Suggestions on 2 possible setups for a bebinner

[robertwo]

Hi

I was wondering if you would be able to give me some advice about a couple of helicopters I have been looking at.

I am new to flying, and am looking to purchase a complete setup and have found a couple of people that have the following available which they are looking to sell, and I was hoping that you may be able to give me some advice on which you feel would be most suited to a beginner, but would also give me the best available kit to continue forward with for at least a year.

They all Raptors, either 30s or 50s. For what I can tell these are basically the same apart from the engine size, is this correct?


The details of the possibilities are as follows:

KIT #1: (1387)

Raptor 50 V2 complete with all servos
Futaba 6exa Transmitter (Optional) - Guessing this would need replacing quickly?
Flight box with Fuel Pump, Starter, Glow stick (Optional)
OS 50 Hyper Engine
G V 1 governor
401 gyro and matching s9254 servo on tail
Futaba 9201 on cyclic
Futaba 9202 on ailoron and elevator
3800 mah battery
s a b carbon main blades
Curtis youngblood carbon tail blades
Curtis youngblood power pipe
Full aluminum head and swash plate
Aluminum gelt guide rollers
Carbon tail pushrod
Carbon base plate
Header tank
Remote glow

All above for £500 approximately or without the starting kit and transmitter for £425

KIT #2: (7615)

Raptor 30 V2 Helicopter complete
TT39 Engine
Zimmerman Muffler
Thunder Tiger Carbon Blades
Unused spare wooden blades
Large capacity Battery pack
Three canopys (see pics)
Instructional DVD's (Rays Authoritative, From the ground up, Beyond the hover, RC model helicopters and From buying to flying)
Futaba FF9 Transmitter all programmed ready to go
Futaba S3001 Servos x 5
CSM HLG 200 Gyro
Futaba PCM Receiver
Onboard Battery Checker
Electric fuel pump
Electric Power Panel
Starter and starting shaft
Glow starter battery
Field Box
Tools for maintenance
PRO PEAK Supernova charger with converted PC 12 volt power supply for Transmitter and heli battery
Charger for Glow Plug Battery and Flight Box Battery
Flight Box is a converted stanley toolbox on wheels
Tacho rev counter for checking blade speed
2 gallons of fuel
Various other parts

All Above for £500 approximately

KIT #3: (2751)

Thunder Tiger Raptor 30 fully assembled.
O.S. Max 32 SX-H Ring engine.
Futaba Field Force 6 6X-FM35 50th Ripmax Special Edition Radio with 5 x FP-S148 Servo and FP-R138DF 8 channel receiver.
GWS-01NP Piezo Gyro.
Reflex Training Software (See below).
3.78 Litres Cool Power Heli mix (15% Nitro) fuel.
R.C. systems training under-carriage.
Irvine power panel which controls the starter, glow-plug and fuel pump.
POWERtorque Series II electric starter.
POWERcell 12 volt 7 Amp-Hour battery.
GEL-CELL Lead Acid battery charger.
Ripmax L-IP142 electric fuel pump.
Thunder Tiger Raptor Series 3801 Extended starting tool.
JP Foam blade caddy.
Ripmax L-IP135 Remote glow unit.
Ripmax L-IP176 In-Line fuel filter (2 pack).
3 x Model Technics Firepower F5 Glow-Plug.
Irvine D-IRVLS1 Glow Clip.
1 Metre of Neoprene fuel pipe.
Wooden hobby box to carry it all in (includes cut-outs for power control etc).

All Above for £500 approximately

KIT #4: (3590)

OS50 Hyper (blue head)
Throttle jockey
Remote glow
Futaba 401 & 9254 tail servo combo
NHP Carbon main blades
Battery checker
Alloy/Carbon tail gearbox upgrade
Carbon tail push rod upgrade
Full carbon tail fin upgrade
Full alloy head
3-off JR DS811 digital servos with a Futaba 3152 on the pitch
New NimH 2300 battery
Hitec dual conversion receiver CH 78

Selling price is around £300-350 but has no transmitter.


If I need to buy a transmitter, does anyone have any recommendations? I was looking at the Futaba Field Force 9 Transmitter.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[kingchopper]

i'd say kit four, you end up wanting a 50 pretty soon anyway and get yourself a spektrum dx7 radio and reciever (£240.00 new). might save you money in the long run.

you'll also need all the starting gear which you get cheaply on e-bay.

tt engines are rubbish in my opinion.
happy hunting

[xygax]

imho (a novice)
Set 2. Good radio.. Battery charger starting gear. The 30 is good enouf 4 a novice. Wen u crash and burn (as you will) then progressivly fit the metal upgrades and throw the 3001's away. you can also take it to a 50 when you wear out the engine.

Kit 1 or 3 is the better heli but the raido either is missing or not so good.

But there is benifit in the spektrum and kit 4 its had all the upgrades done but totals a bit more

Steve

[robertwo]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.

Ok in a bit of a dilema now..... It's a straight up choice between the two 50s, Kit 1 & Kit 4.... To me they look near enough identical, but I'm guessing you guys will be able to tell me which is actually best.

The prices are £430-450 for both, maybe £10 between them....

If you were going to buy these, whcih one would you go for and could you explain why?

I'd be very grateful if anyone could give me the advice in the next hour or so as I want to claoe the deal tonight.

Another question.... The Spektrum DX7, I assume it will work with the servos that are already installed, I just need to swap out the reciever in the heli for the new one, or should I swap out the servos to for the ones that come with the DX7?

Thanks again!

[kingchopper]

kit 1 has the better servos in my opinion than the 811's

plus the spektrum is based on JR kit anyway, the spektrum 821 is the same servo as the jr 811 servos which are good enough for throttle servos thats all, they aint up to the job of heli cyclic/pitch in my book. if pushed i would say the 821 is ok for a slow newbie but you wanna change up to something like 9255's. however the 9202 is fairly good.

the jr servos in kit 4 will do you until you are ready for blisteringly fast hard core 3d.

the futaba servos will fit jr recievers and vice versa, you just have to trim the little bit off the futaba plug to fit in to jr sockets.

[robertwo]

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

Ended up going for Kit 1 as couldn't get the right price on #4....

Went with a DX7 Transmitter.

Not sure if it's the right place, but I would like some advice on actually learning to fly - any pointers would be great - views on using the simulators (Pheonix) are worth their money, and will they work with the DX7 I have purchased? What about going to spend some time with an instructor, is it worth it, or is flying something that you can pick up with trial and error?

[fatmantom]

yes phoenix is definetly the one to get and it is worth it! it will take you through all the stages of learning to fly and 3d'ing etc your dx7 will fit the standard dongle as well

cheers,

[Gaza07]

yes phoenix is definetly the one to get and it is worth it! it will take you through all the stages of learning to fly and 3d'ing etc your dx7 will fit the standard dongle as well

cheers,

Excellent advise

[kingchopper]

lessons are expensive but well worth it if you are in a hurry to learn or just need that little extra push in the right direction if your stuck on something.

the cheapest option is to join a good club get some good advice from the club guru and buy yourself a good training aid. and teach yourself its not that hard.

most club members will be falling over themselves to teach you how to fly.

stick with a straight line pitch curve in idle up 2 but in normal mode only start of with zero pitch at bottom stick thro to half stick, that way you wont have too any negative to slam your heli into the deck. as your abilitites grow you can increase the negative pitch.

the gv1 will do the rest of the throttle curve, but program in a slow head speed of say 1600rpm for the raptor.

best get some one to test fly it first to ensure everything is set up nice.

if you get some numpty asking what channel you on, tell um you dont need one cos your spektrum's 2.4ghz.