Hi everyone

[A.N.T]

This is my first post so thought I'd come in and introduce myself, my name is Ant, I'm 32 from East Grinstead, West Sussex, I decided to get a heli after having a muck around with a mates FX037 a month or so ago, decided to get my first heli about 4 weeks ago, ended up with a Skyartec wasp x3 long story short its now back at the hobby store as bits fell off as soon as I powered it up and had servo creep problems. So in the meantime I decide to goto my lhs and ended up with a DX6i, blade 300x, MSR-x and phoenix sim The MSR-x is a wicked little heli, have been having loads of fun with it, had a slight problem with the 300x as the tail servo decide to pack up after its first hover The blade tracking was out by a mile out of the box but everything stayed attached unlike the wasp x3, so its been a mixed bag of emotions, at the moment I only have the msrx flying as waiting for the tail servo replacement for the 300x and the wasp x3 is still at the shop I bought it from so plenty of practicing on phoenix and msrx, still contemplating getting an mcpx or 130x as the 300x has the intimidation factor

Has anyone tried the hover-eze setup that Ian Turner uses to train students on chopperaddicts?

looks like a good training aid

[Stevec]

Hello Ant,

sounds like you are not having the best luck.

that training aid is possibly one of the worst ideas I have ever witnessed.

The undercarriage is designed to hold the helicopter off the ground not to take the pounding that full collective can give. it is only a matter of time until the U/C gets ripped off the bottom of the heli and it shoots off in whatever direction you happen to be holding on at the time.

the concept is ok but I'd like to see some proper connections to the heli frames not relying on four 2mm self tapper screws. in the case of the trex 450 pro there are only 2 screws holding the uc on.

get some training undercarriage, and find the local club, or a big car park and skate the thing around on the skids until you have a feeling for it. flying a 450 in a 6m by 5m box is pointless if it is tied down so it cant move.

find a proper space and practice on the sim until you can do all your orientations. look up radds flight school for an alternative method that has great results. I earned to hover 20 years ago now so there was no internet or indeed anyone to show me so I used to use car parks and follow the helicopter around, skids became hops then hops became hovers and from there you are away.

sorry to put a downer on something I am sure I will be flamed for saying someone's idea is crap but that one really is in my opinion.

an mcpx over grass is almost indestructible. this could be a way forward if you are intimidated by the 300, but in a sensible sized space the 300 should be fine if it is set up correctly.

[bulnose]

that training idea looks like an accident waiting to happen imo

just get plenty practice on the sim and u will be ok with the 300x

[A.N.T]

I had second thoughts about the hover eze training thing anyway, your right in the fact that uc's are usually pretty flimsy plastic and it wouldn't take much for something to go wrong, I ve gone the normal route and got training gear and just heaps of practice on the sim, the problem with the sim is that I cant discipline myself not to stick with hovering in all orientations, after 5 mins I'm buzzing about flying inverted and practicing tic tocs and hurricanes

In the real world I ve had a few good hovers 40-50 secs stable, but stripped the main gear on Sat after a little bounce off the ground and training gear pulled out of the hub and flipped into the blades causing a little crash.

I know its going to be a long (and expensive) learning curve, but thats all part of the fun of this hobby, fly/crash/repair. I have learned so much already. Its a shame that the wasp x3 had problems from the get go, looks like its finally coming back to me this week all repaired and setup

[Stevec]

Hi Ant, set up a pitch curve on the idle up and normal, depending on what you are flying in, so that you limit the negative throws of the collective.

so you may want to set normal to be 45-45-50-75-100 instead of the aerobatic style of 0-25-50-75-100 the linear curves(if you get me) are for more advanced flying giving you full negative and positive pitch, in a beginners set up you should probably dial it back, until you are out of the habit of jamming the throttle shut if you get in trouble.

try to set about minus 3 degrees as the maximum negative and then you shouldn't be able to pile drive it into the ground as easily.

if you want something useful to practice on the sim try really slow pirouettes, 20 seconds or so per revolution. stop them at different angles and get a feel for the different orientations. if it starts to get away then swing the nose back around to tail in and repeat... once you have that down move on to lazy eights, and circuits. then loops rolls flips and then once comfortable with all that you can flip the heli inverted and do it all again.

by all means play on the sim, it is all good practice, just try not to get used to watching it crash. that can be a bad habit, practise hitting throttle hold if it is going in. I like going online in pheonix you get to see others doing things you cant even get your head around but if you concentrate on 10 minutes of basics in a session you will put yourself in good stead.

