Looking to get into RC HELI's

[Fozzy]

Ok so i read RB's thread about the heli with the counter rotating blades im not really a fan i would like something abit more conventional looking i guess.

Im looking at the Smartech Aerohawk (4 chan RTR) http://www.rcplaneguide.com/Aerohawk.html

or the Venom night ranger 2 (4 chan RTR)
http://www.rchobbies.com.au/store/product_info.php?cPath=171&products_id=3285&osCsid=eb52a5cb7937f368662e7b00e38c9f07

What do other heli pilots think?

[JD]

I just bought a walkera 6ch 3d heli... fully RTF . for like $120 lol, I decided to buy it while buying my JR radio.

I'll let you know how good it is when it gets here :P

[M.J]

i fly all types for perth hobby centre.

the counter rotating blade type:

really fun to fly easy to learn will never get bored but only get a reliable brand.e.g. model enignes twister bell 47

Next up 4 channel fixed pitch:
Good if you have patience i learnt on one of these again need a reliable brand for parts.


Next, 6ch 3d heli

Benn flying these for a bit. DO NOT START ON THEM IT WILL COST U!! but yer really fun.


If you are going to buy a heli do some research to make sure you can get parts.

good models:

Twister bell 47
Twister Fixed Pitch
Twister 3D

Full range of parts at PHC



<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Mon Mar 06 2006, 05:51PM ]</span>

[Matt]

what kinda cost am i looking at to get some kind of entry level RTR electric heli MJ?

[M.J]

about $229 for the counter rotating

about $300 for fixed pitch

about$700 for 3d heli

come into shop on saturday and ill give you a demo of the first 2

[Fozzy]

can i come to as i would be keen for a look

[M.J]

yer no problem

if u want a demo of the 3d they do it sat mornin langley park but not at the moment it cut out midflight at the rest tells itself

[remotebandit]

Guys ... MJ is SPOT ON 100% and being in helis myself for over 15 years cant fault a word .

I actually do suggest the counter rotating blades 1 for a few reasons . THere is NO set up involved apart from simple trimming on your remote in flight . THey are tough and in my opinion easier to fly than dragonflys or any of those micro helis . Yes , they look odd but these will be the best way to actually learn how to fly around a room as its very forgiving , hover is easy as ( my 4 year old pulls it out and hovers it ) and cause of this fact , it will give you more time to enjoy getting uses to manouvering it and youll find that you WILL learn on this and most probalby go to a 3d from there .

Jumping straight into a 3d ... NO , youll never get it if you havnt flown , doesnt matter how talented you are , even the best crash them .

The micro dragonflys or fixed pitch things , well their good if you know how to trim and set them up properly , there 2 adjustments you have to play around ( gain and sensitivity ) with on their Gyro that will bring you greif if youve never touched 1 before . THey are not easy to hover and you will harldly get to work out wot the other sticks do before youve crashed it a few times and its just off balance and shakey due to the crashes .

As far as the counter rotating blades heli , i had the 1 on the video clip ages ago that was really good and fun then was given one of these model engines ones MJ mentioned and yes , very smooth and i must add the price is excellent as i paid heaps for my first 1 . If you look around hard enough youll find them just on $200 but hey for the sake of a few dollars just grab it .

Foz , if you do end up buying the 1 you mentioned , buy heaps of spare landing stilts and also spare paddle bars , they weaken as soon as you hit something and put your control paddles out causing loss of general control and massive vibration .

[Fozzy]

Thanks for the lengthy reply.

I have borrowed Great Planes REAL FLIGHT R/C Simulator off a friend of mine its the one with the usb controller. Im having abit of practice with that. I have come to the realisation i am totally sh1t house and will need alot more practice.

Im going to pop down to PHC on the weekend and have a look at the above that MJ has talked about.

Might pick on up if i have polished my skills enough.

[M.J]

i could fly helis upside down on flight simulator

picked up the controls of a real one and couldnt fly at all

i learnt to fly in about 2 hours of battery time on a fixed pitch one. without breaking a part.

and i dont even own a heli

[Fozzy]

Well aint you just special :P

I mainly grabbed it to get a simple idea if i liked it or if i thought it would anny the shit out of me.

I expect to break parts and I expect them to be expencive. What hobby isnt

[M.J]

bird watching !lol

[JD]

do u know how much binocluars cost... lol


What do u guys think of those cheap little wireless camera's on ebay? to attach to a heli, just for some fun :P

[Fozzy]

haha I got one for my car..

