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[das boot]

I'm thinking of buying a heli to play with, indoors and outside on calm days...I fancy one of these. . . http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=29882, they look big enough to see, they are supposed to be quite stable in the hover as well.
Anyone else got one? Any comments on them would be greatly appreciated..

Rich


(and yes, before you ask...I have flown helis before, although it was a while back. A Morley Hughes 300 and then a Hirobo Shuttle with a Huey Gunship body on it.)

[dougal99]

I've tried and faioled to control a helicopter, it was even gyro stabilised. I think you would need a very calm day for outside and a high, high room for inside to get any enjoyment. Maybe that's just me as they seem to sell well. I noticed Howes had plenty at Warwick yesterday.

JMO

Doug

[das boot]

When I learnt to fly a heli, my tutor told me flying a model plane was like balancing a broom on one finger on one hand...flying a model heli was like balancing a broom on each finger on both hands. He wasn't wrong...but he was a damm good teacher. I only crashed once(and that was due to a burst float on the landing skids on the old Morley Hughes 300) and never crashed the Hirobo at all.

Mind you, my tutor was a full size heli pilot, and even now still flies a full sized autogryo(or he did last time I saw him)so he knew what he was talking about.



Rich

[andyn]

The Contra rotating rotor helis are so easy to fly, even my mum can fly one...

Picco z style helis are even easier

[das boot]

Found what I want... http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=24358 I feel a day off coming next week and a trip down to Worthing.


Rich

[andyn]

Yep flown one of those round a school hall

Don't really compare to a Raptor 30v2 though, rather more difficult to fly

[tony23]

Hi Rich,
           Don't waste your money on these types of heli's if you have flown the bigger stuff these are nothing like them they will only mostly hover and have little control even my very young kids can fly them.
Try one of these they are fully aerobatic and will do the same as an IC 40-60 heli there a bit more money but a heck more model. http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/blade-msr.html

[Subculture]

LOL. That's what I recommended to, Rich.

I've been teaching myself to fly heli's with a sim, then moved onto a Blade MCX, and last week I got the MSR. Getting the hang of it, gradually, but I've broken the blade grips, which is a weak area on this model- lots of people have had the same problem.

[colin-d]

Hi,
i have one of these, http://www.nineeagle.com/en/p.asp?pid=35  there absolutely fantastic in the livingroom, complete 4 channel and 2,4Ghz radio gear, they are very similar to the Blade type of Helli's

for the slightly advanced i would recommend; http://www.nineeagle.com/en/p.asp?pid=13  with this one you need a little more room.

and for the intermediate i would say this one is super; http://www.nineeagle.com/en/p.asp?pid=12  you can get them as coax or normal rotor.

[das boot]

I don't really want a single rotor heli though, I've really taken a liking to the Chinook lookalike. I'll mainly be flying outside, but only in calm weather...sometimes indoors in a large space.

I don't want to go to the bigger helis again, been there and done that...I don't think the locals would really appreciate a .61 engined monster whistling past their windows! I had enough problems flying my Shuttle in the back garden back in the marital home, the neighbours didn't like the noise..it frightened the cat.  And you all know how much I love cats....



Rich

[colin-d]

OK, i get the drift... if it has to be a banana Chinook lookalike then i would if i had the money go for the Walkera No. 38, most of the rotor area is made out of metal.. and comes in three different colours.. i prefer the silver one. 

http://www.rcscale.co.uk/eshop/proddetail.php?prod=WALKNO38

[Subculture]

Have you flown a Walkera?

I've heard the quality is improving on more recent models, but a year or so back a chap at work purchased a micro-heli from them, and it was a load of junk. It looked great, but flew like hell, it couldn't maintain a hover for a more than a few seconds without careering off and impaling it against the nearest wall.

Now I dare say these problems can be ironed out with upgrades and tweaks, but really a model should work from the box with minimum adjustment if it's sold as RTF.

Fortunately he'd also purchased a Blade CX, which flew like a dream from the get go.

