New to Helis what tips helped you the most when you started up??

[Pickles]

Hello People.<br>My first post on here. Ive been flying fixed wing for about 4 years now. I had a helicopter before that but as you all know the floor always wins!! I put it away after a few rebuilds and four years passed!! I now have a sports hall to fly in so i got it out again. Its a century mini pred i have. I swapped it over onto my spectrum did some playing about to soften the pitch curve, (guessed at it) but my mate says it feels ok!! Straight away it was better than before hovering away nicely. I stuck it in after about 4 batterys worth of pooping myself!! Nothing to drastic to rebuild!! So just a quick one what hints and tips helped you out most when you started up??<br><br>Cheers for any help.<br><br>Andy

[SaneAdam]

Get a flight sim. Phoenix is a great one for the money. Cant stress how much this improved my flying and how important it is to anyone that is serious about the hobby. Worth every single penny.

[Spasmod]

I couldn't agree more with SaneAdam, definitely a good sim is the way to go. There's quite a big difference from fixed wing when you move on to CP heli's. The important thing I've learned is to master the basics as they help immensely as you start to progress towards the harder manoeuvres.

[Pickles]

I've got Realflight and have played around on that. I'll give it a more serious go!!

[NiceBlades]

I've got Realflight and have played around on that. I'll give it a more serious go!!

I agree with the above, I'm still running Reflex, haven't touched it for months, went on it for 30 mins last Wednesday and saw a marked improvement in my flying on the weekend. Also tried out some moves I was loving on the sim, Happy Days!

[collective itch]

A dust pan and brush. Lol kidding, I found a msr and sr helped improve my flying a lot after I hit a hovering barrier. Those two little models helped my fff no end.

[bolders]

Agree with the above.

Get a sim and dont be too eager to get into 3D moves and generally flinging the heli around too early. Learn your orientations and when you think you have got them learn them some more.

Start (on sim) with hovering tail in then left and right side in and nose in. Once you have got hovering sorted try slow hovering piros (both directions. Then a bit of forward flight and lazy eights (all directions to reduce handedness).

Then start on inverted hovering first nose in or tail in (depends if you flip or roll to inverted) then L&R side in and tail/nose in. then work on slow hovering inverted piros.

Once you have got each move sorted on the sim try to move them into real life.
Finally try to fly the heli through all manoeuvres you try so you are always in full control of the heli instead of putting it into a move and hoping it will come out the other end - this is where your orientation practice will really pay for itself .

[cjcj1949]

All the above. The msr is very good at surviving. If you can't do it on the sim don't bother trying it for real unless you like repairing. The first stage is to be able to hover tail in without thinking about it. Then on the sim you can move the heli out of position and learn to recover without thinking. Real life flying is always more difficult when you try something new. Once you can do it without having to concentrate the real thing tends to be easier than the sim.

I think it may be quicker to learn without the sim as the thought of breaking it or someone else makes it a more real experience and people who push themselves tend to learn quicker. It does cost more though.

It isn't a race though and before long you'll be able to fly for as long as you want within your limitations. You can then decide how exciting you want your flying to be.

Fibreglass main blades are cheap. People who have had lessons tend to think they are good value. It is easy to lose your confidence in the early stages, especially when the problem is due to something faulty rather than your flying.

With the exception of main blades you will have less trouble and learn faster with a new good heli like a Trex with good servos and a good gyro. Cheaper gyros tend to be temperature sensitive and can do some strange things when the weather is colder. The new Blade 450 gyro seems about the cheapest reasonable gyro.

[waveydavey]

Stick time on both with the empahasis on at the field. Sim is good and I couldn't do without it, but so much better when you can actually fly. Hovering practice is mind numbing at the field, but better than sitting in the dining room and getting bored stiff. However, once you have your orientations down the sim comes into it's own.

[Si_B]

If you can hover tail in confidently, then put the training skids back on and learn nose in from the ground up.

Also, its supposed to be fun.

[Pickles]

Cheers for that. I kind of guessed you would all say the sim. im sure after a few more prangs ill get the hang of it!! Oh and i do have a dust pan and brush!! After i have trashed my mini pred what would you suggest as a follow on model?? I was thinknig Trex 450 or something along those lines!!

[electricsceadu]

the only 2 450 sized models i'd have are the mini titan and the trex 450
but i'd look at the hirobo embla when it comes out (if i was to buy a 450)
and before somebody says about spares costs the guys on rr say the embla hasn't got the normal hirobo price penlty

the one thing nobody has yet said is to learn auto's on the sim
it will save a model one day at the field for you