In Need Of Some Good Advice

[Brodie6]

Ok, I should get this out of the way first after reading a great deal on this excellent community site, I was searching for a heli after having a go on some three channel diddy toy and knew nothing about helicopters, I live in Kent and decided to call my lhs, it's owned by a certain Mr Tilbury who advised me to buy a Century heli to start off, I bought a Spirit on the advice of the sales rep and decided to see what everyone thought of them on here, I know, too impulsive, should have consulted you guys first!!!, so many stories of bad Century products etc, my question is this, I've thoroughly enjoyed my helicopter and I'm getting quite good with her, obviously being a co-ax she is pretty stable but I've learned to hover both tail in and nose in and can fly her pretty well (I'm the senior tech at my local theatre and have an entire auditorium to fly in, I'm well spoiled) but I now want to go a little further on but I'm a bit wary of asking for advice after thinking the advice I'd get from Mr Tilbury would be solid, is there a brand that has a good beginner heli with a good rep for being well built?, my work is pretty much constant so I have no time to build a heli and all the best ones seem to be in kit form which I'd love to try but like I say time just won't allow it, I guess you guys get asked this all the time but I don't want to make the error of listening to sales pitch when all I want is good advice, I would really appreciate the help as I am totally addicted to my heli, I did crash her last week and the wait for my replacement parts was not a happy time.

Thanks in advance.

Brodie

[matt27]

might sound a bit stupid from wht you have said already but could you build it in the evenings?
do it for example now?
might take a while but some people take 3/4months and sometimes longer to make a kit
just food for thought
if not then i personally think a blade 400 would be ideal as it comes with dx6i and is rtf so no faffing
good luck

[Brodie6]

Hey Matt, I have actually been looking at the Blade 400, looks awesome and some of the footage I've seen of it being flown looks brilliant, I'm a theatre technician so most of my evenings are taken up by running lighting or sound for shows and with my four year old whirlwind of a daughter and a son coming in about three months my days off are spent chasing her around, she loves helicopters too (she thinks there must be some kind of magic holding it in the air, cracks me up) so unfortunately building is pretty much off the cards, the 400 seems to get good reviews on here though.

Cheers

[matt27]

yer fair enough
one thing i would recommend is getting a better gyro for the 400
al tho it comes with one that will do the job and is fine for hovering and very simple manouvers but it just does the job
good luck bud

[Brodie6]

Cool, I've just watched the 400 review video with Ade flying one straight out of the box, incredible, I can see myself sitting at my laptop in the control room doing some hard research, the technology in these heli's is still freaking me out a bit, I'm still a newbie but the buzz is just brilliant, seems like it'll probably be a 400 for me, that and a few generously sized nappies (for me not the kids), it's miles away from a co-ax.

[machasm]

Hi Brodie6 and welcome to the forum,
As others will probably mention a sim is a good way to get used to flying a CP heli although by the sounds of it you seem to have some of your orientations sorted already.
The Blade 400 is a good heli for a beginner but if your going to get into this hobby then you are certainly going to have to have time to build/re-build.
Although the 400 does come RTF it wont stay like that for long!
At some point you are going to have to spend time repairing it. Granted the time needed probably wont be as long as it would take to build one but new kits can be built surprisingly quickly.
Another thing that hasn't been mentioned is do you intend to fly it in your auditorium all the time or are you planning on flying outside too?
If you plan on flying outside then the blade will be OK for light wind but can be pretty twitchy. Although if you set your TX following Boggy's excellent guide on here you should be able to tame it down somewhat.
Whatever you decide enjoy and we are always here to help out if needed.
Adrian.

[Holst]

If you just want to move up to something more challenging to fly then you could go with a walkera 4#3B or 4#3G
These little heis fly in a similar way to bigger models.

You can still fly these at work and they are both RTF models.
Spares are cheap and easily avalable, but as they are lightweight helis they are very strong and hard to damage.

I would recomend getting a simulator if you have access to a PC. Just be aware that the walkera transmitters are not compatible with most simuators, but you might be able to use your existing transmitter with a sim.

