Finding it difficult to return to the hobby

[nheather]

RC flying used to be my main hobby but for various reasons to boring to mention I left it almost 10 years ago - each year I said I would start again next year but didn't happen and time flew by.

So here I am, situation now changed and I'm ready to come back.

When I left I was a confident plank flier and just starting out on helis (basic hovering and tentative circuits).

Thought I would slot right it but my how much as changed.

In the plank world, apart from the dominance of electric power, not a lot has changed and I think I can fit back in without problem.

But helis are giving me a realy headache.

My nitro Raptor 50 is obsolete. Thunder Tiger no longer exist, I'm going to continue to fly it, I'm told that there are still plenty of spares about (on eBay and the likes) but I'm under no illusion that finding parts for repairs might be a challenge.

The market, the clubs, the number of fliers seems to have shrunk considerably. The forums are bustling any more.

The brands/models are confusing now - which are current, which are still supported, they seem to change so often and support gets dropped so quickly

The models that are for say seem to be aimed totally at the ultra 3D market and are fully spec'ed out of the box. I don't need that now and in fact I don't think I will ever be interested in that level. But it seems I have no option but to buy a high performance machine that is to fast and responsive for me now and that I will probably never take advantage of.

People keep suggesting - get a 450 - this is confusing me, I can see where they are coming from but my experience so far has been with a Raptor 50 (a 600 size machine) which I chose because of the stability and visibility.

I'm not ready to drop £1200+ (once batteries and charger have been added) on a new 550 or 600 - what I'd really like is to buy something second had but what is really difficult to tell is whether it is still support what with suppliers bringing out new models more regularly than Man United shirts.

Any advice? The way I'm feeling at the moment I might just stick to planks.

Cheers,

Nigel

[DaveJones]

Align is probably the best brand to go for if you are a relative beginner, relatively cheap and common so parts and help should be available. Mikado and SAB are probably the other two most common brands but a little more expensive.

There are two trains of thought I think around what heli to start with, some folks say start small (cheaper and less intimidating/dangerous) and others saying go larger (easy to see, easier to work on and more stable). I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, I started small (Blade MCPx) and slowly got bigger and bigger (currently flying a Logo 600sx), an unwillingness to commit significant money to a hobby I might not enjoy was my main reason for starting small, plus mostly learning on my own made it safer. I did most of my learning on an Align Trex 500 (425mm length blades) which is not a bad compromise between big and small.

Blade have a range of smaller heli's but I don't know what is current anymore but new should be pretty cheap.

[Ade_Law]

Hi Nigel,

It can be a bit daunting coming back. I had 5 years off from 2009 myself

Flybarless and electric changed everything.

The same machine can be a 3d monster or a soft and docile model just by flicking a switch.

This also means smaller models don't fly like crap like they used to. 600 size is a bit of a bad size for electric, its big enough that battery cost isnt enough different to a 700. 500-550mm blades does appear to be the new sweat spot. There are a lot more brands around but also because of flybarless there really isnt an awful lot of difference between them in the way they fly unless you are flying on the bleeding edge you won't notice differences in weight and tail power go with what matches your budget. mikado, SAB, MSH, synergy and align are the go to, im sure others with suggest some more brands too.

Ade

[nheather]

Hi Nigel,

It can be a bit daunting coming back. I had 5 years off from 2009 myself

Flybarless and electric changed everything.

The same machine can be a 3d monster or a soft and docile model just by flicking a switch.

This also means smaller models don't fly like crap like they used to. 600 size is a bit of a bad size for electric, its big enough that battery cost isnt enough different to a 700. 500-550mm blades does appear to be the new sweat spot. There are a lot more brands around but also because of flybarless there really isnt an awful lot of difference between them in the way they fly unless you are flying on the bleeding edge you won't notice differences in weight and tail power go with what matches your budget. mikado, SAB, MSH, synergy and align are the go to, im sure others with suggest some more brands too.

Ade

Sorry I wasn't very clear. I only mentioned 600 because that is effectively what I have flown in the past - Raptor 50.

So I was suggesting that going back to a 450 might seem too small and twitchy.

As for going forward, I like the idea of electric but for one thing - the price of the batteries. So I have already ruled out a 600, looking more towards a 550.

But the 450/500 size is totally new for me - when I last flew you could have a 30, a 50 or bigger and the tiny electrics (like the 250) had just come out. How stable is a 450? Does it get blow about. I wonder whether the size issue would be offset because you are flying it closer.

What about second hand - how can you tell whether a helicopter is still supported - and I mean properly supported, parts still being made, not just whatever is left in the store until it sells out or what you can pick up second hand. For example I have seen a Mikado Logo 550SE for sale, not sure whether it is a good price nor whether I would still be able to pick up spares for it. The last thing I want to do is to go out and spend £400-500 on a second hand machine only to find that it is scrap as soon as I have an accident.

Cheers,

Nigel

[theonlygk]

My advice would be buy a 2nd hand Align T rex 500.

Its a great size and feels like a much larger heli in the air, couple that with the fact you can pick them up 2nd hand cheaper than the newer generation 450 size like 470 etc.

Look for a dominator rather than the newer dominator X version, this will be a lot cheaper and spares are still readily available and sure they will be for a good while.

You can pick up a cheap 500esp but I think the spares will be harder to find in the longer term and I don't see much difference in 2nd hand pricing between the 500ESP and the dominator which is the later model of the two.

The dominator is a nice flybarless model that will see you progress your skills and is a very capable machine.

It fly's on 6s batteries 2600-3500 range approx.

