JohnH

transmitter supplied? mine came ready for receiver

sounds about right   but I do recommend joining your local club if you have one. Not only will you get very good (and often free!) advice, but it's also a good social thing too.

well I'm still learning with it.   First thing I did was take it to the LMS & get it set up for a beginner. Cost me £20, which I think is quite reasonable   I have absolutely no idea how exactly he did that, but it's not too bad now that I'm not so scared of it

sometimes it's worth taking it to your local club or model shop for some on-the-spot advice.   The gyro inhibit on the Tx is, as far as I remember, not inhibiting the gyro itself, but your ability to adjust the gain from the Tx. I personally don't have a Spektrum radio so I can't help you there, but unless you bought the heli from t'internet, you should be able to visit the shop for some after-sales service. At worst, they'll charge you maybe £20 for an hour setting it up.   If you're in West Yorkshire may I recommend Wings Wheels & Rotors in Bingley; Model Shop Leeds are also very helpful if you're out to the east of Leeds. Fast Lad in Barnsley are also very good, or so I'm told

when my Storm was new, it would just about get into the hover & sit there happily for a minute or so, then the tail would kick round violently, as though the gyro was resetting itself (LMS guy's description, not mine)   New gyro, replaced under warranty with a different model - fine ever since. I've had it just over a year now

£199 for a raptor & engine sounds like a very good deal to me.   However, you will also need to budget for the following, if you don't already have it: Radio - Tx, Rx, 4 identical servos plus a good one for the tail rotor gyro - spend as much as you can afford fuel field/starting equipment (this could cost up to £100 on its own!) training undercarriage tools rx battery - should be included in the price of the radio if you get a complete set and various other odds & sods   I've just put together a Century Hawk 30 and, although the heli was "only" £150 and the engine another £100, and I already had the Tx, it's still cost me over £400   M&S (yes, Marks & Sparks) do some nice insurance deals when it's renewal time. I ride mountain bikes (as you can see from my picture) and M&S insurance will cover any number of MTBs at up to £4k each, home & away. So covering helicopter shouldn't be a problem

FWIW I'm a beginner & I have the Twister Storm. The radio is set up so as to be "sport" rather than "3D" and my LMS has set up the servos etc for beginner suitability.   It works for me.   It's nice to go down to the club indoor sessions & not have a Belt or a Blade

speaking from experience, the current Century Hawk Pro 30 has a shaft (or, more accurately a  tube) drive

too early I think. It'll come in time

have a look at high-torque - http://www.high-torque.com/uk/html/  - scale bodies for all sizes, including some Kamov models. I bought their Airwolf body for the Twister Medevac - it was going ok until I botched the "now separate the nose from the rest so you can get the innards in" bit

I have one for my Twister Storm, which IIRC is the same size as the Blade. I got the case from Model Shop Leeds for £39.99 IIRC, but there are other places selling them - Als Hobbies, Heli Guy, Fast Lad etc. You want the "450" size case Tx is not in the case in this photo - and neither is its charger, so I guess it was on charge at the time - but it sits in the middle, beneath the heli's tail boom, about where the loosely coiled black cable is

yes, I know what you mean

ok, so, from a box of bits on Monday, via a day off yesterday (out on the mountain bike all day), to this today: Still plenty to do but now waiting on stock at the LMS due to suppliers having christmas off as well, the cheek of it eh?  more here  and I'll be adding more as the build progresses

Kevin, that comparison is only valid if you watch the same person fly both models. If you fly the Blade & someone else (who turns out later to have 20 years experience) flies the T-Rex, then it proves nothing other than that they're more experienced. I have nothing against either model, but I do know the Blade 400 retails for about £270 complete with 2.4GHz radio. I put a Twister Storm in the air complete with 35MHz radio for under £200. There are some shops selling the Belt CP with radio for under £150.  There are cheaper options than the Blade if money is a consideration, but the T-Rex isn't one of them. If money is no object then, yeah, spend as much as you can & keep your LMS in business

3 hours each way? crikey. Better make a day of it then