Best upgrade

[runnerxc]

I recently purchased an old Belt CP from a friend that never flew it, and want to make some upgrades/modifications/improvements to it. What would be the best upgrade to do to improve the overall flight performance (no 3D flying yet)?

A little back story to the heli and why I’m looking for advice, one of my co-workers is an avid hunter and has a trail cam set up on the edge of his property. During the summer he brought in pictures he had captured and showed us one he was convinced was a black bear. Even after taking the photo to the Department of Natural Resources fur Biologist (who was not convinced) he still remains adamant. After purchasing my heli I approached my other co-workers about playing a prank on Mr. Black Bear and his trail camera. The idea was crafted to fly the heli with night blades (no other lights) back and forth in front of the trail camera at night so Mr. Black Bear could capture some UFO sightings (throwing in a man in a gorilla suit walking by for good measure too)

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have already started the long task of learning to fly the heli on a sim so I can minimize some of those learners crashes.

[Tomstoy2]

Ha-ha, I like!

Night blades for a 450 would be just fine.

If the gyro says esky, rip it off and replace it. Replace the esc, stock had a nasty habit of flaming.

Other than that, I would leave it as is.

Above, in the sticky section, we have explored and documented everything you can do with a Belt. Check it out.
Problem is, you can pick up a nice clone heli cheaper than the upgrades.


Ought to get a bunch of wives together to go have a witches coven meeting in front of his trail camera, too!

[sutty]

What is your current level of skill in terms of flying a CP heli?

If you're a complete beginner, then you have set yourself a considerable task, just to carry out a practical joke.

Flying a 450 class CP heli is no easy task, and could easily take you weeks of practice, and many crashes, just to be able to hover. If you want to try and avoid crashing, then you can learn with a simulator, but you'll probably still crash a few times, at which point you'll need to learn how to rebuild it.

Add to that you then plan to fly it at night, and you're going into a further area of difficulty and stress for a beginner. When you are well practiced, and very familiar with your heli, night flying is not so bad, but it is still going to be stressful and difficult for a beginner.

If you're not a beginner, then I would have to ask, why are you even contemplating this with a Belt-CP?

Don't get me wrong, I started with a Belt-CP, and it taught me a lot, but honestly, looking back on it, compared to what is available now, it really is of very poor quality in so many areas.

Two things were well renowned to be good, the motor and the battery, and that was it. Not forgetting that the battery will probably be next to useless now if it hasn't been used, so your down to the motor.

Even that was only really good because it was reliable. It wasn't powerful or anything, and modern motors just blow it away.

Anyway, sounds like a fun plan, but honestly if you are a beginner you will have to be very dedicated to get to the required level to be able to pull it off.

If you're not a beginner, get a better heli, lol.

[runnerxc]

Thanks, yes I'm a complete beginner, and yes I realize I have a huge under taking to learn to fly and pull this prank off. Thankfully winters in Iowa are long, cold, blizzard filled, dark days. House Stark may say "Winter is coming" in Iowa it's already here, and a dream of spring wont even be a thought until April after the winds of winter have stopped howling. lol Lot's of simulator time ahead, gotta start somewhere.

I'll get the esc and gyro upgraded. I've been reading through the compatible parts thread and list. I'm planning on making two sets of night blades, wooden and fiber set. I'm hoping the fiber set will help balance out the added weight from the batteries.

Reading that the Align 315 Pro blades require you to reshape the blade root to create clearance for the feathering shaft, would swapping the feathering shaft to the t-rex450 shaft solve the reshaping issue?

I like the witches meeting idea, especially if they appear one by one out of the corn.

[Tomstoy2]

What they are talking about is the end of the blade past the bolt hole is longer on Align blades and will need to be sanded back to clear the bolt head that secures the grip to the shaft. You will need to balance afterward, but that needs to be done, period.

Seems to me there are other makers of 450 size night blades.

Another option would be Align's night light. It's a fiber optic cable you wind wherever.

Me, I would just sneak out there with some buddys and moon the camera.

[runnerxc]

I was actually planning on making my own night blades. Kinda a nerd like that. The more I read on making night blades I think I'll be ok with regular wood, nice and cheap and don't ha to do anything else to the heli.

[runnerxc]

So I checked on the ESC and gyro, turns out the ESC has been upgraded to a 30A already, but the gyro is still stock ESky (V1 as I've now learned).

Tomstoy2 recommended changing the gyro wanted to get everyones opinion on this gryo

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobby-ki...lock-gyro.html

is it actually any good or should I look for something else?

Thanks

[Tomstoy2]

Can't tell you how good the gyro is, only that it is impossible to be worse than the ESky.

Making your own night blades,,, too ambitious for me.