[Dreadstar]

Nightflyyer did an out of the box review of the Walkera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FzYMdjMCek

[colin-d]

Have you flown a Walkera?

out of all the Helli's that i have flown, whether ARTR or RTR, i could not really say whether there was a Walkera amongst them, the only thing i can say, is that they all flew as the saying goes "Out Of The Box"

some other comments to go with it... i have never sat in front of a simulator, to learn how to fly Helli's, i have never been taught how to fly Helli's, i taught my self "Learning By Doing" and the od crash does happen, but there were never ever heavy loses.

Blades, and canopies don't cost the world, and thats about the only thing that breaks on most of the Helli's that i have flown.

[sheerline]

Learned to hover my heli (Twister, with gyro etc) indoors. After flying planes for years I found I had to rewire my brain to do it. Uposet the missus by damaging furniture and ornaments. i decided to try a simulator to advance myself into forward fight mode and after a few days became very proficient with the sim. Picked up my Twister to try out my new accumulated sim knowledge and immediately smashed it up. I found the sim was detrimental to my flying as i had got so used to the thing and realised it really was not like my Twister heli in reality.
I still get moaned at regarding the furniture!

[das boot]

 

At least there's only me to moan at myself if I damage any furniture!!!


Rich

[colin-d]

Rotor blade marks on Mirrors are the worst thing     i have come across to remove, thats a hefty     from the missus if she sees it.

        

[red181]

Rich,
 I have had one of those chinooks, and a friend has one now, we fly all sorts of helis, forget taking that chinook outside unles absolutely dead calm, with 8 rotor blades spinning it creates a big downwash which upsets the heli in the very slightest of breezes, also the large long body is greatly affected by breeze, its definitely a church hall heli, its too big for the living room, due to downwash, and balancing front and rear yaw is very tricky .

Best by far I have had was the esky fixed pitch honeybee, for indoor hovering, and outdoor  flying, dead easy to maintain and set up, cheap parts, and loads of upgrades, most of the indoor, and it was a good learning tool for bigger helis. check out heliguy.com forum for info on all sorts of helis, electric, indoor and outdoor, I would go for the blade mcx, somewhere on google a guy has it inverted and stuck on a ceiling! very cool!

[das boot]

I love my Chinook (mine is the Perkins Skylift) but as you guys say, it is a real handful flying it in the lounge, but I haven't crashed it yet (says he with all fingers firmly crossed...) Mind you, it looks good when it appears over the back of the sofa with all  the lights blazing...  

I was hoping to be able to fly it outside in those calm summer evenings, but the way the weather is changing I don't think we'll be having many more of those! My little E-Sky Dauphin is very twitchy and skittery, it's like trying to fly a dragonfly, whereas the Chinook is so docile it's like flying a dead cat.



Rich

[sheerline]

My son has the Perkins chinook, he took it outside on a very calm day and was flying it up and down the street. At about 20feet height, the rear rotor blade decided to give up and disintergrated in mid air, with spectacular but disasterous results. This is not a fault on these heli's , he was simply unlucky thats all. Otherwise it is an excellent little machine.

[das boot]

I can imagine that Chris...I bet that made the locals look in wonder!!


Rich

[sheerline]

U33, I think everyone was a bit stunned. Thinking on this, it does raise an important point, the blades on all of these little choppers are plastic and the fact that this one parted company should be a warning to all. Nothing in this world is perfect and we take a lot for granted but should this have been running up close at eye level..... well, you can see where this is going. Most of these things do actually tend to be run in this way, especially indoors. Perhaps it was a bit cold outside and the plastic blade became a bit brittle, who knows, but certainly food for thought.

[das boot]

Very interesting point Chris, I've gone over mine with a magnifying glass...I can't see any blemishes or cracks in any of the blades anywhere. I believe there are uprated carbon blades available, I've emailed a few people to find out if this is correct...if there are any, I'll be swapping mine over. Just in case....



Rich

[Subculture]

Plastic blades are usually tougher than CF. CF is quite brittle, but more rigid, and usually lighter.