How Realistic?

[Greig_W]

Hi, I'm just wondering how close Phoenix Sim is to the real thing?

I have just finished my raptor 50 titan build and hope to fly for the first time this weekend (just need to setup the pitch and get everything double checked again at my local club), just wonder what differences to expect when I try the real thing for the first time?

I have been practicing on the sim for the last 2 weeks and can now do some basic flying fairly consistantly (hovering, nose in hovering, figure 8's etc) and would say I now land safely 95% of the time, I am now practising the same things with different wind and gusts. On the sim I have stuck to the Raptor 50 sport.

[Sesame]

the model in the sim is set up almost perfectly so there will be differences in the setup to start with, also although I dint think in the sim helis are as stable as they are in the field, you will find that the real life one will move around alot more than on the sim.

plus you have the added preasure that if you mess up its gonna cost notjust reset. i'm sure if you have got the basics down ok, youll be alright just take it one step at a time.

[warboysastro]

My only gripe in the sim is they are very unstable on the ground, and tend to tip over with no warning. The real thing (or at least my T-Rex 600) is nothing like that.

The only other thing I don't like is on some sceneries, your heli turns into a silhouette and it's difficult to figure out its orientation.

Apart from that, it's great

Cheers - Rob.

[Sesame]

also most of them do seam to be well overpowered.

or as I said before set up better than mine lol Not hard.

[mateymark]

Well I purchased PHOENIX last week. I've been using ReflexXTR for the past 2 years but had heard good things about Phoenix.

I wanted to see what the TREX Nitro was like against the real thing which I fly.

Well I installed the version I had on disk and did all the updates to bring it up to 1.04i, callibrated the TX using the wizard and selected the TREX600N3D.

The first thing that struck me was that the heli looked exactly like my own right down to the blades and the pipe. Wow....

I started to fly it around and did a few flips, roll and autos. I couldnt believe how close to the real thing it actually was. There are one or two small things that arnt the same. It falls over too easily after a slightly hard auto which mine doesnt and its not as stable in the hover as mine. These are minor gripes though and could probably be changed in the model editor but i havent got to grips with that yet.

All in all its the best sim so far and scenerys, and helis are much faster to load than XTR.

I even got it to run on my 1Ghz laptop with a 16MB video card!!! (with a few visual settings switched off of course)

Cheers

Mark

[robgt]

with a few visual settings switched off of course

Flying a box on a blue/green background?
LOL
Cheers,
Rob

[SlamDunK]

I'd go with what's been posted.
Sim setup is perfect CG, Servo travel, Motor power, Blade tracking, no Gyro issues etc.
When you spool up for real the first time it's you that will be out of wack.
Frankly you'll be sh1tting yourself and the resulting shaky fingers will give you more grief than anything else.
Give yourself enough room for error and treat it like the sim. In my (limited) experience provided the setup isn't a million miles out the heli will be easier to fly than the sim as long as you can maintain control.
Sounds a bit obvious but you'll understand once you've done it.
Good luck and enjoy it.

Duncan.

[Toby Heli]

I am a learner myself but a little bit further on.

I found that I was far more tense on the real thing as you really dont want to stuff it.

Start off with training undercarriage as it will give you a little more safety.

If you stick to tail in hover first of all then you should be able to take off and land (assuming the model is set up correctly)

One thing to think about is one crash could easily set you back £100 and really knock your confidence, for that money you could get a 2 hr lesson and get a pro to check your heli hasnt got any nasty surprises AND you will learn far more in 2 hrs with a pro than 10 hours on your own - if they have a buddy box then they will save their cost back within saving 1 crash.

The main problem is loss of orientation or running out of talent...the sim is just a re-start, the real thing is a potentially costly rebuild.

I stuffed my heli quite a few times getting out of my depth before I realised the value of a pro. (you wouldnt put your Kid in a car and say drive to London and park it without lessons)

[mateymark]

Hi Rob,

you'd be surprised, with all the fancy stuff switched off, its quite acceptable.
This is with version 1.0 software though. I've installed version 1.02 but havent tried it yet.

Cheers

Mark

[Greig_W]

Cheers for all you replies. It does seem that the real thing should be fairly similar to the sim which is very good the hear.

I have already had the heli checked over by a friend who has a good few year experience (although he hasn't flown for a year or so) and he was pretty impressed with how well I had done with it being my first build, only a couple of minor adjustments required, I'm also going to get some raptor pilots to check at the club before I fly it.

With regards to comparing the sim to real flight I had guessed that the heli would have to be further away (in real life) before you lose the orientation, and sometimes it can be hard to tell how high up you are on the sim if you can only see the clouds so again this will hopefully be easier in real life.

One last thing how different will the raptor fly with the training gear on? I have tried the EasyFly50 and it really is steady, will the raptor feel like this? Is there any way to put the training gear on the raptor on the sim?

[Sesame]

Training gear is a horrible neccessity, its one of those things you really want to get rid of as soon as possible, the difference in a heli with and without it is alot.

once you can get off the deck and back down straight again and you feel confident your fingers are moving in the correct direction then lose the training sticks. its a whole new experience.

I think the big thing is not to rush it and get your confidence up.

[Ade_Law]

a buddy lead and a good instructor is FAR better than training gear. especially if you have been through the hover training on phoenix

Ade

[Mike W]

After using FMS I decided to take the plunge and buy a real heli .... luckily I had the experience of someone that's been flying for years so he set it up for me ..... after a few weeks i got the bug and decided to go for a .30 heli and was scared at first but then when i went to the NATS i got a good deal on phoenix and apart from it being a little more twicthy than my real heli it flew nice .. I agree with Ade and the others lose the training gear ... I did after 8 flights and also a buddy lead with someone is a good idea .. saved mine a few times with one .... well apart from last week when he hit to take over and my heli went inverted and hit the floor at full pitch .... result ... one very poorly heli ...What i learnt from someone thats been flying years is invaluable instead of going it alone ...

[ChrisB]

training gears are a nightmare,you need a buddy lead and an instructor or another club member to get you going

[Mike W]

I found as soon as i took the training gear off it was like flying a whole new machine ..... very nice feeling as well hehehe