Help.............The Next Step!

[alex]

hiya m8

For my tuppence worth, Phoenix and a Thunder Tiger Innovator.

Some people get a bit arsey when all we do is suggest what we fly personally, but that is the experience we draw on.

I have been at this for 3 months now, and like you started with a Century Spirit. I then moved on to a Blade MSR with a DX6i and Phoenix. The sim time is worth every minute. I have spent and continue to spend lots of spare minutes on the MSR and also Phoenix and the effort pays off in spades when you get outside.

I then took a leap of faith and deliberately did not go down the Trex 450 route and trusted a few opinions on the Innovator, compared to the many voices saying Trex.

I would not say I am particularly talented at flying, am 40, have kids etc, but the Innovator has been brilliant to learn CP on. It is well built and also easy on the rebuilds. The electronic set up by laptop is brilliant as you can gradually add on performance in a very controlled and defined way.

I too felt I would not want to be into 3D or slightly feistier flying, but the Innovator gave me the biggest grin this weekend, with some really good achievments including nose in hover, nose in landing and some really fast long turns with some lovely close to the ground flying. I also tried it in a fair 10-12 mph wind and survived.

I am not saying the Innovator is better than anything else, just the heli I draw my experience from and it is looking after me well.

Cheers

Alex

[Deano]

+1 for Phoenix, I was a little hesitent at first but jeez its improved my flying no end.

Without Phoenix I wouldnt have a clue how to do tic tocs or Autos or rolls because I wouldnt know why to put the sticks at which point and being able to do them on sim will save you hundreds of £.

For me itl be:

Dx6i
Phoenix
mSR
450

Ive progressed down that route and im happy .
Good luck chap.

Snap ... well very soon anyway.

I have:
Dx6i
Phoenix
mSR

next purchase will be a T-REX 450 and after I am flying confidently a scale body kit to go on it.

Deano

[Deano]

... but the Innovator has been brilliant to learn CP on. It is well built and also easy on the rebuilds. ...

Cheers

Alex

Hi Alex,

What flight times do you get for just hovering or general scale flying?

Are repairs expensive? I ask because of the MD530 body.

How much are the batteries for it?

Lastly, roughly what size helicopter could it be compared to?

Sorry for all the questions but it was one I had considered, but could not find all the answers to ... hence going the T-REX 450 route next. This might well change ... time will tell. lol

Deano

[tiddler]

Hi Alex,

What flight times do you get for just hovering or general scale flying?

Are repairs expensive? I ask because of the MD530 body.

How much are the batteries for it?

Lastly, roughly what size helicopter could it be compared to?

Sorry for all the questions but it was one I had considered, but could not find all the answers to ... hence going the T-REX 450 route next. This might well change ... time will tell. lol

Deano

Hi Deano,

The Innovator is a 450 sized heli and I too have the MD530 as well as a T Rex 450SE
I enjoy both helis equally, But the Innovator is IMO probably the best "beginners" CP heli out there. It was my first ever CP heli and I still love it.
The only things I have had to replace in the 6 moths I had it, have been the tail rotor blades and 1 set of landing skids. I have also replaced the original foam blades for woods. So less than £20.00 in total.
I did recently have a problem with one of my batteries, but Thunder Tiger replaced that for me FOC.

The batteries last approximately 5 to 6 mins per flight (the same time as you would expect to get from any 11.1v 1800mah lipo of this type) and cost around the £49.00 mark, although they also do a 2200mah version for about three or four pounds more.
The best thing about the Innovator is the fact that is VERY stable and beginner friendly. I had mine up into a very solid hover straight out of the box, and was flying it around happily within a few days Plus I just adore the look of it with its Hughes scale body.

Here's a vid of me flying my one a couple of weeks ago. And yes it was one of the few sunny days we've had recently


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfU0nNRgI1Y"]YouTube- I Love my Innovator MD530[/ame]

[alex]

Hehe- Graham beat me to it

I have an Expert canopy on mine, which I also think looks great. I use the Align Pro 325 blades now- they look really nice and at £8-10 are cheaper than the TT wood blades and seem to fly nicely.

I only had one real breakage right at the start when I messed up all the settings by mistake ( stupidity) and had a hard crash. I had to replace the tail boom, one blade grip, flybar shaft and main feathering shaft. Take a look on Fast Lads for the prices of spares. It seems well built and relatively robust, as well as being easy to work on. The E manual for repairs is great- it gives CAD style diagrams that gradually take layers off as you click, then same in reverse for rebuilding.

As I said before, the software is great and it's fun tinkering with the settings using your laptop- as a noob, it gave me a really good understanding of the mechanics and set up.

I'm sure a lot of helis are very good and this is the only one I really know so far, but I am self taught, am not a member of a club, yet the Innovator has been a great heli to build confidence on and I feel my flying is progressing fast.

Personal choice in the end

[Deano]

Hehe- Graham beat me to it

I have an Expert canopy on mine, which I also think looks great. I use the Align Pro 325 blades now- they look really nice and at £8-10 are cheaper than the TT wood blades and seem to fly nicely.

I only had one real breakage right at the start when I messed up all the settings by mistake ( stupidity) and had a hard crash. I had to replace the tail boom, one blade grip, flybar shaft and main feathering shaft. Take a look on Fast Lads for the prices of spares. It seems well built and relatively robust, as well as being easy to work on. The E manual for repairs is great- it gives CAD style diagrams that gradually take layers off as you click, then same in reverse for rebuilding.

As I said before, the software is great and it's fun tinkering with the settings using your laptop- as a noob, it gave me a really good understanding of the mechanics and set up.

I'm sure a lot of helis are very good and this is the only one I really know so far, but I am self taught, am not a member of a club, yet the Innovator has been a great heli to build confidence on and I feel my flying is progressing fast.

