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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2011 17:56:54 GMT
I've been borrowing a mates helis (I have friends who are secret fliers!!) and the two I've been trying are the CX2 and CX3 which are basically the same machine with different bodies. The CX2 is no longer made or sold really but I do prefer how it looks so I have ordered a CX3 following my flying of his two helis'. They both fly the same and are very stable. They are both coaxials, but are about 16 inches long so are more house friendly than the Sky Taxi which I bought for outside in any case. They hover (as all Blades do) really well and are much more easy to control in a tight space. They retain the impressiveness of a bigger heli without being Jumbo sized and I really had fun with my mate's CX3. He must be mad lending me a heli in case I crash it but I liked it a lot in spite of the daft 'Police' logo. I may look for an alternative body when I get it. I've given the CX2 and CX3 back but my CX3 will arrive tomorrow. I must admit, I really do like the Blades and how they fly. Why on earth did Mike mention the MCX2 in the Summer? I've been really content for ages with my old fleet of Bladez until I met the MCX2 and all the Blades have really excellent flight characteristics which make for fantastic flying experience. Since the Summer, it's been quite a learning curve for me but it has fast become a real fun form of relaxation to me and just taking a heli out in the garden and having a fly or if it's raining or windy, an indoor one just takes my mind completely away from work stress. That's what I enjoy so much about this flying stuff. Work becomes a kind of nothingness; even when the stress factor is full on and helis are such a pleasurable thing to do. At least, if I get mickey takers, I'll pull out the Sky Taxi and ask them to sit on the blades!!!! (Short back and sides or is it 'backsides') Gonad trimmers. Anyway, I'll post up pics etc when the CX3 arrives to join my gang.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2011 18:04:35 GMT
Well, it's had a flight and it went into the air just like an mcx2. Dead easy. Not as intimidating as the Sky Taxi and so I was able to fly it around the house easily.
There are some slightly more technical issues with it though. It's more like a full sized heli in the adjustments that you need to make.
Binding is a pain in the arrass. You have to stick a binding plug into the receiver and bind. However, getting at the receiver is a bugger and you have to either take it apart to get the body off or fiddle with it till the bloody thing goes in. I fiddled for 30 minutes because I couldn't be bothered to take the blades off and drop the whole lot out. It's a bit similar to the Sky Taxi in this respect. The heli is locked into the body.
Anyway, I did it and bound it to my DX5e. Next pita - the servos have to be reversed for this receiver. What a pain!! I suggest if anyone gets one, get a transmitter with it!!! It saves the pain.
OK, servos reversed. Battery is a bit fiddly but there's a knack to it and up she went. Very lively too.
Next, the gyro gain can be adjusted as well as the mix in order to stop it yawing. So the next job is to adjust the mix since mine is yawing to the right. I can hold it with the digital trim, but it would actually be nice to get it in the centre.
At least now, I'm starting to learn about gyros and mixes which is something that's really important on the Honey Bee.
In spite of its foibles, I do like this heli, although I need to fine tune mine to get the twitches out.
However, one foible that they seem to suffer from is a weird 'tail jerk'. Don't think there's a fix for it. My mate's had it as well where it suddenly twitches and goes back again. Bit like one of the blades has momentarily stopped and started. I've read about it on internet and it seems there isn't a fix. However, it flies ok and is safer indoors than the Sky Taxi for sure!!
Took it outside this afternoon. Easy to fly. In fact a lot easier to fly outside than the Sky Taxi. It's less of a handful. It's also quite nice to be able to launch it from your hand since if the ground is uneven, they tend to take off a bit erratically which can cause them to topple quite easily.
The nice thing with the CX3 is the blades are actually fixed so there's no blade slap to worry about. It does need a bit more forward power though because if you get a slight breeze, it van only just about be held and you have to 'weedle' your way home.
It makes a very different sound to the other helis. It has a higher pitch and sounds quite ferocious, but in all honesty, it's really easy to fly and the size is about right for impressive indoor flying and taking out on flat days.
Now I've been flying it for a day, I feel more at home with it and its foibles now. The 'twitch' can't be 'gyro'ed' out. It happens at random times. E-Flite mention it on a video and say it's nothing to worry about!! It doesn't affect its flying really.
There is a knack to getting the binding plug in. I found taking out a holding pin on the body enables you to get in a bit easier. Still fiddly, but once it's bound to the receiver, it doesn't need to be done again. Then you just put the body back and put the retaining pin back.
The body itself is a bit brittle so if you bang it hard, the body is going to break imo.
The gyro and mix settings are easy to work out. Very much like the Honey Bee. You just raise the gain of the gyro until the tail starts to twitch and then back off a bit and it stops. The the heading locks in pretty well. The left/right yaw is adjusted with the 'mix' gain. Once set, you find that the trims stay dead in the centre and maybe one or two clicks towards the end of the battery life.
