Completely new to RC helicopters, help required!

[Amit]

Hey RC'ers, my name is Amit.
I've always been interested in RC helicopters but haven't had the chance to go into detail with them.
I'm 14 years old (Pretty young) and am a fan of this exciting hobby.
I'm posting this thread regarding my "FIRST" helicopter.
I need a bit of guidance, tips and hopefully URL'S.

I currently have no RC aircraft so I'm looking for a good FIRST RC helicopter for me, yet I still can't find a good one to meet my criterea.
It could be Nitro powered or electric.
First of all, one main concern to me is that i want one that can fly indoors and outdoors (as in a back garden). I'm a complete newby to flying as you can see so a reasonable priced beginner heli would be perfect. I'm aiming at spending around 200-250 (could be converted into dollars). I'm also concerned with what other features and tools i should get with the main heli kit. I've been looking at Raptors and Eco's on various sites but they seem too "advanced" for me. Yet seeing the "hummingbird" having alot of problems (seen posts on forum) i'm not entirely sure.
Another thing is that theres not many fields around here where I can fly an rc heli in prosperity and space. The only places are my big living room, back yard and the local park. I would like something strong, reliable, easy-to-fly, insured and equiped with the beginner tools.

I would be very grateful if you could guide me and help me to pick out a good beginner heli kit. Preferably URL's of different heli sites selling these products would be great.

Thanks,
Amit.

[paddy]

if u wanna fly indoors ull have to get an electric one, nitro ones need a lot of space (i fly mine on my university campus). Check out the piccolo, its supposed to pretty good, u can also get a collective pitch upgrade kit for it when u get really good. With electric helis u can get them with everything (which tends to be radio and servos, charger and heli).
Hope this helps a bit
Paddy

[Amit]

Hello again,
thank you for the reply.
I'm going to measure my living room and back yard to give an accurate result and then post it in this thread. I'm still looking for an electric heli by July.
Meanwhile, I've been looking at Flying SIMS. I'm not entirely sure what these are but they look good for a beginner like myself, please explain

Amit

[Made2Fade]

Hi Amit! Why dont you get yourself a hoverfly. That way you can practise indoors and all day long if you want as it runs from the mains. I have had a little bit experience with model helicopters but am probably not up to as much scratch as these guys are in the forums but... i would definately recommend one. I bought one just to mess about with on those rainy days that i cannot take my raptor 50 or falcon 46 out. The mechanics and electrics work diffrent compared to a nitro heli but they fly exactly the same. Spares are cheap also. Ive had loads of fun with mine.

Lee

[antsis]

Amit

I don't want to put you off, but electric indoor heli's are actually harder to fly than i.c. powered ones. They also need pretty calm days to be flown outside. Saying that, if you are prepared to be patient, once you have mastered an indoor model, you will find a nitro heli a lot easier to handle. Collective models such as the piccolo, hummingbird, zoom 400, etc are also easier to fly compared to the fixed pitch versions.

I started with the FP (fixed pitch) hummingbird and the only problems I've had, apart from breaking rotor blades, have been due to electrical wear. electric motors do wear out after a while. I then went onto a 30 size hawk sport and could hover with no problems.

Basically, if you want to go for the indoor model, find your nearest rc hobby shop and see what they sell. Most shops will also setup and test fly the model for you.

Ant

[Amit]

Thanks for the help.
I discovered a large public park near me where I could fly an RC helicopter with massive ammounts of space.
This has made me change my mind about indoor helis and also the tips you guys have given me.
I might get a nitro 30 size heli. Most likely a raptor. But i'm not sure if it should be my first heli, as it looks VERY powerful, strong (as in the sense of the material) and very large. The blades are also very big and I'm quite scared that i'll crash it. Well 75% that i'll crash it within a month. So theres alot of choices, which one to choose... I'm very grateful for the tips you guys have given me, keep em coming RC'ers

[Raptorite]

Hi Amit,

I personally think you would be much better off with a 30 size IC heli, the raptor you mentioned is an ideal machine to learn with.

I am not sure from reading your posts if you have actually seen one fly, in this case I think the best thing you could do is to find your local flying club and go down to the field and watch some flying. It would also be a good opportunity to join the club and talk to the other members about what they fly and where they get spares etc.

I would strongely recommend you do join a club and get some help instead of trying to learn on your own, as you should never try and fly a model that has not been checked over and test flown by an experienced pilot first. The club will also be able to organise the vitally important BMFA membership and Insurance for you, most clubs insist on this and wont let you fly without.

