The Piccolo Helicopter with Collective Pitch

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I recently converted my brushless Piccolo to a collective pitch machine. Collective pitch adds another servo that controls the pitch of the main rotor blades.

Throttle & Pitch curves

A key component to proper adjustment of a CP helicopter is the setting of the throttle and pitch curves. My JR 783 transmitter allows adjustment of both curves. I used the default linear curves on my first couple of flights. Then I adjusted the curves to provide better control on both throttle and pitch to make it easier to control the altitude. Without the curve adjustments, the CP Piccolo is very sensitive to throttle stick changes. Landings were touchy as the pitch change at that throttle stick setting are hard to control.

The JR transmitter supports five throttle and pitch curve points (stick positions of 0, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full) for each of four flight modes (Normal, Stunt 1, Stunt 2, Throttle Hold).

As of 10/12/02, I set the curves for Normal mode, which I use for hovering.

Throttle: 0, 50, 75, 90, 100
Pitch: 35, 45, 55, 65, 75

The throttle curve gets the motor up to high speed quickly. The pitch curve starts a a high value which is just a little positive pitch. The curve from there is flat, allowing easy changes in altitude. It doesn't go to full pitch because the Piccolo hovers at just under 50% throttle stick position and the full range it isn't needed for hovering.

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