Bit of help chosing, Please

[dean77]

Hi all,
I`m a complete beginer to the helicopter world but have in the past, about 6 years ago, flown (badly) nitro fixed wing.

I have been researching to death r/c helicopters and now want to start flying them.
I have one of the little pico z £20 specials but i really want to man up and get something bigger.

Having tinkered with nitro engines before and knowing the smell, noise and mess they make want to have a nitro heli.

Is this a good idea for a total beginer? (please say yes)
From the searches i have done on here a .50 seems to be a good size to learn on. so.....

trex 600n
raptor .50 titan
Are two names that come up time after time as good machines.
also i have saw on midland helicopters website Elyq vision .50 and for the airframe it is a very reasonable £137.87 would this be a good starting basis?

Thanks Dean

[gorber]

Hello and welcome.

The answer to your question is definitely yes. If you can afford it, a 50 size nitro is an excellent heli to learn on. They are stable and have a lot of presence.

They can be intimidating at first, but that soon wears off, probably quicker for you with your history of fw nitros.

I can heartilly recommend the Trex 600LE and, from what I have heard on here, the Raptor sounds like a good learner too.

Cheers,

Andrew

[adieuk]

a 50 sized heli will be a great heli to start flying
but get yourself phoenix sim to practice on

[dean77]

oooo forgot to say in my original post that phoenix flight sim is top of the list of things to buy.

[kiwipilot]

I'd recommend the Raptor 50. Fond of Raptors for their easy build, relatively cheap parts and stability. I wish I had gone for a 50 instead of 30 when I started out. May still do so at some stage soon

[electricsceadu]

i would go into the model shop that you are thinking of buying your heli from and look at the spares they sell
if they sell just align spares then a trex 600
if they sell align/thunder tiger/hirobo/elyq/etc spares then go for the one you like best (but do ask on here what others think of them before you buy)
you will get buy brand x as i have one

i'm not a trex fan but if you go for one the advantages are that the parts are cheap, the spares are available at most model shops and lots of pilots fly them so theres lots advice around to help you if you've got a problem
the raptor 50 has widely been sold for many years its a good solid heli parts come at a reasonable cost and theres loads of advice about them
the new raptor x50 is a good solid performer but the kit price is high and so are some of the spares
hirobo sceadu/sdx 50 a great heli very reliable and a quality heli but parts do cost a little more and they aren't so popular in the uk
the elyq is at a good price, i've only hovered a badly built one so i couldn't say how good they are (i upset its owner when i said it hovers but it needs pulling apart and building correctly)

i hope some of this helps you

and yes buy the sim

[dean77]

Thanks for the fast replys!!!! and some really useful advice.
alhough i Have not got a model shop close to me, i work in Leicester and my Parents live about 20 mins from midland helicopters and from what i can see they stock parts for a bucket load of models.

Possible silly question time....if i had a raptor .50 and a trex 600 both set up correctly would i find one to be more stable and easier to hover than the other? or is there just to many variables or would it be down to my own flying style/opinion.

Thanks Dean

[electricsceadu]

the raptor 50 will be more stable
but with the correct set up the trex 600 could be made as stable
i would say the raptor is possibily the better one to learn on
even though i've only flown a raptor 30 and 50 a few times setting them up for other pilots as i've never owned either the raptor 30 or 50
but i've just got a thunder tiger x50 that flies very well so far in its first 10 flights
i also fly a hirobo sdx50 (a great heli)
i've had a trex 600
i've got a few more heli's in the collection


and you'll be like a kid in a sweet shop at midland helicopters
and they stock the spares for all the heli's that they sell

[jwatts007]

Get a Raptor 60 you could not have a nicer heli to learn with dont be put off by the size they are gentle giants and not that expensive...

[electricsceadu]

Get a Raptor 60 you could not have a nicer heli to learn with dont be put off by the size they are gentle giants and not that expensive...

well thats the size of raptor i've had for a good few years
it was a 60 and now its 90 powered
very stable
the 60's an option but remember if you do crash the repair bill will be higher than a 50

sorry to go off topic
but have you seen the pictures of the new yet to come raptor 90 nitro and electric?
it looks like the x50 style frame with the 90 3d head

[rcwhirlygig]

Hi and welcome,

I am a complete newbie myself, I bought into helis with the Trex 600n LE, I think its a great machine admitedly I have only flown it with a trainer as I said complete newbie but it flies great, I built it from scratch which I believe is essential so you know how it goes together, I totally agree with the other members regarding spares as you know things can go wrong in an expensive way, I've recently got myself a Trex 450 pro to build up my confidence and practise the hover, can't wait to join a club now and get more practise with the 600

[dean77]

Haven`t considered a raptor .60 before, would it be a good beginner heli? Are the cost of spares significantly more than a .50? Have just found the airframe kit for a reasonable price on the internet.

Thanks rcwhirlygig nice to have the opinion of someone new to the hobby,i really like the trex 600 they seem to have a lot of fans.
I want to build from a kit rather than artf being a mechanical engineer i like tinkering and for me part of the fun is building and learning how they go together and work.
i`m sure all the post crash repairs will teach me a lot to!!!!!

Cheers Dean

[electricsceadu]

the main blades are around £10 to £15 more than a 50 size depending on which make of blade you go for (eg sab 600 to sab 675 blades)
the shafts and boom are around the same (ish) price of the 50 size heli's except the trex 600 that you get the spares two in a pack so they work out at half the cost

you can get the heli in kit form
or artf with a thunder tiger 70 engine
as yes the kit price is good value

but do note that if you boom strike the 60 you will more than likely take out the torque tube which is around £20
with the raptor 50 it has a belt driven tail that in most crashes survives the crash
i don't know the price of the trex 600 torque tube