Greetings from a newbie lounge pilot

[pouria]

Festive greetings everyone,


I bought a little coaxial helicopter a few months ago and frankly am completely hooked. Many flight hours in the lounge, and several annoyed flatmates later I am now looking for the next step (of flying, not annoying my flatmates


A few days of searches brings me to this lovely site but also threw up a lot of questions I was hoping someone is in festive enough mood to indulge a newbie with.


It seems from what I read, moving from coaxial to 'proper' controls is a huge learning curve. I live in London and the only way a am ever going to be able to practice everyday, all year round is to fly in the lounge, which I believe leaves me with little choice but to go with a microcopter. I know these are hard to fly so I am looking for something that will survive my learning curve, has cheap spare parts and is available in England.


From what I can find, a 4#3b might be ok, given it would be a shame to break a 4G6? Would anyone recommend something else and/or have recommendations on where to buy it from (understand Buzzfly are rebrannded Walkeras).


Cheers Everyone

[spunkmyer]

Well if you want to move on there are many clubs in london. Best to go down to one and speak to a few pilots and see whats what. Most little heli's that can be flown indoors are not really then next step when looking at pitched controlled heli. The 4#3b is not really any different to a honey bee fp etc. These helis are not easy to fly at all compared to say a trex 450 or blade 400 which again are another whole new ball game.

Better off with a MSR which is a fixed pitch heli which is more stable and easier to fly than the 4#3b but again the MSR is for indoor flying so is nowhere in the same ball park a 450 or 400.

Do you see. Visit a club if you can.

[graycbr]

msr & a copy of phoenix & a good TX eg dx6i or dx7i
Every time u crash on phoenix put in 50p in a jar u will soon have funds for the next step :-)

[Xige]

Hi pouria, welcome to the forum. First and foremost I would recommend getting a sim to practise on. Recommended good sims are Phoenix RC, Realflight, Aerofly Pro Deluxe as these are the most realistic in terms of physics.

Practise on a sim as it will definetely help you to get a feel of how single rotor helis respond to the controls, and also it won't cost you a penny when you crash mate.

And don't worry if you crash, it's all part of the learning curve. Pick yourself up, learn from it and get yourself back up in the air.

I agree with Mike(spunkmyer) on the Eflite MSR, as its good for beginners, easy to fly stable in the air, and good for indoor flight.

All the best.

Jason

[Rctintin]

Welcome to the forum mate, glad you found us, and that you are getting hooked on the Heli thing!

As said above, the next step depends on what way you want to go. If for the moment you want to just thrash around the flat, then deffo go for the MSR. Quick little bugger, and you will find alot of people on here have one, as they are as near as you can get to a 'proper' heli.

If you think you may want to progress further and stay with this Addictive hobby, then you may want to go down the route of getting a Transmitter that you can use for future Heli's, and get your self a good Simulator (Phoenix you will find most go for, and has free upgrades). The most common Tx is the Spektrum range (DX6i and DX7). They will control your MSR (should you get one) and will also control any other Heli from a 250 to a big 90 (and beyond).

First 'outdoor' heli's could be of 400/450 size. They are light, so calm wind for beginners to start with only. You wont go wrong with an Align T-Rex 450 (sport or pro) as the spares are readily available in many shops advertising on here.

Look for a local club as well. most are not too intimidating, especially if your local one has members on here, as you can kind of get to know them before you meet up.

Good luck with your flying mate, and keep practicing!

[Dannyyy]

Blade Msr + Phoenix Rc (Simulator) and a DX6I.... brillant!

[wibplus]

Loads and loads of sim time and Blade msr or Blade cp pro 2.

[anyw]

welcome, this hobby is addictive,any way imo as mentioned before similaor might be your best bet, but if you want a micro(i can't blame you) this one is worth looking at very similar to the msr (the local model shop brought one to an indoor meeting just before xmas and the guys done a side by side comparison with the msr and it held it's own)
NINE EAGLES SOLO PRO COMPLETE (RED) | Elite Models

i went down the route of buying a blade 400 and sim(you get the ds6i tx with the blade ) that will set you back about £350 -£400
E-Flite Blade 400 3D Remote Control Helicopter RTF - EFLH1400 - £287.09

this is phoenix website which personally i think is the best one around but it's about £80
Phoenix model flight simulator | Models

[pouria]

Firstly thanks to everyone for the flurry of replies... Seems this is definitely a hobby with some spirit.


Well based on what everyone has said, I should as Dannyyy puts it buy:

Blade Msr + Phoenix Rc (Simulator) and a DX6I.... brillant!

Just to iron out the alternatives, is there a real difference between the Nine Eagles Solo Pro and the MSR beyond a little bit of performance? I want to learn the controls, and it will not make much difference how quickly the heli can zip from one couch to the next


I will not be moving to larger helicopters for sometime, meaning at least 2-3 years so at some point after some sim time, I think I would want to move up another step from the MSR, so will the DX6i bind to any micro-copter (in fact including the Nine Eagles Solo alternative)?


Many thanks to everyone,

[graycbr]

nine eagles they have got there own TX a bit toy looking !
MSR is a true sprektrum 2.4 which is great if u use a dx6i or dx7i on phoenix ,so u get use to the TX flying with a heli & on the sim aswell !!

[squeaky pete]

2/3 years, i giv u 6months at best lol

[heliTV]

Good advice here...

Go the Phoenix / DX6i / BNF Blade MSR

The DX6i is a great Tx for the money and can be used withlots of different helis - you really only need another channel (DX7 etc) if you decide that a nitro is for you (could be tricky in the flat!!!)

If you feel keen, you could get the DX6i/Blade 400 package as I did. Only, if you do, removed ONLY the DX6i from the box and plug it into your PC running the Phoenix simulator. Then spends loads of time practicing until you can take off, hover an land every time.. then and only then be tempted to have a go with the 400... I was and crashed within 10 seconds!

If you want to fly a real heli in the meantime, the Blade mcX contra is really easy and the Blade mSR slightly more challenging - both BNF (bind-and-fly) versions will "bind" to a DX6i...

Hope this helps

Graham

[pouria]

Thanks again everyone, and I think, a belated Merry Christmas to me ,

Phoenix / DX6i / BNF Blade MSR it is! (now to find a decent shop).

I take Mode 2 is standard?

[matt27]

yer mode 2 is what MOST people fly but there are some that use other modes

all the best and enjoy

[Rctintin]

You wont go wrong down that route mate. Best off buying the Blade MSR, if only cos spares are available all over the country, unlike some of the lesser known heli's.

Where you buy from is up to you of course, but Midlands, Fast Lads and Rc Helispares are popular on here. Good customer service, and thats what you want.

Enjoy