise only go half the distance as the original amount. Keep going clockwise and counter clockwise, halving the distance each time untill you have that happy medium. Remember this though, with the stock NiMh batteries your amount of yaw will change during your flight.

Hope this helps out some, in the end just keep tinkering with it until you got it.

If everything else fails a hammer works wonders!!! :D

[NIGEL]

Cheers sgtmike74...thanks for the reply!
Tail motor's AOK and I have been playing with the gain pot (I've been keeping the mix pot at center / 50% so the tail doesn't "twitch"). As soon as I think I've got it set so the yaw is stable, suddenly the bird will yaw a lot to the left or right...seems to change. I am using the Nh batteries, so maybethis is the culprit!?
Many Regards,
NIGEL

[NIGEL]

Cheers again Heli-gang!
OK, after 2 months of adjusting, trimming, practicing, "going broke" buying batteries, etc. I'm firmly convinced that the E-Flight Blade CP is the most unstable and unpredictible bird ever produced! No matter what I do per instructions and forum suggestions, the thing still continues to have a "mind of its own"...each time I throttle it the thing wants to go in a totally different direction, yaw / rudder change on its own in a flash, "hop" up and down suddenly no matter where the throttle / collective is set at, suddenly vary cyclic with no input, etc. I may have made a big mistake obtaining this bird. Maybe I'll have to save to get into the gas powered Helis if I'm going to continue this hobby! Any input would be fine.
Many Regards,
NIGEL

[sgtmike74]

Don't forget, your tail rotor proportional mix will have the most change over your heli's yaw. Your battery will affect your rate of yaw some, during the course of your flight but not as much. On mine, with a fully charged NiMh, it would want to yaw alittle left at the start, but towards the end of the charge it was yawing right. I was able to correct this with just my trim on my TX. If you do suspect you battery, try to use another one (from a friend or your LHS) to see if it still act up.

Your gain is gonna affect tail wag and how "sticky" your tail is. In normal hover I would say use a well planted tail. When you start foward flight I would ease back some on the gain so that you have alittle more control over the tail. This will enable you to control where your heli is facing at any single moment with little movement on your TX's sticks. Remember though, the Blade CP only has a fix pitch tail so your not gonna have stellar control like other collective tail helis. Plus if that little brush tail motor is weak your gonna catch hell trying to trim it out.

If and when you do make any adjustments, try to only do one at a time so you can see what the effects were.

Best of luck to you.

[sgtmike74]

Just read your other post. Im looking into nitros myself ,but I wouldn't trash your cp yet. As far as the bird yawing when you throttle up, its gonna do it due to the increase of torque.

Your discription of it hopping up and down on its own with no change in throttle could be a number of things. Either battery, ESC, or Swashplate sticking. I would unplug the motors and then plug in your battery to see if your swashplate is moving freely or is sticking somewhere on you main shaft. If it is, sand it down a bit with a fine grade sand paper and then lightly lube it and your swashplate (I use sewing machine oil).

Mine use to do the same thing until I switch over to LiPos (E Power 1300 maH $20 HeliDirect)

Hopefully its not your ESC in the 4 in 1. Again switch it out with another one and see. If thats the problem HeliDirect sales them for $48.

[NIGEL]

Cheers and thanks again sgtmike74!
I've tried the lube and your other suggestions...no change. My guess now is that the problem has to do with the 4 in 1 or the NiMh batteries. I'll try switching to the LiPo batteries first and see what happens. I would really hope that problem isn't the 4 in 1 after only having the bird this short time!
Regards,
NIGEL

[NIGEL]

Had someone who flies check out my Blade CP...conclusion was that this particular bird is extremely unstable and unpredictable!!!

NIGEL

[pacbill]

I am in the same boat Nigel. I am new to the hobby and I bought a blade cp. I have the same problem! I thought it was just me. It is a very twitchy yawing bird. has anyone had luck with this heli? I know it is popular. Maybe it flys better with more practice. I should of bought a blade CX first!

[NIGEL]

Cheers pacbill!
I've gotten 3 simular opinions now concerning the BLADE CP. Seems the thing is very "psychotic" per the opinions and my experience. I tried to practice with mine again today...the collective, cyclic and tail directions / responses were totally different from when I tried to practice yesterday...which seems to be the continued situation...seems there's no consistency from flight attempt to flight attempt which makes it very difficult for one to learn to fly! May have to save to get a bit more expensive yet quality bird to learn on!

