kwhite.6

just wandering if anyone has tried the helimax axe cp yet .

Kevinator9

No. I don't know what it is. Could you post up a link?

chrispennekamp

I have had that honor of flying this heli as we got them into the shop yesterday. WOW!!! It is an awesome heli which will compete the the blade cp/pro. It is quite a bit more substantial in design. Durability will not be an issue with this heli as the main shaft is T-REX/mx400 in size. The frame leaves lots of room for upgrades as it is like a mini trex 450 x chassis. One of the big things that stands out on this heli is the tail. Ive flown most of the micro electric heli's with motor driven tail and this is by far the best. In hovering the tail holds just as solid as my trex. No drift when the battery starts to get low like the blade and the tail motor is about twice as big as the blade. Hopefully this helps with the motors longevity. I only got to fly two packs through this heli, and both were behind the counter at the shop, with little outdoor time, but im very impressed. Here is a small list of things i like....

1. Durable, made like a lot more expensive helicopter. Huge main shaft, nice strong linkage, good skids, alum. tail boom.
2. Tail is awesome!!! Good gyro coupled with a large tail motor makes for strong tail presence and good longevity.
3. Comes with a 9 cell nimh pack that is okay for beginners, but no mods necessary for 11.1 upgrades is a plus.
4. Heli is quiet and sounds like it was put together well. Main gear seems very round and gear mesh is excellent.
5. Perfect size to fly indoors when it is to windy to put your 4 cell T-Rex through its outdoor antics.
6. Should be easy to convert to belt drive. Easy to convert to brusless. And easy to make upgrade parts such as chassis and heads for.
It has a very expandable layout.
7. Price is right, we sell the AXE CP for 199.99
8. 6 different canopy colors will allow for some originality when all of your friends see yours and go out and buy one.
9. Great Planes Support!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope this helped. I will continue to fly this thing and give updates. Hopefully soon some outdoor aerobatic reviews will follow.!!!


BUY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

-Chris

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

Hey Chris,

Maybe (maybe not, I'm having a hard time digging any of this info up anywhere) you can help me with a few questions that have popped into my head in the last 2 hours since my wife pulled one of these seemingly out of nowhere for my b-day present:

Do you know if the esc (3in1) is lipo compatible? or should i just land when i notice the performance begin to sag?

What do you approximate the amp draw at? I hovered it once with the stock pack, then with a 1100mah lipo rated at 15C continuous, and the pack was warm after just 4 minutes of hovering.

Are the servos cheapo's? or are those actually HS-55's with the stickers removed?

Do you know if the receiver and transmitter are negative or positive shift? I'd like to order a new frequency crystal and use my Futaba 9C with it if at all possible. (The heli-max website does mention that it's compatible with Fut. trainer systems.)

I really didn't have time to get much of a feel for it (living room a little crowded with the furniture re-arranged to make room for the xmas tree) so I'll have to wait until the sun comes up tomorrow to know what I really think of it. The frame makes this thing look much more robust and impressive than a blade. Not sure yet, but I think I like this even more than the brushless shogun I had for a while (gear-driven tail, non-ccpm, maintenance nightmare).

chrispennekamp

Hey, good to hear you got a new toy!!!

As per your questions....
1. The radio is most definately a futaba. The trainer cord is the new square futaba plug. Just make sure to get a single conversion crystal. Havent tried it but should work perfectly.
2. The im not sure if the lipo cutoff for 11.1 is programmed into the unit. Ill find out from our GP rep tomorrow and post then.
3. Same for the amp draw, ill find out.

GP has been very good about technical support so i will shoot an email out right now and get back to you sometime tomorrow. Happy flying.

-Chris

outtamyway

Hi Chris,

Thanks very much for the first review of the Axe Cp. I am a brand newbie to the hobby and threw the Axe out on my Christmas wish list before I realized they weren't even available yet. I put it on the list because I enjoy flying it on RF G3.5 and it appeared to be pretty stable for a micro. From your review, it seems like one of the better standard configuration micros for the beginner. Anyway, it appears that I will recieve it and get to fly my first heli on Christmas Day.

