As was bound to happen, I tried to get the thing out in the open and ended up going in head first...... broke a blade and stripped one of those dumb little linear servos (which never happened with the NCPx). I'm about to test the validity of what I read about compatibility, having purchased a replacement servo mechanism (minus board) for a mCPx-Bl.
Either way, this A100 will only be down for a minute.

 

Whatever @Crash Heligod. In the spirit of giving, I was nice enough to let you come over and play with the A100 for a minute.......... but you are NOT touching my Protos.

 

Maintain the Rage @Beaver , don't let that penis smoker get to you
Simon

 

I love the auto de-vulgarize scripts on this site

 

penis smoker is probably funnier than what I wrote originally LOL - Heligods, I love this site
Simon
mental mote - shouldn't watch too much DeadWood

 

It's a twitchy little micro heli- a mishap or two is to be expected.
I figured let that idiot take credit for a minor crash and send his boney a$$ down the road.

 

I have a nice little present for you...... It's one of those hand-grip exercise devices, festively shaped like a pineapple. Just pull the shipping pin to unlock the handle, and have a blast.

 

This one is on hold due to a micro-Jst servo socket coming loose from the Rx board. I'll have to solder it back myself, or send the board away to a mail-order repair site...... but will most likely do it myself. It's not the first time I've had to solder on such a small scale.

 

Okay.... Back to this one...... I just ordered an HCP100S (used) for cheap..... same as the Assault (HK) 100. So now I will have a "Blade MCPx-v2 equivalent" CP bird and spare parts (the first A100-v2) to play with. I assume it will work out better than the Nano CPx as far as using it for a "live" SIM since it it totally brushless main and tail, probably not much different from one of those higher cost "Align 100" jobs. I can't wait to get back to this one and use it to hone my skills! Better to have a basher around than to take chances of killing my Mini Protos...... Right??
Just you shut your dead-ass pie-hole @Crash Heligod...... You aren't invited to this little party.

 

Though my radio programming has yet to be finalized, I finally managed to get the 100 in the air and evaluate it somewhat.
It's typical of a micro, but with rates dialed back.... It's manageable. One thing I did notice is that the HCP100s has remarkable piro stability, having run 8 consecutive turns... in a light wind, with practically no cyclic drift...... you can't do that with a NanoCPx.

 

.....the power up sequence is a bit weird. I missed the "envelope" and somehow ended up in a weird setup which caused erratic response, just like an improperly bound NCPx. A minor tip-over and a chipped main blade later, I figured it out and returned to normal response. Fortunately, I know how to "lathe" micro-heli blades back into balance while on the heli.
Next stop.... DSM2/X satellite rx plug in...... the main board has the micro-JST socket for it, Then I can get rid of the plug-in HiSki Tx module and its quirky channel routing, and have a reliable RF signal..... beside the fact that my TH9x radio looks weird with 2 antennas on it.

 

What is the tail piro rate like? It has stability, but how fast? IE one or two turns per second? also what are the stops like. Tails typically are problems with micros. They are difficult to control if the tail does not stop quickly.

 

I have it at a conservative 1 rev per second. III turn it up when I finish the programming. So far, stops seem solid.
After further investigation, I found that "piro comp" is actually written into the firmware on this one, thus explaining the stability.

 

Full 125% rate gives approximately 1.5 revolutions per second, so I can get 3 turns in 2 seconds, with seemingly solid stops so far.

 

Thats pretty good for a micro size heli! One complaint i had about the mcpxbl - could not get enough tail authority.

 

This one seems to have very good locking ability, even with the headspeed dialed down, obviously due to the brushless direct-drive tail rotor, which responds quickly to any counter torque regardless of what the mainrotor is doing. Both main and tail are "outrunner" type motors.
I did read something about a "deadband" issue, and discovered yesterday during multiple flights that it seems to be true......
more rudder input is required before actual response is observed.

In other news, I discovered the skids have a typical flaw associated with micro-helis in that the plastic pins break. In my usual manner, I found an effective solution to that problem.
Aside from employing my usual balancing practices and getting the heli running smooth, the HiSki/Assault canopies seem to have annoying resonance characteristics, so I fitted an aftermarket MSRx canopy to the thing. Photos to follow.
On another note.....
I have discovered the need to know how to assign end-points to Tx channels, as this little beastie hasn't been as easy to program-in as most of my other models. It's a bit distressing when going full cyclic and having binding issues in the swash and head while making for some odd responses as well. The HCP100s/Assault 100 seems to have overemphasized servo travel a bit.

 

Now isn't that the cutest little outrunner main-motor you've ever seen?
These photos were taken after a complete frame/electronics swap using all the best parts on hand and refining the wiring. I had to upgrade a few solder joints here and there just for reliability's sake.
I finally cracked the code somewhat with the Tx program. I now have full +/- collective control with throttle-cut switch in the usual location. I have yet to bring in the 3-way mode switch and throttle curves, but at least the thing is flying at a level where I can explore the capabilities without having to worry about weird control issues.

 

One good "whack" while flying in the garage, and I ends up having to install the solid-carbon tail boom to replace the hollow-core one @Crash Heligod helped me shatter. There was some soldering involved, of course, but the conversion went well.
Then there is the matter of blades:
After some airtime using various forms of "stock" blades, HiSki, Assault (HK), and whatever the generic green ones are...... All "bullet" style blades, and somewhat heavy. The one unused set of "Assault" blades I tried were so out of balance it was almost funny. I'm thinking I might investigate using Lynx/MCPx blades on this thing, especially if they have straight "non-bullet" lighter weight blades.