Why Are You A Heli Addict

[Stuart]

Got sick of another well known forum that had a big brother of speed style of management who's only desire was rake in cash by squeezing shops for advertising for his own benefit and not his members.....take a quess which one.

[pompeyjohn]

Several years ago I was made aware of a photographer called Yann Arhus-Bertrand.

He does a lot of work using small planes and balloons to photograph 'the earth from above'.

I was instantly sure that is what I wanted to do.

So for me this progression in this hobby is not about pulling of 3d moves, it'll be about rock steady hovering.... and safe landings.

It'll probably take me years before I can trust myself to fly up several thousand pounds worth of camera but that is what I am aiming for.

My wife commented that when we move to the states [in a year or so] I might even be able to make some money out of this by photographing for sale properties and selling the images to real estate agents. I dont know about that. It would be nice to have some rc money coming in instead of always out!

[domgar]

Saw Len Mount inverted(heli not him) at one of the shows and thought i can do thatabout 25 years ago(think thats right-brains going),went to my local flying club and when i said i wanted to fly heli's they said i was mad/wealthy (i'm only one of them)so i decide to teach myself. Four channel radio and no giro,did not destroy to many blades!
Started out with a 2nd hand thing that did not fly. Went back and got a Zenith-belt tail drive and flybar paddles made of lead,struggled with the very slow head until i fitted Morley paddles and had some sucess,
Next was a Micro Mould Lark,fixed pitch but great fun,flew that until it disintergreated,at the same time tried an electric heli that i flew with 12v car battery and long leads(could not afford the ni-cads and charger).
The most fun was the Shluter(sp) Miniboy with a 50 motor,hammered that around the sky and never crashed it(honest)just as well as blades took ages to make and balance in those days(nun of this carbon fibre fancy stuff). Sold it and went for a Kalt Baron 50 and added a Jet Ranger body,enjoyed that and only had 1 crash this got me into scale flying.....
Visited Dave Neemans shop and bought a Hirobo Jet Ranger (gearbox type?) and spent a long time building/painting it also invested in a FM heli radio and nicads(cutting edge ore what)this was very real looking in flight and lasted a long time until a ball link failed on the head and destroyed it.
Hirobo Gazelle followed then i took up microlight flying(1984) which brings me back to today,searching for info on heli's again if only there was the web back then it may have been easer Dom.

[andylinney]

Probably similar to a good few people, started with nitro RC cars and all was well until I called into a model shop for fuel and saw my first proper RC Heli - cash card twitched violently and as well as a gallon of juice I walked out with a Raptor .30v2 and all of the stuff to go into it. Never really got the hang of it (no guidance available at local club) and so following a house move it sold and the pennies got me more RC cars, dabbled in 1/8th and 1/5th offroad until once again the flying bug bit me. Learned to fly fixed wing models but all the time I had a helicopter niggle in the back of my mind. Recently saw a Sceadu .50 on ebay that was just around the corner from me with no bids on it so called the seller and picked it up that evening. Had it properly set up and also got some guidance and stacks of sim time with the flying. The mechanics of it still confuse me slightly but I still smile everytime I so much as look at it. Just broken the back of the flying by ditching the training legs and the hover seems to have 'clicked' into place. Just ventured into forward and sideways flight and going to get some more coaching to get me through my BMFA A(H) within a few weeks. Can't beat it...

[wazzer]

Was into cars when i was a youngster and was pretty good at it. I used to see the very big and expensive helicopters in the local hobby shop but the price put me off.
Sold all my car kit(very substantial amount of gear) to buy my first real car which was a Nova Kit car!! (no not the Vauxhall kind the very low fiber glass hydraulic roof kind) and got into real cars in a big way, worked for a Local super seven kit car company, Formula 27 and then onto a Healey 3000 replica company called HMC motor cars as someone said before i am an avid tinkerer.

After Building Sports cars i joined an engineering company who also employed a part time fireman who flew heli's, sport and Scale, very well.
He had a nice collection and let me use his Simulator and i was hooked into RC again.

Finaly moved abroad about 4 years ago and discoverd RC helliaddicts on the net.
Bought myself a Simulator (Reflex) and became addicted!