Havent had a play with it yet

[JD]

hehe kool

[Birky]

You've got me interested as well.

[remotebandit]

NEW TOPIC MATT : RC FLIGHT

[JD]

reckon

[Birky]

agreed

[Birky]

MJ or RB,

What are Venom helicopters like in terms of quality?

Ben

[Matt]

i want to have mates around the table out the back for beers and BBQ, then mid convo just hover this heli out above the table. people will be speechless, they wont know what the **** to say.

awesome.

[M.J]

i shuld bring a heli to racing 1 night and stand on the rostrum and hover it above the track

[JD]

upside down ;)

[remotebandit]

hey b3 , my first twin rotor was a venom alpine rescue .

I had not 1 issue with it , works perfectly infact even now .

Maybee MJ could fill us in more for spares as i havnt needed any yet but i believe they are still on par .

Personally i reckon Venom are sort of the 1 league up type from Smartech with their helis ... but at the end of the day , we cant deny they most probably all come out of the same place .

[Fozzy]

i looked at those alpine rescue ones to hehe I want one

[Birky]

I just wondered as I use to have some Venom 7.2V NiCAD batteries and they were the WORST packs I have ever had period.

[M.J]

at PHC we deal with model engines and hardly have problems we have heaps of parts and they are based in NSW i think so parts is not a problem plus places like Perthrc sell parts for them aswell.

As for venom we can get parts but try not to deal in them much.

Stanbridges do the alpine rescue and that crap but people always come to us looking for parts cos stanbridges order like 5 sets of blades for 20 heli's they've sold.

If u buy a heli from us we will get it flying perfectly that means one of our staff will show you it flying and get it trimmed perfectly.

Belive do sum research and dont rush into it cos it will b a bad mistake.

P.S: we had someone come in the other day saying they bourght a heli from stanbridges it never worked and stanbridges blammed it on them.

[Fozzy]

i hate stanbridges as much as women hate period pain

[sirdriftalot]

i hate stanbridges as much as women hate period pain
ow come dude?
?! :| ?!

[Birky]

CHeers guys

[remotebandit]

Stanbridges do the alpine rescue and that crap but people always come to us looking for parts cos stanbridges order like 5 sets of blades for 20 heli's they've sold.

.

Not to Diss you MJ but the alpine is definately not crap . I have both the model engines and the venom and they both fly very well and in fact i cant pick the difference .

HAve you flown the alpine ? . Just cause model engines market a product dont think its going to be best out of the box and diss the others cause all model engines is good for is spare parts , you know at the bottom of the box EVERYTHING that comes out of model engines says made in China or Taiwan , they just pass it on from there to here and mark it up quiet substantially .

Sorry to have to say that as i agree with 99% of things you say here but just dont agree with calling the Venom alpine crap , its fine heli , i just asked you to mention to the group how easy spares were to get . :)

[M.J]

thats fair enough rb i as you say i havent flown the alpine but i am going from wat many people have told me.

[remotebandit]

From a long flight background i can honestly say they do fly both on par .

As you mentioned earlier , only reason id go the Model Engines is cause of spares , thats 1 thing i can honestly say they support very well .

All good mate

[Fozzy]

i hate stanbridges as much as women hate period pain
ow come dude?
?! :| ?!


I have just found them to not be helpful or customer service Minded. They have 10 staff in there most times ive been in. Sure they all deal with different areas but you ask some questions and want some help extra if you do get the lingo right or you want to do it another way than they suggest the staff get arrogant and defencive.

Further to that i bought a Schumacher fusion 21 from there about a year ago with no rc background at all. So I asked for some advice on bulding it etc and the respose i got was it has instructions dont worry you will get through it. No worries I thought so i just soldiered on got it built. I could never get it to run quite right so i took it in to get it looked at and some advice. I got the you obviously didnt follow the tuning instructions right.. anyway im to busy now you will have to come back another time. I thought **** spend 1500 bucks on stuff (sure its not much but its alot when your starting out) you would get some help.

In the end I took it somewhere else to get help with it. The person sat with me for 35 minutes helping me tune it ge it idling etc.. Great im away happy as a pig in shit.

