How long will it take to.......

[BavarianRob]

Hi all,

Started flying January 2012 and got to a stage where I can do circuits, banked turns, flips, rolls, backwards and inverted circuits (but not backward inverted circuits) with my 130X but wasn't brave enough to go for it inverted with my 450 Pro other than a bit of a hover and straight lines!

Sold up in October last year as I was spending far too much, but have just snuck a Nano, a DX7S and Phoenix past the wife and am looking to start again.

Sooooo, my plan is, stay on the sim until I can funnel, flip, tic toc and piro and get pretty comfortable with the 3D stuff BEFORE I buy a 500 and use the Nano for practising inverted circuits and the less taxing moves.

Based on my progression to date, how long would you think it will take me to become comfortable with 3D? Would be looking to do 1/2 hour every other day or thereabouts depending on work/home commitments. I'd like to get to the point where I can confidently chuck a 500 about without umpteen crashes like I had last year with my 450. If I don't spend as much crashing, I may stay in the wife's good books for a bit longer!!!

Cheers

Rob

[RcRotaryMadness]

Your in a similar boat to me although I didn't progress to that much 3D previously... I'm expecting it take 3 months to get back to the point of being comfortable with hovering and flight with regular practice

[Idleup95]

Hey pal

it depends mate everyone has different learning rates, it's taken me roughly a year to get to the stage I am today but that's after a year of learning orientations both ways up, and circuits inverted and right way up etc

However, I'm sure joining a few of the online sessions will help tones as everyone can give u tips and ideas where to go next



i hold the sessions most nights


happy flying pal

John

[Aidi]

You can sim all day long and be the best 3D pilot virtually - Doing it for real with £££'s worth of heli is a totally different ball game. Reality brings an all new perspective and the fear of crashing is something that you have to overcome to make you a good 3D pilot... And thats just the start of it.

A harsh reality, but an honest one

[simon1]

You can sim all day long and be the best 3D pilot virtually - Doing it for real with £££'s worth of heli is a totally different ball game. Reality brings an all new perspective and the fear of crashing is something that you have to overcome to make you a good 3D pilot... And thats just the start of it.

A harsh reality, but an honest one

So true, pheonix is great for learnin muscle memory but out on the field in the real world flying around Hundred of £'s worth of kit is a different matter. I fly using calculated risk, sim first, 10 out of 10 times then try it out for real, high up .

FWIW the 500 i think you will find to be easier to fly than the 450 much smoother and stable through 3d moves, great heli the 500.

[ghost2212]

It's hard to say how long it will take you as everybody learns at vastly different rates,

I would focus on being able to hover inverted in all orientations and fly upright circuits etc then get the 500, It's still possible to practice In real life without crashing.

Being able to hover in all orientations both inverted and upright means that if something goes wrong you can always fall back to them and not have to worry about crashing.

I'm studying at Loughborough university so if you ever want to meet up for a fly or need some help I'm happy to help. Currently only got my 130x and sim with me but hope to have either a logo 400se or Trex 550E with me after the easter holidays which aren't too far away.

Let me know

Brett

[Benjbrit123]

If it helps you to know I have been flying for 2 years now and will be competing in the pro class at Air this year, My progression was fairly fast but only because of the time i put in on it! I used to sim every single night and fly as much as I could, Normally twice a week.

Right there is the key point, it will help you to get good on the sim but breaking the barrier of doing it on a real heli is what takes the time, Even now there are lots of things I can do on the sim but not yet tried on my real machine. I belive if you do as you say and learn all that stuff on the sim you are still looking at a couple of months of flying (lots of flying in the week) to really beat the fear and start doing it for real!

That is always my battle, doing it for real

Will be interested in seeing your progression, looks like you have progressed fairly fast when you were using the 130, and as you found its a different game trying it on a bigger bird

Good luck

Ben

[MarkG_R1]

I'm about where you are minus the backward bit after a year so i think i'm doing ok
I am finding my progress has slowed lately with less time to play (sim and real) and with the crappy cold weather when i do get out i'm not pushing myself because i lose feeling in my fingers and just stick to what i know

When it warms up and i can get out more often and without my fingers falling off i'll be braver again

Going to get back on the sim some more too

[JoeBailey]

I've been flying for 5 years and I'm only just starting to feel relaxed about my flying and not constantly worrying about the crashes.

Each to his own, some are allot faster then others but that crash cost is always there.

Joe

[BavarianRob]

FWIW the 500 i think you will find to be easier to fly than the 450 much smoother and stable through 3d moves, great heli the 500.

Thanks for this Simon, I was surprised how much bigger the 500 was when I saw it next to a 450, heard a lot of people saying go for the 500 over a 450, so will be going that route when the better weather arrives (if funds allow!) My 450 Pro was a bit old (got it second hand) so will probably go for a new 500 this time round. What do you think to the Blade 500X? Thought it might save a bit of time on build and has the AR7200BX and is better value than a Trex?

[BavarianRob]

I'm studying at Loughborough university so if you ever want to meet up for a fly or need some help I'm happy to help.

Let me know

Brett

Cheers Brett, I'll let you now when the weather improves; I should have something a bit more substantial myself then as well!!

[cjcj1949]

I can't see the sim helping you. If you can fly a 130-X in an inverted circle then a bigger heli should be easier. The sim can't teach you anymore. Perhaps flying a bigger heli on a buddy lead would help. Probably crashing a few times would help you. That's not a joke, you have to accept that you may crash and it's not a big deal. You can reduce crash costs by using clone parts.

[BavarianRob]

Probably crashing a few times would help you.

Trust me CJ, crashing is something I dont need to practice! Spent hundreds on my 450 last year, want to try not to fall into the same trap this time round.

[simon1]

Thanks for this Simon, I was surprised how much bigger the 500 was when I saw it next to a 450, heard a lot of people saying go for the 500 over a 450, so will be going that route when the better weather arrives (if funds allow!) My 450 Pro was a bit old (got it second hand) so will probably go for a new 500 this time round. What do you think to the Blade 500X? Thought it might save a bit of time on build and has the AR7200BX and is better value than a Trex?

The ar7200bx is a much better fbl unit than the 3gx, iv owned both granted not the latest 3gx v3.0 update. I would still get the trex 500 over the blade 500x, blade helis are getting better but they are still not up to the align models in quality yet imo.

I fly the trex 500efl pro with the beastx unit after starting with a 3gx on there and didnt like the 3gx at all, again that was 3gx on 2.1 software so the latest update may be alot better which it is supposed to be.

This is a decent deal bearing in mind they were around £600 when first released T-REX 500EFL PRO Super Combo KX017016 - ALIGN-TREX.co.uk RC Model Helicopter Specialists in ALIGN, E-Flight, Blade, Goblin, Synergy, ALeeS, Outrage, ELY-Q. This heli has mental amounts of power, ask on here of people who own one I will bet there will be no one with a bad word to say about them.

[cjcj1949]

Trust me CJ, crashing is something I dont need to practice! Spent hundreds on my 450 last year, want to try not to fall into the same trap this time round.

I can't imagine how someone can fly a 130-X that well and then crash a 450... A 450 is so similar to a 130-X, if anything a 450 is easier. I've gone the other way though, I've flown a 450 for a long time and now I have a 130-X to practice inverted stuff.