Esky Belt Cp

Esky Belt CP Review

E-Sky produces a wide range of helicopters that perform well for reasonable prices. They have not made a huge impact in the US, but despite the limited availability, they have proven popular. The larger 550 blade size E-Sky E-Smart was reviewed in October 2007—issue 16. The model being reviewed in this article is the Belt CP. It's like a 325 blade size little brother to the E-Smart, although more in looks than in function.




Features
The Belt CP is available in several versions. There's a kit version as well as models that are pre-built and ready for final assembly. You can buy one as a stand-alone airframe, as a Ready To Fly (RTF), or as a fully "blinged-out" version that comes with a carbon fiber frame and metal head. We're reviewing the RTF, which comes with servos, a gyro, a brushless motor, and speed control.



Fuselage/Mainframe • The Belt CP's main frame is made up of injection-molded plastic. The CCPM swashplate is connected to the servos via bellcranks. There is adequate room for the common 2100 mAh size battery, although some of the slightly larger packs, like the Air Thunder batteries, won't fit. The landing gear is somewhat flexible and seems well suited for this application. Everything tucks away nicely on the frame, and the bottom has an upward curve that contributes to its slender appearance.




Power Train • The included motor is an outrunner design; it mounts up front, facing down. It drives the upper portion of a split main gear assembly that drives the tail during autos. A counter gear picks up power from the lower part of the main gear, and has a toothed pulley to drive the tail belt.



Head Unit • The head looks very similar to the popular Raptor series from Thunder Tiger. It's entirely made of injection-molded plastic. It has an overslung head with the control hoops going around the blade grips from the washout arms to the Bell-Hiller mixers. There are no options for adjustable ratios, but all the mixing arms are supported by dual bearings, and the blade grips even incorporate thrust bearings. The dampening in the head is very soft, and there seems to be a bit of slop overall in the head. Most of the ball links on the head have a safety washer on top of the ball, which is a nice addition that may help prevent a link failure.



Tail Rotor/Boom • The pulley system that drives the tail seems to rob a significant amount of power, and because of this, the helicopter is not a good candidate for autorotation. The tail pitch slider has dual ball bearings and attaches at two points to the bellcrank, which is also supported by two ball bearings. The tail blade grips have a single bearing. The tail control moves freely, although it will not move all the way to the tail case, and there is minimal slop in the control.

Other Features • The model comes out of the box very close to being flight ready. The servos are installed and all that's left to do is mount the tail boom, tail belt, and landing gear, followed by installation of the speed control, gyro, and your own receiver. All the links come pre-attached. The servo horns are appropriately centered, and the connectors are all pre-soldered on the motor and speed control.

Testing
We "built" the helicopter in very little time, and had the blades spinning in track with minimal effort. The blades even came with tracking tape applied out of the box. Our helicopter was not set up for aerobatic flight because the model is quite tame and the dampening is rather soft. The addition of some key upgrades (swashplate, headblock, etc.) and tightening up the dampening will result in a very different-flying model. Since it's so well suited to novice flyers, we reviewed it with a tame, entry-level setup.

Hovering • The Belt CP does not have a really locked-in feel in a hover; it tends to wander around a little and it feels slightly less than locked in. It isn't horrible, but the hover characteristics leave room for improvement. The helicopter is manageable and stable, but just a bit more challenging than it should be to hold a steady position without drifting around in a hover.
Rating: 3

Forward Flight • This is where the Belt CP shines! It likes to cruise around and is very stable and easy to manage. It cruises very well at medium speed and requires very little pilot input to keep course. It will pitch up a bit and slow down when you enter a turn if you're not careful to keep the nose down. Flying at speed, the heli doesn't have any bad habits and feels right at home cruising around.
Rating: 4.5

Cyclic pitch Response • The model is not overly sensitive; it responds with enough authority to feel like you have control, but not so much that it feels touchy. The response is relatively slow with the stock setup. If you were to tighten up the dampening, it would make the response quicker. It's not snappy fast, but you'll still be able to have some fun throwing the model around a bit and exploring some mild aerobatics.
Rating: 3.5

Collective Pitch Response • There is nothing very special to note here. The heli is well balanced and doesn't exhibit a tendency to climb and descend in a hover. The model responds accordingly to inputs; it isn't fast, but it doesn't lag. It's not poppy, but it doesn't feel sluggish either. Overall, the response feels about right for a novice to intermediate heli.
Rating: 4

Tail Rotor Response• The tail performed better than I expected with the included gyro. Once I adjusted the linkage mechanically to eliminate any drifting, the tail was pretty good. There was no wag noted, and the tail even did a fair job holding the tail in place for slow backward flight. Once flying at a medium speed backward, the tail would lose its hold and blow out. For aerobatic flying I would recommend an upgraded gyro, but for beginners, it will work just fine.
Rating: 3.5

Post Flight Inspection • The tail assembly seems to be freeing up with use, and nothing seems to be showing any signs of wear. Unfortunately, I accidentally tested the model's durability and it held up pretty well. I swear that garbage can moved itself in front of the Belt CP and reached out to grab it, even though my co-workers say it never moved. Regardless of whether the garbage can was the culprit or it was just a classic case of dumb thumbs, the model held up very well. The blades, main gear and spindle need to be replaced, but everything else held up to the abuse.
Rating: 4.5

Building, Instructions, or Setup
The instructions are pretty sparse but there isn't much that needs to be covered in the first place. Ironically, the instructions detail every aspect of a ground-up build, but they don't cover the few things you may need to know about finishing this pre-assembled model. Since the model is for novice flyers, the instruction's minimal setup coverage for the CCPM heli is not adequate (see the full article on CCPM setup in this issue). There is also minimal information about the included gyro and speed controller. The gyro took approximately 10 seconds to initialize, and the heli and tail control must be kept still during this period. Our tail drifted a bit. The solution was to adjust the position of the tail servo to adjust the trim. If you try adding trim, it will prevent the gyro from initializing. If you have any experience with CCPM helis, you should be fine. But if you are a rank novice, you might want to seek help or do some research on setting up a CCPM heli before completing the build.

Conclusion
The Belt CP is an incredible piece of machine for the price. It's fun to fly and with some fine-tuning, it would make perfect mechanics for a scale fuse. Its forward flight characteristics make it easy to just practice circuits and smooth flying. The model represents a breakthrough in performance vs. cost. The electronics included in the package, if bought separately, could easily cost more than the price you pay for the RTF model. Comparable models will come either airframe alone or possibly with a motor and speed control for a similar price. With the Belt CP you get a good flying model with all the electronics for less than $200. Just add a CCPM capable transmitter and receiver, a battery and a charger—and you're off.

source: Rc Heli Magazine