Towards me...

[Cralis]

Hello people!

My progress of being a better R/C Heli pilot has been slow. Numerous reasons. I'm only flying my 450 at the moment, on my own, as I haven't found a suitable club yet.

I'm also not flying the Rappy as I am stuck. I have one tank of fuel left in the bottle, and a new 5 litre bottle of new fuel. The new fuel is 15%, while the one tank I have left is 20%. Can I mix them? Also, the 15% is green, while the 20% is red/pink.

My main point is that I am now getting brave (in my books). In the field, I am flying about slowly, side on and tail in only. But in the last 3 mornings, I've been sending the heli pretty high. I'm talking, maybe 5 or 6 stories high. Before, I battled with height, but I seem to enjoy it more up there now. Free from hitting the ground, lamp poles, trees, bushes and my dog.

And with it being so high, I did my first flight towards me, albeit very high above me. I took off, to my left and sent it up, then did a slow right turn, to fly off to my right, but instead of going right, I kept the turn, so that it end up facing me for a brief period. I kept the turn on to that it went off to my left again. Loved it! Saw the bottom of the heli... and with it being quite a tight turn, heard the blades chopping! Sounded great!

Then today I sent it high again, flew it away from me... about.. maybe 100m or so, then sharp turn towards me, and flew it straight at me (Again, at height...). Let it decend a bit while to came, and then did a sharp turn again about 15 meters in front of me to fly away. Again, felt cool. Not 100% in control. Shaking (me) a bit, but it was cool! Steps towards nose in!

And when I flicked it away on the turn, the noise of the blades again - sounds great! Ah! So happy.

What I will do now is slow down the flight, as it is going at quite high speed. I find though that when I turn it towards me, I back off the forward pitch automatically and it tends to stop for a moment, and I have to push the stick forward to get it moving. My trim is set for slightly forward movement when I am at centre stick, so I must be pulling back by mistake automatically. Will fix that to make my moves more smooth.

But I think slowing down the flight will make the nose in harder, and hence improve it for me. I am not saying I am in control in nose in. By far, I am not. But I feel like I did when I started flying - and that automatically got better, so I am hoping nose in will do the same.

My dream right now is to be able to flying it towards me, bring it to a hover and land... nose in. No wishes for 3D... just perfect control. Come on... it's gotta happen. Click, Craig. Click!

[helihead]

sounds like you getting their but dont rush things the little 450 can get very small all too quick,i take it you have a sim so loads of practice on that will bring you along ,,however winter and shrot days are here so you may find progress will be a little slower,, but for sure it will all come togeather..

[Cralis]

Winter and shorter days? What's that? I recently moved from Scotland to sunny Cape Town, South Africa. Today, 27 degrees and pure blue skies. We have a wind that blows during the summer months (All 9 of them! hehe) which isn't helpful, but it picks up later in the day. I do my flying at the moment between 06h30 and 07h00, when it's around 18 degrees and still.

I do have a sim - Phoenix, and that's been a great help. and yes, the little 450 can get away from me, I find, and I have a bit of a moment trying to ensure which way it's pointing...

As my skills increase, so I fly it a lot closer to me. I've had a few close shaves when I struggled to get what it was doing... but so far, so good.

Nose in - come on...

[robgt]

Don't mix different types of fuel - if you had the same brand, but i different nitro contents, then you can mix that if necessary - but different brands - I wouldn't.

Best to run the old stuff out, then start the new stuff.
Also, richen up the main needle by 3 or 4 clicks (turn it anti-clockwise) just to help the engine with the switchover to the new fuel. There's less nitro content, so it will not run quite as cool, or deliver quite as much power (but it should still be fine).
After a couple of tanks on the new fuel, tune it in to get it running sweet again.

Cheers,
Rob

[helihead]

hi you lucky thing in cape town getting cold here now,,forgot to mention fuel i would agree with robgt dont mix differant fuels not worth the possible dead stik or killed engine,,happys days out thair,,

[Sesame]

sounds like your getting on well their craig.

on the nose in stuff keep at it, personally I found a real sense of achievment when I did that first steady nose in hover, it was only a few short weeks ago.

[helihead]

hi you lucky thing in cape town getting cold here now,,forgot to mention fuel i would agree with robgt dont mix differant fuels not worth the possible dead stik or killed engine,,happys days out thair,,

[Cralis]

Tony, nice (on the Nose In!).
Yes, I can say that that is my only goal right now. To have total control in all orientations. I haven't been on the sim for ages. Must get back into that, but I feel it's more real with the real thing. Oh wait.. it IS more real. And I'm feeling (for now) that as long as she is high, chances of a crash are pretty low, and if I could get her hovering up there, then I can slowly bring it down...
I still think there's nothing better* than a heli hovering nose in to you, like in my picture on the left of my posts of my Raptor... Looks great.

* This only includes R/C Helicopter views. I can think of plenty of other views I wouldn't mind seeing standing in front of me... nose in...