Jeff

chrispennekamp

My pleasure..... as for the questions posted previously here are the responses.

The radio system will work just fine with single conversion futaba crystals (for 9c, 7c, 6ex)

The servos as far as i know are just "standard 7 gram servos" No specifics were given to me.

As for the lipo battery cut-off. There isnt one. So when the power feels low, LAND!

I flew the axe again at the shop today and the rate gyro they have in this thing is as close to heading hold as a rtf micro can get. I enjoy this thing a whole bunch. Happy flying everyone.

-Chris

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

I already had a servo strip some gears on me. I was leveling the swash plate by hand, power off and all. I just replaced all 3 with HS-55's. I'll still send the servo in for replacement under warranty; I think they'll be decent servos for a small plane.

skycarven

Chris,
More questions for you bud. I have been flying fixed wing for a while and have been familiarizing myself with helis on the G3.5 sim. I am trying to decide between the Axe CP or the Blade CP. I have read reviews about both and I am still up in the air, no pun intended, on which one I should purchase. What is your opinion between the two? It seems that the Axe CP is better but I would appreciate your professional opinion. Thanks for the help!

tgwolfwood1981

I would go with which ever one is easier for you to get replacement parts. Of course im a tad biased towards the axe cp. I know im not Chris, just thought i would throw in my 2 cents

outtamyway

Skycarven,
I'm no Chris, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I am very new to the hobby and received both an Axe CP and A Blade CP for Christmas. My impressions are that the Blade is definitely an enthusiast's model capable of intense aerobatics but maybe a little too responsive for the raw beginner like me. I was just spinning mine up to check blade tracking when a gust of wind gave me about an inch of lift and 3 feet of lateral movement into a flower pot. Two blades and a feathering spindle later it is back in the air but with a distinct out of balance situation. The Axe is a solid machine that appears to be much more rugged but may or may not be as good of a 3d performer. I have flown the Axe a couple of times and can vouch that it is a good beginner model. I actually crashed it into a metal building today and did almost zero damage. There were only two little marks where the blade grips cut into the rotor blade coverings and it did not effect the blade tracking at all. I put it on the ground and finished the battery with no noticable difference in flight characteristics. The Blade comes with and extra set of blades, tail rotor, and 8 batteries. The Axe comes with Heat sinks and training wheels, but no extra parts or batteries. The Axe tail seems to track better than the Blade. The Axe has very nice gold plated connectors and a thicker main shaft. The blade is a masterpiece of minimalist design. Both models use the exact same tail rotor blade and I think they main rotors are interchangeable as well. The Axe charger has indicator lights and charges in a little over an hour. The Blade Charger does not have indicators and charges in 2-2.5 hours according to the manual. I will grow in to the Blade eventually, but for right now I am most comfortable with the Axe. JMO

tgwolfwood1981

thank your for the mini-review, it was well received.

skycarven

Outtamyway, thank you for that excellent review. That was very helpful. I think that I am going to purchase the Axe CP. From reading this thread, watching videos, flying the G3.5 and the heli specs, the Axe CP seems like a good choice. Thank you to everyone for the help and info. Additional reviews are always welcome. Whenever I get mine, I will let you know my experience! Happy flying!

jcervantes11

My Feedback: (8)

I've just gotten Axe CP and it's one of the finiest helicopter I ever flown. I'm still learning to hover I haven't moved up. I did moved
up to this heli from others. I've learn to fly the two blade helis to walkera 22e cp. Moving from that to axe. I notice huge improve from hardware to how it flies. Looks pretty strong heli. I haven't gotten no issue about it. I do have a problem about the battery doesn't last long in the air. I'm looking forward upgrading to a lipo with more mah. It's a great heli freaking flies bad ass then other I've flown.

