Really stuck after first club visit!

[Mike W]

Bypass the 30 alltogether and go straight for a 50 size .... Raptor Titan good choice .. and the fact they a little easier to set up than a eccpm heli ...which means you can use different servos for cyclics and pitch ... True the 600's are cheap to repair ... I love my Raptor for day in day out running and the Knight3d for stupidness lol....If I was to start all over again I would still do it the same way I think .... At my club theres only 2 of us with Raptor titans and only me with a K3D .. he rest follow and bought 600n's .. Choose what you want to spend and then post that what you want to spend and then we can help you decide a little more

[themagician]

local club

Hey Folks,

I payed my first visit to the local Heli club today and after talking to some of the guys there I really have no idea what to get to learn on.

Before I went up there I was pretty certain I wanted to avoid nitro altogether (Used to fly planks) but after looking at what others are learning on at the field (Raptor 30's) the size looks more capable for the wind.

I had no idea of how the different sizes scaled up until today my original thought was to get a blade 400 or Trex 450 but Im not sure they would cope with anything but mild wind on an open field. There was a Trex 500 which looked like a good compromise between the 450 and Nitros but would prove very expensive to get running with the chargers and batteries. Im not sure if it would be more than a nitro tho?

So Im really stuck I have seen some starter packages for the Align 600 nitro (I think spares are cheaper and you get more than 1 in the pack according to one of the guys), these have Align engines but I dont know if they are any good as Ive always been told OS OS OS!

Anyway has anyone got any bright ideas to help me decide? Im going to need the whole package tx,rx charger (if Lipo) and everything else.

Cotti.

PS Loved watching the guys there fly!

hi cotti,wheres your local club to stoke??

[shoot51]

Raptor

Hi, I have recently had to make the same decision. After advice from here and my a LMS, I bought Raptor30v2, considered by some to be a little "old" now, but suited me, Easy-ish to build, fly, abundance of parts and economical to run. I toyed with the idea of a 50 or upgrading the 30 later on, but honestly i think i will keep it just as it is and when ready pass by the 50 in favour of a 60 with some 90 upgrades (its what my LMS guy flies and its a belter) My two penneth ! But choice is a wonderful thing, Enjoy!! Richard

[HiltonSteve]

What about this....

I still have my old Century Hawk Sport Pro in the garage which I know is not the best heli in the world but it did the job for me when I was learning. The kits are cheap (£125 ish) for the full kit so when you get it wrong (which you will) you can re-build it for next to nothing.

The heli in question is fairly new and this one has not been crashed or flown much, the previous Hawk did take a fair whack into the ground so I just took the electrics off and threw it into the dustbin, put the electrics into this new kit flew it twice and then bought a 600 nitro pro, never flown it since.

What you will get is the Airframe fitted with a OS37 engine and an Hatori pipe, the engine has had about 1 1/2 gallons though it and ran very nice the last time it ran. Also i will throw in all the spare blades I have which there must be 2-3 pairs of woodys and also a pair of carbons which cost me £45 and flew them about 3 times! Also some spares but not sure what.

I may have some servo's but will have to have a look, but you will need Gyro, tail servo, RX TX (go for DX7).

£125 for the lot.

Also, I notice you live in Stoke and I am not too far down the road from you (15-20mins) so can give you a hand re-building and setting it up etc if you want.

I know people slag them off and they do not have the build quality of a Raptor or a T-Rex but set up right they fly ok and with it being so cheap it takes the worry out of crashing it.

Let me know if you are interested.

[cotti]

hi cotti,wheres your local club to stoke??

Its just up the road from me near to crewe (10 mins max in the car) and on my way home from work http://crewemodelhelicopter.tripod.com/

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Im gona write down lists on costs tommorow on my day off that will help me get a better idea of whats happening. As far as money goes I have no set figure and dont mind waiting another week or two to get things right.

[cotti]

Oh forgot to ask with a nitro would I need a 7ch TX?

[HiltonSteve]

Not essential but it does come in handy, i use my 7th channel for the governor.

[HiltonSteve]

Let me know if you are interested in my old heli, I am not desperate to sell it but its just sat on the shelf in the garage gathering dust. I will never fly it again so even if you throw the airframe away and use the parts, engine, hatori exhaust, carbon blades etc its still a bargain!