Many Regards and Great Luck,
NIGEL

[pacbill]

I am switching to a CNC Aluminium head (coming in the mail today). And switching to a belt driven rotor.http://www.iconmicrodesigns.com The rotor is back logged for a couple of weeks. Hopefully these two things will smooth the heli out a bit. I will let you know if anything improves.

[ronaldf]

I'm having the same problems with my Honey Bee CP2. I should have learn from my experience when I tried to fly RC planes many years ago. After failing with a Trainer 40 (augered in). I then got an ugly slow (larger) Swizzle Stick from BalsaUSA. So much more enjoyable. I was able to learn to fly on my own. I am not going to dump anymore money in the HB CP2. I'm going to learn to fly it as is or distroy it trying! All my hobby budget money will go towards a better unit and better electronics.

[tick-tock]

Hello. I am new to helicopters as well. I have a blade cp that I am flying on the free flight sim software with a radio shack play station 1 to usb controler adapter and a play station 1 controler. I know its not the best but the contoler has 2 joysticks like a rc transmitter.
any way I have found a web sight ware the guy showes you step by step how to set up and fly your blade cp. I am not in anyway conected with this guy or the websight. but it heped me allot. the web sight is www funscale com and look up helicopters and look at the blade build. the videos must total nere an hour. check them out and see if they dont help. Tick-Tock

[NIGEL]

Thanks heli-gang for all the post and replies. I'm going to check out the funscale.com site and see. I try to practice about 3 times a week, but the problem I still continually have with my Blade CP is that once I get enough power / collective to get the thing more than 3 inches off the ground, the thing wants to go all over the place and the transmitter controls don't seem to be responsive enough to correct in time. I've also noticed that the bird acts and responds differently from battery to battery (I have 3 of the same type). Someone suggested that it might be a good idea to try and hook up with "seasoned" flyer and use the "buddy" / "training" function of my transmitter.
Regards,
NIGEL

[NIGEL]

Went to the funscale.com site...very interesting and informative video's indeed! I applied all the suggestions and it did seem to help the stability just a wee little bit at first...however...after re-charging the battery I used to set the bird up and trying it again, the "set-up" changed completely...same thing happened by using my other 2 batteries. Still seems to be a lot of inconsistencies with this helicopter.
NIGEL

[NIGHTWING]

NIGEL: I had the same problem with my cp. Never would stay were I wanted it to, and was getting frustrated also :mad: . Mine would bounce on the ground jump up only to slam back down(2 landing gear later) :eek: .But, don't give up. Get a lipo battery for it and it will come to life and do what you want. I found out the hard way also the factory batteries just didn't cut it. I bought a 11.1 volt lipo and now it has manners. You will have to adjust the pots a little and put a nine tooth eflight motor on it with the heat sinks (get the 3d kit, comes with all of it) but it will make a world of difference in how it runs. I have finally after 1 month got mine to hover in a 2' by 2' space after I did the change. I have since put carbin blades on it front and rear and removed the training gear right after I did all this. Good luck and don't give up. :D

[NIGEL]

Cheers NIGHTWING and thanks so much for the reply!
There was an earlier post about my BLADE CP problems concerning the batteries and as I have posted a couple of times previous, I've been thinking along that line...but I wanted to cover "all the angles" first. Your reply, other replies and my experience has pretty convinced me that the "stock" batteries might well be the problem and that it's time to try the LI-PO battery thing. I do have heat sinks on both "stock" motors, so can I just go with the LI-PO battery system without replacing the motor?

Many Regards and Thanks,
NIGEL

[Jorgecajiao]

Hey guys I also have a blade Cp and under no circumstances this is a begginers helicopter, to finiky and very unstable. At first it used to shoot up to the sky when I gave throttle and then trying to control the tail was another ordeal. I went and bought a Raptor 30 and learned on that. Nowadays I fly my 30 like an expert but I still have some problems fying my cp, allthough I can hover it, it`s still very unpredictable.
Something that helped me stablize it was adding more weight to the flybar. At the end of the flybar you have a flybar weight at each end so if you double those up at each end, it will smoothen out your hover, we`ll it worked for me :o .

Enjoy..........................................

[sgtmike74]

A buddy of mine hooked me up and modified the rachet in my BCP TX. So instead of getting that notchy feeling I have a smooth throttle. This helps alot with keeping the cp where I want it.