heli or sim 1st?

[Garth84x]

Hi all, just a quick question on what I should do to continue in my quest for a nitro heli, in a good few years I expect. Anywho I've had a bit of experience with a 3 channel hemi and want to move on, but moneys are limited, I have thought about getting a 120SR as the next step, or should I get a sum 1st and get some experience on that?

Garry

[Spanner]

Re: heli or sim 1st?

I started flying a raptor 50 before I had a sim, others will tell you to get a sim first. Its up to you, take it steady and you'll be just fine without a sim.

[dani_r]

I always suggest having a good session on the simulator first to get used to the controls. At least that way you have a pretty good idea of what to expect when you pick up the real thing! Entirely up to you though. You will definitely want to get a sim at some point anyway, this is an ideal time I'd say

[mattscupoftea]

Sim first.

[That Guy]

Sim first then you can skip the fixed pitch heli and jump to collective. As said you will want a sim at some point anyway and with the sim you will more than likely not have a FP heli for long.

See your local to me, pm incoming

[jimmyhorns]

Ah another Southampton flyer.

We are just in the process of setting up a Southampton club, so keep your eyes peeled for that....

Sim first or heli first?....

Such a difficult question, and so many different but correct answers.

Personally I think Sim early is the right way forward, but not necessarily first outright.

Basic hovering is hard work, and yet its the first thing you need to learn. You can learn this on the sim, but then be disheartened when its not so easy in real life (the sim is always a bit easier, especially on hovering).

If it was me, I would invest in a DX6 transmitter, and a 450 size heli, like the blade 450 ready to fly (flybarred) and use this to learn basic hovering on, with practice skids on, with some help from people who have been there.

Id then buy a sim, and practice until I was confident in forward flight, and then transfer this over to the 450, and then buy something bigger, like a 600 size. By this point you will have learnt enough about heli's to stand a chance in putting one together that isnt a ready to fly or bind and fly.

I learnt to hover on a honeybee (about 300 size) and then a belt CP (400 size) and finally a 450, as well as learning on the sim.


I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating..... but I can tell you there is a world of difference between what I can do on the sim, and what I can do in real life. So that brings me to the conclusion that you dont want to seperate the two out from each other too far, or you will end up being able to do everything in the sim, and nothing in real life, making you very disheartened indeed.

I can hover inverted, all orientations on the sim, all evening, til the cows come home, no crashes..... Everyone who knows me or has seen me fly in real life will tell you just how far away I am from this when its a real heli in the sky.

[cjcj1949]

When you say money is limited, it depends on how limited. The sim is the cheapest way to learn, but as in the previous post that's just half the problem. Some small helis like the msr, msr-x are not too difficult too fly and more enjoyable than a sim, but at some point, if you want to go nitro, you'll need to find out how you can fly something dangerous and expensive to repair. Saving up doesn't work, as you'll need to keep spending. The mcpx is a good compromise, reasonably acrobatic and fairly survivable.

[tomatwalden]

As others have said - whatever you want really. Personally I started with a real heli and only got a sim much later. For me, I wanted to actually fly something! The sim is all well and good, but I spend my life in front of a computer - don't really want to spend my hobby in front of one too!

I'm going to stick my neck out even further and say I think it's easier for a total beginner to start with a real heli. Sims are great, but seeing a real machine, in 3D space, reacting to wind etc just cannot be beaten in my view.

Bear in mind, computer sims are a pretty recent thing - people were learning before they arrived! Don't get me wrong - they are good, but they're a bit like non-alcoholic beer - they look like the real thing, smell like the real thing - but something's missing!

[Martyn (Bomber)]

Depends how fast you want to learn and progress, you can learn without a sim but thirty minutes to an hour a day on a sim when your learning will make you a much better pilot.

I started flying with a friend and he refused to get a sim as he was addicted to his Raptor with the noise of the engine screaming and smoking in front of him in a hover, I got a sim and put in an hour a day (not every day) six months had gone by and I was doing inverted hovering and hard sport flying with my 450 while he was still learning the different orientations in a hover........................if you see what I mean

[PorscheBoy]

Before I had my heli, I flew the Phoenix SIM for around 3mths (due to recovering from a car accident) and for sure it helped me get my thumbs and eyes together, but.... None of this really prepared me for the shock of firing up my first cp heli (550e DFC) for the first time . What it did do, is allow me to take off and land my first flight (about 80 yds away without crashing (under the concerned instruction of jimmyhorns). I'm sure that if I had no SIM practice things would have been worse.
Paul

[jimmyhorns]

As probably the closest here Paul, in terms of stepping into the hobby as the OP.... how close is the Sim experience to real life, in terms of feel and nerves?...

[PorscheBoy]

I guess the SIM gets your thumbs and eyes together, and you have some knowledge for what will happen when you put in stick movements, what a SIM doesn't prepare you for is the noise, your actual £700 of first ever heli spinning up and then trying it's best to commit suicide. It's the "realness" that really gets you (and the buzz) and this is when your nerves kick in..... You realise there is no reset button, and if it goes wrong you won't be flying anymore today (as I experienced last Saturday ). IMO the SIM has saved me a couple of times because I was able to get out of dodgy situations because of experiencing them on the SIM.
Paul

[Garth84x]

Thanks for replys, I think that I'll try and get a second hand copy of phoenix, and a handset. Although I understand that it won't have the fear factor, if im flying on a sum, I won't have the same feel as being a field, when i crash on the sum i can just reset the hemi and start over, instead of putting lots of twisted bit in the boot of the car.

Garry

[CageyH]

You can pick up a cheap 4ch FP heli, such as the Heliguy Atom for £40, which is useful fore learning all the orientations on these dark winter nights.
You will quickly outgrow this though.
A heli and a Sim works well, as I find extended sim sessions a bit boring, and the heli gives you a nice break, and mixes things up a bit.

[PaulJC]

The sim is great for muscle memory which is what gets used when your reactions are called upon, flying the real thing is great but plenty of sim time certainly helps, i make sure all my sim sessions have some kind of 'learning' included even if only a few minutes here and there between messing about, it all helps