Please help a newbie put a shopping list together

[Rubber Bullets]

After a few years of flying various RC and IR controlled toys round my living room I finally moved up to the real thing with a mCPx last August and then a Nano when they came out, I also have a DX6i and Phoenix. As has been frequently said on this, and other forums, once bitten there is always the need to move up to bigger and better things, and so here I am.

I have decided to build a 450 size machine, and have had a bit of cash for Christmas towards it and so I am looking for the best option, but it is a complete minefield. Every option just throws up more questions.


Ideally I would like an Align Trex 450 Pro V2, but at £400 or so for a combo kit, to which I would have to add a receiver, batteries and charger, so over £500 all in. It’s not impossible, but more than I would ideally spend.


So the other option would be a clone, either a Tarot (favourite at the moment) or an HK450 from HobbyKing, which would at least ship from this country.

I can get a Tarot combo kit for about £180, with a ZYX fbl controller (which seems good value) but the servos in the kit look really cheap, and have poor reviews round the forums. I also don’t know how good the ESC is. I have also been advised to budget an extra 25% on top of the total price for import duties, VAT and costs. This still makes the Tarot good value, and looks like I could get the whole thing flying for around the £400 mark, which would be more affordable.

A few of the specific questions that have come up so far are:

What rx to get? Does it have to be Spektrum, or are the 3^rd party ones as good? Does it have to be Heli specific? What exactly are satellites and how many doI need? (I read a post somewhere from a guy who said that he wouldn’t fly anything bigger than a 250 without 2!)

Is there any way to tell how good an ESC is? What will I require? The price range is huge!


Talking of huge price ranges: servos. A massive variety of prices and sizes etc. and very few suggest what they can be used for. I know I need digital, and that the Hitec 5065MG is well regarded. My local (ish) RC shop does these for £24 each which seems good value. Is there anything else I could look at?


Is there any advice on batteries/charger? My whole budget for the project isn’t very tight, but I can’t really pay out massive money for the charger, and I don’t have any plans at the moment to go beyond a 450 (I know ). I know I need 3s batteries, in the range of about 2200-2500 mAh , but how do I know whether a battery is suitable?


That’s a lot of questions I know, and there will be many more, but if I can start to put a shopping list together I would be happy, and the sooner the better if I’m going to have to wait a few weeks for delivery from the far east.


Thanks in advance for any advice offered,


RB

[Mike00top]

forget the clone market unless you know what you are doing

dont discount the Blade 450 3D or the Trex 450 sport combo both of these are really great choppers, at a good price and are superb learning machines, they come with everything other than TX and lipo ( the trex will need RX as well) but other wise great machines

[Rubber Bullets]

I know. I am almost tempted to get a 130x and a 450x as I could get both for not much more than £400. I am looking forward to building a model from scratch though, and think it's a good idea as it means I'll know what to do when I crash it!

The setting up does worry me a bit though, especially the fbl programming.

RB

[MarkG_R1]

I'd Recommend a Gootch or Vwin 450 from helisfromdevon.co.uk

Don't worry about FBL setting up, just ask plenty of questions here and you'll get all the help you need

[Pathfinder]

I'm sure you would benefit from visiting and preferably joining a local RC Heliclub. You will see firsthand what knowledge is required to build and successfully set up a collective pitch RC Heli and have help when trying to sort out your heli spec, curves, charger, ESC, fbl unit etc. etc . You can then decide what to spend your hard earned cash on. I did this 2 years ago and now well and truly hooked into the hobby thanks to generous help from club members who saved me a lot of time, stress and money!

[maddog7]

I recon the trex 450 super combo, £350 would be airframe, servos, FLB controller, ESC, motor and blades.
A single satellite receiver would be fine £22, batteries and charger, 2200 3s from HK UK are about a tenner or less each and a charger to charge it could be picked up for about £30. Your Dx6i would be fine, just ensure you only buy a DSMX sat if your Dx6i can do DSMX, some of the earlier ones can't.
Probably best to avoid the DFC version unless you want something VERY agile.
I make the sums £422 assuming you get 2 batteries (I'm rubbish at maths tho!)

In general I agree with Mike and recommend avoiding clones, though the Tarot seems pretty good. I would strongly advise you to forget the HK 450. I bought one and 90% of it is now trueblood Align. It had snapped and broken bits, stripped screws, out of balance tail rotor, hole in the headblock drilled off centre, blah blah blah.......

Align parts are plentiful and cheap and if the 450 flys as well as the 600 EFL pro I have hopefully you'll be very happy with it.
Hope this helps.
D

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks for the info. Well I avoided the clones, but not the dfc. The pro v2 3gx was no longer available, and so went for the dfc instead. Hopefully I'll be able to calm it down enough! Spent a bit more than I should, but have ordered everything I need.

Thanks again, and no doubt I'll be back for help with the build and setting up!

RB

[tsangbou]

Thanks for the info. Well I avoided the clones, but not the dfc. The pro v2 3gx was no longer available, and so went for the dfc instead. Hopefully I'll be able to calm it down enough! Spent a bit more than I should, but have ordered everything I need.

Thanks again, and no doubt I'll be back for help with the build and setting up!

RB

Good luck mate. The 450 pro v2 dfc is a great heli

[450man]

Well I would think you have made a good choice because it is the same choice I have made!!! Mine arrives Monday and I hope to build it next week. See my blog for more details about the build when it arrives.

Good luck with your build. Any questions you are very welcome to PM me if you have any questions in the build... I might have the same questions!!!!!

[Rubber Bullets]

Thanks Tsangbou :-)

Paul, mine should arrive Monday too, though won't start building until Thursday at the earliest. Saltash huh, you're not a million miles away either. I'm just in Torbay. Good luck with your build, I'll be watching the blog with great interest. Especially as there is no finless bob video for a fbl 450, unless I'm just being dumb (not that unlikely really).

RB

[450man]

cool. where do you fly?

[Rubber Bullets]

Well that's a good question. The nano in the house or garden, the mcpx in the garden mostly, or a playing field near my daughters school. The 450? I have no idea yet. One problem is that I'm not really a 'club' sort of a guy.

At worst my sister owns a few fields that I'm sure I could fly in, the main problem, apart from dodging the cows and sheep, is that she lives 75 miles away on the Somerset levels!

RB

[Bronek]

Re: Please help a newbie put a shopping list together

Thanks for the info. Well I avoided the clones, but not the dfc. The pro v2 3gx was no longer available, and so went for the dfc instead. Hopefully I'll be able to calm it down enough! Spent a bit more than I should, but have ordered everything I need.

Thanks again, and no doubt I'll be back for help with the build and setting up!

RB

Enjoy the build!