New to Helis

[cjcj1949]

Thanks for the warning. However im not going into this thinking im gonna be able to fly even just a little bit, i fully understand that im taking on a lot with the mcpx, but i have got a lot of patience and i am a very persistent person who enjoys a challenge. Keep your fingers crossed for me that i can even just learn to hover lol. Thanks again

It's not difficult to learn a basic tail in hover. Not in the sense that you have to have any special skill. You just need to keep going. If you want a challenge then you will be ok. There are easier ways though. You will probably find it a challenge when you move up to a bigger heli, as they can do more damage and cost more to fix. You need to keep practicing until you respond without thinking, that's what takes the time. Then you have to find out how close your opinion of your ability is to the helis opinion of your ability and you'll be able to decide how close you want to get to that limit and how much you want to push the limit. You'll also learn that what you think you can see isn't always right. When the heli gets into awkward positions you will have to work out what is happening rather than believing your eyes. If you get to the stage of thinking that it's impossible you'll be on the right track and just need to keep going, then it clicks.

[SaneAdam]

Thanks for the warning. However im not going into this thinking im gonna be able to fly even just a little bit, i fully understand that im taking on a lot with the mcpx, but i have got a lot of patience and i am a very persistent person who enjoys a challenge. Keep your fingers crossed for me that i can even just learn to hover lol. Thanks again

Sounds like you have the right attitude..... With our warnings ringing in your ears i'm sure you will be ok. Just remember, tiny corrections are the key. Or rather tiny movements in general are the key. Also, pretend you are sat in the cockpit flying it. It help massively with orientations.

[cjcj1949]

You have a lot of time to make corrections if you are not trying to hover. The rotor disc stays at the same angle and the heli drifts fairly rapidly wherever the disc is pointing. You just need to slow it down and bring it back towards you. As just mentioned small movements are needed. If its going right, just a dab of left will slow it down. Another dab will start it coming back. As you get used to what the controls do you can get it more and more under control. Expo and rates make things much easier.

[Jed-kent]

New to Helis

I know you've had a fair bit of advice on this and just wanted to add my 2 bits as a virtual newbie. I got an Mcpx as my first heli, which is a very easy to use coaxial and toyed with getting an MSRx or similar but wanted to take it easy. Read a bit in forums about basic hover and orientation on figure 8's etc and in honesty the coax was quite helpful for getting used to basic controls, which stick does what and how that changes as the heli is in different oreientations. That said I can see the attraction in going straight to a small cp. after a few weeks the coax is a bit tame and I'm getting a nano cp for xmas, so a similar learning curve to come!

Going straight to a cp on the plus side will mean that you won't have a 'model on the shelf' but as others have said cp's are by nature a lot faster and will be 'unstable' so you will need to correct with the 'lightest' touch you can manage.

If you havent ordered already might be worth getting a dx6 so you can 'turn down' the sensitivity of the sticks, and travel on the gyros to make the mcpx a bit more gentle there are loads of posts on settings which can do that.

I'm guessing that most of the posters above are pretty able people too so do try and ease your way in with basic hovering and short movement or hops to get a feel of it,

I'm going to try the nano out indoors over xmas and will start off with the 'stock' manual settings but not try and do to much, best of luck with it & if it is a bit lively at least these little lightweight models can 'bounce' and often seem to just need putting back on the skids after a crash.

Try and figure out how to switch the throttle off quick before you fly it as from the little I know that will help to prevent damage to your mcpx rotors/gears etc, it would be pretty frustrating if you have to figure out how to fix it when you really just want to learn how to fly it and have fun.

I'm personally impressed with these guys who stumped up for bigger heli's and learned progressively to 3d before micros and sims existed, must have been pretty 'heart stopping' to try your first 3d manouver on something that has a £50 repair bill if it crashes

[Jed-kent]

New to Helis

How are you getting on?

I am one landing skid glued & an unbent rear blade in on my nano so far & have only managed about 7 seconds flight without a 'ding'.
As ppl say these little collective pitch helis are 'lively'

[cjcj1949]

The current flybarless helis are more touchy on takeoff and landing than the flybarred. Once in the air they are easier. I found a nano very touchy and I didn't like it. The msrx is much easier. Giving up on a heli can be a good idea. Not permanently. Go for something easier, leave it for a month and then go back to the nano. You'll be surprised how much easier it is. There are plenty of challenges with helis. As Homer said " No problem is too small to run away from".

[Jed-kent]

New to Helis

Lol, I'm assuming that was Homer S.
Thanks for the advice though, I might wait till I can get outside with the nano as with me it needs more space than you can swing a cat, despite the coffee table inverted hovers on you tube I think it'll take me a while

[Steggo]

Hi. Im getting on as expected really, a lot o small crashes on xmas day but then the next day i did start to manage to hover for a few seconds which gave me a great buzz. Im taking my time and enjoying it, i have had to put the main shaft and gear back together a couple o times but that's what learning is all about Ey. Can't wait to get it outside with more space.

[450man]

Hi. Im getting on as expected really, a lot o small crashes on xmas day but then the next day i did start to manage to hover for a few seconds which gave me a great buzz. Im taking my time and enjoying it, i have had to put the main shaft and gear back together a couple o times but that's what learning is all about Ey. Can't wait to get it outside with more space.