[Brodie6]

Hey, have spent most of my time off looking at various helis out there, to be honest the 400 scares the hell out of me and I can easily see it spiralling out of control, been looking at Buzzflyers little Buzzfly too, any opinions on these models?, thanks for the advice, it's good to have some good knowledge to learn from, I'll soon have the Century blues out of my system, it's pay day soon and the Spirit will not trim, I have to trim her so much to the left and even fully trimmed left she still spins. damn

[Brodie6]

So I spent some pennies on a Buzzfly CX and a Buzzfly SE, and a shedload of spares including a new motor, I take it it's best to get some compound on my heat sink as it has slipped off once already, the CX is good fun but I haven't been able to get the SE off the deck yet even with some training gear, it's a bit of a beast in my hands, think she might need setting up a bit or maybe I'm being too tentative, I don't want to punch the throttle only for the heli to punch a hole in my ceiling, I'm having enough trouble with mice chewing thru the electrics in my roofs, does anyone know if the sim that's downloadable from Buzzflyer is any good?, my Century Spirit was last heard cursing my two new heli's from inside it's case on top of a large Ikea book unit, I may take her out and try trimming her at the theatre and see if she behaves. Where is the best place to learn about setting up single bladed helis?, I don't have a clue what I'm doing so don't want fk it up.
Cheers

p.s, is there some sort of sanctuary where grieving heli widows can meet?

[Holst]

With the SE you need to get a big of height before it will fly properly.
When its low the wash from the blades pushes the flybar around and makes it very unstable.
Find a room with a high celing and try flying with a little more height.

You will find that the SE tail wont stay still in the same way that the CX does, you will probably have to hold some rudder on all the time to keep it pointing in one direction.

If you think your going to crash make sure you cut the throttle before you hit anything. Doing so will save you from any damage most of the time.

I never used training gear on mine, if you are going to use it make sure the heli is properly ballanced, esepcially front to rear. If its not it wont fly very well at all.

The only other tweak I would do is to twist the flybar paddles upwards about 15 degrees.
This will make the heli less responsive and easyer to fly.

I cant help with the century spirit or your wife unfortunately..
Although you wife could probably fly the CX once you have trimmed properly.

[mark lane]

Not sure which your LHS is but i can highly reccoment the lads at Elite in Ashford. I'm not from the area but travel to Kent on business so often drop in there for a chat and to pick up bits and pieces. Good knowledge and service... and if you go the Blade route they stock all spares required.

Located in th the Bybrook garden centre on Cantabury rd. Ashford

Best of luck with your intro to helis... it all starts here!!

mark.

[liambaker996]

if you are looking for a begginner nitro then you can not beat a raptor 30 v2
liam.

[Brodie6]

I cant help with the century spirit or your wife unfortunately..
Although you wife could probably fly the CX once you have trimmed properly.[/quote]

I think my wife is probably a bit easier to deal with than the Spirit, she certainly responds to my actions quicker than it

Cheers, will try the SE at work, got a nice high auditorium.

[Holst]

I cant help with the century spirit or your wife unfortunately..
Although you wife could probably fly the CX once you have trimmed properly.

I think my wife is probably a bit easier to deal with than the Spirit, she certainly responds to my actions quicker than it

Cheers, will try the SE at work, got a nice high auditorium.

If you get stuck post back.

They are very stable when setup properly.. it just takes a bit of messing around to get them right. Even the slightest thing will make them a little unstable as they are so small.

If (when) you break the tail boom PM me and I will send you a solid rod to replace it.

[Tripler]

Hi without hijacking the thread
I would like to add that in your first thread you mentioned Mr Tilbury from Model world.
Yes he is the owner and having had dealings with him in the past would deff recommend you shop elsware,
He may have been a british team member in the past and a very good pilot but when it comes to good help and advice to biginners, imho,, his sales brian kicks in and you don't stand a chance, again only my opinion,
I would advise going to Elite and have a chat with Rod (the owner) or even get on the phone to Skyline and speek to the guys there, they'll give you good advice and won't sell you anthing you don't really need, plus they do next day delivery which save's on time & petrol.
I'ts also worth checking out your local clubs to get advice from other heli guys. there are a few in your area, look for them on the BMFA web site.