Need my knowledge increased

[helibo1]

Hi guys me again, ok I know the second you read this thread you will laugh your head off because you are all very smart in the R/C world, but because I am new I just want to increase my knowledge about R/C Helis.

My first question is: I have a Hi-Tec Optic 6 sport transmitter, is there a specific type of receiver that I need to buy for the transmitter to work with it, and how do I connect my transmitter to another receiver?

Second question: Since I have a Twister 3D Storm, the servos on it are pretty crappy, I want to buy metal geared ones but I do not know what type I should but, what size or anything about it!

Sorry these Q's are so stupid for you guys, but please don't bag me out, keep in mind I am only new to this too!

Thanks soo much, Lincoln.

[cjcj1949]

You've got 3 options for the rx. The tx gives you fm or QPCM. You can buy a cheap single conversion rx or a more expensive double conversion rx or a QPCM rx. Depends how far away you want to fly and how much interference you get. Most people use HS65's on cyclic but the crap servos do work and you can fit a set of gears in a few minutes. Almost everything on the blade 400 and the TS3D is not very good. But if you want good performance you might as well start with a Trex450.

[pompeyjohn]

cjcj1949,

Almost everything on the blade 400 and the TS3D is not very good.

I don't agree with that at all. The hardware on both of these is more than sufficient to help anyone starting in this hobby. In fact I'd recommend either for three reasons...

1. They are a lot more affordable than an SEV2
2. Replacement parts [and third party parts] for them are readily available
3. Folks on here [and elsewhere] know about them

But if you want good performance you might as well start with a Trex450.

How many people learn to drive in a 'performance car' ?! My first car wasnt the best in its class. Was yours?

Seriously man, you know how this place is. Opinions are welcomed ... as much as constructive criticism. Sure an SEv2 would outperform what he has, but do you really think he needs one right now?

Lincoln,
You have got a perfectly good helicopter there. It is true that there are better ones to learn on and to fly, but they are much more expensive.... and until you are really comfortable with flying, they will offer very little extra to you.

Lastly I just wanted to say; dont hesitate to ask questions on here. No matter how noob you think they are. We all started off asking these questions. What makes this forum great is that long after learning the answers people stick around to help others. There may be occasions when opinions differ [like above] but you'll generally find most people on here think the same way.

In fact a lot of people on here recommend the B400 [which is very similar to you TS3D] as a first helicopter. It is known to be a bit lively though, so read the tips on here for calming it down and you'll be fine.

As far as the cyclic servos go; cjcj1949's recommendation was spot on. Most people favour the HS65 for helicopters this size.

Oh, and welcome to the forum

[helibo1]

thanks so much you guys, I have learned more on rcheliaddicts.co.uk in 2 days than I learn in school, you guys are actually so nice it's amazing! but the other thing I was worrying about is that I am paranoid that if I want better servos that I will buy them and their physical size will differ to the ones I have now, thus making them un-usable for my twister, if you guys can shed a little light there that would be great too! and The Twister 3d Storm and the Blade 400 are amazingly similar, it's really weird! lol just wanted to say that, but thanks soo much for all your help, Lincoln.

[Made2Fade]

Go for Hitec HS 65 MG (metal geared servos) or the new digital version HS5065 if you want more percision. If its upgrading your doing then i advise upgrading your radio to a Spektrum dx6I and AR6100E minimum. No more Xtals needed and glitch free flight (one less thing to worry about). You can grab them both for £89.99 ish now and a very worthwhile upgrade. If you wanted a better TX then the Spektrum DX7 and an AR6200/AR7000 is the next step up again. This has 7 channels and better if you plan on progressing to a nitro model.
Cheers
Lee

[cjcj1949]

Read the post again.

cjcj1949,



I don't agree with that at all. The hardware on both of these is more than sufficient to help anyone starting in this hobby. In fact I'd recommend either for three reasons...

1. They are a lot more affordable than an SEV2
2. Replacement parts [and third party parts] for them are readily available
3. Folks on here [and elsewhere] know about them

How many people learn to drive in a 'performance car' ?! My first car wasnt the best in its class. Was yours?

Seriously man, you know how this place is. Opinions are welcomed ... as much as constructive criticism. Sure an SEv2 would outperform what he has, but do you really think he needs one right now?

Lincoln,
You have got a perfectly good helicopter there. It is true that there are better ones to learn on and to fly, but they are much more expensive.... and until you are really comfortable with flying, they will offer very little extra to you.

