Now that I am hooked...what's the future options available ???

[Karlo]

Hi all,

now that after 3-4 weeks of starting this new hobby seriously than the first time I attempted this with the wrong help and information 10ish years again, I am hooked!!!!!

But as i do with most hobbies i jump in and make mistakes which has taught me a few lessons on the way (yes it's only been 3-4 weeks!!!) and with the support from the people here it's not that painful you people know who you are and please accept my thanks for all that !!!!

the question I am asking here is what options or directions do I have which I think will be the goal to reach??

i am thinking of things like :-
1) 3d helicopters??
2) long leisure flying time outside??
3) building and flying helicopters??
4) speed helicopters??
5) 'copy' of and flying like real helicopters? Eg air wolf ???
6) just indoor helicopters??

what goals do you all have so I can look at where I would like to be in 50years when I am just about pass the hovering stage ?..

Yes I know I need to learn the basics and get to the helicopters that are collective pitch and that is where the new chapter starts and the door no longer exists to that big wide world of helicopters.

just want to see what keeps you all in the RC helicopters that long and what's your goal??

thanks all

[acidla]

Welcome to the addiction mate

When i I first started, I just wanted to fly small helis indoors. Now I have big helis and fly 3D.

when your flying progress over time you will know which flying style you lean towards more. To just hover a heli in all directions is a big of challenge when you are a beginner.

[Pj1969]

Welcome to this crazy but highly addictive sport, depends on how far you want to push yourself and how deep your pocket is?? The smaller the heli, they tend to be a bit of a handful. I went straight to a 450 size, a trex clone which if I'm honest was rubbish lol. Start off with something like that with trainig gear on and when you feel comfortable, move up to a 500 or similar. As for basics, obv a sim will help you, but not all people get on with them? Me for one hate them and don't use it now, I just fly higher lol. One thing I would say is maybe buy one of these micro quads, they fly very well indoor and teaches you good orientation, for $15 you can't go wrong.
It will also stand you in good stead if you can join a club or somewhere you can go where other chaps fly, it's amazing what you pick up just talking helis with others. It's a slow learning process, but in my eyes very good to know people that can help out in your hour of need. Good luck [emoji576]

[chadvandonkey]

Hi mate,

My advice is to start with a trex 450 with a training undercarriage and learn with that. I started off with smaller "toys" that just don't fly properly by comparison - they're a waste of time and money IMO if you want to fly properly. The Align range really are great heli's to learn with and I spent plenty of time just hovering and getting used to a collective pitch heli. I then bought myself a Trex 500 and that was the first heli I took up and flew proper circuits. It is more stable and certainly the bigger the heli the easier it is to fly and the more stable it is. One thing that really bugs me is folk who jump straight to a 700 class heli and then strap on flying aids like heli-command etc. Start small and learn properly is my advice and join a club. Flying with others greatly advances your knowledge and makes you push yourself a little more than you would if you fly alone. The Phoenix Sim is a great tool for learning and practicing auto's. It's probably way too advanced right now but practice your auto's on a Sim. Emergency auto-rotations save hundreds of pounds in broken heli's if you have a problem. The main one-way bearing let go in my Goblin just 30 feet off the ground during a tic-toc and I landed it unscathed with an auto so practice when you have the confidence.

After 18 months of starting with a TR450 I'd bought a TR500, TR550, TR600 nitro, then a TR700 nitro and now fly a Goblin 700 as my flying progressed. Now I only fly 700 class machines as they simply fly better and are better to see in the sky but this is a learning curve.

So in short my advice is this:-

1. Join a club
2. Buy a Trex 450
3. Fly as often as you can.
4. Practice auto-rotations as a soon as you have the confidence (deffo on the Sim first).
5. Enjoy it!

Cheers.

Stu

[Ritchieme]

Def join a club and welcome to the addiction cut your cards up why your still sane, ish :-)

[uiron]

the question I am asking here is what options or directions do I have which I think will be the goal to reach??

To be honest I think there's two directions in this hobby, really:

1. The builders: scale flying;
2. The flyers: pod-and-boom 3D of various degrees and styles;

People sometimes attempt to split 2nd one into several categories, but to me it's more about the personal style of flying (and supporting setup) rather than a real category by itself.

Flying helis is like playing music instrument - there is no ultimate goal, you just constantly try to improve your skills and from time to time try a new style or an instrument

[Karlo]

Yeah, I understand you Uiron when you put it in musical instrument playing terms.

but you have varies styles too. I play, well try to lol, the guitar but i just don't play electri I play both which use different techniques and methods, not to mention style of play all self taught so sounds great to me but must be crap to the family lol

If I could elaborate on this :-

1) i trained up on acoustic guitar first with chords and frets ( s107 and Msrx)
2) I then trained up on electric guitar with basic knowledge and chords (nano Cpx)
2) loved the sound of the shadows (Hank Marvin) so concentrated on that ( maybe 3d helicopters) but don't like heavy rock but can play some ( maybe leisure flying with slight 3d?)
3) then I like fingerstyle picking style on the acoustic guitar so taught myself that too ( building scale helicopters)

yes i do like all but my favourite is fingerstyle picking as it's playing lead and rhythm on one instrument

hope that hat helps to see where I am going.

[tomatwalden]

Do what takes your fancy! I started in this hobby by watching a youtube vid of a scale Bell 222 with real turbine engines. I thought it looked awesome.

Later on, when I could comfortably fly a helicopter properly (pod and boom), I got an Airwolf fuselage to build my own scale heli ...

Long story short .. I sold the fuselage before I'd really started it as I simply wasn't interested in that side anymore. Perfecting 3D moves and orientations is what drives me on now.

For now though, I'd say perfect your fixed pitch heli - then look for a collective pitch - something like an mcpx, 130x or a 450 of some sort ...