I broke it. So i went back to stanbridges to get the parts i needed. Nothing special some suspension bits and some screws etc. They werent in stock that was cool I expected that. So I wrote down all my details and stuff like that got told it would be 3 weeks which i thought was abit shit. (beside the point) So while i was there i ordered heaps of other stuff a body paint wheels spinners tyres. again no stock *fine* will get it with the other stuff.

No phone calls no emails no letters.

So i phone up oh yeah that stuff has been here for about a week we were expecting you. So yeah that was that experience.

Then when i got my latest machine i took it in there and got told basically how crap they were etc.

This is just based on personal experience. I found it hard to get advice and useful service. As a result i will never go there again

***DISCLAIMER***
Sorry if this annoys anyone but this is based wholey on my experiences and no one elses. This is my opinion and is not the opinion of others or team adrenaline mods or admin

[Dazz 68]

Getting back to helicopters Ive got a Twister fixed pitch for sale if anybody is interested,these machines fly well and have a much better gyro than the similar but cheaper Vennom night ranger making them easier to fly.Perth Hobbie centre -Perth Rc and ACE models in midland all have every part for this machine in stock and the parts are pretty cheap.Chasing $150 for the unit I have for sale its in good nic ,comes with 2 batteries,charger,some spares,original packaging and instructions.If any one wants it give me a call on 0419 895263

[Fozzy]

hrrrmmmm sounds intresting..

Would like some more infor might give you a call later

[M.J]

that is the exact heli i fly and phc sells

[Birky]

Holy Shit!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1253912244473754960&q=rc+helicopter

[RohaN]

thats Nuts!
good ol' Americans

[JD]

awesome

[Birky]

MJ or any of the PHC guys, what does a replacement set of main rotors for a Twister cost?

[M.J]

i think about $11.95

check with t4 trasher

[JD]

gah these helis are a tough nut to crack! lol

I'll post up a hovering video ONE DAY! YOU WAIT ONE DAY !

Do you think my local hobby shop will carry walkera spares?

the tips of my blades are looking a bit damaged :P

[M.J]

u bourght a walkera???? good luck with parts

[JD]

already bought parts....

in austrlaia too... EBAY :D

has everything :)


probably 10 times cheaper than hobby shops anyways.. with their overpricing these days...


<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Sat Mar 11 2006, 11:11PM ]</span>

[RohaN]

Can anyone explain to me the mechanics behind flying a Fixed pitch heli?
i understand whats going on with a full 3d, with the blade pitch tilting, but if its fixed, how do they fly forward & back, or can they not hover?

[remotebandit]

FIxed pitch helis just means that the rotor blades are at a fixed angle of attack meaning youve got no choice but to use the throttle as your up and down , the more you throttle , the higher it goes . If its got collective pitch , you can actually mix the throttle in with the pitch of the blades so you can control your rotor speed and then apply angle to the blades for lift .

Advantages to collective pitch is that you can get the blades running really quick so that when you apply pitch ( lift ) to the blades , they wont bog down to the force it needs to push down air shall we say .

When your flying fixed pitch blades , your lift ussually starts at about 35% and would be bare minimum as you start putting strain on the rotor speed anything lower than that . Personally i reckon fixed pitch is a bit easier to learn on as its just 1 less thing you have to worry about in set up etc .

Fixed pitch and going forward and backwards really have nothing to do with each other . The only thing that controls your forward and backwards is your paddles ( the other 2 little rotors that sit 90 degrees to the main rotors ) .

They are operated through wots called a swash plate and have 2 axis . Any 4 channel fixed pitch heli has these and they are required if you want to hover .

I hope this makes a bit of sense Rohan cause im really terrible at explaining myself but ill attach a pix of mine tonight when i get home and draw up how and why things do what they do on the heli .

Adam .

[JD]

does ur twin rotor thingo have paddles?

[RohaN]

Nah that makes excelent sense.

ok thats it.
I'm getting one.

any recomended brands for fixed pitch?
those venom 2's look pretty cool (and dirt cheap), are spares hard to come by or are they mostly from the same factory?

[JD]

they are tough!

I've had mine for a few days - many crashes, and still can;t hover the damn thing!