Lastly I just wanted to say; dont hesitate to ask questions on here. No matter how noob you think they are. We all started off asking these questions. What makes this forum great is that long after learning the answers people stick around to help others. There may be occasions when opinions differ [like above] but you'll generally find most people on here think the same way.

In fact a lot of people on here recommend the B400 [which is very similar to you TS3D] as a first helicopter. It is known to be a bit lively though, so read the tips on here for calming it down and you'll be fine.

As far as the cyclic servos go; cjcj1949's recommendation was spot on. Most people favour the HS65 for helicopters this size.

Oh, and welcome to the forum

So you disagree with my statement that the two inexpensive helis are not very good. Does this mean that they are very good? My understanding is that a trex 450 with very good bits added is very good and very expensive.

I did not say that the twister storm or the blade 400 is not a very good choice for someone starting, in fact I did say that the servos are easy to fix and that a weakest link is a good idea as it prevents other bits from being damaged.

Also I said, if you want a performance heli, not you need a performance heli.

I think that we agree in fact.

[heliTV]

Hi Lincoln

I have a Blade 400 and agree with Pompeyjohn - its a perfectly good little heli to start on just like the TS3D. After a fair amount of grief initially, due to my inexperience, I'm now getting on well with it. The best thing about it is that its fairly cheap to repair!

I would strongly advise that you tame your TS3D down a bit to start with. There's loads of tips and tricks on the forum that include radio adjustments as well as physical mods.

Regarding servos, I asked the same question a few months ago as I was stripping gears for a pastime. In the end, I stuck with the originals and just replaced gears at £2 a set - funnily enough, I don't seem to strip them in crashes so much now. My reasoning is that something is going to break and replacing servo gears is easier than replacing a link rod to exactly the right size.

I was intimidated about repair to start with, but when you get used to it, it's fairly straightforward and if truth be told, quite fun. It's very satisfying to start with a broken heli, repair it and actually fly it again. I crashed yesterday(!) and repaired it all within 2 hours - flybar/mainshaft/feathering spindle/blades/flybar seesaw and a set of servo gears.

I would stick with the original bits for a while because they're cheap and readily available. I keep quite a stock of bits so I'm not waiting for supplies when I crash!

When I started, I wanted something simple, cheap and fairly easy to repair because I knew I'd crash it. The crashes tend to come when you try something new which you have to do to make progress. I could spend all my time hovering and probably never crash... With the Blade, at least I can push it a bit knowing I can probably repair it for not much cash! If I had a T-Rex, I would probably be more careful...

I would invest in Phoenix flight sim and practice regularly on it. It is different to the real thing but really helps try new things without and crash cost!

Finally, never be embarrassed about posting here - everyone started at the beginning and as with most things, this hobby has a language of its own which can discourage newbs like us - I've never seen a newb made fun of on here because of wanting to learn more and I'm fairly certain I would have given up without the support from many on here...

All the best, and keep posting

Graham

[moyesboy]

About your transmitter - I think the optic6 sport id the black one not the grey one.
I am not sure that the optic 6 sport does qpcm. However it is rather irrelevant as to operate with qpcm you need the hitec qpcm receiver and it is rather too big for the 450 size heli. You could strap it on the side but there are probably better options.

PCM in encoded signal which allows the receiver to reject interference and go into fail safe if it can't recognise the signal. Each manufacturer has their own codes for PCM so only the manufacturers receiver workds with each manufacturers tx.

FM receivers come in dual conversion or single conversion. Yuo need the dual con crystal (xtal), or the single con xtal to match. The tx xtal is the same for both. A standard FM recevier will not go into fail safe on loss of signal. If it goes out of range or gets interference it can do random things (glitches) or just nothing.

Receivers can also be DSP. This uses the standard FM signal but does some extra software trickery to analyse it so that it can reject interference. This was invented by schulze. It enables the receiver to have fail safe capability and soem receivers have a led which counts glitches so yuo can see after flying if your setup is dodgy.

The nxt thing is a synethesised Rx. This can also be PCM or DSP as well. The receiver has no xtal but listens to the tx and locks onto the frequency.


Getting good performance with 35Mhz is possible but you have to carefully position all the componants and route the wires so they are suitably separated. If your heli is working well on 35 Mhz then continue. If you are having radio problems then I recommend moving to 2.4Ghz. If you go to www.trextuning and look back though the forum you will find that before 2.4Ghz half the posts on that forum were about trying to get the 35, or 72 in the USA, radio working reliably on these small electrics. Now most are using 2.4Ghz and there are almost no posts about radio problems!

