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[Ade_Law]

far from it.

you can only hover and travel slowly. so it forces you to work on the basics.

it greatly improved my piro and traveling piros not to mention backwards and funnels. sure you can only do them to the left but its a start.

Ade

[chappers]

well said Ade.

[mo]

Hi Ade.
It is very strange that your reason for the purchase of an XRB, was what I am at this moment perfecting on my sim.
Come on Ade; you will have to come up with a better argument than this in the XRBs favour to convince me you have not wasted your money on the unessarsary purchase of just another toy.
I am not even convinced that the XRB type of helicopter is indeed a good purchase for the learner flier, I am far from being an expert, and my first heli was the Hoverfly, I found the XRB far easier to fly than anything I had previously attempted to get off the ground, and I am certain that it's life as a learning tool would be very short lived.
My advice to anyone in attempting to fly a heli is to go the simulater and hoverfly route, or if sufficient indoor flying room, perhaps the Hummingbird type would be ideal, and then onto IC powered helicopters, which after using the previous should not present any problems.
It has saddened me Ade; to find that you have now split the North, and South, devide, and you have committed treason by joining forces with Dave and Chappers, I will now offer you this chance to redeem yourself, by owning up and telling me truthfully, that the the XRB type of helicopter is nothing but an older child's toy.
GOOD FLYING.
Mo.

[Butuz]

Well I wouldnt go that far.

I think i was a bit harsh on my twister bell in my earlier post. I was a bit unfair towards it.

Anything that helps you learn the hand-eye-brain cordination required to fly a helicopter is sureley a valid learning tool? Doesnt matter whether it is virtual simulated pixels, or a pint sized well behaved heli.

The coaxial copters may be easy to control compared to the fixed and collective pitched older brothers - BUT they still require the basics of flying, to fly. Your brain needs to react to where the helicopter is on its X-Y-Z axis, and more importantly where it is going on its X-Y-Z axis.

You can learn tail in, nose and side in hovering with a coaxial heli far easier than you can with any other type. You can even learn slow forward flight, circles, figure of 8's, pirouettes. What more would you want to learn as beginner?

Butuz

[Ade_Law]

I know its terrible isnt it. How can a northerner be right about something? Maybe I an wrong, I do have Midlands and scottish blood in me, that averages out to somewhere in north yorkshire....

oh dear... I am doomed! :-)

Seriously tho, Something I have found with the training is people learn faster if life is made easier for them, take some of the work load away and they pick it up as a whole faster. I do this on the real thing by removing some of the controls and working them myself.

The XRB does a similar thing by being positively stable in that you get some speed up and let go of the controls it will slow down. In a reasonably small room it still hovers like their bigger brothers it still has to be flown to hover.

The forward flight characteristics of the model are improved by swapping the flybar link and changing the flybar weights.

If you have some RC experience then one of the hummingbird type models are flyable but for a complete newbie they are so unstable its almost a joke. Sure they get some people bitten by the bug but I think the scare off more and their forward flight antics are even worse.

I personally dont think any of the micros are great learning tools. You cant beat tick time on the real thing with sim time a relatively close second place.

For those with sim capable computers I reconend the lama it does seem to do the job nicely in that respect. At some point I am going to buy myself another lama, because they are just good fun.

arent all helis just big boys toys at the end of the day?

Ade

[Gunner]

Hi everybody,

Many thanks to all of you for your input. Well, after agonisingly stuttering my finger over the "add to basket" button, I've finally gone and done it - I've ordered myself a little heli. Which one I here you ask. Well, didn't go for the Twister Bell cos of all of the negative reviews I've read, although I have also read plenty of great reviews as well. Didn't go for the Hummingbird cos I was worried that it may frustrate me too much which may negatively affect my view of this hobby. So, all said and done, I have just ordered myself the Hirobo XRB SR from Revolution Models. I can't find a bad review of it anywhere. It may fly slower and it doesn't look quite as cool as many of the other options but it's durable, reliable and, according to all of the reviews I've read, flies extremely well. Good indoor choice I think and, being very stable, will allow me to concentrate on training my brain to use the sticks instinctively without having to wrestle with instabiliity at the same time. All in all, I'm pretty chuffed with my purchase and can't wait for it to arrive. This little heli does seem to be very favoured and I have been pleasantly surprised to read posts from many seasoned experts who list the little XRB amongst their fleet.

As soon as I've had enough stick time with the first member of my fleet, I'll try and post back to give my opinion which, hopefully, may be of use to others like myself who have to face the daunting decision of which heli to buy first.

Oh, by the way, did some research on the web last night regarding flying clubs near Edinburgh - turns out that there is a dedicated heli-club just 2 junctions down the M8 - what a pleasure.


Once again, thanks to all of you for your input.

[Butuz]

I hope you pick it up quickly mate!

I have to admit - the XRB llama looks to me exactly like a twister bell 47 - except that its over double the price.

Butuz

[Ade_Law]

great to hear you got the XRB you will be happy.

there are a couple of key differences.

lama is a better package, transmitter is nicer and it just has a quality feel about it.

Lama has foam blades, these break in a crash meaning none of the energy goes back into the rotor system. Other than blades the only parts I have broken have been bits of plastic that have no affect on the models flying capabilities. This also keeps the wife, kids and ornaments safer.

Ade

[Gunner]

Thanks for your reassurance Ade. At the end of the day, it was the only choice that made perfect sense - great training aid, durable, reliable and something that I will still have fun with after I move onto something bigger - you can't fly a Raptor inside the house on a cold, rainy Scottish day. You obviously know what you're talking about and I know that you are a respected member of this forum so I would like to offer you and eveybody else that sang the praises of the XRB my sincerest thanks. My only problem now is that I don't have it yet - I hate waiting for delivery.

[Ade_Law]

take a peek out the window...

the more you do the more likely you are to see it turn up :-)

Ade

[chappers]

well SMOOTHOUND, 4 little 47g floating around last night, NONE of which gave any trouble! so it must be you!?

[Smoothound]

Fine, glad you've got good ones up there :P

I'll stick with my XRB.

My LHS has so far had no real problems with those but have a workshop full of Twister Bells, mind you there is a new kid on the block some gunship dual rotor thing which appears to be even worse than the Twister Bell :roll: :twisted:

[chappers]

must be a small workshop?

[smiles]

As a newcomer to this great hobby i started with a fixed pitched twister and basically wasted well over a 100,these things are virtually impossible to fly indoors and i was ready to give up untill i discovered the hirobo xbr ,its the nuts!! yes it is easy to fly but as you say it does start to train your brain and co-ordination with the sticks, i think you'll have alot of fun with this heli and you'll soon be wanting something bigger and better.

Smiles.

P.S Keep lots of spare blades as you'll be gutted when you think your doing well and then trash it on the ceiling light only to find you already fitted the last set.

[ChopChop]

Fixed pitched twister wast of time ??

well iv been in the hobby just 3 months and iv got a Fp Twister and im having a great time with it. It was hard to start with but i love it and im hovring fine. Im not doing much els with it mined you but there is not much els you can do with 1


So i hope iv not wasted my time with it