Newbie now with a Blade 450 3D

[owend]

I've still got the mCX2, great indoors and for learning, but the Blade 450 3D is starting to get more airtime now. It's been out several times; twice on and over the lawn, then yesterday on the village playing field, larger, short grass and no leaves! I got through half a battery then a gust caught me and I had a hard landing from about a metre up. Not too bad, it just tipped over in spite of training legs and damaged the end centimetre of plastic, fortunately no damage to the wood blade - I was quite proud in a way, I've practiced the power-cutting reflex as recommended, and I'd chopped the throttle when I realised things were unrecoverable (for me!), so the blades weren't at full speed when they hit. I thought about keeping things unchanged, the cracked plastic made a sound like a small Tornado, very macho! It then started to rain, so I took the hint and gave up for the day.

In the garage, blade tips were reinforced with tape, taking care to use exactly the same amount in the same position on both blades, to keep balance. Heart in mouth, fired up this morning on the lawn, no vibrations!! Also no fast-jet roar

More seriously, I've got it hovering and small trips around the lawn, mostly under control, and no more crashes. It seems very quick responding to commands compared to the mCX2, but after the small co-ax at least I know what I SHOULD be doing, and by the second flight this afternoon it was hovering quite well in spite of a slightly gusty wind.

I was trying to follow the training videos from rchelicopterfun.com, which suggested keeping low, sort of rolling over the ground on the training feet at first. He was on tarmac; I am on grass, and there was a tendency to tip forward on the front rollers; also when in a low (20-30cm) hover the right side dropped and I ended up having to put some left cyclic in to stop it drifting right with the rotor close to the ground/flowerbeds. This right-hand-down attitude was much less apparent with a bit more altitude and so less ground effect, so I think the rchelicopterfun.com video should make it clearer that grass has considerably more friction (to be fair it is discussed, his recommended surfaces are hard like tarmac or hard snow).

My confidence is back up after yesterday's incident, tomorrow's forecast is for less wind so it's back to the playing field. When I'm more confident near the ground (take-off and landing), there's a set-aside field over our fence for me to use, but the grass is currently about 10-20cm and a lot of loose cut grass, I can see some tippy-over landings!

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the challenge so far, great hobby!

Owen

[owend]

Had a practice hover in the garden this morning, reasonably smooth, so recharge batteries and off to the wide open playing field this afternoon for a proper flight! Little wind, mostly steady; several short, low-level hops to ensure landings would be safe, then gather up courage and off! Three or four metres up, twenty seconds of gentle floating around UNDER CONTROL!! then, er a gust of wind, didn't realise wind could blow downwards into the earth.

Throttle cut marginally too late; it landed mostly upright, but a bit hard; it bounced on its training legs, and tipped enough so that blades hit ground, then lay there looking apologetic. End of flight.

Damage not too bad: flybar slightly bent, careful straightening sorted that. Link to flybar head popped off, popped back on easily with no noticeable damage. Test run caused strong vibrations and loud noises, closer inspection showed the main gear has lost several patches of teeth. I can't starighten that, so I'll have to get a new one tomorrow. Surprisingly, my wooden blades are starting to look a bit tatty and grass-stained, but didn't break (got some new blades on order anyway!), and nothing else seems broken.

I need more time in the garden mastering control, I think - the lesson seems to be having tried running before mastering the walk. Interesting that crashes always seem to happen when the heli contacts the ground, perhaps the answer is never to land?

Enjoying the hobby slightly less this evening.

Owen

[tomatwalden]

Keep at it! You'll be amazed how quickly it sort of "clicks" in your head. My first "real" heli was a Blade 450-3D too - it's a really good machine. You might want to think about getting a micro sized collective pitch too - an mCPX or 130X. After a few weeks of my 450-3D, I got an mcpx and it really helped. It allowed me to master the controls of a collective pitch machine without worrying too much about crashes. Both the mcpx and 130x can survive 8 out of 10 crashes without any damage. The other 2 out of 10 usually incur only minor damage.

I personally found that the skills I learnt on these small collective pitch birds transferred well to the 450-3D.