The new batteries are giving me 12 minutes. Apparently, they could go to 15!! It is very good with the batteries. If you fly for 12, the motor gets hot. Although the side windows are open to the air, it gets very hot to touch when you try and remove the battery.
The battery also gets warm and btw, I have found that there is a knack to getting it in and out. It's not quite as bad as I first thought.
All in all, even with its quirks, I do like this heli. It's nice indoors and is smooth in the air. Turns beautifully and is a scale model of a real heli like the Sky Taxi, so it looks good. Fantastic at hovering. Big enough to see up in the sky outside easily and makes onlookers go 'Wow'. So it looks impressive.
The bad points, I'd say are:
Really stupid binding plug fitting, Reverse servos needed. Motor does get hot. Body could easily get damaged in a crash. Random tail twitch. Not enough forward in a breeze and no advanced swash setting.
Good points:
A lovely heli to fly in spite of the twitch. Easy to set drift via Gyro and Mix settings. Long fly time. No blade slap possible. It is possible to get another body shell for it to lose the 'police' logo. £80 - The cost of an MCX2.
I am quite chuffed with it.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2011 10:11:16 GMT
You know, there's nothing I like more than to be outside in the fresh air, flying one of my helis. It is unbelievably relaxing. You forget all the technicalities of how to fly, forget all the problems that the machine may have, don't do anything spectacular to break it but just pure enjoyment of controlling the machine dancing in the wind. Well, I went out this morning with my CX3 and video camera and thought I'd take a shot to show you guys what you're missing with this really enjoyable pastime. Seriously, it is SO enjoyable. So the CX3 went up with a slight crosswind coming across from the left in the video. I wasn't worried about it, just let the copter do as it wanted to do and passed a lovely 30 minutes out there just buzzing around. This video isn't 30 minutes though, just a snippet of what you're missing if you don't have one!!!! Coming as soon as it's uploaded .........
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 30, 2011 11:08:21 GMT
<chanting> We want video, we want video! </chanting>
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2011 11:49:12 GMT
Here it is:-
Very slight left to right 'swell' in the breeze so had to keep facing into the draft!!
I left the wire to the battery dangling underneath, but it's a nice fly. Cruder to fly than the MCX basically because it's bigger. It could do with a bit more 'forward' power, but it's a fun machine.
I had trouble keeping it in shot. Trouble is, go too far back and it's too small and too far forward means you have to keep it in a small window. I just flew it up to about 30 feet in the end, but it went out of shot and I thought I'd kept the camera set at about 30. Oh well.
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Post by PinkFloyd on Nov 30, 2011 12:08:42 GMT
That was great Ian! What a lovely day too, all the birds whistling and sun shining (still windy up here) It's quite a big one then? When I first saw it I thought it was a small one but when you caught it realised it was a lot bigger than an MCX2. You are really fortunate being able to fly outdoors, if I took one of mine out I'd never see it again, it would be swept down to Inverness I hope the MCX (extreme swash job) has enough forward grunt for you to fly outdoors... it would be great to see it buzzing about outside! The lens is quite limited, can you get a cheap wide angle lens to fit your camera? That will give you a bit more of a "window" and you won't feel so restricted with your camera fly zone.... I picked one up for the el cheapo Samsung camcorder for £10 shipped and it seems to do the job.... it doesn't like indoor lighting tho' (the Samsung) the Nikon camera actually does a better job indoors (probably outdoors too!!).... Nice vid Ian, keep them coming!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2011 13:20:27 GMT
It's a foot long, Mike. (or just over) The biggest problem with the bigger ones is that they move over a lot of space pretty quickly so keeping it in shot is quite difficult and when I tried further back, it looked too small.
The CX3 is a really good size for flying indoors in a biggish room as well as outside. It feels like a much bigger heli and so responds like one but it has quite a few similarities with the MCX2 as well.
In fact, it's a good upgrade path from the MCX2 so that people get over the louder and more ferocious motor (Although it sounds soft on the video) and they also get to play around with a gyro and mix like the bigger single blades.
It's a bit more clumsy to fly than the MCX2 but that's why I like it. It kind of swoops around and you can do some nice turns with it. I started doing some circles on the vid but then thought it might have been going out of shot. I can also send it up quite easily but it has to be still. (Like all coaxials)
I really like it actually and it flies better than the Sky Taxi as well.
