Oops! Think I'm out of my depth...

[ukbajadave]

Hi, I'm Dave and I'm into large scale RC cars, specifically the HPI Baja. I was after some radio gear and ended up getting a blade 400 in the deal. One of the guys I run cars with has a heli that I've seen a few times and found cool. He pointed me in this direction to improve my knowledge.
Having looked at some posts I'm beginning to think this isn't the perfect beginners helicopter I've decided I'm not even going to switch it on until I've spent time on the simulator and gone along to my local flying club so my first question is:

Can I learn to fly with this helicopter?

By the way, you have a great collection of smilies on this forum

[David Drew]

The Blade 400 is fine as a beginner's heli. Get stuck in

Welcome to the bottomless money-pit!!! Great hobby.

David

[cupracing]

I think the blad 400 is a great heli for a beginner as it is quite stable, alot of people like myself go and buy a cheap one of ebay only to find they are the most unstable and unreliable helis to buy and thus you find yourself spending more time fixing it than flying it. Just have lots of sim time and go with Boggys settings for the 400 and you will do fine. Happy flying!

[Boggy]

http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/f105/d...ade-400-11183/
http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/f105/t...lade-400-9329/

its a great little heli much more fun than cars

[HeliNoobie]

i hope you dont plan on running your DX6i on your baja as its illegal , aircraft 2.4ghz is different from rc car 2.4 ghz , something to do with the power output i believe ,

Good luck with your heli mate its a fantastic sport , i sold all of my nitro cars as they quickly became boring lol too 2D lol...

[heliTV]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Yes and No!!

The Blade is a great little helicopter for the money and I get a lot of fun out of mine...

If you're prepared to spend loads of time on the simulator, get some good training gear, have some help from someone experienced and take it very slowly then Yes, IMO you can learn on it.

Otherwise No. I started with a contra-rotator/Phoenix sim and progressed to the Blade after 6 weeks or so. I crashed within 10 seconds and had quite a frustrating time learning until I got some proper lessons and practiced a lot. I'm still very much a beginner but just crash a bit less now...

I would hold onto the Blade and get Phoenix to use with the DX6i (which I presume came with the Blade?) and really practice until you're comfortable with it. Maybe hookup with someone local who can test fly the Blade and show you how its done...

Any questions, just post - there's a bunch of us on here with B400s

All the best

Graham

Edit : Shame on me, I forgot Boggy's (the B400 god!) settings. I'll say 10 "hail helis" before breakfast

[ukbajadave]

The Blade 400 is fine as a beginner's heli. Get stuck in

Welcome to the bottomless money-pit!!! Great hobby.

David

Oh no! No one told me helis were another money pit. I've already put thousands in the Baja

[gramey]

Welcome to the money pit, I've been into RC cars for a while with my son, 1/10, 1/5 and currently 1/8 nitro truggies and it's taking me a while to get to grips with heli's. You need to be 'on them' all the time, not like a car where you get a rest on the straights, plus 4 more channels.
I've found my Blade very twitchy but go to the Blade 400 forum and check out Boggy's sticky for beginners settings for the DX6i and Blade. It will help calm it down and make life a bit easier, not easy but easier, to start with.
Have fun but buy plenty of spares, you'll need them.

[AJ Jelly]

Hello and welcome. You will find that helis are great, alot of time to learn but in the end it's all worth it. I am just getting the hang of things after spending lots of time on the sim.

Its alot more fun than the cars, I have an HPI Baja too, but would rather fly my heli these days

[heliward0]

i hope you dont plan on running your DX6i on your baja as its illegal , aircraft 2.4ghz is different from rc car 2.4 ghz , something to do with the power output i believe ,

Good luck with your heli mate its a fantastic sport , i sold all of my nitro cars as they quickly became boring lol too 2D lol...

haha looking to run my havoc from my dx7 when a ar6100 turns up,,, i dont see wot the bother is its not like it will interfere with anything!!!!

[cupracing]

yep agree, I have lots of rc cars which are powered by mamba max brushless motors and 3s lipos capable of over 60mph however heli are alot more fun and a big adrenaline rush. the downsides are the heartache when you crash

[ukbajadave]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

i hope you dont plan on running your DX6i on your baja as its illegal , aircraft 2.4ghz is different from rc car 2.4 ghz , something to do with the power output i believe ,

Good luck with your heli mate its a fantastic sport , i sold all of my nitro cars as they quickly became boring lol too 2D lol...

I looked into the legality of it and all I could find was this
Ofcom information sheet
UKRCC 2.4Ghz airborne models
UKRCC 2.4Ghz surface models
where the permitted power appears to be the same at 100mW? All info gratefully received at this stage

[jboweruk]

Welcome to the forum mate, and a big welcome to the unofficial Blade 400 owners club. She is a handful, but can be tamed out of that. Then as you learn she becomes a sweet machine to fly. Love mine to bits, does it show?

[HeliNoobie]

im not sure of the exact details mate i will ask at the local model store who told me

[cjcj1949]

An mcx is a good way to start. Have a look through the posts. Sorts out orientation and can be flown anywhere indoors. Some people find the 450 helis too hard to fly. The bigger helis are easier to fly and to break. The sim doesn't really prepare you for the feeling of flying a real heli. If you like a challenge you'll be ok. Lessons are much cheaper than flying your own heli.

Chris