[helibo1]

Great, thanks for all your advice guys, so since this is a 3D helicopter, It is normal for me to be EXTREMELY intimidated by it right? well, whenever I try to hover it, it always shoots backwards and yaws and rolls, do I just need to do ALOT of trimming or is something wrong?

Thanks alot guys, Lincoln.

[Made2Fade]

If its doing it quite a bit then you probably have something setup wrong mechanically. If it isnt then just trim it out.
Cheers
Lee

[cjcj1949]

All part of the fun.

Great, thanks for all your advice guys, so since this is a 3D helicopter, It is normal for me to be EXTREMELY intimidated by it right?

well, whenever I try to hover it, it always shoots backwards and yaws and rolls, do I just need to do ALOT of trimming or is something wrong?

Thanks alot guys, Lincoln.

The short answer is yes, you should find it a real challenge. If you don't then you don't understand how dangerous it can be. Helicopters are not as difficult as they seem, but they are difficult to learn. I'm not talking about 3D stuff by the way, just hovering. There are also a lot of things that you will only learn from other people. You do need to keep going though and one day like magic you'll be able to hold it in a hover, you won't have done anything different, but suddenly you have control of the heli and you can then become more and more confident. You then have to decide how aggressively you want to learn. As Graham says you have to try new things, but practising on a sim is a good idea, but the pressure of the real thing is different and doing it on the sim first is the minimum, unless you have an instructor.

Helis are very difficult when they are out of trim and at the beginning it is very difficult to tell the difference between the normal instability and the apparent unpredictability due to the heli being out of trim. That's why you've been given the advice on your original thread to

get a sim or

join a club and find someone to trim it for you or

use Radd's method of flying on a smooth surface with the heli only just touching the ground and then you can get used to the controls and trim it out without breaking anything.

I think the Storm and the blade 400 are good helis to learn on, but that doesn't make them good helis. Some experienced heli pilots don't like flying them as they are so small and some people give up trying because it's too difficult.

The best heli to learn on is someone else's. As big as possible with the owner on the other end of a training lead.

[machasm]

I wouldn't bother upgrading anything on your heli just yet.
You will have plenty of time to do that after its gone in!
Use what you have and enjoy yourself.
The only thing I would say to get is Phoenix sim and put some practise in on that first.
That should give you an idea of how things 'might' feel on the real thing and is useful for learning new orientations and trying new things.

[Made2Fade]

I agree Phoenix is a must. Ideally i would do what Machasm said to be honest. The reason i earlier gave info out on upgrades (servos/TX/RX) is simply because knowing a beginner they will go out and upgrade regardless. I done it myself when i was a total beginner. Therefore i give out information so that at least they go get the correct items and dont come back from the LHS or where ever with a bag of crap (stuff the LHS cant shift alot of the time). Machasm is right though, ideally just fly it and enjoy it. Theres plenty time for upgrades when you have progressed more with that helicopter. Chances are you'll purchase another heli when you've done that anyways. Then you can make sure it has descent gear.
Cheers
Lee

[jimheli]

I agree Phoenix is a must. Ideally i would do what Machasm said to be honest. The reason i earlier gave info out on upgrades (servos/TX/RX) is simply because knowing a beginner they will go out and upgrade regardless. I done it myself when i was a total beginner. Therefore i give out information so that at least they go get the correct items and dont come back from the LHS or where ever with a bag of crap (stuff the LHS cant shift alot of the time). Machasm is right though, ideally just fly it and enjoy it. Theres plenty time for upgrades when you have progressed more with that helicopter. Chances are you'll purchase another heli when you've done that anyways. Then you can make sure it has descent gear.
Cheers
Lee

yep

[heliTV]

The best heli to learn on is someone else's. As big as possible with the owner on the other end of a training lead.

I'm having lessons with Pete Milner of Phoenix Model Aviation. I find the combination of lessons (on a raptor 50 with a training lead), and practice on the Blade 400 and sim more or less every day really helps progress..

The advantage of a professional instructor is that you feel less guilty about taking their time (because you're paying for it) and also flying their model that is properly set up.

I've just come back from Pete's workshop as he's sorted the tail out for me and replaced the head dampers - I would never have known that the dampers needed replacing and would have put the sloppy performance down to my flying (my flying leaves a lot to be desired, but at least knowing the heli is 100% means I can only blame myself!!

So - I would try and find an instructor that can take you through the basics - but makes sure you get as much practice as possible in the meantime. if you're only doing one lesson a week with no practice, progress will be slow!!!

All the best

Graham