120Sr first outdoor flight....

[Delarado]

So the sun was out this afternoon, the wind seemed minimal and I had 3 lipo's charged.

I took the 120SR up the park and had a blast with it

Got the hang of forward and backwards flight with some banked turns, also did a couple of tight & Fast funnels (inward facing and outward) all of which ended in a crash after a few rotations, but i think i know what I did wrong! (CCW tail in ended with bird hitting ground...needed a little clockwise rudder to gain some altitude)

I really enjoyed flying it but i've noticed some weirdness with it, Im not sure if its me, the bird, or the wind!

First off, I hate the flybar. The see-sawing nature of it is very very annoying. Couple this with a gust of wind at the wrong time and you have some panicked full throttle flying involved just to stop the thing see-sawing itself into the mud (it actually almost inverted itself at one point!) Does getting something flybarless eliminate this? Having to go from full forward back to centre and full forward again just to get it to not crash feels very counter intuitive.

Second, I find the thing sometimes is very unresponsive. I can be nose in with full forward cyclic and she just hovers flat as a pancake. If I mash the sticks around a bit and go back to full forward, sometimes itll then tip in and start doing what its supposed to.

I read that some gyros can stop you flying the way you want because they get confused, is this one of those? Or could it just be wind? I didnt really notice much...But im aware that a little is enough to really screw with these little blighters.


Lastly, what would you guys recommend for outdoor flying for a relative newbie? Im pretty confident now with the 120sr, I had it circling me for a good while, nose in and tail in manuevers, I can hover just fine etc etc but Im really starting to notice now that its too big/fast for indoors and completely useless in any kind of wind.

Ive heard good things about the MSRx but surely this would be worse outdoors than the 120sr? Although I do like the idea of it not breaking because it doesnt weigh as much!

Im happy to invest in a DX7 (I actually see one in the for sale but im not allowed to post in it yet ) and dont really have a budget for a heli. I want something thatll be fairly cheap to fix, as I will crash - also fairly robust but most importantly that its good fun to fly and capable.

If I have the choice of flying a docile bird that ill never break but be bored of in a month or one that goes like a bat out of hell but I'll spend £100 in parts in a week, I'd rather have the one i'd spend £100 in parts on.

I know align make choppers as do e-flite (As i have an e-flite) but I dont really know anything more than that. So if anyone could give me a comparison of the manufacturers and the pro's and cons of them then thatd be great! I'm sure the different birds are geared and slightly different audiences so it'd be good to know the difference.

Last but not least I don't mind building my own; and may actually prefer that. I'm an engineer by trade and I run a circuit racing team in my spare time so i'm no stranger to precision and getting my hands dirty

[spudly]

Not sure how much wind your talking about but mine flys well outside. Think whenyou say unresponsive your dealing with wind.
The best mod you can do to the 120sr for outdoor flying is change the swashplate. I use a rakonheli one. I use the long swasharms to the flybar and the short inner arms to the servo links. I get huge amounts of cyclic which really helps if there is a bit of wind. transforms it. I'm not sure on the microheli one but believe it gives a big increase in cyclic as well.
I dont know what controller you use but if you are using the DX6i ensure that your setting on the gyro switch are set to 100%. If you have not got this set to 100% you will get much less servo movement and hence reduced cyclic (note this is not effecting the gyro on the 120sr but a feature on the blade 5 in 1).
I have a msrx and mcpx. The msrx is a wicked little heli and a bit like a tamed mcpx. I never fly mine in much wind. It is a blast outdoors though. Very fast and very responsive. It can also be a great copter for indoors. I like it almost as much as my mcpx.

You wont get any of the see saw effect that you get with the orignal msr or 120sr. That nasty feature is due to the 45 degree flybar. The benefit of being flybarless with the msrx is that you dont get the see saw effect and you also dont get the dreaded TBE.
The loss of 45degree flybar does mean that you wont get the self stabilizing effect that the 120sr and orignal msr had. Any cyclic you give it means you will have to be counter act it to stop it and hence it is very much like a CP bird or FP bird with 90flybar.

If you want to move up a notch and learn a lot and have a bird that pretty crash proof and can handle some wind then an mcpx is a great bird.

[AcidDrink]

You need a CP helicopter to fly in the wind. FP heli is no fun in a breeze, except if you like flying kites.

MCPX would do, but a 450 size combo (Align, Mini Protos etc.) would be much better.

[spudly]

Not sure how much wind your talking about here. There is no problem flying a msrx in a breeze around 5mph. They will tear through the sky in these conditions. I also fly a FP Honeby bee and its absolutely fine. So I strongly disagree.
CP is better as you got so much more control but to say a FP heli is no fun in the breeze is absolutely incorrect and misleading you.
Im not biased as I got several CP helis as well as FP.

[CiaranMal1]

I have a 120sr that I'm selling, I don't like it any slight breeze and its bye bye. :/

[spudly]

Well guys I know I got a modified swashplate and I dont know what settings you were using but mine flies well and is fast in a breeze. It will always make decent headway into a breeze. I dont know what your definition of a breeze is? Mine is 2 to 7 mph. Getting higher than that and I agree with you.
If you can fly a CP though you are going to get bored with a 120sr and it will get left on the shelf. I know because I leave mine behind most of the time. Happy to buy them but parting with the is more difficult.

[Delarado]

So you think the mcpx bnf is a good choice for me then? I like the look of it... And I like the look of 6ch too but I've read a fair bit saying its a tricky bird to fly...

Added to that wouldn't it be worse in the wind being smaller and lighter?

The wind today was... Well, I don't know how fast it was, but wearing a jacket and wooly hat I didn't really even realise there was any (apart from what the heli was doing) so probably wasnt that strong...