It starts taking off, then it comes after me!! lol

i think learning is hard cos u don;t ever wanna get too high off the ground, and trying to stay low is tough due to all the backwash. i wish i could just take it outside and give it full throttle till its 5 metres in the air.... but I'm too scared :P

[remotebandit]

something like this , you cant lose for the price :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RC-Dragonfly-4CH-Helicopter-AUSTRALIA-LEGAL-FREQUENCY_W0QQitemZ6041999801QQcategoryZ110026QQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem


but if youve never flown before , and i keep saying this , its not easy and you will prang MANY times and spend the same money you spent to buy it on spares before you can fly properly .

I honestly recomend these in the link below , i know they look different but as i said , my 3 year old has actually learnt to hover it on her own in time and it gives you more time to get familiar with other functions being forward reverse , left and right . YOu can go something like this or go see MJ as they sell the model engines version which is more expensive but a bit of a step up in quality :

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-new-esky-RTF-X-Rotate-helicopter-012_W0QQitemZ6043563702QQcategoryZ110026QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem


I told JD to go one of these first to familiarize himself in controls and he didnt and what he has spent in spares so far is very close to the new price of this twin ... ha sorry jd but had to mention it ... lol .

Anyway, your asking for opinions so theres mine .

PS .. which ever you get , please make sure you get mode 1 transmitter cause if you do enjoy it and get into bigger and better , you will need to fly mode 1 to join clubs etc ( well its requred by most clubs down here so id assume the same up there )

[JD]

bullshit! :P

It cost $120 for the heli - And the only thing I've broken is a $10 part (which i fixed myself - how long it holds i don't know, and the tail motor screws came out:P).... but i figured while i was buying stuff I would spend $50 and get spare gears, spare tail motor and stuff..


I'll show u one day whos king of heli's mwahahah

(jk)
:P
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Tue Mar 14 2006, 11:51AM ]</span>

[RohaN]

How'd you get the thing so cheap JD?

[JD]

its a 3d heli too....

got it off ebay form this guy

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Walkera-6CH-3D-Radio-Remote-Control-RC-Helicopter-22E_W0QQitemZ6043523464QQcategoryZ110026QQrdZ1QQcm dZViewItem

I was buying my JR radio from him so i figured what the hey :D

(same guy i bought my traveller from - beleive he has more in stock now :P)

[JD]

and u can get parts easily too..... just tyoe in 22e in ebay and u will see heaps - all in australia

[remotebandit]

micros dont have to be ugly .

Tonight i was a bit bored ( yes you read right JD ) and thought id pull my twin rotor apart and just carv up some foam and make a new shell for it .

Anyway , heres what ive knocked up in 40 minutes , tomorrow ill halve it , gut out what needs to be gutter to put the main assembly into it for the twin and then give it a final sand then spray it up .

Attached are some pix

e107_files/public/43_dscf1344.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1344.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

block of foam

e107_files/public/43_dscf1346.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1346.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

rough cut out

e107_files/public/43_dscf1347.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1347.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

rough shape and sand

e107_files/public/43_dscf1348.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1348.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

roughly how shell sit

e107_files/public/43_dscf1349.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1349.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

ill get onto it more tomorrow and finish it up so give more step by steps pix then .

Just goes to show how you can turn all the ugly typicalrc helis on the market into more exclusive looking things in a few hours .

[Alex]

damn bandit. u make it look easy hahaha

[remotebandit]

ohh well , might as well finish the project tonight hey .

Heres the split ( get a copeing saw , put the blade over the fire for about half a minute then it will just slice through the foam like a knife through butter )

e107_files/public/43_dscf1351.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1351.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

place , mark , then gut out to make room for the main assembly

e107_files/public/43_dscf1356.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1356.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

do both sides and bobs your uncle .

This ones pretty much ready , just got to cut some more spots for the landing gear and batt holder .

Once the landing gear goes in , this will form the strength for the internals as the foam will really just be baggage .

Good luck if anyone wants to try it , its actually not hard .

e107_files/public/43_dscf1355.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1355.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

here you go guys , never actually thought id fly it tonight as its 2 in the morning down here but i shifted some shit in the garage and gave it a go , as you can tell , i had virtually 1 car space to fly it so was a bit hard to move it around .

Check the video clip .

PS ... Tail wobbles but ill pop a rod through it tomorrow to keep it steady , its detachable .

