Hi Rodney, I was reflecting on the issue and came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't take too much to do a big strip down job and bring it all up to top spec. I'm going through ordering the iKon from Helidirect having been unable to find a stockist over here. I'm not going to be able to do anything for about ten days anyway. Maybe the delivery will have happened by then and I can decide what to do first, 550 or 450.
Seeing your list of birds, may I ask why you'd want to get a 450? Once I start with the T-Rex 550E, I doubt that I'll want to bother with the 450s again.
Purely economics my friend.....it's a lot lot cheaper to fix a 450 than the next sizes up. Besides when those 450's are set up correctly and controlled (either a Spartan Quark FB, or BeastX/Kbar/Vbar/Ikon) they fly like a larger heli!
Also since I pounded my FB HK/Align 450 into the ground and trashed it, I have always just wanted to have a DFC Pro Align 450. I rebuilt one for a friend and just fell in love with that heli.....so I picked one up (a pro 450) the other day, already ordered the conversion DFC head for it. It has the FBL head on it but it's the older style.
Between my club dues, AMA dues, and either repairing, upgrading, or blinging my helis, and the support equipment it gets to adding up. Since my little mishap a while back where I pounded my 500 DFC pro into the ground and what it cost to fix, that made my mind up to limit my sizes of helis.
I'd love a 6-700 beast heli to experience, but dang everything is a Buck hundred on those. Just can't justify it.
Plus I have down the road plans to get a plane, and there are a couple of other heli's I want to add to my collection....one of them the Blade 230s! That one I want simply because its basically what the Blade SR should have been, and the SR was what I started out in CP heli's with. I want to get the 230s, then convert an SR to the BL tail, One that I have keep stock, and have one with a belted tail also....LOL stupid I know, but I have a sentimental attachment to the SR just because it was the heli that taught me how to fly one really, because a guy told me one time if you learn to handle an SR you can fly anything.....and this is true! LOL