Putting the cart before the horse (again) :)

[Mike Sanders]

It's started.

[SteveD]

Well another four batteries worth of hovering around the front room. Including some at a 90 degree angle. What I need now is a nice calm day so I can take it outside

[Chrisrw]

Keep the v911 (if it survives the first week!) as it's useful for sedate orientation practice later on.
I started with the v911 less than three months ago. within a week (after some research) purchased a msrx which I still love now (but I can now see its limitations and foibles).

I now have a nano cpx, mcpx, 130x and just picked up a 450x. I do have a vague memory of someone mention the addictiveness of this hobby back them .....

[SteveD]

I'm already looking at the Blade 200 SR X as a next step and I see there are some very reasonably priced DX8 transmitters on the bay of E Which would seem to be a fairly future proof way to go. I'm looking to get a sim for the PC so a decent TX is a must and I can't see the point of buying something I'll want to upgrade fairly soon.

Can anyone recommend a good sim for Linux? I've tried the Pheonix demo under Wine but it won't play.

In the hover I seem to have cracked lateral/fore and aft movement but I need to work on maintaining altitude in turns which I'm hoping a sim will help with. I'm still having to think when hovering but I'm hoping it will click in like circuits did when I was training for my ppl. To start with the aircraft was definitely well in front of me but with hours all over a sudden I was in front of the aircraft

[Peteski]

Steve - As a fellow newbie I can say that the DX8 is excellent and should be pretty future proof. My local shop advised me to go down that route over the newer DX6 (same price) for the extra channels when I progress onto the more serious outdoor helis. I'm also going to get a 200 SRX in the spring for safe outdoor learning, especially as I'll be flying solo at first. From the videos I've seen it looks like the perfect outdoor training heli.

[myxiplx]

The v911 is a great first heli, tough as nails too. The only time I really broke mine was a full speed crash into a fork lift, and even that only snapped a blade :-D

A Spektrum transmitter is definitely a good start, they're one of the most popular brands so you'll find plenty of people able to help you understand them. And definitely get a sim, while the v911 is fun, you'll find CP heli's are a *lot* more lively and expensive. A great analogy to understand them is this:

- Imagine a shallow bowl, with a marble at the bottom. You can tip the bowl to move the marble about, but when you stop it'll tend to come to rest at the bottom. That's pretty much how your v911 flies.
- Now take that bowl, turn it upside down, and try to balance the marble on the top! CP Helicopters are *lively* (and addictive) :-D

Rather than the 200 SR X, can I suggest a Blade nQX as the next step after the v911. It's small enough to fly indoors, which also means it doesn't tend to break if you hit things, and while it's a quad it has both safe and agility modes, and the agility mode is going to be far closer to the way a CP heli flies than the 200 SR X would be.

If you practice with the v911, a nQX quad, and a sim then you've got everything you need to learn the skills to fly pretty much anything you want.

[myxiplx]

PS. I believe the neXt heli sim works on Linux:
Aerobatics - Top Secret?

[SteveD]

This was probably quite funny to watch. I managed to hit the light fitting in our front room, the halogen bulb blew which tripped the lights, the bit of the balance bar hit me in the face and I dropped the TX

oops1.jpg
oops2.jpg

The TX still works ok and I've just ordered a load of spares from Amazon and the bay of E·

[Peteski]

Rather than the 200 SR X, can I suggest a Blade nQX as the next step after the v911. It's small enough to fly indoors, which also means it doesn't tend to break if you hit things, and while it's a quad it has both safe and agility modes, and the agility mode is going to be far closer to the way a CP heli flies than the 200 SR X would be.

I'll second that after taking the above advice myself. The Nano QX is a fantastic learning tool and virtually indestructible - basically just 4 little motors and a circuit board. No delicate linkages, gears, swash plates, flybars, servos, bearings etc to worry about. In agility mode it handles just like the smaller CP helis do in the sim i.e. very twitchy and hard to keep under control. In safe mode it's still very quick, but much easier to thrash around the house in a tight space under full control and if you do hit something it just bounces off and usually continues flying. I've also got a couple of co-axial helis, but the nQX flies rings around them. It's amazingly agile and precise. Still planning on getting a 200 SRX for outdoor training though, but mainly because I can't get to a club anytime soon. Otherwise I would probably skip that step and move straight onto a larger CP heli.

