GAUI 3 Blade Mini Zoom

[scallybert]

I ordered one of these http://www.buzzflyer.co.uk/Sub-Micro...lade/p-97-677/ last weekend, it arrived on Tuesday, and I've spent a few hours putting it together & setting it up.

I bought it with a DX7, AR6100e and the recommended electronics pack. This package wasn't cheap - ~£420 - but it sounds a lot less when you take the DX7 into account.

I've done a few quick (indoor - 15' * 15') flights today, and I'm really pleased. Amazingly, the first flight was pretty much straight into a reasonable-ish hover.

It flew quite nicely, and given that I'm a beginner to flying, and definitely to setting up, I think this has all gone really well. I reckon I can learn a lot from this helicopter and associated kit.

The set-up was an education in itself, and Buzzflyer are helpful people.

Did I say I was pleased with it and myself..?

[fatmantom]

sounds good...

get us a videooo!!!

[scallybert]

get us a videooo!!!

I'll see what I can do next week. [Best practice, hadn't I..?]

If anyone is interested, I'll happilly prattle on about why I bought this particular helicopter, as opposed to others I'd considered.

[fatmantom]

go for it...

it does seem a rather odd choice to go for,,,,

i never even heard of it

but im guessing its coz u liked the scale aspect of it???

[scallybert]

but im guessing its coz u liked the scale aspect of it???

Not really - though I like it being a bit different.

All my flying is currently indoors, in rooms rather than halls. I'm not sure I particularly want to move outside right now. This limits things quite a lot.

I've got a problematic HoneyBee CP2, which can just about be flown in these rooms (more so if I was better, and it had less problems, I suspect.)

I fly a BCX2, which is great and I learn from it, but is a co-ax.

I also fly a BuzzFly. This is interesting. It can be really, really good fun; but seems to eat motors even when rested a lot between batteries.

I wanted a single rotor helicopter, small enough to fly indoors, with the quality of the BCX2 (or better) that was going to be suitable for practising hovering, and generaly learning. I was also very keen on it having a decent radio set-up.

I like E-Flite, so a Blade 400 3D looked interesting, but it's bigger than the HBCP2, and seemed a handful in Phoenix. Other possible E-Flite helis don't have 2.4GHz.

The GAUI has 34cm rotor span (same as a BCX2), and a brushless motor. It will run with 2S LiPos, and I already have quite a number of these from BCX2s, LV4, etc, plus several chargers. It's supplied 'barebones', plus an optional electronics package (servos, gyro, ESC), and various options on Tx & Rx. The 2.4GHz option was an AR6100e (same as BCX2 & B4003D) and a DX7. Package price for the DX7 was £150 - about £100 less than they go for on their own.

While I was quite bothered about a 3 blade heli (which doesn't have a flybar), I figured that I was only really gambling the £130 for the barebones kit. If I didn't get on with it, or managed to completely trash it, that's what couldn't be salvaged/transferred.

The pictures and documentation on the BuzzFlyer and GAUI sites come across as quality. [It's like that in the flesh. It has a 'technical' and 'class' feel. It compares to a BuzzFly like a BCX2 does to a LamaV4.]

So I reckoned it would be like a bigger BuzzFly (but significantly smaller than a HBCP2), with a 2.4GHz radio, better electronics, and a much more robust motor, that could be used with my existing LiPos and chargers, and would get me ~40% off a DX7. (This is the only way I persuaded myself to spend this much money on it - I alternated between thinking it was massively logical to completely insane.)

There's a similar sized 2 blade 3D GAUI. I didn't go for this as it's more expensive, and I'm wary of a bias towards 3D flying making something a handfull to learn on. Havng said that, flybars seem to allow you to calm things down. Should I feel like I have too much money and too few helicopters in the future I'm sure this will appeal... [Though it will still be more than a B4003D, using my existing DX7.]

Putting it together has been a learning experience. While it's tempting to to try and avoid this with RTF models, they're only RTF until you crash/break them, when you then need to pull them apart, and most lilkely do some set-up as you reassemble.

First flight was a complete high (especially as it went so well), a bit of relief, but really pleased at being able to fly it, and having been able to get it airworthy.

I think that how good an option it is for people depends on all kinds of factors, but I think it has a fair few plus points, especially if you want to move beyond RTF.

[Boggy]

nice to see somebody taking a different route and suceeding! good luck with it scally.
have you no interest at all in outdoor flight??

