beginners guide

[sangoma90]

Ive been into nitro rcs the past two years or so, but now I want to add another dimension. i was looking at http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMHD1**&P=0 Would that be a good beginners helicopter? I have no experience with planes or helicopters, but ive wanted a heli ever since I was like 7 years old.

I was wondering how helicopters can bank, fly inverted and all the other stuff. What do the servos move? All i know is that the tail rotor can make it spin, and angling the main rotor will make it lift up (and fly inverted?), but what makes it roll?

Any other information that would help me would be great.
Thanks

[rocknbil]

Welcome aboard sangoma - if you get a tail-rotor heli, no, that wouldn't be my first buy. You'e better off with an Esky Honeybee or Blade CP, or even a Venom.

None of them are best as a "beginner" heli, there's a lot of dimensions to learning to fly a heli. And a lot of crashing. And repairing. And money. :D But all of the above including the Heli-Max are what are known as collective pitch helis, if you dedicate enough time and money to them they are capable of aerobatics, including inverted flight.

For a beginner heli, many like the coaxial type helis such as the Esky Llamas or the Eflite CX. The down side, they aren't capable of aerobatics. Although they will teach you the basics, but they will also teach you a lot of bad habits that will become deadly when you try to fly a tail rotor heli.

As for the rest of your questions, and before you buy ANYTHING, Read the Electric Helicopter Beginner's Guide cover to cover (http://www.swashplate.co.uk/). It will save you a lot of money and allow you to make a better decision than any answers you'd get on a message board.

[Dennis Flora]

I just took a look at it myself. At least they have lots of replacement parts in stock for it. I agree with Bill though, I never owned a Blade CX, but from what I have been hearing for the last year or two, they are easy to fly, and pretty dependable too. Good parts availability for them also. I know several people that own them, and they all like them real well...

[sangoma90]

well im not that interested in doing any fancy aerobatics, maybe later though. And i always thought that coaxiel helicopters were cheating...

what do you think about http://www.redrockethobbies.com/product_p/vnre6221.htm
Is there a brand name that is well known and, well, better than others?

thanks

[Dennis Flora]

I have never had the chance to fly one, but my Venom Night Ranger 3D was very fragile. It simply couldn't take the abuse that my Blade CP could. I found that the VNR3D had a more stable tail though. The VNR3D looked alot sturdier, but the Blade CP was really alot tougher when it came to a crash... That all I can tell ya...

[sangoma90]

well it looks like im going to get teh blade cp, not positive yet.

I couldnt find it on towerhobbies, whats a good website to order it at?

[Dennis Flora]

Horizon Hobbies

[sangoma90]

Where can i find the landing thing to prevent the helicopter from crashing for beginners? it looks like an X with 4 foam balls or something. please excuse my newbieness...

Thanks

[Dennis Flora]

Horizon Hobby's and Tower Hobby's should have then in stock. I got mine from Horizon. I still have my set hangin on the wall, where do you live ? It's not mentioned in your profile that I can see... Some of the heli's come with a free set too...

[Laceycopter]

Training gear set... You can find it here: http://secure.hobbyzone.com/catalog/HZ/eflite/eflite_helicopters/EFLH1128.html
Happy Flyin,
Lacey

[sangoma90]

Oh thanks, im going to need that...

And i live in CT, i just updated my profile

Thanks everyone for your help!

[Dennis Flora]

Thats what were here for !!! Thanks Lacey !!! Good luck Sangoma !!!

[Dennis Flora]

Sangoma, if ya want this set I have, you can have it for the postage. I wire tied mine to the skids, but I still have the 4 little black clips too (just checked). It's the exact same set...

[sangoma90]

Sangoma, if ya want this set I have, you can have it for the postage. I wire tied mine to the skids, but I still have the 4 little black clips too (just checked). It's the exact same set...

thanks for the offer, but the site where i am going to order my heli gives free shipping, and its only $10.

[Dennis Flora]

Cool... Free shipping is a good thing. lol We need more of that...

[Indy Heli Freak]

From a noob's perspective, I wouldn't go with a CX heli as a beginner. I would go with one of the FP tail rotor helis. Why? Well, to me a CX heli doesn't fly like a real heli. Any noob with no RC heli experience can hover a CX heli tail-in (or any other orientation, for that matter) with just a few minutes of practice. That can't be said with a FP tail rotor heli.

