Any one from or close to northampton? I need help.

[Floyer]

As the title says im in need of some help, let me explain... I brought a raptor 30 v1 which im sure some of you will say is very dated and an obsolete model. But It flys i have seen it flying and its what i want to learn with. I have a lot of experience with nitro models however helicopters are all new to me but its something im keen on learning. I have 8 acres of my own private land to fly on and im looking for someone local that would come down to show me how its done and to bring your own and show me some stuff. I have tried flying it but its scares the hell out of me and i end up in a panic, i feel that i need help for my own/others safety and wont be attempting it again without assistance. I know it takes a lot of practice and wont happen in a day but i dont know where to start and any help is appreciated.* obviously fuel costs etc will be covered. Thanks Adam.

[Boggy]

Welcome to rcheliaddicts Adam

[Mike Sanders]

Welcome to the forum Adam. The Raptor 30 is a good beginner's machine in my opinion.

The MK Heli club is between Yardley Hastings and Grendon. We have a good few members who would help you. Have a look at our website.

http://www.mkheliclub.co.uk/

I will be there on Saturday, as will other committee members.

[kenny d]

Hi Adam , it can be daunting & frustrating to begin with but the rewards are high , stick in & you'll get there , IMO going to a club would be best , Good luck , Kenny d

[Sheldrake]

Hi Adam, the Raptor is a great heli to start on, may be dated but spares are still plentiful. As well as the MK club depending where you are in Northants we have several Raptors in our club and fly at the gliding centre (details below - CMHC).
PM me for details.

Good luck with it and welcome to the addiction!

[Pj1969]

8 acres??? Wow, let's get a fun fly going and we can all show you something

[myxiplx]

That's probably a cracking machine to fly, but I wouldn't start there for learning the basic skills. You'll crash a fair bit in the first few months, and on a larger model each crash is both expensive and time consuming to fix.

A simulator and a micro are a great way to learn to fly, and once you're happy you have the basics down, you can step straight up to flying the Raptor.

There are a ton of micros that are great for learning, I would suggest taking a look at:

- Blade nQX. It's a quadcopter, but a great learning tool. The safe modes allow you to learn easily, and work up to the advanced mode which handles just like a heli. And with it being a quad, it's extremely tough, and stupidly cheap to repair (most times you just pop a blade back on).

- Blade 230S. This is an outdoor beginner heli. Just like the nQX it has safe modes built in, and it's designed for learning on. It's a bigger model though, so you will tend to damage things in a crash.

- Blade nCP S. This is an indoor micro heli. Fiddly to work on, but again it has safe mode. I'm putting it last though as I've heard of some issues with the safe modes on this little model, and to be honest for indoor practice I would recommend the nQX every day.

Pick up one of them and a simulator and you're set, they'll teach you everything you need to fly that Raptor

On the sims, I reckon RealFlight and neXt are top of the tree at the moment. Heli-X and Phoenix are also popular, although I don't think Phoenix flies as accurately as the others for 3D flying.

[Floyer]

Thanks for all your welcoming replies, wasn't expecting so many! I did take it down to mk heli club a few months ago and not mentioning any names but the guy basically told me that unless i have a £1000 trex it wasn't going to happen and palmed me off, i was very dissapointed and i figured that wasn't the place for me. I have phoenix sim, i have been practicing on it regularly learning to hover different directions and definitely improving. any other clubs local to me?

[stargazer]

Thanks for all your welcoming replies, wasn't expecting so many! I did take it down to mk heli club a few months ago and not mentioning any names but the guy basically told me that unless i have a £1000 trex it wasn't going to happen and palmed me off, i was very dissapointed and i figured that wasn't the place for me. I have phoenix sim, i have been practicing on it regularly learning to hover different directions and definitely improving. any other clubs local to me?

I am a member of Mk Heli club,maybe you spoke to the wrong person the day you visited.In my experience their are a number of very experienced flyers that will happily give up their time to help and if your Heli is in a flyable condition they will set it up for you and get you flying no matter what Heli it is.In fact with do not get enough people starting out nowadays like you,so I think you would be very welcome at the club.

[Mark_T]

Just to add a little to this, the MK Heli Club is very welcoming to new members and we put in a lot of time helping them setup their often, somewhat unfortunate, first purchases

Getting Raptors into flyable condition is something of a specialty as we see a lot of them.

However we are a club, and the members time is freely given to support other members, so if you want to join, even if there are no spaces at the time we've still been know to offer help, but if you don't want to join and just want training so you can fly on your own land then there isn't a lot we are going to be able to do as we don't provide training and support just on a walk-up basis as it can and does take several weeks to get a new pilot to a point where he will be safe to fly on his own and frankly sometimes it takes several weeks just to get some of the older and less well maintained 2nd hand purchases to a state where they can be safely flown.

We certainly don't insist on expensive new equipment, but we would want to see a desire to become part of the club.

Perhaps there was a mismatch in terms of what you wanted vs what we were able to give, but the majority of us started with Raptors and similar lower cost helis and we have nothing against them obviously...

If it really is just training and setup you want then there are a number of great people offering paid training and setup services not far from you, it is something worth considering perhaps...

[electricsceadu]

mk boys and girls doesn't Coolice offer training?
my be it would be worth you arranging a meet up at MK
the raptor is a great heli to learn to fly
thousands have been used as a first heli, it took over from the shuttle as the training heli to have

[waveydavey]

Ian (Coolice) uses his own field close to him for training etc. in Wellingborough, not far from Northampton.

[electricsceadu]

i'm now educated with the correct info
but near to our friend that wishes to have some training/advice


pm coolice on here to arrange a meet up young sir

[mr magoo]

nothing wrong with the raptor at ll in our club member learned with nexus and that old than a raptor

[Floyer]

glad to hear my heli isnt a bad one, its just something for learning with before progressing! wellingborough is close to me i will drop him a pm. Thanks for all your replys guys, what a great forum!