Good luck! - T

[owend]

Thanks for the encouragement, Tomatwalden; I get the idea about a small, more crash-resistant, CP heli, but I think I may get some adverse comments from the management if I get another machine. I've got the mCX2, co-ax of course, for indoors and the 450 for outdoors (I told her), I'm not sure about a cover-story for a third heli just yet!

I'm going to back-pedal and concentrate on getting the hover and landings cracked with the 450 in our small garden, before trying a larger area and more ambitious flight plan again.I think if I can get confident in a small area, especially controlling the landing, I should have a better basis for the future.

Mind you, I'm tempted by the 130X.... get thee behind me, Satan!

Owen

[tomatwalden]

This was me just after I got my 450-3D in May of this year. This was genuinely the limit of my skills at that time.

I had an hour lesson very soon after using a buddy box with my local school (Phoenix UAV). After that lesson (early June), this was where I was .. (notice, all tail-in, still using training skids)

Then I got an mcpx in late June ... (a few weeks later)

About a week later, my flying of my 450-3D looked more like this .. (End of June)

By the first week in August, I had got a 130X ..

Fast forward a few months, and this is the last vid I took of my 450-3D. Now, I've got a 450X and a Trex 500EFL, so the 450-3D (after a couple of crashes/repairs) has become my new "beater" heli for practising new stuff on. In this vid, it wasn't repaired properly and the tail was horrible and the swash not level so it was a real handful. That said, the dodgy moment at 2:20 is mostly pilot error!

Most of my progress I put down to my 130X - just love that heli! Simple solution with the boss - buy an mcpx and sell the MCX2! - just tell her you took one set of blades off! She'll never know!

Tom

[tomatwalden]

Can't resist ... more recent vid of my with my 130X too

[Mslater]

Can't resist ... more recent vid of my with my 130X too

Thats a lot of progress in a short time. Well done. It's much better to be out 'doing it' with one of the new models (mcpx, blade130) than sat in with the sim. They're fairly tough and forgiving, cheapish to repair and bring on your flying in no time. Wish I had one a few years back LOL - all I had was a king 3 - that only flew when you threw it.

[royotr]

Newbie now with a Blade 450 3D

If like many of us, an indoor model is essential to maintain sanity during periods of bad weather, it may be worth exchanging your Mcx2 for a MSR or MSR X so you haven't increased your fleet.( They use same batteries as well) Both require a higher skill level compared with the Mcx2 but you can be still learning a lot flying in the livingroom. A MCPx or Nano would be too much of an handful in a confined indoor space, damage to the TV or Crown Doulton would result .

[tomatwalden]

If like many of us, an indoor model is essential to maintain sanity during periods of bad weather, it may be worth exchanging your Mcx2 for a MSR or MSR X so you haven't increased your fleet.( They use same batteries as well) Both require a higher skill level compared with the Mcx2 but you can be still learning a lot flying in the livingroom. A MCPx or Nano would be too much of an handful in a confined indoor space, damage to the TV or Crown Doulton would result .

+1 The mcpx and 130x are pretty much outdoor birds for me. The nano I can just about fly in a controlled manner indoors - careful fig-8s and right hand circuits.

[highlightshadow]

Thing to remember and always keep in mind is that we all progress at different rates .... i read some posts on here that have been learning a lot less than me and are already well beyond my abilities and its easy to think you'll never get there ...
Definitely a case with this hobby that you seem to make progress in jumps ... one day you'll be fighting to keep things tail-in and next something clicked and its 2nd nature... same with side on, same with FFF

For me it always feels like i fight and fight with a new thing for a while and don't feel i'm making headway or improvement then one day i go up and bam ... brain just does it without thinking...
I'm lucky in that i have a supportive club to go to who've been helping me since almost day 1 ... and its always great when you go down the field, do a flight and someone says "Wow .. you've come on"

Its such a rewarding hobby though when things go click... glad you're making headway!