Then a new guy joined our company who was also a Heli flyer and we became very good friends. He didnt really enjoy or understand the set up and maintenance so i used to repair and build his helis for him with what i have learnt on hera and other forums. In return he gave me a RTF heavily upgraded Shogun to which I added Spektrum Radio gear and i am currently learning to fly. Now i am totally hooked!!
The above is a great example of the kind of people in this hobby i love it.

Currently on about 8-9 flights, no crashes, and am improving all the time. Other local heli flyers say i am advancing much quicker than they expected which is very encouraging.
Really not looking forward to my first crash though!!

Just love this hobby

Cheers

Ben

[Mike W]

When I was younger I used to watch the planes... was not alot of Rc Heli's then and thought I would love to do that .... As now i was older I had the misfortune of getting rushed to hospital last year with stomach pains and had my appendix removed and part of my bowel .... sorta like a 2 for 1 offer lol .... Well I was off work for 4 months and after the first month I wanted to get out the house so bought a nitro truck and loved it soo much it got an OS .30 engine whapped in it ... Also bought a nitro buggy cheap as well ... Then someone I know was selling a trainer plane complete so we ending up swapping my buggy ( that cost me £30) for a plane ... Learnt to fly fixed wing about 8 month ago but liked it when i was there watching someone at the field with a heli ... So i went to LHS and ended up with a Mini pred ( and yes its flies nice and was set up properly for me )had that for about 2 weeks and went and bought a .30 size nitro ...Spent what I could at the time and then upgraded the servos at a later date .... Useing 401 in it as well and a more expensive digi for the tail as i knew these where the bits that if I paid out first would last then buying then upgrading again later ...Then I managed to get a another .30 cheap second hand with lots of bits and nearly another full heli thrown in as well.. Have progressed a little faster lately as i use a sim .. Am getting my hovering all orientations sorted first b 4 i go full forward flight ... Can do little circuits and the like just really wanna be comfy with the heli's first then who knows what will come next

[Sao]

Airwolf & Blue Thunder

[HuskyD]

For me it started many years ago as a kid. Back then my imagination hadn't been beaten into submission by school/teachers/work etc and I dreamt of flying helis. To be able to fly around then stop and hover in one spot fascinated me. I imagined having a camera on one so you could see many miles into the distance.
Anyway a few years ago my wife decided to buy me one for my birthday as a surprise. She went to the local model shop and they basically said they wouldn't sell her one as I had no experience flying (needless to say I've not been to that model shop since)
The bug never left me it slumbered away quietly until one day I saw a Hummingbird FP on eblag and I decided that I would buy that. It never really flew and did little more than hover when it did get up there. Because I'd been on some forums trying desperately to get this HB working I started reading about the TRex450.
That led to me buying a Trex450 XL then the bug really hit and I was hooked. The rest as they say is, well in part history, but the best still to happen

[Kwickkwack]

Always loved mechanical things, last year a work colleague came into work and asked if anyone wanted to buy a heli, I had seen them over the years and thought I bet that is good fun, So I asked him to bring it in and bought it there and then. Since then I have got hooked so much so I have given up my other lifetime hobby and sold my motorbike, and have added to my collection over the last 18months.
Latest addition is a Blade CX2 just to hover around the front room during these winter evenings

[Richie]

All started for me about a month and a half ago whilst i was walking around a market in spain and in one of the shops a bloke was flying one of the little miniture 2 channel things, looked really good and was only about £17 i think (converted from euros). Nearly bought it but thought il wait till i get back home, have a look around and see if theres anything better avail (at that point didnt realise just because of the one bloke i saw the shop that i would be spending a hundred quid just a couple of weeks later).

Anyway on the way back on the plain, was looking through the catalouge for the airline, and say a heli in there for about £25, was 2 channel aswell but looked a bit better. nearly bought it there and then but decided to order it from website when i got home.

Anywya ended up looking around a bit, at first decided a 3 chanel would be better for me, saw a cheap 3 channel on ebay about £30 i think, then saw a bit of a better 3 channel on a website £50, then saw that a similar 4 channel was only about 1quid more (65) so i nearly bought that, then basically the previous kept happening till i bought the twister hawk lol.

So to cut it short, went from seeing a 2 channel £15 heli in a spanish market, to buying a 4 channel hawk for £100 lol. Have used it every day since (well except the days ive been waiting to get parts lol)