Blade 130x - Modded - Ebay Buy

[Bravedan 106]

So, this 130x turned up on EBay, except there was virtually nothing left from a standard 130x except servos and main board from the original. It must have used a fair slice of the Chinese stocks of carbon and aluminium for all its many upgrades despite its small size!

 

It was being offered with a Dx6i DSM "X" Transmitter (with a broken menu roller), a large metal case, some good quality tools, quite a lot of spares, two expensive Fusano custom paint canopies with matching coloured sets of blades, a good quality mains/12v charger with a large selection of multi charge leads, five batteries (three being a top of the range larger capacity type), £45 8000kV motor and more.

 

At a silly money start. I watched it all the way through and didn't bid, it ended unsold. It was re-listed. I watched it all the way through again, bid the min at 5 secs, and since nobody else was prepared to take a chance on it, so I won.

 

It arrived so well packed it would have survived WW3 let alone Parcelfarce.

 

Look over showed it was well used but looked fantastic and no major faults evident.

 

Repaired the Tx (cost nothing from spares box).

 

Flew it........not great, wallowed quite a bit despite a high enough head speed (near ballistic in Idle-Up ).

 

After about a minute it suddenly threw itself onto the floor. (At this point, hands up all those thinking yes, that's what you get from EBay "bargains"!) No damage resulting.

 

Decided the boom last section beyond the braces was a little tired and flexible after handling the extra power of a bigger motor and blades, so "splinted" it with carbon strip on two faces of the square section, invisible once fitted...........again from bits box..........now as rigid as a rigid thing in rigidsville.

 

Decided the front cyclic servo "rack" was sloppy, so bought and fitted one (£13)

 

Flew it again, no more wallowing. About a minute in.................guess..................splat (again, no damage)

 

After a few tries that were off target, I realised that the motor pinion, a force fit to the shaft, was loosening enough when the motor warmed up to cause slip, upsetting not only the tail but also the whole 3 axis gyro.

 

Stripped out, thoroughly degreased, shaft keyed, and epoxy fitted.

 

After full cure time, flown again...............and again...............and again.............and again...........

 

Since I don't need to carry the charger I have added foam to the case to carry both my 130x's.

 

Bargain?........................... Bargain!

[Gerard 10]

Nice one Dave.

 

So where are the photos?

 

[Bravedan 106]

Waiting for someone with onboard video to follow me through a few circuits and the occasional loop, max height about 20 feet though...............

[Bravedan 106]

 

In all its sparkling metal and carbon bling.

 

 

Compared to std (apart from blades and motor) 130x on right

 

 

The two wearing the custom paint fibreglass canopies included, std thin vac form plastic in front

 

 

With a 500 class............!

 

As you can see, the modded one has full carbon strip framing, metal bearing blocks, swashplate, head and tail, it has a 10,000kV motor, carbon tube tail control rod and improved support.

 

As said, the only std features are the servos, control board, and drive gear. Oh, and the undercarriage, though all the mod parts for that are IMO worse than the original!

 

Of all the Eflite Blade Helis, the 130x is about as good as you get, and punches way above its size and cost.

The only other person in CAMFC (well, ex-CAMFC now?) with one is/was Sam, and he rated his near std one highly.

 

SO, does all this extra cost (and its a BIG cost when buying it all new!!) really add anything measurable, other than a much smaller wallet afterwards?

 

Is it enough to warrant the new cost ignoring the pose value? NO WAY!!!!

 

BUT...........Well, yes to a degree, the extra rigidity makes for faster more consistent reaction to stick movement, and that and the extra weight of all the metal (despite all the carbon, it is heavier, 109g against 99g, conditions as pictured) makes for a more stable flight.

 

I'm likely to fully mod it now its flown OK, with uprated servos (faster and more powerful) and an autorotation hub gear, might as well be TOTALLY silly..............

[Bravedan 106]

So, doing things one at a time, I have replaced the main shaft (which was a std carbon unit which was a little tired and flexible axially) with a MicroHeli unit with autorotation hub and hardened metal shaft.

 

As mine came (today) the metal is red matching the other fitted metal parts and the gear orange which matches the blades!!

 

I thought that autorotation spin on would be a joke with such a light system, but it seems to be free enough and spins on enough to probably work. Too windy in the back garden to try and no hall access as its half term.

[Bravedan 106]

Updating, its been flown three times now, once indoors. It does Autorotate successfully, though it was a bit scary going into hold for the first time with something that light and potentially so low on inertia!

 

The properly aligned super accurately cut delrin main gear is a lot smoother than the std plastic moulded (and warped) product, but the high kV motor makes it noisy indoors anyway as the head speed is a significant step up on the std motors capability. The good news is that this gives instantaneous reaction to cyclic stick pressure, and fast is good! And the bad news to that is now the tail feels a little slow! Going to def get a fast tail servo (at least).

 

By the time I get this sorted to my total liking the 180CFX will be out , I'm pre-booked for a second batch model which is expected arrival end Nov.