the next step

[Mercuriell]

Not the Twister 3D

I tried going the Twister Medevac to Twister 3D route and after about 6 mainshafts and sets of blades, a couple of undercarriages, 5 servos and a couple of tailshaft pinion gears I am only just getting to the hover stage - still I bet a could get a job in a 3D assembly factory !

Seriously although the basic construction is sound (apart from the pitiful main shaft that bends as soon as you look at it) it is a real handful to fly - the setup instructions are almost non existent which compounds the learning difficulties.

I have bought a Hirobo Sceadu which is beautifully made and seems to be easier to control in my earlier stages but the whole scene of a big 50 motor with 60cm blades in a 3.5kg heli is a bit scary. Messing around with starters, glowfuel, and batteries is also a pain not to mention the spots of dead grass left on the lawn from the exhaust. Makes me wonder if a big electric heli, like the TREX 600 (not a cheaper option) is the way to go. A good model shop with active flying staff I think is a good way to go - I have found the clubs to be a bit stand-offish, officious and lukewarm wrt newbies.

JOhn

[Disc]

Twister 3D main shafts bend simple answer.

Carbon rod. Buy 6mm Carbon rod cut to length and drill the 2 holes as required
Carbon won't bend just breaks then you know you went in to hard

[Disc]

£700 for a t-rex wow what about a swift will i be expected to pay £700 for that
a twister 3d seems gd value now
tom

Remember I include the price of a decent Tranny and decent gyro/tail servo so you hit the big money I may be a bit high but I bet its not far away.

Swift is 399 with battery and ESC. Servos required... battery pack 3 servos 15 pounds each 45ish rx battery 15 pounds, Gyro 401 and tail 9254 servo 150ish Tranny 7c 100 pounds, PCM receiver 80 pounds....

Lipo charger 70-100 pounds, Extra battery 100 pounds.

now add it up!

Twister 3D 130 kit, Tranny 100 pounds 7c, Gyro 50 pounds, Lipo charger 70-100 pounds. Batterys 30 pounds a time, Speed controller 25 pounds and a decent receiver PCM 80 pounds ish. Small electric may glitch on PCM. Weak servos need upgrading and weak tail gears means it will break easier its small and twitchy as hell. forgetout doors for now.

[Ade_Law]

your "local" club would be the indoor club yes? have you been to their field at all? Go to the field and you will get a very different storey.

if you want to fly something larger indoors the trex is the only way. There arent many other options twister 3d has issues (as talked about above) and the swift is way too big to be flown indoors.

Personally i am not a fan of small helis. they are twitchy fiddly to setup and they crash when they decided to fall apart on you or do something weird.

the 30 or preferably a 50 size heli is easier (nicer) to fly, easier to work on, more reliable takes the weather much much better and just generally more capable of doing things. The trex will do the book but its damn hard work for the pilot.

Ade

[Disc]

as Ade says get down to a local club.

It is the best way forward

[fatmantom]

i think what i want now is something i can fly indoor's and out so maybe a t-rex is the way to go. is a t-rex ok to fly outside?

[Kwickkwack]

All depends on the weather,
Too much wind and like any small heli it will be a nightmare, (no not a Knightmare Ade).
I have a Twister 3D, and in low wind conditions can gently manouvre around the garden, I took it to a park, and flew it in too much wind, and one strong gust of wind later, it was in pieces on the floor, this was after i had spent the morning having a great time with my Rappy30, which is much easier to control.

I have also flown my Twister Bell47 outside, but for this you need NO WIND at all, as a slight breeze will send it away out of control.

hope this helps

[Leebert]

I was in a similar dilemma about 6 months ago. I wanted to go for the next step up the heli ladder but wanted to stay electric because of the "plug in and go" aspect.
After much thinking and chatting on here, I went for a Raptor 50. The one thing that really helped me though was to see them in the flesh and have a trial lesson.
I have since bought a T-Rex 450 SE as well and it does handle the weather outside as long as it's not too windy. It's good fun to fly but I am way more confident on my Raptor, simply because the T-Rex is less stable (or more twitchy) than the Raptor. I guess that confidence will come with time
I hope this helps

[fatmantom]

as i have limited money i can only buy 1 and the swift seems to fill the gap between the raptor and the t-rex, but if i carnt fly the swift indoors i may aswell get a raptor but then i am a bit scared of getting a petrol heli (i dont know anything about them) how much better is the raptor to a swift?

[marktigere1]

In my very slow Heli career, I've only ever crashed one model.

It was the T-Rex and like Ade said, it did do something I was not expecting.

However, the cost of repair is low.

I think the problem with the T-Rex is that their size suggests that they will not be so intimidating to fly whereas a 30/50 is a good deal bigger.

A friend of mine thought that and swapped me his T-Rex, but I must confess to enjoying the Nitro experience in the Shuttle more. I do like the T-Rex though, and I hope this will be my stick banger machine LOL.

Bear in mind that I'm a sport/scale (eventually) flyer and as a result, our views are somewhat different to the 3D/stunt guy's on this forum.

Best check out the local scene I would suggest.

Cheers

Mark

[robgt]

I think Phil's battery (pack) price comparison is quite misleading...
The Trex has a lower amp requirement (than the larger Swift) and as such requires smaller packs to fly.

This is why they cost more.
LiPo prices depend on the discharge capability of the pack along with the capacity - higher discharge capability along with higher capacity = higher price.

They are not the same pack priced differently for the different makes of heli.

I just thought that should be clarified.
Cheers,
Rob

Update: I just also noticed that this thread runs three pages and I was responding to a post on the first page DOH!

[Smoothound]

I didn't mean they were the same pack priced differently, I was just pointing out cost per flight will always be higher on Swift as the batts run for the same sort of time but are twice the price and should you have a "tits up" moment the replacement cost would be higher.

[fatmantom]

ok i have pretty much decided i dont want a t-rex now so its between a raptor (30) and a swift which flys better?

[Smoothound]

Both fly fine just depends if you want to fly Nitro or Electric neither are any good for indoors fullstop

[robgt]

Don't exclude the Trex600 if you are considering a larger e-heli.
It's an extremely stable heli to fly.
As Phil said, neither of your remaining choices are indoor helis so you now need to weigh up the pros and cons of nitro v electric and go from there.

Electrics tend to be lighter, and so affected by the wind easier.
That said, the differences between the Raptor 30 and the Swift 16 or the Trex600 would be minimal in terms of response in windy flight conditions.

Noise might be an issue for you to consider also - there might be a limit to the db level you can fly in your area/club, which would limit you to electric heli's straight away - more than likely.

Cheers,
Rob