Newbie following in Dad's footsteps - Nitro Helicopters

[Pabs]

Hey folks,

Been reading for forums/site for a while now, but decided to sign up to take a deeper look around now that I'm spending more time in the hobby!

Dad's been flying for about 25-30 years now, and has recently decided to get back into it and revive some of our old models and I'm picking up the ropes.

Initially started with a little electric (Belt CP) but I'm now onto the bigger Nitro models - if I'm honest everything we have is old-hat these days, but slowly getting things up and running and migrating to some new tech as/when we can!

I'm learning on Hirobo Shuttles (all varieties), but we've got a fleet of about 15-20 helicopters in total, ranging from 4 or 5 shuttles, Kalt cyclones (scale airwolf fuselages), Heim bell 222 & hughes 500, and a few schluter pod-boom type models, as well as a Trex 450 or 2.

We're in the process of getting everthing tested and flown again, and slowly moving over to Spektrum 2.4Ghz radio gear as the 35mhz stuff we have is slowly dying, and with the ease of setup on the new stuff hardly seems worth having 5-10 tx's these days!

Anyway, just wondered if anyone else out there still flies these now "vintage" models? Seems that the majority of parts are still available, even if 2nd hand on "the bay" and then at least once I've got to grips with things I'll be able to invest some more money in the new Trex and Raptor type models.

I am personally in the middle of a restoration of a Kalt Cyclone II airwolf model - was neglected and damaged, but I'm nearly at the painting/refitting stage Enjoying it too!

Cheers folks - great site!

[topher]

Sounds like you have lots of models to play with!

I have a Kalt baron 30 which hadnt run for years and is now in fully function condition with very little wear on anything. Dont plan to fly it again now (have flown it a few times) as the radio gear is old (old mechanical gyro) and although it all seems to work, I dont want to risk it plus some kalt parts seem hard to get.

[waveydavey]

Welcome. there is a dedicated area for vintage on here somewhere.

[Pabs]

Cheers! I must admit this forum isn't laid out like others I'm on, so trying to find all the sub-forums is a little tricky at the mo.

Kalt can be hard to get hold of - but a lot of these appear 2nd hand on the internet now so not too bad, although we've had to make a few of the parts ourselves.
Hopefully with the new radio gear and electronics they may even perform better than before - certainly with the headlock gyros and faster servos that are available now

[PeteStewardson]

Pabs... I know that signin from somewhere... SCN?

[Pabs]

Mr Iceman, I believe??? haha - smallworld eh? Didn't realise you were into this sort of thing!

[PeteStewardson]

Indeed mate that's me

You obviously missed my thread on SCN about helis lol

[Pabs]

haha - yeah, must have!
Unfortunately my dad and I are still in the dark-ages with our heli-tech, but slowly starting to get into the modern era! haha. Still currently in the build-out stage at the moment - so many bits and untested models, but we've had a good blast with a couple of shuttles which was fun, even if we did have some "teething" problems.

I'm yet to crash in a "proper" way, but I'm sure it'll be soon enough - admittedly just hovering around inches/feet from the floor means I can't do too much damage. My dad throws these things around as if they are paper aeroplanes though - good to watch!

[PeteStewardson]

Oh you'll have your crashes. Was a while before I had one and have had 3 so far. The last one was pretty much a write-off and had to rekit most of it. All good fun though.

[trillian]

I still have a few vintage helis and some older ones that I don't quite consider vintage as yet

I have a Kalt GS Alpha, an Alpha Baron and a Baron 30. One of my favourite helis is
the Robbe Futura and I suppose some incarnations of it can be considered vintage
but they're still really good machines and are built to last and fly great.