Beginners and New to Heli's ... Read this FIRST

[Eddie]

what is the best online shop for new choppers at present?

Firstly, welcome to the forum. There are many online shops which are advertised within the site also.

My prefered dealer is http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/index.php but there are many other very good retailers out there and worth a look...

...another popular one is http://hobby-hangar.co.uk/

[Doddsy]

Thanks for the welcome, this is a good forum, I've been on a few forums in my time and this certainly seems to be up with the times.

What radio would you recomend if I we to buy one that I can use with the mCX but also for later one when I inevitably have to purchase a more sophisticated machine with no regards to wether or not I can fly adequitely enough. hehe

[Eddie]

Again, lots of choice dependant on your budget etc. I use a Spektrum DX6i as I’m only flying electric helis, but if you’re looking to fly IC helis in the future I’d go for the DX7.

[Doddsy]

budget wise I'd like to keep it low, I can see myself going for the electric range rather than the bother with messy fuel etc. I used to have cars as a kid and never went down the petrol route. So a 6Channel will been fine I guess, I don't mine paying a little more for very worthwhile extra on a radio but as far as I'm aware there are none. What do you think? Shall I just pick the very cheapest 6C?

[Tweaker]

WOW! I wish I had found Rc Heliaddicts 3 months ago. I had only seen a contra rotating model heli flying once in a shopping complex, I got hooked straight away, never flown RC anything. Looked about got FMS flight sim, hey I can do this. Bought an Esky Honey bee CP2. Ouch! this is not the same as the sim. For the first month average flight time 2 minutes, average cost of repair £10, last big crash £60. bought Phoenix sim. instant improvement. now I can hover with confidence (tail in) drive left and right and come back to a hover. I cant describe how good that feels. am currently working on (nose in) hover. the learning curve is massive. My only real source of info until now was Model helicopter World which 90% went over my head. there is a beginners section but at that time was describing practice flying circles and the best I could do walk in circles looking for bits.
Very little seems to be said about the E-sky Honey bee CP2 other than it rubbish, but I am now getting quite attached to mine as I have learned loads about pitch angles, jump ups, boom strikes, you must try virtually indestructable plastic rotor blades, chops the tail clean off with a boom strike and at the time there was lots of those, soon went back to the (lose the cling film rotor covering if it strikes a gnat) wooden blades. It is a handfull I know but I think if I can get to grips with this I should be well on the way for some thing bigger, if it takes the rest of my days.
Anyway the opening article is excellent and yes starting with a whapping great fuel heli was my dream too, but reality and a gross underestimate as to what needs to be learned makes me glad I started with my small electric

[Sesame]

HI Tweaker,

I started again in this hobby due to a HoneyBee I thought for what it was it was great, although the electrics in my one did seam to be somewhat unreliable. however when it was working IE I hadn't knackered the battery(as I didnt understand lipos) it flew reasonably for someone of my level then it was fine. since then ive moved on and now have a little collection of ic helis and a nice little 500 leccy which is an awsome machine.

So good luck with your flying and keep us updated by the forum

[Tweaker]

Thanks . I see from your list of helis you have got well past my current point of ambition, I am determined to master this machine and as most people seem to say these small CP2 helis are about as hard as it gets and the Honeybee CP2 is one of the twichiest and unreliable ones, it should get me to a good place (along with my Phoenix sim) to where I should atleast be solid on the basics for some thing better in the future
Anyway thats my plan, it does involve a small Lottery win that has yet to happen, still who knows!