550 is a great size model but it can get expensive with these and 700 size, I personally wouldn't go for 600 size unless you happen to have the batteries already.

550 size does however share batteries with 700 size later on if you were to move onto the bigger model it just uses 2 instead of 1 pack

Hope this helps

[Ade_Law]

Just spoke to Jonas who I work with on AccuRC simulator, hes a Logo fanatic.

The parts are backwards compatible so if you break your old one you just install the newer version of what you broke.

I feel your pain on the battery costs. I have a Synergy E7 sitting here that hasnt flown for a couple of years because I have not been able to justify the cost of the batteries :-(

Ade

[Magic919]

I’ve spent many years away and some of the people that flew locally have dropped out. This forum seems pretty quiet too.

I still have a TREX 250 from 2009. (I can’t hover or fly). Dropped in at a local club and they suggested Align rather than Blade for better model support beyond a couple of years. 500 and the 470 got mentioned as well as the 450. The Align range seems to offer plenty of choice, maybe too much.

The few guys that were there had 480/500/550 plus a 700 or bigger. Nobody thought the 250 would be a good thing. They mentioned quite a few people are flying quads and FPV these days.

i think that 500 remains a favourite class but that a bit smaller and FBL seems ok now. I like the idea of bigger, but Align 550X would be my personal limit as the bigger ones seemed to run tandem batteries, let alone general increase in costs of parts.

I have quite a few RC cars here, so at least I have chargers for lipo batteries.

[nheather]

My advice would be buy a 2nd hand Align T rex 500.

Its a great size and feels like a much larger heli in the air, couple that with the fact you can pick them up 2nd hand cheaper than the newer generation 450 size like 470 etc.

Look for a dominator rather than the newer dominator X version, this will be a lot cheaper and spares are still readily available and sure they will be for a good while.

You can pick up a cheap 500esp but I think the spares will be harder to find in the longer term and I don't see much difference in 2nd hand pricing between the 500ESP and the dominator which is the later model of the two.

The dominator is a nice flybarless model that will see you progress your skills and is a very capable machine.

It fly's on 6s batteries 2600-3500 range approx.

550 is a great size model but it can get expensive with these and 700 size, I personally wouldn't go for 600 size unless you happen to have the batteries already.

550 size does however share batteries with 700 size later on if you were to move onto the bigger model it just uses 2 instead of 1 pack

Hope this helps

I'll have a look at the 500 again. Not seen many for sale though. Look on eBay regularly and the BMFA Classifieds.

Cheers,

Nigel

[trillian]

The Trex 500 is a good size and you can find them very cheap 2nd hand. The slightly confusing thing is that Align has lots of variations of the 500 now and changed some parts around quite a bit. I have just built up a cheap Trex 500 ESP using some 2nd hand Align bits and a new Tarot FBL rotorhead.

This is the ESP:


Here's mine:



You'll still see the flybarred versions 2nd hand cheap because everyone wants FBL and they actually fly quite nicely. Parts are cheap and there are several clones that use compatible parts like booms, gears, etc.

There's also nothing wrong with the Raptor 50 I started with a Raptor 30 and loved it, then had a Raptor 50 which I still have but retired it from active duty. Spares are quite common on Ebay.

[Grumpy]

If you want the heli to be easy to fly then the game changer is getting a flybarless controller that has 'self levelling' stabilisation. This feature makes the heli return to level flight if you center the sticks which makes the heli MUCH easier to fly. Most current generation flybarless controllers have this feature but some make you pay extra for firmware updates to turn it on. A couple of good controllers that have it included 'for free' are the Spirit / Spirit Pro and the MSH Brain2.

Setting up a FBL will probably be hard work first time round but it's something that you are going to have to get used to if you fly helis these days.

As for checking for parts support, maybe the best option would be that if you see something that looks tempting post the heli type here and I'm sure you will get some good advice.

[kenny d]

Trex 500 & 550 DFC or Dominator L would be my choice, they only use 1 battery, second hand can be bought from ( £250 - 500 ) & ( £350 - 550 ) , just be aware of what servos are in them as align have stopped making servo gear Spares for many of there earlier servos SO if you was to strip a gear on a cyclic servo you may have to replace all 3 if you can’t find new or s/hand spare

[nheather]

Thanks for the info about the Trex 500s and about the servos (problems getting servo spares would have never occured to me).

Where are good places to find second hand - clearly there is eBay, but I have been looking regularly over the last month and haven’t seen that many. Had a look on classifieds here today and couldn’t spot anything.

Any other places to try?

Cheers,

Nigel

[kenny d]

I wouldn’t have thought about replacment servos or gears either but it happened to one of my mates recently , BUT this may affect most older align heli’s 500 & 550 , places to look BMFA. https://bmfa.org/Class1/cid/10.
Put a wanted add on here or eBay ( can be a bit of a hit or miss but something a bargain can be had )

[10x]

Not sure if you are into facebook.......
https://www.facebook.com/groups/180279495915310/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/306594579360932/
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[Granpappy]

My nitro Raptor 50 is obsolete. Thunder Tiger no longer exist, I'm going to continue to fly it, I'm told that there are still plenty of spares about (on eBay and the likes) but I'm under no illusion that finding parts for repairs might be a challenge.

Fly it to destruction, and when you cant get any more spares for it, then decide whether you want to carry on flying helis or stick to planks.

I've got a TT X50E which is 600 size and flies really well. I can still get spares from the Netherlands and just for your curiosity, Midlands are still selling the complete kits.


https://www.modelhelicopters.co.uk/t...ctric-kit.html