anyone can play dodge the ground but you don't really want this style to translate into your real flying good foundations will make you a much better pilot and will help you translate to the next thing more quickly.

there are often RCHA sessions on pheonix and the guys on there are friendly and some are absolutely unbelievable pilots too.

have fun
Steve

[A.N.T]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ve setup the dx6i pitch curve for the 300x 50-50-50-75-100 so there isn't any neg pitch while I'm learning, I am still practicing throttle hold and am using that regularly instead of banging the throttle down. Spending at least 20-30 mins a day hovering in phoenix but also about another 1hr playing dodging the ground inverted and everything else, autorotation is another thing I ve been heavily practicing. In the real world the mSR-X has been helping me massively in orientations and stable hovering, once I ve got the new 300x main gear and tail servo in, I will be concentrating on hovering and orientations, I'm not as brave with the real thing like I am in the sim

Seems to be all plank clubs round my way got 2 very local clubs but are all for planks, haven't found a local heli club so its flying in the back garden and a neighbours field for me at the moment.

[Stevec]

I fly at sussex radio flying club, they have a heli field in Poling which is near Arundel. I think there are some club vacancies too, it may be a bit far from east grinstead though.

/Steve

[A.N.T]

Worth considering but it would cost £40-50 each time to get there and back as the Skyline isn't very economical

Most clubs also seem to fly on a Sunday which is also out for me as I work till 4pm and with the nights drawing in no daylight hours left, would be nice to meet some other flyers though at the moment its just me and a mate who has also just started.

[snowy]

Welcome aboard hope u enjoy +1for what Steve says.

[nobbycopter]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ve setup the dx6i pitch curve for the 300x 50-50-50-75-100 so there isn't any neg pitch while I'm learning, I am still practicing throttle hold and am using that regularly instead of banging the throttle down. Spending at least 20-30 mins a day hovering in phoenix but also about another 1hr playing dodging the ground inverted and everything else, autorotation is another thing I ve been heavily practicing. In the real world the mSR-X has been helping me massively in orientations and stable hovering, once I ve got the new 300x main gear and tail servo in, I will be concentrating on hovering and orientations, I'm not as brave with the real thing like I am in the sim

Seems to be all plank clubs round my way got 2 very local clubs but are all for planks, haven't found a local heli club so its flying in the back garden and a neighbours field for me at the moment.

You need some negative in there otherwise one big gust and you'll never get it back down!!

What you need to practise on Phoenix is some structured practice/flying, i.e. tail in hovering, side on hovering both left and right, (possibly nose in hovering,) then start some circuits (lazy 8's) when you can do side in hovering (might want to keep nose in for when you extend the turns in your lazy 8's so the heli's coming back towards you) You'll soon find that you'll improve and if you can translate the sim practice onto your msr-x and then your 300x it'll be happy days!

PS welcome to the forum and hobby

[Stevec]

change of subject somewhat... what type of skyline do you have? I used to have an R33 GTR Vspec, sold it in 2005 to a young bloke who spent 100K on it and it ended up with 850bhp @wheels...

I only had 415 when I had it but it was still pretty quick. Banzai Magazine paid for Kemble airfield for a day and we strapped GPS gear to the cars and went mad, great cars, and fantastic memories... is that santa pod in your avatar?

/Steve

[A.N.T]

I ve got an r33 gtst modded it to 475 bhp (my avatar pic is mine at santa pod) its fairly rapid but even now got used to the power and want more, owned it since 2005, thinking of an audi rs4 avant next

[Stevec]

Just like Helis, it is never enough.....

Two addictive hobbies. Oh dear.

/Steve

[waveydavey]

Welcome Ant, the hover easy or whatever looks like it's more bother than it's worth. Stick to what you are doing buy a sim and enjoy untethered hovers

[A.N.T]

Thanks for the welcome guys and good advice on the little bit of negative pitch, will dial that in before next flight.

Just like Helis, it is never enough.....

Two addictive hobbies. Oh dear.

/Steve

It is actually enough power, just doesn't feel like it anymore, cant use it 99% of the time anyway but its nice to have, its going to stay as it is until I can decide what to do with it, want to get the Terra Clean engine de carbon business off the ground and be able to cart the gear around but need either an estate or van, hence why I'm thinking RS4 or S4 Avant, best of both worlds, big enough to cart the compressor and equipment and reasonable performance too.


I've had enough of crawling around under cars tinkering with them now, been doing it for 15 years just something standard and pokey will do me just fine