[owend]

I'm not sure if that's encouraging for me, Tomatwalden! It's very impressive how far you got on your first couple of flights, I've logged more time than that for some tentative hovering and a couple of crunches (perhaps "crash" is a bit dramatic - new maingear and a dust down today and it's back on line). On the other hand as highlightshadow says, we all learn at our own rate, and at least it shows what I SHOULD be capable of.... soon? eventually? when pigs fly?!

On a different note, taking aboard recommendations, the MSR is no longer made apparently, and an MSR X is £55.59 at my local model shop (King's Lynn Models); Phoenix is on ebay (dealer looks reputable) at £51.99. Overall, as I can't really justify both (or even one, truth be told!), which would you all recommend, an MSR X or Phoenix? I think I know but I'd appreciate your opinions.

Owen

[tomatwalden]

Owen - As highlightshadow says - we all learn at are own rates! There's a guy who flies occasionally at our local club who after 9 months looked like a pro! Drove me to despair a little too. He however spent most of his free time on Phoenix sim (wasn't married, and didn't have kids!). Personally I avoided the sim for ages since I work in IT, and didn't want my hobby to be an extension of my day job! What I was trying to show, was how quickly I think you can progress with the mcpx and/or 130x!

For me, they were my real-life-sims! ;-) Eventually I buckled and got the sim so I could learn the inverted stuff since even with an mcpx, I wanted to train my thumbs for the moves at least with no fear. I still find it boring and almost like homework - not enjoyable in the slightest.

I guess, "it depends" is the honest answer. For those who wish to progress uber-quick, the sim is a necessity. For those that don't like computers, and want to enjoy being outside in the fresh air, the mcpx or 130x are brilliant.

For me, I wanted to avoid computers!

[tomatwalden]

ok - I'll stick my neck out - get a real heli! You should be able to pick up a 2nd hand mcpx quite cheap now that the nano is out!

Edit : mcpx is realistically outdoor only. If you want to fly indoors - the msrx. The nano is small, but really not a beginner heli by any stretch IMHO.

[owend]

Tomatwalden: I'm getting more informed about the DX6i now - I've put my mCX2 on it! What settings are you using for your Blade 450 3D - the standard ones in the book or have you changed them at all? I'm finding the cyclic response is quite vigorous even with the pre-set "Intermediate" settings, but I'm a bit scared to change any without checking with someone! Your first flights were much more under control than mine, I wondered if it was your skill or your Tx settings (note the sucking up!).

BTW, I like the balloons in the background of the last video - proves you're near Bristol even if your location didn't say it!

Owen

[tomatwalden]

Tomatwalden: I'm getting more informed about the DX6i now - I've put my mCX2 on it! What settings are you using for your Blade 450 3D - the standard ones in the book or have you changed them at all? I'm finding the cyclic response is quite vigorous even with the pre-set "Intermediate" settings, but I'm a bit scared to change any without checking with someone! Your first flights were much more under control than mine, I wondered if it was your skill or your Tx settings (note the sucking up!).

BTW, I like the balloons in the background of the last video - proves you're near Bristol even if your location didn't say it!

Owen

Hi Owen,

I think at the time I had the very tame settings, as suggested by John Salt from "rchelicopterfun". Whilst these curves are initially quite good - I found that you quickly outgrow them. As soon as you start moving away from the basic hover, John's "easy" curves suffer from having practically no negative pitch in normal mode. Consequently, it's very hard to get the heli to come down without risking the blades spooling down to a dangerously low speed.

I currently, have the "advanced" settings copied from model memory 10, and use those. The only thing I've changed is the default pitch curve for normal mode such that at mid-stick both it and idle-up are at 50%. Otherwise, the heli "lurches" upwards or downwards when you switch modes. The best advice I can give though is to get used to using "idle up" mode (once you're at the stage of flying around the sky a bit), as without it I found that often the heli could "balloon" up into the sky, and I'd struggle to get it down since in normal mode you can't give lots of negative pitch to bring it down under control.

Balloons? - Yep, they're pretty much commonplace 'round these 'ere parts! We often get them launching from down in Bath, and floating over our house - the kids love it!

Cheers. Tom.