cltmte

Well I think I went too far.

Added the Super Skids - great, added a little stability to the heli.
Added the gy90 - great, gave much better tail authority
Added the microheli gear and main shaft replacement - great, less shaft bending on crashes and a cheap fix to buy just the main shaft
Added the dual tail - good and bad, better tail authority, longer motor life, but heavier overall weight - not too bad though
Added brushless main - good and bad, much more power and seemed smoother, but with more power there is less tail authority
Added the GWS DD Tail - my experience was not good. Too much wag, small push on props fly off (could be resolved with better tail rotor purchase as suggested)
Added separate esc for tail removing 3 in 1. Not much better on the tail control and a bit of an issue with arming the esc and shutting it down.
Added brushless tail and new esc - motor is very powerful (maybe too much so), even more drastic wag no matter the gain setting. Wonder if there is a way to drop the power output or regulate it better.

Maybe I will go back to the dual tail which seemed to be the smoothest of all. What a pain. Lots of crashes once I went past the dual tail with fly off props, too much wag and mysterious loss of tail power. Almost a crash per flight with some causing serious damage.

It is so close to being a great little heli for my back yard, but a major pain to constantly fix. The T-Rex is such an amazing heli to fly afterwards (yes I know it is in a completely different class), but my yard is too small to just yank it around like the Pro. Maybe I will fall back in love with the Pro when I go back to the dual tail, or if I can find a solution to the constant wag with the DD.

onad

Great review! This info really helps me to decide where to spend $$ on upgrades. I’ve got the micro-heli gear and main shaft replacement as well as the dual tail. That’s it for upgrades right now. Saving for a T-Rex or maybe the E-flight 400????

blade_killer

after all that, I bet if you put it back to stock you'd think it was a nice flying heli....

soop7667

Hey wait - I got an idea - ummm throw it away and get a heli worth upgrading? No offense - but I just can't see pouring that much money into a cp pro. It's the equivelent of putting a 454 blown motor into a moped. Get yourself that is capable of accepting the upgrades. I'd say you're ready for nothing less than a t-rex 450 size machine.

cltmte

Onad
Glad it helped. Don't get sucked in too far.

Blade Killer
Yep, as I was writing I thought to myself how much fun it was when it came out of the box.

soop7667
Yep everytime I put more money in I keep saying that is it. When I pull out the T-Rex (bought used SE V1) after adding the 401, there is nothing to upgrade, flies rock solid, just a great bird. I just want the Blade for puttering around the back yard. I am through witht he upgrades and will probably back it down a notch or two just to stabalize it enough for the back yard fun.

onad

Yah, I think I'm done upgrading at this point. Just gona keep it flying for the training until I get the money together for a bigger bird. It’s actually flying pretty good right now (for a CPP)… Tx, Onad

ArrowNaughtic

I see alot of talk about how the Blade CP Pro isn't worth upgrading or flying. I think a look at Kyle Stacy's vids at www.kylerocks.com tend to show that the Blade CP Pro is a good little heli and does have potential. Just because it isn't CF and metal doesn't mean it isn't worth adding some things to it. You get what you want out of your setup and if it makes it more enjoyable then by golly.....toss the bank book at it! They are decent helis for the price and with a few mods become a fireball in the air. Its all a matter of apples and oranges............ These do fly and are actually very responsive when set up properly.




Now..can someone please help me off of my soapbox??


__________________________________________________ ___________________________________


Of all the things I ever lost....................................... I miss my mind the most!

onad

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Synister

After getting my trex i havnt flown my cp pro at all, plus the dd tail that was on it finally burned out after a ton of flight so there it sat for several months. I recently crashed the trex and was waiting for parts so i put a new gws dd motor in and did the ics50 esc mod for the tail that eliminates the 3-1. It flies very well now, even after having been crashed a lot and with a few dings in the blades. Im almost afraid to fly it thought because i know if i do crash it, i will never fix it again...maybe i should just sell it now and save the hassel...but then what will i fly if my trex is down for repair...choices choices.

cltmte

I agree Arrow. Mine was a nice flyer until I went to the DD tail. The dual was sufficient knowing that it was not going to be a T-Rex. I just hope I can get it back to that stage and working just as well. I really love the heli when it is working. It is what I learned on and would still like to continue learning. I think I just went to far and it became more of hassle with all the crashes. I did see one other mod - did I say I wasn't going to spend anymore - that really looked like it could work and got great reviews and that is the belt drive conversion for about $100. I am on the fence about doing that or returning to the dual tail setup. It is the perfect size heli for my back yard.

kaseyk1

Is it worth adding a tail lock gyro and leaving the rest stock? This is my first heli after a gazillion airplanes. I can be practicing hovering in my garage and alls well until the tail decides to drift left or right.

cltmte

The g90 is definately worth the buy. Follow the instruction manual for installation. Make sure to keep a tail motor or two handy and break them in before use. Most people seem to get about 20 flights before the tail starts to give out. Most of the time you will be able to spot a motor going bad by the heli behavior. Set her down and change out the motor. Since you are just entering the fun, I would take it slow, learn the ropes, read the info here - it made all the difference in understanding what is happening with the heli, and only start upgrading once you are sure you want to stick with it. If you really like it, spend a bit on just a few critical mods and save the rest of the money for a better bird. Understand that a drifting tail will be a certainty with this heli. What you want is to minimize the drift to a level that you feel in control and not just "flying the tail" all of the time.

