Why Are You A Heli Addict

[shuglu]

Since we're all from different walks of life and this sport/hobby brings us together, it would be great to see what drives our shared enthusiasm.

[fatmantom]

well...

i started, as every kid does loving rc cars and boats! and then i looked in to planks... went to a few shows and thats what i decided i would do. looked around and asked around and as i was about 12-13 years old and spending over 200 pound on a plane was crazy so i bought a cheap one. it never flew properly met the kid that lives oposite me. turns out he had the same plane and his never flew......endoff..... few mounths later and i could see (but mostly hear) he was flyin a heli in his back garden. got talking to him again then decided i'll give that a shot. bought a cheap heli....it never flew lol but this time i had a mate that gave me the support to carry on, borrow his sim and get in to the hobby!

and now im am skint but with 3 heli's that (most of the time) fly!

lol sorry for the lenth
cheers,

[Leebert]

It started for me when one of our clients brought in a Honey Bee FP to our work to show a colleauge. I was a bit interested have flown fixed wing gliders (full size). The guy also brought in an old version of reflex and that got put on my PC. The colleauge had about one or two goes but then lost interest. I ended up getting in to work early just to fly on the sim and ended up buying a Honey Bee FP of my own.
A few months later a Raptor 50 came up on the BMFA and the rest is history

[Snarf]

Used to catch hover flies as a kid and put them in a jar.

Never could catch dragon flies but watched them in amazement.

Now I have a T-Rex

[Fixxxer]

Started out with nitro trucks for several years and then a mate brought a twister from one of the shows at the NEC, had 1 got of that and was hooked. 6 months later all 3 of my trucks were sold and I had my raptor. Just seems so much more to heli's than with any other forms of RC and you certainly get a great feeling of accomplishment every time you progress that little bit.

Oh and generally I find the heli crowd seem to be a damn site easier to get along with than the others.

[Sesame]

Started as a kid, I bought a plane kit never meaning to fly it just build it, ended up joining a club where one of the guys flew a heli I was hooked from that point on.

more recently, after 20 odd yead break on a whim I bought a honey bee king which got me back into it. the rest is history :-)

[Bubblefish777]

Since we're all from different walks of life and this sport/hobby brings us together, it would be great to see what drives our shared enthusiasm.

.....
I'm actually a recovering WoW addict (world Of warcraft)
This is my come-down.
If you haven't played it or tempted too....don't.
WoW is like crack.
It is without doubt the most addictive computer game ever devised. It has 16 millions players all paying 8 quid a month and it soaks time up like you wouldn't believe. I wasn't hardcore but used to play around 20 hours a week. Nearly cost me my marriage amongst other things.

However I know lots of people where it did cost them marriages, jobs, friends and in some cases their life... no I'm not kidding do a search...

So for me .... a few mins a day on the boards and a slow build mixed with some shooting I do now is a nice gentle 'come down'
I miss it like mad.....but hoping this will keep my interest for a while.
Don't feel addicted to this at all.

[reg]

when i was about 10 me and my mate were into airwolf,so we talked about getting an rc one,we sorted out my dads garage,cleand and polished a table for the landing pad talked for hours about doing this and that with them,that was as far as it got,mum and dad devorsed we moved so on and so forth,about 20 years later i bought a heli just for somthing to do in the garden,and smashed it up,got back into racing nitro off road buggys,got fed up with that again,i was polishing the tableat home one day,and the small of the polish reminded me of the time 20 years ago me and my mate were sorting out my dads garage,so i sold all my nitro stuff and have desided to learn how to fly so i can get myself an airwolf heli,
AND SO IT BEGINS
mark

[quanter]

Used to fly slope soarers then about 25 years ago moved to East Anglia - somewhat of a lack of hills so I sort of fell out of it. Thought the gliders are still in the loft.
I had read about R/C heli's way back then but was put off by the complexity at the time, no gyros etc.
Couldnt face the noise of I/C but electric fits the bill, still very definitely at the learning stage but enjoying it.

Brian

[warboysastro]

Back in 1994, bored one day, trawling through Anglia Free Ads, saw an ad for a radio controlled heli outfit - a Kalt Cyclone! £450! Great - went out and bought it. I had fixed wing experience of quite a few years, but not helis. This thing had a mechanical Futaba gyro that had to spool up like a turbine. Built my own training gear, did small hops, then tried the 'Morley string method' (don't ask!) with a brave (but slightly daft) friend on the end of the string. Everything going well, could hover it, until a tail ball-link gave way and in it came.

After that, laid off for a while, then about yr. 2001 bought a Nexus, and resumed hover practice. I blinged it up too much, so was afraid to crash it. Sold that.

Another couple of years later, an Aerofly - didn't really like fixed pitch, then my 3DX400 hybrid thing which still flies great, and now flying my T-Rex 600CF-E.

So even with on/off periods, been into Heli's for 13yrs now. As far as the flying goes, entirely self-taught.

Like my violin - never had a lesson. Which end do I blow? lol

Cheers - Rob

[Sesame]

I think like many others what actually drew me to helis, is after a few years of flying fixed wing, I got bored with them and was basically doing really really stoopid things with them just to make it exciting, I will stress not dangerous, well not to persons. maybe to the plane itelf.

with helis, there's just so much more to them, I always get that adreneline rush at least once when im flying at the field, whether I pull off a new move, hold an inverted hover a little longer than I feel comfortable, escape a near crash or something similar. That little shake of the hands the feeling of acomplishing something. even if its just getting the bird down in 1 piece, I love it.

Just a thought I wanted to add.

[bandicoot]

got a heli as a christmas pressie, then got hooked by the challange and with the ammount to learn..always finding something new

[zx6rjey]

been around model RC for 20 years or more, started when my dad bught me a Tamiya Ford Ranger (electric Car)back in 1982. we used to race on a sunday at the worlds end pub in Northants, did that for some years then moved on to fixed wing ic, got pretty good with them but then left school and baught a full size car and got a girlfriend, the models sorta got left behind for some years, but i always had one kicking around (normaly a car), baught a twister bell about 3 months ago and, well, now i have a trex 450 and several other models and love it to bits.


Mark

[arby]

I think watching 'whirlybirds' in the 60's planted the seed....

Was into Amateur radio late 70's, went to a rally at Woburn Abbey, in the program they handed out at the gate there had been a r/c helicopter event just the week before.

Waited a whole year and made it to the next event. Found there were only two main suppliers Hirobo (Nieman) and Kalt (Slough r/c).

Ended up buying a s/h Kalt Baron50 from a local model shop as a complete package with 4 channel TX. but no gyro (subsequently discovered Morley,Schluter,Vario,GMP,Miniature Aircraft etc.).

Found a local club with one heli flyer who set it up and taught me to hover and am eternally grateful as I am sure I would have given up had I been on my own. Seeing him fly his around gave me the will to persevere in those darker moments....Have been poor ever since......but very happy

[TinyChopper]

Obsessive compulsive tinkerer! If it wasn’t heli's it would be something else!