Just starting out

[Rich_H]

Hi Ritchie,
firstly welcome to the forum, these are a great bunch of guys and girls that hang out here, not only extremely helpful but also some extremely good pilots as well that often compete at national level.

I read your thread and it is very familiar, it never ceases to amaze me just how quckly in this hobby one moves on to bigger and better heli's - sometimes at an alarming rate for the bank balance! This is my first full season on heli's although iv'e flown planes for lots of years (not that it helps).

Although it's often tempting to get a 450 as a first 'serious' heli My advice would be to go for a 500 size. as iv'e said many times on here, IMHO it's the best size when starting out, not too big that it costs a fortune to buy initially but more importantly maintain in the inevitable crashes, but big enough that it will handle a fairly striff breeze so not limiting your flying opportunities. Big enough to see which is important for orientation and vastly more stable than a 450 - which translates to easier to fly.

cells at 5S don't break the bank and if you are on a tight budget (like me) and have patience the HK500 CMT is ideal; cheap to buy, cheap spares and upgrade it bit by bit to align standard as you break it/can afford to.

hope that helps.

Rich

[Ritchieme]

Rich

Cheers for the advice. It looks like a good choice I just looked at some videos on you tube and it looks nice, heavy and stable. I can't seem to find a price or one for sale. Excuse my ignorance but I assume its a t-rex clone ? Also do they sell it rtf ? Im confident I can re build one after a crash but not sure about from scratch. Budget isn't really a problem but don't want to spend much more than 500 just yet, I have spent 675 in just a few weeks :-) I saw one on ebay not too far from me never flown but needs a rx and tx I already have s dx6i. What should I expect to pay for it ?

Thanks again for your help


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[MarkG_R1]

I wonder how many people micro coax heli's claimed over xmas, This is what got me too,
I started with a secondhand blade cp pro 2 mid january then phoenix sim early feb, learn't to hover it then wanted more So bought a 450 Gootch SE V2
and built it from scratch using quality electrics a piece at a time over a few weeks, It flies great and with a few Align bits its even better

I didn't have a clue how it all worked until i built a heli, and theres NOTHING you can't find out on here

[cjcj1949]

It's not just being able to afford it. Cheaper helis are easier to fly than expensive ones as you don't worry about crashing. A grotty GiantCod 450 clone with £6 servos and a £10 gyro will be much easier to fly than a good 500. Some experienced pilots use 450s to practice new things on. Good helis are more reliable and predictable, but in the beginning the pilot is the weakest link and the cost of a crash makes it difficult to relax. As you get better you worry less about the cost.

[Ritchieme]

The help has been brilliant so far. Just need to make my mind up what to do im leaving towards building one from scratch.

How do you find phoenix compares to real flying ?

[AcidDrink]

Really don't know what to do. I feel I'm ready to start learning on a 450 size. At my age I really can't see me ever being capable of 3d flight.when I look at the videos of the likes of the 450x its just a blur my brain couldn't keep up. However I would love to one day at least do a loop or a flip. Half of me says a blade 450 as they are proven and parts are available and also a bit cheaper now the 450x is here. I'm also drawn to the 450x any advice would be much appreciated.

I already have a dx6i

Ritchie


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Flybarless heli will be easier to fly and more predictable than flybarred. SO 450x is better choice.

Sim flying, that depends, some manoeuvres feel quite close, some are totally unrealistic on the simulator. Sim will teach you basic orientation and beyond very well.

[cjcj1949]

The sim is so close with the 450s that you won't notice the difference. The trouble is that we don't behave the same in real life as on a sim. Or most of us don't. Most people find it much more difficult when flying for real and the more the heli costs the bigger the difference. Bigger helis are easier to fly though. As you get better you'll find the real thing is easier than the sim, possibly due to having a better view in real life. There isn't much difference though. You'll see more changes through mistakes in setup and changing wind conditions. Also sun and other people flying.

[Vikki]

I can wholeheartedly agree with CJ there as I myself found out recently. It's like starting from scratch when you lift your first larger heli into the air. The fear of crashing is tangible. Mind you, now that I've actually splatted my B450 I don't think that fear holds the sway it used to. I video my first attempts and I'm going to continue recording the flights because it lets you examine, at you leisure, what you did wrong.

Including the new set if blades it cost about £15 to repair and it'll be an hour or twos work. I've learnt a very valuable lesson. I expect to carry on learning valuable lessons (just not in the monetary sense, I hope).

Vikki.

[Rich_H]

A grotty GiantCod 450 clone with £6 servos and a £10 gyro will be much easier to fly than a good 500.

You are joking, right?

If not then i couldn't disagree more. IMHO having flown both sizes the 500 is by far the better heli, so much more stable. This is still only my first full season flying RW as I swapped from flying planes at a reasonable standard to heli's mid last season. I have just acquired a trex 600 and will be flying it hopefully within a couple of weeks, just waiting on cells and an ESC.

[Rich_H]

Rich

Cheers for the advice. It looks like a good choice I just looked at some videos on you tube and it looks nice, heavy and stable. I can't seem to find a price or one for sale. Excuse my ignorance but I assume its a t-rex clone ? Also do they sell it rtf ? Im confident I can re build one after a crash but not sure about from scratch. Budget isn't really a problem but don't want to spend much more than 500 just yet, I have spent 675 in just a few weeks :-) I saw one on ebay not too far from me never flown but needs a rx and tx I already have s dx6i. What should I expect to pay for it ?