I know some will bash the heli (and I will a little too) and claim that it is not a good heli to learn on, but if you take it slow and learn the limitations, this is a fun little heli and I learned on it. It is also good because most shops carry spare parts - and you will eventually need them. Good luck!!

kaseyk1

cltmte,

Thanks for the support. I will order the G90 from my LHS tomorrow. I can hover a full battery tail in but until I can do it in less the a 10 ft square I am being very patient before I move on to the next steps. I fly 3D airplanes so my thumbs are'nt getting too mixed up, it's just the drift thing. Helis are a different animal but I'm having fun already. I'm using the radio that came with the CP Pro and don't think it's worth buying a reciever so I can use my JR 8103 until I move up to a T-Rex or similar. Have to get some shuteye now.

gb ian

Stick with the CP Pro if you want a cheap way to learn Helis.

I bought a CP Pro about 6 weeks ago, it was my second heli after starting with a CX2.

Immediately I was not impressed with the tail response on the CP Pro right out of the box and of course started reading all the info on this and the other forums.

Anyway after a few inexpensive modifications I now have a very flyable heli that is a real pleasure. Here is my list of what I changed from stock, in order of importance...in my opinion anyway.

1. Esky Heading Lock Gyro, very cheap on Ebay and works great. This got rid of the tail fade associated with the pack getting low. No need to re-trim constantly any more. For $35 this was the best thing by far.

2. Plastic Blades, after killing 3 sets on the stock blades in a day at the start of my flying this was a no brainer. The plastic blades seem to be indestructible so far, the only down side is that in a crash I occaisionally bend the spinde connecting the blade grips, but as these are only $6 it is not really an issue. I'm using the flat blades right now as I am a long way from going inverted. So far I've changed the spindle twice and crashed 50 times, so thats $12 versus god knows how much for new stock blades.

3. Aluminium tail boom which is held with CA into the main frame. When I crash the boom bends, it does not break.....very very good, the CA at the main frame end gives up its strength before the main frame breaks, so after the crash I just bend the boom back and CA the joint, 20 seconds later I'm back in the air. No soldering, so drilling out CF etc etc.

4.Dual tail motors, even with the Esky Gyro the tail authority on hard throttle up was lost giving almost no control towards the end of the pack as the single tail motor got really hot. With dual motors they stay warm, not hot and there is no fade at all. I have an Aluminium dual tail motor mount from HeliHobbies (I think!) and it serves as an excellent heat sink. No need for the heat sinks on the tail motors. I juts applied some heat sink compound to the pinion end of each motor before installing them.

5. Once I could hover tail in I made the move and got rid of the training gear and then I got rid of the extra flybar weights I had added, 1 on each side. All of a sudden the heli was 100% more resposive and flyable. So if you think you are near to dumping the orange balls, take the leap, its well worth it.

From what I can see having flown other models on sims, if you can get good on the CP pro then when you move to something more expensive you will save a fortune on breakages. This is my main motivation for buying the CP Pro and now when I get on a sim the T-Rex, and Raptors are very easy. Before the CP Pro despite a lot of practice I was not able to get far with the larger helis.

If all RC models work 100% perfect out of the box, it would not be quite as interesting...for me at least. And as experience with every RC model I've ever had they all need tweaking. Even the Tamiya's back in the late 70's when I was a kid!!

Anyway thats my 10 cents for what it is worth.

lookyj

The CP Pro is a great heli for the money....

a couple of insights from my experience:

yes, the tail is a problem.... it's not belt driven. I feel it's best left stock, the direct drive.. to me nothing but problems... dual motors, sure you have some safety when one motor goes, but also adds more weight.

G90 - mixed feelings on this. Yes it adds a lot more tail authority, but also works the tail motor a lot harder and seems to burn it out much faster. Especially if you have a brushless main.

other mods....

I love the mH main shaft with A/R! I've had stock Main Shafts out of round right out of the package. With the mH a replacement shaft is the same price as stock (after initial investment) and you get better quality and stronger shaft. Plus, with the autorotation... it's easier to save the Heli when that darn tail goes out it mid flight!

Main Blades -

I like the Symm Woodies!

sure the CF look nice, have less flex... but if you do go down... you're going to do a lot more damage to the heli.

The Plasti Blades.... too me, not worth it. Very heavy, and lot of flex, and any hard landing you'll most likely end up with a tail strike. But yes, they are bomb proof!

I think it's much easier to replace the main blades compare to a spindle, main shaft, or tail boom... although at $15 a pair it can be costly... (I have seen them go for $8, but you get what you pay for... my last $8 woodies were almost 2g difference in weight)


just my 2 cents.... take it for what you will, or toss it in the wishing well

Biker-74

I'm lucky enough to have my LHS being local. ;-) Which means that I can look-see the parts before paying up. I always check wooden blades for straightness and main shafts for both straightness and out-of-rounds. Then I pay.


I'm probably a pain as a customer, but they are now storing both the blades and the main shafts in separate boxes. All other parts are mixed in a common box.


Biker

cltmte

Well, I haven't put it on yet but I am getting ready to replace my broken tail boom with an aluminum one. I wish I could give credit to the person I learned this from, but I went to walmart and purchased a pair of knitting needles the same diameter as the tail boom ($2.48 for two). Now I just need to cut off the tip and remove the end cap and I will have a new boom plus spare for very cheap. Hope it works right.

heartofmadnes

Just sold my cppro for parts on ebay...But I think what the problem is, most people complain about the tail of the blade..And the tail does have issues..And then anyone who finally makes a step to the trex does one of two things, 1 totally tear into the cp like its just junk..Which it is not..Or 2 they keep there blade a little longer as a back up and they then think how fun this little guy can be..They stop judging it between the rex and see it for what it is..A great way to enter this hobby and have fun. I thought of picking another one just to fly around my house, because its a little dangerous with the Trex..And believe it or not when you become a better or great Heli pilot, the blade is a real blast to try to keep that tail working...Its like a riding a bull...