43_img_0001.avi
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Wed Mar 15 2006, 11:02PM ]</span>

[RohaN]

Heh, i bet the family / neighbours loved that noise at 2am

[JD]

they wouldn;t hear it..

i use mine in the garage and my mum can;t hear it in the lounge room

[Birky]

Weel anyone reading the chatbox would know that I got myself a heli, and I got to say that I'm loving it. At the moment I can get it airborne for a couple of seconds.

I have a small problem thou. With the tail facing towards me, when I take off the heli slides to the right and I can't figure out how to fix the trim to minimise this. Would someone please be able to explain what to do.

Cheers
Ben

[remotebandit]

well it could be 2 things b3 , 1 is the washout and its the wind blowing it over but more probably its your aileron trim too far right .

WHen you actually get it up a bit , does it slope to the right as well ( i know that sentance could mean something else but were talking helis here ok ... lol ) .

Im assuming you bought a mode 1 transmitter so on the right stick where the throttle is , just bring the aileron trim back left a few notches to compensate .

Good luck and also a PM sent .

Adam .

[remotebandit]

ALso forgot to mention that helis do get cought up in their wash so sometimes may require you to just give it a hard throttle just to get it off the ground to get out of that wash , as it gets about 10cm off the ground back off a bit . You may notice the video clip i did of mine in the garage a few posts back that it also does like to drag along the ground but i just throttle up .

[Birky]

Thanks RB, I'll try that tommorrow.

[JD]

lol I've decided to buy a venom dual rotor heli.

This damn 3d heli is freaking tough to master... and At the moment - I'm just wasting money on parts...

SoI'm gunna buy the venomm and learn - then move onto the 3d one :D


live n learn

and RB don't say " I told you so" Or I'll come steal ur turbine one and learn on that! :P hehe

[remotebandit]

thats what i told you from the start jd ... lol

( i didnt say i told you so )

[RohaN]

Ok, so i've sussed out all the people selling cheap FP helis around my area & have been & had a look at:
Venom "night ranger II" which looked of good build quality, good range of bits instores and on the net, but no training gear/ simulator included. $195 in most stores

a smartech dragonfly (same as the one you linked to for sale on ebay Remote) looked very crappy when i inspected it, badly moulded, cheap plastic, and the most horiffic canopy i've ever seen. & a very very bad radio. it reeked of cheap shittyness & came with training balls, & a simulator cable & software

next up is a walkera 4. now i read that the venom is a re-badged walkera, can anyone confirm this? i rang the dude selling them and he was a completly rude prick to say the very least.
HOWEVER he is selling them for $119 out of his apartment just down the road from my work, with training balls & simulator software.
but, being a rude difficult person, wont let me come and look at one before i buy it, he just keeps telling me to "look at the pictures on the net"
Has anyone used one of the walkera or the venom FP helis?
How's the quality on your walkera JD?
i know theyre cheap, but that smartech thing made it clear that some are far far worse than others

[JD]

my walkera 22e - is pretty good for $120 lol... you can;t expect much for that price lol... however for a few hundred more you can buy full alloy rotor heads, swash plate ect ect

but i just bought a twin rotor waklera 5-4 for $170. much easier to learn on :D - will have it friday hopefully...

and hopefully ahve my traning kit by then for the 22e

don;t try and fly without a training kit - i tired, and i crashed - many times lol.... so its just a waste of money to try and fly without a training kit. :P

this is the new one i bought:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6043782915&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT

[remotebandit]

cant help you too much Rohan but from what ive seen of the venom , its seems very similar to mine . Im not sure what brand mine is as i thrwe the box out but ive had the cheaper 1 and kept going through landing gears innitially but this 1 seems same as the venom and has taken many hard landings with no issues so obviously if you can stretch the budget , give it a try .

All i can say though is to try a 4 channel twin rotor first , much easier to fly and will lead you onto bigger and better .

Sorry for continuing to push the twin rotors but everyone that asks me for advice always goes against it and ****s up the helis they decide on and end up going back to a twin to relearn on .


1 thing i cant recomned enough is a flight sim , ive been flying since i was about 13 or so but still get onto the sim a few times a week , 10% for learning still and 90% for stuffing around .

This is my flight sim setup on a 2.6 meter wide screen .... hehe .

edited : had to resize pix below
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Tue Mar 21 2006, 08:55PM ]</span>

[remotebandit]

flight sim setup

e107_files/public/43_dscf1403_small.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 43_dscf1403_small.jpg ]</span>

[JD]

show off :P

[M.J]

thats flight sim is the most fun ull eva have.

