Eflite Blade 400 3D - First Flight (if you can call it that)

[dam74]

Just purchased an Eflite Blade 400 3D as I needed some retail therapy as I was quite gutted when I went down to Hobbystores with my IC engine with me to try and source a nut wrench/box spanner to remove the nut that holds on the cooling fan etc. So I showed the owner/manager of the store and he had a bit of a look and we went outside to have a look at it. He adviced me that it was rusted beyond salvagable repair. I then decided to splash out and buy the Blade 400.

Well I waited for it to charge and decided to take it out in a slight breeze. Bad move as it was all over the place and I had one slight stack that split the shrink film over the blades. I guess I'll have to wait until there is a very still day as there seems to be no way for me to get steady hovering happening or any sort of decent flight action without getting nervous and reducing throttle/collective. Should I go over my settings on my TX as I'm currently using the factory settings for a Blade400.

Regards
Darryl

[Dan1982]

The best thing to do would be get a sim to fly on as crashes are free and you can learn alot from the sim, there are thing you can change things in the tx to make it a bit more tame, but i think you should get used how it is, as i did. Then there is no big changes the the feel of the heli when you do get better and change the settings back to normal.

[dam74]

I've got FMS and HeliSimRC but haven't taken the plunge to purchase any of the software out there like Reflex XTR, Phoenix, Clearview, Realflight G4.5 etc. In HeliSimRC I can perform a hover but I think I need to up the wind/turbulence.

[Boggy]

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/e-flig...ade-400-a.html

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/e-flig...ade-400-a.html

these may help

[dam74]

Might try again tomorrow morning as the wind was a bit feirce at 5pm. Early morning tends to be more still.

[cupracing]

Get yourself pheonix before you waste money in crashes. I use mine maticulously everyday and it's saved me a fortune. It's really is an essential bit of software

[BigBeard]

my copy of pheonix paid for itself in no time at all.

[dam74]

Yeah I've been putting it off, think I'll bite the bullet.

[frequentflyer1234]

Blade 400

Crashing is more fun! Get some spares in stock. The main things that I always break are:

Feathering shafts
Booms
Main Shafts
Main Gear
Flybars
Tail Shaft
Skids

With the standard blades they are a nightmare even if you scuff the ends. Put them in the bin and get the Align 325 Fiber blades, they will withstand almost any crash trust me I know!

[debrooker]

I've got FMS and HeliSimRC but haven't taken the plunge to purchase any of the software out there like Reflex XTR, Phoenix, Clearview, Realflight G4.5 etc. In HeliSimRC I can perform a hover but I think I need to up the wind/turbulence.

yep, working in I.T. I usually object to paying for any software cough. I started using both of those sims earlier in the year, but i did and bit the bullet and bought Phoenix. It really is in a different league.

[dam74]

Hah. I used to work in the software dev industry and nobody in our company ever purchased software ^_^

[dam74]

My copy of Phoenix just arrived in the post today. So far I'm very impressed, with a still day the heli seems to handle how my heli was in the lounge.

Had a bit of fun so far and managed to get it to hover with boggy's tweaked control settings.

[Mart61]

Well done on getting it to hover so early on in your heli flying days

[jskdog]

Im forever experimenting with my tx settings its a good way to see what everything does, unfortunately i wasn't a member of this forum when i started so had to try everything took a while but its satisfying when it starts coming together.

[dam74]

Well done on getting it to hover so early on in your heli flying days

Well I did manage to hover a few times and found the larger ic performance helis (eg. raptor) much easier to hover than the smaller electrics such as the Blade 400 3D. Having said that in the sim I can do a few simple aerobatics eg. rolls, loops, inverted flight, split-s etc but not to point where I'll never crash and I think that is what you have to keep practicising at. I'd like to learn some cool 3D tricks. One I really do see a lot and like is where the helicopter looks like a metronome. With the helicopter pivoting around the tail rotor onto it's back and then returns back to a forward facing direction. Still haven't managed to replicate anything like it yet