BlueBird Carbon Paddles
| Reviewer | Rob Turnbull |
|---|---|
| Review Date | 12th March 2007 |
| Manufacturer | www.blue-bird-technology.com |
| Model | Carbon Paddles |
| Unit Cost | Not known |
Overview
The following is a review of the Blue Bird Carbon Paddles supplied courtesy of www.blue-bird-technology.com.
Carbon paddles are intended to give you much more response from your cyclic inputs than their plastic counterparts. The lack of flexibility on carbon paddles means that all of the intended movement is passed on to the helicopter, instead of some being lost in flexible plastic paddles.
The difference carbon paddles make to the flight characteristics of a Trex450 should not be underestimated.
Here's a photo showing the paddles in their packaging.
They certainly look the part, being nicely finished and carefully packaged to ensure they arrive unscratched.
They were very easy to fit, as paddles are on the Trex450, just screwing them onto the flybar in the normal manner. No other fixings are required.
Flight test
The flight testing was carried out after fitting these carbon paddles to a Trex450 that had previously been flown using the stock grey plastic paddles. The cyclic servos are HS56HBs with karbonite gears and the heli has been test flown using these paddles on 3S and 4S packs. The main rotor blades being used are Radix 315mm.
The overall difference between the standard grey paddles and these carbon paddles was easy to see and feel. Cyclic response was markedly quicker, giving the heli a quite twitchy feel while still being very stable in the hover. Performing 3D manoeuvres seems a bit easier as there is very little lead time between entering the cyclic command and it happening on the heli. Also, a little less stick input is required generally as the heli seems able to respond faster.
They also seem to withstand a crash very well, which is always a good sign, as cheaper, or lesser quality carbon products can fracture or shatter on impact with the ground.
| Pros |
|---|
| More responsive |
| Faster cyclic |
| Good crash resistance |
| Cons |
|---|
| More expensive than plastic paddles |
Conclusion
These paddles made a huge difference to the performance of the heli when compared to the standard grey plastic paddles. They are stiff and light, easy to fit and do the job they are designed to do very well.
It is hard to find fault with something so simple as a paddle, especially when the quality of them is such that they look great and perform as well as these do.
If you are in the market for a high quality set of carbon paddles to replace those stock grey plastic ones on your Trex450, I recommend you include these on your short list.
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