Im leaning towards an mcpx and a dx6. Whats the difference between a dx6 and dx6i? If I can pick up a dx7 at a good price will one of those work too? Can you just leave the last channel unused or what? I've seen the difference between mode 1 and mode 2... Glad I did as you can't change them over can you?

Also, will a dx6 work for any bird I get or is it just for certain manufacturers? The guy in the shop when I bought the 120 said something about spectrum being exclusive to eflight or something?

Also, can I hook it up to a pc and play on a sim? Is there anything else needed to do this?

Lastly, do you have a link to this swash plate for the 120sr? What does it do, give it more travel? In already on the advance setting on the standard swash plate (longer balls) I can't see any other settings for the servo links....


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.582901,-0.404453

[spudly]

An upgrade swashplate is going to set you back around £20 but maybe that cash is better placed towards a new heli?

Spektrum is not exclusive to Eflite. You can use any spectrum Rx with any spektrum Tx. The smaller blades like msr and 120sr have onboard spektrum RX so you can only use a spktrum TX. You can use a DX6i with a trex 450.

You will always fair better in the wind with a bigger heli. The bigger the heli the more options you have. What you need to consider though is the bigger the heli the bigger the cost when you crash and you will when your learning to fly a CP heli. It is also dangerous to take bigger helis to a local park; especially if you cannot fly them well and lose control. If one hits you you will end up in hospital. You really need private land or a club to fly them.
I dont know how much wind you want to fly in but my personal opinion and what moved me forward the most in this hobby is a MCPX. It flies way way better than a FP 120sr and you can crash it often and just pick it up.

[Delarado]

Don't get me wrong it was a blast flying it, going up high, full pitch and throttle forward, watching it zoom past - a few pirhouettes on the way past a d then pull up and banked turn out - it was great. But every now and then I'd turn to try and come back the other way and it's just get stuck in the air - I could either land, or hover - I couldn't get the bird to come back to me.

It did seem to happen going in one particular direction - so maybe it was more the wind... But there was so little of it that I could barely feel it myself...but it still completely disabled the control of my little heli!

That experience left me wanting something more wind proof! I must admit I can see where the "kite" comment Came from with my experience today.

[spudly]

Microheli swashplate can be found at fast lads or midland helicopters. Rakonheli ones don't tend to be sold in the UK. I bought mine from the Rakonheli website.

[AcidDrink]

dx6 is obsolete version, you need mode 2 dx6i ("i" at the end) or better (dx7, dx8 etc..). DX6i will work will any e-flite bind and fly model, helicopter or heli. For bigger helis you need to buy a receiver (as they don't come with one), any spectrum receiver will work with dx6i.

You can use dx6i with a sim.

Mcpx is smaller but its head speed is much higher than sr120 (more power), plus you you have pitch control (CP -> collective pitch, FP -> fixed pitch), not only throttle - meaning heli can actually land or change altitude (because of negative pitch which will push down vertically) when being blown away by the wind. This also allows heli to fly upside down.
Also, mcpx is flybarless which makes it a bit more stable in the wind - less prone to tip overs when hit by a gust.
It will still be handful in anything more than 10 mph, because of its size, but controllable unlike any FP heli.

[Delarado]

Yeah I know what you mean about the bigger birds, the 120 has left me with marks on my chest before now when I was flying nose in and got confused! Something bigger would certainly hurt more!

Don't get me wrong I don't want to fly in a blizzard but it'd be nice to be able to fly once or twice a week when the weathers good... I feel like today's the best day we've had in weeks weather wise (I've been checking weather reports every night waiting to get outside!)

So when I saw a forecast of 4mph at 3pm I made sure the battery's were charged and the bird was ready...just a bit disheartening thats all!

I think I'll pick up an mcpx anyway, I want something a bit smaller to fly indoors anyway - if it's worse than the sr120 outside then no problem, I've still ticked one box with it.

Know what you mean about component costs too - battery's for a start had me concerned. Doubt you could get battery's for 6 quid each for a bird twice the size of the SR! I've already gone through 8 push rods 2 sets of main blades and 3 tail rotors (although most in the first few days) can't imagine how much that's cost on a larger one! Probably more would break too due to its weight when you crash!

[Delarado]

Thanks acid - exactly what I wanted to hear. That "tip over" term describes exactly what I didn't like earlier. Flying along bank left a bit and all of a sudden she's on her side and heading for the deck haha. As mentioned, queue some panicked inputs and body tensing up thinking I'm gonna smash it in the mud!

Thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated. Can't find the "thank" button on tapatalk but will do it later.

Looks like I'm getting a dx6i and an mcpx for a few moths to play with before I move up to something bigger. One last question - is there any reason to get more than 6 channels (dx7 or 8?) for a heli?

[spudly]

The mcpx is not worse than a 120sr. Its a massive step forward and is very quick. It is a CP heli and it will not self stabilize like a 120sr will. You will need a DX6i or similar as you will want to tame the mcpx down with the dual rates whilst you are learning.
I have a 120sr, msr, msrx and mcpx and the mcpx leave the other behind.

Im getting to grips with a trex 250. I keep looking at the forcast but down in the SW its been rubbish. At least I can fly in the sim.

[spudly]

A dx6i will do all you want for most helis. A DX7 will give you another channel (good if you got retracts or need another channel). I think the throttle and pitch curves may have more points than the 5 the Dx6i has and I also belive it comes with rechargeable batteries. The dx8 offers more again with onboard telemetry so you can find out what your battery voltage in the heli is or rpm etc...
Others who have dx7 or dx8 may want to chip in here and give you a better idea on features over the dx6i.