Once I have a solid hold on the 120 sr, I'll probably take that out, but it needs a lot of space because it's like a racehorse.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2011 19:30:37 GMT
I had a play around with a different canopy today. I got a navy shell that's designed for the CX2 and put it on the CX3 because I wasn't too happy about the 'police' logo on it and also the quality of that shell is quite poor for a heli this size. There's no way that the orignial shell would survive a crash without splitting. So, off with the flybar and off with the blades. I decided not to faff around with the police one, so I cut it off. Much easier than fiddling about. Took off the skids and fitted the CX2 battery tray. Again, dead easy. Fit the engine into the new body which is far easier since the gap is bigger and put the retaining bars in. So far so good. The wheels fit through a hole in the body into the battery tray so they're nice and solid and the back wheel is glued to the body. On flying, the CX3 started to drift backwards so I decided to put some blu tak into the nose to compensate. It was going to be too many clicks on the trim. In the end, got the right amount of weight and now she hovers. The new body is much tougher and looks more industrial in grey and red. It looks like the Sky Taxi but more 'military'. Here's the funny thing, no tail twitch and she flies smoother. I wonder whether it's the result of taking the bulbous police body off for the sleeker military one which gives a 'straighter' down draft. It's a bit bigger now than it was so is starting to look more intimidating in flight, but it's all in your mind. It's just a shell that goes more out the back - which is why the COG has changed. I'm happier with the new shell since it seems more robust and the battery arrangement is better imo. More importantly, she flies better too. In flight, it looks extremely realistic; especially when the wires are pushed up into the body and landing is very spectacular. It reminds me very much of sea rescue craft. There are some really nice things about the CX3 in spite of it not getting great reviews. I quite like it's rough edges actually.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2011 14:30:04 GMT
The friend that I borrowed the original CX3 from has crashed it from quite high up and decided he's had enough!!! He's given me the crashed CX3 for spares.
The cracker is, I put a battery in and the motor is kicking into life, so following my disassembling and assembling of my own one, I'm going to order some bits for it and put it back together again with a new body.
I must admit, this is quite enjoyable if you're into faffing around with tiny screws!!
I don't think the main shaft is bent. I gave it a roll. So a new flybar, inner shaft, propellers, new battery holder and an updated body to be fitted so that I 'may' have a new CX3 based heli to fly.
Just as I thought, those police shells are pretty weak and his totally collapsed and it's unusable.
The new body will be a bit more spectacular looking than my Sea Rescue jobbie!!
When I've done it, I'll post a pic.
The new one with the body is flying far better than the original. It has to be something to do with body vibrations affecting the gyro and the better fit than the one it's sold in. Pretty poor for a finished product really, but now it's really quite nice.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2011 17:36:12 GMT
The rebuilt one is working!! I replaced a motor cog which had the teeth graunched up on one side, the flybar replaced, the blades replaced so I'm just waiting for a new body and skids.
I had no retaining screws for the blades so I emailed Horizon Hobbies who are popping some in the post for me. To buy a set of screws is daft - you have to buy a whole set and all I want are 2 screws to keep the blades in place.
Once I get the body, I'll take the blades and flybar off again and fit the motor in and I think it may work.
I turned the engine without blades and it goes fine so it looks like I have a new heli with a different body. I'll post pictures when it's done.
There's something really satisfying even in putting it back together again. (As long as it works!!!)
The new body looks stunning on the internet picture. It's not a standard cx3 body.
I'm wondering about looking for a full body for the MSR now before I get the MSRx. That would be nice now that I can really control it.
I'm amazed that Horizon Hobbies doesn't make alternatives for all of its helis.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2011 20:47:46 GMT
After getting the broken CX3 from a mate, I took it apart and replaced anything that I could see was broken. I bought some new connectors for the blades, new body, new skids, new flybar and blades and changed one of the motor cogs since it had been damaged and some teeth were missing. It's pretty poor that Eflite supply the Blades in a sealed bag with no screws. A couple of holding screws were missing on the broken CX3 so I wrote to Eflite UK, who responded straight away by sending me the screws that I needed. You have to buy a whole set of screws for £6.00 so I told them that I thought it was a cheek and what was the point of selling blades without fixing screws. Anyway, I finished it today and struggled to get its new CX2 suit on - tight fit. And here she is: Now up and running and had her first test flight. A bit of setting up the gain and mix and that's it. It's fine. I was thinking of sticking a couple of little men in the front next.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2012 15:54:43 GMT
Flying it a few nights ago, I noticed the body rattling and oh ......... found a little split in the body so I looked on internet and found another body -
The Esky Lama V4 fits exactly. Same holding pin positions so I now have a Lama V4 with a Blade CX2 motor!! It flies fine as well. No more rattles.
These bodies are a lot cheaper than the Blade ones - about a third of the price.
The front and back half are separate so you get at the guts more easily than with the Blade canopies too.
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