[SteveD]

Well yesterday, because I was getting a bit frustrated at the lack of room at home, I took the V911 into work. It was great to have more space to play in but I was tempted by the fact there was no wind outside. All went great until I went a little high and found there was a wind above the buildings. Oops, it took off downwind like a scalded cat and vanished from sight. My mate was convinced that it had come down "just past those trees" so off I went for a look. Sure enough, I found it in the entrance way of a company about 500yds away, laying right in the middle of their gateway. As they have a constant stream of artics going in there I can only assume that what saved it from getting run over was the fact that it was dead center in the gateway and the lorry wheels had gone either side of it.

One new buckle later and it was back flying (indoors).

Lesson learnt

[myxiplx]

I think we all learn that when we first fly micro heli's. What seems a nice calm day changes completely once you get above buildings, and fixed pitch models like the v911 don't have the power to fight it, and can't force their way down either. All you can do is watch it like a hawk and try to find it later :-D

[Ritchieme]

Welcome mate. I have a V911 I don't fly it now as i have moved onto 6 and 700 size but the 911 was an excellent heli for the price, in fact it was so cheap i bought a second one as a spare and never needed it as its such a tough heli, 100s of crashes. I did change the tx to an L' cheapo turnigy 9x (about £30) i must admit it made a difference.

This was the last time I flew it

V911 with Turnigy 9x: http://youtu.be/BwB7xQ3nbBA

[myxiplx]

PS. As you improve, hit the 'mode 2' button on the transmitter outdoors which gives you a much livelier helicopter, and eventually move the links between the blades and the swash out to the longer swash balls. That combination gives you the most speed you can get out of the v911 and handles breezes much better.

[tomatwalden]

Well yesterday, because I was getting a bit frustrated at the lack of room at home, I took the V911 into work. It was great to have more space to play in but I was tempted by the fact there was no wind outside. All went great until I went a little high and found there was a wind above the buildings. Oops, it took off downwind like a scalded cat and vanished from sight. My mate was convinced that it had come down "just past those trees" so off I went for a look. Sure enough, I found it in the entrance way of a company about 500yds away, laying right in the middle of their gateway. As they have a constant stream of artics going in there I can only assume that what saved it from getting run over was the fact that it was dead center in the gateway and the lorry wheels had gone either side of it.

One new buckle later and it was back flying (indoors).

Lesson learnt

Flying outdoors wasn't the mistake, you just need a calm day. The V911, like any fixed-pitch heli with a 45-degree flybar/balance bar is very susceptible to wind. To really progress, you do need to fly outdoors. I have to say, I have a small quad for flying indoors too and whilst it will teach you orientations to a degree - it will do that no more so than a good simulator.

Quads are simply NOT like helicopters - especially when you move to collective pitch. I would say stick with the plan to get a 200SRX - not having the 45-degree flybar, it can handle wind better - not as well as a collective pitch heli, but certainly better than the V911.

From there, maybe consider collective pitch in the form of an mCPX (BL or v2) or if you're patient, a 450-sized heli.

BOTTOM LINE ... outdoors is where you want to be, for indoor practice get a simulator - Phoenix, RealFlight or neXt are the typical ones. None work on Linux I'm afraid so you may need to consider dual-booting your PC, or buy a cheap(*) second PC for the job.

(*)accurc needs a high-spec PC (for the physical simulation, less to do with GFX cards.)

[SteveD]

Doh I forgot Mode 2, that might have been just enough to get upwind

I've been playing with simulators, I've got neXt installed on this machine, and the Phoenix demo on my laptop. I tried the Phoenix demo under Wine and also on a Virtual Box machine inside Linux but it wouldn't play so I'm more or less resigned to using the laptop/Phoenix combo and I'll keep plugging away at getting it working on Virtual Box. That would be ideal because I can then output via HDMI to the TV.

All I need now is a TX and there I keep wavering between a DX6 and a DX8. They are both about the same price (with the rechargeable pack for the DX6) from my local shop (Hurricane Models) and I'm leaning towards the newer tech of the 6 which I reckon will do me for a good while.