[scallybert]

nice to see somebody taking a different route and suceeding!

Thanks.

Obvioulsy I'm still waiting for it all to go horribly wrong...

have you no interest at all in outdoor flight??

I don't know. Probably not at the moment.

The reality of flying RC helis is very different from what I thought when I got into it, but I don't know where I'll end up.

In some respects I'm using small models like people tend to use simulators - ie quite a bit on a daily basis, to learn the basics.

While I'm sure I'll still fancy the quick heli-fix that you can get from small models in the lounge/in a workroom; when I get better (and if I sort out why I get on so much worse with Phoenix than with real models - I have some ideas) maybe I'd be okay flying a bigger model outside on a less frequent basis.

I'm sure that outside (or maybe the underground car park I have my eye on) is the only way to do the kind of stuf you can't really do in a 20' x 20' room. Though maybe I can find bigger rooms...

[fatmantom]

well... theres some good justification ,,, reminds me of writing coursework lol


im quiete impressed and happy for you that you managed to set it all up without much help it seems,, it must be a different sett-up for a 3 blade heli and so im guessing there's also littel support out there for you aswell!

so well done have fun with it.........and get us a videooo

[scallybert]

well... theres some good justification ,,, reminds me of writing coursework lol

Part of my day job involves persuading people to let me spend chunks of money on IT kit - I guess the mind-set spills over...

im quiete impressed and happy for you that you managed to set it all up without much help it seems,, it must be a different sett-up for a 3 blade heli and so im guessing there's also littel support out there for you aswell!

I'm pleased with myself. While I'm new to helicopters, I've got something of an engineering background (from a degree a long time ago, motorbikes, and working in one of the country's/world's best Mech Eng departments), so I had a head start. The manuals aren't bad (as long as you can figure out which bits apply) and BuzzFlyer gave me 'how to' guide they've been working on, and answered some questions, and I've picked up a lot from people here

TBH, it's largely a case of getting the swash-plate level, and the 3 blades synched (I only did this roughly via simple technique, and the tracking looked ok), oh and the upper swash-plate lock.

This last thing sets the angle (in the rotor shaft axis) between the upper swash-plate, and blade grips. ie about 90deg. Though I've read here that 95 is better. I just did it so it looked about right. I'm sure this could be tuned, but I'll do that when I can fly well enough to notice.

The DX7 set-up was interesting, but I'm an advanced studen of applied-guessology... [I reckon people here would have helped me out if I got stuck there, though.]

One thing about 3 blades is there's no fly-bar. That actually makes it much simpler mechanically. http://www.gaui.com.tw/en/100-3Blades.pdf I'm not sure what it does for stability, but it feels ok, though. Maybe 3 blades acts more as a gyro than 2 (I feel I should know this - but it's probably quite complex.)

and get us a videooo

I'll see what I can do.

I've come into work to fly it bit more. I've run a couple of batteries (E-Flite BCX2 ones, as it happens) through it in a space about the size of a double garage. Good fun, and you can feel the quality of stuff.

Then again, I chucked a BCX2 around down there afterwards, and that was great too - but different.

This does feel like a good way to learn.

[scallybert]

Video

[...]and get us a videooo

http://www.crushkilldestroy.co.uk/carp/ It's the one below the BuzzFly - GAUI also seem to call it a pixy ZAP.

It's really dwarfed by the (HBCP2) training gear. The rotor span is only 34cm.

I was really stressed. The clear space was smaller than it looks.

[fatmantom]

yes it will fly much better with out the trainning gear and it looks to me that you are ready to take them off!

it looks nice and stable aswell. is that at a school? do they not have a sports hall? get in there and start doing some circuits :P

[pompeyjohn]

I used to have one. absolutely bloody tiny bolts. I must have lost dozens of them putting it together.

[scallybert]

I used to have one. absolutely bloody tiny bolts. I must have lost dozens of them putting it together.

How did you get on with it ? (Was it you that described flying it in a carport on here ?)

Where did you get replacement bolts ?

[jiberjaber]

I have one, I got it out a couple of weekends ago after leaving it over winter and had loads of fun in the garden with it.

Video here:

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/videos...fcb0b968dbbbd6

[pompeyjohn]

(I dont have a carport - so not me)

I loved it - you have to get the head speed up quite high for it to be stable. Fitting a 401 helped massively.

I cant remember where I got the bolts. They were size M1.