[remotebandit]

hey , atleast i can hover my choppers , where were you at last ... uhhm i think that pix in your signature says it all ... lol .

Only jk , i love ya joshie but seriously , get on the sims as much as you can before flying your rc

Its a free flight sim and depending on models you download off them ( for free as well ) some are absolutely spot on in accuracy .

the website is here for peopel who want to have a play :

http://n.ethz.ch/~mmoeller/fms/index_e.html
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Tue Mar 21 2006, 09:30PM ]</span>

[JD]

woot i can fly :P

http://rapidshare.de/files/16198737/me_flying_002.MOV.html

[fleggy]

Good stuff JD! And it looks like the dog is getting pretty used to it by now, seems pretty non-plussed in the background there :D

[JD]

yer he doesn;t care too much about anything :P

see me run under it hehe , thats how stable it is

I' uplading another shorter video now - with a little search light attached to it hehe

[JD]

here it is:

use IE to open it with

http://www.rcpics.net/img/75228

[remotebandit]

wow , sensational flying there joshie , 100% great .

These are the best things to learn on as they virtually hover themselves which gives you more time to concentrate on working out what controls do what and also just make it easier to give you perspectives of the heli in different angles without having to worry too much bout hovering .

YOur flying is actually very surprising allready so i reckon give it a while more on this till you can manouver through corridores and up stair cases and this will have you prepared for bigger and better .

Great stuff mate .

[JD]

told u I'm good ;)

heh nah - this thing is awesome, its fun doing laps around the garage, push it full forward, and then just rudder it around :D

[Birky]

I wish the wind in Perth would calm down so I could fly my heli.

[remotebandit]

lol , i thought the wind in Qld was worse atm

[JD]

no wind in the garage when u close the doors and window :D

[remotebandit]

Check this video clip .

Now WTF is this bloke thinking , i honestly dont know how much lower he thought he could go

43_helicrunch.wmv

[JD]

yer i seen that b4 - expensive lawn mower :P

[remotebandit]

lol , i can understand it id your on concrete ( i do it on the roof inside ) but on grass like that ... not possible

[fleggy]

hmmm, he looks very sheepish there, walking off rather fast...

[Matt]

both clips are entertaining! the tool who clips the grass and JD flying the chopper in his garage. i really, really want to do that too!

nice work JD!!

matt.

[JD]

hehe - yer i saw adams clips and that made me buy one lol

[remotebandit]

guys , they are that easy to learn on let me tell you and if you power up and push the sticks harder , you can actually get them up to speed as well .

Buy 1 Matt and also open up an new topic of RC Flight ... hehe

[JD]

yes rc flight sub forum!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RohaN]

Well i just got my Walkera 4 :D had some fun skimming it around the floor & breif jumps into the air on its training balls & getting a feel for it. not game enough to try hovering yet, think i might have a lash at the sim before i go any further.

[JD]

make sure you video it when you get it flying :D

[RohaN]

indeed, i'll take a photo now - i have a feeling it'll never look the same :p

[JD]

lol

[JD]

haha i've started using a mini trampolne as landing practice, its has a diamtere of about 1 meter, and if u land hard it absorbs it :D

I try and land right on the logo in the middle of it :D

good fun :)

[M.J]

funny story i thourght i would share with you guys.

last year i was demoing the twister fixed pitched heli for PHC at the big boys toys. I had been flying for a while then and was confident enough to fly infront of big crouds.

Anyway it was about 12.30 on sunday the busyiest time and the owner of PHC had arrived to view the stand, at this time i was doing a flight demo to a huge group of people.

We were situated next to a small open space (where i flew) and next to that there was a booth where people had the chance to win a car. they had those things you can lean on to right ur prize form on then u put it in it etc.

any way this was the biggest group of people i was flying for and their was a huge semi cirlce around me watching me fly.

My boss wanted to impress the public more with the immpressiveness of this heli so behind the car stall he pulled out a unused entry booth thing about a 1.2 m high and asked me to land on it with a landing space of about 30cm by 60cm.

The croud was getting bigger as i was attempting this hard landing trick and i did not want to crash in front of so many people.