On the matter of crashing, I would say that you will be closer to the 90 to 95% mark of having some sort of incident with the model in the first month, however if you first get a simulator and practice on the computer this can be drastically reduced.

In terms of simulators, there are a number on the market at the moment, all have their good and bad points and most depend on your budget, they start from around 70 for CSM V10 and go all the way up to about 180 for Realflight G2.

Most of the lower priced simulators require you to use your actual transmitter to fly it, which in many ways is no bad thing as it gets you used to the feel of your transmitter before you fly your real model.

There are numerous radio packages around, my advice here is to buy the best your budget will allow, for example one of the newer computer radios to come on the market is the Futaba FF7 which at 269.99 is an ideal set for the beginner.

This may sound like allot for just the radio but a couple of things to remember here are that these packages come with the transmitter, receiver, normally 4 servos, switch for the model, rechargeable battery packs for the transmitter and receiver and a charger. The other thing is that you will most likely progress onto bigger and better models as you get more and more proficient at flying but you will change your radio far less often so it is highly recommended to get one now that will last you some time and have all the capabilities you will need later on as your flying advances.

If you have access to a credit card you could buy from overseas, one site that springs to mind is www.heli-kraft.com from which you could get most of the items needed to get a heli in the air at greatly reduced prices to those available in the UK. You will also as has been mentioned already need to find your local model shop in order to get the consumable items needed such as fuel, glow plugs and some of the starting equipment you will need etc.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Amit]

Hi Pete,
thanks for the detailed reply.
I've taken it into mind and have visited that HeliKraft website.
Most of the RAPTORS are out of stock and very expensive.
Also I'm pretty sure theres no near Local flying clubs here in South east London. I've done some searches and no luck. So thats another negative side to this. I've located some model shops and will visit them during next month (hopefully). Also I will buy a simulator, probably a cheap one. I only have 300 to spend now. So i'm going to try and fit it all in.
Looking at the "flying clubs" aspect, i'll keep on trying.
I hope the model shops can guide and support me purchasing one.
My area is: South East London/Ilford/Redbridge

Thanks,
Amit.

[mo]

STUTTERING

Hey Stuart,
Amit', has started stuttering now and I thought it was only me who had this ailment.Seriously Stuart', I am sure I only entered my post once and had to go back and delete a second reprint.

GOOD FLYING.
MO.

[Stuart]

They server's been freaking out tonight 8O , but its back on track now...

[chappers]

OH NO ITS NOT!!!!!!!!

chappers

[Stuart]

At the bottom of the page you'll see how long it took to load the page. Mine is generally between 0.8 to 0.9 sec's.

How long is yours ?

[G-DAVE]

Hi Stu
Didn't time how long it took - but gave up in the end it was just grinding to a halt.
Thought it was just my computer!!
Dave

[antsis]

Amit

2 points

The raptor is a good heli, but you could also consider the Century hawk sport or the Kyosho Nexus. Most model shops will do deals which include the heli, engine, gyro and radio for around 400.00. You could look at the classified ads or ebay for a 2nd hand one, but I would recommend that if you went this route, you must get it checked out by an experienced pilot. This brings me to my next point.

It is imperative that you get your BMFA membership so that you are covered by insurance. You said you found a public park to fly in. This could create a lot of problems. If you happen to have an accident and damage someone or something there is a possiblity that the BMFA may not provide cover as they may not regard it as a recognised flying field. My club is on council land and even though we have large warning signs up, people still walk across when we're flying. According to BMFA regulations, we have to land everytime this happens. When you are concentrating on learning to hover a 30 size heli, it's not something else you want to be looking out for.
You say you are in SE London, have you looked up Avicraft in Bromley? They would be able to advise you on kits and clubs.

Ant

[Amit]

Hey Ant

I think 400 is a bit too much for me. About the BMFA, does that apply for indoor helis aswell?
I'll be sure to get some insurance as soon as I find where I'm going to fly etc.

The location you gave me is unfortunatley too far from where I live.
Kent's about 1 and a half hours from here, Redbridge/SE london.

My birthday's in July, thats when I'm going to get the money to buy the heli.
I never knew an RC heli hobby is so confusing and detailed.
I thought it was just like..
BUY A HELI - CHARGE IT - FLY IT ANYWHERE AND HAVE FUN.
Seems to be much more interesting and educational though

Keep posting! Thanks
Amit