Tony (creepy that)

[swampy]

thanks for the heads-up Bubblefish, (I was that bloke who was going to jump from a cheap piece of 2 ch chinese plastic to a Trex 500, until a good friend of mine from a bike forum suggested I try a coax first, "it's your choice mate, but do let me know how you get on" (rolling around laughing) were his sage advise

[andy6781]

i agree with buying a good sim, i'm new to the hobby and first thing i did after getting addicted to my £20 picooz at xmas. was buy a £20 simulater. gave me a rough idea of stick in put and after a couple of months, i was a master on the simulator and then bought my first heli ( twister cp v2 ) well, i read the book, put the battery pack on charge and thought. this is going to be a scoosh. got it up into a short very unstable hover. reality craft's sim, doesnt teach you about ground effect. then on the second hover the i totalled the heli and spent £60 quid repairing it. took me two weeks to get it flying again. when i thought it was repaired i found another broken part. costly mistake

[barmby]

my syma 3 chanel s029 agusta heli moves when in flight what ever i do i carnt make it stay still why

[spicol]

i'm a newbie and first post iv'e made, i think what Bubblefish777 has said is wright looking at it from newbie's view point, what i've heard and reading through books it is overwellming i've got a nitro heli and joining a club, maybe if i had seen posts like this i may have gone down a different route, as a newbie and knowing nobody who flys heli's its not easy getting good advice before you you buy a heli then it's to late. thanks for the post helpful info

[busybody flyer]

Good morning to you all, I have just registered with RCHELIADDICTS and as a beginner at 65 I find my reaction speed to my Raptor 30 questionable, is this normal for beginners anyway? I have also considered the Helicommand and looked at some of the comments from the forum, particularly the one's that basically say "Don't go there" If I were 20 years younger I suppose my learning curve would be faster so it makes some sense to me to look more deeply into the use of the Helicommand. Your views would be most appreciated and apologies for being new to the forum but sometimes the rules and protocol take a while to get use to.

[tiddler]

Good morning to you all, I have just registered with RCHELIADDICTS and as a beginner at 65 I find my reaction speed to my Raptor 30 questionable, is this normal for beginners anyway? I have also considered the Helicommand and looked at some of the comments from the forum, particularly the one's that basically say "Don't go there" If I were 20 years younger I suppose my learning curve would be faster so it makes some sense to me to look more deeply into the use of the Helicommand. Your views would be most appreciated and apologies for being new to the forum but sometimes the rules and protocol take a while to get use to.

Hi busybody, and welcome to the forum

I think its fair to say that flying these model helicopters is just not as easy as it looks, You cant just pick up a transmitter and do it in the first 5 minutes, well most of us mortals cant anyway. so don't be down on yourself if your finding your progress is a little slower than you expected.

It is also true that practice makes perfect. So the more time you can spend practising with your heli the better. and for those times when you cant get out to your flying field, a copy of the Phoenix simulator is an absolute must.
(Practice, practice, practice)

On the subject of Helicommand, well I've never tried it, but many have and by all accounts its very good. Some might say its cheating but I personally don't have a problem with it, and if it helps you get enjoyment out of the hobby. That's what its all about after all

As for forum etiquette, you'll soon pick it up, and their a friendly bunch on here (Mostly) so go ahead and ask away with whatever sort of questions you have and nine times out of ten youll get a selection of good helpful advise and answers.

PS. And a quick introductory post in the new members section always goes down well

[busybody flyer]

How do you post an intro and many thanks for your kind words. I noticed many of the profiles contain lists of heli's, how and where do you enter the listing?

[nsmisa]

Hi all, new member and first post.

Had some fun in the office with a workmates £20, 3 ch co-ax, so went ahead and got myself a HM5G6-1.

How hard are these things to fly or is it just me ????

2 days in and I have ordered my first replacement parts - the landing skids, which have snapped off so now I can't use it, as it is sitting on the main gears.

Can anyone recommend a better alternative to the OE skids as they really are lightweight and not up to being crashed ? I had ditched the training stand as it kept falling off if I even looked at it, as well as making the heli less stable and prone to shooting all over the place, but am now considering zip ties to hold it on - is this a good idea?

Going to stick at it, but a little dissapointed that it doesn't fly stable straight from the off as advertised, making the learning curve extremely steep!

Sorry for rambling, only meant to introduce myself - is there a specific co-ax section I can gripe away in - LOL?