I'll tell you what I did...it will cost you some additional cash up front, but save you money in the long run. Two weeks ago I ordered a Honey Bee FP (and some spare parts) online and I went to my LHS and purchased FS One simulator. For the past two weeks, I trained myself to hover tail-in on a Blade CP in FS One. I spent approximately 20 hours flying the Blade CP and some other larger helis (which are actually a little easier to fly than the micro helis) on FS One. My Honey Bee arrived at my doorstep one week ago; however, it remained in its unopened box until two days ago.

Well, two days ago, I was ready to see if 20 hours of training on FS One was beneficial. I opened up the box, removed the Honey Bee, transmitter and other components...charged up the battery pack and read the manual. Upon my battery pack being charged, I headed to the garage with my Honey Bee. I spent about the first 5 minutes just throttling and skidding the tail along the floor. Well, after seeing the even the throttle action and tail moving characteristics of the Honey Bee were just like the models in FS One, I was convinced it was time to hover tail-in. I applied a little more throttle, gave the left stick a little right-rudder and gave the right stick some right cyclic and the Honey Bee rose up from the garage floor. I maintained a tail-in hover for 60 seconds and I decided to set the Honey Bee down because I was shaking with excitement! I ended up burning up six packs that day! Did I screw up any? Yes, I had a couple of minor crashes...mostly caused by some moderate wind gusts of wind that came blowing into my garage. That really had me grabbing some sticks! I guess I should have trained with some wind in FS One. :D My Honey Bee suffered no damage from the minor mishaps.

What am I trying to say here? Well, three things. First, the flight charateristics of the helis in FS One are 100% accurate when compared to the flight characteristics of my Honey Bee. I am still amazed of how real the helis fly in FS One. If the flight characteristics of the helis in FS One were not 100% accurate, there is no way I could have flew the Honey Bee right out of the box.

Secondly, a good heli simulator can take someone like me who had never flew any kind of an RC aircraft, rotory or fixed-wing, and train that person to fly (granted, only tail-in hovering, but that's where you start as a beginner) a real RC heli in as little as 20 hours of simulator time. Some may take more sim time and some may take less time on the sim.

Thirdly, a good heli simulator will continue to help the noob advance. For example, I have begun to train myself to hover side-in in FS One. Upon being able to hover side-in well on FS One, I will then perform side-in hovering on my Honey Bee. From there, I will go to nose-in hovering and then forward and backward flight. As my flying skills progress and I purchase more advanced helis in the future, using a sim will still be a part of my training because FS One contains those more advanced heli models, as well.

So, yes, it did cost me about $350.00 up front to purchase FS One, the Honey Bee FP and some spare parts. Also, $200.00 for FS One (including transmitter) is a little stiff and you think..."I could buy another heli for that price!" However, in the long run, a good heli simulator will save you lots of money in crash repairs, IMO. Just my $0.02.

[Dennis Flora]

I agree 100% about the simulator. I destroyed 2 micro's before I got mine. After a while on the sim, I got a used nitro heli, and so far, I have not crashed it ! Today I can fly it around pretty good, but I still get nervous because I know if I do crash, a new heli don't just pop up out of nowhere...
I think the Blade CX is ok if someone just wants a cool inside toy to fly around, but folks who are serious about gettin into heli's should get a simulator first, and a good quality RC Heli second. That way their thumbs will already know what to do, and it will save them alot of money in crash parts. I still use my sim on a daily basis, and never get bored with it. Their also a great way to get some flyin in when it's too windy to fly outside or raining.

[helicop1]

Hello,so happy to have found you guys! OK,we bought the Esky CP ,all the bangs and whistles,BUT...(mu hubby ordered this not me LOL) the supposed flightsim program sucks. I have read other posts similar etc to the company it was purchased from. Next question,any ideas or workarounds to get XP to recognize the transmitter,which is attached using a serial port?I can get joystick etc to work but not the transmitter that came with heli. Aside from any ideas/workarounds would the next suggestion be to go the extra mile and buy the $200 flight sim program from the local hobby shop and use the transmitter with that? Sorry for the long post, but just wanted a knowledgeable opinion on deciding what to do. Other than this the heli is the total bomb and I cant wait to get to flying it, which might be the next century considering its the hubbies new toy haha! Thanks for the support and help,Sincerely, Jean (the frustrated wife) and Eddie (new toy....needing to use sim ASAP)