I am so glad you are sticking with it and that no harm was done yet to your home!!! I was thinking of you on Christmas day and hoping I wouldn't read of some furniture disaster!!!

I think you will find flying outdoors a lot more fun and better from a learning perspective... just make sure that there is almost now wind. These little helis are so light that even a few mph, the lightest of breezes, can make learning almost impossible at first and very frustrating. I found that trying to fly with a breeze was making me worse not better!

[SaneAdam]

If you can stick at it and comfortably fly the nano indoors you will learn more and faster i would think. You will also learn a lot of very beneficial precision and control in a small space. Which will pay absolute dividends in the future for you. As has been said, if you can already fly pretty well then the Nano will be a blast outside. A little wild but fun. But a new comer flying outside will be detrimental imo. You will spend most of your time getting it back from your neighbours garden or poking it out of a tree. Get it hovering on the spot over your bed And if someone kicks off about damaging furniture etc.... tell them to be more supportive of your learning process in your new hobby I have found that they don't tend to mark much in a crash. More of a scuff that can be buffed out

[450man]

If you can stick at it and comfortably fly the nano indoors you will learn more and faster i would think. You will also learn a lot of very beneficial precision and control in a small space. Which will pay absolute dividends in the future for you. As has been said, if you can already fly pretty well then the Nano will be a blast outside. A little wild but fun. But a new comer flying outside will be detrimental imo. You will spend most of your time getting it back from your neighbours garden or poking it out of a tree. Get it hovering on the spot over your bed And if someone kicks off about damaging furniture etc.... tell them to be more supportive of your learning process in your new hobby I have found that they don't tend to mark much in a crash. More of a scuff that can be buffed out

Sorry to disagree but as someone who has just gone through this very learning process I found that I didn't really learn much until I started flying outdoor. The threat of the heli zooming off and damaging the furniture was quite intimidating. Once I was outdoors, in a big area, then I relaxed.

As for collecting the heli from a neighbour's garden or from out of a tree then if you are getting that high or that far away before landing and trying again then you are going about it all wrong IMO. I set a boundary of about 5 yards and as soon as I had gone more than 5 yards from take-off I knew I was not in control and I landed (more crashes at first! but got it on the deck), brought it back and tried again. At first I couldn't keep inside the 5 yards area but gradually I improved. All this is at lower than head height. If it went above head height I landed and tried again. At first I didn't take much notice of light wind but I soon realised that the wind was making my 5 yard limit impossible at first so I only flew when there was almost no wind (early morning, later in evening). Once I could keep it inside the 5 yards I made it 3 yards, then 1 yard. Then I started to expand out again but always with a boundary in mind that if I passed I would land instead of trying to get it back. It worked very well for me. I still use the boundary technique even though I am now doing circuits and fig 8s.

[Steggo]

Lol no, no furniture accidents yet, but a xmas bag that had presents in did take a hit and once i saw that i did realise how much destruction this little beast could do. Yeh i think flying outside will let me see more of what i can achieve with the Blade.

[Steggo]

It did worry me loosing the heli outside, at least indoors if u go too high it will just come back down then you hit the ceiling lol. Thanks from your advice

[SaneAdam]

Sorry to disagree but as someone who has just gone through this very learning process I found that I didn't really learn much until I started flying outdoor. The threat of the heli zooming off and damaging the furniture was quite intimidating. Once I was outdoors, in a big area, then I relaxed.

As for collecting the heli from a neighbour's garden or from out of a tree then if you are getting that high or that far away before landing and trying again then you are going about it all wrong IMO. I set a boundary of about 5 yards and as soon as I had gone more than 5 yards from take-off I knew I was not in control and I landed (more crashes at first! but got it on the deck), brought it back and tried again. At first I couldn't keep inside the 5 yards area but gradually I improved. All this is at lower than head height. If it went above head height I landed and tried again. At first I didn't take much notice of light wind but I soon realised that the wind was making my 5 yard limit impossible at first so I only flew when there was almost no wind (early morning, later in evening). Once I could keep it inside the 5 yards I made it 3 yards, then 1 yard. Then I started to expand out again but always with a boundary in mind that if I passed I would land instead of trying to get it back. It worked very well for me. I still use the boundary technique even though I am now doing circuits and fig 8s.

But that was kind of what i was saying wasn't it? As a beginner flying outside you will inevitably end up with the heli drifting and gaining altitude. Plus wind with such a small model will make it very difficult to control for a beginner. So it will end up in a neighbours garden or a tree I was trying to be descriptive to make a point and you seem to have taken exception to the comment i made that was to basically imply that the heli will be difficult to control outside . To be able to keep the heli under control outside requires basic skill. All i which in my opinion is better learned indoors. I speak from my own learning experience and you speak from yours so you don't need to apologise for having a different opinion. But you don't need to voice that opinion in a way which comes across very dismissive of mine. I too went through a leaning process. Just because you recently went through yours does not make it any more valid.

IMO flying indoors with micros pays dividends long term. It did for me. But of course, everyone is clearly different

[450man]

Crickey! Who rattled your cage?

Just because you recently went through yours does not make it any more valid

Where did I say it was more valid? I just put forward my opinion based on my experiences which is clearly different from yours but just as valid as yours.

I think it is you "taking exception" don't you?

Nuff said I think.