Personal choice in the end

Thanks Alex,
Does the software come with it, or is that an extra cost?
Also what is the software for? Is it a manual on a CD or does it have more of a purpose?

Deano

[tiddler]

Thanks Alex,
Does the software come with it, or is that an extra cost?
Also what is the software for? Is it a manual on a CD or does it have more of a purpose?

Deano

The heli flies (Very docile) straight out of the box. But as you progress you will want to liven up the helis response. This is where the software (Bought separately) comes in. It allows you full access to all aspects of the helis settings, such as pitch curve, throttle curve, dual rates and expo and a host of other functions too many to list here.
Have a look at this post by EtheAv8r to see what he thinks about the Innovator. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/beginn...me-heli-2.html
And you might find this thread interesting as well. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/main-d...ator-suff.html

PS The software can be downloaded from here.... http://www.innovator-rc.com/soft.php But like Phoenix you will need the official TT dongle and lead to connect it to the heli.

[Deano]

The heli flies (Very docile) straight out of the box. But as you progress you will want to liven up the helis response. This is where the software (Bought separately) comes in. It allows you full access to all aspects of the helis settings, such as pitch curve, throttle curve, dual rates and expo and a host of other functions too many to list here.
Have a look at this post by EtheAv8r to see what he thinks about the Innovator. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/beginn...me-heli-2.html
And you might find this thread interesting as well. http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/main-d...ator-suff.html

PS The software can be downloaded from here.... Innovator But like Phoenix you will need the official TT dongle and lead to connect it to the heli.

Many thanks Graham,
I really appreciate the time you have taken to find the links for me aswell.

Just the man to answer my next question, lol

The software that can be bought would overtime give you the knowledge to set up any future helicopter I presume??? ... or at the very least give you a basic understanding of what to do???

I used to fly a Kalt Enforcer ZR many, many years ago ... 13+ years ago. I could strip it down for repair or to clean and rebuild it no problem. The problem is that I have forgotten EVERYTHING, I could not even start it now even if I was able to.

Now the question:

Bearing in mind the time I last flew and that I have forgotten everything, would you in my position start with the Innovator MD530 or the T-REX 450?

I know the decision is ultimately mine, but I thought seeing as how you own both and can fly you would be the ideal person to ask.

Enjoyed your Video by the way.

Deano

[jwatts007]

Hello Mate. with the summer coming get a 30 sized nitro heli and get yourself membership to a club, something like a kyoshi concept. (spelling is probably wrong), far better than them little electrics.

[tiddler]

Many thanks Graham,
I really appreciate the time you have taken to find the links for me aswell.

Just the man to answer my next question, lol

The software that can be bought would overtime give you the knowledge to set up any future helicopter I presume??? ... or at the very least give you a basic understanding of what to do???

I used to fly a Kalt Enforcer ZR many, many years ago ... 13+ years ago. I could strip it down for repair or to clean and rebuild it no problem. The problem is that I have forgotten EVERYTHING, I could not even start it now even if I was able to.

Now the question:

Bearing in mind the time I last flew and that I have forgotten everything, would you in my position start with the Innovator MD530 or the T-REX 450?

I know the decision is ultimately mine, but I thought seeing as how you own both and can fly you would be the ideal person to ask.

Enjoyed your Video by the way.

Deano

The Innovator uses the same basic head design as a Raptor and is to all intents a purposes just like any other cp hel. So yes, all the principles are exactly the same.

There are pros and cons for both these helis and its difficult to advise any individual which would best for them. You may be a natural and pick things up quickly Or you may not, and end up crashing your new heli straight away

Personally I went for the Innovator first, because its a very beginner friendly heli that I was able to get to grips with easily and therefore enjoy actually flying it, instead of spending the first five or six months just learning to hover the dam thing. It also sets itself up if you do ever have to do any repairs and it comes with what I think is a really nice scale look.
Its down side is its dedicated radio, batteries, servos and so on. so you are pretty much tied into Thunder Tigers spares only.

The T Rex on the other hand can be used with many different levels of transmitter and fitted with all manner of different equipment including much cheaper after market lipos, servos, gyro etc. But is a fair bit livelier than the Innovator so probably not as easy to get on with when first learning. Although I am now finding it a lot easier after previously getting the hang of the MD530.

I think that if your budget can take it then I would heartily recommend the Innovator first, followed by the T Rex at a later date.
But as you say. Only you can make that final decision, and once made, your stuck with it

You might even consider looking at the E Flite Blade SR as a good cheap first CP heli.

Oh and don't let the thirteen years put you off. Until last October I had been out of the rc scene for about 35 years and had never flown a heli in my life.

[Deano]

Thanks Graham,

I have a lot of thinking to do.
I have the money to buy one now, just waiting for my health to improve a little.
I like a lot of what the Innovator does, programming, docile nature and scale body ... however ... I am not keen on the dedicated Transmitter or being tied into TT for the servos and batteries.

Especially the price of the batteries.

Last time I picked things up quickly, but I was a lot younger and it was with a 30 size nitro.

Deano

[tiddler]

Thanks Graham,

I have a lot of thinking to do.
I have the money to buy one now, just waiting for my health to improve a little.
I like a lot of what the Innovator does, programming, docile nature and scale body ... however ... I am not keen on the dedicated Transmitter or being tied into TT for the servos and batteries.

Especially the price of the batteries.

Last time I picked things up quickly, but I was a lot younger and it was with a 30 size nitro.

Deano

Well good luck with whatever you choose and I'm sure you'll be OK.
Both of these helis are good, so you wont go too far wrong with either of them. Especially as you have had previous experience (Something I didn't have)