mydartswinger

Make sure your LHS stocks parts for it, or you'll be waiting for parts. That's the problem I've run into with mine. Picked it up a week ago at a Hobby Town USA location, the store had seven of these in stock when I purchased it, but no replacement parts. A week later, still no replacement parts. Still like the heli, but dissappointed in local parts support, i.e. none within 100 miles. Otherwise, love this heli.

skycarven

Well, I ordered one from Tower Hobbies and had it overnighted. I got it, set it up but I had one problem. They say that it takes about an hour to charge and the light on the charger would turn green. Well, after 2.5 hours, the light was still red. I plugged in the battery to the axe to see if it had any charge and nothing. I just think I got a dud battery. I don't know if it is the charger or the battery. I just went over and check it and the light is still red. I felt the battery and it is cool but the charger is pretty darn hot. I called customer support and They had just closed and won't be open until Tuesday. I am going to go the lhs and see if I can get another battery. I hope it is just the battery. I want to fly it so bad. I just have to wait!

flying-llama

My guess would actually be that the charger is bad.
In some sense, I would rather have the charger be bad than the battery:
1. The battery is a 9 cell NiMH, which is sort of unusual and not so easy to find.
2. A standard NiMH peak detecting charger will be better than the stock charger: the peak detecting variety will be able to charge that battery in 1 hour.

skycarven

I have heard a couple different things. A guy at the lhs said that if the battery is a dud or shorts out, it could make the charger hot. I am going to buy a new battery tomorrow and see what happens. He has the battery but not the charger.

flying-llama,
So if I get a standard NiMH peak detecting charger, that will work better? I might pick one up if that is the case if that is the case.

outtamyway

Skycarven, do you have a multimeter? It will be very easy to tell whether your charger or battery is bad. Set a potentiometer at 30ohms or get a resistor as close to 30 as you can find (but not under 30ohms) and short the dean's connector coming from the charger with the wiper and measured tab. Check the voltage across the pot. It should be 12 or more volts.

Then check the voltage of your pack. If it reads 0 volts you probably just have a bad connection or solder joint. You can check continuity if the voltage is zero, but just hope your pack doesn't wake up and pop the fuse in your mm or worse.

flying-llama

Actually, rereading the Axe CP manual (I don't have an Axe CP yet, my hovering ability needs to improve first),
the stock charger looks like a NiMH peak detecting charger (tells you when it is done, takes ~1hour for a full charge)
that can just handle the Axe CP battery.

If you do get another charger, make sure that it can handle the current and voltage rating of the Axe CP battery.

skycarven

I went to the lhs and got a new battery. The new battery works great. I plugged it in and about an hour later, she was ready to go. I am just going to call heli-max support on tuesday and have them send me another battery to replace the bad one. I have flown my Axe cp twice. Once last night (dumb Idea) and once this morning in a large hanger. Last night I kept it on the ground because I was really nervous. Today I took it into the larger corperate hanger and got it off the ground. I am trying to trim it out. I am just waiting for the battery to charge to go try it some more. Very responsive heli. Thanks for all of the help from everyone!

atcspaul

i just found this websight and new to rc helocopters. i am an airtraffic controller and have fooled with rc cars in the past. looking at getting the axe cp and wonder if any updates now that you all have had them for a while. thanks and great websight!

mrasmm

I would just make sure to get a heli that your LHS (local hobby shop) carries parts for. It's ok sometimes to wait for shipping, but sometimes you'd rather pay a little extra money and get it back in the air right away =)

I don't know much about the Axe CP, but I do have the Blade CPP which is very simular. If you have any questions about that one let me know =)

atcspaul

thanks i apreciate it. no local hobby shop so gonna have to order when i make up my mind

mrasmm

ahh... makes sense

I did a write up a week or so ago why I went with the blade cpp. If you want to take a look at that, it's available here
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=5638183

BTW I just noticed that was your first post, welcome to the group =)