Thanks again for your help


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No Worries,
my 500 started out life as the 500CMT

HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : HK-500CMT 3D Electric Helicopter Kit (incl. GF blades and extras)

flew very nicely out of the box as most at NA heli club will also say. Ok, it's not align, it never will be align and therefore it's not align quality but neither is it align cost either. Yes it's a clone and yes it's cheap but if it gets me and other newer pilots into the air to experience flying a more stable, slightly bigger heli then i'm all for it.

They are not difficult to put together, and to be fair building it from the kit is a worthwhile stage as there will undoubtadly be 'incidents' where rebuilding it with new parts won't then seem so daunting.

Rich

[Ritchieme]

I can wholeheartedly agree with CJ there as I myself found out recently. It's like starting from scratch when you lift your first larger heli into the air. The fear of crashing is tangible. Mind you, now that I've actually splatted my B450 I don't think that fear holds the sway it used to. I video my first attempts and I'm going to continue recording the flights because it lets you examine, at you leisure, what you did wrong.

Including the new set if blades it cost about £15 to repair and it'll be an hour or twos work. I've learnt a very valuable lesson. I expect to carry on learning valuable lessons (just not in the monetary sense, I hope).

Vikki.

Thanks Vikki

It was one of your threads I was reading earlier that has influenced what I want to head for, at the time you said you wouldn't want to fly 3D, unless that's changed now :-) I haven't either. Do you have any videos online of your flights by any chance ?

Ritchie

[Ritchieme]

No Worries,
my 500 started out life as the 500CMT

HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : HK-500CMT 3D Electric Helicopter Kit (incl. GF blades and extras)


Rich

Rich

I guess you are in the US ? I cant seem to find anything in the uk, however I have seen one new with the following currently at £120 is it a good price.

HK 500 TREX clone helicopter ARTF with all servos, motor, ESC I built this late last year thinking I will have mastered the art of heli flying on my E-flite CP Pro. Wrong, I can still only hover and so I am giving up Helis. This comes ready for Rx and Tx so will need setting up on your transmitter. Installed are Hitec HS 82mg servos on CCPM, HS 225mg on tail. HK 401 gyro. Turnigy Typhoon 500 1600kv heli brushless motor. Turnigy 70A ESC and program card (ESC has not been programmed yet) This is the all alloy version. Glass blades. Glass canopy. All items were purchased new and have never been used in other models. I have also seen this for £395 is this a good price being it is an Align

Thanks Again

Ritchie

T-Rex 500E RC Helicopter Super Combo Electric power system. Simple and light weight design provides awesome flight performance and extreme 3D capability. Rigid carbon fiber frame design. Beautiful factory painted fiberglass canopy. Rotor head/tail with thrust bearings. Direct-to-swash CCPM linkage. Center of gravity of Battery tray designed close to the rotor head. High efficiency torque tube drive system. Fully driven tail auto rotation system. Tail servo boom mount. Specifications: Length:840mm Height:310mm Main Blade Length:425mm Main Rotor Diameter:970mm Tail Rotor Diameter:200mm Motor Ponion Gear:12T/13T Main Drive Gear:162T Autorotation Tail Drive Gear:145T Tail Drive Gear:31T Drive Gear Ratio:1:13.5:4.68/1:12.46:4.68 Weight(w/o power system):1370g Flying Weight:Approx 1700g Kit includes: DS510 Digital servo x3, DS520 Tail servo, GP780 Gyro.

[highlightshadow]

Get a kit based heli. They're much more straight forward than you would imagine.

Totally agree with sim vs real thing. Heli might in all honesty be the same to fly in sim and real but the reality of watching this piece of engineering spinning it's blades at a furious rate and knowing you're in control of it changes everything and it takes a few flights before your heart doesn't start pounding and thumbs feel twitchy.

If you go flybar I would recommend the ground exercises as it least you'll get used to spinning up without flying. If u go flybarless then you cannot do that.
I went FBL and love it and it feels, and i'm told is, steadier in wind which helps me.

I'm chomping at the bit when I get close to a flying day and can't wait. Bug has bitten me really hard. I can wait to progress past hovering but I'm holding myself back a little to make hovering as automatic as I can before I move on.

Good luck with your choice.

[Ritchieme]

So you can't do ground exercise with a fbl heli ? Oh dear I'm doomed. My bro in law just said I can borrow his align 450 sport as he don't use it anymore. Not sure I want to crash someone elses heli !

I really have got the bug, I have been flying my msrx constantly :-) even changing mix settings etc now I now what they do, can't believe just a few weeks ago I couldn't even lift It off the ground. Even that little thing spinning up is bad enough so don't know what a 450 or 500 size its going to do to my nerves

Ritchie

[highlightshadow]

Nope. With fbl it's in total control of the cyclic and tail servo and if you use a cyclic input on the ground the fbl controller puts the input into the head but because the heli doesn't move it puts more in and more and more until it tips over

But they're a joy to fly and I found it great to learn with.
You just really need to spool them up and then pop them up in the air fairly quickly. Tremendous fun tho