i love radio controlled everything, now with 100% more axe cpv3 micro helicopter
for christmas, taka bought me a radio control helicopter that i had been eying at the hobbyshop. i bought an rc helicopter a couple of years ago with mike (the fixed pitch century hummingbird) with poor results. for the life of me i couldn’t get the bird to hover, and forward flight was out of the question. i’m not sure if my success with this new helicopter (the axe cpv3) is a result of it being a better heli, it having collective pitch, or just me having more time and patience to learn to fly it. in either case i’m really enjoying it. i’m contemplating starting a blog dedicated to it, but i thought i’d post a comprehensive, keyword-heavy article here first and see what type of traffic it brings… god knows i have enough blogs.
the axe cpv3 is ready to fly out of the box, and through the end of the year it’s only $159 at hobby people (a store i loathe), normally $199. i think it’s still categorized as a “micro” heli, but in my opinion its closer to a “mini” size. for those not into rc helicopters, this heli isn’t like the air hogs or other rc helicopters that you can buy at a toy store and start flying right away. it takes constant input for the most basic hover, and forward flight takes lots of concentration and practice. it took me about 20 “flights” to get the basic hover down, and i can now keep it within a 2′ diameter circle pretty consistently.
in the very short time i’ve owned it, i’ve already put about as much if not more into upgrades and repairs than the damn thing originally cost, but i have it trimmed out and flying very nicely now. right after i got it, the lipo battery charger conked out and while hobbico is sending me a replacement, i didn’t feel like waiting so i bought a new charger and an extra battery. the other defect i experienced was after about 15 flights or so, the main 3-1 board and one of the servos died. while i sent these parts back to hobbico to hopefully be replaced under warranty, i couldn’t wait, so i upgraded the main esc to the electrifly c-25, and the tail motor with the c-12 coupled with the futaba gy240 heading hold gyro that makes it much easier to fly.
The electrifly c-25 and c-12 speed controllers. You can also see the venting on the heat sink:
Ping pong ball landing gear. You can also see the GY240 gyro in the back:
Hitec HS-55 servo
other small modifications include replacing the servos (after the one died, i figured i might as well upgrade the other two too) with hitec hs-55 servos that are a direct fit for the old ones and have a higher torque rating. these servos are also less noisy than the stock ones. I replaced the foam training gear with ping pong balls after they started to wear, and i dremeled out the cooling holes on the heat sink to line up with the motor (talk about bad design).
now that its setup the way i like it, there’s nothing to do but practice. i can hover tail-in pretty well, but my orientation gets kinda messed up when i hover side in and hovering nose in is completely confusing since the controls become completely reversed at that point. good thing i don’t have to go back to work until January 5th!
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Yeah, that one we both had before was effing impossible. I’m surprised you were willing to give these things another shot. Never again for me.
thanks for posting your upgrades as i will probably be uprading mine shortly i am currently trying to get a replacement charger for mine
Cool, yea, got mine for xmas 2007. spent way more than origional price on fixes. the sell the copter so low since they can make up for it in repairs. like the cell phone company and new car purchases.
I have the HH gyro and it helps a bunch, just need to get the BH upgrade and the DD tail and prop.
I like the ping pong ball idea, will be leaving shortly to pick up some at sports store. I’ll post again
once I get my new parts in..
Wondering if you installed the HH gyro from the instructions in the manual. I installed mine to the word and my gyro doesn’t kick in unless I apply just a little right rudder then it is happy and works fine. The more rudder the more aggressive it is at holding. Just wondering if this is something I did wrong or if you experienced any quirks.
yes, i installed it per the instructions in the axe cpv3 manual. are you keeping the helicopter on the ground and not moving when you plug in the battery (and initialize the gyro?)
bought the same helicopter but mine keeps burning up tailrotor motors looking for something to do to make this a better design would you be intreasted in emailing me the upgrades part number and cost thanks Jeremy
@jeremy
i’d be happy to email you part numbers that i used. i also burned up a couple of tail motors though and they are really expensive @$25 each. i’ve since got rid of my axe cpv3 all together and replaced it with a trex 450 which has a belt driven tail and is all around a better bird. i’ve also stated a separate blog about mini helicopters at http://www.miniheliblog.com that you can check out. thanks!
You should buy the blade cp n60 tail motor, its only 10 bucks and exactly the same, if not better!
I have the same e-board burnt out problem. I’m thinking of doing the same as you. I’m new to e flight so I wonder if you have instructions on how to do it, What wires go where for example?
Thx
/colin
crtmmac@verizon.net
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