[cotti]

No sorry m8 I want to buy new because I want to build it myself but thanks very much for the offer!

[HiltonSteve]

No problem.

It wont be going anywhere if you change your mind though.

[marshdave]

Hi Cotti have you considered ELY-Q 50 they are a good copter cheap and fly great according to load's of heli pilot's am considering one myself for a practise model ask simmo stef has been flying one this winter

[frazzle]

Diificult chaoice really.

I have just started with helis so really new boy but was advised to go for TREX 500 and to go electric as less messy and although higher setup expense seems to be well supported and especially locally.

I guess my costs have been about £280 for kit with blades motor ESC: £125 or so for DX6i Tx with Rx (you can still get the DX7 for about 250 if you look and about 320 with servos) Gyro/ tail about £110 and a couple of lipos about 30ish each depending on type. You ll need a charger at about £55 (but lots of postings here about the 10S charger at about £110 or so. So your talking about 800 ish with the DX7 which has a good rep and lots of model memories.

I've flown the 600 N and it is really stable even in windy conditions with a good long flight time on a full tank. But the setup costs wont be much different together with tools pitch guages, Rx batteries etc etc etc

Good luck and let us know how your getting on

Fraser

[Si Goodchild]

Some food for thought. I learned on a 400 size electric and crashed it A LOT. I then moved up to a Raptor 50 V2 which I adore and so far have found it a delight to fly - very stable, handles the wind well and not half as difficult to set up as you might think. Running costs have been fuel only.

I just recently bought a TREX 450 (actually a fake one) and, my God, it's a twitchy little devil by comparison. Nearly lost it badly today in the 10 mph wind (with some gusts). Hovering in the back garden with no wind was nice and easy though.

So here's the deal: Nitros are a bit intimidating the first time round and you really need a mate who knows what he's doing to help you get set up and running. Mini electrics are easy to work on, cause no mess or smells and can be run in your back garden. 500+ size electrics fly great, but you wouldn't want one in your garden and the initial cost of batteries is pretty steep. You'll need a proper flying site so why not just get a cheap and smelly nitro?

just my $0.02

Si G

[speedy jon]

Diificult chaoice really.

you can still get the DX7 for about 250

i got my dx7 for £150 with no servos and rx from hobby hanger. this is not the se version tho.

i was in a simular dilema to you. i was stuck between lecci and nitro. in the end i decided to go with a trex 450 because i worked out that i would be able to fly it more oftern. with nitro i would had to go to the flying site to be covered by insurance. i understand that a bigger heli is more stable which would help when learning but with me i could only fly once maybe twice a week. with my trex i can hover in the garden, in the workshop in work and also in the hall at the local club indoor meet.iv only one battery at the mo so am only doing say 10mins max a day but i feel its helping loads.

im saving for a nitro because i like the idea of being able to fly longer then land fill up and go again and be able to fly in a bit of a wind and have the trex 450 for the days between being able to go up the common.

[mark954]

I know you have many replies to this but here goes with some more advice.

I have just been through the whole leccie to nitro thing after fiddling with cheap t-rex copies and wanted a 600 size heli. I was aiming to go down the electric route so I could also fly in the back garden but after some good advice from the forum I am now fully in the Nitro camp as of 4 weeks ago.

I went for the Raptor 50 Titan and fitted the TT53 Redline engine, I did get a good deal on a kit including the pro 50 engine from www.pegasusmodels.co.uk for £285 but I just put the engine on ebay to get the cost back.

The cheapest kit version of the Titan is for £229 without engine from www.alshobbies.com

Gy401 gyro and servo from ebay for 40 quid less than what you pay in the uk and it was here in 7 days from Taiwan and this gyro is the best thing ever, makes the process of learning so much easier.

TX is a DX7 and I love it too, used Futaba before and this makes it look like childs play.

All in all I cannot say what to buy, but spares are easy to get, upgrades are freely available and there is more advice on the internet than you have time to look at.

As for the engine side, I didnt touch the settings out of the box, fueled it and it started on the second press of the starter!

Good luck and most of all enjoy.