I just realized last crash was 4/8/16. Its been almost a month..... That's unprecedented for me.

 

Whatever. You are getting slow in your old age.

 

The 30-day no crash streak continues.....
Two lazy 2S flights to warm up, and then the more aggressive 3S flight.... Its windy as heck up here, but wtf.... I did it anyway. Same story as last time- inversions and flips without incident, although the transition between upright and inverted is a bit weird in a moderate wind when I end up some distance away from where I started. I haven't quite gotten in the habit of manipulating the collective while vertical to counteract prevailing wind.
At least my reflexes are still improving from sim use. There were several moments where I rolled out of inversion 45° or so off plane and corrected without really giving it much thought.
It was a good session.

 

Great news @Beaver. Isnt it amazing how a cp helicopter just handles the wind? You will be surprised - you can litterally fly in a storm (not the tornado type storm!). The main thing that happens is that flying into the wind pushes your heli up and back. Flying with the wind makes it fall but move at an incredible rate of knots! You can have fun with this as your flying progresses..

 

I signed up for a free product test and review for a place called Targethobby on Amazon. They are sending me one of these 3-in-1 buzzer units for low voltage/signal loss/model finder.

It will be interesting to see how well the voltage threshold works compared to using a timer to keep from going below 3.7v per cell/ 25% charge as I have monitored lately with a dedicated multi-cell LiPo balance meter.
Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Targethobby-Voltage-Buzzer-Discovery-Signal/dp/B01ET7P3LA?ie=UTF8&ref_=sr_1_1
The buzzer should arrive in a few days.

 

32 days. Minor crash..... more like minor tip-over today as I was flaring into a sudden mid-air stop to get back in control and do a turn around, and a wind gust came from behind and dropped the 450 down 3 meters to the ground. That wasn't as much of a problem as was hitting ground at just enough of an odd angle to almost touch blades in the dirt, and an overcorrection while trying to get level finished the job.
I had the stock plastic tail blades on since my CF tails were coming apart from touching down in small gravel. The plastics are a bit short and I think they allowed tail to swing loose a few times during the flight, even though I had raised the gain. Damage = 1 tail blade.

 

.......and the 2S flight.....

Nothing exciting.

 

So, having given the 450 a good inspection and taking care of a few small details, I focused my attention to the tail blade problem. Being without a viable set, I tried cutting down a set of Lynx Nano CPx blades that were damaged at the outer end of one blade, but far enough out to get slightly longer than what the CF blades were... 64mm maybe? Roots shimmed with small washers to take up slack in the grips. Will test them tomorrow.

 

So far so good....

 

I hit the park and went straight to the 3S pack and gave the 450 as much of a flogging as I'm currently capable. The Cut-down NCPx blades worked great for tail blades! No tail blow out or drift at all. I need to back the tail gain down a bit now..... Several times I observed a fast wag after hard maneuvering, otherwise.... Success.
The three new 2S packs arrived today. I just soldered Dean's plugs, and now I'm charging them for benchmarking flight times.

 

The new (used) packs need a few more cycles before I can tell for sure, but so far they're good for 8 minutes each to 25%/3.7vpc.
All packs in gives me a good 40 minutes total air time.
I think its time to up the collective range from +-10° to +-12°...... I want a little more collective authority.

 

sorry to hear your crash beaver, hope you get it all sorted out soon

 

It was just a tail blade. I could have been back in the air immediately if I'd has a spare with me at the field.

 

The adrenaline is subsiding enough that I can concentrate on more structured maneuvering during inverted flight. I've taken to doing large vertical figure-8 loops back and forth between upright and inverted, and occasionally stopping for hovering inverted in place.
Its definitely getting easier and with less nervousness.

 

Thats good progress @Beaver. so your flying upside down now?

 

Have been for awhile. I'm just now getting comfortable with it. I kept getting shakey hands at first.

 

The crash..... I was about due for one anyway.
The birdnwill be down a few days or so while waiting for more genuine Align parts. Main shafts, tail shafts, bearings, etc. Based on the longevity of the Align 450 Pro feathering spindles, I can't go wrong.
I was able to refurbish the original CopterX tail boom that had the slightest bend at the frame block end.
A tail case rebuild will be in order thanks to slightly bent tail shaft and notchy bearings.
New Align radius arms for the head, the original ones had some slop.

 

aw that's a nasty crash, almost a rekit??

 

Not all of it happened this crash. Some of it is simply 6 months worth of wear and tear that needs to be dealt with. I probably won't have $10 spent. Some parts I already have.
The worst part is the labor of replacing the parts. I'll have a few hours in it when I have time to really get into it.