I hovered over it and started slowly moving down. Because i was concentrating on the heli so much i didnt realize an old lady had pushed through the hoard of people in a semicircle and was now filling out her entry form on my landing space. i was slowly goin down and then i realized this lady who didnt realize their is a heli ova top of her..... she only realized when i accidentally tapped the top of her head with the skids to which i yelled holy shit. and pushed the throttle on full this lady got the shock of her life when she looked upwards.

Just amazed how she didnt realize that everyone was watching a heli not staring at a prize booth.

Funny story i thourght id share.

btw keep practicing J.D it will come soon.

[sirdriftalot]

ROFL MJ......thats the best sales 'pitch' for ANY heli in this thread.
lmfao.....pardon the pun.

i'll be in on monday to buy me one of the old lady crushing type helis please....

[M.J]

hahaha thats funny shit

[JD]

day 3 of flying stuff - here is my progress :D

http://www.rcpics.net/img/75320

[RohaN]

Thats awesome. those counter rotation helis look so damn stable!
my hovering is coming along pretty well i think, i can get it to hang around for a while before it goes whizzing off.
But anyway.
My main rotor has developed a nasty wobble, & i've made sure the flybar weights & paddles are even distances appart & all that stuff, which makes me think my main blades arent balanced, which is odd, becasue there was no wobble the first time i flew it.
i've checked the main shaft & its still straight & i havent had any major crashes other than a few times the rotor has hit the side of a couch/wall/bench/cat-box/garage door/my shins/my housemate ... well yeah :P
So whats the trick to balancing these things without buying some sort of balancing gizmo. The wobble only builds up from 1/3 throttle upwards so i cant even tell which blade it is.
Cheers for any help anyone. the wobble is causing me some gyro drift which is a pain in the ass when learning to hover

[remotebandit]

Rohan , its exactly like a real car tyre , at 60kph it might not shake the car but if you hit 70 , thats where the spin of your wheel hits the sweet spot and theres your wobble .

Ive found that if i hit blades to the ground on the micro helis , it can shave a touch off the tips hence get it to a cirtain speed and theres your sweet spot .

To be honest with you , at the price of blades , ive never really bothered trying to balance them , i just replace the pair which i know is hard to say to beginners as blade scrape is normal in learning .

Im sure other suggestions will be better but id just advise you to skim a TINY TINY TINY TINY TINY bit of the opposite not as damaged blade with a stanley knife or even just file it slightly from the outer edge to get the weight correct and balanced with the other 1 .

Good luck mate and please if anyone has other suggestions even thoughts against mine , mention them here .

Adam .

[remotebandit]

also , check the obvious , see if you havnt bent the main shaft

[RohaN]

Thanks a ton remote, i'll try that tonight.
Yeah i've taken the main blades off & given it a spin to make sure the main shaft and flybar collars/paddles werent the problem - they're fine, which points at the main blades

[JD]

sure ur blades arn;t too tight on the flybar thing?

They have to be slightly loose to allow for them to get to their own position sort of thing. and to also reduce damage if u crash

[sirdriftalot]

now i want a heli BAD.
do any LHS stock the venom outback rescue?
looks good with dual 370 motors & 11.1v li-po. :)

[Birky]

I thinks Stanbridges do a lot of Venom stuff

[remotebandit]

sir drift , thats a sensational heli ( exactly my model ) as is the model engines version .

Jd actually bought 1 off ebay with slightly different set up in motors and paid allot less but also seems to run just as good .

Which 1 did you get JD and how much .





<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Sun Apr 09 2006, 10:07AM ]</span>

[sirdriftalot]

cheers mate. if the guru says go, good enuff for me. :D :)

[JD]

i got the walkera #5-4

just type that into ebay and u should find it, i paid about $150 for it

[sirdriftalot]

dang, PHC didna have the outback rescue,
so i got the alpine rescue.......not AS good, but will do as a trainer.
as long as i'm rescuing SOMETHING i guess. :)
thanksagain for the great info on this thread......rocking,

[JD]

hahaha

whats the difference?

[sirdriftalot]

the snow dude! hehe

just put the battery in from charging, and the rear fins dropped off!
[obviously broken in package]

****! **** ****

[JD]

rear fins? those stupid plastic things on the rear boom? i took those off, all they do it make ur rear vibrate in the wind generated by the blades

[sirdriftalot]

dang vibrating rear, i hate that.
...i couldn't tell coz i wired the battery in and the motor
for the top rotor died. *sigh* they should package a new term..
'NGTF' - never got to fly. surely there's a logical explaination,
like, i am partially cursed.
i'll take it in to the shop, see what they reckon. :)

[remotebandit]

you poor bastard .

