Balsa Products Explorer.

[swatson144]

This heli is too good a rig to let the review I did just vanish.

The BPE has been in the hanger for 1 month and three good crashes now, so it is showing itself to be a very good value, with a cost to crash ~35$ by my averages.

The heli is great for a second or third machine (second non coaxial any way). It is fully aerobatic and makes a darn good trainer with its inexpensive initial cost and repair cost. The included motor is surprisingly powerful. The BPE is not a Trex SE and the price reflects it. It is a little bigger turning 365mm blades and is just an amazing sport flying machine.

Some details ...

The boom is 12mm same as the Trex so aftermarket upgrade tail can easily be installed, though the stock equipment works very well. The belt is the same Pitch  and width (bit longer).
The tail is driven
It is the same heli as the Helipros BlackHawk.
It uses small inexpensive servos and works well with them.
The canopy is probably the ugliest ever but is nearly as rugged as a helmet.
BP is one of the best companies to deal with, and Herman was involved in the original thread. Problems were mentioned and were addressed in a timely and effective manner. (he's a heli flyer too).
G10 frames are light strong and inexpensive.
Comes stock with the metal head parts I'd install.
Stock boom was AL but replacement booms arrived in CF

Here's how it ships. The plain white box was inside another well padded box. No scrimping and it was about 8$ shipping



I could describe the head but it's probably better to see it in person. I hope the picture will suffice.


View of the frame


Side by side with my Trex 450 sized X400. Both are sitting on the outer box the BPE came in.


Here's a vid of a check hover Please don't expect stable hovering it was windy (18-24mph if memory serves) and I bore easily. It isn't a ballistic heli but it has enough power to be amusing. The tail hadn't been setup yet and was a little notchy. The protrusion from the landing pad is my Tach . More vids to follow.

Configuration as mentioned and seen in the vid
CC PHX45 ESC  on the stock motor
4 s3110 servos (recently replaced with HS-65HB 3ea and 1 s3110 on tail)
Logictech 2100T Gyro
GWS RD8 RX  (soon to be replaced with berg 7H)
HR-PollyX lipo alarm Excellent!!
2Ea Common Sense RC 8c 2000mAH "budget packs" run as 3S2p (45$ A pair)
That's likely the way it'll fly until I get bored with it.

It'd run fine on a 3S1P 2100 15C or better, but it's usually windy around here and the heli carries the weight fine.

Questions, comments, etc are always welcome.

Steve

[swatson144]

Here's a plot of what one could expect configured as mentioned. As best I recall it's just mild FF.

Steve

[Sonex128]

Thanks for bringing it back Steve. Still condsidering getting one.

[swatson144]

Thanks for looking Brian.

If you have any Q's feel free to ask.

Steve

[swatson144]

Many more flights and a couple crashes. I finally got my TX  stick jerking fingers on a horizontal pin Berg7P. I like the 7 because it allows a convient place to plug in the BEC  and the 6 channels. Out with the GWS and in with the berg. Never had a glitch with the GWS, but the Berg is better smaller and lighter.

Steve

[swatson144]

Larger view of the airframe up close with goodies. Just realized I never reposted any pics with the gear installed.

Steve

[swatson144]

While tunneling around looking at info I found the text files from part of the original review. next 3 posts I think, these are older posts reposted.

I couldn't pass on this heli any longer and just ordered one. I am vary partial to the .15 sized electrics. They are the right size for me and the battery packs are in the realm of affordable. There doesn't seem to be much info available to make a decision so I hope to have some good information for deciding if this is a heli you might be interested in. I'm hoping to find that it is a decent inexpensive park flyer and possibly a good heli for a novice to step up to from an RTF . I have a preconceived notion that this will (hopefully) build into a heli equivelent to a foamy airplane compared to a built up airplane. In brief inexpensive to build and maintain, while having adequate performance, but not cutting edge big dollar perfection (I have one of those in the Freestyle).
can be seen here http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id...64&pid=W824421
Specifications BP Explorer Trex 450 XL
Main Rotor Diameter: 770mm / 30.5" 680/700mm
Fuselage Length: 750mm / 29.5" 650mm
All-up-weight: 964g / 34 oz. ~775g
Motor Type: Brushless outrunner 
Power: 11.1V Li-Poly
RC: 6-CH / 4 micro servo
Since the Explorer is designed to run the same gear as a mini (Trex 450, X400 etc) I decided to do a comparison of kit and repair parts prices between the Trex 450XL and the BP Explorer. Please note that since the Explorer comes with many AL parts I will use the replacement cost of the Align AL part to compare AL to AL and mark it with a *. Prices from BP and Allerc
Part BP Explorer Trex 450 XL
TAIL ROTOR SHAFT $7.26 / 2 $7.99 / 3
MAIN DRIVE GEAR set $7.76 $9.95
Main Shaft $3.88 / 2 $8.49 / 3
Main Frame Set $12.94 $17.95
Landing Gear struts / skids $3.88/2.59 $7.99
TAIL BOOM $3.88 $6.95 / 2
Swash $10.35 $12.95
FEATHERING SHAFT $2.59 / 2 $5.99 / 4
Main Blades $12.94 $13.99
Well that's about enough of that as it becomes pretty obvious the stock parts are close enough in price to not be a consideration. It does look like the Explorer has a small advantage So maybe a horrible crash will cost 10$ less.
Since both helis run the same equipment and sell for about the same price they should be about the same cost to get in the air with equal equipment. With a slight advantage to the explorer as it comes with the motor, and an AL main rotor yoke set. We'll soon see how good the stuff is. This seems to be the same heli as the blackhawk, and zoom 450.
Steve

