The idiots guide

[The Gagsy]

First i would like to say hello to all members and guests, Just joined forum and hobby read alot of posts on here, i started with model flying way back in the 80s with RC planes enjoyed greatly but then got married and well, the wife started moanin so it faded away and i stopped flying. But i still have my high wing trainer in loft and my old Accoms radio gear in loft. And so some 27 years later with new wife I might add (hehe) and some 4 young lads the passion is back, only now its Helecopters something i allways wanted to get into but back then they cost the planet to buy and run, but hey now they are cheap as chips for the fun they give you. any ways i bought my son a dragonfly helecopter for xmas bag of crap really but provided some fun, then i bought myself a Lama 4 of ebay £56 with 20 spare blades 2 batteries charger and FMS sim, I am going through mid life crisis according to wife, but i really am enjoying having it. its great but have now used all rotor blades and part demolished liveing room, have now ordered head upgrade and more blades as i think i am going to need them.
Now how useful this forum has been to me, initialy i was rushing out to buy a whiz bang whollop hele and i aint mastered the lama 4 yet. read forum hit the breaks, you guys are so right learn the basics first with a cheap and cheerfull fun model then invest in better one, and one other thing for the budding pilots out there get the pheonix sim if you can afford it or download the FMS sim thats free and you still learn basics and can have fun. I will be joining a local model club when they have room full membership right now, I have basically started this thread to chart my progress of mastering this very challenging hobby and hope others learning will avoid my pitfalls (i know im gonna have alot because im so impatiant) much harder than planes to master, you need the reflexes of a house fly, Now my first question for you guys. Some of my rotor blades are only damaged at the last 15 to 20mm and i was wondering can i trim the damaged bit off and reuse them only as a set all of equal size. how will this alter the performance of lama.

Keep up the good advice.

[gazza]

Hi mate & welcome to the forum
As a last resort you could probably get away with trimming the blades yes, but the heli will feel slightly less stable & you will probably get a decrease in lift.
Also, make sure you trim equal amounts & restore the aerodynamic shape of the blade.They must balance too.

[David Drew]

Some of my rotor blades are only damaged at the last 15 to 20mm and i was wondering can i trim the damaged bit off and reuse them only as a set all of equal size. how will this alter the performance of lama.

Keep up the good advice.

Welcome.

Why bother..the blades are cheap enough.>

I think I have learnt one thing if nothing else...don't cut corners with helis...esp blades

[The Gagsy]

Bad idea then, just hate wasteing them when all they are missing is the tips, can i use my old radio gear or is it to ancient, it has 4 servos 5 channel receiver OS 40 engine accoms 5 channel transmiter, bought around 1982.

[M0nkeyj1m]

I noticed that when broken, split or short; it tends to cause vibrations which makes flying a lot more difficult but crashing a whole lot easier.. Blades are cheaper than almost all other items that you might have to replace owing to a proper crash.. chuck the broken ones away..

[Boggy]

hi gagsy welcome to the forum.
tbh i dont think you'll have much success triming blades. its just not worth it. you'll lose stability and flight time. and you'll be running the motors alot harder!

[The Gagsy]

I have loaded pheonix on my main computer in bedroom now, which is running on 42" plasma. i had it on laptop. when i got it the other day and not really had chance to use it, the multiplayer function is a real blast, even the lads have slung the Xbox and Nintendo wii, to go on it. They think it is fantastic. Now thats saying something, been on sim all afternoon i have lost count of how many helecopters i have smashed up, only to say am i glad i never got an expensive helecopter. I think i shall be liveing in bedroom for a while at least untill i can fly something other than the cx2 i wish my lama 4 flew like that one, should they be the same performance wise or does the cx2 perform better? they look the same as each other, but when i try to fly the lama 4 in liveing room it just goes off all over the place and i can not get it to hover like the sim one, i have been flying some of the model planes takes me back to my youth, strange how you pick it up again like riding a bike i suppose.

[Tim Procter]

You have the right attitude mate, Keep it up and good luck with the flying, You will see yourself progress the more time you spend on it..

[ExtremeXS]

I have a CX2, and whilst it's quite stable, it's nothing like the stability of the version in Phoenix.

Phoenix for coaxial heli's, is best used to get your brain around the controls, and things like nose-in hovering.

The physics on coaxial heli's appears to be a rather different model to the single rotor heli's, and is pretty much included for fun and training rather than accuracy. The other major difference for me is that the sim is always in large open spaces, the air flow from the real CX2 in a living room really impacts on handling, with air rebounding from nearby walls and furniture etc. This is even more apparent when you are very low and get the full updraft/wind effect.

The non-coaxial models in Phoenix, are a little more life-like, though it's a sim so you should always take that with a pinch of salt.

[Boggy]

i think you'll find that is spot on the mark.!! the phoenix blade is not really meant to be 100% accurate its just an easy to fly starting place

[The Gagsy]

what is the best way to use the sim then, i find that ill go on the blade for a bit then switch on one of the harder helecopters on training mode practice for a bit then go back to the blade or just fiddle with some of the aeroplanes, just flicking about really and trying different models, i think i go back to the blade so as not to lose faith, are the model copters really that sensitive and touchy to fly, if they are i dont think i will ever get the hang of em, just when you think your getting somewhere they go off on one..... and i have no chance of regaining any control.

[Boggy]

your doing exactly the right thing mate if you keep hammering away at one thing you'll get bored and it becomes tedious.!!
it will come to you eventually , you just need to pop a few blood vessels first!!

[The Gagsy]

i have done that already, mind you trying to eat my Kebab when trying to fly dont help, im gonna try having a few beers now and see if that improves my flying really carnt get any worse. My only consolation is i can still fly the model planes and the 3 lads carn't so at least im winning there, but my eldest lad who is 13 seems to be a natural helecopter flyer must be all that xbox practice he's had.

[ExtremeXS]

LOL XBox def helps with the duel thumb use and co-ordination

I find landing the CX2 on various stones in the 'Stone Henge Near' quite amusing.

Also the indoor sports hall, with the floor markings, provide useful 'markers' to use as landing targets and for performing maneuvers around. As do the F3C markers.

Cheers

[pompeyjohn]

the two main things I try are.....

... try to set a stable hover for as long as possible within the f3c box; nose in / tail in / side in.

... Attempt to copy the excellent display videos of circuits/etc.