When are you ready for a CP Helicopter?

[Sieze2]

I currently have a Blade Cx2 and Phoenix sim. I was talking to my local hobby shop about the Blade 400 which is supposed to come out in november for around £280 RTF. For those who don't know what it is have a look here http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...rodID=EFLH1400 .

Anyway the purpose of my visit was to see if they thought the blade400 would be a good stepping stone. It seems to me to be a good product at a reasonable price.

He basically laughed in my face, saying I wasn't ready ! I pointed out that I fly T-rex's in phoenix till the battery runs out (ie. not crashing it). Including simple aerobatics and hovering/landing in all orientations with a 6mhp wind and 8mhp gusts. He again laughed and told me its completely different when you are flying a "bag of money".

Please can someone tell me how you know when you are ready? I feel capable to flying a t-rex right now. Its only when I do low level aerobatics that I "buy the farm" on the sim. Hovering and landing give me no problems at all. Inverted flight and inverted hovering give me huge problems though. I have only had phoenix for about 8 weeks. This might be the problem with the store owner, however, I fly about 30 mins a day on the sim and 20 mins with the blade.

[richieclarkie]

This is where you need to ask yourself, whos hobby (and money) is it? Your narrow minded hobby store owner or you?

The fact that you have put in loads of stick time on Phoenix should make all the difference. As long as you can hover on the spot in the sim and accept the fact that you WILL crash at some point then go for it.

As far as the blade 400 is concerned, this heli may be OK as a begginer heli, however remember parts may be scarce for a while, which is a real problem when you can't fly because you can't get hold of replacement crash bits.

[Ade_Law]

from what you have said you sound pretty ready to me i wouldnt be giving that LHS any money tho.

most of the small electric stuff is pretty crappy between the contra rotating things and the trex 450se V2

lack of thrust races in the blade grips and sloppy linkages mean they just dont fly accurately making the pilots work load much higher.

Ade

[Bubblefish777]

I currently have a Blade Cx2 and Phoenix sim. I was talking to my local hobby shop about the Blade 400 which is supposed to come out in november for around £280 RTF. For those who don't know what it is have a look here http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/De...rodID=EFLH1400 .

Anyway the purpose of my visit was to see if they thought the blade400 would be a good stepping stone. It seems to me to be a good product at a reasonable price.

He basically laughed in my face, saying I wasn't ready ! I pointed out that I fly T-rex's in phoenix till the battery runs out (ie. not crashing it). Including simple aerobatics and hovering/landing in all orientations with a 6mhp wind and 8mhp gusts. He again laughed and told me its completely different when you are flying a "bag of money".

Please can someone tell me how you know when you are ready? I feel capable to flying a t-rex right now. Its only when I do low level aerobatics that I "buy the farm" on the sim. Hovering and landing give me no problems at all. Inverted flight and inverted hovering give me huge problems though. I have only had phoenix for about 8 weeks. This might be the problem with the store owner, however, I fly about 30 mins a day on the sim and 20 mins with the blade.

LOL my parting shot as I walked out the store would have been "If my flying skills were as good as your business skills I'd still be getting the software out of the box."
What a pr1ck. My advice is listen to people on the forums and deal via mail order with the shops that give a reasonable service. For me it's Midland Helicopters, Fast Lad and rcmodels. They have all been good about answering the phone, calling to tell me of issues (out of stock) and discussing requirements. Buzzflyers have yet to answer the phone or an email. No problems processing a web order though oddly enough

as for are you ready. Hell Yes !!!! I d'dn't have phoenix when I started bobbing about the garden with my Belt CP. I still can't hover in Phoenix or in real life but I can wobble about the garden and land with my training gear on then go collect it and re-position it in the middle of the garden and fly again. I think it you can hover a trex in phoenix you are more than ready for a heli... and as for your model shop...let it go...the more people he speaks to like that the sooner clowns like him are out of business.

'there's always one..'

[Randall]

What was the name of the LHS so we can name and shame ?

[robgt]

By your location, I guess you're talking about Penn Models?

If it was the dude with the grey/silver hair, ignore him, he talks a load of crap when it comes to heli's. (3D... just wiggle the sticks...)

There's a couple of good guys in there though.
Cheers,
Rob

[Fixxxer]

By your location, I guess you're talking about Penn Models?

If it was the dude with the grey/silver hair, ignore him, he talks a load of crap when it comes to heli's. (3D... just wiggle the sticks...)

There's a couple of good guys in there though.
Cheers,
Rob

Yep, I'll second that !

[Randall]

If it was the dude with the grey/silver hair, ignore him, he talks a load of crap when it comes to heli's. (3D... just wiggle the sticks...)

Are you telling me there is more to 3D than just wiggling the sticks ??? damm................ lol

[robgt]

Not if you listen to the silver haired guy in Penn

Cheers,
Rob

[Fixxxer]

Was in there the other week and they were trying to sell me the new nova rossi 50 heli engine, best thing since sliced bread apparently according to them, from what I have read it's just an oversized truck engine with a dodgy carb.

[Guest]

I think you guys are being a bit hard on this LHS
Most on here would recommend a Trex 450se v2 (not exactly a beginners model)
Most LHS would jump at selling anything to anyone
This LHS doesn't sound like it was pushing a sell anything it can

As for being ready, you really don't know until you try
I can 3D on sim, bugger if I would try it at the field yet
I probably could but if not there's a few hundred quid that might hit the deck

Anyway I would recommend a 50 size heli for a beginner rather than a micro electric heli

[robgt]

I hear it runs smooth but lacks power?
I may find out soon though as I believe one chap at one of the clubs I fly at has got one to fit into a 600n... when and if that materialises, I'll see what it's like

Cheers,
Rob

[robgt]

Don't misunderstand... the shop itself is pretty good!
Just one of the chaps in there kinda loves himself, talks a lot and knows a lot less

Cheers,
Rob

[Fixxxer]

Apparently the NV ain't the easiest to fit either as it's mounting holes aren't uniform like all the other big brands... Only what I've read on other forums etc tho.

I agree that the mentioned shop is good but you really need to visit it to get an impression of what we mean. I have had good and bad over the last 3 years and only drop in if I must since they are the only half stocked decent shop near to me, thats until I found barnstormers which is a little closer

[Sieze2]

I feel a bit embarrased you guys have not only worked out which shop, but which member of staff . I have to emphasise I have no problem with the shop at all, and my intention was never to name and shame. Infact they have been generally very helpfull. I suspect there might have been an element of bravado involved as there was someone else in there doing a review of a new chinese helicopter for a magazine. It did get me thinking about the necessary abilities to fly a collective pitch heli though. I feel like I am ready, and was wating for the Blade 400 to come out, and get reviewed before getting one.

Alot of people say they wished they had learnt on a T-rex rather than an all plastic RTF cheapy. I guess the Blade 400 can be classified as the latter, except it comes with a decent transmitter (spectrum Dx6i). I assume it is alot cheaper to crash an all plastic CP rotor head, rather than an all alloy T-rex head? Some claim it would have saved them lots of money to have learned on a T-rex, presumerably due to less mecanical failures ? I am sure that with a "black binbag crash" a blade 400 would be cheaper to repair/replace than a T-rex.

I know this is a hobby I really love so have no real problems spending an inital outlay, if it saves me money and heartache in the long run.