[swatson144]

It arrived today. True to http://www.bphobbies.com reputation great service and excellent packaging. Ordered on Sun. and arrived at noon on Weds. It was a rather large plain white box nicely packaged in a larger plain brown box. Shipped Fedex for $7.50. I love those folks.
My 1st impressions are very good. It came fully assembled MX400/TrexSA style in a large fitted styrofoam liner. The box would make a good carrier for vacation. Much like most micros. All the parts that I have usually replaced with metal in the head are of aluminium and seem pretty slop free. I wasn't expecting the head to be assembled. Normally I'd redo everything but this one I'm just gonna run and keep an eye on everything and hope for the best. Testing for others.
Things I noticed that I liked right out of the box
5mm main shaft
swash secured with many screws to hold it together (no snap and glue here)
No Z bends
TR servo boom mounted
Ridgid G10 frame and fins (1.5mm)
Gears appear to be actually round!
12mm boom
Things I noticed that I question right out of the box
Tail looks like a cheap trex knock off but best to reserve judgement until I see the HS  It's going to run on the factory motor/gearing. 12mm boom is good because the after market trex gear boxes will solve all ills and allow upgrades. It does connect to both top and bottom of the slider.
Motor looks like it might be pretty anemic. Big surprise that most everything that comes with a motor is minimal.
Swash has molded balls like a micro. Replacement swashes are cheap enough that I don't see a problem. Could be an advantage or a disadvantage.
All in all I think by its appearance it seems to be a well made economical heli that should prove to be a good value.
Steve

[swatson144]

*note* the below is older info and as mentioned I went with HS-65HB servos and am very happy with them. BP has also adjusted the requirements to be more accurate and there was some discussion before the hack.

Now the build has started. A few minor problems have reared their ugly heads and laughed in my general direction.
The heli comes with a very nice 4x letter sized exploded view of the machine as it comes in the box NICE! It also comes with pictured list of available replacement parts on letter sized paper. However it comes with absolutely no instructions! Well who needs "corrections" anyway? We could just look at the picture on the box and figure out where the servos go and to what function. Doah! the box is plain white with no picture. I figured out where everything goes any way That'll come later.
PHHwaat! no screws to install the servos with! You can check the list of stuff required and nowhere does it mention 8x 1.5mm screws and nuts. NUTS! Fortunately I keep a supply of screws and nuts. Unfortunately my current stock level is 4 each NUTS!. Not really a big deal but it is nice to know information. Only 4 more to go I'll feed my trusty dog brillo pads in hope she craps them but at 15yrs old her tolerances have slipped and I'll likely as not wind up with #72 screws. Hmmm that's worth a try.
While trying to fit up the recommended BMS-371 servos I found they are too long! NUTS! I had two of the dang things so I bought 2 more, just figuring on test flying it as recommended. Sad thing is if I had decided to use the GWS naros (I found I also have 2 of) they'd have fit. Instead since I have 4 S3110 servos and at 15$ each they look like they are workable (maybe 1mm short in the C-C of the holes) and I'm going to try to go with them. Not much price difference and a better servo anyway.
It's not all that bad as no instructions beat wrong instructions, Not having screws can be easily cured. It's a heck of a lot better if one knows it up front. Fortunately I have a couple other helis to play with until this gets sorted out. I certainly wouldn't let the above make me not consider buying the heli, but I'd find a solution available and gather the stuff all at once if I was in a hurry.
Steve

[swatson144]

I've been doing a good bit of flying the BPE lately. Today the tail servo went out (s3110 didn't last very long, about 6 hrs) so I decided to put a S9650 on it which is a much more appropriate size. the drawing was made and the piece was cut from 1.5mm G10 to mount it.

Steve