Anyone Into RC Helicopters?

[Aqua-Digital]

I used to fly electric heli's in the UK, and brought my Align T-REX SE over with me. Sadly work left me with no time to fly, but I keep my fingers twitching with some indoor heli's.

If more than a few of you are looking for helicopters, let me know what you want and I can source from various agents in China and work out a group buy for you. It would be easier if you all wanted the same thing of course

[BigAl07]

Michael I didn't know you flew R/C heli? That's pretty cool to know

[Aqua-Digital]

I came into it by accident.

My Dad was bored so I bought him something to slowly learn with. After 2 hours I got a call telling me it was faulty! HUH? So I took it off him and after several rebuilds to the point that only the screws were still original I got air borne.

I then switched up to something real naff that used to have a fit at 50ft and cost me a new rotor assembly everytime, so had a Trex XL built for me, which I slowly transformed into an SE each time it would crash "itself"

I never mastered forward flying, very much still a novice but keep my hand in with these cheapies you can now buy.

Moving to Canada saw two favourite hobbies fall by the way side

weekend clay shoots with my Berretta 686E over and under and flying heli's

[BigAl07]

I feel like the smaller "Blade" series are excellent for teaching hand/eye coordination but sadly they don't do much for teaching you how a "Real" R/C heli flies. The only way to really get good is replacing a LOT of parts or getting a good flight sim and "stick banging". In 2010 I was getting pretty good because there for a while I was flying one of my birds every single day. Then "Life" got in the way and I've not flow more than about 10 hours in the whole year of 2011. When I lived in town my yard was an awesome flying site but when I moved to the country I don't have that luxury any more. It sounds backwards doesn't it? LOL

You may want to look into Phoenix or the other flight sim mentioned above just to keep your fingers active especially if you're going to have any significant "down time" over the next several weeks. Sim flying really does help a lot. It doesn't replace REAL flying but it does keep your fingers "fresh" and you can practice maneuvers you'd never practice with your real bird.

[russp]

I have an Eflite Blade CX2 as well as a Blade CP , the CX2 is a great learning helicopter you can fly it indoors & will handle a small amount of wind outside . It will give you a pretty good feel for how they fly & they are pretty forgiving in a crash . The CP is not a trainer I have about 12 rc planes so I thought I would have no problem with the heli's so I started with the CP (wrong) .

[BigAl07]

Originally Posted by russp

The CP is not a trainer I have about 12 rc planes so I thought I would have no problem with the heli's so I started with the CP (wrong) .

That's EXACTLY what I did. I got one at a good price (or so I thought) and crashed it 4 times before I had the first battery ran out. I had a friend come over to help me who is EXPERT at helis (his job is R/C helicopters.... grrr). He took it outside, flew it and while flying it said, "If you want to learn to fly R/C helicopters as soon as I land this one put it on eBay and get you one that I suggest!"

So I sold it (someone got a STEAL because I bought 2 of them complete and sold as a set for less than 1/2 what 1 would have cost) and bought my Blade CX2. GREAT move!

If someone starts out with a CX2 don't be tempted to "Pimp/Bling" it out. All those hop-ups may increase performance but for every point of performance gain you lose about 10 points in stability. I'm speaking from experience. I hopped on up so much it was silly and then I wanted a stable bird so I bought another and left it completely stock. I ended up giving them both away to a co-worker so he could get a head start in starting on R/C helis but I had a blast.

Here's my CX2 running a Bell Ranger fuselage

[jostafew]

Hahah I hear ya russp, my first heli was an Esky Honey Bee King 2 (CP heli for those that aren't familiar). I learned to fly on that heli and the sim, but man was it a poor choice for a first heli! That being said after I was already flying helis and picked up fixed-wing stuff it was a cake walk!

[Dez]

Hey Marko,

I have 7 battery operated helis. They are all Blade helis. I love them. I haven't even taken 3 of them out of the box yet because I want to master the "easier" ones first. I have 2 Blade 120SRs, if you want, PM me and I can sell one to you at a good price. Let me know. I bought 2, one for parts, but I didn't really need the second one, so it's pretty much brand new.

[BigAl07]

The 120SR is a great flying heli. Very generous offer indeed.

[AquaticFinatic]

I have a hirrobo shuttle zx that has served me well. Yup had a couple of crashes but a great first nitro powered machine for the beginner. Not sure they are even made any more? Great fun.