My 3.5 year old daughter can now fly this heli after ive trained her for a few weeks SD , im sure youll get it right once all sorted .

[sirdriftalot]

lol.....so i swapped it for the bell twister 47. much better qual
i FINALLY got flying! wooooooot! ground effects threw me off//
but once i got confident....zippo, hover-master!

wll do a review and post some vids when i get some free time. :)

[MICHAEL H]

Get a T-REX 450xl/se 8)

e107_files/public/420_kx015035a_11.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 420_kx015035a_11.jpg ]</span>

[JD]

heh, I finally bought new motors for my twin rotor, might make a nother little vid, of it outside :D - if it flies.. :S

[M.J]

do not buy a trex.

there ok but you can do alot alot better for a shitload cheaper
<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Wed Jun 07 2006, 07:31PM ]</span>

[MICHAEL H]

if its good enough for world champs, its good enough for me.

[Matt]

If i buy a heli, how many hours of training will I need before i can fly up, down, around and back down again?

[Beev 30]

Matt buy 1 and we cam learn together ...mj is that like the heli i bought the trex is is that bigger..looks sweet

[JD]

If i buy a heli, how many hours of training will I need before i can fly up, down, around and back down again?


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


depends what type of heli you buy, u can have a twin rotor heli hovering in 5 mins, and do whatever u want with it, they're super stable.

fixed pitch dragon fly style helis will need trinaing gear and a lot of sliding around on the ground, and going up and down and falling alot:P

collective pitch helis take a bit longer as well cos they needa bit of setup. - my first heli was a collective pitch - bad move.

[Beev 30]

oooooo thats not sounding good...i think i bought collective pitch

[JD]

put it on the shelf, and buy a twin rotor :D then once ur awesome at the twin rotor, attempt the CCPM

[Beev 30]

im ok might as well learn on a mans heli instead of a girls..lol just kidding

[MICHAEL H]

I'm learning with a collective pitch heli(t-rex) and its not so bad.

Alot of set-up but.

another pic of the trex 450se:

e107_files/public/420_kx0150secde_9newseb1.jpg
<span class='smalltext'>[ 420_kx0150secde_9newseb1.jpg ]</span>

[remotebandit]

i reckon 100 of my 3000 odd posts are for people to learn on the full function twin rotor helis .

They hover themselves and give you a chance to actually play with the controls to see what they do . If you have never flown b4 and cant get someone who does fly with you everey time you wanna go out , it will cost you time and money to get the thing hovering and its just going to be an awefull experience to put you off in the process .

Buy a twin rotor to learn on , then upgrade once you can actually move it around the house comfortably . My now 4 year old can fly the twin heli around the room with about 4 hours total fly time under her belt . Im gonna get her to really master this then give her a dragonfly .

Correct me if im wrong but ive guided sir drift , jd and someone else to this advice and theive all had massive success with them ( i cant remember who else bought 1 when i told them to )



<span class='smallblacktext'>[ Edited Wed Jun 07 2006, 11:49PM ]</span>

[Beev 30]

well you have convinced me its to hard so i guess no heli for me ..RB please cal T4 in Morning to tell him im nottaking it ..lol...ill tell him you told me not to get one...but really if its that hard and crashes all the time there is no point is there ..no one basically pics up the controls for the first time automatically knows how to fly do they ..and i have no friends who fly i just always wanted to try one but wasnt going to spend 400 on little id rather spend 1000 on bigger ep heli and not hafe to upgrade ever...well i seem to be wrong again and i wont be getting one ...More money for Baja or even a Baja2

[remotebandit]

no 1 flies a dragonfly first time and 99% of people will slap rotors with pavement b4 being able to hover , i dont care how good u are . remember , you now have 4 axis ti control and if ya get into trouble in the air , there is no such thing as breaks or failsafe .

bev , ring t4 and ask him bout the model engines twin rotor . counter rotating blades give you shit easy hover out of the box and more time to learn wat everything else does on transmitter . they may sound basic but they do also perform .

1 other thing i cant stress enough is to go on ebay and get a flight sim , with a week or so on it , you build your chance of hover from 1% to 80% imho , ive been flying helis for decades and still get on the sim all the time