BLADE InFusion 120 BNF BASIC
BLADE InFusion 120 BNF BASIC
A relaxing and durable helicopter
By | [email protected]
Photos by and the author
As seen in the August 2024 issue of Model Aviation.
MODERN MICRO helicopters are amazing machines. They are both indoor models because of their small size and outdoor capable as a result of advanced stabilization electronics. As someone who generally leans toward larger helicopters, I’ve been fascinated with the advances in micro heli designs throughout the years. This includes the Blade series of micro rotorcraft from Horizon Hobby. The previous models have flown impressively well, but the company has made some significant design changes with its newly introduced Blade InFusion 120.
The InFusion is happy flying inverted and gets down in the weeds for some inverted trimming.
This little heli has a 12.12-inch rotor diameter and 11.75-inch length. It also features two brushless motors (main and tail rotor). It has collective pitch on the main rotor and a fixed-pitch tail. This is not unusual, but the obvious departure from previous Blade designs is that there are no gears whatsoever in the chassis drivetrain.
Instead, a large-diameter motor is connected directly to the main rotor shaft. This eliminates the weak link of having somewhat delicate, plastic gears that tend to break off teeth in unplanned impacts with the ground.
Because there are no longer gears to provide mechanical advantage to a small, high-speed motor, this is now done with the motor’s design. The wide and flat motor (23mm diameter stator!) spaces the magnets and stator farther away from the motor shaft, thus providing a longer "lever" of mechanical torque, the same as reduction gearing would. It’s not clear whether there is any weight saving in doing this, but it certainly simplifies things, increases reliability, and reduces parts count.
The rest of the model seems notably well built with a sturdy undercarriage and a stout-feeling, carbon-fiber tailboom. Linear servos directly connect to the swashplate and appear to be larger than what you would expect to see on a heli of this size.
Both the rotorhead and swashplate use a hybrid aluminum and reinforced-plastic combination. A single, vertically mounted PC board contains the Spektrum receiver, gyros, and ESC. I noticed that the board uses rubber vibration isolation mounts—a nice touch.
At a Glance
Specifications
Number of channels: Six
Main rotor diameter: 12.12 inches
Main rotorhead type: Collective-pitch flybarless
Tail rotor diameter: 1.92 inches
Length: 11.75 inches
Weight (as flown): 4.25 ounces
Battery: 2S 300 mAh LiPo
Radio used: Spektrum NX10
Pluses
- Very stable, nimble, and durable.
Minuses
- Unusual battery connector.
Manufacturer/Distributor
Horizon Hobby
The battery tray offers an easy and secure way to hold the battery.
The Blade InFusion 120 uses the JST-PH connector common in other micro-size models.
The main blades are 130mm in length and appear to be made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. The two contrasting colors painted on them should help with visual orientation in flight.
The flight battery slides into an upward-angled cradle under the canopy and has a nice, snug fit. You will need a 300 mAh 2S LiPo battery with a JST-PH connector. There is an adapter available for chargers that use EC3/IC3 connectors. The ready-to-fly weight comes right in at 4.25 ounces.
Although there are detailed transmitter setup charts in the manual, the much faster and easier way is to download the configuration files for Spektrum transmitters.
The people at Spektrum have made this easy for users of their transmitters. I was able to find and import the configuration files for my Spektrum NX series transmitter by using the removable SD card.
After that, I simply bound the transmitter to the InFusion 120 and it was ready to go. Factory programming includes multiple flight modes, SAFE Select, throttle hold, and even an emergency auto-leveling button.
Flight
The first flight was interesting in a subtle way. Spooling up in Normal mode, the little InFusion smoothly spun up to speed, but something was off. It was very quiet (too quiet?), and the rotorhead’s speed seemed too slow to fly—but fly it did, with surprising authority. Along with that quietness was smooth control response in both cyclic and tail rotor control.
All of the factory’s preset control throws and tuning seemed spot-on for getting the feel of the model. Normal flight mode automatically has SAFE Select Mode enabled, so the InFusion flew practically hands-off, except for pitch control. Tail rotor response is quick but not twitchy and it held the heading even in rather stiff wind, although it did exhibit some slight tail wagging with a breezy tail wind. That stated, high-speed reverse flight never blew out the tail.
The InFusion 120 includes bind plugs and repair tools.
The tiny, brushless tail motor is rated for an impressive 12,000 Kv.
A large, 23mm diameter motor is used in place of a traditional geared setup.
Moving into forward flight showed good handling characteristics with no "pitchiness" in the cyclic elevator control. SAFE Mode does require constant forward cyclic control to keep it moving, but after you let off the sticks, it quickly levels itself. For inexperienced pilots, if you become discombobulated, just let go of the controls and it will (mostly) sort itself out.
With a fresh charge on the battery, it was time to really open it up. Switching to Stunt Mode 1 produced a noticeable increase in rotor speed and disabled SAFE Mode. Things immediately got a bit spicy as the InFusion came alive in control response.
Fast-forward flight was, well, fast. The little heli could accelerate quickly, which meant that it would also get really small quickly. Fortunately, the InFusion has a high-visibility color scheme and can almost instantly change direction. I had a great time simply flying quick-turning, racetrack patterns at high speeds.
With that out of my system, it was on to explore some aerobatics. I don’t claim to be an expert helicopter pilot, but I had no issues performing things such as loops, rolls, and sustained inverted flying. Physics plays a part, so similar to any micro heli, there isn’t much momentum with some maneuvers. Things such as loops require a careful touch on the collective to get smoothly over the top. That noted, I never felt a lack of power.
The author put the Blade InFusion 120 through all types of flying—from hovering to aerobatics—and found it to be enjoyable to fly.
The helicopter comes out of the box assembled and can be ready to fly in less than an hour.
The wide outrunner motor seemed to always have sufficient grunt for whatever I needed it to do—standing flips, power climbouts, sustained inverted flight, even funnels and Tic-Tocs, all without ever really needing to utilize the extra power of Stunt Mode 2. If you do want to push things to the limit, the 6,000 rpm that Stunt Mode 2 provides should give you the kick in the pants that you need.
I found the InFusion a joy to fly, and its smooth handling belied its small size. Mixed flying run times with the 300 mAh battery tended to be roughly 4 minutes. It was also, in a way, relaxing because I knew if I "dumb-thumbed" it into the ground that I was unlikely to do serious damage (or any damage) to it. In fact, I did whack it into the ground once and the only result was some grass stains on the rotors. There was no other damage and I was back flying immediately.
I occasionally fly models in an indoor arena, and the InFusion will certainly be one of the aircraft that will be part of my lineup for such venues. I also found myself flying it around my backyard for some easy-access fun. The Blade InFusion 120 offers smooth and easy handling in a small, inexpensive package. It is also capable of advanced aerobatics and aggressive maneuvers. It is the perfect companion for small-field flying.
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